Its aboot time!

There is a perfectly good explanation for our lack of blogging.  We left the charger to our computer in Salt Lake about a month ago.  It is pretty much customary for us to forget a least one thing at every place we stop.  So we have been bumming charges any chance we get.  Right now however, I am writing from a computer in the Squamish Library, because we havn't found a charge in a while.

The last month or so has been busy.  My brother Dylan and good friend Tim asked us if we wanted to climb the Grand Teton with them, we just finished working in Salt Lake so we said we would see them the next day.  Luckily we left with some extra time because the van proceeded to have a severe coolant leak and we had to return to Salt Lake so I could fix it.

With perfect timing we arrived in Jackson at almost the same time as Dylan and Tim.  We climbed a little at a local sport crag and then went up to the campground to prep for tomorrow's accent.  We scanned over topos and read route descriptions with all the confidence in the world.  Then after checking over our packs we went to sleep early.

What I didn't realize until morning was that I was the only one who went to sleep early.  Turns out that Beth, Dylan, and Tim couldn't fall asleep, so they all got only an hour or two of sleep, the perfect way to start an alpine adventure.  We all got up at 3:00 am like we planned and drove to the trailhead.  Spirits were high and we hiked quickly up the switchbacks, watching an incredible sunrise over the valley below.  We reached the meadows and were encouraged by the mountain we saw, it looked different than from the valley floor, it looked much less intimidating.  So we hiked along a trail straight for it, and soon realized that rising up to our right was the actual mountain we came to climb.  Moral was breifly stunted, this mountain looked HUGE and far away,  but we kept pushing forward.  We got a little off route, reached the moraine and climbed the fixed lines to the lower saddle.

Decision time on the Lower Saddle

This is where things went downhill.  The wind at the lower saddle was 40 gusting to 60, and the mountain still looked huge.  Beth decided she didn't want to go any further, so she stayed and waited at the lower saddle while Tim Dylan and myself headed for the upper saddle.  After a few hundred yards Dyland and Tim decided the were done.  Dyland was haveing trouble with the altitude, maybe having spent too much time at sea level, and Tim's knee was giving him problems.  I kept going on my own, thinking the climbing was of an easy grade and maybe I could climb it solo.  I made it to the upper saddle and looked at what I thought was the route, but the wind, exposure and not knowing the route convinced me to turn back.

The hike out was pretty uneventful, we did some glissading down the snowfields, and a few hours later we were at the car. Totally exahsted we went into town for dinner and went to bed early.

Next we found ourselves back in Lander climbing the amazing pocketed limestone of the Wild Iris.  When I hurt my finger climbing in July I noticed a route that looked good, but hadn't been bolted.  Someone put the top anchors in but never finished the route.  Beth, Tim and I decided to bolt it.  We rappeled down the route, cleaned it and looked for crucial holds. We both climbed it on toprope and marked out where we thought the bolts should go.  The next day we tag teamed the route, Tim would drill the holes and clean them out and I would be right behind him hammering in and tightening the bolts.  Tim did the first ascent that morning followed by me and our freind Mike.  Later that day Beth completed the route, her third 12a this summer.  It was the first route any of us had bolted and we think it turned out great.  Technical, sustained climbing moving in and out from slabby to vertical to just overhanging at the top.  We named it Rooster Cogburn.

We needed to be in Seattle in late September to go to Mexico,  but we didn't want to take the standard route on I-90.  So that is what we have been doing for the last week or so.  We visited our friends Kitty and Eric in Missoula, Montana.  Missoula is a city full of hipsters and hippies, and because of that they have the best farmers market I have ever seen.  we had lots of fun floating the river and playing music late into the night.  Eric is a really good musician, and turns out the ukulele and banjo go really well together.

After Missoula we went through Glacier National Park, which was a little underwelming to be honest.  I mean it was pretty cool, but not high on my list of amazing places to see.  We only stayed one day and went on 13 mile hike, called the Highline Trail.  It was a great hike and it left us tired for a while.  We drove across the border and slept in a small town in Alberta for the night.

A Glacier in Glacier Naitonal Park

Saint Mary Lake

We got to Calgary at around 10:00am and spent a few hours exploring the city.  Calgary is really cool, some cities just feel good, and this was one of them.   The downtown is probably about the size of Seattle's downtown, but much easier to walk.  We headed out for Canmore that afternoon and ended up drinking homebrewed gingerbeer and a rootbeer float at a cool local brewery called the Grizzly Paw.

