Backpacking to Snoqualmie Lake for Fourth of July

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Derek and I hiked a beautiful, but tough trail complete with green, wet rainforests, waterfalls, sunshine and alpine lakes.  I was pleased that my work schedule allowed me a chunk of days off for Fourth of July Weekend (I didn’t care I had to work Fourth of July night!), so I researched potential overnight trips.  Most of the “view” hikes are still snow-covered, which has been a problem this spring/summer due to the heavy snowfall this winter and the cool temperatures all spring.  In fact, after reading the trail conditions report for Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest, there was only one possibility for an overnighter unless we wanted to risk it with the snow.

Derek's got a homemade rain-fly : )

We hiked the Taylor River Trail to Trail #1002 that goes up to Snoqualmie Lake then on to Deer Lake.  It was 16.5 miles round trip to Snoqualmie Lake, with about 2100 feet elevation gain (1500 of it was in the last 2 miles!)  The first trail – 5 miles to Big Creek Falls – is actually an old road bed, so the hiking is flat and easy, except for a few tricky creek crossings.

Crossing Marten Creek on a nice bridge

At around 4.5 miles, we cut off the trail to make the short trip over to Otter Falls, a beautiful cascading waterfall into a pool that may be inviting for swimming on a warmer day.  Colby ate some lunch here and had fun splashing in the water.

Otter Falls

Colby eats lunch out of a plastic bag

After 6.2 miles, the trail splits to head left up to Snoqualmie Lake. The trail has had recent work and is in pretty darn good shape considering how much water there was running down the slope. Waterproof boots are highly recommended! Sometimes we were just walking up a stream that cascaded down the rocky trail.

Trail split

After this point, you enter the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The trees are big here!

Colby checks out the sign

It was 2 miles (an hour and a half) of hiking until we got to the lake. Colby saw snow for the first time and he destroyed the snowball I threw at him.

Colby demolishes his first snowball

Snow at Snoqualmie Lake

We chose a campsite that had the best view, although it was very muddy. Only 3 campsites were snow-free, however I’m not sure how many there are under the snow either. We let Colby run around off leash when we got to setting up camp, and he found himself a snack: human poop that was not buried in the considerate, proper way. Gross!

Our campsite, prime location for a great view

Hemlock was plentiful for starting fires, since it burns when wet, however we still lacked a dry bunch of stuff to start the fire with. After hunting and spending about an hour, we eventually got a fire that produced some warmth!

Derek hard at work making a fire

Cold, tired pup

Warming up the cold puppy in my lap by the fire

So tired!!

Colby slept in the tent with us, but he didn’t have an intuitive sense of where the warmest spot was (between me and Derek)… so we had a very restless night trying to keep him from going back to our feet and then starting to shiver.

Colby sandwich in the tent!

One last look at the lake

When I went looking for a bear hang, I found a latrine up on the hill. I really wish that the person who left a surface turd had used the latrine instead!

Oh yeah, there was a latrine too, up on the hill

Some of the creek crossings were tricky

We saw Mt. Rainier on the way home on I-90 bridge!

To Sum it Up:

It was the longest hike we’ve done in a long time, and the heavy packs (30-40lb) slowed us down and resulted in most of my soreness.  We were pretty beat afterwards, and ended up heading to Old Country Buffet for a huge dinner.   It was great weather and it was awesome to get out of town and do an overnight hike.

We completed:  16.4 miles with 2100 feet of elevation gain (and descent on way back down) in 9 hours.

Next Time: Pack lighter, and leave time to play in Taylor River on the way out or back.

I Wish I had Brought:

More stove fuel – we ran out before breakfast, sad : (
Trekking Poles
Dry material for starting fires

***See Derek’s photos and video here!  Derek Rippe Photography

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Hike to Camp Muir on Mount Rainier

June 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

Despite the horrible weekend that surrounded this trip, I must say I don’t regret going up there and I’m proud of my accomplishment!  We had only briefly discussed the trip a few days before, and we didn’t get the plans solidified until the evening beforehand. This would be an especially big day for me because I had to work the night before and the night after the hike.  I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep in the car, so I’d be awake from when I woke up Saturday morning straight through until Monday morning.  Like an adventure race, weee!

