Washington Road Trip July 2011

At the beginning of July, Susan and I squeezed in a couple week road trip up to Washington to see my family in Bellingham and Susan's brother, Leo, in Seattle. We had LOADS of fun hanging out with everyone! Love you all! Sorry it was such a short trip. Hopefully, we will be back up to see everyone again sooner than later.

I would have loved to get this post out right after the trip as there were many fun details that I would have loved to share but 'actual life' is busy sometimes (it sure got busy fast after we got back from the trip) and at least I am getting something up now... enjoy the photo post! I threw up some of my favorites from the trip.

Driving up the Northern California and Oregon coast

(Lake Tahoe!)

(Hanging out on this beach reminded us why a trip to Lake Tahoe should be high on our list for a future trip (we only got to spend about an hour at the lake on the way to the coast...))

(Happened upon this stump while wandering off trail at Lake Tahoe)

(As we reached the N. Cali coast we made a stop at the Trinity Aretes to get a bit of climbing in. Surprisingly, I wasn't that impressed. There were some good routes. I guess I was just expecting it to be a way bigger area. Pretty limited. Beautiful place to find yourself for the day though.)

(Dead seal at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground at the Readwoods, on the Cali Coast. We really enjoyed this beach and camping there was pretty sweet.)

(Sunset's coming...beer anyone?)

(Livin' the life)

(Our site at Gold Bluff Beach Campground.)

(Oregon Coast baby! These kind of views were pretty typical along the whole drive of the coast. Good stuff!)

(Arch. Sick!)

In Washington

We started our stint hanging out with Leo in Seattle and then having a bit shindig at my Sister's house. Great chance to see everyone right off the bat. It was good to catch up with everyone. Thanks for hosting Melissa!

(Then...we went for some fun in the ocean near Semiahmoo Resort with my parents (pictured above), my brother and his wife and my grandpa. Fun day out.)

(Pretty sick views...Mt. Baker in the distance. Saw a bunch of jellyfish too.)

(The next evening, after hanging out on the beach at Birch Bay messing with crabs and trying to sneak up on Bald Eagles (I got within 25 feet of one!), we hung out with a bunch of family at the 'local' fireworks show. A bit crazy, as the show consisted of hundreds if not thousands of people lining the shore with whatever fireworks they can get their hands on. Somehow no one got seriously hurt but it seemed like a war zone on the beach. Crazy. Above and below are my best efforts at getting some photos of the action. By the way...thanks to my brother for hosting a great party at his home in Birch Bay for the 4th!)

(Susan and I got away to do some climbing at Mt. Erie which was an old hangout of mine while learning to climb as a youth. It was fun to circuit a few of the old routes with her.)

(Mt. Erie is located on one of the islands in the San Juan's so sunsets are always amazing. We got to enjoy this one from the crag. Special evening for sure.)

(Susan and I dangling the feet at one of the crags on Mt. Erie. Great views.)

(We got out for a bit of an adventure one day. I wanted to get a longer run in as my foot was starting to feel better again and so I ran 16 miles of trails on Chuckanut Mountain, next to Bellingham, as Susan and my dad rode bikes. Ask my dad about the spectacular wipe out he had during his ride. It was awesome (well...maybe only because I was running right behind him when it happened...)

(We got to link some of my favorite lakes on Chuckanut Mountain. Brought back some good memories.)

(Typical trail.)

(Lost Lake. I love this spot.)

(Gotta love the big ass trees in Washington. Now that's a root system!)

(Above video is us screwing around a bit with the camera at around mile 14 or 15 of the run.)

(That evening, we caught up with the family at Clayton Beach (another favorite place of mine...) and just hung out, played on the beach and watched another great sunset.)

(We squeezed in Mallards after hanging out at Clayton Beach (truly amazing flavors of ice cream!!!). Wish we had something like this in Flagstaff.)

(The following day was a bit of catching up with Bellingham and my parents as Susan and I (and my parents) went for a bike ride linking a ton of urban trails in town. Along the way we found a really cool tree fort on the beach.)

(See me in the tree fort? This thing was big!)

(We ate at Casa during the ride but probably should have waited 'till the end. Ohhhhhhh the full stomach. Not good for riding...but Casa is a must in Bellingham so I enjoyed every bit of it!)

(On the bridge at Whatcom Falls at the end of our ride.)

The trip back to Flagstaff

We hung out with Leo in Seattle for one more tour (a bike ride around Seattle on streets and urban trails). Thanks Leo...it was really fun! Then, we had to get south quickly to get Susan to a teacher training in southern Utah. We squeezed in a half day of great sport climbing at Exit 38, east of Seattle, before leaving though. Couldn't resist.

(Our camping spot near where I had to drop Susan off for her teacher training in southern Utah. Great spot to camp. Good thing too as it was our one year anniversary and we pretty much didn't get to do anything cool the whole day (we had driven from Washington to Utah that day!). Except...I just remembered, how could I forget, that we had a near death experience at a gas station in eastern Washington... you'll have to ask about that one! Soooo, back to my original thought, we got to hang in the aspens (just like our wedding day) and reflect on our great life together. Great end to the trip.)

Wow. I remembered a lot more of the details of the trip than I thought...I wonder if this is all in the right order...did I miss anything? Probably...

Thanks to all our family for being so wonderful and putting life on hold for a few to hang out with us!! Love you guys and see you all again soon!

Great trip...although too short as always. Man, I love road trips.