We didn't know what to expect when we started our new jobs at Hoquiam's Pacific Care Rehab but were immediately shocked by two things on our first day:
1) Despite no orientation a full caseload of patients, including evaluations, awaited us.
2) Most of the therapy staff are travelling or contracting therapists.
This meant that despite a hectic work situation, we were going to be surrounded by young and fun people, just like us! This fortunate situation has facilitated the majority of our weekend excursions to this point. It is such a good group of people to be around. Everyone is looking to hang out and do stuff, which is great because Amanda and I love to hang out and do stuff!
Most notably, there are two other couples we are spending a lot of time with. Jared and Jen are two occupational therapists that are from Florida and contracted to work at Pacific Care Rehab for 2 years. There is also Jennell, a travelling physical therapist from Montana who will be here through January, and her husband Brandt. They are all just normal, adventurous, and outdoorsy people who we immediately got along with.
On our first weekend, we were recruited to go razor clam digging. Even though we had no idea what we were getting into, we excitedly agreed to partake. After buying our licenses, some rain gear, and galoshes, we studied the art of clam digging on YouTube and felt prepared to find some clams.
This cheesy video was our guide:
We had to wait though, because the best time to dig for clams is at low tide, which didn't occur until 9:00 at night. So there we found ourselves, on the beach, covered in darkness, pelted by rain, and with our new crew of friends ready to go hunting. Even though it was virtually impossible to spot the craters used to target the clams, Amanda was unstoppable in the early going. She was catching clams left and right. Unfortunately, she lost interest and focus, causing her numbers to drop as the night went on. I had a hard time spotting them initially, but redeemed myself by finding the biggest clam of them all. After 1.5 hours of combing the beaches, we all left with our fill of clams and headed home to dry off.
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| Our catch: 9 clams and a sand dollar |
Once again we turned to the Internet to figure out how to dissect the meat from these clams. It actually ended up being a fun, but tedious, process. Once the clams were all hacked up and the meat harvested, we turned it into clam chowder. Lots of clam chowder. We will have enough to easily last us through April.
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| Before |
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| After |
Following our clam weekend, we headed to Olympia, WA. This is the closest major city to the Aberdeen/Hoquiam area and the place to go if you want to do any shopping or movie watching. We decided to do both. We went to REI's garage sale, started our Christmas shopping, and saw Flight. All three we successful endeavors. We found some good deals at REI, started crossing off items from our lists of people to buy for, and really enjoyed the movie. Olympia is a great place to find entertainment and get away from the low key coastal region.
After we returned from Olympia we realized that snow was falling heavily in the mountains and some of the ski areas were beginning to open. The mountains were calling and we had to answer. Amanda and I found a great cabin to rent near Mt. Baker in northern WA. Jared, Jen, Jenelle, and Brandt were just as psyched to hit the slopes as we were. When we arrived on Friday night, the snow reports showed a base depth of over 50" of snow. From Friday through Sunday over 20" of snow fell, and we were in the midst of most of it.
While on the mountain on Saturday, it was near whiteout conditions, with heavy, wet snow that was more than knee deep in some areas. Amanda actually got stuck in the soggy powder at one point. She totally freaked out, acting as if she would be forever buried in the Mt. Baker snow. I couldn't even go near her to help until she stopped flailing her arms and ski poles for fear that I would be impaled. Fortunately we got her unstuck and she enjoyed the rest of the day without further incident. I had my fair share of mishaps too. There was so much snow falling that you couldn't see the contours in the terrain and it was easy to lose control and fall flat on your face. I wouldn't have traded it for anything though. I was just happy to be on a high altitude western mountain with real snow. Even in less than ideal conditions, this was better than any east coast snowboarding I have experienced.
What made it even better were the luxurious amenities, including a hot tub, awaiting us at our cabin following a day on the snow. We had an amazing time with our new friends, relaxing, eating, sharing stories, and just genuinely having a good time. It was a perfect ski/snowboard weekend.
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| Mt. Baker, covered in snow |
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| No snow here, just a sweet cabin |
Fun fact about Mt. Baker: It currently holds the record for most snowfall on any mountain in a single season at 1140 inches, or 95 feet, during the 1998-1999 winter season.
That is just a completely ridiculous amount of snow. As I compose this blog, there is now 117 inches of snow at the base of Mt. Baker. Compare that to Blue Mountain in PA which currently has less than a 12 inch base. No contest. Mother nature is the only snow making machine needed at Mt. Baker.
Now we are back to the work grind, awaiting this weekend's new adventure. There are plenty of options around here, hiking, skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, going out in the city; we have it all. There is no shortage of things to do here. We are confident that we're going to have an exciting time in western Washington, and we can't wait to share it all with you over the next few months.
...and now I can sleep, we are all all caught up!
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