West Coast -- Trip home

Saturday morning we set out from the cabin right on time around 9am. The girls had a hard time saying goodbye to Nana and Bob, but were also feeling homesick, so they were happy about going home. The drive from West Glacier to Missoula was absolutely gorgeous. We drove along the east side of Flathead Lake and all the horse pastures and cherry orchards there were just so beautiful, not to mention the lake itself. I have to say that I'm lock-stock and barrel sold on Montana--totally love that country! We arrived in Missoula with enough time to stop and grab lunch at an Italian place near the airport. The little airport was so tiny that Evelyn commented that it didn't even look like an airport at all. She had a point--those small-town airports have a casual, homey feel that is really quite different from the big city airports we're used to. Jonathan had gotten a First Class upgrade for the flight home and graciously offered the seat to me, which I gratefully accepted. I promptly fell dead asleep and when he came to check on me mid-flight I was apparently completely zonked. I must have slept pretty much the whole way because I don't really remember anything about the flight--I woke up when we started our descent into Chicago. On the second (shorter) leg of the trip I sat with the girls in coach. Everything went smoothly and all our luggage arrived at the carousel before we even made it down to baggage claim. On our way to grab a taxi we ran into some friends from First U who had also been out on the West Coast and had gone to Crater Lake, Ashland, and some other places we had also visited. It was fun to briefly compare notes with them. We got a cab to our house and the girls fell asleep on the drive into Pittsburgh. When we arrived, Evelyn had been fast asleep but she pulled her head up, saw the house and immediately said, as perky as could be: "I'm not homesick anymore! I just got to be the luckiest girl in the world because I'm HOME!!"

West Coast -- Glacier, whitewater rafting

Friday morning we got up and had such an amazingly organized departure from the cabin that we actually arrived at our rafting pickup point ridiculously early. We signed in and then had time to kick around in the various shops in the vicinity. Around 10am we boarded the bus and had a rousing time on our ride up the river with the guides and the other folks rafting that day. I had a little trepidation when I looked around and the next littlest kid on the trip was a boy who was probably 10 or so. There were lots and lots of..... guys. Not even that many women on the bus. And here we were taking our tiny little girls on this adventure. Yikes! They seemed fine, not that worried, except that Evelyn was disconcerted that she couldn't understand the guide who was talking to us on the bus He was mostly shouting out trivia questions such as, what is the Montana state fish (Answer: the blackspotted cutthroat trout) and basically trying to get everyone pumped up. Once we got to the river, we were paired with two really nice couples from Scottsdale--Becca & Dave, and Bill & Sandy. The four of them sat in the front of the raft, J and I sat in the next row with Ev between us, and Nana and Bob took up the rear with Sierra in the middle. The first part of the day was just floating calmly down the flat part of the river. We were hoping to see some wildlife and we did see an eagle and some other interesting birds, but no bears or mountain goats or anything like that. At lunchtime the guides all put up these amazing collapsible grills on the beach, we all brought burnable wood for them and they were cooking steak and chicken burgers right there on the rocks (and veggieburgers for us rabbits, of course). They also had a really nice spread of other appetizers and salads. Great meal! Back in the boat, we hit the white water in the afternoon. Everyone was having fun, the girls even seemed enthusiastic through the biggest, roughest rapid--named the Bone Crusher. In the next rapid, however, (the Eye of the Needle) we hit a rock on the back right corner and lost Bob into the water. The way he described it later, he was paddling away and suddenly went up in the air. When he came down, there was no boat beneath him! He got safely and quickly back into the boat and was surprised that the water was not nearly as cold as he expected it to be. Unfortunately losing Grandpa Bob overboard was more than little Ev could handle. She was genuinely terrified and had a really hard time pulling herself back together after that. She cried quite a bit, but eventually was able to gain enough courage to make it through the rest of the ride. At the very end we even went over a tiny rapid and we all unanimously decided to name it the Evelyn Riffle. Meanwhile, Sierra got a huge kick out of the whitewater and loved every second of it--she wanted to go back up and do it again! Our raft guide was George, and he did a great job with both of the girls, having them help him shout out the paddling commands now and then. Evelyn was especially taken with him, I think even more after he helped her try to calm her nerves when she was so scared. She wanted to leave a note for him in the rafting office at the end of the trip, which she dictated to me: "Dear George--I love you. You helped me a lot. Even though I was scared in the raft, I holded on really tight. Thanks for helping me out of the boat. Love, Evelyn" Back at the rafting headquarters, we decided to buy the professional pictures they took of us going through the Bone Crusher rapids. Some really great shots there! We also got various t-shirts in the shop, including one for Bob depicting a dude flying out of a raft with the caption "I do all my own stunts". In the evening we worked on packing our suitcases for the trip home, racing against the clock because we wanted to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We feasted on haystacks as we watched, and the girls stayed up to see the whole thing--they were blown away! We all though London did a great job with the show.

