This post is 3 and a HALF months late. I kid you not. I am going to go for a wild blogging extravaganza and try to catch up over the next couple of weeks. Maybe by Christmas, I'll actually be posting about Christmas instead of summer.
No seriously friends...thanks for your support on my last entry. It means a lot to me. I think I finally have the courage to start posting again.
That's enough of that! This post is a recap of our Labor Day weekend camping trip with our good friends the Mansius Family. We were lucky enough to find availability at a coastal campground with spots right next to each other about a month before Labor Day, at Cape Perpetua! It is a MAGNIFICENT place, and we really enjoyed the camp ground. No showers...and that's probably why it wasn't totally booked, but it was worth it!
Day 1
a little exploration and hiking
we found the CCC shelter on the top of the cape
GORGEOUS day...we could see 30 miles out to sea from up there
whale watching...it's very easy to spot whales at the Oregon coast any time of the year
exploring the shelter...and lucky Toby found a dollar behind it!
we gorged ourselves on salal berries and got purple tongues.
There were SO MANY salal berries, I really wanted to pick them all and bring them home to make jam...maybe next year?
babies at the beach!
Boogie boarding! I gave each kid a turn at some boogie boarding lessons,
and then Tara and I got to go together.
Mr. Ollie spent most of his time trapped in the pack and play again...although we did let him out to crawl around and he LOVED it! We decided it was time to leave when all the kids (including the babies) we almost getting swept away by the incoming waves.
back at camp, we washed the salt water out of our hair in the brain-numbing cold camp faucets.
(don't you love how the sign says "please no washing or cleaning at faucet"? Oops!)
Day 2
It turned out A LOT colder and foggier than day 1, and we were glad we got our beach time in the day before. We spent the day hiking, exploring tide pools, and hanging out at camp.
it was a BIG, stormy waves kind of day...perfect for hiking out to the Spouting Horn, Thor's Well, Devil's Churn and all the other exciting formations on this rugged part of the coast!
observing the spouting horn
THAR she BLOWS!
Thor's Well: a large hole in the rock where the waves pour in and out
pretty, glowing fireweed (?)
my hard-core photographer friend :-)
enjoying more salal berries
and good buddies
Devil's Churn was pretty devilish that day!
Brandon, aka the Mansius dad working on our damp fire with the mattress pump
(it was a good thing we had stoves to cook on because it was VERY damp)
just a cute baby...I can't resist, even though the picture quality is so bad!
Day 3
Another damp, cold, foggy day. We went to church in Waldport, a small coastal town. We always REALLY enjoy visiting other congregations and seeing what it's like...especially very small branches like this one! Also, lots of exploring around the campground for all the kids.
Day 4
Yet again, damp and cold. The Mansius family had to take off early for work, but we stayed the whole day and enjoyed the AH-MAZING visitors center, more tide pool exploration and hiking.
two of my cuties at our neat little camp site
the beautiful little stream and forest behind the campground...the kids spent SO much time exploring back here. They had a 'secret fort' with a potty and a shower. Humph...us grown ups didn't know about ANY of this until our boys showed us the very last day...I guess we were too busy doing grown up things.
the little bridge over to their fort
the pathway from our camp site
our plethora of wet, wet laundry. It never did dry...
We spent A LOT of time in the visitor's center
we have some budding naturalists here, checking out plants, nests, ocean life...making models of star fish and sea anemones. In all fairness, I really MUST give credit to the AMAZING volunteer lady at the visitors center! She darlingly lured my boys over to her table and taught them much about sea creatures and gave them many craft-model options. My boys will never forget that.
The displays were great too...lots of stuff about the local Indian tribes, which we always LOVE learning about.
This sign was my most favorite in the whole center:
Now you know what I mean if I ever say: The muckymuck showed great skookum at the annual potlatch.
