The OrangeRadish clan arrived early Saturday and secured a most spectacular camp site at Staircase. The Mumbles clan meandered down several hours later. The site was vast and had a natural jungle gym of downed trees of massive proportions and huge rocks. This was all the real entertainment needed by the Radish boys and Mum-belles. The four of them range from 11 down to 6 and all four played tirelessly together the entire time.
Daddy Radish announced upon our arrival that he had already caught the biggest fish in this part of the river, a nice 16" native cutthroat trout. You all can see if you can pry a picture out of Mr. Photography Wizard, I couldn't.
We set up the two full sized clan tents. Got the gals chatting and they really hit it off splendidly. This fact was noticed early, often and discussed while on the water and hiking trail at great length. There is little better, in my simple mind, than two guys that like to fish together AND their fishing widow wives get along immediately AND their children play together fantastic while treating everyone with the utomost respect. We shall be connecting the clans as often as feasible for our schedules and the three hour separation of our respective homes.
I had an absoultely stellar time with my family, my good friend and his family. Just freaking spectacular.
After setting up our 24 hour homestead, Jesse, his girl and Jeff showed up. I wadered up and off we went. No fishy love for us early, but we saw a nice bend in the Jesse rod. O-rad and I hiked up river a bit, found a few tempting places, but still no love. I told him I wanted to fish an area on the opposite side, so back down to the bridge we went, crossed over and hiked up. I pulled a gorgeous small native cutthroat of about 8-9" our of the spot I called from the other side of the river. Satisfied for this quick trip, back to the camp.
The other friends had to go, and the dads worked on fajita dinner while the ladies and groms enjoyed the late afternoon walk about camp. Once the fire was going well we knew the dinner would be coming together nicely and it did not disappoint. We made a dinner that Jerry D and Bitteroot would be proud of.
After a good meal it was back to the river in the waning daylight. No fishy love but I made a nice rescue of O's rod tip, bobbercator and bit of his leader after a bit of a snagup. What are friends for, right? I'll scale down a sheer rock and hanging log for ya pal, no worries. Thanks to my trusty Korkers and their studded Kling On soles I had all the traction I needed for the task.
Back to camp for some barley pops and chatting with the collective clan. Slowly the groms peeled off to bed, then the ladies, then the gents. The plan to get up early was cool on my part. I was up at 5, took a little walk to the facilities and then stomped around camp a bit. No company, back in the sleeping bag. I guess the Radish was up around 6 and I was out again. So much for early plans as we finally left camp just before 9 to fish for about an hour. No fishy love, but time for breakfast. This time Mr. Radish converted the cooler refrigerated leftovers from the night before into a fantastic scramble, just adding sausage and eggs. Again, just like Jerry D would have crafted, and it was a tremendous hit from those from 6 to...well a lot freaking older than six.
Cleaned up camp, broke down the haciendas and loaded up the rigs. Parked them at the parking area and off to the trail. We hiked up to the rapids, this is not a stretch I intend to float, not ever. It was amazing, Mr. PhotOrange took lots of killer images that he hopefully will send to my email address (first initial, middle initial, last name AT SYMBOL you know who DOT net)
Got home late, unpacked the rig, cleaned all the grime off of us all and most are out for the count. I'm tinkering with the blue Saturn raft for the next family outing planned in two weeks with the Ast clan. This weekend set our clan collaborating bar pretty damn high, looking forward to upping the mark as soon as possible. Life lived like this is a damn fine life indeed.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Memorial Day Weekend at the Ball Park
When my oldest daughter, now 7 1/2, was a young enough to sit on our laps we took her to a Mariners game. She could not have been more than a year to year and a half old. She says she remembers, but I'm not so sure. Today the four of us went to the Mariners vs. Yankees game. It was the third of the three game series against the bronx bombers and the M's had already taken the other two winning the series. My six year old was very excited and up way too early this morning. It proved her downfall as she fell asleep in my arms for about 2 to 3 full innings (where the Yankees scored 5 runs in the third and another 1 in the fourth). After that she was engergized and all had a grand old time despite the M's taking a loss 7-1.