Very bundled at the start... not for long!

I headed to work Saturday night with all my stuff packed – we met at PT’s house in Bellevue since it was only about 2 miles from my work.  We left PT’s at 7:30, heading for the big mountain.  Stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s (breakfast of champions!), and we started our hike around 10:30… a little later start than we had hoped for!  It was cloudy and chilly, with a light mist that is so characteristic of the PNW.  I applied sunscreen in the car to my face, and we packed it (thank God!!) for in case we climbed above the clouds.

Stripped down, still in a cloud

I was surprised by the difficulty of hiking in the snow.  It was wet, slushy snow, so with each step I slid back a few inches.  I wish I had two trekking poles instead of one, but without PT, I’d have none!  Within 10 minutes, I de-layered clothes so that I was just wearing a t-shirt, pants and gloves.  The guys opted to zip off their pant legs, but I kept mine on.  The climbing was work, but not strenuous, but I did start to get a headache early on.  I combated it with “pressure breathing” – forcing out my exhalations through pursed lips – to give the oxygen longer time to exchange, which helped the headache disappear.

Still in a cloud!

It was eerie breaking through the clouds into the blue sky and sun… the clouds seemed to be turning a darker shade of gray until the mist finally broke.  The looming rock formations were magnificent against the bright blue sky.  The sun was warm, and we re-applied sunscreen… however it was impossible to tell how much we actually covered because it was the evaporating spray sunscreen. I will admit, we were very careless with the application of sunscreen.

Breaking through the cloud

Brilliant sun + blue sky!

The climbing got tougher in the sunny Muir Snowfield, mostly because the air was starting to get thinner around 7,000 feet.  We started at around 5,000 feet and had 3,000 more to climb!  It was nice to fall in line behind a guided group because they kept the pace and they were employing the “rest step” where you pause for a second at each step.  Although it slows the pace, it makes for less breaks because we weren’t out of breath.

Kind of surreal...

Rocks covered in snow

PT with Mount Adams peeking out there

Almost there!! I think we were about an hour out

The last 1000 feet we ended up leaving PT behind … we just wanted to get there!  We saw the camp and Derek estimated it’d still take 45 minutes of hiking to get there… it ended up taking 35 minutes, and I had pushed ahead since I just wanted it to be over with!  It took just under 5 hours to climb the 5,000 feet to Camp Muir.

From this spot, it still took about 20-25 minutes to reach the buildings

Kind of tilted, but you can see Mt. Adams!

Here comes PT, pushing to the finish :)

PT joined us a bit later and we got to cooking up some burgers and a tuna steak – making many others at the camp very jealous!  We layered our clothes back on and packed up our bags, ready for the hike down at around 4:45, a lot later than I wanted to leave since I had to work at 11pm.  I knew we’d have to hustle back down.

We glissaded (slid on our butts, on sections of plastic mattress bags we brought) down the steeper sections, which was great fun but a little scary.

The hiking downhill was more strenuous than I’d thought and I wished I hadn’t layered up so much. The sun was beating down on our faces on the descent.  Once we reached the edge of the cloud, I tilted my head back, welcoming the mist on my face and neck.  I think at that point I realized how badly I had gotten burned.  It got downright cold glissading after we were in the misty cloud.  My hands got so cold inside my wet cotton gloves that I freaked out about frostbite and knew I needed to go at a much faster pace to get my circulation going.  Without a word to my buddies I took off jogging, ripped my gloves off my hands and stuck my fingers in my mouth.  After about a quarter to a half mile of jogging like that I had finally warmed them, and I had arrived at the final glissade near the bottom.  I waited there for Derek and PT, surprised that we had made it down in just under 2 hours!

Watch Derek’s video and see his photos of the trip on his website: www.derekrippephoto.com.

We went into the visitor’s center to strip off wet clothes and use the restrooms – and I was shocked and terrified of how badly I had burned myself.  The pain had not set in yet (except for my lips) and I knew I was in for a lot of pain to come.  The whole ride home I wrestled with the idea of calling in sick, but ultimately decided to go to work because I knew the family’s day nurse had called out sick.  Boy did I learn my lesson! Check out the post When it Rains, it Pours.

