Jul 24, 2013

We got all ready for our hike of Cloud's Rest and went to the trailhead. We hiked in a mile or two before our conversation turned to the length of the hike and decided we didn't want to do this hike the day before we do a strenuous hike like Half Dome. We turned around and headed back to the car, deciding instead to take an easy day. Joanna took a walk to lake on the way back to the campsite.

We spent the day and evening hanging at our campsite mostly, making food that we got at the camp store, playing Phase 10, and watching Breaking Bad. The Indian food packets and the boil-in-a-bag rice made for a gourmet dinner at camp. It was a really nice, relaxing day.

We tried to get to sleep early so we could get up before sunrise and down to the trailhead.

Jul 14, 2013

We woke up to far fewer vehicles along the ocean than we fell asleep to. We slowly got up and ready to leave and packed in the tent to head down to the tide pools.

We found a great spot in the rocks with lots of shallow pools. I saw a bunch of little creatures in the pools; crabs, anemones, and other things that don't look alive but probably are. Then I started seeing a couple of starfish clinging to the rocks. Then I saw more clumped together. Then I saw more than I ever thought I would ever see all piled together in once area. They were everywhere.

It was insane how many there were just hanging out in groups on the rocks. They were amazingly beautiful in a way I never really thought of them before. Their texture is rough and they are much bigger than I really thought about.

We climbed out on the rocks, hopping precariously over filled pools, carefully avoiding the numerous tide pool creatures that lined the previously submerged land. It was quite challenging to avoid stepping on shellfish.

We spent a long time out there, soon being joined by several others. After we were done photographing and staring at starfish we headed back to the car and continued the long drive around the park to Olympia, where we went to Le Voyeur Cafe. I really like the feel of Olympia. It seems very Washington Punk Rock, which is what I think of because of Rancid. We got some tasty food at the cafe and walked the main street for a bit then headed on to Seattle.

We went to Mighty O Donuts and got quite a few amazing little donuts. They were so moist and delicious. What a wonderfully bad idea it was to stop here. I put Elysian Brewing in my GPS only to find out it was a block away. So we got out of the car and walked there. I had a tasty flight there; my favorite being the Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale. So uniquely citrusy and still a great hop flavor.

We went down to Fremont, where there is a troll under a bridge that is a fun local oddity. There isn't much to it, but it looks cool from the bottom of the steep hill. Also at the bottom of that hill and around the corner is Fremont Brewing. They have a beautiful open door tasting room with a lot of outdoor seating. I sampled all of their beers at the tap, talking with the brewers whilst I sipped. He even let me try a beer that wasn't on tap yet, and of course is was the most amazing bourbon barrel-aged beer. So damn good. I was told not to tell anyone about it, so shhhh. We hung out in the outdoor area where I drank a beer I didn't totally want, but felt compelled to buy because I sampled for free. It was good, but hoppy and strong.

We went to Kerry Park, which was suggested as the best view of the Seattle skyline, and we were not disappointed in any way. It was a gorgeous view of downtown, the Space Needle, and Mount Rainier in the background. We had a perfectly clear evening and there were a whole bunch of people there as well, including an engagement photo shoot. The sunset was beautiful on the city and it felt surreal (sorry, Dr. Hottle) standing there.

After the sun was down, instead of waiting for the night to properly fall, we went down to Schooner Exact Brewing, where we got in just as they were closing. The bartender was nice enough to have us in and give me a flight. I really enjoyed their beers, especially the Hopvine IPA, and it so happened that they had a half growler corked for sale so I got that without hesitation.

After having a good tasting we headed back to Kerry Park to see the amazing view of the skyline at night. I love it. I wanted to stay there. After that we went to the apartment of  Amol, our couch surfing host for the night. Another surfer, Matt, was there and let us in. He is a traveling musician from Scotland who is touring the US and couch surfing along the way. He is super friendly and easy to talk to. Amol came home a bit later and, obviously, he is amazingly personable as well. We didn't talk too long before we all got to bed, but I really liked both of these guys. Glad we get to couch surf and meet people like this.

Jun 18, 2012

Kate and I got our stuff together and headed north for our trip in the morning. We stopped at the Pez factory in Connecticut, but they charge quite a bit for a tour so we skipped it.

It took us a while, but we made it to Vermont! And then we still had quite a while to go through the state.

Since it's right off the highway we stopped at Harpoon Brewery for a few samples of things like the Leviathan Quad and their small batch Saison. We looked around the store for a while and then got back on the road.

When we got to our campground we put up our tent, started a nice fire, and then got to drinking.

We ended up drinking quite a bit and had the fire going really well for a while.

It was a fun and slightly drunk night. We retired to the tent after the fire was totally out and we couldn't drink anymore.

Jun 13, 2012

I met Jess and Steph in the morning and we began our long drive south to Roanoke. We stopped along the way at a nice park to have a picnic lunch. For the first time, and many, many, many subsequent times on the way down, I heard "Call Me Maybe" on the radio. That's what happens when the radio is on.

Once we got there we went to the nearest grocery store to get camping supplies. Only the essentials.

We got back to the campsite we started a fire to cook some sausages. Finding sticks sturdy enough was the hardest part, but once they were cooked we feasted! And it was good.

We explored the park we were staying in for a while, walking around the trails and up the nearby hills looking for firewood for later.

We found a hike nearby that we had to drive to. We were looking for a good sunset view. We drove to a strange area, parked, and walked for another mile or so down a path that was overgrown in places and seemed to lead nowhere. We found no good vantage point for sunset and had to head back down the boring trail.

