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...

Playing Hard In The Northwest

We certainly aren't bored here in Washington. We are still finding great places to go just about every weekend, and as mentioned by my lovely counterpart in her previous post, I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT!!!!

With rapid fire speed I'm going to get you all caught up with what we've been up to. Enough of this lagging behind. No more playing catch up. Here we go!

After our amazing trip to Mount Rainier, we decided to stay local for a weekend. Luckily we had the Benton-Franklin County Fair going on here in the Tri-Cities. So Saturday afternoon we headed to the fairgrounds to "Rock with the 'stock". This fair comes complete with big name music acts, carnival games, rides, livestock shows, and a smorgasbord of food. The food was calling us, and it did not disappoint. We got burritos, bacon wrapped hot dogs, ice cream, and kettle corn. Unfortunately we didn't have room for the ever popular elephant ears, which are basically fried dough covered in sugar and cinnamon. Our bulging stomachs and quickly clogging arteries thanked us for passing that one up. However, the highlight of the fair ended up being the Dock Dog Competition. This involved trained dogs jumping off of a makeshift dock into a pool. I know it sounds weird, but we sat there for a good half hour watching these dogs launch themselves into the air. The current world record holder can jump over 31 feet. Watch the video below and tell me you aren't impressed.

After a nice weekend in the Tri-Cities, we were ready to hit the road again for Labor Day Weekend. This time we were off to Portland, OR. Amanda wanted to hit up an outdoor art festival, and I was more than happy to tag along. Portland is the kind of city that just has a really nice feel to it. Sure there's a bunch of hippies running around who may or may not shower, but it's safe, clean, and has most anything you need right within walking distance. Assuming you know where you are going that is. We got hosed on a cab fare because we thought the area we wanted to be at was near our hotel. Oops. Two $30 cab rides later we learned our lesson.

Following our unexpectedly pricey night on the town, we drove north, back into Washington, for a kayaking and wine tasting tour. This unique adventure was Amanda's brainchild, since she discovered it on Groupon. First, we enjoyed 2 hours of guided kayaking on Silver Lake, which is just west of Mount St. Helens. Here we learned about the 1980 volcanic eruption, how this lake was formed from a previous eruption, and all sorts of other fun facts about the area's wildlife.

The view from Silver Lake

Here's our crew cruising along

This was immediately followed by a private wine tasting at Mount St. Helens Cellars. When I say private, I really do mean private. We were at the owner's house, literally doing the tasting in their garage. All tolled, we got thirteen wine samples, which was completely ridiculous.



Welcome to the garage...
I mean tasting room

Amanda checking out
the wine making process












As an added bonus, we even made some new friends on the trip. Kayla and Nate are a couple from north of Seattle who, like us, enjoy a good adventure. Needless to say, we got along quite well. We are currently planning some trips with them, so you'll be sure to hear more about them in the future. This day though, Nate stole the show. The owners of this winery were looking for someone tall to don a Bigfoot suit and pose for the label of their newest wine, Sasquatch in a bottle. Nate was a natural and played the part perfectly. Everyone is eager to see what the label will look like, but here's my vote for which photo to use:



Nate: Part Sasquatch, part stud

That night we set up camp deep in the woods of Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We were nowhere near civilization, in complete solitude, surrounded only by the enormous evergreens Washington is known for. It is such a welcomed escape to find places like this.

Yep, that's the view we woke up to

That being said, we immersed ourselves in the hustle and bustle of big city life by travelling to Seattle the next weekend. We were attending a physical therapy course on shoulder rehab, but it also worked out that our good friend Kate Rook was visiting Seattle at that time too. She used to live in Seattle, but now works in Philly at MossRehab. So after sitting through hours of lectures and lab work, we met up with Kate and she gave us quite the tour of Seattle. She was full of all sorts of facts including history, geography, economics, and current events. You'd be hard pressed to find a better Seattle tour guide. Plus, it's always nice to see a familiar face from home.

Best. Guide. Ever.

Unfortunately, on the drive home from Seattle, we came across a wildfire. It was crazy. We just turned a corner and saw a whole hillside in flames.