24 hours post-hike... sooo swollen!!

48 hours post-hike. The next couple days, the skin got really dry and tight around my lips then peeled off.

To Sum it Up:

The hike to Camp Muir requires a full day commitment – it isn’t fun to be pressed for time.  It requires a moderate level of fitness, but I think anyone could make it up there if they made up their mind to do it.  It is not technical, and even in low visibility like we had in the cloudy part, we had no trouble following the markers.  We didn’t need a map or compass, although if a storm hit, that could definitely pose a huge problem with navigation.  Although unneeded, we had extra food, water, warm clothing, and first aid equipment in case we had to bunker down in a storm.

We completed: 8.3 miles, 5300 feet of elevation gain/descent in 6 hours and 45 minutes.

Next time:

  • Leave earlier
  • Less frequent, shorter breaks
  • Keep the long sleeves on, wear a hat and maybe a bandana to cover the face and neck
  • Ski down!
  • Summit!!

I wish I had brought:

  • More food than just granola bars. Yuck.
  • Waterproof gloves
  • SUNSCREEN SPF 30 or more, in the lotion form
  • Hat
  • Chapstick with SPF
  • Yak Trax
  • A pair of trekking poles rather than just 1
  • Ski’s to ski down
  • A thermos with hot chocolate : )
Filed Under: Climbing, Trip Reports Tagged With: ,

When it rains, it pours.

June 23, 2011 By 4 Comments

I know it’s been awhile, and I’m sorry!!  My last week with the twins was fun, except for when I stepped (okay, I was running around, I rarely just walk anywhere) on a toy.  Ouch!  Major bruise.  That same day, I found out I had been beaten out for an ER  job by an internal candidate, but otherwise did very well in the interview and the manager wished he had another position.  Booo…

Blooody

After a few days... bruised!

I took a ventilator class so that I could start more home health cases.  Last week, I oriented in a home of a vent patient who had a spinal cord injury.  He’s a teenager and has several siblings, 2 of which are largely responsible for his care when a nurse isn’t there, which shocked me!  It was a distracting environment to learn in, but this position will be a night position and I have 2 orientations at night to do (one of which is tonight).  The family has a dog that jumped on my car and scratched the paint.  Since this is a new car for me, I’m pretty upset by that. : (

The weekend started off okay, then got downright devastating for me.  I worked my weekend nights job on Saturday night, but I packed all my hiking stuff because we were leaving at 7:30am to go to Mount Rainier to climb to the base camp, Camp Muir.  We got a little behind schedule, so we had to rush it a bit so I could get back to work in time.  I’ll write a detailed post about the trip, but we made it!

We all got very sunburned, and I suffered on the ride home.  I debated for a long time about whether to call in sick, even waking my parents at 1:00am to talk about it.  Eventually I decided to just suck it up and go, mostly because I knew the family’s day nurse had called out sick that day.  I thought I was just being a good person!  Boy did I learn my lesson!  Over the course of the night, my face swelled up and started to grow leaky blisters.  It was painful, but it kept me awake!

This is 24 hours post-hike... lesson learned!

I returned to my car to find the passenger window smashed and my ipod missing.

nooo!!!

Later in the day, I realized that my Timbuktu messenger bag full of hiking clothes and showering stuff was also missing.  It was just one thing after another… scratched paint on the car, a horrible sunburn, a broken window and stolen ipod, and now a bag full of sentimental and essentially value-less (to anyone but me) things stolen.  I felt violated!!  Here’s what was in the bag:

  • My favorite blue North Face hiking shirt from volunteering for an ultramarathon
  • My favorite blue sports bra
  • Patagonia Capilene long johns
  • My favorite pair of underwear
  • My new Smartwool socks from Christmas
  • My yellow “Where the Wild Things Are” t-shirt from Second Nature
  • My toiletry bag with Nalgene shampoo bottles, my glasses case and my contact lenses
  • My cell phone battery (good thing I have the bulky spare one!)
  • My yellow towel from a triathlon I did in Puerto Rico
  • A small Snapware container from my lunch the night before
  • My favorite stone necklace from Derek that I never take off (and only did because of my sunburn!)

