In-Law Invasion

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day!

Sadly, due to unavailability of the ingredients, I was unable to have a traditional Irish breakfast for the first time in years on St. Patrick's Day. It was pretty tragic, but we discovered that St. Patrick's day isn't as big a deal out here as it is back East. I also learned that running the Hoquiam Leprechaun Dash 5K the morning after watching your co-worker's band play all night at a beer and wine festival isn't the best idea in the world. However, any ill feelings were quickly relieved when I was awarded first place in my age group. This was the first time I ever placed in a 5K. I was pretty psyched. They actually tried to award me first place overall (no lie) but it was only because of a timing error. Either that or they just liked my name and felt I should win based on that alone. Anyone who has seen me run knows I'm not fast enough to win a 5K race outright.

An O'Malley should always win on St. Pat's Day

I apologize for the lengthy delay between posts. I have been dying to write, but have been strapped for time. When there is a lag, such as this, between posts it generally means one of two things:

1) We are doing so much stuff that we don't have enough time to stop and talk about it.

2) Work is ridiculously busy and gets in the way of our blogging ability.

Currently, both are true. Which, when combined with Battlestar Gallactica marathons on Netflix, doesn't leave us with much free time. Finally though, the time has come to recount the incredible voyage that was Mom and Pop Funk's visit to Washington.

Amanda and I have been planning for this visit for some time now, and were excited that the moment had arrived when our plans could be put into action. After their Friday arrival, we got settled into our hotel in Seattle. The next morning, we set out to explore the city on foot. We took in the sights, smells, and sounds of Pike Place Market, which was followed by the Underground Tour. This tour allows you to see a hidden part of Seattle's history where sidewalks and storefronts from years ago continue to exist well below the current street level. It's a compelling tale that explains how Seattle, specifically the Pioneer Square area, changed over the years following the fire that leveled the city in 1889. Long story short, in the process of rebuilding the city, buildings were initially built on the tide flats which flooded with seawater and sewage twice a day. In an effort to combat this unfortunate and stinky occurrence, the city was gradually built higher, starting with the roads, which caused storefronts to be 8-10' below street level. The sidewalks that led to these lowered storefronts were eventually covered, resulting in a series of underground passageways. Over time, the use of these passages diminished, resulting in a buried city under Seattle. This tour allows you to explore 3 areas of this underground metropolis. For a better summary of the story CLICK HERE. If you want to read even more, CLICK HERE for the information on the history of the tour itself. I really recommend this tour to anyone who visits Seattle, it was both entertaining and informative. Just how we like our adventures to be!

The hidden streets of Seattle

After we resurfaced and dusted ourselves off, we got all dressed up and experienced dinner at the Space Needle's Sky City Restaurant. After getting over the initial motion sickness associated with the rotating floor, we had a fantastic dining experience. It was by far the most memorable dinner we have had since we began travelling. It was the perfect way to end our day in Seattle with the Funks. However, unless we plan on winning the lottery, I don't think we will be able to go back any time soon!


A little rainy, but it's Seattle,
what do you expect?



Our next stop was the Boeing factory tour on Sunday morning in Everett, WA. It is here that they make the 777, 747 Jumbo Jet, and 787 Dreamliner Jet. The scale of the building and all the machines is unfathomable unless you visit. We were all blown away. You really can't appreciate everything that goes into making these planes unless you see for yourself. So go see for yourself!

We finished off the weekend with some lunch and beer tasting at Red Hook followed by wine tasting at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. It was one heck of a weekend. Of course this was just the warm up. Mom and Pop still had another whole week with us!

While we toiled away at work during the week, the Funks went gallivanting across western Washington exploring places such as Lake Quinault, Ocean Shores, and Westport. They visited museums, casinos, lighthouses, and glass makers. Not a bad way to spend your week, huh? It certainly beat our week at work, that's for sure. We made up for it though by meeting up at night to relax and spend some more time together. We even went to trivia night at the 8th Street Ale House and our team, "In-Law Invasion" won prizes in two out of the four rounds. Not too shabby.