Just one of over 200 fires

As of this posting, there are over 200 wildfires actively burning in Washington. There are some mornings we wake up to what smells like a campfire, ash might be laying on our cars, or we see a haziness blurring the skies. This is all a result of the thousands of acres currently burning up. It is a very different place we live in here.

It is also a land of dramatic contrasts. While you have fires consuming forests, you also have glaciers feeding ice cold rivers. Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the latter by going whitewater rafting on the White Salmon River. Once we arrived at Wet Planet Whitewater we got geared up and ready to hit the water. However, we noticed we didn't quite fit in with the rest of the people there. This was even more evident when they had roll call, which went like this:

-Guide: "O'Malley, group of 2?"

-Us: "Here."

-Guide: "Chi, group of 28?"

-The Chi Family: "HERE!"

Yeah, that's right, Amanda and I were the only white people on this rafting trip. There were two other couples rafting as well, but they were a mix of Indians and Asians. So all together our rafting group consisted of 29 Asians, 3 Indians, and 2 Caucasians. Go us.

It ended up being a great group though. We paired up with the other couples while the Chi family divided themselves up and we headed down the river. This river consists of Class III and IV rapids, with one Class V rapid. So yeah, it gets rough at times and you definitely get wet. Oh, and did I mention the water temperature is only about 40 degrees? The splashing of the rapids will definitely wake you up.

At one point along the trip, there was an area where we had to get out and hike through the woods to avoid a waterfall that was too dangerous to raft over. Once you hiked to the top of the waterfall you had two choices, jump off a cliff about 30 feet above the water into the frigid river and swim to your raft, or keep hiking to get back to your boat. We made the obvious choice that any sane human being would make, we jumped!

Luckily, they don't even give you time to think about it, they just say "1-2-3, JUMP!" and off you go. Next thing you know you hit the water and are being swept down the river as you struggle to swim back to your raft. It was pure exhilaration though. And yes, the water temperature is still only 40 degrees. It's only after you get back into the boat and you see other people doing it that you think, "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea."

At the end of the raft trip, you are given one final choice, you can either hike back to the Wet Planet headquarters or ride over the only Class V rapid in this section of the river. This rapid is known as Husum Falls. It's not so much a rapid, as it is a 12 foot drop.

File footage of Husum Falls

Of course, Amanda, myself, and our group agreed to attack Husum falls. The guides do a great job of preparing you for how to brace yourself and reduce your chances of falling out of the raft. No one from our boat fell out, but it is scary because after you reach the bottom of the falls, your whole raft literally goes underwater before you pop back up and continue to float downstream. It was one of those moments that leave you speechless because you can't possibly describe what just happened. I have always wanted to go whitewater rafting and this trip was everything I hoped it would be. I loved every second of it. It was easily one of the best experiences we've had thus far.

We haven't gotten the pictures from this trip back yet (we took a waterproof camera), but we will post them as soon as we get them. In the meantime, you can check out Wet Planet's video about the White Salmon River trip to get an idea of what we experienced.

As a little something extra, here is a great video I found on YouTube that is a compilation of rafting groups going over Husum Falls. Thankfully, we were more successful than the groups featured in this video. Enjoy!

Well, there you have it. All caught up. We've been trying hard to keep you in the loop with where we've been going and what we've been doing. Every time we thought we gained ground, we just kept slipping back. But finally, you are all caught up with our adventures. Hopefully we'll be able to stay on task and give you up to date information, as opposed to old news. Thanks for being patient while following us on our journey.

National Park #5

After another sunny day in eastern Washington, I'm ready to reminisce about our 1st big experience west of this high altitude desert.  So sit back and relax...here we go!

We wanted to take advantage of a 3 day weekend we built into our contract knowing that it would take us longer to drive to weekend destinations then it did in the Midwest.  With so many outdoor wonders in these parts it was hard to know where to start, but we made the decision to head west (& slightly north) toward the 5th National Park on our American adventure - Mount Rainier.  As it turns out, our 5th National Park was also the United States of America's 5th National Park, established in 1899.

Mount Rainier's peak stands at 14,410 ft.
10,643 people attempted to climb to the peak in 2010,
4,920 people actually made it to the summit.