Here’s a photo of me in my shirt and necklace for the last time : (

On Mount Rainier (Derek took this photo)

My Timbuktu Messenger Bag: RIP

 

It has been hard to deal with this.  I keep wondering why this would happen when it seems plain to me that I chose to do the kinder, more generous thing.  Maybe because I was also thinking of the income when I chose to not call in sick… and I was getting punished for being selfish.

It was the right decision: If I had gone home sick and I did not have this happen to me, then I would continue to be careless with items left in my car (for example, my wallet was often stored in the console).  And then at some later date I would lose something much more valuable and/or non-replaceable than the items above.  This was a hard path to take but I think it was the right one, so I don’t make mistakes down the line.

I’m no longer working on that case, since my employer refused to pay $7 each way for a taxi for me.  It’s unfortunate – I had finally gotten into a groove with that family and I think they were really nice.  Oh well, not worth the risk of another break-in.

This week I’ve been taking care of my skin and trying to recover.  I got the window replaced, and some gouges were left in my door panel from their poor workmanship.  Wish I had a photo of how it previously looked, because it’s my word against their’s.

Anyway, thanks for reading through my huge rant-fest.  I hope your week has gone better than mine!

 

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Wallace Falls State Park

June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Instead of climbing at Exit 38, we decided to head north to Wallace Falls State Park, which is near a town called Gold Bar.  We had made this decision rather late in the day, and after an hour’s drive, we started our hike around 4:30pm.  As it was an out and back hike, we were ready to hike as far as we could with the time we had.  It would be Colby’s first long hike!

The hike follows a river upstream, taking hikers through a succession of waterfalls.  It was so green and lush!! We had a great view of the valley (along the power lines unfortunately) before heading into the woods.

A map of the peaks

There’s an option to take the Woody Trail or the forest road.  Of course, being the hardy hikers we are, we took the Woody Trail. Traffic on the trail in the opposite direction was quite busy at first, and we passed several hikers on the way in.  We kept track of the time, and at the picnic site we checked our mileage.  We were making great time and could probably get to the highest falls!

Classic shot, blocking the waterfall

As we climbed higher and closer to the waterfalls, there was a huge difference in temperature as the spray of the cool water hung in the air.  The trail took us steeper at the end, ducking back away from the falls and warming up, then finally bringing hikers out to a view of the top of the Upper Falls.  The Middle Falls is actually the tallest of the 3 waterfalls, and in my opinion, it’s the coolest looking.

Middle Falls

View of the valley from Middle Falls overlook

Colby was in trouble for trying to go under the railing

We had a mishap with the camera tripod that Derek wrapped around the railing!  We had it all set up to take a delayed shot, when it started to slide off the railing.  The camera took the shot right as it fell, capturing a look of horror on our faces!  (Luckily it was caught on a tree branch, otherwise it’d have fallen 200 feet over the cliff!)

oh no!!!

I dipped my feet in the water on the way back… brr!!

Snowmelt is coooold!

The River

We made it back before dark (dark is like 10:00 here!) and in time for me to get home, eat dinner, and head off to work for the night.  A nice 3 hour, 5.5 mile hike to enjoy the summer day.  Colby did great!  He was pooped, and I love pooped puppies : D

Oh, and check out Derek’s video of the trip, it’s great!!

We completed: 5.5 miles, 1200 feet elevation gain/descent in 3 hours

Next time:

  • Leave time to play in the river
  • Eat lunch at an overlook
  • Try out the campground
  • Trail run?
  • Bring navigation tools and other supplies to do a longer hike and find Wallace Lake

I wish I had brought:

  • Other than bringing nav tools for next time, I was pretty much set for this short trip!

 

Filed Under: Puppy!, Trip Reports Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Summer!!!

June 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

We just had two GORGEOUS weather days. Full of sun, no humidity, and 70-75 degrees. Tomorrow (okay, today, I am staying up all night at work) is supposed to be the same, and we are going rock climbing at Exit 38, which is the closest outdoor climbing to Seattle, about an hour away.