The second weekend together as a group was spent doing mountain based snow sports. Clearly that's what anyone who visits Washington in the winter should do. Just ask our last visitor Meg! We started out by introducing Mom and Pop to snowshoeing (surprise, surprise) at Mt. Rainier. Once again the weather cooperated and it was a perfect day, with blue skies, brisk mountain air, and fresh snow. I doubt we will get either of them, especially Pop (unless he starts the Charles Atlas fitness program), back in snowshoes anytime soon, but we know they enjoyed the majestic mountain views and winter solitude that only snowshoes can offer.

Mom and Pop, ready for action!

Mom and Pop getting all the action they can handle

Our final event of the marathon Funk Family Western Washington Vacation Extravaganza was a weekend at Crystal Mountain for skiing/snowboarding. Skiing conditions weren't optimal, but we still had a full day on the mountain, and were graced with spectacular views of both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. Nothing wrong with that. We rented a great mountain chalet about 30 minutes from the mountain where we could relax, play games, and watch movies. Unfortunately, the weekend was ruined for Pop when he couldn't produce the name of the main character from the show 24 during one of the games. The name Jack Bauer will forever haunt him. Sorry Pop.

On our way back to the airport hotel, we took multiple detours to places like Bill Gate's house and Microsoft's campus just so we could squeeze in as much as humanly possible. Eventually though, the time came to say goodbye. It was a jam packed 10 days of Washington festivities which gave Amanda's parents an extended glimpse into the ridiculousness that is our lives. It was phenomenal to have them here to be part of our travels. We had so much fun and many new memories were made.

Amanda and I are fortunate to both have supportive parents who have backed us on our decision to travel across country. Without the support of my Mom and Amanda's parents, as well as our friends and family, our current travels wouldn't nearly mean as much to us as they currently do. Thank you all for supporting us and being with us either physically as visitors or in spirit as followers of this blog.

It was great to have you visit,
thank you for making the trip!

Three Friends & Two Peninsulas

We've officially hosted our first visitor from Pennsylvania and after flying across the country to visit, we made her sleep on our floor because we have yet to get a replacement air mattress. Sorry Meg!!

Since our last blog post we've done a bit of local exploring including Lake Sylvia and Kurt Cobain Park. However, the real fun was taking a three day excursion around the Olympic Peninsula, which we were able to share with our great buddy from home, Megan.  She took a long weekend to make the trek west and take a peak into our currently abnormal lifestyle. 

We'll touch on local beauties first: Lake Sylvia is a state park in the town adjacent to Aberdeen. It allowed an easy afternoon trip to become experts at navigating with our new hand held GPS.  We stayed on track as we trudged along a wet, muddy trail in the pouring rain. 

Lake Sylvia
Luckily it's easy to navigate with or without a GPS!
 

The other spot we had yet to come across, but knew existed, was Kurt Cobain Park. It is named for the infamous lead singer of the grunge band Nirvana whose home town is our current place of residence, Aberdeen, WA. The park is quaint but a bit quirky and just a few blocks away from where Kurt Cobain grew up.  A golden retriever greeted us (then returned to his front porch post located next to the park) as we viewed the sculptures and memorial plaque set in place to remember the town's local musician. 
Two fun facts for you:
1. The last Nirvana album was From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, which is the river the park sits along (see picture below) and where Kurt did a lot of writing as he was growing up.
2.  Aberdeen's slogan printed on their Welcome to Aberdeen sign is "Come As You Are"... another Nirvana reference. 

Quirky: "Kurt's Air Guitar"

The Wishkah River at Kurt Cobain Park

Enough of this stuff...lets get to Megan's visit!  We spent this past weekend on the move after Meg's arrival on Thursday evening.  We only made her sleep on our floor for one night before heading out and then sleeping in cozy hotel beds.  We made time to show her around town, hit up a local breakfast hot spot then drove the 4.5+ hours to Port Angeles which is a northern town along the Olympic Peninsula where ferries run to Victoria, BC.  The weather was typical for the drive, quite a bit of rain; however there was a break in the clouds that allowed us to comfortably get out of the car and hit up the Pacific coast.