Mount Rainier is considered an active volcano approximately 50,000 years old, young compared to the surrounding Cascade Mountains that are estimated to be at least 12 million years old.  It last erupted in the early to mid 1800's, thus it poses risks that are associated with the volcano as well as its glaciers, i.e. mud flows (lahars) & glacial outburst floods. 

With it still being summer, the park campgrounds fill up quickly so we did some research and decided to try a "rustic" campsite just southeast of the park boundaries.  A patient of mine recommended this site as well, so we felt good about it, but hoped it wasn't too much of a hot spot as we deviated from the paved road in the direction of Summit Creek campground.

Much to our (my) surprise 5 out of 6 campsites were open!  I say that I was surprised, not Charlie and myself, because Charlie seems to think I'm a pessimist, I think I'm a realist.  Anyway...it was a relief to get our site set up and then take our time to explore the area a bit and eat our lunch by the flowing stream just below the campsite before heading to Mount Rainier.

Charlie, one with nature.

By early afternoon we were entering the park via the southeast entrance and quickly learned that Mount Rainier National Park has a lot more to offer than just the giant mountain in the middle of it. We spent our first afternoon in the Ohanapecosh area, which is not accessible during the winter months due to road closures. Ohanapecosh (please don't ask me to say that out loud!) is teeming with green forest and the refreshing smell of pine. We learned this area is an old-growth forest made up of multi-layered canopies with Douglas firs, western red cedars, and western hemlocks.  With the guidance of a park ranger we found ourselves on a 5 mile hike that followed the Ohanapecosh River.  The river originates from a glacier on Mount Rainer and has stunning clear water appearing turquoise in color. 

Look at that water!
(Don't mind the awkward girl in the picture.)

We passed a variety of water falls and then found ourselves crossing a very precarious suspension bridge with a sign that suggests only one person at a time walk on it.  This took us to Grove of the Patriarchs, a small island that is home to thousand year old trees and feels somewhat magical, like stepping back in time.  Trees this old are big, very big.

I told you they are big.

Evening was approaching so we headed back to our wonderful campsite, cooked dinner over our open fire (easily started thanks to Aunt Betty's fire starters!) and hit the sack excited for what our second day in Mount Rainier National Park had to offer.

We headed back into the park nice and early on Saturday with Paradise being our destination.  Paradise is centrally located at the base of Mount Rainier, has the park's main visitor center, and is the hub of winter activities in the park as it averages 53 ft of snow per year.  We were unsure of exactly where we'd be hiking because we're finding the best place to get a detailed map of National Park trails is from a visitor center in the area you'll be exploring.  Another ranger led us in the right direction as we set off on Skyline trail, a 5.4 mile loop to 7,100 ft (not even half way up the 14,410 ft mountain).  We were once again in awe of nature's beauty as we were surrounded by subalpine meadows and forests, interspersed with creeks running down the mountain from the many glaciers above.  Parts of the trail were covered with large amounts of snow from the precipitous winters.  We were glad to be wearing hiking boots!



We decided to veer from the Skyline trail to ascend a bit further and and make contact with a portion of the Muir Glacier, a snowfield where avid skier & snowboarders will hike to get a summer ride in.  This type of skiing takes a bit too much effort in my opinion.  Charlie went a little further than I did, hiking a bit up the snowfield and loving it.  It was a strenuous but gratifying hike and truly put perspective on how mighty this mountain is. 

We hope to return to Mount Rainier National Park this winter and experience it from a whole new perspective wearing snow shoes or cross country skis.

We've had additional adventures since visiting Mount Rainier, which Charlie is very eager to blog about, so keep an eye out for another post in the near future.

Summertime at Mount Rainier

What Adventurers Do In The Tri-Cities

You might be asking yourself, "What the heck are Charlie and Amanda going to do in the middle of Washington's desert?" Good question. We wondered the same thing when we were heading here. Fortunately, this area averages over 300 days of sunshine per year, so being outdoors is always an option. And really, what more do you need?

