I'm back to biting my fingernails off and working all hours of the night and day, but a week ago I wasn't. A week ago I was following the Pacific Crest Trail thru the Cascades of Washington and spending every hour of every day doing exactly what I love. Camping. Hiking. Joking with Greg. Eating lots of junk food without getting fat(ter).
It was so simple and so fun.
The trip started in Seattle with a rental car and three days to cover two National Parks. Up first was Olympic. We drove all around the peninsula, stopping to explore whatever looked exciting. There was day hiking, a perfect little campsite, canoeing, a wild coastline, multiple burgers, and surprisingly no rain showers.
The forest was foggy and mysterious. Of course we joked about vampires.
I was in green heaven.
We followed a random trail thru the rainforest for several miles, expecting to end at a stream or a sweeping overlook and then there was this log that had a sign: "TRAIL END".
Anticlimactic.
Greg was relieved to reach that log because neither of us had our headlamps (we never learn) and it's hard to tell what time it is with no sun and he was certain we were going to get caught in the dark and wanted to turn around while I was certain I had to find out where the trail led and kept pushing on.
I'll mention we still made it back with plenty of daylight to spare...
Morning found us heading further inland to experience the mountains. Cloudy yet bathed in the waking sunlight. We saw a deer on a hike and talked about Batman. The drive was amazing.
But tangent into this Batman conversation. The discussion centered around how I wish my office was like the Batcave...in the new Batman movies. Three 70-inch monitors would magically rise from the rocks, coworkers would have to don harnesses and rappel into meetings with me (obviously having their memories wiped of my location immediately afterwards...I'd probably contract this job out to Scarecrow and his hallucinogens), and Alfred would bring me snacks and offer sage advice. Is this not the best idea ever? Reality is so dull.
I mean, in reality I don't have an office. Or even a full cubicle. Sigh.
Lake Crescent Lodge was a happy discovery and we rented a canoe and paddled around for a couple hours. The ranger pointed us in the direction of a sunken forest that was creepily cool. We'll probably have to live near water someday and own a canoe because it's something we both enjoy. Though again, I wanted to keep exploring further and Greg kept pushing to return the canoe on time. If we're good at anything, it's balancing each other out.
Eventually we hit the coast. First at La Push and later at Ruby Beach. The sun was out at Ruby Beach so that was my favorite. Though the log jungle gyms and cairn-stacking opportunities of La Push kept us entertained long enough.
This is clearly not South Texas.
This photo was taken right after I saw a yellow lab puppy that I wanted to steal. If I have missed out on anything in life, it's Roscoe's puppy stage. I WANT TO SEE MY DOG AS A PUPPY. Except, house-trained like he is now.
What is that thing? This is not a rhetorical question.
Greg knows better but he had a momentary lapse of judgment and followed me across a bunch of exposed rocks heading towards the tide. Then a big wave crashed and we both got soaked. Luckily the camera was spared.
This was the Big Cedar Tree? I think it's falling apart. It looks like it used to be impressively large...
And that was Olympic National Park for us. Lots of driving and stopping and comments on the cooler weather. Greg even complimented my navigating which is probably the biggest triumph of the trip. I would go back.
Have a great day :-)
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