When we got back to camp we got a fire going and Steph and I decided to sneak into the swimming pool for a night swim. We had fun in the pool, but once we got out it was freezing so we rushed back to the fire to warm and dry ourselves.

It was a great day of fun and we sardined into my tent for the night. Not too much rolling around allowed.

Aug 31, 2011

When we got up we went to the nearby trailhead for Acadia Mountain. The trail was a gradual slope most of the time and changed from rocky to wooded and back again.

The top was smooth, rounded rock with a great view of the bay leading out to the ocean. This was my favorite view last time I came and I think it still may be. The islands popping up out of the water makes a great scene. The weather was great as well.

We hiked down a bit and then the trail began to ascend again over wet soil with raised roots and old trees. We wrapped around the other side of the mountain and had a few more views of the bay from a lower overlook.

After making it to the top of St. Saveur Mountain we made our way back down over rain-soaked ground where there were a lot of muddy areas to traverse and avoid. It was a good morning hike before we left.

On our way out we stopped at a little shop that had jams and honeys and plenty of funny stickers. We tried some pumpkin spread and I got a thing of comb honey since I've always wanted it. It tastes waxy.

We drove west, stopping at a state park to look for a hike. We found a few that were part of the Appalachian Trail, but neither of us were really feeling like doing another strenuous hike so we decided against them and stopped at a little pie stand to get a wild blueberry pie and some Maple moon pie things that were delicious.

We spent too much time driving around the White Mountains trying to find a campsite. One was blocked off on a dirt road that we drove a long way down before finding out and then we had to come back down it and through town to find the other one. We had some delicious rice/vegan chicken stuff for dinner though and that made everything better.

Once we had the tent set up we got to bed with the nice sound of rushing water nearby.

Aug 8, 2011

We packed up our stuff in the morning and went in search of our hike for the day. We settle on the north trail to Cadillac Mountain. It's the highest point on the east coast or the northeast or something. After our usual breakfast of PBJ, we headed up the trail.

It started off somewhat steep on smooth rocks and then got more wooded with rocky step section. The terrain changes so often on all of the trails at Acadia. That's one of the things I really like about it. It wasn't overly strenuous. The trail was a moderate grade so it was nothing like the Precipice.

We had a nice view out over the water on the way up. A lot of open areas when we got past the treeline made it easy to keep checking out the island and boats. There was water flowing down the trail in several parts from the recent rain so that made it a little slippery at times.

Once we got to the top the view was totally obstructed by fog. This map shows what we might have seen if there were any visibility at all. I saw it last time and it's pretty amazing. It happens.

We started heading down the south route, which may have been more fun coming up. There were some steeper parts to climb down that we didn't have on the other trail. Most of the extra length was made up on the top of the mountain, staying along a mainly flat trail along the rock face.

We descended into a dense, wet forest on the way out. Many parts of the trail were flooded and somewhat treacherous to walk along. I almost slipped a few times. It was a little dangerous but really beautiful.

When we got out to the main road we had to walk to the park loop and then hang out and wait for the bus. While we waited, Alex did planks in the road and we considered how many buses there might be on the somewhat small loop in the park.

It was a lengthy ride on the bus, including a wait for a switchover at the Visitor Center. Once we got back to the car we went back to town to Poor Boy's Gourmet for dinner. They had and early bird special so I got some seafood bake with baby carrots. Tasty. And Alex had to get some coconut cake for dessert so I had to help eat that...

We got some sneaky showers at the KOA and then headed southeast out of Maine. We were on the road for a while before crossing into New Hampshire, passing quite a few different moose warning signs along the way.

We found a National Forest campground for a reasonable price right down the road from the next day's planned hike so we pitched a tent and called it a night.

Aug 6, 2011

We got on the road and headed out of Boston in the morning and we were in Maine much sooner than I had expected. Boston is pretty close, it seems. We still had a while to go.

We stopped in York at Stonewall Kitchen for their charity pancake breakfast. We just had to make a small donation and we got a plate of pancakes and some juice.

Doesn't that look delicious? It was pretty good. I was hoping for jams on the pancakes, but the fruit stuff was nice too. I had three pancakes and that was very filling.

We went inside to check out the store and were overwhelmed with the amount of jams, mustards, salsas, chocolate sauces and countless other things they had out for us to sample. I was most impressed by their mustard selection. They had some pepper relish that was wonderfully spicy as well. I wish I could buy them all.

We drove for another four hours or so and arrived at Acadia National Park in the late afternoon in time to get one of the few remaining campsites for the night. We made a snack of peanut butter and jelly and talked about what we could do.

We decided to go down to the lighthouse since it was nearby and we didn't have much time before dark. The shoreline of Maine is just amazing. We weren't alone, as plenty of visitors and photographers were there perched on the rocks.

It was very foggy, but I think that added some nice texture to the photos I was taking. I climbed out on the rocks and sat in a nice spot away from people and enjoyed the view for a while.

Alex slowly made her way to where I was, being much more careful on the rocks. I spoke with a few of the other photographers that were out there about their equipment before we felt we had seen what we wanted and headed back to the car.

After grabbing some food from the general store we took it back to camp and ate then went for a walk collecting some wood to make a fire. We had a couple of bigger logs that were left by the fire pit so after I got the small stuff burning, they caught as well. It was nice to have a fire. Alex told a ghost story of sorts.

Once the fire went out for good and we couldn't revive it again, we called it a night and went to sleep early with plans to get up for sunrise.