Friday was National Donut Day! I found a local organic donut shop called Mighty O Donuts. They were giving away free donuts and coffee! I was delighted to discover that the shop is a few blocks up from Green Lake, so I packed up the twins and their wagon and headed down to Green Lake for a walk and for them to experience their first donut.

We got donuts first. They loved it! And I ruined their appetite for lunch… oops!

First donut on National Donut Day!

Garnett enjoying his donut.

Avery enjoying hers.

Then we went for our 2.8 mile loop around the lake. It was incredibly busy, but that’s what happens when the weather turns nice. We found a dock to watch the ducks from, and I was able to capture a “hug shot!”

Avery inviting Garnett for a hug on the dock

Hug shot! Aww.. twin love : )

We’ve been taking Colby to the dog park more regularly now. We also had a playtime with our neighbor’s yellow labs… after an hour they were all sufficiently worn out.

Sunset at Edmonds Marina Park dog park

I spotted a bald eagle at the dog park in Edmonds!

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we went to Discovery Park for a walk (5+ miles!) on another beautiful weather day. Colby is definitely getting better on a leash and listening to us. It was a pretty place to walk, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a hike : )

A walk at Discovery Park

Colby says hi!

I was really frustrated when I got a call at 7pm Saturday night on Memorial Day weekend saying that my 11pm – 7am shift was canceled… which meant I didn’t have to go to work until Sunday at 11pm, leaving plenty of time that I could have been away on a trip. I guess you can’t predict when the client will be discharged from the hospital, but I feel like I should still be paid for the night.

Memorial Day weekend cinnamon rolls

 

I got a new cookbook! I saw it in my nanny family’s kitchen and decided to order it from Amazon when I found myself scribbling down several recipes from their book. It’s called How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. He’s put together a very comprehensive and organized cookbook that is useful in planning meals. He also goes over techniques, best staple ingredients, and 20 ways to use leftovers. My first recipe was tofu stir-fry with broccoli. It was delicious, especially with some Asian ginger garlic salad dressing Derek made.

Tofu stir-fry with broccoli and asparagus and Derek's Asian salad

Speaking of salad, my garden is producing some TASTY greens! I’ve never tasted spinach this delicious. And dark green romaine. We have salads every day.

And some bad news. Colby has a broken molar. We noticed him chewing on something after breakfast yesterday morning, and nothing was in his mouth. Took the rest of the day for us to figure out he had cracked a molar (all pieces still are attached to his gum). We will have to bring him to the vet on Monday, but he will likely need a root canal. I hope insurance covers this!

He doesn't fit on his bed very well anymore

Okay I should wrap it up. By the way, it’s 5:10 am and it’s light out. It got dark at 10:00 last night. Long days!

By the way, you can comment below! ;)

Filed Under: Exploring Seattle, Gardening, Nursing, Puppy! Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Odds + Ends… it’s been a while!

May 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Crazy how quickly life can go by!

It can be measured by how big my dog is getting. He is 24.8 pounds at 14 weeks:

A long dog (14 weeks!)

At 14 weeks, he is getting pretty large to sit in my lap.

Since the H1N2, I managed to find a job that I started last Saturday.  It’s home healthcare, and I’m currently with a pediatric patient.  I got oriented during the day nurse’s shift, and next Saturday I’ll be on my first night shift (the schedule is Saturday + Sunday nights 11-7pm… ouch!)  The patient is pretty stable, so I will find things to keep me awake!

I got my new driver's license!

I picked up a cold somewhere…. ughh… colds in the spring and summertime really are a drag.  Luckily I implemented the Zicam right away, and I think I’ve passed my worst day.