We tried to climb at a crag near Canmore in the morning but it started to rain and there was booming lighning, so we left.  The hot springs in Banff was our next stop, they were developed to look like a pool, which is too bad, but they felt great.  We took in the sights of Banff, which are amazing, shopped around the downtown and treated ourselves to a nice lunch.

Downtown Banff

Not far from Banff is what I thought to be the coolest place we saw on the trip.  Lake Louise and Lake Moraine.   Lake Louise is set beneath towering mountains with glaciers perched on cliffs above.  The Fairmont Hotel is incredible, it is right at the end of the lake.  You can see the lake, the mountains, and the glaciers, from the rooms.  It's the best view from a Hotel that I have ever seen.

Lake Louise

The Dining Hall in the Fairmont Chateau

Lake Moraine, doesn't have quite the star power that Louisa has but is just as great.  The water is much darker, a super rich blue color, it looks like it belongs in some tropical Island destination.  It gets its name from the moraine that was being pushed down by the glacier, that is now holding the water back.

Moraine Lake

This is a chipmunk.  

Atop the Moraine

Not wanting to pay for camping in Banff so we went to Golden.  We found this campsite up by Cedar Lake.  We got in late but in the morning realized we had stumbled upon a nest of bike trails through the forest and around the lakes.  We took our old beat up bikes out and had a lot of fun, only a few crashes.  We walked through Golden and waited for the farmers market to start.   An old lumber baron had told us that there was timber-framed bridge in town, so we had to check that out too.  It is quite the structure, and was built with the help of over one hundred timber-framers from around the world.

The Timber Framer's Guild Bridge

 We left Golden and drove most of the day to get to a small campsite near Ashcroft BC, and today we drove one of the most gnarly highways ever, between Cache Creek and Pemberton.  Full of hairpin turns while going down, and, I quote, "Extreme Grades".  Anyway we are now in Squamish and ready to climb.

Coming up...

We're hanging out in Lander, Wyoming, loving the climbing and the company of good friends.  But we're also dreaming of what to do next...  

We just booked a place in San Pancho Mexico for a month.  We're going to learn to surf, speak spanish better, eat real mexican food, meet real mexican people.   Oh yes.

Life is good when you're living the dream!

Star Valley and an Unexpected Pit Stop

(well, we were there.  I'm a little behind!)  

   We spent a week in Star Valley, Cody's hometown, after he injured his finger climbing at Wild Iris.  He was sick of belaying me all the time and never getting to climb himself.   So, off we went, driving up and down lovely mountain passes, through tiny Wyoming towns, and eventually into Jackson and the shadow of the Tetons.  They always manage to take my breath away.  I can't stop watching them when we drive by.  I think it has something to do with my first experience in the Mountain west...  

Just arrived in Jackson with my Dad and we are enroute to Lander for my NOLS course.
I'm eighteen, about to leave home for the first time and embark on a three month trip in the backcountry with a group of people I have never met before.  I'm maybe a little nervous.  Can you tell?

We hiked out to the Intermittent Spring, which is the water source for Star Valley.  It's an incredible geologic feature-  an underground reservoir that feeds the waterfall you can see behind me in the photo.  By some chance, the opening that allows the water to exit is shaped in an s-curve, so once the reservoir is full,  a siphon effect occurs, and all the water is drained from the reservoir.  Then the flow stops, and won't begin again until the reservoir is full.  It's pretty neat.  We waited for a while to see it turn off, but the water levels are so outrageously high this year that I think the in-flow can keep up with the out-flow. Still a lovely hike to a roaring waterfall!  

 Cody, ever unable to sit still, decided to build a model sailboat while we were in Star Valley and had a nice shop to work in.  He designed this boat himself, scaled it down from the original 29 feet, and used a stitch-and-glue method to construct the cute little craft you see here. When Cody had her all ship-shape, he took her out for a spin on the pond. She floats right side up!