West Coast -- Glacier, Lake MacDonald

After our epic day on Wednesday no one was anxious to be too ambitious Thursday morning. We all slept in and took it easy in the morning reading, relaxing, and hanging out at the cabin. Every once in awhile someone would say "Well, does anyone want to make a plan as to what we should do today?" and then we'd all lazily go back to our books again. Eventually we landed on taking a picnic lunch to Lake MacDonald and then seeing about renting kayaks again. After we ate lunch at the Apgar picnic area, the girls wanted to run down and check out the water. We ended up spending some time there on the shore as the girls played in the water. Jonathan tried his hand at standing and balancing on an old log lumberjack style, while Bob took about a million videos of his attempts. Later on we rented kayaks again, starting out with Nana, Bob, and Evelyn in the canoe, Jonathan and Sierra in the 2-person kayak, and me in the one-person kayak. The girls wanted a go by themselves in the double kayak, so we beached and switched around. They paddled quickly out into the middle of the lake, but then got tired and had a hard time paddling themselves back into shore. When they were at their best, though, they could really make some time cruising through the water! On the way back Nana and Bob wanted to try the double kayak so Jonathan took the canoe with the two girls. Unfortunately the kayak seats worked out horribly for Bob and he had a hard time sitting in such a way that he could paddle. Between that and Evelyn having a complete meltdown, we were all glad to be back on land. The girls enjoyed playing at the beach for awhile and Nana and I went up to the gift shop for a few minutes. I did manage to find a Xmas ornament as a momento from Glacier (a bear), and also a mountain lion ornament for Lassen, as I had forgotten to get one when we were down there. On our way back home we stopped back by the Fun Park to do the remaining activities there that we had missed the earlier day. We did the bumper boats first and all got completely soaked from squirting each other with the water guns. After that we took on the huge bi-level walk-through maze. Yikes! Bob went solo and the rest of us tried to stick together at first. After nearly an hour Nana, Evelyn and I were ready to be out of there so we took a hint from one of the workers and split from Jonathan and Sierra. We were quickly done and they finished about 15 minutes later as well. That night we went down to the fire pit again to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Unfortunately on the way down Sierra slipped at the bottom of the trail and really scraped up her leg and ankle. She couldn't put weight on her foot at first, but after awhile (although she was diligently hopping around on one foot most of the evening) it became clear that it was a bit of an act, as she would forget now and then and walk normally until someone would notice and comment that her foot must feel better. Then the hopping would resume.

West Coast -- Glacier, Going to the Sun Road... Bears!!

