We are still alive and well. We’ve been super busy once we hit California. I have plenty to update on and will over the next couple of weeks. I ended up in the hospital and am now out and working on recovering. Updates soon to follow. Sorry for the loooong delay! 
Quick Update
October 21, 2010
Uncategorized 1 Comment
The Girl, The Bike and The Hill – Bellevue, WA
September 14, 2010
The day started out wonderful. Got up after a good night’s sleep, found a decent trail to ride on along the roadway in beautiful Bellevue Washington and worked on heading out. I hadn’t been on my road bike much so I was really excited to get out and put in a good ride.
As I gear up and head out the door I’m feeling great. I’m gonna hit the streets and work on those pesky extra pounds that seem to follow me. J I immediately get on the road with a sufficient enough bike lane for me to feel pretty safe. I had the directions in my mind and went over them and over them again so I wouldn’t get lost. I remembered I needed to turn left and go up the hill in order to hit the bike path I needed. I see it…yep that’s the turn. I carefully cross the busy road and start to head up the hill. Did I say hill? No this was a San Francisco screw you hill. That’s okay. I can go up the hills….my problem will be how in the hell will I get down this hill. Not to worry, I have a bike ride to complete for now. So I huff and puff and sweat and hope I don’t fall over because I’m going so slow up the hill. I panic a little when a haggle of work trucks fly past me roaring and blowing leaves on me while causing some deafness in my left ear. However I get over it and continue on.
After a bit of time I crest the hill and feel great. Now I just need to follow the bike path deb and all will be fine. As I’m riding I have to cross some roads, make a left turn here, make a right turn there, nope wrong way turn around, make a left turn here, ride straight dodge the runner, dodge the dog walker and all the while solve all the world’s problems. I couldn’t solve whether ALF was played by a small man or big child but nevertheless I was riding so it didn’t matter.
AND then THE feeling. Oh no not again….where am I? Ah maaaaaaan….now I have to call Honey and ask him where I am. Damn it. I know I’m only 3 miles out and made a turn somewhere back there on the trail. So I call Honey and he looks on the map and lets me know where I need to go. I head back to find where I might remember something from the ride but realize I was in my own thoughts. AH CRAP!
After a few calls to Honey and few turn arounds and backtracking I find my way back to where I need to be. I decide to head back towards the hill where I am familiar with the road. Oh WAIT! The Hill!! I can’t ride my bike down that hill. NOWAY. Imagine if you were on a bike, feet locked into your pedals where you have to remember to twist and pull in order to get it out, while you’re going 30 mph down a hill because it’s so steep your brakes won’t slow you down much, all the while imagining what it feels like to splat onto the roadway going 30mph. That’s what thought flashed in my mind. That did it for me. I’m walking it down.
Once I get to the hill. I hop off my bike and proceed down the steep hill trying to hold my bike back and walk in my bike shoes, which is basically the equivalent of trying to walk on ice, on stilts. So as I am talking to myself, wearing my bike helmet, walking in my bike shoes, trying to keep my bike from rolling away from me down the hill I hear a squeaking noise. What the hell is that? Is my bike broke? Come on…wait. How come every other step I take I hear it? It’s coming from my right foot! Nooooooooo! Not now.!!! Did someone put a dog toy in my shoe? Why me? Why now? 
As I am talking to myself, walking down a steep hill, in my bike helmet, wearing my bike shoes, with a squeak and a thump every other step I take I start laughing. I start laughing out loud so hard I have tears coming down my cheeks. I can’t make the squeak stop. I tell myself “what did you do to your shoe? How do you suddenly get a squeak in your shoe? You have to stop talking to yourself. You have to stop laughing.”
So I proceed down the hill with a squeak, thump, squeak, thump, squeak, thump while I’m talking to myself, laughing with tears streaming down my cheeks, with my helmet on, in my bike shorts, pulling back on my bike so it doesn’t go down the hill on its own, trying to keep myself from slipping down the hill when I look up to see an elderly man walking up the hill towards me. He takes one look at me and crosses the road starting at me as if I was standing there trying to bite my own ear. Come on old man can’t you see when a semi-young woman is clearly in hysterics?
