Archive for August, 2019

In another stroke of superb timing, the rain stopped falling on Friday morning just as we emerged from our tents.  Look at these lucky ducks!

Juliette has loved, loved, loved having our buddy Jordan around this summer – he’s got such a gentle, silly soul that really speaks to the spirit of our five year-old.

We truly had nowhere to be on Friday, so breakfast was extra-long and followed by a La Croix chugging contest between Jordan and Jack.

This is what you call “making your own fun” for the 40-and-over crowd, I think?

Jordan was strangely amped-up after downing 12 ounces of seltzer water in 15 seconds flat and challenged the guys to a swim across the lake.  “Across the lake” is a loooong way, so Juliette and I tagged along on the paddleboard to keep an eye on them.

They actually made it quite a ways out there before turning around.  Nance, Isaiah, Jules and I herded them back to shore.

I don’t know that there was a single moment over the next several hours when there wasn’t someone out in the water, paddling or floating or swimming or wading.  We had all found our happy places.

Oh, Jordan.  Always good for a laugh.

These three-dollar Target floaties are by far my best bang-for-the-buck summer purchase!

This is summer, folks.

We brought the party back to camp late in the afternoon, where we changed into dry clothes and popped open a cold bottle of rose.  First though, ice cream appetizers at the general store.

Remember that job interview Shane had to stay back in Seattle for on Wednesday?  It went well.

La Verne and I went for a sunset stroll after dinner along the trail to the Lake Quinault Lodge, and ho-ly golden hour, this place glows.

The Rust clan headed out to the Hoh Rainforest on Saturday morning while we stayed back with the Chens for a nearer-by hike.

This icy little creek was the perfect place for Shane to cool his heels.

 

Buddies!

…and buddies!

We scrambled over some roots, crossed a bridge, and then bee-lined back to camp to change into our swimsuits.

We did more paddling and floating and played a few rousing rounds of log-jousting, which the kids thought was hilarious.

By this point in the weekend we had depleted our beer and wine rations, so we headed to the lodge before dinner to sip margaritas and watch the kids play tag on the nicest lawn ever.

We convened at camp for one last sunset, one last round of s’mores, one last night at what was shaping up to be my new favorite spot to pitch our tent.

Hard as it was to leave our idyllic lakeside compound, we were all in pretty desperate need of a shower by Sunday morning, so we packed it up right after breakfast, snapped a few pics, and hit the road.

Juliette’s goodbye with the Rust family was drawn-out but so sweet.  Bunch of huggers, these five!

‘Till next year, you crazy cats.  Quinault 2020?

Though Shane was up at the crack of dawn back in October trying to secure us a summer campsite on Orcas Island, he had no luck – I thought he was the only guy that planned camping trips nine months in advance, but apparently there are other people that wait with bated breath for site reservations to open up.  Foiled!  We weren’t just gonna roll over and give up our lakeside dreams, though. Nancy and I did a bit of research and found ourselves four nights at a lovely waterfront site at Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula.  Pack that paddleboard!

Juliette and I met the Rusts at camp on a Wednesday evening at the end of July – Shane had stayed back in Seattle for a job interview, with the promise that he would join us by the end of the week.  Juliette barreled down the road on her scooter with the boys while I set up camp.

Our tent turned out to be a bit big for the site, but Jason and Jordan came up with a totally solid workaround.

It had been a long day of packing and driving and missing Shane, but I washed away any residual angst with a sunset paddle.

We lounged around camp Thursday morning, enjoying the water view and a poetry reading by Jason around the campfire.  This is about as mellow as it gets!

We eventually rallied for a mid-day hike at Graves Creek, where we strolled among the Sitkas and crossed paths with a couple of llamas.

Juliette lost steam mid-way through the hike and I was fresh out of Skittle bribes to coax her along. MAJOR kudos to Jason for somehow getting her to skip-jog the two miles back to the car!

We returned to camp hot and tired and ready for a dip.  This stretch of beach next to our site turned out to be headquarters for the rest of the week.

These PNW lakes!  Nothing better.

I love this kid’s summer uniform.

The rest of the gang, including Shane, rolled up Thursday evening.  Shane got right to work moving our tent (he was having none of that propped-up corner business) and then settled in for chili and s’mores.

