Our New Digs

So after Halloween weekend we moved into our new place in Tacoma, WA.  We're in the north part of Tacoma, up near Puget Sound University.  It's a nice neighborhood and we are enjoying it very much.

We're renting a house from the homeowners while they travel in Asia for three months.  We got a really good deal on the rent due to the fact that not many people want to live in a house for three months and then pick up and move again... call us crazy I guess.

We're taking care of a few critters for the owners, a cat named Ese and six laying hens.  It's been a lot of fun having a pet in the house again.  It reminds us why we had Porter in the first place.  Ese is the perfect cat too.  Doesn't scratch or bite, isn't snotty like most cats, and keeps us warm while we're watching TV.  Having chickens is a blast too actually.  They're laying four eggs a day on average and all we have to do is let them out in the morning and close them in at night.  The food and water are in dispensers in the coop, so we just fill them once a week.  Otherwise we give them our veggie trimmings and they are happy as clams.

Kris is working full time again.  She has four days of work right down the road about a mile and once a week she drives to Puyalip which is about ten miles away.  She is getting over a cold but otherwise doing very well.  I'm working at the REI call center taking orders over the phone.  The building is in Sumner, WA which is around 14 miles away.  I'm still training but the job is straightforward and the deals on gear are excellent, which is the only reason I'm there.

On that topic I picked up a new pair of powder skis this fall I'm really excited about.  They are Bluehouse Maestros and they are 189cm long and 118mm wide.  For those of you that don't ski these are much fatter than what we East Coasters usually ski on.  They should be perfect for the big dumps we get out here.  I plan on posting a full review of them once I get them out a few times for the season.  Stay tuned.

Otherwise things are pretty normal here.  The weather was really nice up until yesterday, but now it's taken a severe turn for the worse.  Oh well, it is fall.  Hopefully the snow will fly soon!

That pretty much catches you up on what's going on.  Hope you're all doing well!  Kris and I will be moving out of here at the end of January and Kris will be starting massage school in early March.  This means we'll have the month of February free... and we're planning on coming home!

Talk to you soon,

Will and Kris

Moving Forward

We traveled up the coast of California for a few more days and then headed inland.  We made a quick visit to Sonoma and Napa to pick up some of our favorite bottles.  Our allotted time for vacation was quickly running out so we jumped back on I5 and headed for WA.

Once back in the Puget Sound area we met back up with friends to celebrate Halloween.  This time of year is usually a huge pain in the ass for me due to the fact I never have a costume.  I usually spend two days before running around trying to find some stupid theme that I can dress up as.  It's nerve racking.

This year I was lucky enough to stumble across a hand made uncle same coat in CA.  It fit quite well indeed and only cost $16, booyaah!  Once I had the coat it was as simple as finding cloth to make a pair of pants, and finding the hat.  Neither of these chores was too complicated.  With a little help from Sarah's aunt Jeannine, and her sewing machine, I whipped up a pair of patriotic pants that would make even Betsy Ross proud.

My lovely and talented wife picked up on the theme immediately.  She bought three yards of fabric, a solar powered yard lantern and plastic crown and boom, she was the Statue of Liberty!

Pretty cute couple don't you think?  As luck would have it we were to attend two events for the Halloween weekend.  The first was a house party at a friend of a friends house.  A band, consisting of friends of friends, was scheduled to play.  The band was going to play the Pink Floyd album "Animals" in its entirety...  Now I have to tell those of you that don't know I had a serious love affair with this album while I was in college.  My buddies and I spend many a late night on the dirt roads in Bradley with this album pumping on the stereo.  Needless to say I was very excited.

The venue met all my expectations.  When we arrived we were impressed by both the stage setup and the costumed guests.

The band got things going with a few originals and then broke into an amazing version of Funky Town that had everyone kicking up their heels!  With live music, two kegs of beer, and all the eccentric folks you could handle it was a night to be remembered.  I ended up listening to the last few songs from the backseat of a friends car due to imbibing a little too much... perfect.
On Sunday we drove up to Belingham to meet some more friends and see the band Polecat play.  More debauchery ensued including two of our friends dancing shoeless at the venue for hours, making out with the yeti from Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and the longest walk home ever...

The band played well but it was a little too Halloween themed for me.  It was also a bit hot for a overcoat, top hat and bow tie...  but we had a lot of fun anyway.