Today (Wednesday) we drove all the way across the Going to the Sun Road and around to Many Glacier, the area on the Eastern side of the park. Wow!!! It was completely amazing! At one of our early stops Jonathan ran up a very short trail and nearly stumbled over a big-horn sheep. The two of them were equally startled to see each other and the sheep turned and bolted. We hiked a short trail to St. Mary Falls. Aside from an incident in which Evelyn ran out on the bridge by herself over the raging torrent 20 feet below and started to crawl up onto the wooden rail, giving us all a major heart-attack, we all had a lovely time. The Falls are stunning and we got some great pictures there. We explored St. Mary Lodge and did some damage in the gift shop. After that we drove up to Many Glacier and had a lovely picnic. There was a ranger in the parking lot that had a telescope focused on some mountain goats on the slope above us. It was amazing to look through and see them because it was impossible to see them when we just looked up there. Over at the trailhead for our afternoon hike there were some other folks who had spotted a grizzly way up on the slope and some of us were able to see it through their telescope. We had a great hike up to Red Rock Falls--Evelyn was our resident mountain goat and was scampering about and pretending to eat the grass along the edge of the trail. She probably hiked three times as far as any of us, for all the loop-de-loops she was doing around the trail! What energy! When we got to the lake there were some people who had spotted a grizzly way up on the opposite slope. We weren't able to see it through any telescope and it literally looked like an ant up there, it was so far away. It was still incredible to see it, lumbering across this incredibly steep slope. We hiked around the lake to the Falls and hung out there for awhile. Evelyn loved to just find a quiet spot, sit down, and get into her own zen moment enjoying the scenery. Sierra was anxious to get back to the other side of the lake because she really wanted to get into the water and there wasn't really a safe place to do that near the falls. Nana and Bob took the girls around to the still part of the lake for a swim while Jonathan and I hoofed it up to the next lake and back. As we came back by the Falls there was a huge group of about 20 people there playing, shouting, and having a really good time. Shortly after we went by we could hear them shouting "Bear!", etc., but we thought they were just teasing each other, because it seemed along the lines of what they had been doing anyway--and we couldn't imagine a bear actually being interested in coming into all that people noise anyway. Well, it turns out that a grizzly indeed did just wander on over to where they all were, and was about 5 feet away from one guy (we talked to him a bit later). From all we could figure out from his story, this bear had been hot on our heels down the trail from the upper lake. Spooky! We never saw or heard it at all but it couldn't have been more than 25 or 50 yards behind us, given the timing of when he showed up at the Falls. Eeek! Anyway, he apparently shuffled away from the group when they started screaming. Meanwhile, we had circled around and were on the opposite side of the small lake by that point, and we got an absolutely fantastic show of this huge bear lumbering along the side of the lake. What a treat! Some of the people who had been by the Falls were making their way around on the trail, so we got to hear their story as they came by. What fun! After the hike we drove by and checked out the Many Glacier Lodge and came unanimously to the opinion that this is THE place to stay in the whole park. Once we had that sorted out we drove down and ate at Two Sisters Cafe, which is famous for its Huckleberry Pie. The pie lived up to its reputation, but the rest of the meal we probably could have done without. Next time we'll just stop there for dessert! The highlight of our meal there, though (not counting pie) was that we spotted our fourth grizzly of the day, just hanging out on the hill behind the restaurant. We feel so lucky! After stuffing ourselves with Huck Pie, we drove back over the Going to the Sun road at dusk. We missed an opportunity to get an up-close look at some bighorn sheep right at Logan Pass because we had already driven by them before we realized it. I looked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of them, but there was no place to turn around by then. I still feel bummed that the girls didn't have a chance to see them. I don't think they did too badly though, on their wildlife-viewing experience of the day!!

