We left on Tuesday morning to head for the Olympic Peninsula and the national forest there. We took 16 north instead of taking I-5 all the way to 101. It cut off a chunk of the drive, but when we got to 104, not far past the Hood Canal bridge, we ran into a huge traffic backup. We eventually learned that a bad wreck had happened ahead and they were turning people around. We eventually turned around and took a different route around the accident. Before that though, Joe picked a bowl of blackberries that were along the side of the road.
We finally got to the turn into the national forest. We worked our way around and finally found a decent spot where we had some internet. We decided to go for a walk further down the road. It ended at a large camping-type area with a gorgeous view. We decided to just head out there that night even though it was getting dark. The road was a bit overgrown and there were a couple spots where Joe had to cut some things out of the way. We got settled and then Joe used those blackberries to basically make a jam. It was super yummy.
This morning, I kept waking up, but one of the times I looked out the back window (pointed towards the view) and there was a cloud settled down in the valley and the sun was rising. As much as I wanted to just stay in bed, I hopped out to get some photos. Not long after I went back to bed, I looked out again, and a bright red sun was coming up over the horizon, so I got up again.
The cloud has basically been misting up towards us and enveloping us once in a while, all morning. We did let all the cats out. I really didn't want to let Pickles out, but we didn't have much choice... She was freaking out inside with everyone else outside. We followed her around some and she's been doing really well outside. She even caught something! That was unexpected. Lucy even caught something. She's pretty vicious. Throwing it all over the place while playing with it. Well, cats will be cats I guess.
This spot is pretty nice, so hopefully we'll stay here for a couple days.
-Miranda
Our camping spot.
Start of sunrise.
Sunrise.
Pickles with her 'catch'.
Lucy upset that Curly is getting too close while she has her 'catch'.
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We got into Seattle on Saturday and have been here for the past week. A friend of mine that moved here from Minneapolis to go to grad school is renting a house here and has a perfect RV parking spot. She and her roommate don't own cars, so they bike or take the bus everywhere. It's been fun biking around Seattle. We found a lot of great restaurants to try out. One of the days we went to the Space Needle for lunch. It wasn't as expensive as we thought it would be and the view, of course, was amazing. The top of Mt. Rainier was visible over the clouds.
For the most part, the cats have been staying in the RV. They did get to come in a few of the days though. On Friday, we took a look at Pickles and one of her eyes looks really weird. There was a build-up of some sort in the corner of her eye and it looked worse than the first time I had noticed it a few days before. We decided to find a vet in the morning. There was a vet open on Sat. that we could walk to. They had an opening, which was great, but we had to walk over a huge hill to get there. Up a steep hill, then back down the other side, carrying a box, with an upset Pickles away from our body so it didn't bump her too much.
The vet said she had abrasions on her cornea and the weird stuff that was coming in to cover her eye was to heal it. Sometimes it can overreact though and a vet ophthalmologist has to go in and remove some of the scar tissue. The vet put a drop in her eye to relax the muscle (it was spasming) but it also dilates her pupil. So her pupil is going to be dilated for a week. We were given drops to put in her eye twice a day for a couple weeks and we also got an E-collar. Poor Pickles now has a 'cone of shame' on. It's so sad. She can't go through the cat door, so the litter box is under the table. She can't drink out of the water dish unless it's completely full and she can't really eat out of the normal dish, so we designed a dish out of some tupperware that I hold to help her eat. :( Hopefully it gets better quickly. If it gets worse, we'll have to find a vet to take her to again. If it gets really bad, we'll probably have to see a vet ophthalmologist. Hopefully it doesn't get to that point.
Well, the plan is to leave today and head to Tacoma to see someone that we work with on the game.
-Miranda
Sarah and Pickles hanging out.
Poor Pickles and her 'cone of shame.'
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Sorry for the lack of updating. That's what happens when I wait until I upload photos and then never upload the photos.
Anyway, our plan was to take a bigger hike than the Goat Mountain hike on Wed. but we missed the road because it was a turn off in the middle of the construction going on. The RV may not have made it anyway. There was a trail before a bridge over the river, so we stopped there and took the short, gorgeous trail. It was early enough that there was still a mist over the river.