Hitting the trail down to the tide pools, to apply what we learned at the visitors center:
the fog actually cleared off for the day and we saw BLUE SKY!
remember tide pools and tad poles? Yep, there were tad poles in the tide pools...or maybe not the actual tide pools, but some fresh water pools from a trickle of water off the cliff. As I review the pictures before attempting this post, there was a video (which I will refrain from posting cause nobody takes the time to watch videos) of the tadpoles in which Joshy said 'tide pools and tad poles'. It was very catchy! OH...and I know we *probably* should not have touched the tad poles, but I do want to express that we were very gentle and put them right back!
tadpole pools
shadow dancing!
vistas...
that mountain on the right is the cape where the CCC shelter is located
GREAT place to visit!
we walked back to the visitors center and then up the trail to the largest tree in the park
first I had to photograph these helpful signs that were set out:
Berries you can eat & and Berries you SHOULD NOT eat.
Do you see that Black Twinberry on the left? That's right, the one on the DO NOT EAT side? The ranger at Sunset Bay told us they were edible and so I ate one on our last camping trip. It was the MOST HORRIBLE thing I've ever eaten. DO NOT EAT it. EVER!!!
I gave in and bought a book about edible and medicinal plants of the Northwest...so that I will never stumble upon another 'black twinberry experience'.
On our hike we found these fruits growing all along the trail. They were ripe and they were the size of small grape tomatoes. Alas, I couldn't find them in my new book...so we didn't eat them...and the search is on!
kate, after four days with no shower... I know, I'm pretty hardcore.
Brent was packing Ollie on his front, and Ollie kept putting this stick on Brent's face
VERY LARGE tree
and the home underneath it
fun times, boys
Toby and Joshua found the best seats in the house
(Toby got all his long pants and shirts wet in the stream...thus we had to resort to having him wear pajamas under his clothes...because it was just a little TOO COLD for shorts and t-shirts. But hey, we were very glad that it never rained on us!)
good form
leaving our wooded paradise behind...
...and heading for SHOWERS!
GREAT TRIP! My kids are always asking when we're going to go back with our friends again. Sorry boys, not til next summer!
These days I'm always behind. I guess our lives are getting to the point where we have less downtime in which to blog our doings. I still want to document the important things in our lives (for posterity!) , but I need to catch up MAJORLY.
I've been a bit discouraged with the internet this past month. Up until a month ago it's been a pretty great place for me to share my feelings and experiences. And it's sometimes (?) been a place where others can come for inspiration...whether that pertains to the grief journey or inspiration for family adventures. About a month ago I was violated. I don't want to go into too much detail about it as I wish to avoid bringing the perpetrator undeserved attention. Some midwife-hater stole my blog content (pictures and writing) and posted them on an anonymous hate website...pretty much bashing my midwife (who if you remember Elsa's story, you know that my midwife did nothing wrong). Well...I had been warned from the get-go that in posting my very personal story on the internet, I would leave myself open to this kind of harassment. I really didn't believe that it would happen to me, since there was NO QUESTION that Elsa's death was no-fault situation.
Anyway, in the past month I have been through many thoughts about my little online space. My knee-jerk reaction was to make my blog private, or just remove Elsa's story. But it didn't take me very long to realize that was not the best idea. I did not want to surrender to these cyber-bullies, and let them think they are right in what they are doing. So I'm leaving it all up. All are free to read it and pass their own judgement. Legal action may also be taken in the future...but I'm not sure I should say any more. I just think that all in all, I'm going to be a lot more careful about what I write on here. And that is sad.
But I want to send a clear message to this anonymous blogger:
You will not succeed in doing what is not right!
There are lots of things I could call this post:
Epic hike, epic anniversary date, epic day of physical exertion, but most of all epic FAIL!
As I mentioned in my
last post, we skipped going on a fancy schmancy 12th aniversary vacation for a few reasons. Mostly because we didn't want to spend big money, but also because Brent's brother was returning from his LDS mission to Singapore and having his homecoming celebration the day after our anniversary. We decided to go to Utah instead of a vacation...and while we were there wanted to plan something EPIC to do.
