Tag Archives: Hiking/Camping

The Week In Review

I’m just totally psyched on how nice it is.  I know that we will be going back to rain, on and off, until July so I’m just really enjoying this.

I know that I should really go for a walk today, but kind of like just enjoying here at home.  The deck goes from cool in the morning/afternoon to very warm in the late afternoon once the sun hits it.  Someday I may post a pic of how private it feels now the trees have their leaves. =)

I’m enjoying it when the birds come out and squirrels.  If you saw my last 2 twitterpics, one of the squirrels got pretty dang close to me.  Which threw me off guard…..lol  They definitely know where the food is coming from….grin

In just over a week, we are leaving for 3-5 days.  We are headed down to the Red Woods in California to camp for a few days to celebrate our 12th anniversary that is actually on the 31st.  But we are going down on Memorial Day.  By the time we get there all the holiday campers will be gone, thankfully.  There is no way we would going camping on that weekend….icks.

We will finally be using the tent and sleeping bags that we got ourselves for our last anniversary…….lol  We have practice setting up the tent in the house….just not outside.

What we are having issues on figuring out is what food to bring with.  Yes, the standard hotdogs and luncheon meat…fruit, but we aren’t going to live off of just that.  We do have a couple of RMEs, thinking of bringing down a steak for one night…..but what is not helping is that we are bored with food in general, so figuring out camping food doesn’t make it any easier.

The good thing is that the bear boxes should be big enough for our cooler.  =)

I’m so hoping for weather like we are having now, but knowing are luck…that isn’t going to happen.  So we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

This week I did pretty decent at the gym.  I got up to 3.51 mile in 30min. Not getting the lasting soreness that I want, but getting little hits here and there.  For example, move a certain way and I get a slight soreness in my abs…which I’m happy about.  Hoping that it means that I’m getting some where even if my weight doesn’t show it (I think it is due to not eating enough fresh fruits & veggies…which I eat a lot in the summer, just not enough in the fall/winter)

I also switched my abs up.  Right after the treadmill, I use the abdominal machine and I normally going on to some other strength exercises.  Rotating the days between upper and lower body.  Then at the end, I do a bunch of floor abs.  What I did this week, is to work on the majority of my floor abs right after the abdominal machine and do one final set after my strength exercies.  I’m hoping that helps on losing more jiggly around my waist.

Otherwise just been busy with work this week.  I did have payroll to do.  I’m totally loving the new notice setup that our tech put together.  It has totally helped to levitate some of the time pressure stressed and that psychs me up….grin  I’m so easy to make happy at times.  =)

One thing that I really need to get myself together for work, is the online store.  I really need to start spending about an hour a day adding new things to it.  So I’m trying to to think of the best way of how to work that in.  Which part of my work day works the best.    So I need to keep that in my focus for tomorrow.

Unless it is payroll, I avoid doing major work on Saturdays and most of Sundays now.  When I do start playing catch up with everything from Saturday & most of Sunday, it is normally Sunday evening.  We are usually settled in the office watching our Sunday programs and I tackle everything so I don’t have ton waiting for Monday morning.  I may not get everything done Sunday night, but I do make a good dent in it.

I will say that I’m kind of worried about how much work will be piled up when we go camping.  But I know that we will get connection after and before the Red Woods, enough to catch high priority stuff, but I’m going to try to avoid as much as I can and hope that it isn’t overwhelming when I get back.  So the weekend before I’ll be working while getting our stuff packed up.

I have been getting annoyed with what has been going on in politics, nothing unusual….lol  I don’t trust that Pelosi got briefed fully, if it came from someone in the Bush Admin, but at the same time, I just don’t trust her.  I would prefer a different Speaker of the House….at the same time, I don’t want the dems to be hampered by her stupid crap.  And Gingrich…he is such a hypocrite!  He needs to keep his mouth shut….he did more partisan damage under Clinton then Pelosi ever did.  Plus, don’t give me that “moral” shit from him….he has been divorced how many times…had affairs….Limbaugh…he is a hypocritical druggie!

These right-wing extremist….it is ok to impeach Clinton for getting a blowjob, but don’t criticize a President at war (unless he is a dem) and don’t impeach a President and investigate their admin for all the international laws they broke with torture.  Hello!!  We prosecuted the Japanese for that in WWII and can anyone say Inquisition? I just want to waterboard all of them and see how it feels to them….stupid asses.

Then the extremest “pro-lifers”.  They are the biggest hypocrites!!  Oh yes, honor President who executed the most prisoners as governor and started an illegal war, tortured and did nothing to help the poor…but he was against legalized abortion….so that makes him ok?!? I think they need to get their priorities straight on what the sanctity of life truely means.  How about teaching true birth control so when pregnancy happens it is wanted?  What a concept?  Morons….

