Bidding Farewell to the Tri-Cities

We can't believe how quickly the last 3 months have come and gone. It is absurd to think that our time here in the Tri-Cities has already passed. As I say that though, Amanda and I are feverishly working to organize, clean, and pack up all of our stuff. Therefore this post will be short and sweet because I have to get back to work.

In our last weekend here, Kayla and Nate decided to visit us for a weekend of wine tasting and hiking. We spent Saturday traveling from winery to winery in search of the finest drinks the Yakima Valley has to offer. It was a relaxing way to get to know Kayla and Nate a little bit better. We like those guys a lot and look forward to spending more time with them after we move to Hoquiam. Sunday Morning we got up to hike Badger Mountain, a 1,500+' mountain that overlooks the Tri-Cities. The air was cool and crisp as we headed upwards and were rewarded with a great view of the cities we have called home for the past 3 months.

One last view of the Tri-Cities

Our last week here was not without incident though. Apparently our air mattress was only designed for occasional use. Three straight months of being slept on caused some of the internal chambers to burst one night. The result was a bulbous, tumor-like bulge right under where I slept. Usually, I can sleep through pretty much anything, but this was just ridiculous.

Not conducive to a good night's sleep

So, needless to say, we had to buy a new air mattress, but we went all out this time. We now have a luxurious double thickness, heavy duty, indoor/outdoor queen sized air mattress. It's pretty sweet. Admit it, you are a little jealous.

Now we will pack up all of our gear, including our new mattress, and work our way to Hoquiam. Hopefully we have good luck finding an apartment and can get settled in quickly. We are then planning to head to Sacramento and San Francisco to visit some of our friends. Therefore, the blog might take a little hiatus until we return. In the meantime, please enjoy the summary of our time here in the Tri-Cities...

Harvest Season is Stomping Season

It is finally feeling like fall with crisp, cool mornings, pumpkin patches, apple cider, corn mazes, and tumbleweed blowing in the wind.

Tumbleweed parked next to the Escape at work.

As the season has changed and our time in the Tri-Cities is coming to an end, we've been trying to figure out how to celebrate autumn in a way that is unique to Eastern Washington.  After a bit of searching, Charlie came came across an event that seemed too good to be true - a 5k vineyard run, catered lunch, and grape stomp.  Overly excited we clicked on the "sign up" button where we were faced with the words..."sold out."  Disheartened we continued searching for other comparable events, but quit soon thereafter, unable to find anything nearly as enticing. 

We both went on with our lives and decided we'd figure out something to do for the weekend.  After a busy day at work I arrived home later than Charlie who greeted me with a big smile and said he had good news.  Not knowing what he could be talking about I asked him to continue.  He then informed me that we were signed up for the run, lunch and grape stomp!!!  He called the vineyard, worked his magic using the "we just moved from PA" card and we were in.  What a guy!

So come Saturday we were off to Sunnyside, WA (about 40 miles west of the Tri-Cities) where Airfield Estates Vineyard was ready to greet runners and walkers, humans and dogs.  We were truly in wine country surrounded by acres and acres of vineyards...a beautiful scene.

Airfield Estates Vineyard

Ready to run!

With the crack of the gun we were off, running up and down the hilly vineyard, which was a bit dry for my sensitive pulmonary system, feeling like we ran well, but didn't break any records.  We hung around to enjoy complementary (giant) apples and muffins, taking in the great weather.  They began announcing winners for a small award ceremony and we were both surprised when they called the name Amanda O'Malley for the 3rd place women's award.  Oh geez!

Finishing times:
1st place: 21 min
2nd place: 22 min
3rd place: 26 min

Phases 2 & 3 of our day were in Prosser, WA at Airfield Estates Winery.  We leisurely drove the 15 minutes to Prosser where we chowed down on beef brisket (Charlie) and pulled pork (Amanda - they didn't have any vegetarian options! The pork was tasty though).  We mingled a bit then headed into the warehouse for 3 hours of grape stomping.  We didn't know exactly what to expect, but did know that we were helping create the 2012 Ruby Rosé wine.  Pretty cool!

With an accordion serenading, we all doffed our shoes, rinsed our feet, and jumped into large plastic bins.  Clusters of grapes were continually added to our bins as we stomped and stomped and stomped!  The initial shock of cold grapes and rough stems was a bit uncomfortable, but we toughed it out and were some of the last people stomping.  It was excellent to talk with people stomping in adjacent bins.  We were surprised to find out how many people travel from afar for this yearly event.



This is just a small portion of the stomping bins they had set up.



Stomp!

 

 

We woke the next morning with sore, stained feet from our hard work the day before!