Beautiful scenery, beautiful people :)

We made it to Port Angeles with time to spare and were able to enjoy a leisurely night catching up.  We even had enough time to pick up equipment we needed for Saturday's adventure to Hurricane Ridge.  This is a place Charlie has been obsessed with since we knew we'd be spending winter on the peninsula.  It is within Olympic National Park and gets its name for hurricane speed winds (>74 mph).  It is open year round as long as the roads are passable and a great spot for winter snow shoeing, sledding, and skiing.  We were a little nervous about our plans because they closed the road on Friday due to high winds and white out conditions.  Luckily the weather unexpectedly cleared, the winds calmed, and we had fresh snow for snow shoeing!  Meg picked it up like a pro and we were off.  My favorite part was ending the day with a ranger guided snow shoe walk...I love to learn and rangers never disappoint. 



Look at all of that snow!!
Approximately 9.5 ft of snow, but who's counting.
The avalanche risk was considerable...eek!

Continuing around the Olympic Peninsula we made our way onto the Kitsap Peninsula and stayed in Bremerton, WA.  This town is home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and is separated from the Olympic Peninsula by the U.S. Hood Canal.  Poor Meg gave her all during snowshoeing and ended up under the weather Saturday night.  Luckily we laid low in Bremerton, she was able to sleep in Sunday, and get some medicine in her system before we took a ferry back to Seattle where her journey began.  We didn't have an exact plan of attack for Seattle, but spent time at Pike's Place Market and filled our bellies with delicious local foods before heading toward the airport.  It was tough to say goodbye, but we were glad to have the time we did.

Seattle and the Puget Sound
I spy with my little eye...the Space Needle.

It was awesome to share our current life with a great friend, but definitely made me more acutely aware of how removed we are from "normal" daily commitments and routines.  Sure we go to work every day, make dinner, always have laundry and cleaning to tend...but our other time is spent planning excursions and adventures, organizing and applying to be licensed PTs in a 5th state, blogging and trying to stay in touch with family and friends the best we can when being 3 hrs behind...

"Normal" is always a relative term, but we've definitely found a nice routine for ourselves that is not for everyone.  We are now okay with sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, sharing a family room with our bicycles, and buying only things we can eat or that will replace something else since we still need to fit everything into our Ford Escape.  It is pretty amazing to be able to slide into such an alternative lifestyle with someone you love...hopefully we can continue to slide this easily as our lives continue to evolve.  I'd say this was a good way to test out our sliding abilities!

After recovering from Meg's departure we're now prepping for the arrival of Mom and Pop Funk who will be entering Pacific Coast Time this coming Friday, March 1st.  They will be staying at a local hotel, not on our bedroom floor.  Stay tuned...

What a difference a year makes

It's hard to believe, but this time last year Amanda had already quit her job and moved back to Ephrata while I was finishing my last week at MossRehab and sleeping on the couch at my friend Meg's place. We had no idea what to expect, but all we were focused on was our grand vision of gallivanting across the U.S. together. Now here we are, all the way across the continent, living out our dream.

Sometimes we will just look through pictures and remember some of the great places we have been; Nashville, St. Louis, Yellowstone, San Francisco, and Yosemite, just to name a few. We will often comment how it seems like so long ago we did some of these things, but in reality it hasn't even been a year! Of course, it hasn't always gone according to plan, but that's been half the fun. It has also been a tremendous privilege to be able to use this forum to share our experiences with everyone and have you come along for the ride.

After returning back to Aberdeen from our very busy time at home in PA, we have continued exploring western Washington. A couple weekends ago we travelled to Woodinville, WA for the highly recommended Red Hook Brewery tour. It did not disappoint. For just $1, you are treated to a multitude of samples, history lessons, random information, and more samples. Fun fact about Red Hook: One of the owners is one of the founders of Starbucks. So not only is this guy making millions on Starbucks, but he is adding to his fortune with each delicious Red Hook sale. Some people have all the luck.

This is why we love Red Hook

We needed a few Red Hooks the following week though as we had some looooooong days at work. Our director of rehab recently resigned, so we are stuck in limbo until a new director is located. As a result, things are not running as smoothly as they should (not that things were all that efficient in the first place) and the paperwork began piling up. We eventually got caught up, but more than a few late nights in the office over the past two weeks have been necessary to do so. Fortunately though, our interim directors have been utilizing our feedback and are working to fix any issues and improve the way in which we do our documentation. It also helps that the other therapists we work with are fantastic people and make going to work a very enjoyable experience, even if you do happen to get out at 10:00 some nights and still have paperwork waiting for you the next morning!