California

After the river trip we spent one more night camping at Lake Mead.  In the morning we decided that we had enough of the desert and pointed the van west towards California.  We had plans to bypass Los Angeles and hit the coast at Ventura.

Once in Ventura we drove to the Channel Islands National Park visitors center.  We got some information on the islands and then headed over to buy tickets for the boat ride across.  For those of you that don't know what the Channel Islands are this is the link to the park site: 

http://www.nps.gov/chis/index.htm

The islands became a national park, quite recently actually, in 1980.  The park consists of four islands spread out roughly east to west and one island located much further to the south.  The main four islands are about an hour and a half boat ride from Ventura.  We decided to take the boat over to Santa Cruz and hike around for the day.

The morning of our departure was socked in with a damp, pea soup fog.  We shouldered our packs and headed for the boat.  Of course once aboard we let all the tourists fight for spots on the bow while we avoided the masses and sat down in the back of the boat behind the cabin.  I've been on enough boats in thick fog to know that one gets soaked riding at the bow...  The boat ride was very enjoyable from the stern and we stopped to see a large pod of dolphins and another time to see a Minke whale.

We arrived at the island and unloaded, the resident ranger gave a quick talk about what not to do and we were off.  The first two hours of our walk was very fogged in, but it kept the temperatures at a reasonable level.  We hiked out of the island interior up to the cliffs on the coast and listened to the Sea Lions barking from below.  Since we couldn't see much of anything we sat down and caught up on some reading, hoping the fog would disipate.

Santa Cruz was very similar to Monhegan Island in Maine.  The high rocky cliffs, the very different micro climates throughout the island and all around is nothing but the ocean.  We walked the cliffs for the rest of the morning and finally just before lunch the sun started to break through the fog and we got some decent views of our surroundings.

We headed back down to the picnic area for some beef jerky and trial mix.  I found the most interesting part of the island right next to the picnic tables actually.  Since everything that comes to the island has to be brought by boat, and removal requires the same, all of the original farm equipment is still on the island.  It has all been moved to the main visitors area and a brief description has been written about each item.  Since the islands have been populated by "westerners" since the early 1900s there were all sorts of cool stuff.

Two tractors, both from the 1910s, were mostly intact.  Old cement mixers, hay bailers, homemade saw mills were just some of the equipment slowly rusting into the landscape.  The details of how each was used were included in the descriptions including how well, or not well, the men working on the farm favored the particular piece...  It was interesting stuff.

After lunch we once again climbed out of the interior to the opposite side of the harbor and found a nice place to sit and enjoy the sun while we waited for our ride.

Once back on the mainland we poached a parking spot at a sketchy motel for the night.  In the morning we headed up the coast on 101.

The Rest Of The Story

So I stopped writing again, no surprise there.  I'll continue on the story and catch you guys up to what is going on here in Tacoma, WA.

The next day we headed to the pick up spot for the river trip.  The driver who picked us up was friendly and knowledgeable if a little unconventional.  He drove us down to the base of the Hoover Dam and we put our rental canoe in the water and got out of the area as quickly as possible to avoid the rest of the tourons...

The trip was only about a total of 12 miles but it was relaxing, slow moving and had spectacular scenery.  The days were incredible with temps in the 90s on the river and in the 70s in the various side canyons that we explored by foot.  There were numerous hot springs along the trails, all of which looked a little on the overused side for us.  Most of them were barricaded in with bags of sand to make them deeper, which gave them a very dirty feel...  I'm sure they were fine but just not my thing.  Also every hot spring in the world, and much of the worlds stagnant water, contains a certain type of amoeba called Naegleria Fowleri.  This amoeba can enter the body through the nasal cavity and attach itself inside the nasal passage.  Once inside it migrates up through the sinuses and eventually finds it way into your brain... then you die...  So I decided that a dip in a dirty hot spring was not worth even a small percent chance that I would die.

We camped at the mouth of a side canyon that night and enjoyed dusk as the temperatures dropped down to more manageable levels.  In the morning as we were cooking breakfast we heard a clatter from across the river and notice a herd of Big Horn Sheep coming down to the water.  The sheep were walking down nearly vertical rock like it was a staircase.

They stopped to drink long enough for us to get some shots from across the river but you could tell they were aware of our presence and on alert.  After they were finished drinking they scrambled back up the canyon walls.  At one point they literally jumped and ran up what appeared to be a 15 ft cliff.  It was a sight to behold.