To conclude this post, I'd like to share with everyone where our next stop will be on this American Adventure...knock on wood...it is nice to already know where we are going (unlike previous stops)!

As hoped, we're heading to Western Washington where we'll be spending 23 weeks in a small, rainy town of about 8,700 people called Hoquiam.  The name Hoquiam comes from a Native-American word meaning "hungry for wood." Historically tied to lumbering and export the town sits along the North Bay, which opens up to the Pacific Ocean.  We'll be approximately 2.5-3 hrs from Seattle, Portland, Olympic National Park, Mount Rainer National Park and various ski resorts. We'll be working at Pacific Care & Rehabilitation Center, which is a small skilled nursing facility.  Both of us are new to this setting, but excited to try something new.

Hoquiam, Washington.
Located in Grays Harbor County.

Until next time...happy autumn!

North Cascades With Newfound Friends

Amanda set the record last week for quickest post, completing her entry in only 3.5 hours after returning home from our trip to Crater Lake. I'm pretty sure this record will stand the test of time and be recognized with the likes of Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak or Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games played. These are records that are made to never be broken and I would just like to acknowledge how impressed I am. Well done Amanda!

Now onto this weeks adventure, posted a sluggish 27 hours after our return from North Cascades National Park.

In case you haven't noticed, Amanda and I are a little bit obsessed with visiting the National Parks. We are slowly checking them off (only 51 to go!) and appreciating the beauty and diversity that they possess with each subsequent visit. We have also completed Ken Burns' documentary on the history of the National Parks, which was phenomenal, and we recommend it to those of you who have Netflix. So this weekend we decided to head up to North Cascades National Park to spend some time in the northern wilderness. And do you know what the only thing better than visiting a National Park is? Visiting a National Park with travel buddies!

As previously mentioned, we met a couple from Northern Washington, Kayla and Nate, at our kayaking and wine tasting trip. After some good back and forth dialogue, we all decided to meet at North Cascades National Park for a weekend of hiking, camping, and keeping warm by the campfire. I know what you are thinking. Meeting strangers in the middle of the wilderness sounds like the setup for a terrible horror movie. This fact did dawn on us, but we had a good gut feeling that Kayla and Nate wouldn't dismember us so we decided to give the trip the green light.

Amanda and I started the 5+ hour drive to North Cascades on Friday night, stopping over in Chelan, WA to spend the night before continuing on to the park. North Cascades National Park is essentially a wilderness area that includes some of the most beautiful peaks in the Cascade range and is home to over 300 glaciers. It, along with Glacier National Park in Montana, is also the northernmost National Park in the continental US.

We met Kayla and Nate bright and early on Saturday morning at Columbia Creek Campground. They were nice enough to get things set up and reserve a spot for us, since they got there on Friday. Let me tell you though, Kayla and Nate are not minimalists like us. Those guys know how to camp. They came prepared with all sorts of good stuff that we could only dream of having room to pack. Spending the weekend with them was like camping in the lap of luxury.

After we unpacked our (minimal) stuff, we headed out for a hike to Blue Lake. In this part of the park, the Larch trees are beginning to change colors. Larch trees are coniferous trees that change colors and drop their needles in the Fall. Thank you to the park ranger that told us that fun fact.

Amanda and I among the Larches

After hiking through the trees, we came to Blue Lake, which is surrounded by granite spires and filled with cold, clear, mountain waters. To our surprise, there was actually a wedding ceremony taking place on one of the rocky outcrops that overlooks Blue Lake. So we all got to be wedding guests for a little while while we refueled before our hike back down the trail.



Blue Lake view, complete with a wedding party

After our hike, we headed back to camp to rest and relax by the campfire. You don't realize how important campfires are until you are outside at night when the temperature dips into the 20's. I don't care how many layers you have on, you are going to be cold. The campfire is the only thing that will keep your blood from turning to ice in your veins.

Unfortunately, the campfire can also be a dangerous companion. After Kayla educated us on the deliciousness that is roasted Starbursts, Amanda decided to heat one up to see what it was all about. Upon removing it from the fire, the charred Starburst began to drip. Instinctively, Amanda tried to catch the now molten sugary goo with her bare hand. Not a good decision. Amanda ended up with 3 small areas of 2nd degree burns, blistering, and throbbing pain on her left hand. Luckily she's a trooper who threw ice on it and didn't miss a beat. After applying a few Band-Aids and some tape she was good as new, though still a little disheartened about the whole incident.

Even boiling Starbursts
can't stop Amanda!

This trip, and our time in Crater Lake, has allowed Amanda to take full advantage of her new sleeping bag, which is rated to 0 degrees. She has been nice and toasty while sleeping like a baby despite below freezing temperature. Cold weather sleeping bags are worth every penny spent and every inch of space utilized in our packed car. Also, since she now has her own 0 degree bag, that means she doesn't have to take mine any more and I get to be toasty too.