They had a blast, both girls, the Mrs. and I did too. I hope that we can go again sometime soon. We need to get to Seattle more often. I told my wife that we should find something to do in the big city at least once each month. They want to hit the aquarium tomorrow. Not sure that I'm up for that. I am hoping to talk them into heading to a new to them lake and more relaxing day before heading back to work.
They had a blast, both girls, the Mrs. and I did too. I hope that we can go again sometime soon. We need to get to Seattle more often. I told my wife that we should find something to do in the big city at least once each month. They want to hit the aquarium tomorrow. Not sure that I'm up for that. I am hoping to talk them into heading to a new to them lake and more relaxing day before heading back to work.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
An Awesome Day
Today was a pretty amazing day. The girls woke me up asking for a big daddy breakfast. I threw together a nice sausage, egg and cheese scramble and even the picky six year old ate it like crazy. Of course big sister, an impressive eater almost all the time, destroyed it and raved at what a great cook her daddy is. Flattery will get you very far around here.
What should we do today? It should be nice, I asked. Their list began. We need to go to the park and play. Flying kites would be fun, if there is enough wind. There is a book sale and plant sale at the library, can we go there? Can we take the blue boat fishing at Teal Lake?
I was floored. I wanted to know how they possibly thought we could do all that stuff today. Big sister said "today is going to be awesome". At 7 1/2 she delivered this with expert confidence. I said we could see how it goes, off to the shower with the two of you and you better make it clean and quick if you want to get all that stuff done today.
They hit the shower and I loaded up the truck with helmets, bikes, kites and fly rods. Okay, I threw in the fly rods hoping we'd do some casting. I did, but no one else was interested, but that is out of order.
At the school playground park there are three distinct age level playground apparatus. Is it apparati, apparatuses or what, hell I don't know. We played on the kindergarten level one briefly, then moved to the next and then the next. Can we ride our bikes? Sure, mom and I went and got them out. Helmets on, they were off. We live in a really hilly area and our driveway really slopes so neither are free of training wheels yet. We don't ride much either, so this is not their fault. Today Olivia, the oldest, stated she thought that if I held her and helped her get going that she could ride without the training wheels. I said okay, she kicked the wheels up so they were straight back, like she had that planned all along, and with my hand guiding the seat she was soon off and riding...and riding well. Little sister did great too, even tried big sister's bike but perferred her smaller one with the training wheels.
Off to fly some kites. Sophia, the younger, has a triangle box kite and it takes very little wind to get it up and going. She was in business right out of the gate. Olivia's is a bit tougher, but soon hers was filled with air and soaring high above. The Mrs. had her box kite going and all of a sudden we saw it taking off across the field...unrestrained and on its own. We caught it, reconnected the string and no more than a few minutes later the spool was pulled from her hand and the kite was off on its own, flying several hundred yards away before coming to rest atop a small school portable classroom. No worries, we gently and steadily tugged it off.
Off to the house for some lunch, then I gathered the evening fishing gear while they hit the book and plant sale. An hour later they were back, I packed the rig and we were off to the lake. By now the day's sunshine has given way to overcast skies and a fair bit of wind and I'm thinking this is a bad idea. I expect this to be a very short outing and me biting my tongue about all the work I put into packing for a few minutes on the water. Boy, am I glad to say that I was so very wrong. I'm rowing, they are trolling. Olivia has a trout master cream streamer just below the surface. Sophia has an olive woolley bugger with a bead head a bit deeper. I'm rowing and a few minutes into the journey Olivia's rod tip jolts, she raises it, shouts "fish on" and then "I think this is a big one". A couple mintues later she's expertly brought a 20" nicely colored triploid to the net and is smiling from ear to ear about her success. She even bragged to Sophia, who's personal best is an 18" trout, that mine was bigger than yours. Competition?
Sophia had a few strikes, but nothing hooking up, so I switched her to the same type of fly as sister. Lots of missed strikes for Sophia, sometimes strike after strike after strike and the fish just did not stick. She was undeterred though, and kept at it very focused. "I know I'm going to catch one too" she said.
