Always Onward Adventures

Diablo Lake - Kayaking version

So - we had so much fun in hiking in the north cascades the last time that we decided to go back, this time with Kayaks. The plan was to drop our kayaks off just below Ross lake dam, right at the end of the Diablo lake trail, and then hike the Diablo lake trail to get to them and kayak across Diablo lake back to the Van - traveling down the long arm of the Diablo lake from Ross dam.

VanTrip

Diablo Lake

Back at it after almost a month since our last trip - Sara’s ski lessons, Angela’s sisters trip, and overall sickness created a perfect storm and prevented the adventures for a bit. We went to the north cascades last weekend and spent some time exploring the area around Diablo lake/highway 20 before the closure. I really love this area, it’s relatively close to Seattle (2.5 hour drive) but it’s so remote, especially before the highway opens.

Winter

Hurricane Ridge & Forks

After visiting Hurricane Ridge ski area a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be a fun trip to go back with skiis and give the $20-lift-ticket ski area a try. It was super fun and Sara had a blast - grabbing onto the rope tow was a learning experience and she realy had to put her whole body onto it to make it work. :) Anyway, more on that later.

Wine

Wine Tasting in Walla-Walla

No van camping on this trip - but we had such a fun time anyway that I decided to make a post about it. This weekend was Diane’s Birthday and we headed to Walla-Walla for some wine tasting/drinking to celebrate. We hit up three wineries and had a delicious dinner in Walla-Walla - then found a fun hike and brewery on the way back home. We (Angela, Sara, Tom) ended up leaving a bit late on Friday and made it to Walla-Walla fairly late (around 7) and got our dinner on the way.

VanTrip

Ski Trip

Bit a a different trip this weekend, Sara has ski lessons on Saturday morning and I got a half day ticket to ski with her in the afternoon. The plan was to head to a Washington ghost town after that, but more on that later. Sara’s first magic carpet ride with her group lesson - they need to be able to slow down and turn before they go on the carpet.

VanTrip

Hurricane Ridge and Rialto beach

For our first trip of 2022, we had a whirlwind adventure - hiking in the snow to climbing over logs on the beach. Sara started Ski lessons, so our first van trip of the year was Sunday and Monday of a long weekend (Saturday was ski lessons). There was alot of driving on this trip, more than I expected, but we got to see it all, snowy mountains, rainforest, and a very stormy (and rainy) beach.

VanTrip

Baker Lake - with Snow

Welcome back! Baker lake, round two. I think our plans must have changed 3 times before this trip - from Mt St Helens, to Langley, and finally to Baker Lake. The weather called for rain/snow all weekend, but we didn’t let that deter us! Sara made the final decision, she wanted to see snow. Baker lake had some obvious advantages - clear roads (to support the Dam there), I knew the landscape, and the hike I was planning (Baker Lake trail) was in the trees so, theoretically anyway, it shouldn’t be as windy/stormy - as it likely would have on St Helens.

VanTrip

Ft Flagler

We made a last minute decision to head to Ft Flagler this weekend (near port townsend). The origional plan was to head to Mt St Helens but the forecast was for lots of wind and rain, so we decided to change it up a bit. There is a drive-in movie theater that we were going to try and Ft Flagler an old historic fort with lots of trails and places to explore.

VanTrip

Quilcene

First trip since Lasik - We had plans to go to Mt St Helens to do some hiking and see the caves/observatory, but I realized at the last minute that Sara needed to get her passport (an appointment I made 3 months ago and forgot about) and I had to take her out to Port Townsend to get it - which is basically the opposite direction. So we packed up early on Friday and headed out to Port Townsend for passport paperwork… After the appt, we headed up to an area called Quilcene - a town of ~500 people that borders against the national forest and national park.

VanTrip

Wine country Bike trip in Walla Walla

Wine country is open! We went on our first bike ride van camping trip last weekend - a great test drive of the new van setup with tow bar/bike rack and our first wine country trip to eastern Washington - and we picked a great weekend to do it with all the rain in Seattle. We left on Saturday morning with the aim of getting to Walla-Walla mid afternoon to start our first bike ride.