West Coast -- Glacier, Funpark, Horse ride, and kayaking

Tuesday we had promised to take the girls to the nearby Fun Park. We ended up going there first. We didn't have time to do all the things in the park, but we rode the Go-Karts and played mini-golf. Sierra was nervous at first about the Go-Karts, but she rode with Nana and was assigned to be the photographer. She ended up having a really fun time. Evelyn wanted to go fast, so she opted to ride with Jonathan. Everyone really enjoyed themselves on the ride. Mini-golf was fun, but the girls where sort of phoning it in by the 10th hole or so and we also had a time constraint to get to our horseback ride by a particular time. We sort of "divided and conquered" towards the end with everyone stringing ahead and hitting the balls into the holes as fast as they could. Ev was really hoping to ride the bumper boats, but it turned out to be pretty chilly, so no-one was too keen on getting wet at that point, plus we didn't really have time, so we left that one for a different day. We went straight over to Apgar to do our horseback ride. Right when we arrived to sign in, there was a bit of a kerfuffle with some pack horses in the yard. One of the wooden yolks connecting two of the horses snapped, but the ropes were still connecting the horses, pulling the back of one horse directly against the flank of the other horse. Of course neither of the horses liked this very much, and there was also a third horse that was also tied together with those two. They sort of did a sideways stampede right through the area where we were all standing, and the wranglers there had a bit of a time reining them all back in. That was not exactly the right thing to happen right before our ride because Sierra was already pretty nervous about doing it, and I think she was downright freaked out after seeing all of that. I was nervous myself. However, thankfully none of the horses that we were to ride were involved in the incident, so it turned out not to be an issue at all. Sierra was really scared , but she bucked up her courage, and the wrangler that helped her get to know her horse and mount was absolutely excellent with her and by the time we went out of the corral, I think she was completely sold on the whole experience. She did AWESOME and had a really fun time. My favorite was when, towards the end of the ride, our wrangler turned around and asked if anyone was feeling sore yet. Sierra said, "Well, I do have an itch on my ankle!" :-) Love it! You had to be seven to ride, so Ev and Nana stuck around the corral and got to know the horses while the rest of us went on the ride. Evelyn was completely enamored with the horses and had gone up and down the row petting, kissing, and loving on all the horses that had stayed behind. She could hardly pull herself away from the corral when it was time to go and has been talking about the horses ever since. So cute! After the horses, we went to Apgar village and picnicked with a great view down the length of Lake MacDonald. We were right by the boat rental and by the end of our picnic Sierra had convinced us that we should rent kayaks for a spin. They didn't have enough kayaks, so we ended up with one canoe (me, Bob and Ev), one double kayak (Sierra and Jonathan) and a single kayak (Nana). We paddled around and had a great time and then beached at some point and switched around, ending up with Nana, Bob, and Ev in the canoe, me and Jonathan in the double kayak, and Sierra by herself in the single. She did great, but got tired quickly, so we beached again and Sierra went in the canoe, Ev with Jonathan, and I finished out our ride in the single kayak. At some point Nana realized that Ev didn't have her life jacket on and we realized that we had left it on the beach at one of our stops. I paddled back and sure enough, there it was sitting on the sand. Oops! We had eaten our lunch so late that we were not that hungry in the evening so the girls had left-over chili and we grown-ups had salad..... and watermelon, of course! Then we got all of our things ready for our early morning departure the next day. That night I had a really weird headache in the night which scared the living daylights out of us. It was right on the crown of my head, which felt like a very strange place for a headache. Then when I sat up (in retrospect it was probably just a very major headrush) it felt as though my brains were spilling out of my skull and down the outside. I felt a wave of nausea and had to lie down. I was absolutely freaked out and we almost went to the ER, but after Jonathan did some quick research on the computer and we determined that I was not having some sort of stroke or anything, I just took some Ibuprofen which seemed to do the trick and I went back to sleep. Poor Jonathan was awake most of the rest of the night worrying, though. Especially as part of the aftermath of my head injury several weeks ago, it was pretty concerning, but it hasn't seemed to be anything more major than a normal headache, so we're going to keep watching and hopefully it won't happen again.

West Coast -- Glacier, Hidden Lake

Monday morning Jonathan made us huckleberry pancakes for breakfast with fresh huckleberries, purchased for a small fortune at the nearby supermarket. The true Montana experience! (Cheaper, I guess, than local cuisine in Paris....) After a leisurely breakfast we drove up to Glacier and took the shuttle up to Logan Pass, trying hard not to get carsick in the bus. The park is absolutely stunning!! Massive stone snow-covered peaks in every direction, waterfalls pouring down every nook and cranny, huge green meadows on the lower parts of the mountains....just overwhelmingly beautiful. We took a picnic up, but there really was nowhere to sit and eat it. We ended up huddling on the ground against the outside wall of the visitor center in the freezing wind, since there was nowhere sheltered. After lunch we hiked up the Hidden Lake trail. It was unfortunately not completely clear of snow yet and so crossing the snow field was a bit dicey. We were not properly dressed and were hiking in our Keen sandals, so our feet got snowy and cold and it was pretty slippery. The girls got cold and frustrated and when we reached one point that was particularly difficult to cross, we decided it was best if Grandpa Bob and the girls didn't try to traverse it. They were kind of miserable by that point anyway. Nana and Bob stayed on a big rock near that point and Jonathan and I hoofed it around to the lookout point. In addition to spectacular views, we also ran into a huge mountain goat munching away on its cud, practically sitting right on the trail. When we got back to the clan, they were singing away happily with their backs into the wind. We had an easier time going down over the snow, and although the girls were cold, they managed to make it down fine. Jonathan carried Ev over the snow, but she otherwise hiked on her own the rest of the way down. Sierra booked it down with Nana and left the rest of us in the dust. I was hiking with Ev and at some point I pointed out that the visitor center was very close and that was the end of the hike. It still seemed far to her, so I suggested that we count to 100 and then we'd be there, so that's what we did. We managed to arrive at the visitor center on exactly 100, so she was very excited! For the ride down, the shuttle that was leaving right when we arrived only had space for four, so Nana and the girls and I took that one and came back back to the cabin to get dinner started. Grandpa Bob and Jonathan came down on the next shuttle. Ev had slept the whole way up the valley earlier in the day, so on the way down she was literally beside herself looking out the window at the amazing views. She kept insisting that I take pictures of every single thing, so I obliged--even though we had already taken all the same shots on the way up. It was fun to see her get so excited about the mountains! Baked potatoes and chili finished off the day--it was nice to warm up with that after getting chilled on our hike. We have also been cutting up an entire small watermelon each night since we managed to get here with four of them.