It started to drizzle. Anyone want to head in I asked? No was the resounding answer. Now it is raining steadily. Is everyone still okay? We've got our hats so the rain is not bothering us they chirped with grins. Now it is really pouring, do we want to head to the dock? Make one more pass they agreed, then when we get close to the dock we can head out. A lot of fish swirled and hit the flies on the troll, but none would end up with a hook set.
Back in the car, I got the ladies all buckled and safe, heater running and I strapped the raft atop the rig. I get in soaked and they chimed in stereo, "thanks for an awesome day dad".
I don't care who you are. A great breakfast, three playgrounds, kite flying, bike riding, more playground play, quick lunch, book and plant sale and trip to a local lake that ended up with a 20" personal best trout...all because that is what THEY wanted to do...this is the making of an awesome day.
I guess it could have been better if I would have brought along the camera!
What should we do today? It should be nice, I asked. Their list began. We need to go to the park and play. Flying kites would be fun, if there is enough wind. There is a book sale and plant sale at the library, can we go there? Can we take the blue boat fishing at Teal Lake?
I was floored. I wanted to know how they possibly thought we could do all that stuff today. Big sister said "today is going to be awesome". At 7 1/2 she delivered this with expert confidence. I said we could see how it goes, off to the shower with the two of you and you better make it clean and quick if you want to get all that stuff done today.
They hit the shower and I loaded up the truck with helmets, bikes, kites and fly rods. Okay, I threw in the fly rods hoping we'd do some casting. I did, but no one else was interested, but that is out of order.
At the school playground park there are three distinct age level playground apparatus. Is it apparati, apparatuses or what, hell I don't know. We played on the kindergarten level one briefly, then moved to the next and then the next. Can we ride our bikes? Sure, mom and I went and got them out. Helmets on, they were off. We live in a really hilly area and our driveway really slopes so neither are free of training wheels yet. We don't ride much either, so this is not their fault. Today Olivia, the oldest, stated she thought that if I held her and helped her get going that she could ride without the training wheels. I said okay, she kicked the wheels up so they were straight back, like she had that planned all along, and with my hand guiding the seat she was soon off and riding...and riding well. Little sister did great too, even tried big sister's bike but perferred her smaller one with the training wheels.
Off to fly some kites. Sophia, the younger, has a triangle box kite and it takes very little wind to get it up and going. She was in business right out of the gate. Olivia's is a bit tougher, but soon hers was filled with air and soaring high above. The Mrs. had her box kite going and all of a sudden we saw it taking off across the field...unrestrained and on its own. We caught it, reconnected the string and no more than a few minutes later the spool was pulled from her hand and the kite was off on its own, flying several hundred yards away before coming to rest atop a small school portable classroom. No worries, we gently and steadily tugged it off.
Off to the house for some lunch, then I gathered the evening fishing gear while they hit the book and plant sale. An hour later they were back, I packed the rig and we were off to the lake. By now the day's sunshine has given way to overcast skies and a fair bit of wind and I'm thinking this is a bad idea. I expect this to be a very short outing and me biting my tongue about all the work I put into packing for a few minutes on the water. Boy, am I glad to say that I was so very wrong. I'm rowing, they are trolling. Olivia has a trout master cream streamer just below the surface. Sophia has an olive woolley bugger with a bead head a bit deeper. I'm rowing and a few minutes into the journey Olivia's rod tip jolts, she raises it, shouts "fish on" and then "I think this is a big one". A couple mintues later she's expertly brought a 20" nicely colored triploid to the net and is smiling from ear to ear about her success. She even bragged to Sophia, who's personal best is an 18" trout, that mine was bigger than yours. Competition?
Sophia had a few strikes, but nothing hooking up, so I switched her to the same type of fly as sister. Lots of missed strikes for Sophia, sometimes strike after strike after strike and the fish just did not stick. She was undeterred though, and kept at it very focused. "I know I'm going to catch one too" she said.