8/23:
LONE PEAK! I've wanted to hike that with Brent since I first met him, but the circumstances have never been quite right up until now. Still, we were pushing it to think we could hike Lone Peak in one day in the blistering heat of August.
Here is a visual overview of our hike:
On the right (where we started) is Draper. We walked up that big mountain all day and for several reasons we did not end up having enough daylight to make it all the way to the top. By the time we stopped I could go no further. I felt like such a quitter, but really there was nothing we could do about it...except plan our next trip better.
We started out on the wrong foot by getting going later than we planned. Everyone we have talked to says you have to start at 4 am to climb the mountain in one day. I think we started at 8:30. Also, Brent decided to take an experimental trail, one he's never taken before. We took the brand new Orson Smith trail on the front of the mountain, starting in Draper (as opposed to the shorter, much preferred Jacob's Ladder trail, which you can access from Draper or Alpine). All in all, we ended up hiking across the mountain and back twice in the time we could've been up to the top and on our way back down. Disappointing! The Jacob's Ladder trail is 11 miles, and we ended up hiking 13...all WITHOUT making it to the top. Oh well!
And I'd like to make myself feel better about it all by saying we had a great time anyway, but we really didn't have a great time. It was over 100 degrees, the sun was mercilessly beating down on us the whole time, and it was a very strenuous hike. Not to mention that we had to hike 3/4 of the way down in the dark...with no flashlights. BUT...even though I was questioning my sanity in voluntarily choosing to do this hike, I am glad we went. I was SO GLAD to finally see this mountain of which I've heard Brent gush about all our married life. And next time, yes there will be a next time...we will easily hike this in two days, starting from the Jacob's Ladder trail.
climbing altitude! Excited!
Draper LDS Temple
a view of Salt Lake City, SLC how I love thee!
somehow we cross the whole width of the mountain and ended up climbing the "bald spot". It went on FOREVER in the hot, blazing sun. I do not recommend doing that.
Brent at the top of the Bald Spot. He kept getting ahead of Emily and I, and I thought we were never going to catch up with him. Jonny, Brent's brother was
teaching paragliding lessons that morning. His plan was to run up the mountain (!) and meet us when he was done. Brent and his brother are pretty crazy, as you can tell.
from the top of the bald spot
after reaching the bald spot, we traversed the mountain once again to find the spring. We filled all of our water bottles and camelbacks. This hike would be impossible without this spring. We could not have carried more water than we did, and it was no where near enough. It is a very good thing that Brent and his family knows this mountain!
Jonny and Emily: Jonny finally caught up with us! He hiked with us for a few miles and then had to leave again to teach evening paragliding lessons! He ran back to the bald spot with his paraglider and flew off the mountain!
this is where we stalled out for the day. It was so sad, but we just did not have enough daylight to safely come down from the peak if we went any further. Not to mention, I really couldn't hike any further up.
here is the view of the cirque and the peak from where we stopped...SO close! Yet so far away...
beautiful flower and beautiful Emily
On our way back down we crossed over the mountain, yet again...this time to the north side, so we could stay out of the blazing heat.
the shady side is longer, but much more pleasant
and we found the old hikers cabin, which is supposed to be pretty hard to find!
Emily and Kate
Brent and Kate: Happy 12th Anniversary + 3 days!
beautiful flowers, glowing in the sunlight
ant
Emily missed a spot with the sunscreen! Ouch!
forget-me-nots {heart} favorite!
Giant nose picking
I LOVE aspen trees...and miss them in Oregon
red elderberry (poisonous) and rose hips (edible)
The sun is starting to set and I keep stopping to take all these breathtaking pictures because the lighting is perfect. Little did I realize that we still had a LONG way to hike. It looked like we were close, but we were only 1/4 of the way down.
It was a LONG, long, long way down in the dark, but we made it eventually. And when we got to the car that felt pretty miraculous!
Even though it was VERY hard, it was awesome to spend the day doing something we could NOT do with our kids for our anniversary. We love our kids and we take them everywhere with us...so that limits what we can do.
Happy Anniversary to my best friend and love!