I don’t even attempt to explain. I just continue down the hill laughing even harder, although trying to be quieter as I start to imagine people locking their doors in the houses I passed and sneak a look out the window at the “crazy” woman walking down the road with her bike.
I finally reach the end of the hill and hop on my bike as fast as I can and hightail it outta there!!
Multnomah Falls to Wahkeena Falls – Corbett, OR
September 4, 2010
We did another 6 mile hike that took us past numerous waterfalls starting at the famous Multnomah Waterfalls and ending at Wahkeena Waterfalls. Those are the only two names I remember of any of the waterfalls not because there were so many of them but honestly because I couldn’t pronounce any of them.
I can say that this hike was breathtaking and that is an understatement. If you can think back to your childhood imagination and go to that imaginary world we all made up and played in then you will know what this hike was like. It was literally stepping into a different world where you are certain elves and fairies and pixies exist. (although in my imaginary world as a child I didn’t have elves but if I wasn’t so taken with G.I. Joe burning Barbie I might’ve had fairies but alas Barbie burning was way more exciting even in a beautiful pixie world)
Multnomah Falls reputation did not disappoint. The falls are magnificent in size and about as graceful and glamorous as a waterfall can get. Multnomah Falls is the tallest of all the waterfalls in the area being approximately a 620ft drop of the combined falls that make up Multnomah. We have since learned that the Columbia River Gorge contains more waterfalls in one area than anywhere else in the world. Although Multnomah Falls is beautiful there are many waterfalls in the area that are a must see. Each waterfall almost has its own personality and takes you to a peaceful, inspiring spot in your mind.
The area is exceptionally green everywhere you look, with moss seemingly flowing off the trees as if they were waterfalls of their own. There is every shade of green ever imagined. You can’t help but look all around you spinning in circles when you walk just to see if you are really there or if perhaps you are dreaming the world up.
There are pine trees so tall you can look up and watch them dancing in the wind which you don’t feel on the ground due to all the trees and bushes at our level. It is almost frightening to watch as the trees sway in the wind so far back and forth you are positive one will break and fall. It was just as beautiful as it was frightening.
We had a great time hiking and checking everything out. We took a lot of pictures as you can see below!! Enjoy the pictures!!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
3 Falls Hike – Ainsworth Campground, OR
August 30, 2010
We have settled into a new campground in Oregon called Ainsworth State Campground which is a beautifully forested campground covered in wild blackberries which happen to be plump, juicy and ripe!! YAY!
We did have a little mishap just before we left Phillips Lake, OR. Just as we had everything packed and we were ready to go we went to put the slide out in. However when we hit the button…NOTHING. There was no sound, no nothing. UH-OH. So Honey goes to check it out and yep there was a problem. There’s a pin that holds the roller thing in the track thing (is that specific? LOL) which popped out of the hole thing!! So Honey being as handy as he is quickly figured out the problem and how to fix it. He remained calm and carried about his job of fixing the slide out all while the neighbors were sitting at the next campground staring. So he ended up jacking up the slide out, popped the pin in, let the jack down and slid the slide out in! YAY!!! From there we were on our way towards the Columbia Gorge River!
After an uneventful 5 hour drive we make it to camp. By the way for most of the drive we had the pleasure of the Columbia River as a view. The river is huge, giant and I’ve never seen such a big river. It was like watching a really long lake that never ends……really cool!
We easily find a spot in the camp and are in awe with the beauty of the forest. Our first full day we decide to take a hike to go see 3 of the waterfalls in the area. The trail from camp is just a few feet from our spot. So we load our camelbaks with water, snacks, first aid kit and camera and head out.
I don’t think I have ever seen such a beautiful place. The trail was wide and canopied by green leafed trees that put a persistent smile on your face and makes you feel like there is nothing else in the world but happiness. The feeling you get walking in the forest is one of motivation and a feeling of truly being able to accomplish whatever it is you need to in life. I don’t know if it’s the peaceful feeling you get being in the forest or if perhaps it’s an overload of green (coming from the desert this could happen to the best of us! hahaha lol) or even a sugar overload from all the wild berries but I do like it!!