West Coast -- Glacier

When we left Rod and Stacy's in Spokane, we drove through the beautiful area around Couer d'Alene and into Montana, stopping for dinner at Blue Canyon in Kalispell (yum!!). We are staying at the Tamarack cabins in Hungry Horse. It's very close to the west entrance to Glacier park and yesterday we drove up and did the Avalanche Lake hike. We were all a bit nervous about bears, so we picked up a canister of bear spray and that relieved a lot of concern. The girls were total troopers and did the whole hike without being carried at all. The lake sits in a spectacular basin with waterfalls cascading down every wall. When we got back to camp around 8pm Nana and Bob had arrived and already had a fire roaring for our hot dog and marshmallow roast. We were at the camp community fire pit and others joined us later on--we met and visited with some really nice folks and the kids had fun playing on the giant swing that's big enough for a mama bear and her two cubs (really!) Later that night we had fun looking through our cards that show all the National Parks. The girls are excited about visiting the parks so hopefully we can incorporate many of them into our trips over the upcoming years.

West Coast -- Rod and Stacy

After a late start, then an emergency store run, then an emergency potty run in downtown Spokane, we finally got up to Rod and Stacy's place around 11am. Our visit corresponded exactly, by coincidence, with Taylor's 2nd birthday party. We had a lot of fun getting to know the girls since we hadn't ever met them--in fact, we hadn't seen Rod and Stacy since their wedding five years ago! Their new home is spectacular, with a gorgeous view of the whole valley. Barb and Finn were there too, as well as Stacy's parents. After the party we drove the rest of the way up to our cabin near Glacier.

West Coast -- Walla Walla

Thursday morning we contacted some of our friends and family in WW to try to connect. I also picked up stuff from Andy's that we would want at our cabin in Glacier the next week. We had a lovely lunch at Olive in downtown WW, followed by a treat at the Colville St. Patisserie, and then went to visit the Boyds in the afternoon. Had a nice visit with Julie and Doris, and also chatted a bit with Lynn who is here for a month from Africa. He is trying to recruit me for a concert tour to Zimbabwe in a couple of months. I've been trying to make arrangements so that I can do it..... we'll see what comes of it. It sounds like it would be an amazing experience! Awesome dinner at Astri's, and a nice visit after the girls went to bed. Friday morning we were able to get together with Barb in the morning. She was really encouraging and helpful with regard to some entrepreneurial ideas I've been having. She also took us down and introduced us to the people at the Power House Theater. She is really gung ho about having me come and do a concert there. We also dropped by and visited for a bit with Brenda. Jerry came by on his lunch hour and Andy was there as well, so we had a nice time. The girls stayed with Astri in the morning, as she had offered to walk with them down to the duck pond. They had a very nice time together and were in great spirits when we returned. Ralph and Astri were very impressed with what awesome girls we have, and we felt very proud of them! After another lovely lunch with Ralph and Astri, we packed up and drove to Spokane. Found a great place for dinner at Pikabu Bistro.

West Coast -- Welcoming Baby Ren

Wednesday we got mobilized from Sara and Noah's house and headed back up to Portland. We had gotten a text that baby Ren had been born. We were not originally planning to stop in Portland on our way through, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet the brand new family member. We spend a lovely hour or so with Shelley and Brandon again, hearing the birth story and holding that precious little guy. Then we were on our way to Walla Walla. We made it to Ralph and Astri's by evening.

West Coast -- Sara and Noah

On Tuesday we got up and Sara made a beautiful German Pancake that we all devoured post haste. We took the girls to a splash park and they ran around and tried to stay cool while Sara and I talked. Jonathan took the opportunity to take a long run since Noah had work to do at KAMA that morning. In the afternoon we had planned to take the inflatable raft out to the reservoir and putter around, but it cooled off so much that it was actually too chilly to think about going on the water. We went out to a farm instead, and got strawberry shortcake, and bought a bunch of beautiful produce for our tostada dinner that night. Back at the house, the girls had no end of fun playing outside on the tire swing and in the treehouse.