Sadly though, our trip had to come to an end after breakfast on Sunday morning. However, it won't be long before we see Kayla and Nate again. They are coming to visit us for an Eastern Washington wine tasting tour in 2 weeks. We will be getting geared up for that, but in the mean time, we have to figure out what next weekend will hold. Anything is possible, so check back to see what the Tri-Cities has in store for us...

We all survived the weekend, phew!

Crazy Volcanoes

I'm feeling the pressure to keep our blog up-to-date, so in an effort to decrease my spouse's stress level I'm about to recap the journey we completed about 3.5 hours ago - a trip to our 6th National Park, Crater Lake. 

Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to say that despite the amazing experience we're having as we've dove head first into exploring the USA, we are learning just how much we appreciate (and miss) all of you - our family and friends.  We wish we could share this experience with all of you, but since we can't the blog has allowed us to do this the best we can.  However, it doesn't allow us to spend quality time with all of you and that is something we miss dearly.  We haven't been able to attend various family events, weddings, baby showers, annual runs/bike rides, birthday celebrations and many other events still to come, which we hate.  But please remember we are always thinking about you and love getting updates about what is going on in your lives.  So please feel free to send us a message or give us a call and update us on your lives, like some of you already have...it keeps us connected to home, which is very important to us.

So with that said, lets take a step back in time to approximately 6,800-7,700 year ago...

An artist's depiction of Mount Mazama.

There was a 10-12,000 ft mountain (Mount Mazama) in the southern half of a strip of large volcanic mountain ranges we now call the Cascade Range.  This particular mountain was home to multiple glaciers, as well as an angry magma chamber below.  Being a stratovolcano it underwent various eruptions with one that caused so much damage that the mountain could no longer support its own weight.  As a result, the mountain essentially collapsed and formed an enormous hole (caldera) where its peak once stood.  Over time the magma chamber dwindled but not before sealing remaining vents on the chamber floor. As a result, the sealed caldera was now able to hold tons and tons of water, eventually forming a very deep lake.

Thanks to these events we now have Crater Lake,
established in 1902 as a United States National Park.
 

The clarity and blue color of the lake is absolutely spectacular.  This is due to there being minimal sediment in the lake, which is fed only by rain and snow.  Crater Lake is 6 miles wide, 1,943 ft deep and holds 4.9 trillion gallons of water.  They average 44 ft of snow per year with the first snowfall occurring in September or October!!  That's a lot of snow!

After a long week of work (I promise we DO work!), we headed to southern Oregon driving along the Eastern (a.k.a high desert) side of the Cascade Mountain Range.  We had great views of snow capped Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson along the way.  Not too far from the northern entrance to Crater Lake National Park we saw signs for Lava Land and then saw part of Lava Land from the road...

Where the heck are we!?
This place is seismically and geothermally active with
lava flows and other crazy geologic features to see!
We missed our chance though, it closed
for the season on October 1.

Anyway, we spent 2 nights camping at Crater Lake National Park and were very lucky to have full access to the park and comfortable temperatures with it being the last weekend in September.  We took full advantage of our short time there and hiked our hearts out.  We started with a 3 mile (round trip) hike up The Watchman for spectacular, panoramic views and a sunset. 

Despite the haze from all the forest fires,
we could see Shasta Mountain in California!

The next day we moved to a different campground then hit the trails for a 5 mile strenuous hike to the highest point in the park at 8,929 ft, Mount Scott.  The terrain seemed strange since it is all volcanic material with loose sand-like dirt on the trail and steep walls made up of small loose rocks intermixed with huge boulders and twisted white-bark pines strewn about.  A hardy plant here and there added some color to the terrain, but the Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels were the entertainment on this hike.

Little guys have to eat too.

What a view!

Feeling very satisfied from this challenging hike we decided to hit up another trail labeled as strenuous.  The Cleetwood Cove Trail (2 mi round trip) is the only legal access to the lake itself since the loose volcanic rocks make it unsafe to descend toward the lake without a very well maintained trail.  The views and colors of the lake as you approach it are well worth the hike back up.  As an extra bonus, you can swim or fish in the lake as you wish.  We passed on swimming since we didn't have our bathing suits along, but realistically I would have required a wet suit with the surface water being between 55-60 degrees!  

We ended our day with a bit of education by attending Ranger Mike's last interpretive program of the season - Extreme Weather at Crater Lake.  We then headed back to our campsite and enjoyed a cool evening by a warm fire. 

Another unforgettable weekend.
Now it's time to plan for the next one...