Day 5 - 7

On the road again as we pack up from Missoula. Still not sure what it is about this place that we like, but it still has a strange allure for us. Maybe it's just far enough away and different enough to feel like a vacation. Maybe it's the fact that we always leave wanting to do something else. Whatever it is exactly, we will be back.
We got on the road before 11 and went hard at it, driving some 500km plus. This put us on the Columbia river, overlooking a gorge that dropped several hundred feet down. Ginko Petrified Forest was on the other side as well as our campsite at Wanapum State Park. The weather was hot! Luckily it was a short walk to the river for a rinse and no glacier run-off for this water. With the kids in bed we enjoyed an amazing display with a full moon and it's companion reflection, felt like old times for a few moments.
The next day we leisurely packed up with Dora getting in her hill run and me eating eggs. We each have our jobs I guess! I finished packing up while Dora took the kids back to the river/beach. A quick swim and off to the Interpretive center at Ginko. The fossilized wood was neat, but we read about a mold of a whole rhino! We'll have to come back to see that.
The rest of the drive was uneventful except for our detour to Roslyn, Washington or should I say Cicely, Alaska! For those of you that remember the show Northern Exposure, the town scenes were filmed in Roslyn. Dora and I got our picture by that famous mural in the opening credits.
The picture is pretty poor, I took a picture of a picture to get it on my Blackberry. I'll update it later with a better one.
The day finished with us running from a campground (due to mosquitoes, which you know your in trouble when they have a sign that warns you about them!) to arrive in Nason Creek. Right now I'm hiding under our tent typing this in the rain. I'm also enjoying the sound of thunder and the cool moist breeze!
Today we woke up to see Evan looking like he had chicken pox. Apparently the mosquitoes love him. After a morning of drying gear, running (for Dora) and extreme bocce we hit the road. After a bit of meandering we finally reached the coast, only to be greeted by a line-up for the ferry to Whidbey Island. After 2hr we were again on our way and off to our campsite at South Whidbey State Park. For the first time this trip I'm wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt and looking for more to put on! The cool ocean breeze is such a nice change. Tomorrow we are left with a short jaunt to Port Angeles and then Victoria. Here we come Canada.
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Day 3 and 4

With the driving done, we start to unwind in Missoula. Dora had a 17km run to start her relaxation, which it was. A pleasant run along one of the rivers that runs through the town. The Clark and Bitterroots both flow through the town.
After Dora returned, we headed out for a picnic at Caras Park and an afternoon on the Carousel and Dragons Hallow, a wooden playground for kids. Despite the hot weather we played outside for a good 3hrs. Good thing we found a rubarb slushie at the Farmers Market they were having.
The day finished with Dora finding a sweet Winter Jacket at a gear store that was closing out.
Day 4 starts out with our Anniversary! 7 years already! I almost surprized Dora completely, except she found the wrapped box in the truck looking for my wallet. The gift is below. Not a bad start for Dora 2 days in a row!
We did our shopping, hitting REI (got a sweet birthday present for bro), Target and Old Navy. With that out of the way we hit a water park for the afternoon. Evan decided to get us an anniversary present today to our surprize. See below as well.
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Day 1 and 2

Well off we go. A good start as we leave Lethbridge by noon. Then we hit the border, looks short. Oh wait... Those are bikers. 12 of them. So much for a short line. After a half hour we're on our way and stop at St. Marys to grab 2 grilled cheese sandwiches to go. A half hour later we're on the road again. Logans pass here we come. No sooner than we get to the other side we get a revisit of the sandwich. Evan pukes. And a good one at that! Well so much for a quick drive to Whitefish. We arrive late in Whitefish and of course our Campground is full. Call the KOA, 1 site left. Saved. A night of cleaning and off to bed.
Day two we wake and go for breakie. It's included so that's sweet. Get back to the truck and are greeted by poop soup! Denali apparently has bum issues and it exploded in the back of the truck. Cleaning again to start the day. Luckily the carpet comes out and we have water at our site. Funny thing is after day 1 this seems easier. We hit the sweet park in Whitefish, Kalispell for lunch and then Missoula! Setup the tent and off for Supper. Day 2 and we still haven't cooked a meal. Now the kids are asleep.
So... Having fun. Really. Kids are making me cry, but laugh even more. We'll be here exploring for 3 days. Then westward. Tally Ho.
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East Glacier - Two Medicine

Last weekend we headed South to do some camping.  This was the first time since last year that the whole family were together and camping at the same time.  Evan was 2 months old about this time last year and camping did not go as planned.  A lot more pacing outside the tent than sleeping inside.  What a difference 11 months makes!
I don't know why it is, but the 2 to 1 ratio of Adults to Kids sure makes things easier.  Kudos to Dora's parents who came down to babysit, I mean camp with us!  Their help sure was appreciated and it made for a wonderful weekend.
While the kids were eating dirt and throwing rocks in the lake I was scouting possible routes to scramble in the area.  One of these days Dora and I will get out on a scramble or hard hike.  Until then day hikes beware... we're coming.

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Hamlet - A sock puppet story

I was helping some students get this project off their computer for the summer.  Youtube has that limit for length, so I used Vimeo which is a Mb limit rather than length.  I enjoyed the project so much that I thought I would post it for you to look at.  Pretty sweet eh?


Hamlet - A puppet story from mark on Vimeo.

