June 27: Arches (or not), and Exploring the Pueblos

We got up early to try and beat the desert heat, and left our campground about 7. It was an hour or so drive to Arches National Park.

I was very surprised to find that Arches National Park was rather slim on... well... arches.

We drove almost the whole park, and only saw two.

I think I'm going to sue for false advertising. (No, I don't know what the guy in the white hat is doing in that picture. I think it might be the chicken dance....)

We drove to our campground, (about an hour away) and set up our tent so it was ready when we got back that evening. Then it was only 15 minutes to Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde. Where to begin?

We saw some pit houses first, and what remained of a few above ground Pueblo houses and even a temple. 

And then we decided to take a tour. For $4 a person, you could go on a guided tour of the one of the houses built into the side of the mesa. We chose the tour described as the "most adventurous" of the three, and headed out.

(I kind of didn't understand at the time we bought the tickets that we would actually be walking through the 800+ year old pueblo itself....)

The first step was a giant, 3 story tall ladder.

Our tour guide, Ranger Forest (yes, the park ranger's last name was Forest), led us into the pueblo and gave us some information about their construction, and asked us why we thought the Pueblo people might have moved from their homes up on top of the mesa. 

He was a great teacher, very good at engaging his listeners, and getting us to think and ask questions. I love learning about history anyway, but I found Ranger Forest to be especially fun to listen to.

The tour lasted about an hour, and involved three ladders in total, and two crevices/crawlspaces in which I had to take my backpack off and turn sideways, crawl through on my hands and knees, or both. Thankfully I'm not afraid of heights, or small spaces.

It was pretty late by the time the tour ended, and we still had a 20+ mile drive to get out of the park, so Breanna and I made our way back to the van, unloaded our backpacks, and drove back to the campground for the night.

We made beans and rice for dinner, with a side of Alfredo macaroni (yum), and then got to enjoy a beautiful sunset while we cleaned up and organized the van a bit.

June 28: AKA the Day Nothing Went as Planned

Got up with the sun (because that's what time you get up when you're sleeping in a tent, whether or not you want to) and packed up our stuff. We made it about an hour before breaking down.

So I called Triple A, they said they'd send a tow truck, and we waited. 

And waited some more. Then called again, and were told that the truck was on it's way. So we waited.

I was given the truck driver's number, and called him to see if maybe I could talk him through where to find us.

We sat alongside 160 East for three and a half hours, before our tow truck driver finally found us. Apparently he'd been given the wrong address by Triple A? And then Google Maps couldn't find our actual address. He ended up driving a looooong ways north, then having to come back almost 45 minutes until he could get cell service to call his dispatcher and figure out what was going on. 

At approximately 2 pm, Mr. Jeff the tow truck driver hooked us up and hauled us into Durango, CO to the shop he works for.

Apparently, it's a fuel pump issue. Which is fun, because the fuel pump was just replaced a few months ago.

The earliest they can get the parts is tomorrow. So for tonight, we're in a hotel, hoping we get the call saying repairs are done tomorrow before we have to check out at 11 tomorrow morning.

So then we decided, "Hey, we're stuck here, why not get pizza?"

I asked Google for pizza places near my location, and it said there was a dominoes within a mile. Nice! So we don't even have to pay for delivery, we can just walk down and get it!\

Long story short: Google lied. It was two miles away. So we were late getting there to pick it up, and by the time we walked the two miles back to the hotel, it was cold. *sigh* Oh well.

And on top of that, the advertised "free wi-fi" is down. So no Netflix for me. And I left my book in the van at the repair shop....

Well, looks like it's an early bedtime!

June 23: Crater Lake, and Nevada

Breakfast was freeze dried chili mac and instant mashed potatoes. We got to use our butane stove for the first time, and it worked wonderfully. I couldn't be happier. I may cook all my meals over butane in the future...

Then we did the dishes, packed up the tent, and hit the road again.

Crater Lake was pretty incredible, even if we weren't allowed to drive all the way around it. (still too much snow on the roads to the east. In June. Imagine that.)

I'm not sure if you can see it, but in the second photo, if you look really close, you can see a boat just above the right-most leg of that island. Gives you a small idea of perspective.

Truthfully, it was so incredibly massive, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

To stand on the edge and look down at the island (Wizard Island, that is), I felt like I was looking down on some kind of miniature. Like those museum exhibits that show the building of the pyramids, or the Battle of Little Big Horn, with all those super tiny little figurines. Couple the massive scale of the place with that altogether unnaturally brilliant blue color of the water, and the whole experience felt very surreal.  