On our hike we came across actually 4 waterfalls even though we called it the 3 falls hike. We hit Ponytail Fall first which was awesome shooting out of the mountain while walking under/behind it on the trail. Then we his Oneonta Falls which was beautiful falling into a little pool of water in its own little canyon. Next we hit Triple Falls which as you can guess has 3 falls in one! LOL Triple Falls has a wooden bridge that crosses the river so we hung out there for a bit checking out all the mini falls and clear pools of water. The last fall was Horsetail Falls which is quite a large waterfall in height and falls down again to its own pool of water right along the highway.
With all the water flowing in these forests it’s no wonder it is so green. We ended up doing a 7 mile hike in total which was a pretty decent hike considering we had a short-legged 8-year-old with us. JoeJoe enjoyed himself and couldn’t believe there are such places in the world. Of course being in the green green forest made him happy but not quite as happy as the “candy island” he made up in his mind and spent a half hour telling us about. kids and candy!! LOL
Below are the pictures of the hike!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Phillips Lake – Sumpter, OR
August 25, 2010
Well we crossed another border. We made it to Oregon from Idaho. We had a great drive. Chris found wild fruit trees on the way and was soooo excited to stop and pick the fruit. He found apples, plums, cherries and pears. LOL. While him and JoeJoe enjoyed the fantastic fresh fruit I enjoyed my bag of cheetos which were very fresh by Cheetos standards. LOL How am I supposed to eat fruit when I have yummy powder cheese mudded up on my fingers?!
We made our way to Sumpter, OR which has been really nice. There’s another town that’s a bit bigger (Baker City) which had real grocery stores. I was so excited to actually hit a Safeway and pay reasonable prices. Most stores we end up at are places that go to a walmart a few hours away and buy groceries to sell in their stores at ridiculous prices. LOL So I went to town and stocked up!!
We’ve finally gotten into a routine with school. It took JoeJoe a bit to get it through his head that he had to do school before anything else. He now is on his way to learning and kind of enjoying it. At least he finishes his school work by noon (most days) LOL. He finally got past asking “why do I have to learn this? when am I ever going to use this? Tell me again why I have to learn about Rome and Rennaissance?” LOL well to that last question I didn’t have an answer but the old stand by “because the school says so” works well with him. He is finally understanding the benefits to him by doing online school and I believe it has finally hit him that he can be done with school by lunch and have the entire day to hang out!! woooohoooo because I didn’t think we’d survive if he continued to take all day to complete his assignments because of arguing! YIKES! Parenting is rough! LOL
Below are the latest pictures!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Cascade Lake- Cascade, ID
August 20, 2010
We are currently at Cascade Lake in Idaho until Saturday. Then we head over into Oregon and up into Washington. The lake here is beautiful and it’s huge. We’ve been able to catch a few bike rides and that’s been enjoyable. The weather is getting cold though. YIKERS!! During the day it’s about 80 which is nice but this morning we woke up to a freezing 35 degrees! Are you kidding me? LOL Chris looked out the door this morning and saw a girl walking down the road in shorts and a tank top! Holy barbells and gummy worms that’s nuts. We think she’s insane as we sit in our trailer with the heater blazing and wrapped in blankets in the middle of August!!!! How will we survive the winter?
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The Long Day – Ashton, ID to Cascade, ID
August 19, 2010
We headed out of Ashton Idaho and were going to head over to the Boise area. We planned on leaving at 7am and made it out by 7:30 which is okay with us. As long as we are no more than 30 minutes past our scheduled time then we don’t fret.
Since we stayed at Warm River for so long we needed to stop and dump our tanks. Staying in Warm River was the longest we had spent in one spot and we seriously tested our tank capabilities on this one. LOL!! So we stop at the Ashton, ID visitor center and take care of the tanks even taking the time to clean them out. YAY clean tanks!