Enough about work. Let's get to the real fun stuff, last weekends phenomenal adventure. I discovered this past weekend that God put me on this earth for one purpose. Snowshoeing. It might be too early to state this after only one time doing it, but I'm pretty sure I'm the best snowshoer ever. Ask Amanda, she'll back it up.

On Saturday we travelled back to Mt. Rainier with our co-workers Jen and Jared to play in the abundance of snow and to try out snowshoeing. After making our way through roads cut out of up to 12 feet of snow, we came to the area known as Paradise.

Snowplowing. Lots of snowplowing.

Here there was a snow park area for tubing and sledding. Since Jen and Jared are originally from Florida, they had never sledded. While I think it took longer to blow up the tubes than we actually spent using them, we made a few passes down the hills before we all took off on our ranger guided snowshoe walk.

Sledding at the base of a 14,411' mountain...check!

Jared and Jen's first ever attempt at sledding/tubing

Once on snowshoes, you can pretty much go where you want in the park. There's 12 feet of snow between you and the ground, so it's not as though you can really hurt any of the terrain. Both Amanda and I felt right at home on snowshoes. I was pretty much unstoppable. It felt so good that I was ready to climb to the summit in them. Amanda was no slouch either, as she kept trucking right along through the deep snow. After learning about all the behaviors of the animals brave enough to stay on the mountain during the winter months, the four of us headed out on our own. With our fancy new hand held GPS telling us where to go, we set out trekking across the mountain. We hiked past people digging snow caves, we went up to glacially carved overlooks, and up to a high enough elevation where both Mt. St. Helens and Mt Adams could be clearly seen in the distance. Snowshoeing is without a doubt our new favorite activity. It opens up a whole new wintry world that would otherwise be impassable (or at least really really difficult to traverse).

Who looks good on snowshoes? WE DO!

12' of snow is no problem at all



Views like this are why you get snowshoes

Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier is just one example of the kinds of new experiences we have been exposed to since we completely altered our lifestyle about a year ago. While it has been, and will continue to be, incredibly tough to be away from family and friends, we feel that we are taking advantage of this whole experience as best we can. Thank you all for supporting us over this past year and we continue to look forward to sharing with you what is to come.

One final item to share. I think we are going to be ordering air bed number 4. It seems the replacement airbed from Coleman has sprung a leak. Looks like it's back to sleeping on the floor until we get this all figured out. Yet another one of the fun "experiences" of life as a traveller!



British Columbia to PA in Just Four Days

Happy 2013!  A new year with new adventures to share.

We haven't wasted time finding more places to see and things to do in the great state of Washington, however we did finally make our first trip out of the country to our friendly northern neighbor - Canada, Oh, Canada!

Before I dive into our exciting trip north (then east), I'll briefly share how we rang in the new year.
Sadly, we worked late on December 31st, but treated ourselves to a drink and live music at a local bar called the Pour House (or the "Po House" due to burnt out bulbs).  Much to our delight we ended up with a free drink and paid $1, instead of $6, for a cover charge!  Happy new year to us! (Don't worry about how we got away with that.)  Being old and lame we left the bar way before midnight to play a board game.  It was strange receiving happy new year messages from home.  Turns out Pacific Coast new years are pretty anti-climatic, especially when you don't have cable!  Regardless, we enjoyed having New Years Day off and sleeping in.  It was a brisk, mostly clear day which meant we had to get outside and so we did.  We hit up the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge which was recommended by some co-workers.  A hidden gem behind a small town airport.  This refuge is a great spot for bird watching.  It is located at the mouth of the Chehalis River with muddy tide flats that attract hundreds of thousands of shorebirds each year.  There is a well maintained boardwalk trail that makes for a nice walk through the marsh, mudflats, and wooded areas.  Winter is a less active time for shorebirds,  however we were excited to see a grandiose owl soaring above and landing nearby. We ended the day with home cooked meal and a night of Netflix.