The first weekend we got here, everyone told us to check out the Water Follies. Sounds great, but one problem was that we had no idea what that meant. After some research we found out that there is an annual power boat race on the Columbia River, known as the Water Follies. Well, if it has an engine and is racing, you know I'll watch it. So that Friday, July 27th for those keeping track of time, we headed down to the river to see what this Water Follies business was all about. I was immediately impressed. These boats go over 200mph while racing on an oval course that is marked off by buoys. How they keep those things in the water is beyond me. We took some video of qualifying, see for yourself:

If power boat racing isn't enough for you, the Water Follies also gives you an air show!

Parajumpers got things started



EVERYONE loves a jet fly over

A Coast Guard rescue demonstration

Can you believe it? This was almost too good to be true, for me anyway. Unfortunately, Amanda was losing interest at this point. She was a trooper though, and we stayed through the air show. No races were held that day, just qualifying, but it was still a really cool experience and a way to dive head first into what the Tri-Cities has to offer.

Another popular outdoor activity in the Tri-Cities is going for an afternoon float down the Yakima River. All you need is a tube, a sandwich or snack, some sunscreen, maybe a few adult beverages, and you are all set. The Yakima River is basically just a big creek, so there's no real rapids or anything like that to deal with. Just think of a natural lazy river. Plus, we live right next to the river, so it is fantastically convenient.



Here's our 5 mile, 2.5 hour float path down the Yakima

There is no better way to spend a hot summer day in the Tri-Cities than floating down the river. That is unless you are Amanda, who decided to get a giant gash in her tube about 2/3 of the way down the river on our first trip. It was equal parts hilarity and tragedy. She was trying to flip over on her tube and somehow snagged a rock, thus destroying her float. The best part though, was that she had no idea she was sinking. Despite the fact that she was chest deep in the water, she somehow was unaware that her float was completely submerged and heading towards the river bottom. The rest of the float was not nearly as relaxing since we had to share a single tube, but we made it. Amanda has since gotten a new tube and has successfully made it down the river without incident.

Coincidentally, the same weekend Amanda's raft was violently deflated, we noticed that our air mattress (yes, we sleep on our air mattress since we live in an unfurnished apartment) was losing air. We just can't catch a break with our bed situation. First, there was the duct taped bed fiasco in Olney, now we need to have a patchwork air mattress. After finding the leak, we attempted to patch it both inside and out, but it still continues to leak. We have tried everything, but have now reserved ourselves to the fact that we must pump our bed up every night and pray it makes it through until morning. Thankfully it's a slow enough leak that we have managed well up to this point, but it is definitely an ongoing inconvenience.

When we aren't floating down the river, we have been taking trips to places in the area, such as Palouse Falls, which is about an hour and a half northeast of here. Do you remember from "A Long Way From PA: Part 4" when Amanda so eloquently detailed how there was a giant lake over what is now Missoula, MT in the Ice Age that would periodically release millions of gallons of water when its ice dam broke? If not go back and read it because you clearly aren't paying close enough attention to our blog!

For those of you who do recall that, Palouse Falls is a remnant of those times. It was carved out by the massive amounts of water rushing across eastern Washington. It's even more impressive because the last thing you would expect to see in the middle of a desert is this amazing waterfall. There is phenomenal hiking around the falls and along the upper part of the river, so we had a great time exploring.

The main falls at Palouse

The smaller upper falls

After leaving Palouse Falls, we headed south to Walla Walla, WA. This is a nice little town with great wineries and an excellent downtown area. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to spend here, but we will definitely be going back to enhance our Walla Walla experience.

The reason we didn't have much time in Walla Walla was because we planned to go to an astronomy lecture and star gazing event planned at LIGO, a gravitational astronomy center outside of Richland. Amanda saw that LIGO was hosting this event because the height of the Perseid meteor shower was that night. This is an annual meteor shower that occurs when the Earth's orbit passes through the debris field left by the comet Swift-Tuttle. LIGO opened up their facilities until 1:00 am and even let people use various telescopes. The sky was perfectly clear, with "Ooohs" and "Aaahs" frequently being heard from the crowd. The head astronomer even pointed out when the International Space Station and an Iridium satellite flare could be seen.