Last weekend, we were brainstorming ways to help Colby burn off energy, so I poked holes in a gatorade bottle and dumped his meal of kibble in it.  We are now feeding him all his meals in that fashion… it helps him slow down his eating and gives him some mental and physical exercise 3x day!  Here’s a video of the first day we did this:

Colby went on his first trip to Boeing Creek Park (1 block from our house).  We stayed away from it for awhile because lots of dogs frequent that park, and Colby was still pretty young/not far in his vaccination series.  He’s a little over 14 weeks now and he’s had 3 rounds of shots, so we decided to go for it.  OH MY GOSH it was fun!! There are creeks + trails + hills + new smells + birds… we walked 2 hours each day Saturday/Sunday/Monday.  There’s a lake where I picked him up, waded in, and set him down in the water to swim back to shore.  He’s still a little unsure of that!

Walking with Derek

He must learn that pulling gets him nowhere!

Try the steps, buddy!

Down the steps!

On Monday we tried letting him off the leash when we got deeper in the woods (less people around).  We used “heel” to keep him from running too far ahead, and “come on!” to keep him from lagging behind, and he did a great job – often “checking in” with us with quick glances.  YAY!  Well-trained off-leash walking + running is the goal!!

ALSO, in our efforts to maintain a calm dog, I am taking Colby for a 15 minute run each morning as soon as we wake up.  There’s a field a block away that we do laps around (right now he gets too distracted on the roads so this is the most efficient way to get the exercise in).

On Tuesday, I took the kids I babysit to Edmonds Marina Park on Puget Sound.  Edmonds is a ferry take-off point, so it can be quite busy in the summer.

After lunch, we headed to the sand!

Ready to play in the sand!

Avery was a busy girl with the sand toys

Avery

This is my brother Mark in 1980 or '81... 30 years later, boys have the same expression at the beach!

I like Garnett's face in this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This park has beach walks with driftwood to sit on, a play structure for kids, a sunny picnic area, and a huge off-leash dog area that goes right down to the water.  We had a great time, packed a lunch, played in the sand… next time we’ll bring boots so we can go wade in the shallows.

Playing by the driftwood log

Driftwood log

Yesterday I got Colby his first plush toy.  It also happens to be his first experience with a squeaky toy, which drives him CRAZY! I’m going to use this toy to make a “pig on a string” to train him not to adjust his mouth-grip when playing tug (which can be dangerous if his teeth get closer and closer to your hand!)  When I find a stick to use, I’ll post a photo or video of the final product.

Please don’t forget to comment! I <3 comments, and it’s fun to get some feedback or even a conversation going!

Filed Under: Exploring Seattle, Nursing, Puppy! Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Wrath of H1N2…

May 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

While I was happily climbing rocks and camping overnight in Vantage last Thursday, my nanny family was spending their vacation in Phoenix a bit closer to the toilets than they would have liked!  One of them picked up what we all thought was a foreign stomach bug that got transferred to all the family members, including some of the family they were visiting.

It seemed to go through their systems quickly, so by the time Tuesday rolled around, I spent the day with the kids…after 24 hours of incubation, my Wednesday night stomachache turned into a sleepless night tossing and turning with nausea, chills, and aches.  Derek’s body decided to fight it off by puking relentlessly (how everyone else dealt with it, besides me).  He had to cancel his flight home for Matt + Alicia’s wedding : (  and spent the day in bed.  Read more about it on his website at Derek Rippe Photography.  My body turned up the heat about 4 degrees (owww) for a couple hours to cook the virus to death, which seemed to do the trick.  I’ve been a lot better since the fever broke and even went back to work on Friday.

Yesterday we found out that my nanny family’s Wednesday nanny also picked it up, and she spent Thursday night in the ER after puking uncontrollably over 20 times!  That’s how we reached a diagnosis of H1N2… which apparently can have non-respiratory symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, headache, low back pain, nausea.  Despite our seasonal flu shot last fall, we still got this, so it must be a mutated strain.  I know of 9 people that have gotten it!  Dang!

Colby has been a wreck without getting exercise and attention for a couple days.  Lots of potty mistakes… lots of aggressive play and misbehaving.  Sure shows how much work we do every day when we’re healthy!  I took him to small dog playtime today to let out some energy, but he was too riled up for that, playing too aggressively with the little dogs.  We are going for a long walk in a bit!