As Charlie noted in a previous post I was under the weather for a few weeks in December and still hadn't been able to shake the ailment the first week in January.  Turns out I simply needed an overdue visit with our kayaking and camping friends from northern WA, Kayla and Nate (plus a night of sleep on a non-inflatable bed). They were nice enough to invite us to Kayla's hometown where they made us feel right at home.  We stayed at Kayla's parents' house and were lucky to meet her welcoming family.

Nate, being a dual citizen who currently lives in Canada, had a Canadian adventure planned for us.  Fueled by Kayla's mom's homemade sticky buns and healthy smoothies we drove <10 miles to the border and entered British Columbia, "The Best Place on Earth."

Enough said.

We headed toward Vancouver (the capital of B.C.) where we made a stop at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  Here we trekked across the 230 ft high Capilano suspension bridge that was originally made of hemp (eek!).  We also made our way through the temperate rainforest via a cantilevered walkway jutting out from a granite cliff, then we continued on to Ewok Village which they prefer to call Treetop Adventure.  We prefer Ewok Village.



Treetop Adventure, a.k.a Ewok Village

He clearly belongs in Treetop Village

 Needing to be refueled after some hunting with the kind Ewok above, we made a stop at the infamous White Spot, an enjoyable Canadian dining experience where they offer french fries served in a way that will clog even the healthiest persons arteries.  It is a Quebec dish called poutine (pronounced poo-teen) that covers french fries with brown gravy and curd cheese (and leaves you with a belly ache).  We capped off the belly ache with palate cleansing gelato where we had 218 flavors to choose from (pear and blue cheese was NOT the winner).  We ended the day with a walk along the Burrard Inlet, which is part of  the Vancouver Harbor and within Stanley Park.  An awesome end to a great day spent in Canada, Oh Canada!

What would we do without these guys?

Before I bid farewell I cannot forget to mention that, as the title of this blog states, we went from Canada to good ol' PA in a 4 day window.  We were finally able to make it home after 6 months away...the longest stretch thus far.  After our weekend with Kayla and Nate we spent Monday at work then booked it to the Seattle airport where we took a red eye flight (which is no fun, especially when Chuck ends up with ginger ale spilled in his lap) to BWI.  We had just five days home with four of them being weekdays.  We focused on immediate family and were excited to fit some quality time in with a few friends along the way.  It was 100% refreshing to be home and we want to thank everyone for being flexible and spending your free/hectic moments with us!  Can't wait to see more of you in April.


Non-stop action Kiera!

Anna wants in one all the excitement.
I can't blame her.

We have returned to WA with 13 weeks to go and know that time will disappear.  We're planning our remaining weekends and making special arrangements to host some upcoming visitors from home...stay tuned.

Happy Holidays!!

Amanda and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! We missed you all during this holiday season. It was incredibly tough being away from all of our friends and family this Christmas. It is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit when the people you are so used to celebrating with are now 3,000 miles away. It is also tough when you have to work on Christmas, ugh. However, one thing that did lift our spirits was when we stepped outside on our way to work we were greeted by a surprise white Christmas. Snow is very rare here. Despite all of the precipitation this area receives, the temperature generally does not drop low enough for snow. According to the National Weather Service, there is only about a 10% chance of having a white Christmas here each year. 2012 was the exception. Aberdeen got about 1" of snow and some nearby areas got up to 4". Seeing that was the highlight of our morning and eased some of our angst about being away from home and having to work.

One inch of snow never looked so good.

Fortunately we only worked a little over half a day and had plenty of time to Skype and/or call our families. While the Skype session with the O'Malley/Doyle side of the family didn't go as planned (lasting only about 2 minutes due to technical difficulties) it was still great to see everyone, no matter how brief the encounter was. We more than made up for it though during a marathon Skype session with the Funks. Watching the organized chaos that is our 2 little nieces tearing open presents made us feel right at home, but with the added benefit of not being on cleanup duty afterwards. 

All in all, it was a very good but very different Christmas. It obviously would have been nice to be home for it, but at the same time I think we now have a better appreciation for the importance of being with family during the holidays.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas we were keeping busy though, which helped take our minds off of the fact that we wouldn't be home for the holidays.

