While we were still in Bellingham, we had stopped at an outdoors store and ended up getting a camelpack (hydration pack). That was during one of our walks downtown. Before we left, we stopped at REI to get me one. We used those during the hike. It was a huge help to not have to carry the water in nalgenes.
Anyway, Twin Lakes was gorgeous. There was snow up there and a number of areas for tent campers. It was a pretty busy place. We headed up the trail, which had gorgeous views basically the entire way. There was one sketchy spot where we had to cross snow because it covered the trail, but that went fine. We met a guy part way up that told us the rest of the way was blocked by snow that was too precarious to pass. We went up to get a good view from where he was standing, had a small lunch we had brought with,, then decided to try the other trail we had seen (it bypassed one of the precarious snow spots). There was no way around the next snow spot and it wasn't a good view, so we headed back down.
It had started sprinkling, but we started walking down the road anyway, figuring someone would be down that we could hitch a ride with. It started raining harder, so we stopped under a tree and a large pickup showed up not long after. She was kind enough to pick us up. On the way down, we met someone coming up who asked her if she had a chain, because someone got their truck stuck hanging off the road. She fortunately did. And apparently she had pulled people out of these types of situations many times before.
We got to where these guys with their little Toyota truck were. The passenger side of the pickup was completely off the road. With one pull, it swung down some so the front end was completely off the road. The guys jumped on the back bumper to get that down further while she slowly pulled. When it was mostly back on the road, one of the guys jumped in so he could hit the brake once it was completely on the road. Hopefully they're more careful about where they try to pull off the road in the future.
Since it was raining, we just went to a nearby sandpit. We were having issues finding fast internet, and we were running low on power, so figured that would be good enough. We left this morning. It's still pretty cloudy, but it looks like it might clear up a little. At least enough to get some more sun. Joe had found a neat area a couple days earlier when he had gone biking, so we went there to check it out. There's a spot at the end of a relatively short road that is right next to the river, but has a number of camp spots. It was pretty busy when he had checked it out, but as we were heading that way, about 6 cars left. We went there and all the people are pretty much on one side, so we picked the spot farthest away. Joe went to talk to the nearest neighbors, letting them know we're letting the cats out and it turns out that it is the same two guys that we helped pull of the road yesterday. Anyway, they said there's a bit of a mouse problem.
We'll probably just be here until the morning, but we'll see.-Miranda
The view from the first nice view point we went to. Those mountains are Canada.
Mount Baker
The Twin Lakes. You can sort of see the camping/parking area also.
Joe and the snow crossing we did do.
The RV at the first trailhead on the road.
[ 2 comments ] ( 4 views )
We spent a number of days in Bellingham parked outside Rod and Sarah's house. They were quite kind and we had a great time chatting with them quite a bit. We mostly focused on working the first day we were there. On Sunday, we went out to a very good sushi restaurant with Rod and Sarah. Afterwards, we went to Mallards, a local ice cream shop. They home make all their ice cream. There are all sorts of neat flavors. On our way back to the house, Rod pointed out a number of restaurants that have good vegetarian food. So, Monday, we decided to walk to one of them to try it out. Unfortunately, it ended up being close, so we headed the rest of the way downtown. There is another vegan restaurant down there. The food was decent (Joe had a sea vegetable burger and I had a walnut, and various other things, burger) but the service was pretty awful. We did a bunch more exploring and eventually walked back home. For dinner that evening we took our bikes and headed in the opposite direction to Fairhaven. We walked around a bunch then ended up eating at a different sushi place. It was also quite good and they had a couple different interesting rolls that we tried.
On Tuesday, we walked with Rod to the vegan restaurant that we had tried to go to the day before. The food was definitely interesting. Some was good, some was a little too odd. We continued on to downtown again and eventually stopped at Mallards to get some 'ice'. It's basically like a sorbet.
That evening we had a great dinner a couple that knew Joe back when he used to spend summers here through his uncle, Michael. The food was excellent and it was fun chatting. I even made them some homemade chocolate pudding for dessert.
We left this morning because we were hoping to find some forest in order to let the cats out. We are near Mt. Baker now in a neat camping spot (there's a small clearing and a fire ring) not far from the nearby river. Unfortunately, we got here too late to let the cats out, so they're going a little nuts. Tomorrow morning we'll let them out. Hopefully they won't wake us up at 5, but I'm not too hopeful. One issue here though, is the flies are insane! We can't spend any time outside, otherwise they swarm around you. We do have some internet, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully we can stay here a couple days.