By the way, Iridium satellite flares are no joke. When they come into view, they light up the sky for about 5 seconds, but they are amazingly bright and almost look like a UFO. The reason they are so bright is because they reflect the sun off of giant antennas that are attached to the satellite's structure. Basically, they act like a mirror and during this brief time they reflect the sun and are the brightest thing in the night sky. And no, we are not ashamed to say that we got excited about an astronomy lecture. If that makes us giant geeks, then so be it. Surprisingly, we ran into one of our new co-workers there, so it was good to know we weren't the only science nerds working at Tri-Cities Home Health.

So as you can see, we are definitely keeping busy and having some fun here in the desert. However, we did recently take a trip away from the desert. But you'll have to wait for Amanda to tell you about how we climbed Mount Rainier. Ok, maybe we only climbed half of Mount Rainier, but you still have to check back soon to hear about it.

A Long Way from PA: Part 4, The Finale

I'm ready to bring it home...here goes nothing!

I will begin with a fun fact:

American Bison (aka buffalo) were near extinction in the 1800’s due to Westward expansion and human greed.  The bison population decreased from the hundreds of millions to <1,000 by 1890.  Luckily, the remaining bison were accidentally trapped in Yellowstone when it became a National Park in 1872, ultimately saving them!

Thank you Yellowstone!  Those beasts are impressive and Bucknell would be lost with an extinct mascot.

They might have tiny legs,
but they can run >30 mph...don't get too close!

We sadly said goodbye to Yellowstone on Saturday, July 21st.  Day 10 of our trip led us into Montana.  We drove through Bozeman, Butte and finally Missoula, which was our last planned stop on this cross country trip.  A highlight of our drive through western MT was lunch at Joe's Pasty shop in Butte.  Charlie insisted we make this stop because Man vs. Food was there; luckily he didn't participate in a food contest.  He did, however manage to scarf down a very heart unhealthy pasty while I dined on a grilled cheese sandwich.  Interestingly enough we found out that Joe's really is the place to be in Butte because an entire wedding party squeezed in the small restaurant while we were there.   


Clearly one's first choice of places to eat.

I've given into eating meat,
 but this I can't put into my body.

With full bellies we were ready for a shower at the luxurious Motel 6 in Missoula, MT.  It took some time to get checked in because their computer system had just crashed (to be expected), but we were rid of our Yellowstone grime before 4pm and ready to experience Missoula.  We loved this city - hitting up local breweries, a weekly farmer's market, and window shopping at the artsy/eclectic downtown shops.  Missoula is a small city of 67,000 people located in a valley along the Clark Fork and Bitteroot rivers.  The Northern Pacific Railway runs through this city and it is home to the University of Montana, which includes an excellent School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences.  Additionally, Lewis and Clark met just south of Missoula not once, but twice, splitting-up in hopes that they would find a cohesive river that traversed across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.  No such luck.



Lewis & Clark's Expedition: 1804-1806.
Pretty impressive.

Okay, time for another fun fact:
Common day Missoula was covered by water just 13,000 years ago.  The lake was approximately 950 ft deep and called Glacial Lake Missoula. This lake caused major flooding throughout western MT, ID and WA as its natural glacial dam would give way and release massive amounts of water ultimately emptying into the Pacific Ocean. 

At this point in our trip we'd already been given the news that my job wasn't going to pan out due to Washington's slow licensing process.  Ironically we found out 2 days later, before arriving in Missoula, that we had officially received our WA licenses.  Now the question was, where will we be in WA?  With it being the weekend we knew we'd be in the dark until at least Monday, so why not stay an extra night in Missoula?  We went back to our camping lifestyle and hit up our first KOA (Kampgrounds of America).  If you are looking for luxurious camping, we highly recommend a KOA, especially the one in Missoula. They have hot showers, a swimming pool and hot tubs, mini golf and a nightly ice cream social!  I got a little too excited about the ice cream and ended the night with a stomach ache...ugh. 

When Monday rolled around we were ready to head further west, closer to our final destination: ??, WA.  But before we left we had one more thing to do in Missoula, climb the infamous Mount Sentinel "M" trail.  This trail leads to a now concrete "M" that was originally made from stone and created by the University of Montana's Forestry Club in 1908.   We climbed the 620' zigzag trail with many other locals out for some exercise then hit the road.



