Friday, June 30, 2017

Ridiculous Road Trip #1, Part 20 - Sun Lakes-Dry Falls, Eastern WA

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June 10
We took our leave of Andrew and Anne and officially started east back towards home, we had less than three weeks left on the ridiculous road trip.

As soon as we got to the other side of the Cascade Mountains, things started to look drastically different.





We stopped for to stock up on groceries, for lunch, and for some odd sidewalk shopping in Ephrata, WA. 


We ended up finding a fantastic free wifi spot at the Pita Pit, so I hung out there after lunch and uploaded the last month of photos and videos for these blog posts!

We got back on the road, and ended the day at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park near Coulee City, WA. 


The geology there was....odd. We took a hike, in part to embrace the weird rock formations, but also to calibrate our fancy new activity trackers. Slight tangent here--since the beginning of our ridiculous road trip, we have been hiking most days, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Actually, Doug was back on the running bandwagon, ramping up to mini-marathon training. And we were also making a conscious effort to eat better. When we checked the scale at Andrew's house, we were both pleased at the weight we'd lost. Anyway, back to the activity tracker. I tend to be motivated when I can see how my exercise is burning calories, and activity trackers have gotten smarter in the last few years. I did a bit of research and found a decent deal on refurbished Garmin VivoSmart HR+ wristbands. They do the pedometer thing, plus they are GPS enabled, and they can also track your hear rate at your wrist (no need for the extra chest strap ordeal). I had them shipped to Andrew's house, so they were there when we arrived in for our visit with them. So we took a little hike, enjoyed the weird rocks, and calibrated our fancy new activity trackers.










Up next, Part 21


Ridiculous Road Trip #1, Part 19 - Seattle, Brothers Becker

Back to Part 18

June 6-9
Then we headed on to Duvall, WA, near Seattle. Doug's brother, Andrew and his wife, Anne live in this wonderful cabin. 



They share their home with these lovely felines.


Greystoke



Binkley

Somehow I missed taking photos of the feathery parrot friends that live in the house, Canterbury and Cletus. But I did capture most of the critters outside, chickens, ducks, and Henri the glorious turkey.





Doug and I luxuriated in taking hot showers, having clean clothes, playing games, eating delicious food, and enjoying the wonderful company of Andrew and Anne. Oh, and there was beer! And the Seattle Underground Tour. And WonderWoman!




Up next, Part 20

Ridiculous Road Trip #1, Part 18 - Mt Rainier

Back to Part 17.

June 6
On our way to Seattle, we detoured to visit Mount Rainier National Park. We entered the park on the west side, headed to Paradise! 




And we decided to hike, on the snow, 10 feet above the Skyline Trail. I made it a mile up, with 700 feet of elevation. And I took lots of photos of the gorgeous snowy, mountainy scenery.















Doug made it significantly further, up to Panorama Point. It's probably about 2 miles, with a 1300 foot elevation gain. 






As Doug victoriously got to Panorama Point, he took photos, reveled in the amazing vistas, and then looked back down the "trail" he'd climbed up. And then realized that he was going to have to hike back down the snowy, slippery, really steep slope of snow. On the advice of a knowledgeable snowbunny, Doug decided to try the "butt toboggan" trails. He survived the fast trip down to the less steep slopes, with a very wet butt and VERY cold hands.















An hour after I got back down, Doug safely and tiredly made it back.

Up next, Part 19