By the time we completed the cleaning tanks task we weren’t on the road until about 8:30. Still no big deal we didn’t have too far to go. For the beginning of the trip it was uneventful. We had a few hours of rolling farm hills and really cool John Deere equipment. (My tractor obsessed dad would be proud of all the John Deere’s I pointed out and even expressed excitement over how “cool” they were) The farms were neat since what looked like wheat was planted but done at different times so the hills looked like patchwork with some of the wheat having turned brown and the rest still green.
Once we got past the farmlands there really wasn’t much to look at. Luckily we made good time through the ugly parts with good conversation, good radio and lots of jokes. Before we knew it we were in Boise and about to head north of Boise to our camp. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and we had about ½ hour to go.
After driving through some beautiful mountains north of Boise, we hit our campground. Our spot was beautifully nestled against a decently sized creek with little waterfalls right out our front door. The spot was secluded and we LOVED it. So Chris gets out and starts to set up the satellite. UH-OH! Now you have to understand we have made it for months with the ability to have satellite everywhere. We’ve had no problems at all with this little task. Chris starts moving the satellite dish around and nothing. We got nothing, zilch, zero, zip, nada. So after a few more attempts we decide to move across the road and a little higher up.
Okay we throw everything back in the trailer and no big deal we are in the same campground just across the road. We spot another private site with its own little section of the creek and it’s totally surrounded by bushes lending to us the secluded feeling of the wilderness.
So we get the dogs set up and fed as it’s getting a bit late. We pull out the satellite stuff and continue with the setup. UH-OH! Yep you guessed it. Nothing, zilch, zero, zip, nada. Noooooooooo. We attempt different satellites and after every attempt possible and some serious frustration going on, we halt the satellite setting up process. There is a mountain in the way. There is no way around the mountain with a satellite. We are screwed and not in the fun loving kind of way either.
At this point we have to decide what to do. Usually when we decide where to go we choose a few different options “just in case” but since we’ve never had a problem we took it for granted and didn’t plan any options. LOL YIKES!!
If this was a weekend it would be no problem. Since it was a Tuesday we HAD to get somewhere to have internet so JoeJoe could log in to school. Knowing there wasn’t much else in the direct area we decided to head back towards Boise and continue on in the direction we are headed any way. It’s now about 6:00pm and we need to get a move on in order to make it to another spot before dark.
We drive back to Boise, stop to grab some food for the road, cuss a bit, huff and puff a bit, get over it, suck it up and move on!
So now we are settled into the drive again and we expect a couple to a few more hours on the road. Our destination is Cascade Lake in Cascade Idaho. After a few hours of driving we pull into a spot on the lake as it’s getting dark and late.
At this point it has been 14 hours on the road and we are beat, tired, exhausted, seeing double and in a hurry to setup. I jump out of the car and take JoeJoe to the trailer to get him ready for bed. I grab the dogs and drag them with me. As we are in the trailer bustling around determining the minimum required to set up for the night leaving the rest for the morning, Chris is outside attempting to level the trailer which is on a not so level at all spot. Just as JoeJoe is getting into his bed KABOOM, SLAM dogs freak out, me yelping and JoeJoe saying “what the heck was that?” The trailer slammed down hard. Chris runs around asking if we’re okay. I ask what in the world that was, as it felt like we fell off a cliff and were about to roll down the hill. Chris explained that the trailer fell off the levelers and he’s fixing it now. Usually I am out pointing and guiding him pulling the trailer on the levelers but this time it was dark, we were tired and JoeJoe needed to get to bed so he was out doing it and we were inside. We are generally never inside until the trailer is settled.
By the time we get everything settled, leveled (well sort of) and in decent enough shape to call it a night it is late. After Chris stops and takes a breather. Scary for him as he was under the trailer when it fell off the levelers. Holy Charleston chew that’s scary!!!! So Chris comes inside and opens the fridge to get something cold and SLAM out falls a beer and splatters! As he grabs it and gets ready to throw it in the sink I say “WAIT!! I’ll take that. No need to waste a perfectly good beer after a long, rough day” So I drank the beer and fell into bed exhausted right next to Honey!!
