Always Onward Adventures

We kicked off our first backpacking trip of the season this weekend - the forecast was for rain so we decided to embrace it and head out to the rainforest. We had done the Bogachiel river rainforest last year, so we opted for the Hoh river rainforest this year. We were destined for rain, but we had all the right gear so we were ready… :) But first, we headed out on a Friday afternoon and stopped for dinner on our way to the trip. We stopped for pizza about 2 hours out of Seattle and got a great pizza with some ice cream and cobler for desert. Just the right dinner for a big/strenuous trip into woods.

Bryce canyon was our second national park of the Utah national parks trip. The park was much smaller than I was used to, but there were still plenty of things to see/do. Bryce is a hikers national park (vs canyoneering at Zion) and most of the things you want to visit are day hikes (although some of them can be quite long for a day hike). There was only one trail that we didn’t do (or at least not all of it) out of the the list of the top hikes in the park. Next time we come, a multi-day backpacking trip on the Under the Rim trail will be on top of the list.

Welcome to Zion! When we had our Galapagos plans fall through, we decided to meet up with the family in Utah for a National park trip - starting with Zion National park. We only spent 3 days here, but we did get a good taste of the park through some canyoneering and biking. Zion is known for Canyoneering - which is where you climb up/down steep walled canyons often by walking through/in the water. We rented gear (big waders & felt soled boots) and took the bus up to the start of the narrows. There were a lot of people for the first 1-2 miles (note the first picture below) but it thinned out as we kept going.

Sara and I have been taking van trips for over a year and a half now, so now seems like a good time to show the grand tour - of both day and night mode. This has been underway for a while - every trip we make one improvement or another, until here we are! Here’s what our little girl looks like when we’re ready to explore: Your browser doesn't support embedded videos, but don't worry, you can download it and watch it with your favorite video player!

After having such an amazing time at Diablo lake a few weeks ago, we decided to head back with the kayaks. The goal was to pre-position the kayaks at the head of the lake, drive to the other end of the lake, hike to the kayak, and then kayak back down the lake to the car. It was a big trip, but we were excited. 2022-04-01 The first order of business was to drive up to the North Cascades. We left late on Friday so we stopped of in our standard rockport for dinner at the brewery there. This is a really fun place, and Sara played and played on the chaulkboards and markerboards they had on the walls.

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.

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. We did a bit of hanging out that evening but had an early night to prepare for the crazy day we had ahead of us.

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.