Mount Sentinel's "M"

View of Missoula from the "M"

Unfortunately the new week did not bring with it immediate answers to our location & work dilemma.  Thus, we felt more nomadic than ever before and found ourselves trying too hard to enjoy the end of our amazing westward adventure.  As a result I won't take much time to cover the end of the journey which included a single night of camping in Spokane, WA that felt like an eternity.  After a lot of back and forth with our travelling recruiter we were finally given the okay to head to the Tri-Cities where we would both be doing home care PT. 

Luckily our original destination was the Tri-Cities so we had a head start on our housing situation.  We were in Kennewick, WA (1 of the 3 "Tri" cities) by Tuesday evening.  We spent all day Wednesday hunting for apartments (that are mostly filled to capacity!  What the heck?!), locked down our sweet digs Thursday morning, camped out one more night, then moved into our unfurnished apartment Friday afternoon.  A bit of a whirlwind, requiring the purchase of 2 stools and microsuede saucer chairs from Target/Walmart for seating, but we had a place to call home before we started our new jobs on Monday morning.  Whew!! 

Our 10-11 day trip turned into 15-16, but like we've said before, we signed up for this crazy life and we can't expect everything to work out like we plan. 

In summary, we drove >3,500 miles, visited some great friends, have a new appreciation and uncontainable excitement for our National Parks, became more efficient campers, and found a new home away from home in arid, eastern Washington.  Most importantly...we are still happily married.

We miss you! 
Come float down the Yakima River with us!

A Long Way From PA: Part 3

Before we get into how incredibly awesome it was to see Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone, let me just say that it is really difficult to condense a 14 day cross country adventure into a handful of short posts. I admit now that I was a fool to think that we could share all of our experiences, sort through/post all of our pictures, and get settled into our new place all in a week's time. Stupid!

So unfortunately you'll have to wait a little longer to know what we are currently up to, but as a nice consolation prize you get to hear more about our road trip across America. I hope that will suffice.

One quick note about The Badlands before we move onto Rushmore, The average amount of time visitors spend in The Badlands is 45 minutes. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The park rangers say most people pay the admission, drive the loop, and then leave. That, to me, is a travesty. I could have spent days there. I urge you all to take time and enjoy our national and state parks, don't just do a drive-by, that's a cop out.

See how happy I look? That's because
 I spent more than 45 minutes at The Badlands!

After The Badlands, we trekked over to Mount Rushmore. I have always been intrigued by Rushmore and had to see for myself what it is all about. Sure, you always see it on TV, but let me tell you, TV doesn't do it an ounce of justice. The size and the detail are stunning. The fact that Gutzon Borglum looked at this mountain and visualized carving four faces in it just blows my mind. The fact that they pulled it off is almost impossible to comprehend, especially when you see it in person. As you walk along the Presidential Trail, the signage and displays do a really great job of giving you insight into how Rushmore came to be and why Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln were chosen. While this was one of the shorter stops on our drive, it was definitely one of the most interesting. This place is truly a marvel of ingenuity and creativity on an incredible scale.

Fact: You can't fully appreciate this until you see it in person

After Rushmore, we headed southwest to Cody, WY to get some rest before we entered Yellowstone. Cody is this great town best known for being founded by Buffalo Bill Cody. While it is obviously a modernized city these days, it still gives you the feel of being in the Wild West. There is a nearby rodeo, the Irma hotel (built by Buffalo Bill) is still in full operation, and in true Wild West fashion there are gun fights every night. It was the perfect layover before entering into the otherworldly experience that awaited us on the other side of Yellowstone's gates.

Let me start off by saying Yellowstone is enormous. Its 2.2 million acres is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. We did our best to see as much of the park as possible in the 4 days and 3 nights we were there, but it is really just too big to see in that short amount of time. In order to do it right, you'd really need a full week to see most areas of the park without having to frantically run from place to place. However, since we didn't have a week, we chose the plan that included frantically running from place to place. Thankfully, we got good advice from a family friend, Fran, who told us the best path to take through the park so that we could maximize our time there.



This is Yellowstone, enough said

Since detailing everything we did in Yellowstone could be it's own 3 part blog series, I'm going to try to condense our trip into the Cliff's Notes version.