Lessons learned: never go in the trailer before it’s settled. Never drive 14 hours again on the trip. Don’t take for granted that every spot will work out without hassle. The most important lesson – No matter what after a long hard day even a fuzzy beer that’s been dropped and spewed on the ground STILL hits the spot!
Fun at Warm River Campground – Ashton, ID
August 18, 2010
We had to move on in our adventure and leave the Warm River Campground. The campground was such a nice place to stay with so many things going on with people, wildlife and just plain life. Below are a few of the funny or cool things that happened while we were there.
Cool: you can sit in your campsite and watch the hawks hover way up in the sky or hang at the top of a tree and swoop down to grab a fish. We were always hopeful and cheered them on and felt bad if one happened to not get one.
Funny: every morning we would sit outside or look out the windows depending on the weather and watch the chipmunks try to steal stuff off our bikes. In the midst of being thieves they would always take a few seconds to try to hump. One chipmunk would try and try and try to get the nuts off the bike wheels while the other one would run up and try to hump it!! LOL
Funny: our camp had wonderful camp hosts who were really nice and easy-going. They were just laid back people. Well here is a conversation between the camp host and a little boy with a squirrel problem: Let me set the stage. A little boy is playing with his matchbox cars when a squirrel comes up and grabs one. As the squirrel is checking out the car in his tiny little hands the boy comes up to get his car and startles the squirrel who immediately takes off into the bushes. Boy to the camp host : Hey that squirrel just stole my car. Camp Host : That sucks! Boy: you owe me $5 bucks. Camp host: No I don’t. That’s not my squirrel. Boy: Well it’s in your campsite and he stole my car so you owe me $5 bucks. Camp host: Nope. Not my squirrel. Sounds like an issue between you and the squirrel. So the camp host drives off in his cart leaving the little boy staring into the bushes trying to figure out how to convince a squirrel to give it back. LMAO….
Cool: We met some really genuinely nice people while camping. They invited us to join their campfire two nights in a row and we accepted the offer and hung out. We had a really nice time with good conversation and few beers. We heard great hunting stories and life in general stories. We had a great time!! Thanks John, Sarah, Bob, Christina, all the kids and Johns mom and dad and sister and her husband for inviting us and letting us hang around your fire.
Funny: during our last night at camp, we were hanging around our neighbors campfire when we hear “SKUNK!” so everyone pulls out their flashlights and starts looking around and sure enough right in camp are two skunks. They really aren’t causing problems but certainly need to be watched so they don’t get too close. As the kids are watching the skunks they are trying to figure out what the skunks are doing and where they’re going. The two skunks begin to sort of circle/sniff each other and all the ideas are being thrown out as to what they are doing when suddenly we hear “THEY”RE MAKING OUT! THE SKUNKS ARE MAKING OUT!” wait who said that? It figures those words could only come out of JoeJoe’s mouth. :/ LOL
All in all Warm River Campground was and is a really nice place to hang out! We will be back to visit this gem of a place!
Grand Teton Drive – Ashton, ID
August 15, 2010
We are still at the Warm River Campground in Ashton, ID due to a mix up with UPS who was supposed to deliver a package. No big deal. We decided since we were going to be here for a couple more days and today was supposed to be our travel day we thought we’d drive over to the Gran d Tetons and check them out.