It started to drizzle. Anyone want to head in I asked? No was the resounding answer. Now it is raining steadily. Is everyone still okay? We've got our hats so the rain is not bothering us they chirped with grins. Now it is really pouring, do we want to head to the dock? Make one more pass they agreed, then when we get close to the dock we can head out. A lot of fish swirled and hit the flies on the troll, but none would end up with a hook set.
Back in the car, I got the ladies all buckled and safe, heater running and I strapped the raft atop the rig. I get in soaked and they chimed in stereo, "thanks for an awesome day dad".
I don't care who you are. A great breakfast, three playgrounds, kite flying, bike riding, more playground play, quick lunch, book and plant sale and trip to a local lake that ended up with a 20" personal best trout...all because that is what THEY wanted to do...this is the making of an awesome day.
I guess it could have been better if I would have brought along the camera!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Happy Birthday Sophia
Happy 6th Birthday Sophia
We all love you greatly and hope today was a great day.
We all love you greatly and hope today was a great day.
Lots of Distractions
I've been away for too long suffering from lots of distractions. After 2.5 years working in a cubicle I traded up to an office...for a temporary Director position. I'm hopeful that it will become permanent, but one never knows. I entered the aforementioned cubicle knowing full well it already had a glass cieling upon it and the only way up was if one of the four people above me would choose to move on or retire. I thought I could wait this process out. I could not.
Now I'm on a very short term contract with a local institution of higher eductaion as a Director of a small department. There are so many things to do on the to do list that I'm working like crazy whenever I'm not asleep. I want to get things done and work hard to impress them so that I get to stick around long term and get the full time permanent position.
Looming is our family trip to Yellowstone the last week of June. My previous good planning pace has faltered. I have not advanced the plans for two months now. We have our West Yellowstone reservations and Park exploration plan in pretty good shape. What I'm woefully lacking on now is the two full days of travel each way. What can we do to get out of the rig to stretch our legs? What water can we pass that I can make a few casts and find some eager yet dumb MT/ID/WA trout? I know we will do our share of geocache searching along the route and back. I want to cast a line whenever possible too.
This trip is going to happen, even if I'm on unpaid vacation. That sucks, but not going would be more suckage than I can deal with because the girls are so hyped up for the trip. Speaking of the girls and trips. We are planning a trip to the Yakima as a family in late July. The girls and the Mrs are headed to New England for nearly three weeks in August. Guess who gets to stay home and keep the work schedule running as routine? I'm not bitter...well, maybe slightly, but I need to work more than I need to take this amount of time off.
The only fishing I've done lately has been to row a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing outing where Matt and Dave worked their asses off for no fish on a beautiful day. The fish did not realize that this may have been my last outing with Matt as he's headed home to Upstate NY in the near future. I'll see Dave and fish with him again soon, I hope. Other than that, a couple of quick trips to the local lake of choice to bother the stockers. It works to clear the mind, so I'm thankful for the opportunity and therapy.
Hopefully it all works out well. I could find myself out of a job soon and that would really suck. That could put the Yellowstone trip out of reach because gas alone would break us. Lots of distractions...I'm trying to keep the important things in focus. Those are the girls and the Yellowstone trip and busting my ass to get this gig long term. Everything else will come in due time.
Now I'm on a very short term contract with a local institution of higher eductaion as a Director of a small department. There are so many things to do on the to do list that I'm working like crazy whenever I'm not asleep. I want to get things done and work hard to impress them so that I get to stick around long term and get the full time permanent position.
Looming is our family trip to Yellowstone the last week of June. My previous good planning pace has faltered. I have not advanced the plans for two months now. We have our West Yellowstone reservations and Park exploration plan in pretty good shape. What I'm woefully lacking on now is the two full days of travel each way. What can we do to get out of the rig to stretch our legs? What water can we pass that I can make a few casts and find some eager yet dumb MT/ID/WA trout? I know we will do our share of geocache searching along the route and back. I want to cast a line whenever possible too.
This trip is going to happen, even if I'm on unpaid vacation. That sucks, but not going would be more suckage than I can deal with because the girls are so hyped up for the trip. Speaking of the girls and trips. We are planning a trip to the Yakima as a family in late July. The girls and the Mrs are headed to New England for nearly three weeks in August. Guess who gets to stay home and keep the work schedule running as routine? I'm not bitter...well, maybe slightly, but I need to work more than I need to take this amount of time off.