Well, that is my political rant……lol  The Sunday morning news shows didn’t help….grin

Sunday morning rambling…

Zion National Park

Not too much to say, we slept in as we usually do on weekends, well I should say we slept in as much as we can with 3 cats and neighbors who think its normal to talk/yell outside at 6:00 am which Im sure is ok since no one ever sleeps past 5:30 am right? Anyway its nice to have a iPhone so we can stay in bed and surf the net as we normally do when we get out of bed, so I feel like I am multi tasking.

Today we are just doing our normal Sunday routine, we hit Starbucks and grabbed some much needed caffeine and breakfast sandwich’s that are way over priced but still more convenient than making something on our own.

I really like where we live, but we really need a diner within walking distance, some place that we can get a decent breakfast and caffeine without having to drive to get it. If we ever move into/closer to Portland this would be the main reason, we both love the idea of walking a few blocks to get a bite to eat and maybe, dare I say, socialize with the commoners.

Right now we are just watching our Sunday talk shows (“Meet the Press” and “This Week”) as we surf the internets of tubes.

We made yet another trip to REI Friday night and spent yet more $ getting yet more crap for camping/hiking which we will be making our first trip in 2 weeks to the Redwoods National Park in the Northern California coast.

We get to go back to REI this week since they screwed up our bill and gave us the 20% discount on the cheap item and not the expensive item like they was suppose to do, and I need to get a $8 adapter that I read online that I didn’t need, but actually do need, so that is another 20-30 min drive there and back that I am looking forward to.

We leave here on a Monday and either will come back on Wednesday or Friday, all depending on the weather and the mood. We will stay 2 nights in California and the idea is to drive back to Portland via the 101 which I am told is the greatest drive ever.

Our main reason to go camping is to celebrate what will be our 12th anniversary but it will be 6 days early since, back in 1997 we didnt think about the fact that our wedding date is on a holiday weekend which hindsite is the worse thing ever, you can never go anywhere without a million people all over, so this year we are going after the holiday on a Monday so hopefully everyone will be back to work.

Last year we drove to Seaside and Cannon Beach and we drove to Astoria and back to Portland via the Washington side of the Columbia river, this year we will drive the Oregon side of the Columbia. Unless of course the weather hates us and/or we want to get home sooner than later, we are pretty much just taking this as we go.

Today we will do another test run with the tent and go over our gear once again to make sure we have everything we need or think we need.

The kittens will be staying home for at least 2 days on their own and as much as 4 days which will be the longest amount of time of being alone ever for them. Alexis has been left (with Reggie) as long as a week on their own and she didn’t really seem to care too much. The wonder twins will be a different story since they are so incredibly spoiled and demanding.

Yesterday we planted yet more plants and cleaned up the backyard some more but of course we have 1 large yard waste bin that is completely full so it will be at least another week before we can finish getting rid of that huge pile of yard waste that has been rotting back there for at least 5 years since the owner didn’t seem to want to improve anything she has.

Getting out of the House

Well, it has kind of been a weird beginning for the week.

I really took Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday off…kind of.  I still keep an eye on things, put out fires but don’t just focus on it.  But Sunday night, I attacked my work and got a lot more then I thought I would.  Which is a good thing, because Monday was going to be a stunning day and we wanted to get out of the house.  =)

Monday, we decided to hit a few other spots on the Historic Colombia Highway that we haven’t done yet.  We wanted to do some serious hiking, but didn’t get as much as we really wanted.  The spots that we hit quickly got busy with people and it was annoying.  So we’ll have to remember to visit popular spots on cold & overcast days.  We thought Monday during a school week would be enough…but it wasn’t.

Historic Colombia Highway

Historic Colombia Highway

Crown Point Observatory

Crown Point Observatory

Latourell Falls

Latourell Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Self Portrait at Bridal Veil Falls

Self Portrait at Bridal Veil Falls

We ended up driving all the way to the Dalles, since I haven’t been that far east on 84.  It is still part of the gorge, but a huge difference in vegetation and scenery.  Much more rocky, very few trees.  I don’t know if it was the surroundings or the fact the 84 goes through the industry part of town, but it wasn’t very scenic at all.  I’m very happy with our side of the gorge.  =)

But we did get to see Mt Hood, very unexpectedly, from the Dalles, next to the Dalles Dam.  Other then flying over it, I’ve never seen it from the east side so that was cool.

t Hood from the Dalles (East Side)

Mt Hood from the Dalles (East Side)

We got back at a decent time, that once I got focus, that I got all of my work taken care of while getting time to watch enough of the game to know that MSU was losing.  =(

Today was another stunningly beautiful day, got up into the 70s again.  So it was so hard to work when all I wanted to do was buy flowers and plant them…….lol

But I needed to get my work done.  We are headed up to Canada for the night tomorrow.  Going to visit with some friends of ours, should be back Thursday night….if not, Friday.