WOW….they are pretty awesome to see. The road we took to get there was a 25 mile dirt road which took us through some pretty back country areas but it was gorgeous. Within a couple of miles of going on the dirt road we came across a lily pond or something to that effect. It was huge!! I, of course, included pictures in the slide show below. We came across some meadow type places which I am still amazed by whenever I see them. We drove through some old fire areas where clearly there was a devastating effect. We saw wild life and even had a pretty deer stand for a bit while I took her picture. I even got a shot of her sticking her tongue out….LOL
We drove on through the dirt road and made it to pavement and what do we see? YEP you guessed it a grizzly BEAR….yikes!!!! We had to pull over and catch a shot of this guy. Holy crap those things are scary and I now have adjusted my imaginary plan if I run into one…forget the pepper idea (see previous blog post for that one lol) My plan is to RUN LIKE HELL if I’m ever alone in the woods. Of course I’m told you are NOT supposed to do that. You are supposed to stand there!! WHAAAAAT?! Yah the instructions when you come across a bear are to stand there…..especially if the bear charges you! Yes you heard me right. If a bear charges you it is recommended to stand your ground. LOL I can’t even stand still if Chris runs at me…it is my instinct to run and usually I start giggling so bad I pee(kind of like when you were a kid and played hide and seek and if the seeker came close you’d get excited and pee a little and I am not the only one who did this), which of course makes him do it to me all the time because I cannot stand still I have to run away and he thinks it’s funny…NOW I’m supposed to stand there if a big hungry bears comes at me. I’m sure I won’t be giggling and I won’t pee because something else entirely different will be coming out of me….as in scared right out of me!!
After getting the bear pictures we headed not too much further up the road and caught up to the Tetons. I was bit disappointed because it was kind of hazy out so I didn’t get the greatest pictures but what can you do? Not much. We drove all the way around the Tetons so we saw them from all sides.
On our way back to the camp we were quite a ways out and pretty much out in the middle of nowhere and we see a cyclist walking his bike down the road. We stopped to see if he needed help and sure enough he did. He had a flat tire and was waaaaaaaaaaaay far from home as he was on a 60 mile ride. So we chucked his bike up on top of the car and headed on our way to his home which happened to be right on our way. That was our good deed for the day and a complete pay back for the kind person who gave Chris a ride in Colorado when he had a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere!!
It was a great day, with beautiful sights and reminder as to why we are on this trip! Enjoy the pictures!!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Upper & Lower Mesa Falls – Ashton, ID
August 11, 2010
There are two ways, on a bike to get to Mesa Falls from where we are currently camped. There’s the rail road/trail that we took last week (see blog Warm River Campground from 8/7/2010) . If we went further on that trail and then hit the paved road we would be at the falls. The other way is to take the Mesa scenic highway which is a paved road right up from our camp. I myself choose to take the paved road and use my road bike to travel to the falls. I’ve convinced myself that if I take the dirt road I would probably be attacked by a bear being out there by myself. However if I take the paved road I won’t because perhaps bears don’t like paved roads….lol Yes I will convince myself of these things true or not!! LOL as a matter of fact when I am out there all by myself I will convince myself there is a wolf, bear, fox, badger or whatever I “see” in my mind. My imagination of being attacked will increase my speed up those hills to get there faster. I also create these “attack” plans in my mind. If I see a coyote coming at me i’ll jump off my bike, throw it down the cliff, grab a rock and chuck it with complete precision right into the coyotes eye. Or perhaps if a bear comes after me I’ll wait until it just gets up to me and then in one fluid motion pull out of my pedals, jump off, roll under my bike just as the bear gets to me. I’ll be under my bike as he jumps on me and I’ll use my bike as leverage to throw him off me in a roll, using my legs as the driving force. Then I’ll chuck the bike and throw pepper in his eyes when he recovers. You see I’ll have the eliment of surprise. Woooohoooo…I can see it in my mind and I pull it off with the skill of a daytime ninja. (by the way I have no idea where the pepper comes from but it works) So as you can see in my imagination I am a complete badass!! I’d give any action movie actor a run for their money!!!
In reality I’m riding as fast as I can so I don’t get bit!!! Hoping I don’t see anything because I would pee my pants. But who wants to think about reality. I’ll live in my imagination for now. It’s way more interesting and I am WAY cooler in there!!
So the benefit of this ride is getting to see some amazing waterfalls. There is the Upper falls which is a 65 foot waterfall and man is it powerful. The Lower Falls (which is the best to ride to) is a smaller waterfall but just as beautiful. It is well worth the panic of a ride alone to see and hear these falls.
Enjoy the pictures:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