West Coast -- Crater Lake

Monday morning we headed from Diamond Lake Lodge up to Crater Lake. After stopping at one of the overlooks, we were driving along the narrow roads when we suddenly looked up and saw a van that looked just like Grandma and Grandpa's, pulling into an overlook area. We all commented on it, that it looked just like their van, and then we looked closer..... and saw that it was actually them!!! They had thought we were going to be on the boat to Wizard Island, so didn't expect to see us (they'd been looking down at the boat moments before and imagining that we were probably on it!) and we didn't even know they were going to be at Crater Lake at all, so we were completely surprised to see them. We all had a good laugh and visited a couple of overlook spots together before parting ways again. We had lunch at Crater Lake Lodge before heading out towards Sara and Noah's. We reached their house in Keizer around 9 or so after stopping in Eugene for dinner. We got to talking the girls started running around with Lilla and Clara. The next thing we new, it was 11:30! Finally we got all the kids down and then proceeded to stay up talking until 3am. Always so great to see those guys!

West Coast -- Mt Lassen, end of the week

Thursday Jonathan and I hiked up Brokeoff Mountain with Paul and Sheena and Rick. What a view! We could see everything from up there, including Mt. Shasta in the distance. In the afternoon we hung out at camp doing a puzzle and just relaxing and visiting. That night the girls recruited us to all come over to their show at the campground stage. It turned into a great evening of everyone joining in to act out various fairy tales and stories, including a full re-enactment of the story of the mountain lion and the deer. Friday we all rented a pontoon boat on Lake Almanor. We took a picnic down and all took turns riding on the boat and hanging out on the shore. Some of us went into Chester and did some shopping as well. Christy and I found a great gallery with local art. Friday night we lit the bonfire, made s'mores and sang campfire songs. Saturday Greg and Christy hiked to Bumpass Hell with Sierra as their guide. She was so excited to be the "leader" since she had been there before. She did not want us to come along, and the rest of the group was hiking to the waterfall from the trail by the visitor center, so the two of us and Evelyn went with that group. In the afternoon Rick and Gail and their clan took off, and Greg and Christy also left after dinner. That evening our girls and Eric and Dawn's boys did another show for us on the stage. They wrapped up their show in the morning right after breakfast with a final performance of Herb the Vegetarian Dragon right before we all took off in various directions. Mom and Dad were also leaving north through the park, so we caravaned with them and saw the devastated volcanic area on the other side of Lassen Peak, and had a picnic at Lake Manzanita. Mom and Dad took off at that point and our family hiked around the lake before we left. Unfortunately Evelyn took a major face plant on the trail just before we got back to our car and got some pretty good scrapes on her chin and hip. We had to lay her out on the trunk of the car to get all the little gravel out and get some bandaids for her. She was a total trooper--even hiked the rest of the way back to the car after her fall without being carried. We drove up to the lodge at Diamond Lake that evening and it was pretty late when we got there. We did manage to get to stop in Ashland for dinner along the way, which was a fun surprise that we hadn't planned on. We just happened to be around that area at the right time, so we swung over and got to hit another of our favorite restaurants that we didn't get to the week before.

West Coast -- Mt Lassen, Mountain Lion!

We've been having a great time at the family reunion in Mt Lassen Nat'l Park. Jonathan and I hiked to Terrace, Shadow, and Cliff lakes and then on down to Lake Summit with Rick and Gail and their gang. Jonathan ran back up the trail to get the car and came to fetch those of us who wanted a bit of time at Summit Lake. What a gentleman! The next day we hiked Bumpass Hell with everyone, including Great Grandma who is 92! It was supposed to be board walks over hydrothermal fumaroles. That was somewhat true, but it ended up being quite the 2 mile trail to get out to the boardwalks. After that J and I hiked up the 1.3 mile section of the Lassen Peak trail that was open. We had with us Rick, Gail, Katie, Paul and Sheena. That night Greg and Christy arrived and it was Christy's birthday so Jonathan had made blotekakes for after dinner. So far the highlight of the trip was our wildlife viewing in the middle of the night. A mountain lion took down a deer right in front of our cabin. Christy heard the horrible sound of the deer dying and got up to investigate. She, thinking it was a bobcat, popped out to the car and fetched the binoculars. (mind you this was all happening about 20 yards from our cabin--a mere stone throw away). When she got back inside and took a closer look she quickt woke us all up to see what was going on. The lion was watching us the whole time--I'm sure he was irritated that we were shining a flashlight towards him. At some point Greg thought to try to let Mom and Dad and Paul and Sheena know, who were staying a few cabins down the row. Thinking the cat would stick by to defend his kill Greg tried to creep out towards their cabin, but as soon as he for about three steps from the cabin door the cat left its kill and started moving away, but vaguely in the direction Greg wanted to go. He quickly and wisely darted back inside and we sadly had to ditch the idea of letting the others know. The lion tried to pull the deer away, but got startled by our light and went and crouched behind a nearby log. When we could see that he wasn't going to do anything more until we left him alone, we finally went back to bed. This morning we saw the deer carcass, after it had been ... tended to, shall we say, by the mountain lion. Apparently coyotes had also come afterwards, as there were parts of the deer eaten that cats don't generally go for. It was a pretty amazing experience to go up on the trails leading into the campground and see the footprints and piece together how it all happened--where the deer ran, where the cat leaped and pounced. You could see it all right there in the tracks. Pretty astounding! The caretakers took the deer carcass away so that the cat wouldn't be lurking in our neighborhood tonight. Later today we went to Summit Lake and Jonathan ran the 11-mile hike, some people did a shorter version of that hike, and some us walked around Summit Lake and then spent the rest of the time swimming. The three girls had a blast in the water trying to get up onto an old floating log that was near the shore.