As a preface, Amanda was supposed to be the one designated to post about her 30th birthday extravaganza, but she has been under the weather lately and understandably hasn't felt up to blogging. So I'm going to do my best to recreate the celebratory events of this momentous occasion.

Amanda has been pretty anxious about turning 30. The prospect of being done with her 20's has not been sitting well with her. Therefore, I wanted to make sure she had a birthday to remember. First, everyone from work chipped in to have a cake, snacks, drinks, a card, and an all important certificate of achievement for turning 30 prepared for her. This allowed us to have a nice lunch time party for her, the first work related birthday party Amanda has ever had.

Turning 30 is quite the achievement

That weekend I took Amanda to Portland to celebrate in style. Now, I will admit I am a cheapskate when it comes to hotels. As long as it's not completely sketchy, I want the cheapest hotel when we travel somewhere. This often results in Amanda being displeased with our accommodations. In an attempt to make up for this, I booked a fancy pants hotel in downtown Portland. The Hotel Monaco is a very modern, very swanky establishment catering to only the finest of travelers. It was amazing. We enjoyed a complimentary wine/beer happy hour with live music and chocolate tasting, free coffee and hot chocolate bar, and had access to free bike rentals for touring the city. In addition to this we were provided our very own goldfish for the room (to improve the atmosphere) and a bottle of champagne with rose petals on the bed because it was Amanda's birthday. We could not have been more pleased with the service.

Not bad for a hotel lobby.

We can at least pretend to be fancy.

In addition to walking around downtown and visiting the numerous shops, restaurants, and the weekend craft market, Amanda and I visited two Christmas events in Portland. First, we went to Pittock Mansion. This is a historical mansion built in 1914 that overlooks the city of Portland and was owned by The Pittock family, who ran The Oregonian newspaper. Currently, the mansion is owned by the city of Portland. There are tours throughout the year, but during Christmas the mansion is extravagantly decorated and carols can be heard throughout the house. It was a great way to meld the history of Portland with the sights and sounds of Christmas.

Gloomy weather outside the mansion...

...all the Christmas spirit you can handle inside.

That night we traveled to The Grotto, which is just east of Portland. This is 62 acre botanical garden and Catholic shrine to Mary. Each year this site hosts the Festival of Lights, which consists of a Christmas light display, hourly choir performances, and roaming carolers. The rain held out just long enough for us to enjoy the outdoor light display before we headed into the chapel to hear the choirs. While we saw a women's choir who were phenomenal, the highlight of the night was listening to the PHAME Academy Choir. This group was made of adults with developmental and/or mental disorders who express themselves via the arts. Not only was the crowd moved by their energetic and heartfelt performance, the choir was loving the spotlight. Between songs, they could be seen cheering each other on and fist-pumping as the applause rained over them. You couldn't help but be inspired by their enthusiasm.

The PHAME Academy deservedly stole the show.

After our Portland Birthday Bash, we planned to head to the mountains last Saturday for a day of skiing/snowboarding. Unfortunately, that's when Amanda started feeling sick. However, being the trooper that she is, she toughed it out and stuck to the plan. We traveled to Crystal Mountain, arguably the best ski area in Washington.

8 feet of snow fell in the 7 days
prior to our Crystal Mountain trip!

The conditions were absolutely perfect. It was the best time I have ever had snowboarding. Despite being run down and fatigued, Amanda mustered up every ounce of energy she had and spent most of the day on the slopes. While it was impressive at the time, I think it might be contributing to her inability to shake whatever is still causing her to feel sick. Hopefully a restful few days this weekend will help her recover. After all, New Years is coming up and we need Amanda back in action!

Rest could be hard to come by though, since we have had yet ANOTHER issue with our mattress. Remember when we were bragging about getting a luxury air mattress? Well, it is no more. One night, at about 2:30 AM, we awoke flat on the floor of our bedroom. Apparently a seam on the air mattress busted in the middle of the night, causing a 6-7 inch gash that rapidly expelled all of the air we were sleeping on. I would give anything to watch a video of us plummeting towards the ground as we slept. Luckily, it is under warranty, but we are still awaiting out new mattress from Coleman. In the mean time, we are roughing it by using our sleeping bags. It's like we get to go camping every night!

Well, there's your problem.

Less than ideal, but making the best of it.