 Star Valley, like all valleys are, I suppose, is surrounded by mountains.  We took a steep hike up one called Ferry Peak, climbing through the sage and gnarled pines, though stands of scrub oak and mosquito infestations.  The view from the top was spectacular.  The Palisades Reservoir is full to the brim, adding to the splendor.  We were so distracted that we ended up descending on the wrong ridge line for quite a while.   While we were stopped, pointing at this peak and that, looking down a rough gully, and scratching our heads, Cody found me a little antler- just a two pronged one, but I was so excited.  Sometimes, getting lost pays off!  We popped in into our camelbak and began the long trudge back uphill.  

 I spent the days knitting, cooking, listening to podcasts and an audio book.  We went jogging and spent time outside.  The pastures were overgrown and brimming with daisies, clover, and these massive dandelion-like flowers.   Truly an idyllic setting to rest and relax in for a few days.  

Cody, being the responsible Van-owner that he is, and recognizing the value of having a nice, flat, concrete-floored garage to work in, and nearly every tool we could ever need to fix the van lurking in the barn, decided to do some maintenance.  He fixed a leaky transmission seal, and checked her over for any other problem areas.  Everything checked out.  We recently rolled over to 200,000 miles on this baby, and she's been running great.  I emptied everything out of the back, vacuumed, dusted, re-organized and tidied.  She was ready to hit the road....

  Until we were about 35 miles outside of Pinedale, on our way back to Lander.  She started lugging, and then Cody couldn't accelerate.  We limped to the side of the road.  A few hours, a helpful Sheriff, a gun-toting but friendly tow-truck driver and 35 miles later, we were in Pinedale, camped at the city campground.   The tow-truck driver dropped the van into a campsite while the silver-haired RV-crowd stared at us over their dinner plates. We were a bit of a scene- a pair of kids with an old, broken down van and nowhere to go. Despite our bad luck, fate seemed to be on our side.

The lady running the place said, while waving around her cigarette and getting ash on her pink kitten sweatshirt, "Well, usually it's $20 bucks a night, but you kids are broke down, so I'll only charge you ten."   Sweet.  Thanks, Lady.    Cody took a walk around the block while I set up the van for bed.  He came back and reported that there were not only two auto-parts stores nearby, but two mechanic shops as well.   I don't think any other campsite in the state of Wyoming would have been situated so perfectly for our needs!

The next morning, we bought a fuel filter at the Napa, installed it, and the van ran okay for a bit.  We drove around the block, but had the same problem as before.  Discouraged, we parked outside of Dave's Repair shop and puzzled over what to do next.   Dave was swamped with work for the week, as were all the other shops nearby.  Not wanting to wait around for a week, we decided to tinker around ourselves, at least until we could get into a garage.

 It took a day and a half, several uncharacteristic curse words,  a research mission at the library, multiple visits to the auto-parts stores, a hole in the floor of the van, torn open with a hammer and cold chisel, and a new fuel pump, but Cody was pretty sure he had it fixed.  We held our breath as he turned the key.

The van fired right up!  We cheered and headed to Lander for a day of climbing.  Now, we're in Salt Lake City, shmoozing at the Outdoor Retailer show and hanging out with friends.  We have NO idea what we're up to next.

Any Suggestions?

The Fourth-The Fest

We spent the Fourth of July at the Flaming Gorge reservoir with Kelby Scott and his family.  

It was a lovely drive through a green desert, and we only got lost once or twice!  The gorge is surrounded by nondescript dirt roads leading into camping spots, and eventually, Kelby had to come find us.  

But once we were found, we went boating, 

The big Wyoming sky at twilight.

Fishing

The Kokanee Salmon were delicious!

Spear Fishing

The water was too murky for much fishing, but they sure do look good! 

Cornhole playing

Cody and I got schooled!

and firework watching.    

We missed our 16 layer jello, but it was a pretty fun Fourth nonetheless.  We headed to Lander, Wyoming for the Annual Climber's Festival next.  

The climbers festival didn't start until the sixth, but we like to get there a little early to get used to the rock and rope climbing again.  The first day we took it easy and did the usual climbs we had done in years past, took some practice falls and were feeling good.  The second day I tried a cool 5.13a called Full Circle that Brian Dunnohew talked me into.  I usually don't like really steep climbing, but the route turned out to be pretty cool. 

Brian Dunnohew pulling hard on Full Circle (5.13a).