West Coast (8, 9) Ashland

On Friday morning we were able to move into the other bedroom at Nancy's so that the girls could have their own room. We spent the morning hanging out in town, doing some shopping, going to Lithia Park, and arranging for our rafting trip the next day. In the afternoon, after lunch at Pangea, Michelle from Sitters of Ashland came to hang out with the girls. We went to see Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella which was sort of clever, and sort of overwhelming to try to watch (three plays happening simultaneously on stage, which lots of concurrent conversations). After the play we met up with the girls and took them to dinner at one of the places down along the creek. Afterwards the girls watched part of the Green Show before I walked them back to Nancy's to meet the sitter. In the evening Jonathan and I saw Romeo and Juliet, which was amazingly well done. The next morning we went down after breakfast and loaded up for the rafting trip. I highly recommend Noah's, the company organizing the trip. We had so much fun! We went on the scenic float, which was perfect for the ages of the girls right now--mostly flat water, but a few class 1 and a few class 2 rapids. They brought along a really awesome lunch for us with fresh veggies, hummus, chips, dip, cookies, plus stuff to drink--it was the perfect thing. We got to see several great blue herons, as well as some other smaller birds. It was a nice hot day so we jumped in the river a couple of times. Evelyn was really scared before we went, and spent the two hours before getting into the boat crying and saying she wasn't going, etc. Of course, once we got in the boat she was the most enthusiastic about the whole trip. Now she's saying she wants her next birthday party to be a rafting trip. :-) When we got back from rafting we had a couple of hours before dinner so we did some more shopping, went to the park again, and then had dinner at Macaroni's. We plotted out our spots at the Green Show really early (too early?) and it was really hot so we just sort of hung out and tried not to melt. The Green Show that night was a troupe of actors from Iraq. They did this cool presentation where they would switch back and forth in their Shakespeare skits between English and Kurdish based on random audience members shouting out a signal to them. The girls were quite taken with it (although I don't think they could understand the words, even when the actors were speaking English!) Anyway, they wanted to stay for the whole thing and so afterwards Jonathan ran them back to the house to meet the sitter while I went and visited Starbucks so I could stay awake during the evening play. We saw "The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa" which was hilarious, if slightly "corny" (hee hee!)

West Coast (7) Seeing Lori and to Ashland

Thursday morning we were able to see Lori for a few hours before heading down to Ashland. We met at her house and had originally planned to go into the city for lunch, etc., but since my head was still throbbing, we kept it lowkey and stayed close to home. The kids had a blast running around like crazy outside. It was great to catch up with Lori and brainstorm a little about her trip out to Pgh this Fall. We're so excited that she is going to come do a concert both in our house and at our church. We got a late start on our drive to Ashland, but it was a beautiful day and the drive was great. We found a nice little Thai restaurant in Grants Pass where we ate our dinner. At Nancy's we all crashed in the little bedroom the first night since there were lots of guests.