Since this is the last post of 2012, and it's already insanely long, I'm going to take a few more lines to say how amazing this past year has been. There has been so much change, so many unbelievable experiences, an increased appreciation for our friends an family, and so many amazing people that have entered our lives. We are so thankful for all of it and can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for the O'Malleys.

Hopefully no more bed issues, we have had enough for one year.

Rain? Who Cares...

Come Tuesday or Wednesday Charlie and I begin itching for a new adventure.  It keeps the dreary weeks moving when we're planning and looking forward to something new.  We've been working in Western WA for about a month now and decided it was time to head north into the Olympic Peninsula.  One side note I'd like to include is that WA is true wilderness and my cautious side has definitely taken form as we begin to explore wild Washington in the winter.  I can't help but get slightly anxious and feel my stomach churn as I am repeatedly faced with warning signs in regard to natural dangers surrounding us.  Here are just a few examples: AVALANCHE DANGER, Extreme Danger Zone - CLIFFS (positioned just beside an intermediate ski trail), tree well and deep snow safety: snow suffocation hazard.  And don't forget that we currently live in a tsunami hazard zone!  Lets just say I'm slightly overcautious at this point, but I think we'd be crazy not to be!!!  Charlie loves my older and wiser cautious side (Amanda says sarcastically).

Scary, right?!

Where was I?  Oh yes, the Olympic Peninsula, which is home of Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest, various logging communities, reservation land, and we can't forget the town of Forks.  Forks is where the Twilight book series is based, which seriously increased the tourism (from approximately 10,000 to 73,000 visitors) for this small town of roughly 3,500 people.  Pretty impressive.

We decided to make our first trip into the peninsula a day trip so that we could spend one day getting our shed, I mean home, a bit more Christmasy.  The weather forecast showed Sunday as having less constant rain, so Sunday it was!  We rose early and headed out before sunrise to make the most of the short day.  With limited time we chose two areas of interest to focus on, Lake Quinault and the coast.  After driving for about an hour we veered from the main road, highway 101, to take a scenic drive around Lake Quinault and along the Quinault River as daylight finally arrived.  We stretched our legs to take a walk along a short trail leading to the world's largest spruce tree.   

This Sitka Spruce tree is 58' 11" in circumference and 191' tall!
Whoa baby!
See the orange spec at the bottom? Those are Charlie's pants.

The drive took us into the Quinault Rain Forest and allowed us to dip slightly into the southwest portion of Olympic National Park. We were in awe of the lush vegetation but pleasantly surprised when we were greeted by bald eagles and herds of Roosevelt Elk. We saw at least 10 bald eagles either perched high in trees or gracefully soaring through the air. As for the Roosevelt Elk, we saw a bull and herds consisting of females and calves. One herd crossed the road about 200' from us. Luckily they provided a show and did not trample our beloved Ford Escape.



I don't make this stuff up...

Rainforest.  Female Roosevelt Elk.

We left Olympic National Park psyched about all the wildlife we'd just encountered but turns out I was ready for a nap.  Luckily Charlie is a champ and let me rest my eyes until we arrived in Forks.  Cute little town with some good Diet Pepsi (to wake Amanda up) and Kettle cooked Jalapeno potato chips (to reward Charlie for his top notch driving).  Rejuvenated, we continued onward and arrived at Second Beach trail head.  This is part of the Pacific coastal strip designated "wilderness" under the National Park System.  Interestingly, protection of this land is shared by the NPS, Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.  We began a short hike through the forest as we headed toward the beach in as much water proof and water resistant gear as we could put together.  We didn't have to work very hard to enjoy the awesome rugged and rocky beach that was at the end of the trail.  We spent a long time exploring the beach, climbing on the slippery rocks and searching tide pools for cool creatures. Check out the pictures, they are better than words...

Beautiful Sea Anemone

Starfish everywhere!

We had enough daylight for one more slightly longer hike to Third Beach.  Creative names, huh?  This beach was unique with two opportunities to see fresh water meeting the ocean. 

This picture is for you Lindsay Knepper!

Satisfied and only slightly damp as we peeled off our many layers, we were ready for a good meal to end the day.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Salmon House Restaurant that was recommended by one of Charlie's patients. The garlic bread and fresh salmon hit the spot while the ambiance of a fireplace, a slide show of local natural wonders, and mounted wildlife all around made it that much better. 

