Jeff and I went hiking yesterday for the first time in an embarrassingly long while. The venue was Donner Canyon, at Mount Diablo State Park. It was a beautiful day and a pretty little loop hike, though not greatly spectacular. I did get a nice shot of Jeff being majestic in a mountain-climber way.
Last weekend Jeff and I went to Yosemite National Park for the wedding of one of his best friends. It was a tiny, beautiful wedding in a huge and magnificent park. I probably would have had the wedding in the warm indoors, or failing that, in the daylight so that the cliffs and trees and [...]
Jeff, a friend of his, and I made a little trip to Angel Island yesterday. It cost us nearly $40 for transportation (yikes), but Jeff is glad we went. That’s good, because we’re on a strict budget and I’m not so sure it was wise. Oh well, that’ll just be our fun for the month. [...]
Yesterday afternoon Jeff and I picked up our 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid from the dealership. This was very exciting; although we had technically bought it two weeks ago today, it didn’t actually arrive until this week. You see, we knew we wanted a hybrid, and I’m not so keen on the newer Priuses. First of [...]
I didn’t know it then, but yesterday was Mountain Day. Mountain Day is a traditional holiday at Mount Holyoke College; on some beautiful fall day, students wake up and find out that it’s Mountain Day and classes have been cancelled. Traditionally one climbs Mount Holyoke, but whatever the activity, the holiday is always better for [...]
After my last hike in the north Olympics, my dad wrote me an email. From: Dad To: Laura Laura, I just did your blog. Spectacular scenery. I wish I had a chance to take such a hike. I’m glad that you are safe. Dad I replied: From: Laura To: Dad We should take you hiking [...]
Jeff and I hiked to Upper Lena Lake on August 20-22, sort of on a whim. I say sort of because Jeff had wanted to make this trip for a while. On the other hand, this specific trip was not planned more than about 2 days in advance, and I hadn’t yet found our hiking [...]
Last weekend Jeff and I went to Flapjack Lakes. It's a 16-mile hike, 8 miles in and 8 miles out. It's somewhat like the Heather Park trail in that it's a relentless slope (never a downward step on the way in). Although it takes 8 miles to gain about 3200 feet, almost all that gain [...]
Remember how good Jeff and I are about misjudging our hikes? (Witness Lena Lake, Mount Rainier, and Annette Lake.) We did it again—but I’ll get to that later. This weekend’s hike was in Olympic National Park, just south of Port Angeles. There, three connecting trails form a loop that winds up and over mountain ridges [...]
Last weekend Two weekends ago Jeff and I went down to Bend, Oregon for the Pole Pedal Paddle. One of his friends likes to get a team together for the race, and Jeff was to do the cross-country ski leg and the canoe leg. It was a good trip; I especially enjoyed the positive attitude [...]