The only fishing I've done lately has been to row a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing outing where Matt and Dave worked their asses off for no fish on a beautiful day. The fish did not realize that this may have been my last outing with Matt as he's headed home to Upstate NY in the near future. I'll see Dave and fish with him again soon, I hope. Other than that, a couple of quick trips to the local lake of choice to bother the stockers. It works to clear the mind, so I'm thankful for the opportunity and therapy.
Hopefully it all works out well. I could find myself out of a job soon and that would really suck. That could put the Yellowstone trip out of reach because gas alone would break us. Lots of distractions...I'm trying to keep the important things in focus. Those are the girls and the Yellowstone trip and busting my ass to get this gig long term. Everything else will come in due time.
Friday, February 25, 2011
A Wonderful Adventure on the Olympic Peninsula
I had the awesome opportunity to fish with two guides from Twin Bridges MT out on the Olympic Peninsula. Joe comes west and guides for Brazda's Fly Fishing for winter steelhead each year. His friend Seth came along for the road trip and to catch his first Olympic Peninsula Steelhead (formerly catching his share in a variety of other places).
Joe was working on some fly pattern variations and although he was fishing for fun and to re-familiarize himself with the changes in the river he was in full on guide mode. Telling us to fish the patters tight to structure, opting to prefer to see if there were steelhead hiding more than worry about the loss of a few flies or rigs. Seth found a pattern that worked well early on day one, brining a very fine looking steelhead to hand with ease. After a dolly he picked up another steehead in the morning, but then went on a long stretch without fish. I had touched a couple of trout along the way but nothing of size and none that I kept pressure on to get them to the net.
While in the boat moving we were using a two nymph rig, expertly set up by Joe to his very particular specifications. When we found some nice fly swinging water we would anchor at the bank and each of us would work the runs. A few grabs between us, but nothing that stuck.
Back in the boat, nymphing the last stretch before the take out my indicator went down hard. A lift of the rod tip and a nice flash beneath the waters surface and I finally had hooked into a nice fish. A minute or two later we were anchored up, I was out of the boat and Joe was slipping the net under my steelhead. Smaller than Seth's two fish, but the brightest fish of the day and this guy was really excited. There was no hooting and hollering, I kept my composure, acting like I had caught nice fish before...and could do it again too. I was very excited though, heart was pounding, grin was building and after a couple of quick pics having never lifted her from the water this beauty was off to finish her spawning run.
Thank you Joe for the open seat those two days. Thanks to both you and Seth for sharing your time with me. Thanks to Team Brazda for the night in the Bogy House, being welcomed and surrounded by so many fishy friends.
How many more days until I get to head west again?
Seth and friends:
Found a friend of my own:
Joe was working on some fly pattern variations and although he was fishing for fun and to re-familiarize himself with the changes in the river he was in full on guide mode. Telling us to fish the patters tight to structure, opting to prefer to see if there were steelhead hiding more than worry about the loss of a few flies or rigs. Seth found a pattern that worked well early on day one, brining a very fine looking steelhead to hand with ease. After a dolly he picked up another steehead in the morning, but then went on a long stretch without fish. I had touched a couple of trout along the way but nothing of size and none that I kept pressure on to get them to the net.
While in the boat moving we were using a two nymph rig, expertly set up by Joe to his very particular specifications. When we found some nice fly swinging water we would anchor at the bank and each of us would work the runs. A few grabs between us, but nothing that stuck.
Back in the boat, nymphing the last stretch before the take out my indicator went down hard. A lift of the rod tip and a nice flash beneath the waters surface and I finally had hooked into a nice fish. A minute or two later we were anchored up, I was out of the boat and Joe was slipping the net under my steelhead. Smaller than Seth's two fish, but the brightest fish of the day and this guy was really excited. There was no hooting and hollering, I kept my composure, acting like I had caught nice fish before...and could do it again too. I was very excited though, heart was pounding, grin was building and after a couple of quick pics having never lifted her from the water this beauty was off to finish her spawning run.