Thanks Mom and Dad!! They sent me a box full of leftover pet stuff including a harness that my cat named Dog used to wear, and a Kong toy that I’m thinking is my brother’s dog’s, but Colby sure LOVES it.  Here are some photos of Colby in his new harness.  He’s starting to look more dog-like and less puppy-like!  Let that German Shepherd shine!

ALSO some photos I’ve been taking using Apple’s Photo Booth, sitting with Colby in my lap.  The series will be updated on Flickr… I wish I had taken more of these between 4/9 and 5/1!! He grew so much in that time!  I will stay on top of it from now on.

 

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Climbing at Vantage – First Trip with Colby a Success

May 1, 2011 By 2 Comments

We did it!  Derek worked extra hard on Monday through Thursday so we could get out + climb on Friday, spend the night, and climb Saturday.  We had puppy class today so we had to get back on Saturday night.  The weather was good, a bit windy on Friday, and pretty warm on Saturday (probably mid-80′s and in the full sun).

We went to the same place as last time we climbed, in the “desert” near a town called Vantage.  It’s right near the Columbia River, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house.  We made a new friend on Friday, who was kind enough to share his fire and a couple beers with us, as well as show us the way to another climbing wall on Saturday (Sunshine Wall).

Me climbing, our new friend Jordan belaying

We slept in the car, partly due to laziness, partly due to it getting pretty chilly and windy at night.  We had a leisurely morning, then headed out on the hike to Sunshine Wall, which involved a narrow chute/tunnel in the wall that dropped down a 5ft ledge.  Luckily Colby is small enough to be handed off easily.

The narrow passage (aka "dog filter")

We made a little shelter for him out of our backpacks and a towel to shade him from the sun.  We’ll have to get him an umbrella for next time!

Dog tent

He did really well overall, and he even learned to poop and pee on a surface other than grass!

As far as the climbing went, I really stepped it up this time.  I had no hesitation in leading a couple climbs on Friday, including one of my specialities – balance-ey, technical slab with some well-thought out moves.  On Saturday, we climbed on the tall pillars at Sunshine Wall.  I led Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (5.8) which had a heady move out onto an arete for the “2nd pitch”, which we combined into one long route.

Tall, exposed pillars at Sunshine Wall

I also led Vantage Point (5.8) and needed a couple breaks to cool my jets!  Not super hard climbing, nor was it pumpy or tiring… I just plain got scared.  I pushed through it though and made the moves!

View from the top of Vantage Point (5.8)

Lastly I led Whipsaw (5.9) which is a cool pillar that has sharp incuts to make it look like a whipsaw.  I had another panicky moment just below the anchors and tried to downclimb, but realized that would be more difficult than attempting the move I was scared of… so I went for it and it was fine.  I stuck it out and on-sighted (finished without stopping or falling without having tried it before) that climb, even when Colby started having a little puppy tantrum and a nice girl had to calm him down for us…

Afterwards we took Colby down to the river to clean him off because he was so dusty.  The water was really dang cold!  He tried swimming but didn’t get back in.

Colby tried swimming in the Columbia River... brrr!

He got a little restless in the car ride home:

It was a fun trip and I can’t wait to get back out and do it again!

Filed Under: Climbing, Puppy! Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Colby’s 12 week birthday + the garden is growing!

April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Colby has hit a milestone!  He weighs in at 17.2 pounds, and he is getting pretty darn good at sit, lay down, and (almost) stay and come.  He’s been sleeping through the night, and doing a lot better at holding his bladder and trying to let us know in time that he needs to go out (with a few misjudgments).  His coat is changing colors… he is now definitely a brindle-colored dog.  And his ears do something different every day, sometimes changing positions within the day!

He sleeps like this...

Look how much is coat is changing!

This is how he sleeps…

Training at 12 weeks!

Today we are going out to the desert to camp and climb.  Luckily I have the day off from nannying since they are on vacation, and Derek got all his hours in for the week on Monday-Thursday.  It will be Colby’s first long car ride, his first playtime in the great outdoors, and his first overnight away from home.  We are prepared with treats, all his toys, and three new chewtoys.