We zipped ourselves into our tents on Thursday night just as the rain started; before long the gentle pitter-patter had turned into a full-on all-night downpour.  I burrowed deeper into my sleeping bag, crossing my fingers that the storm would pass by morning – we had so much more paddling to do!  I thought we had paid our rain-dues at Rainier!  I know the weather-gods actually don’t keep track of such things, but Friday was…magic, actually!  Those pics coming up next.

I fell down an Internet rabbit-hole late one night when looking for the best campsites in the PNW and tip-toed into our bedroom as Shane was just starting to doze, my laptop balanced on one palm as I leaned over him and asked quietly, “Think you could take a couple of days off in July to camp at Mount Rainier?”  Thus, a reservation at Cougar Rock Campground was secured for one of the last available sites on two of the last available nights.

We wound our way down Paradise Road on a Sunday afternoon, stopping at every turn to ooh and ahh at the panoramic views…

And then settled into camp with some hammocking and reading and game-playing.

After we’d fully chilled-out, we drove down the road to the rushing Nisqually River for more mountain-gazing.

We went for a short hike but soon circled back to the river to perch on a couple of rocks to take in the day’s last rays.

This has gotta be as good as a summer evening at the base of the mountain can get…

Sunday’s sunshine made us hopeful that the drizzle we’d seen in the forecast would stay at bay.  Shane was so bold as to leave the rainfly off the tent that night, but I woke at 2 am to a damp pillow, so he awkwardly (expertly?) strung up our rainfly in the dark, snuggling back into his sleeping bag just as the rain stopped.  It was just a passing shower.

Or so we thought.

We heard the pitter-patter of raindrops around 6 am and burrowed deeper into our sleeping bags, hoping it would let up by breakfast.  At 8 am, as the rain fell harder, we dashed from our tent to the car and zipped up to the Paradise Inn for waffles and bacon.  We would wait out the rain from the cozy interior of the lodge.

At 10 am we were still waiting!  We left the lodge and drove down the mountain, hopeful the rain would let up by the time we hit the hiking trails.

The mist made for some magical landscapes, but was really starting to dash my paddle board dreams!

We eventually found ourselves back in our tent, where we ate lunch and played games and took a monster nap.  Surely the rain would let up later that afternoon.

We heard the pitter-patter stop around 3 pm and hopped into the car, eager to get out and stretch our legs.  We drove toward Snow Lake, stopping along the way to check out gushing Christine Falls.

We pulled up to the Snow Lake trailhead just as the dang rain really started up again.  Of course this couldn’t last all day, so we had a snack in the back of the car while waiting for the skies to clear.

And…the skies didn’t clear.  It was around this time that Shane asked if we should just call it and hightail it back to Seattle and our warm, dry house, but I remained optimistic in denial.  We’d been wanting to explore Rainier for years!  This was our chance, dammit!  I knew I was being entirely unreasonable, but Shane sensed my determination and so we headed back to camp and managed to start a campfire in the drizzle.

Bright side: this weather was good for snuggling.

Dinner was only slightly misty and then Juliette and I managed to get out for a quick stroll around the campground.  It seemed the skies were clearing – Tuesday would be AMAZING!  PLEASE GOD LET TUESDAY BE AMAZING!

The clearing skies clouded over again on Monday night and spilled forth a several-hour downpour, but finally, the rain let up on Tuesday morning as we were breaking down camp.  Juliette declared this the “worstest camping trip ever”.

But when I asked her if she still had fun, she said “of course I did, Mommy!”

We crossed our fingers and headed east toward the Naches Loop trail for that elusive mountain hike.  These misty roads weren’t reassuring…

But we took our time, popping out to take some pictures while the fog burned off (burn fog, BURN!).

We landed at Tipsoo Lake and the Naches Loop trailhead mid-morning and while it was hardly a bluebird day, it wasn’t raining, so we seized the moment and set out into the white abyss.

I love gray and green, but it felt so good to see some new colors along the way.

The mist didn’t lift, but no matter – it was warm and not raining and still all kinds of magical.

We stopped for lunch at the crest of the loop, which apparently offers epic views of Rainier on clear days.  I’ll have to take the other hikers’ word for it.  However, we did manage a brief, beautiful glimpse of Dewey Lake.

These Rainier wildflowers!  They’re the real deal.

This was most definitely worth a full day of rain.

Cheers to these two for sticking it out with me – there’s no one else I’d rather be trapped in a tent with.