We returned to reality for another week of work and the last few days I'll spend in my twenties. :( 

Until next time...I'll bid you all farewell as you continue preparing for the busy weeks ahead.  Take time out to remember what the Christmas Season is all about! 

Merry Christmas!!

 

Playing in the Rain

I just can't help myself. I know 2 posts in 3 days might be a bit much, but I can't stop thinking about how behind we are on the blog. It's my blog driven OCD coming to the forefront again. So let me fill you in on all of our rain soaked western Washington adventures.

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.

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.

Before

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.



Mt. Baker, covered in snow

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!

Yosemite. Need I Say More?

As I was telling Amanda tonight, for some reason I feel ill when we are behind on blog updates. Is this a bad omen that means I'm becoming obsessive compulsive over this blog? Does it indicate that I just miss family and friends and want this blog to be the life line that keeps me connected to them? Maybe both?

Probably both...definitely both.

Well, here goes another attempt to get you closer to being caught up to what we are doing and where we have been. After all, this blog is for you. Sure, it's a great way for Amanda and I to look back on the ridiculous things we have done, but ultimately it is a way for you to feel like you are riding along with us.

When we left you last, we were heading to Yosemite from Sacramento, a trip we could not have planned any better if we tried. First, we had unseasonably beautiful weather for the duration of our time there. Normally most roads and camp sites are closed by early November due to bad storms and heavy snowfall. However, we saw nothing but clear skies, meaning all areas of the park were accessible. Also, at this time of year, there aren't as many visitors, so we didn't have to fight through crowds to see the magnificent sights present in this amazing National Park. It was perfect.

Upon arrival to the park, we headed to the visitor center in Yosemite Valley. In a stunning turn of events, we were unexpectedly greeted by none other than Shelton Johnson. For those of you who don't know him, he is a park ranger extraordinaire and one of the stars of Ken Burns' documentary on the U.S. National Parks. We were enthralled with this documentary and particularly enjoyed Shelton's commentary. He is so passionate about the National Park System. It was an honor to speak one-on-one with him and we took all of his advice to heart. If you get a chance, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" is available to watch on Netflix and is well worth the investment of time.

Shelton Johnson: Rock star

After talking to Shelton, we were amped up and ready to attack Yosemite. We knew we only had 2 days to explore and wanted to make the most of it. After we set up camp, we hiked to Columbia Point, which gave us a great view of Yosemite Valley.

Overlooking Yosemite Valley

When we awoke the next morning, we knew we had to hustle because it would be a busy day. First we traveled north to Tuolumne Meadows for a spectacular hike to Cathedral Lake. We encountered various terrains, including mud, snow, and boulder fields along this hike, but once we reached the lake, we knew why this is one of the most scenic areas of the whole park.

Sometimes stacked rocks
were your only trail markers

 

The fruits of our hiking labors

After finishing this hike, we made the long drive south to Glacier Point. As Shelton told us, "It is against the law to come to Yosemite and not go to Glacier Point." It did not disappoint. Glacier Point, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains as a backdrop, offers spectacular views of the majestic Yosemite Falls (a 2,425 foot waterfall) and rock formations such as Half Dome. If you can't appreciate the absolute beauty of nature from this viewpoint, there is something seriously wrong with you. It has to be one of the most breathtaking places on earth.

This is why you come to Yosemite

After the sun had set on Glacier Point, we headed back to our camp site to reflect on the whirlwind tour of Oregon, the Redwood Forest, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Yosemite that we had just undertaken. Our only regret was that we didn't have more time to spend in each place. Once again though, our timing was impeccable. As we packed up the car and headed out of Yosemite, the storm clouds which would bring the first major snowfall, and subsequent closing of large areas of the park, began rolling in.

We successfully avoided the snow, only to return to the relentless rains of Aberdeen WA. Honestly, it rains just about every day. But don't worry, it hasn't stopped us from continuing our adventures. Our next post, coming soon, should get you up to speed on all of our rain (and snow) laden escapades. That should also put my crazed, blog-centric mind at peace. I can't wait!