This week I got my garden planted after hours of research and planning.  I was pretty intimidated by Steve Solomon’s book, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, where he describes very strict and complex rules for gardening which nearly scared me off.  But the ladies at Sky Nursery gave me confidence and complimented my well-thought out garden plan carefully drawn with a ruler on my dirty yellow legal pad.  Armed with their suggestions, I bought my plants, seeds, and fertilizer and planted a 12 x 12 foot garden, plus 10 hanging tomatoes and peppers.

My garden :)

Wrote my plant labels on yogurt cups.

I should have waited on the tomatoes and peppers… it is still too dang cold at night!  I had to add shower curtain loops to the hanging strings to make transferring the plants inside to outside a lot easier.  The first night, my clothesline inside fell down :(  I only broke 2 out of 10 plants, and I taped them back together in an experiment to see if they will repair themselves!  Derek helped me secure a stronger clothesline and we put one up outside as well (instead of directly on the tree branch).  I am excited to be growing things, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up.

Where my tomatoes + peppers sleep (until it's warm at night!)

Where tomatoes + peppers spend their days

These are some tulips that my nanny family gave me for Easter!  They are beautiful, and change position every day!

Tulips for Easter have a mind of their own!

We also met a new neighbor!  He lives in the house behind ours, and he’s been there for 37 years!  He said that long ago, the daughter of the family living in our house built her house behind it (where they are living now), and they used to have a huge garden that ran from our shed all the way to the back fence… probably 80-100 feet long!  Now our landlord parks his cars there, but I’m happy with the size of our garden now.

Time to get ready to get out of town!  Yay!

Filed Under: Exploring Seattle, Gardening, Puppy! Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Easter at the Emergency Vet!

April 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We expected to be in for a low-key Easter Sunday… we went to puppy class, then stopped at Lowe’s on the way home to buy some plants for the garden.  We left Colby at home in his crate with his new “bully stick” – a dried up muscle to chew on, yum!  We went to Sears to buy a vacuum cleaner (ended up just buying a Craftsman Shop-vac because it has a lot of suction and costs less than an upright or canister at a comprable price).  Upon returning home, we found our puppy in crate-ful of poop and vomit, looking very terrified and panting!

We got him cleaned up in the bathtub and cleaned up the mess, but he remained very lethargic – shivering and drooling.  After consulting on the phone with the emergency vet, we decided to bring him in.  Of course, on the car ride over he stopped drooling, and he perked right up when he met the new people at the vet… tail wagging, jumping happily on the staff there.  The vet decided to skip other diagnostic tests, and just prescribed a couple cans of prescription diet food, and a anti-emetic pill (which she threw in for free!) as well as some ointment for a rash on his belly (most likely unrelated to the vomiting and diarrhea).  She said not to worry about the chunk of rawhide he swallowed on Friday – that it would dissolve in his system.

I guess we could contribute this afternoon’s mess to the new “tasty” treats he got at puppy class – cooked pork and liver with parmesan cheese.  Smelly and tasty, yes, but just like a human baby, I think new foods should be introduced one at a time, and in little bits.  So we will be more careful with what others are feeding him from now on!

I’m glad that’s over!  The vet wasn’t as expensive as I’d thought – $90 for the exam, plus some for the meds and food.  They were very friendly and gave us time to ask all the questions we thought of.  I hope I don’t have to go back there, but it’s nice to know there’s a good option nearby if we do need it again.

Here are some more photos and videos of Colby as he’s growing up!  He’s 11 weeks and 15.5 pounds now.

April 9, 2011 – Tail Chasing (9 weeks old)

 

April 9, 2011 – Playing before Bedtime (9 weeks old)

 

April 13, 2011 – Learning to Play Fetch (9 weeks old) (This was when both ears were standing up!)

 

April 15, 2011 – Chewtoyaholicism has been accomplished! (10 weeks old)

 

April 15, 2011 – More Chewtoy (10 weeks old)

 

April 19, 2011 – Colby plays with Derek (not the best training, but it’s cute!) (10 weeks old)

 

April 20, 2011 – Colby plays with a bottle (not the best training, but it’s cute!) (10 weeks old)

 

And a gallery:

Filed Under: Puppy! Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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