After that, we headed out and went back to Bellingham. While in Bellingham, we spent a number of days with Rod and Sarah. They took us to a concert in a park. This park had over 40 different types of trees and it was the oldest park in the city. On Friday we went out to a Thai restaurant that was very good. Afterwards, we headed downtown for a gallery walk. Apparently during the summer, the galleries in downtown Bellingham open and are free to peruse until 10pm. There was a lot of very neat work.
The next day, we had a nice Indian buffet lunch, then headed to Seattle. We're hanging out in Seattle now, visiting a friend of mine that moved out here for grad school. She's renting a house so we have a perfect place to park. She bikes or takes the bus everywhere. Today, we basically spent the afternoon biking around. There are a lot of bike lanes and trails here, which makes biking relatively easy, though some of the hills are a bit extreme.
For dinner we ended up stopping at an El Salvadorian restaurant and had tacos and pupusas, which are amazing. They even had cactus in them! We'll probably stay here for a few days.
-Miranda
The misty river.
A very neat section of trail.
Yet another neat section of trail.
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Yesterday, we woke up and headed for the trailhead, which was up a road that we had already driven up and knew about. The hope was that while we were hiking, we would get the battery charged back up, so we parked in a spot where we hoped the sun would stay out and not be blocked by the trees.
The hike was 3.2 miles with a 2900 foot gain in elevation. The first couple miles were absolutely gorgeous. The forest floor was covered in needles from the pine trees and the trail continually switched back up the mountain, but didn't get too steep, for the most part. Once we started getting higher, it felt like we were walking through a jungle. There were trees a bit off the trail, but mostly smaller ones, and the sides of the trail were very overgrown, enough so that they practically covered the trail. When we finally got out of that, we started heading up a steep slope. We finally got to the top and noticed a group sitting there, so went over to chat. They were with the forest service and were up there to work on a section of the trail. They claimed the trail kept going, so we headed off.
We kept hiking up the mountain, crossing snow, until we got to a steep slope. We could see the trail up the slope, so kept heading up. A section of the trail was washed out from a mudslide. We scrambled up to the next section of trail and kept going. There was another section that was washed out! We decided to just call it good from there. That's the point where I took the first photo. It was super steep! We walked down the trail until we got to where it was washed out again, then went straight down the mountainside to the lower trail and kept going from there.
We eventually learned that the technical end of the trail was the lookout where we saw the group of forest service workers. Though on our walk down, they were working on one of the steep sections of trail. It was a huge mud pit. I just about fell in trying to balance on the rocks they were putting there. They were working on diverting the water off the trail and putting rocks on the trail.
We made it back and the RV was in the shade... Of course. We did get enough power for another day or so though, so we headed back to where we stayed for those couple days earlier in the week. The cats were happy to get to go out again.
This morning, we heard thunder, so knew a storm was probably coming. We got everything packed up in case we had to leave, but let the cats run around outside still. Now it is pouring and poor Curly and Pickles are under the RV because they're too afraid to get in the RV. Once the rain lets up a little again I think I'll try to get them again.
-Miranda
The top of the hike.
Joe in a very cool looking tree along the side of the road.
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Well, there definitely was a mouse problem.
First off, the cats did not want to come in. It was a pain getting them in for the evening. We went to sleep relatively early, but at some point in the middle of the night, Joe heard growling. He swore it was a bear. We turned the light on and see all four cats hunched down on the floor. Eventually we heard the growl again, and it was Curly, with a mouse in his mouth.... He kept letting it go, it would run like crazy, he would chase it, catch it again, then eventually let it go. I finally got a hold of it when it didn't run off right away and threw it out the door (sorry Curly).
We tried to sleep again. Pickles came and lay down between us, purring like crazy. All of a sudden, she jumps at the vent! I look at the back of the RV, and the other three cats are sitting on the table, staring up at the ceiling. It took a bit, but eventually we could hear little feet running around on the roof. I don't know if it was squirrels or mice or what, but it was incredibly annoying.
They calmed down again, only to start running around in the front an hour or so later. I kept watching for someone to come out from there carrying something, but never did. Eventually, Joe said, we're going. I ran outside, put the bike back in the rack, grabbed the solar shower and off we went. There was a very large parking area right before the highway, so we stopped there and went back to sleep. No more crazy noises, so we finally got some sleep.
-Miranda
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