The second day was much like the first.  Hot, breezy and lazy.  It was really nice to be in a canoe again just meandering along without much of a timeframe.  We arrived at the takeout around 2pm and our pickup wasn't scheduled to arrive until 3pm.  So we walked up to the corner store and bought a six pack of beer and some party mix and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon from underneath a shade tree.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this picture...

It was windy and I was doing my Michael Jackson impression... priceless.

Hello From Lake Mead Cont...

The rest of the trip down to Vegas was quite uncomplicated.  We stayed on I5 most of the way into California then followed I15 East until we hit the Mojave.  I never thought I would like the desert so much, even after having been to Zion, and the Moab area.  The landscapes are just so much different than anything I've ever been exposed to.  I never thought I would be in the Mojave Desert, and I didn't have any reason to want to go.  It was to be a convenient camping area on the way to Vegas that would put us just a few hours from the city.  It turned out to be an amazing experience and I will make sure I get back there.

After driving in for hours to get to the campground we had dinner and got to bed early.  In the morning we walked the trail around the visitors center, about a mile, and decided to drive the 10 miles of dirt road through the park instead of going back the way we came to find paved road.  The drive was slow and bumpy but stunning.  The Mojave in the fall is full of colorful little flowers, great rock landscapes and Joshua Trees.  If you haven't seen a Joshua Tree, I hadn't, they are in the Yucca family.  They basically look like a short tree trunk with a Yucca growing out of the top.  Some are taller than others but most of them are only ten or so feet high in this area of the Mojave.  Unfortunately we forgot the camera in Lake Joy and had to have it mailed to us in Utah so we didn't get any pics of the desert.

We hiked another trail in the Cima Dome area of the Mojave and then jumped in the van to get into Vegas and find a place to stay.  Once in Vegas we settled down for the night to get some sleep.  The next morning we went to pick up the RV from CruiseAmerica in Las Vegas. 

Note:  Do not rent an RV from these people.  The RV was not ready when we were scheduled to pick it up.  We waited an hour and a half in the blazing Nevada sun.  When the RV finally arrived the generator wouldn't start and the employee told us it was just a fluke, it would work fine... yeah right.  The radio continually tried to load CDs even though we weren't using the player so it would just stop working for a minute over and over again the entire trip.  The RV itself was falling apart.  The generator never did work.  When we returned the RV the two employees (same ones who delivered it to us) were unresponsive to our problems and really didn't give a shit.  All in all it was a terrible experience except for the price which was very reasonable.  If anybody from CruiseAmerica is reading this you guys suck at what you do.

Once in the RV we drove to get Kevin and Cheryl at the airport and hit the road heading for Zion.  As you all know Kris and I fell in love with Zion last April and we wanted to go back.  Kevin and Cheryl haven't been to Southern Utah for like 20 years and never during the mild fall season.  We hiked in and around the park during the week.  It was stunning as usual, but the park was much more crowded this time.  I would go in the Spring if I had the chance again, it was much less crowded and the weather was actually warmer.  The greatest thing about visiting in the fall was that we got to hike The Narrows as a group.  The Narrows is a slot canyon which the Virgin River flows through.  About 75% of the time you are crossing the river one way or the other and up to about your knees in flowing water.  Using a hiking staff, patience and the proper gear one can hike into the canyon from below, or come down from the mouth.  We opted for the day hike which enters the canyon from below and it was spectacular.  The canyon walls are formidable and keep most of the sun off your shoulders so it does get cold in there.  The water was around 53 degrees so Kevin and Cheryl rented dry suits, Kristen wore dry pants and I opted to go with neoprene booties...  I should have listened to my wife on that one.  While they were warm and mostly dry I was soaked form the waist down most of the trip and by the time we came out of the river I was eating everything in sight and bundled up with all my clothing to keep warm.  Was it dangerous, no, was it uncomfortable, yes.  If I were to do it again in similar conditions I would have opted for the pants with Kris...  All in all it was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time and I would highly recommend it to anyone that like to hike and wants to experience something different.

After three days in Zion we headed out to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Another place I never expected to find myself.  If you have a chance to visit this place in the fall do it.  It is wonderful.  Day temps are around 75 on the rim of the canyon but can drop to around freezing at night.  We spent a few days hiking around on the rim and exploring the area around the lodge.  The lodge is also very cool.  It is built right on the edge of the canyon and from the lounge area, which is huge, you can look out on some of the most amazing terrain I've ever seen.  The sunsets are of course out of this world and you can enjoy a draft beer from the saloon while you're watching them.  We attended a talk from one of the park rangers entitled Death In The Canyon which turned out to be a safety talk although more entertaining.  This is another place I'll return to someday, but next time I'm going down into the canyon and seeing it from that perspective!