Thank you Joe for the open seat those two days. Thanks to both you and Seth for sharing your time with me. Thanks to Team Brazda for the night in the Bogy House, being welcomed and surrounded by so many fishy friends.
How many more days until I get to head west again?
Seth and friends:
Found a friend of my own:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Wild Steelhead on the Menu
Seriously?
I have no idea who may happen upon my blog's waste of space on the internet, my means of passing idle time. What I do know is that sometimes you can read something in an abstract location and it can key you in to something you were unaware of before.
Wild Steelhead are threatened or endangered throughout the world. We are talking about wild fish, those not reared in concrete retaining ponds destined to add numbers to the dwindling wild stocks. Those hatchery fish, or commercially farmed fish are designed to be caught, removed from the river system and fed to those interested in the meal.
I'm talking about Wild Steelhead. Those that harvest them, through commercial netting, recreational angling (yes, some places you can catch and keep those...which is wrong...but a different rant) or by tribal gill netting programs are putting pressure on a dwindling resource.
For those that find wild steelhead listed on a menu. Please be responsible, even if you could care less about fish or fishing. Please inqure as to the source of those fish. If they are from a commercial farm raised fish supply often called "wild" they really aren't, enjoy your meal. If the wild fish are truly wild, caught by the tribes in gill nets or commmercial harvesting, please boycot this meal and this establishment until they get the message.
When everyone stops eating wild steelhead, eliminating the demand, then the supply source will dwindle or maybe go away entirely. Save the wild steelhead, they are a precious and rare fish, each spawing run unique to its home watershed. We have already pushed them to the brink of extinction, please prevent them from being pushed further. My children and their children deserve to greet this native creature in its natural habitat, not in some museum.
People who care about the world and its creatures would not eat wild steelhead or tolerate those that do or would. Thank you.
An organization that is focused on preservation of wild steelhead stocks:
Wild Steelhead Coalition
I have no idea who may happen upon my blog's waste of space on the internet, my means of passing idle time. What I do know is that sometimes you can read something in an abstract location and it can key you in to something you were unaware of before.
Wild Steelhead are threatened or endangered throughout the world. We are talking about wild fish, those not reared in concrete retaining ponds destined to add numbers to the dwindling wild stocks. Those hatchery fish, or commercially farmed fish are designed to be caught, removed from the river system and fed to those interested in the meal.
I'm talking about Wild Steelhead. Those that harvest them, through commercial netting, recreational angling (yes, some places you can catch and keep those...which is wrong...but a different rant) or by tribal gill netting programs are putting pressure on a dwindling resource.
For those that find wild steelhead listed on a menu. Please be responsible, even if you could care less about fish or fishing. Please inqure as to the source of those fish. If they are from a commercial farm raised fish supply often called "wild" they really aren't, enjoy your meal. If the wild fish are truly wild, caught by the tribes in gill nets or commmercial harvesting, please boycot this meal and this establishment until they get the message.
When everyone stops eating wild steelhead, eliminating the demand, then the supply source will dwindle or maybe go away entirely. Save the wild steelhead, they are a precious and rare fish, each spawing run unique to its home watershed. We have already pushed them to the brink of extinction, please prevent them from being pushed further. My children and their children deserve to greet this native creature in its natural habitat, not in some museum.
People who care about the world and its creatures would not eat wild steelhead or tolerate those that do or would. Thank you.
An organization that is focused on preservation of wild steelhead stocks:
Wild Steelhead Coalition
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Another Snowy Adventure
Sometimes it takes forever to get the kids up and out of the house. Today I was dragging a bit, just tired and cold. Finally pulled the fishing gear out of the rig from yesterday's failed attempt at New Year's Day fishing. Loaded the backpack, snowshoes, sleds and outerwear for all and I was ready to roll. The girls took about another hour before they were ready.
We arrived at the entrance station of Hurricane Ridge to find a line of about 40 cars. Upper parking lot is full said the friendly ranger. We are letting one up for each one down. The girls watched "Madagascar 2" while we waited. About 40 minutes later, close to 2:30pm, it was our turn.