After that, we hiked a short (1 mile) trail we discovered on our way out, then hit the road again to make it into Nevada before nightfall.

First impression of Nevada... hm.... Why on earth would anyone choose to live here?

Is it pretty? Well, yeah, I guess so. If you're into empty, flat-ish, desert type environments with scrub brush everywhere and brown and boring mountains in the distance. 

Okay, maybe that sounded a lot worse than I meant it to. Yes, it is pretty. There's a stark, harsh kind of beauty to the desert that's different from any other place we've seen so far. But in my personal opinion, it can't compare with the beauty of places like Washington.

We drove for five and a half hours, and I can sum up the scenery of that entire drive, with the three pictures above. That's what it looks like. 

We pulled into Winnemucca, NV around 8:45-ish and checked into our hotel, then spent the evening planning the next few days' adventures.

June 22: Departures and Arrivals.

Today we bid farewell to Washington, and said hello to the great state of Oregon.

We spent the morning at Matt's house, relaxing, and talking, and just hanging out. And making daisy crowns to put on the dog. He loved that.

Then it was time to pack up and head out.

Matt took us to Mountain High Hamburgers for lunch, and then we all drove over to Easton state park for a view of the lake.

We took some pictures, sat and talked for a bit, then said our goodbyes.

First thing on the to-do list was gas and groceries. We pulled into the gas station to fill up and check our tire pressure before we hit the road, but didn't really know what we were doing with the air machine....

We winged it. I filled them until I thought it looked good, and we decided that was going to have to do.

Safeway was next, and we grabbed some foodstuffs. You know, bread, apples, grapes, lunch meat. That kind of stuff.

On our way back out to the car, I saw there was a stuffed dog laying on the windshield....

Matt had some to the Safeway as well and was sitting in the parking lot on his phone when we pulled in. The stuffed dog was none other than the famous Hank the Ikea Dog. (@hank_the_ikea_dog on Instaram. Go follow him.)

So Matt helped us load up the van, then drove us back to the gas station to check our tire pressure for us (since he knew what he was doing). With another farewell wish, he left Hank in our care, and we drove to Oregon.

Fun fact about Oregon; they pump your gas for you. Say what? You thought that was only a thing that happened back in the olden days, eh? Nope! All the gas stations we saw had signs saying "No Self Service". Well okay then.

We pulled into our desired campground somewhere abouts 8:45 and found nearly every site to be full. No beuno. 

But just as we were pulling out to try and find another place, we spotted a park ranger. When asked if there were any available campsites, she pointed us to the closest empty one and said that (despite the bright red "RESERVED" tag) it was open.

$24, and ten minutes later, we had a campsite, and a tent set up.

Expressing Gratitude

God has seriously blessed me with a great family. From my parents and siblings, cousins to aunts and uncles. I take it for granted a lot, because it's what I grew up with. But this week of staying with my uncle has been a week of taking a step back and thanking God for the life he has given me. I come from a family of eight, and my mother is from an even bigger family. Growing up, I always had cousins to play with. We had many family events. I went to the same school as some of them. They were some of my childhood best friends. Even to this day, we are still a pretty close knit family. My grandparents are some of the most loving people you could ever meet. They truly demonstrate how to walk in love as followers of our Savior.  But, I'm oblivious at times to these things. We had many hours of just driving places this week. And during that time, it was cool to walk down memory lane with my uncle. He moved out to Washington  many years ago. He lives the furthest out of all aunts and uncle. I never really grew up with him, but I loved hearing the stories of him. When he would visit,  he would tell crazy stories or get us to do crazy things.  We were always doing good push ups for him (if he asked me to do one today, I wouldn't be able to). He even had his own nickname from us.

Last summer, he came to visit. We were all at grandma's house. My friend and I were texting  and somewhere in that day came the idea to roadtrip out to see my uncle. He loved the idea  but he didn't know it is was actually going to happen. I determined to make it happen. A year later, my friend and I are setting out across the country.

7 days later, I'm reunited with him. It was such a whirlwind of emotions and crazy adventures getting here.  Nonetheless,  we made it safely. We arrived a day and half earlier than planned. But I was more than  okay with that. I don't think you can ever spend too much time with your family, especially a family centered around Christ.