After the canyon the four of us headed back to Vegas to enjoy ourselves for the night.  As we all know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas so I can't say much about that night.  I can tell you that Kevin nicknamed himself "Mr. Saturday Night", Kris won $50 playing blackjack, and I drank a whole lot of $2 beers.  I can't give much advice on that city except to say that driving in it is harsh.

We dropped Kris' folks off yesterday and drove a short distance over to Lake Mead where you'll find me sitting in the shade trying to avoid the 90+ degree heat.  I didn't know it got this hot anywhere in the US in October... amazing.  Today we watch football and relax, tomorrow we are scheduled on a self guided overnight canoe trip in the Black Canyon below the Hoover Dam.  Can't wait, we'll bring back pics!

I hope all of you are well.  Most of you I've heard from during the trip in some way or another but if not please drop me a line or call.  We'll be back on the grid the day after tomorrow.  I've just converted over to the new dashboard for this program and it works much better than the old so I will update as much as I can.  Thanks for reading!

Will + Kris

P.S. I purchased new skis and they've just arrived at our friend Sarah's house!  It's almost time to shred everyone!

Hello From Lake Mead

Well I've finally gotten up nerve enough to begin blogging again. After the amount of BS I've put up with in this program it's hard to find the energy to post. Sorry for the gaps... I'll try to bring you up to speed. Most of you have been following the "action" on Kris' facebook.

The summer went very well. I rean numerous overnight trips this year (about three times the amount of last year) and way less day trips. The tips were great, the clients were tolerable and it reminded me why I've always wanted to be a guide. Besides guiding I spent most of my time this summer underneath our two vehicles.

The 1990 Subaru got new motor mounts, struts and a good going through. The van needed a lot of TLC which she got over the course of about a month up on jack stands. Talk about a lot of work. What was surface rust around the wheel wells when we bought her turned into major rot over the past 18 months. I found many places that needed to be completely taken down to metal, prepped and painted. I also had to replace sheet metal in a few areas and use fiberglass to span some of the more "daunting" holes.

All in all I would say I spent about 80 hours working on her. I could draw a picture of what she looks like underneath from memory due to the amount of time I spent under her on my back... I don't envy mechanics in the least. It was back breaking, trying at times and I spewed many profanities over the course of those 80 hours but in the end it was well worth it. The van is running better than ever, looks as good as it has in years and is now very "custom".

We had a few visitors this year.  Our friends Mike and Amanda came out in June.  Mom also came out to visit, which was great. She spent her time walking, looking at the local flora and questioning everything withing eyesight... That's Mom! I think she had a great time and she most certainly got a real taste of island living.

Kris and I left the island at the end of September and drove a short distance to Carnation, WA to celebrate our roomate Sarah's 30 birthday. We all went to her mother's house at Lake Joy to decompress after the busy summer. It was a good couple days of debauchery with most of our good friends from the island. Thanks for having us over Cathy!

After we left Lake Joy we pointed the van south on I5 and headed out of state. Our end goal was to pick up Kris' parents from Las Vegas. At that point we would rent an RV and take it up to Zion. It was a pretty uneventful trip the first day until Kris decided that she wanted to leave I5 and go into Redwoods National Park in NW California. We left the peace and quiet of the interstate to travel cross country back towards the coast. We entered the general area of the park late into the evening and began searching for a place to sleep. Since most of the campgrounds were closed for the season we ended up poaching a spot in a day use park overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The next morning we awoke to the sound of pounding surf for the first time since last October when we were in the Olympics... amazing. There is something about crashing waves that I just can't live without. After a peaceful but COLD morning we dropped back down into the park to see what we could find to do for the day. At the visitors center we ate breakfast and spoke with the rangers. We decided to drive into the Tall Trees Grove and see the tallest tree in the world! Kris specifically asked the ranger about the road in and he said, "we send passenger vehicles down that road all the time". Once we turned off the main road I noted that his answer was sort of ambiguous as to the conditions of the actual road. Then we started climbing a 9% grade through endless switchbacks...