-Miranda
[ 4 comments ] ( 10 views )
The next morning we woke up and decided to head back into Kettle Falls. There's a very cute market basically like our Coop and they have a small Taco Restaurant in there that we wanted to try out. We bought a few things and used their wifi while waiting for lunch.
The food was very good. They make homemade ice cream, so we had some of that for dessert. We then decided to check out the national forest across the lake. It's technically a recreation area so we weren't quite sure what we would find. There was an area that was definitely used for a shooting range (log with lots of broken glass behind it). We kept going and found a road that lead to a number of camping areas. Basically spots with fire rings. We picked one and ended up going for a bike ride up the mountain to see what else there was. We found a small stream, but not much else. It wasn't busy either.
The cats have been loving it being able to spend time outside. They apparently even got their fill of it today as all 4 were back inside long before their dinner time. They were incredibly annoying this morning though. They decided running around the RV like maniacs was the way to be. However, last night, Joe and I were playing a game and apparently something freaked out Curly. He was by the back window then all of a sudden just started jumping and freaking out. When I went up to him, I barely touched him and he jumped a foot in the air. He stayed pretty freaked for a good 10 minutes, and it kept coming back once in a while, but he seems fine now.
Today our wonderful spot is apparently more popular. A few vehicles drove by on the main road and we heard shooting down below for a good chunk of the day. Then at around 5 someone drove down the road we're on. They left, but around 8ish two trucks showed up towing ATVs. They're both apparently staying for at least the weekend. We may be heading out tomorrow then. We'll see.
-Miranda
The view from the top of our bike ride.
Our site.
A neat flower I saw today.
[ 1 comment ] ( 2 views )
On Friday, we went for a long bike ride along the dirt roads. We ended up taking an old cat trail up the mountain thinking it would be a shortcut of the switchback we were on. Well, it took a while, but it did finally come out to a road. The problem was, we didn't know what road or which way would get us back to the road we wanted to be on. So, we had brought the computer, and we had internet. We found where we were and Joe noticed it wasn't far to the top, so he biked up there to see if there would be a neat place to stay. There was. We biked back to the RV and decided to stay there for another couple nights.
On Sunday, we left and tried a road to get up to the spot Joe had found. Unfortunately, after some of the drive, the road was gated, so we had to turn around and head back. There was another way there through Bayview, so we tried that way. Unfortunately, the first chunk of the road (switchbacks up the mountain) was awful. We made it without incident though and kept going. We got to the spot Joe had found. The view was gorgeous! We let the cats out. Lucy and Curly behaved perfectly. Zoe and Pickles basically disappeared into the jungle just blow the road and we didn't see them again for a hours. We wanted to go for a walk, so we went out looking for them. We finally found both, so then we headed out for a walk.
One of the roads didn't go far, but we found a ton of wild strawberries and huckleberries. We picked a bunch and decided on having huckleberry pancakes in the morning. There was no internet there, so we were planning on leaving in the morning.
Unfortunately, we were woken by the cats before 7am (not fun when you go to sleep after 11). We got packed up and worked our way back down the road. We are now in Coeur D'Alene, ID and planning on continuing on to Spokane or so tonight.
-Miranda
The pretty daisies in the field where we stayed over the weekend.
Curly and Lucy sleeping on the floor during the day.
[ 1 comment ] ( 5 views )
Well, we've been here for almost a week now. We're mostly just working. Joe started working on the RV yesterday. He's been pulling stuff out and will start building shelves tomorrow. We bought new carpet for it today, so we'll get that put in once we're done with everything else.
There is a family of foxes living in Pat's woodpile out back. One morning we saw them out playing, so I went out, got a bunch of photos and took a video. The cats stay pretty close to the house, so I don't think they'll bother them. They pretty much stick around the wood pile. Curly's the only one that really wonders, and I'm not too worried about him. The hope is to head out within a couple weeks, but we'll see how work on the RV goes.
-Miranda
Curly in the bird feeder....
A couple of the fox kits.
Here's the video of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Dx4VlokJU
[ 3 comments ] ( 12 views )
Back Next
Calendar