Need to finish a few things off for tomorrow.  =)

Here is the link to all the pictures that we took : http://paulineantoinette.com/PNH/nature/2009_Apr_06/index.htm

First Hike 2009

The Grand Canyon

And it wasn’t a good one to be honest.

Our first trail had some trash all over that we picked up, we had perfect sunny weather and incredible view of a water fall, but the trash sort of pissed us off so that ruined the moment and then it got really packed with people all at once, so we just left for another trail and same thing, too many people and screaming kids of all things so we just decided to take a drive to The Dalles since that seemed to be such a nice place my first time there at 11:30 PM when I first moved to the area that I must go back in the day time and see what an incredibly…. shithole that it is.

I mean really, they call a city “The Dalles” which is French for “Flowers” and it’s a shithole? I haven’t been this disappointed with what my expectations of a town was vs the harsh reality of what a town is since I first went to the wild west town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico… look it up and you will understand what I mean when I went expecting “wild west” and got….

We stopped at McDs since it was that or a gas station so I could get some caffeine and decided to try their mochas…. wtf?

What The Fuck?

That had to be the worse drink I have ever had in my life, it tasted like 3 cheap synthetic chemicals blended, but you can still taste all 3. I had to brush my teeth when we got home it was that bad.

To add to the fun for some reason my passenger side door has a rattle that is constant as you drive, so I got to call the dealership that I HATE and asked where my part that was ordered 2.5 weeks ago was and I got “I don’t know, you will have to ask them” when “them” was “him” and “him” has been the only “them” I have dealt with for over a year.

So I explained that fact to him nicely… and then laughed at him and hung up.

So now I’m forced to deal with another division of their dealership which is 20 miles away, but managed to get a appoint tomorrow at 10:15 and should be done in 3 hours so the rattling will not kill me as we drive 6 hours to BC.

So no gym for me this week until Friday which bothers me, but at the same time my legs have been issues and tonight it’s my left hip… don’t ask, I don’t know.

We got some good video of the first trail and we got some sun and we got out of the house, but over all this was a poopy day with less than 4 miles of actual hiking and a rattling 3 hour drive with bad mocha.

Taking a Hike…

The Grand Canyon

http://www.nwhiker.com/CGNSAHike13.html

Multnomah Falls ~ Franklin Ridge Loop Hike
Length: 10 miles one way or 12 mile loop
Elevation Change: 2760′ gain
Season: Late spring thru fall
Difficulty: Difficult due to steepness of trail and length of hike
Permit: Not Required
Features: Note: Bridge above Triple Falls is out 11/10/08

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This is the hike we did this past October 30, I have wanted to start a online hike blog and just haven’t gotten to it yet, so I’ll post this here to remind me to do it.

Holy Frack! I just noticed the bridge is out at Triple Falls, that is around the last 3-4 miles from the direction we took, had it been out when we was there we would have been so fucked, it was dusk by the time we got there, we would have had to go back up and down a hard ass trail with little food and water and small flash light.

Good thing I don’t stress over what could have happen, but I am happy we got packs, head lamps, and extra gear for “what could happen”.

Monday we are going to take a few hours to all day off and just go on a few hikes and see what happens.

I’m thinking we are going to grab some Starbucks, some subs and snacks and just take off with our packs and cameras and see what we see on some of these trails.

http://www.nwhiker.com/gorge1.html

I’m thinking trails 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and maybe 53 and 16, all are easy to moderate and less than 2 miles each, so depending on which trails we take and crowd and everything else, we may also drive to The Dalles since she has never been that far East on I84 and that is one of the most incredible scenes from a highway that there is in the US.

Tuesday is a must work day since we blew this weekend and now Monday off and Wednesday after the garbage takes away all the yard waste we collected (and will be getting rid of for at least the next 3 weeks since we are limited to 1 large container) and some new running shoes I desperately need since my feet and knees are taking a beating are suppose to be delivered.

We laid some river rock and stone path last weekend and naturally we didn’t get enough of either so we made a second trip to Home Depot Monday to get more of both and naturally I dropped a 70# jagged piece of slat into my right knee and bruised and gashed it some and still we was 2 more rocks short since the space I thought would work wouldnt, so for the 3rd time in a week we moved rocks.

That is getting kind of old.

Oh yeah, Wednesday we are also going to Vancouver, BC for the night to to see Diesle and hopefully meet some other friends in the city the next morning for breakfast and some freinds in Seattle for dinner on the way back.

Tonight I also made our annual $55 donation to the billionaire Vince McMahon and ordered WrestleMania 25 and outside a stunning Shawn Michael’s vs Undertaker (who is now 17-0 at WrestleMania) it wasn’t worth much more than $25 but I did enjoy Ricky Steamboat vs Jericho, for his age Steamboat did well, but got bored with the Micky Rourke story, but it made the mainstream news which is what its all about.