At the top of the road we finally found the entrance to Tall Trees Grove. After unlocking the gate with the code given by the ranger we started down the 7 miles of dirt road to the actual trailhead. After a teeth rattling half hour we finally dropped down one final steep section of road to the trailhead. The trail was wonderful, and not quite as steep or bumpy as the road. Ancient Redwoods towered into the sky with their canopies soaring hundreds of feet overhead. Huge Douglas Firs, much larger than on the island, were dwarfed by these monsters. Remnants of dead trees lay scattered among the forest floor like sleeping giants with younger trees growing on top of them.

The tallest tree looked much like the rest of them, big. It was a great hike and something I would recommend if in the area and you have the time. What I wouldn't recommend is taking a low clearance vehicle down the road. It was hell and the van is much heavier duty than most passenger vehicles. I noted a few Honda Civics making their way down the road and wondered if they would make it back out with their struts intact. Also the paved road out of the area is very treacherous. Again it is miles of 9% grade and switchbacks. On the way down we once again experienced brake failure and I had to use the transmission to keep the van from careening into the woods. Thank god the van is a five speed or we would have been right in the rubard! After this experience we've decided that it's time to upgrade the van to a newer, larger, more powerful model. More on that later.

Once we were safely down we noted that we had traveled many miles away from I5. I also noted that if we wanted to return to the safety of the interstate we would need to climb into the Sierra mountains and navigate their heights. Oh goody! The trip in was the usual grueling climb with the engine screaming and the trans in third gear most of the way. It was raining on and off making things a little more difficult just for the sake of it. Hours into the drive we noted that we seemed to be loosing elevation at an alarming rate. Very soon after this we dove into another batch of tight switchbacks that had us leaning over like downhill ski racers. Finally, after what was hours and seemed like days, we coasted into the last town before I5. Here we found a cheap hotel for the night, ate Mexican and relaxed.

Mike comes to town

So the next day we have rental bikes reserved at the local shop. We woke up and noticed the sky had turned from bright blue to a dingy grey. A light rain was falling and it was chilly. Since Moab only receives like six inches of rainfall a year we figured it would soon pass over.

An hour later the rain was still coming so we decided to go into town and see about the situation with our rentals. We wanted to know if we could switch to the next day, or were we stuck with the rain. Now I won't say which bike shop we went to but the girl who we were dealing with was rude as hell. Kris asked about switching our reservations and she said, "well it rains sometime here in the spring you know." This statement, said sarcastically, immediately put me on the defensive. The girl (she was no lady) continued to act put off by our very presence. Naturally I began showing my displeasure with the service by giving her sarcasm directly back to her. Finally we were on our bikes and out of the shop, thank god.


We drove a few miles up the road to access the trails in Moab. Now I haven't been on a mountain bike to actually ride off road for around 15 years but I was excited as hell. As soon as I got out onto the parking lot I was riding wheelies, running over stuff and screaming at the top of my lungs. I almost wrecked in the parking lot twice... Everyone got ready and we rode down a dirt road for a few miles into the trail system. Mike and I decided to ride a section of single track that was marked as "very difficult" and Kris went around on an easier trail to meet us. It was the most excitement I've had on a bike in years. The bikes were fully suspended with six inches of travel in the front shock and four in the rear. You could literally climb six foot tall rocks with enough speed and skill. Mike was tearing it up, I was just trying to stay upright.

After the first trail we all met back up and rode miles of slick rock trails. The views were amazing and the riding was excellent. Mike and I had turns at leading the pack through the trails for hours. I can't describe the feeling of riding hard like that. It made me feel like I was a kid again. I want one of those bikes...

After the ride was over we had some beers in the parking lot and headed back into town for some burgers at the local brewery. Our waiter was the strangest person we've ever met in life. He wouldn't speak to us unless totally necessary. He wouldn't reply to our thanks, or look at us. As we were pondering the reasons he came to the table behind us and with a smile said, "my name is John, I'll be your server today, can I get some drinks started for you?" What the hell is going on here, was he just mad at us? We were thinking about questioning his motives when he returned to our table and said, "thank you for coming in, here is your check, I can take that whenever you're ready." We were speechless. No idea what was going on.

After we headed back to the campsite and had some whiskey and sevens and relaxed. My butt hurt so much from sitting on that bike seat though.

Oh yeah forgot to say that another girl who was working at the bike shop who checked the bikes out for return was also a jerk...