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Balls gone Bad

Golf balls.  There, now you can put your mind at ease.  I'm making reference to the large golf ball sized hail stones that rained down on the Calgarians this week.  Surprisingly, I was in Cow Town during Stampede week.  Although I didn't partake in any pancake breakfast, I did enjoy some of the hospitality.  But I get ahead of myself.
After finding out that Fernie doesn't run their downhill on Mondays, we decided that Calgary Olympic Park would make a good second option.

From 2010_07 East Glacier Trip

I headed up with the brothers to see if we could produce the famous line "hey watch this".  While the words were never uttered, Kevin did do a wonderful reverse superman off a decent sized ledge, sans bike.  He continued to impress us the whole day!  It was a hoot to get out and makes me wonder how Boston will go with the three of us out and about with no chaperons!
We ended up cutting the day short due to weather.  As you can see, the weather did take a turn for the worse.

From 2010_07 East Glacier Trip

From 2010_07 East Glacier Trip

We left just as the hail started to fall and headed East away from the storm.  We found a pub, Tipperary's on 16th, which had underground parking.  Perfect we thought!  After attempting to park 3 times, each of which almost ending in disaster (Bro's truck doesn't fit so well in 6ft underground parking) we parked the truck as the hail caught up.  It was the "golf balls" started to land.

From 2010_07 East Glacier Trip

From 2010_07 East Glacier Trip

The rest of the day was filled with beverage and steak sandwiches.  Can't wait to do it again!

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The Combo Deal.

On Monday I managed to get out to the Drywood with my brother for a quick climb.  With both of us with young families, it's been a challenge to get out, so this was a nice treat.  We decided to bring our bikes to make the approach quicker and plus, the ride out is always a nice treat.

From 2010_07 Drywood

The Cliff face was nice and dry, with no evidence of snow.  Not sure how many people have been out lately, the trail was overgrown and we took a wrong turn more than once.

From 2010_07 Drywood

Once at the Lower Tier, we started with Thumbalina (5.7) for a warm-up, which was anything but.  Rock was still pretty cold, so numb fingers seemed to be the theme of the day.  Rock was solid and bolts/anchors all looked good.  We continued to Tweedle-Dum (5.10a) and Jack and the Beanstalk (5.10a).  The rock was characteristically sharp and sticky with the bro getting a few scraps on this legs.  We decided to cut the day short as the grey clouds didn't look promising.  We were right and it started to rain just a we hit the treeline.

From 2010_07 Drywood

From 2010_07 Drywood

With the rain coming down, we were back at the truck by 2:30.  We grabbed a "beverage" and a sandwich and then sat back and watched the rain dissipate and sunshine return.  "Huh, now what" was the question asked.  We decided to hit the South Fork of the Drywood and do some biking.  You can do that in the rain and it makes it just that much more interesting.

From 2010_07 Drywood

We got our biking gear ready and hit the trail.  I'd like to note the difference in weather when we left and in this next picture.

From 2010_07 Drywood

We didn't make it to Bovin Lake, but after an hour of biking in and 15min out it was a hoot!  I'd recommend the climbing/biking combo to anyone.  In fact, I was thinking if I had brought my kayak and could have made the day the "triple threat".

From 2010_07 Drywood

Cheers!

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Canada Day / Evans Birthday

Like many of you out there, we participated in the celebration on Canada Day.  Raymond is like the "bread and butter" for us, especially with the tradition of tossing candy.  What better than kids, candy and horse poop to make a day complete!
The fun part is the number of 1/4 Japanese kids running around.  I think that if you were add them all up, we'd have just over 2 Asians!  You've got our kids and my brothers as well as Clays 3 boys too.  Kind of fun seeing all the shades of nippon.
The celebration usually includes a gorging on beef, my dad the retired meat inspector never fails to amaze me with this steaks!  You can see the "pile" of steaks towards the end of the video..  Not as healthy as the Muffins at Liminal Me or the Ahi tuna steaks over on the West Coast, but Beef is really the "Fish of the Prairies".

Moo Moo Buckaroo

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Old footage. 2008 Broken Group

I've been cleaning up my computer a bit.... making room getting rid of stuff.  Had this raw footage from our 2008 broken group kayak trip and decided to do something with it.  Here it is.

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The haircut

Before I post our Canada Day affair, I thought I should talk about the haircut.  Evan has hair.  Lots of it.  Compared to Logan at 1 year, Evan is a regular surfer dude.  Dora has enjoyed growing it out and I still pretend that Evans name is Brodie (just kidding... or am I?)  Well the day finally came for a cut and the shears did some serious work.  He looks like a different boy with no hair!  See for yourselves.

I also collected a bit of hair to show the "shades of men" in the family.  We both thought Logan's hair was darker until we compared it to mine.  As for Evan.... he gets it from his mother.

From 2010_06 Haircut Day

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Evans Birthday - The Sunday

Well Evan hit the big 1.0 on Sunday and I posted from the trail while we were hiking.  The birthday party was on Canada day and I will get those pictures up soon, but I thought I would post a few more pictures from the day in Waterton.  
As mentioned already, it was an interesting day with that whole crazy deer thing.  As it Happens interviewed someone about these Belligerent Deer we encountered.  Besides the hike we ate a good meal down in the townsite.  Rather than hit the regular Zums, we tried a new restaurant Trappers Mountain Grill.  It wasn't bad, good service, but average food, high cost.  Regardless it was a wonderful day out.  Here are some more pictures from the day.

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

Logan looks so big here!

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

From 2010_06 Evans Birthday

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