The road was slick in spots, well sanded in spots and pretty wet in others. I knew the ride down would be slick after the sun dropped below the mountain tops.
The girls suggested we sled first this time, I agreed but wondered if I'm carrying four sets of snowshoes and my backpack for nothing. I was. We got in two full hours of non stop sledding action, each girl slowly getting more brave with each run. Higher and higher they went to start. Tougher routes, bumps and tracks they took. Even Jill and I took a turn or two riding with the girls, but the fun was mostly them sliding and us watching.
The ride down was slick as expected, got a bit fishy in the spots I expected and I was having fun with it. I could tell Jill was not so I slowed down a bit and tried to keep out of hot water.
Back to school tomorrow for them, work for me and Jill will have the house to herself for a bit of the day. I wonder how all of us will do our first day back to our normal routines. We are already contemplating what we might do next weekend...after tryouts with Rising Stars of the Kitsap Children's Musical Theater, of course.
We arrived at the entrance station of Hurricane Ridge to find a line of about 40 cars. Upper parking lot is full said the friendly ranger. We are letting one up for each one down. The girls watched "Madagascar 2" while we waited. About 40 minutes later, close to 2:30pm, it was our turn.
The road was slick in spots, well sanded in spots and pretty wet in others. I knew the ride down would be slick after the sun dropped below the mountain tops.
The girls suggested we sled first this time, I agreed but wondered if I'm carrying four sets of snowshoes and my backpack for nothing. I was. We got in two full hours of non stop sledding action, each girl slowly getting more brave with each run. Higher and higher they went to start. Tougher routes, bumps and tracks they took. Even Jill and I took a turn or two riding with the girls, but the fun was mostly them sliding and us watching.
The ride down was slick as expected, got a bit fishy in the spots I expected and I was having fun with it. I could tell Jill was not so I slowed down a bit and tried to keep out of hot water.
Back to school tomorrow for them, work for me and Jill will have the house to herself for a bit of the day. I wonder how all of us will do our first day back to our normal routines. We are already contemplating what we might do next weekend...after tryouts with Rising Stars of the Kitsap Children's Musical Theater, of course.
Kicking off 2011 in Chilly Family Style
It was pretty cold today when we went out for some fresh air and adventures on the first day of the New Year. The Mrs is really into geocaching and has introduced each of us to this very economical and fun way to add some exploration, hidden treasure and adventure into our lives. It is really a fun way to spend time together. Taking turns as the line leader following the path on the GPS keeps us all engaged. Making suggestions of where we might think the geocache might be found has really kept our interest. It also has made us wonder where we might stash a cache of our own.
Finally today we did. After bungling a cache placement on the 30th of December, because we did not know of another very close pre-existing cache, we had to relocate my first cache. My fly fishing themed cache was found by a fly fishing friend because I had posted the coordinates on washingtonflyfishing.com before the cache was activated by goecaching.com (hence my total bungle). My friend read the coordinates and headed out and found the cache. Today I fixed my mess up. The ladies tracked down the Little Miss Muffet cache while I moved Take Me Fly Fishing to the north by approximately 400'. This put me out of the too close range of the existing cache and with any luck we'll get approval of the new coordinates.
After placing mine, the Mrs took the coordinates and tracked it down. I wanted to make sure that she could get to it and see how the route was. She found it, with a bit of difficulty, but the coordinates seem to be right on the money. Total freeze on the lake prevented me from making this a water craft required cache access, but we rolled with it anyway.
Then we headed toward a few other nearby JeffCo caches. In hand this time was little Sophia's Starter cache. She asked for an ammo can, had me paint black over the white certified empty sticker and she loaded it with a "first to find" prize and some other trading trinkets. She was very focused and impressed me significantly. We found a nice spot for her cache to be placed and she directed me step by step into its proper placement and concealment. My work met her approval, our coordinates are far enough from several other caches and with any luck we will get approval on her cache too.