I didn't want to set too many plans up being here in Washington because I don't know the state. But my uncle knows all the wonderful places. We jumped right into adventuring. It was a heart happy week. We got to summit many mountains, slept on top of a mountain, saw many gorgeous sunsets, attempted many sunrises (though we didn't succeed, just being with family is more valuable than a sunrise), played in lots of snow, built a snowman, bodysled, ate at cool hole in the wall restaurants, visited with my cousin, became a tourist to see Seattle, reunited with a dear friend from CR, saw the Pacific, visited the most northwest point of the Lower 48, fell in love with many wildflowers, slept in beds, hotels, motels, tents and a tower, saw many deer, visited a 2 mile tunnel, marveled at many waterfalls, drove on many dirt roads with pot holes, watched finding dory, saw many awesome mountains, took 2 ferries, experienced the dog life, experienced a cool rainforest, built endurance, lived spontaneously, laughed, loved and lived in the moment.

My uncle has taught me alot of this trip. Life is too short to not love and enjoy. He has such an awesome perspective, living with a childlike sense of wonder and faith. The kind the Bible talked about, but we normally only see in children themselves. Yet, I see it in my uncle and he inspires me in that. He knows how to enjoy the life God has blessed him with.  I'm seriously so grateful for the chance to do life with my uncle. He is the most spontaneous, adventure loving person I know. He has a such a big heart and is such a lover of life. I'm not ready to leave him yet, there is so much I could  learn from him, but for the next leg of the journey, I'm taking with me the life lessons and advice he shared me with. As much as I would like to say, I want to be just like him, he would tell me to keep being myself. To keep seeing life as I already do. To keep loving people the way I do.

Last night,  he shared some advice that I always forget to live. To not be caught up in what people say or think about me. If I know who I am in Christ, then what does it matter how others see me. We each are unique and we each have unique gifts. 
We are called to be unified as the Body if Christ. Hands helping hands, feet helping feet.  This generation seems to struggle with that. Feels more like a "each person for their own " , stay out of the way culture.  I don't want to live that way. I want to live for Him and I hope others can see the love I have for life and others. But most importantly I hope they see Jesus in me.

Today we leave Washington, we will finish the 9 days coming home and I will have 2 weeks at home with the family before I return to CR for a couple of weeks. Please be praying for safety as we cross country home. Also be praying that Jesus remains the center of the trip , that we don't lose sight of that. Be praying for our families as they live day to day. Be praying for each other, as the Body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:25-26
So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

June 18: Seattle

We spent the 18th exploring Seattle, specifically Pike's Place market and the area around there. 

Breanna licked the gum wall (truly the grossest thing I've seen this whole trip), and we met up with some friends of hers from Costa Rica.

 We got ice cream and sampled some cheese from some of the shops in Pikes Place, then went down to see the Space Needle with Breanna's friends.

Then we met Matt, bit her friends goodbye, and grabbed dinner from 5 guys, before heading home for an afternoon to nap and a call home. 

June 21: The Three Mile Hike down off the Top of the World, and a Two Hundred Year Old Train Tunnel

We started off the day at 3 am when one of our fellow campers' cell phone alarms went off. Do you not realize 3 am is too early for a sunrise? No? Okay...

We dozed for another hour and a half until 4:30 or 4:45-ish when it went off again. At that point, it was time just just give up on sleeping anymore and get up and around.

There was too much fog and mist for there to be a sunrise, so we bundled up, packed our gear, and made the slick climb down the ladder and onto the rocks.

The hike down out of the tower was wet, slick, foggy, and all around mystical. I felt like I was in a fantasy movie of some sort, just waiting to round a corner and find myself face-to-face with a dragon.

It was a long hike and my knee was hurting, but I enjoy going down quite a bit. I just wish I could have run some of it.

We made it down by about 8, threw our stuff in the car, and made for the showers. After that, breakfast (okay more like brunch).

Breanna was nearly falling asleep at the table (I think I was the only person in the tower to get a good night's rest), but Matt had one more adventure in mind.

The Snoqualmie Tunnel is 2 miles long and over 200 years old. It used to be a railway tunnel, but now it's used for walking and biking.
It was super cool to walk through, and long enough that you could barely see the other end when you stood at either entrance. Listening to the water drip, and watching our breath cloud up in the beam of Matt's headlamp, it felt like we were in another world.
It was totally work the four miles down and back, even if my knee was killing me by the time we got back to the car.

When we got home, I had a nap while Matt and Breanna unpacked the car. Then it was pizza for dinner, and an evening of relaxation and recovery. Seven miles is a lot to do in one day, when you're not used to it.

Tomorrow, we pack up Olga and say farewell to Matt and to Washington. I can't wait to come back.