• Should we at some point have children (holy crap that's a scary thought), my mission is to bring them to Yellowstone. If we don't have children, my mission is to bring myself back to Yellowstone. You guys can come along too if you like, but I'm definitely going.
• By having Grand Teton National Park just south of Yellowstone, it's like getting two parks for the price of one. We were fortunate enough to have time to make a day trip down there to see the scenery. We were not disappointed.

Well worth the extra drive south into Grand Teton

• Yellowstone is the perfect way to see first hand how nature is equal parts beauty and destruction. There are the rolling hills, picturesque mountains, lush valleys, wild animals, and crystal clear waters contrasted with boiling hot springs, bubbling mud pots, geyser eruptions, and the most foul smelling sulfur vents you can imagine which are all fueled by a super-volcano that lies just 3 miles beneath the surface of Yellowstone.
• That's right, Yellowstone is actually one giant volcano. The magma chamber beneath Yellowstone starts just 3 miles underground and extends to 410 miles deep. That's a lot of liquid hot magma. It hasn't erupted in 650,000 years, but if it does, I think we are in trouble.

Even Dr. Evil knows that's a lot of magma

• I (ignorantly) just thought Yellowstone was filled with wildlife and beautiful scenery. I had no idea the extent to which geothermal formations played a role in the park. In fact, if it weren't for the geysers, steam vents, mud pots, and hot springs, Yellowstone probably wouldn't be a national park. The scenery and wildlife are just icing on the cake.
• When you see these geothermal features, and the surrounding land, you'll feel like you are on another planet. It's kind of creepy, but really cool.



Mammoth Springs



A mud pot in the
Sulfur Cauldron

A steam vent in the
Porcelain Basin





The massive, but unpredictable Steamboat Geyser

• I think it's pretty neat how they can predict Old Faithful's eruptions, but overall I was a little underwhelmed. Too much hype. There are, in my opinion, way better parts of the park, such as Grand Prismatic, Upper and Lower Falls, and Mount Washburn.

Old Faithful, eh.

Grand Prismatic, now that's what I'm talking about

Yellowstone's Upper Falls

• Speaking of Mount Washburn, the view from the top of this 10,223 foot mountain makes you realize just how massive Yellowstone is. For as far as the eye can see, you see Yellowstone. The best part about it though, is that it's a hike just about anyone can do. It'll take some time and effort, but there are great trails that are not overly strenuous. If you are there, do it. Do it.

10,000 feet above Yellowstone

• One of the things I said to Amanda during our trip was, "I need to see an animal that could kill me." I'm not saying this was one of the most intelligent comments that has ever left my mouth, but there was something inside me that wanted to see a predator in the wild, preferably from a distance, but I wanted to see one nonetheless. While we didn't get to see a wolf, my wish was granted one morning when a black bear came into our campsite looking for food. I would say the closest it got was about 100 feet away, so not a real threat, but I think it is important to recognize that we are not above nature. Seeing an animal that powerful helps you to respect nature and understand your place in it.

I'd like to thank this bear for not mauling us all

• Another night while camping, there were coyotes outside the edge of the campground. We just sat in our tent in silence and listened to their howls. You simply can't beat that experience.
• Fun Facts: 
• People used to use the hot springs near Yellowstone Lake to cook the fish they would catch.
• Also, other people used to put dirty laundry into Old Faithful so that when it erupted, clean clothes would fly out.

My last comment about Yellowstone is this, each year thousands of small earthquakes occur at Yellowstone. These impact all of the geothermal features that the park is known for. Therefore, the park is ever changing. If we go back there 20 years from now, it could be totally different, or if the volcano erupts, it might not be there at all. So if you get a chance to go to Yellowstone, I truly recommend it. If you can't get there, then watch some of the documentaries about it. It's really just an amazing place. I can't say enough good things about it.

Well, I'm getting all worked up thinking about Yellowstone, so I'm going to sign off on a high note. Amanda will be bringing you the dramatic conclusion of our cross country story when she's feeling more in "blogging shape". Until then, just know that all is well here in Richland, WA. Work is going smoothly, and we have lots of good stuff that's waiting on the back burner for us to share with you when we finally get caught up.