The other two ladies will have to prepare their caches next...but not tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to return to Hurricane Ridge, this time to snowboard and snowshoe again. Sleds were again mentioned, but as a lazy dad not wanting to have everything in the garage in the back of the truck I asked to leave the sleds at home. I think it will work out. I should be getting my rest. When in snowboard mode, we put them on pretty gentle slopes for now. My job is lift service. I let them stay buckled in and take turns lugging them up the hill, which is a pretty good workout for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me.
Finally today we did. After bungling a cache placement on the 30th of December, because we did not know of another very close pre-existing cache, we had to relocate my first cache. My fly fishing themed cache was found by a fly fishing friend because I had posted the coordinates on washingtonflyfishing.com before the cache was activated by goecaching.com (hence my total bungle). My friend read the coordinates and headed out and found the cache. Today I fixed my mess up. The ladies tracked down the Little Miss Muffet cache while I moved Take Me Fly Fishing to the north by approximately 400'. This put me out of the too close range of the existing cache and with any luck we'll get approval of the new coordinates.
After placing mine, the Mrs took the coordinates and tracked it down. I wanted to make sure that she could get to it and see how the route was. She found it, with a bit of difficulty, but the coordinates seem to be right on the money. Total freeze on the lake prevented me from making this a water craft required cache access, but we rolled with it anyway.
Then we headed toward a few other nearby JeffCo caches. In hand this time was little Sophia's Starter cache. She asked for an ammo can, had me paint black over the white certified empty sticker and she loaded it with a "first to find" prize and some other trading trinkets. She was very focused and impressed me significantly. We found a nice spot for her cache to be placed and she directed me step by step into its proper placement and concealment. My work met her approval, our coordinates are far enough from several other caches and with any luck we will get approval on her cache too.
The other two ladies will have to prepare their caches next...but not tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan to return to Hurricane Ridge, this time to snowboard and snowshoe again. Sleds were again mentioned, but as a lazy dad not wanting to have everything in the garage in the back of the truck I asked to leave the sleds at home. I think it will work out. I should be getting my rest. When in snowboard mode, we put them on pretty gentle slopes for now. My job is lift service. I let them stay buckled in and take turns lugging them up the hill, which is a pretty good workout for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ending 2010 Right
Spent the last day of 2010 with all three of the ladies in the wide open spaces of the Olympic National Park. We headed up to Hurricane Ridge to enjoy the crisp clean air on a beautiful day. The sun was shining making the cold temps feel so much more comfortable.
Our trip plan included our first family snowshoe outing. The Mrs and I have snowshoed before, with the girls in tow in either the Chariot on its ski attachments or in a sled. This time all four of us had our snowshoes. Both girls did absolutely awesome. We kicked around below the 8 and under sledding area near the visitor center. Then we headed down the road toward Hurricane Hill. Of course we did not go that far, but we did go a full mile out, took a few photos along the way, and then back. The girls were so awesome the whole day. As a treat for them as they began to lag a bit on the uphil back to the sledding area, I offered to tow them in the sled.
I put their snowshoes on my pack, they got comfortable and I pulled them up the final 1/8 to 1/4 mile. This got me into a bit higher heart rate level so it was good for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me, and got them a bit of rest for some sledding.
I'll post some photos later and try to catch up on the fishing trips from 2010 that I've neglected.
Our trip plan included our first family snowshoe outing. The Mrs and I have snowshoed before, with the girls in tow in either the Chariot on its ski attachments or in a sled. This time all four of us had our snowshoes. Both girls did absolutely awesome. We kicked around below the 8 and under sledding area near the visitor center. Then we headed down the road toward Hurricane Hill. Of course we did not go that far, but we did go a full mile out, took a few photos along the way, and then back. The girls were so awesome the whole day. As a treat for them as they began to lag a bit on the uphil back to the sledding area, I offered to tow them in the sled.
I put their snowshoes on my pack, they got comfortable and I pulled them up the final 1/8 to 1/4 mile. This got me into a bit higher heart rate level so it was good for the cheeseburger loving fat kid in me, and got them a bit of rest for some sledding.
I'll post some photos later and try to catch up on the fishing trips from 2010 that I've neglected.
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