June 20: Mt. Baker, Sledding without a sled, and the Three Mile Hike to the Top of the World

We ate breakfast and took showers in the swanky Oxford Suites hotel, then Breanna and I napped while Matt drove us to Mt Baker. 

Unfortunately, the road up to Artist Point was closed, so we have to just settle for taking pictures from the parking lot. Still pretty stunning stuff.

And.... (because we're all children) we climbed up a nearby snow mount and went sledding (minus the sleds) down it.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the Jack in the Box, then took off towards Mt Pilchuck.

We hiked the 2200-some feet (stretched over three miles) to the summit in just under 2 hours, and arrived at the top around 5:45 pm.

We staked out our sleeping spots by spreading our gear out a bit inside the tower, then monkey climbed down over the rocks to find a good spot to watch the sunset from.

There were several other groups of people at the peak, but only a few staying overnight with us. We found a quiet spot out away from the tower a ways, zipped up our jackets, and waited.

Between the sunset, the city lights, and the clouds gathering below us, I was left rather speechless.

We watched the sunset, and then the lightning from the storm rolling in to the north, then ticked into bed about 10:30 worth plans to be up in time for the sunrise.

June 19th: Rattlesnake Ledge, and Mt. Rainier

We got up at 3:30 am local time to drive out and meet up with Matt's son, Sahil, to hike up to Rattlesnake Ledge in hopes of catching the sunrise.

We missed the sunrise itself, but still got some pretty amazing views.

Matt, Floyd and I ran down on the rougher trail while Breanna and Sahil took the longer but smoother trail.

I do believe that I've discovered my new favorite activity.
That's right,  mountain running. It's like regular running, but twelve times as fun because it's in the mountains (duh), it's all down hill, and you have to dodge rocks and roots in your way. Hard on the knees, but an incredible rush.

We went for breakfast, then loaded up to head home.

On the way back to the house, Matt turned down the wrong exit. When questioned, all he would say was that he was taking us on an adventure.

We drove a good twenty minutes down a horribly, wonderfully rough mountain road, until we reached a bit of a plateau.

Mt. Rainier was massive, and stunning, and very snowy.

We hiked around the back of where we had parked and found a bunch of really beautiful flowers, and a view of a lake far below.

Then it was time to pack up the gear for our Pilchuck expedition, and clean out the car. Whitaker (Matt's SUV) really appreciated that.

We headed out around 3 to go see Finding Dory (because Matt can't handle anything above PG) with Sahil, then grabbed some supper from a local Mexican place.

We drove around a roundabout 7 times, (Matt is a child. I don't know how else to explain it) made a quick stop at Matt's office to pick some stuff up,  and then started towards Bellevue where we'd be staying overnight.

We saw a beautiful sunset on the way out, but couldn't get any decent pictures.  I suppose some moments were meant to simply be enjoyed and not captured.

When we got to our hotel, we immediately got our laundry going in hopes of getting to bed at a decent hour.

12:30 and the clothes were still in the dryer, and we were both quite thankful that we'd have some sleeping time tomorrow in the car.

June 16: Deception Pass, Bavaria, and Sketchy Forest Roads

After a rather great night's sleep in the Aladdin motor inn, we drove out to take the ferry from Fort Townsend to Coupeville. Matt had Doritos for breakfast, and Breanna had gummy bears.

We boarded the ferry, and grabbed some hot pretzels for a "real" breakfast, then drove out to Deception Pass and climbed to the top of Goose Rock.

Then it was Five Guys for lunch since Breanna and I had never been there before, and then we drove to Leavenworth, got some ice cream, and wondered the streets for a bit. Cute place.

We hiked Red Top Mountain around 7 and got some really incredible views. I can't describe the beauty,  so I'll just post some pictures instead. They won't do the experience justice either,  but they'll do the job better than anything I could write.

We were going to camp at the Bible Rock campground, but we got a bit lost, and so ended up driving for a good half hour on a really rough, really narrow road through the dark woods. Breanna kinda freaked out, so of course,  Matt (being the mediocre, man-child uncle that he is) was talking about serial killers, and bears, and at one point even pretended the headlights cut out. She really disappreciated that. 

Eventually we gave up on finding the campground at the end of the sketchy forest road, and turned around to drive the half hour back to the main road.

We pulled off into the next closest campground,  set up tents and started a fire in the dark.
About an hour later we had 10pm hot dogs, and crawled into bed.

We woke up the next morning and found out that we were - in fact - in the Bible Rock campground, we'd just missed the signs in the dark.