West Coast (6) 4th of July

Our original plan had been to go windsurfing at Hood River on the 4th, but the wind wasn't blowing so we adjusted our plans. We ended up going to Sauvie Island and picking berries, which turned out to be the perfect thing. It was a spectacular day--mid 70's, totally clear and sunny, and for the first time since we got to the NW this time, we were able to see the mountains! We had a great view of St. Helens from the island and later were able to see Mt. Hood as well. When we left Sauvie Island, we took the girls to Jamison Plaza in downtown Portland and they played in the fountain there for awhile. Then back to the Sanders for dinner and relaxing. Later in the evening I somehow managed to fall backwards off a stool, crack my head against the wall and give myself a concussion. Luckily now (three days later) I can say that I'm pretty much recovered, but that was a heck of a headache that I had for several days! Jonathan took the girls to the fireworks down by the river--I declined, as I had my own fireworks going on right in my head....

West Coast (5) Brunch at the Krentzes and to Portland

Tuesday we got up early and spent an hour or so at Curtis' coffee shop before we headed to Kevin and Ursi's for brunch. It was so great to have a bit of extra time with Janet. I also spied some art in that coffeeshop that I've been coveting ever since. Hmm..... Ursi put out an incredible spread for us. The kids had fun hanging out together again and we got to catch up with the Krentzes. When we left there, Jonathan went up to UW to see David Notkin for a bit. During that time I took the girls and drove them by Jonathan's and my old house when we lived in Seattle. It was fun to see that the current tenants are actually taking care of all the rose bushes I planted there. The last time I went by, it was all overgrown and looked really scary. Fun to see it looking like a beautiful yard again. The afternoon took us down to Portland--we didn't calculate that there would be an amazing amount of traffic due to it being the day before the 4th. It took us too long to drive, but we got to Brandon and Shelley's with no mishaps around 7pm. A bit of visiting and to bed.

West Coast (4) American Girl

On Monday Nana had arranged for tea at the American Girl doll store just north of Seattle. We all went down, the girls had an amazing time looking around, finding a few treasures, and getting their dolls' hair done at the doll salon. Evelyn had some birthday money to spend, and they both had some cash from the lemonade stand. They made really nice choices--Ev got a tiny dog with a carrier, and Sierra got glasses and a pair of ballet flats for her doll. That evening J and I had dinner with Janet and Curtis at Araya. So amazing to spend time with those guys, and of course the food was fantastic. We had hoped to find a sitter for the girls, but when I called Ursi to get a referral, she insisted that it would be great for her kids if our kids stayed over there during our dinner. I will probably feel guilty about this forever, but she finally convinced me and we did that. It was extremely nice of them to offer, and the plus for us was that we got to see them for a bit that evening, as well as for brunch the next day. We crashed at the Days Inn on Aurora at 91st, which turned out to be pretty convenient.

West Coast (3) Fairhaven

Relaxed at Nana and Bob's. Some of the family dropped by and visited in the morning. Early afternoon we headed over to Fairhaven, as Bob was playing in a big band there. It was the perfect day and we sat on the green and wished Jonathan was there to dance with us. (He had meetings in Florida and couldn't get up to Bellingham until Sunday afternoon around 6). Jonathan arrived later that afternoon and Mom made us a lasagna feast for dinner, finishing up with blotekake! We are so spoiled!

West Coast (2) Katrina's wedding

Katrina's wedding was beautiful, down at a lovely spot near Semiahmoo. We hung out with Carly and Rachel, saw the whole family, ate amazing food, and danced until LATE! I think we stayed at the reception until nearly 11pm, what with jet-lag was feeling more like 2am to us.

West Coast (1) Flying to Seattle

My Facebook post on the morning of our flight out of Pittsburgh: Well, so far we have survived a pee accident in the pgh airport, having a yogurt parfait explode in the bag with the rest of our breakfast while on the plane, and having a water bottle leak in our carry on bag. This, however, is not dampening our spirits. We are on VACATION! :-) We got to Chicago, where they changed our gate four times and delayed our flight by a couple of hours. Then, just when we were boarding there was a big electrical storm that kept the ground crew from doing their prep for the flight. After sitting on the plane for two hours after boarding, we finally took off and made it to Seattle without a hitch. We had hoped to arrive mid-afternoon to Bellingham, but with the flight delay we didn't get there until Katrina's rehearsal dinner was well underway. We went straight there, had amazing food, saw a bunch of people and then went and crashed at Nana and Bob's house.

Veggieburghers hit the road again

We hereby unveil our new travel blog where we can record (or feel guilty about not recording) our experiences as we travel hither and yon across this great planet.