 Later that day I decided to try a climb I have always wanted to do.  It is called Last Man Standing, a 5.13b.  I got on the climb and things were going well.  I was working on the crux move, which involves grabbing a mono (one finger pocket) and lunging to the next hold when it happened.  I dug my finger into the small pocket, adjusted my feet and threw for the next hold.  The only problem was that my finger stayed in the pocket.  We all heard a loud crack and I fell of the route.  Hanging in my harness I looked at my finger, it wasn't bent, or in any pain, so I thought maybe I just popped the knuckle, no harm done.  I was wrong, I pulled onto the route again and felt pain, and the swelling came shortly after.  My finger was not in good shape, maybe broken.  It's been about two weeks now, and the swelling has gone.  I have full range of motion, but if my finger is side-loaded at all in the direction of my injury, I feel sharp pain.  I'm going to take it easy for a while and let it heal.   

A classic mono move.  

 While Cody was injured, I had a belay slave at my disposal.  I made good use of him and got a lot of climbing in.    Last summer, my goal was to climb a climb graded 5.12.  I sent several 5.11d climbs, but could never quite make the .12 happen.  This year, I was determined.  I worked out the crux move to Tomahawk Slam, a 5.12a near Full Circle, and had worked out the top sequences.  I felt the butterflies that come when you realize that this time, it just might be possible.  You could send it, if you don't screw up.  I took a few deep breaths and tied in, fought the pump, pulled the crux, and before I knew it, I was clipping the chains.   I lowered down elated.  The send was made even sweeter by watching a tall man try to climb the same route, copying my method, and fail.  Repeatedly.  (I do the route much differently than most tall people do, and he just didn't realize there was another option!)   After some encouragement from Cody, I got on another .12a a few days later.  This one was called The Solace of Bolted Faces, and was much more suited to my style, despite the crux consisting of a long reach off a mono pocket.  After a day of work, I came back and sent.  It was a good summer for climbing at the Iris, as usual!  

Bright Lights, Big City

  When Cody got an email asking if he was interested in working with Vertical Solutions this summer, my first reaction was NO!  No, no no nonono.  We just finished working!  We're going to go have fun.  But I read on, and became a little more open to the idea when one of the jobs described was to erect a temporary wall in Central Park for a professional climbing competition.  That didn't sound too terrible.  We might be able to fit a trip to Manhattan (with complementary lodgings)  into our summer plans.  We hemmed and hawed on the question of whether I should accompany Cody- offsetting my plane ticket and cost of food/entertainment with his paycheck for the job.  We thought we could at least break even, so I went ahead and bought a ticket out to the Big City.

The Mall at lovely summertime Central Park

Since Cody was flying with the rest of the crew, and I was on a different flight, I had planned to take our only cell phone.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take it from him when I dropped him and the rest of the crew at the airport.  He realized my blunder and stood outside, waiting for me to come back for the phone, but I didn't realize until the next morning.  Oh well,  I thought. I'll just call him from a pay-phone when I get there.  No biggie.    I arrived in New York's LaGuardia airport, found a phone and some quarters only to be sent straight to voicemail.  Oh No!  I was so prepared-  I packed the charger in my bag,  and the phone must be dead.  Okay..  Deep breaths.  You can just find a computer somewhere, find the contact information for Vertical Solutions, find a payphone, call Dustin, and meet up with them.  Hopefully.  

 Fingers crossed and heart rate a little elevated, I took a taxi into Manhattan, asking my driver to take me to the Mac store, or somewhere where I could use the internet.  Did he know if the library was open on Sundays?  Lucky for me, Abraham from Egypt (my cabbie), was very helpful.  He took me to a corner in downtown with a Best Buy,  close enough to the library so I could walk there if need be.  I was able to use a tablet computer on the demo counter to find the contact info I needed, and headed out into the street to locate a payphone.  I asked a pretzel vendor if he knew where one was, and he offered me his cell phone.  I called Dustin, who, by some miraculous act of fate, was two blocks away.  I bought a pretzel and thanked the vendor profusely, and practically skipped down to the corner where Dustin met me in a cab.  We were whisked uptown, where we met the crew and checked into our apartment.

Park Avenue and 89th Street

New York is full of wonderful food-  13,000 restaurants, according to one source.  Cody and I had delicious thin crust New York pizza, loaded with mushrooms, just plain cheese, sausage...  We drank Papaya juice from the famous Papaya King,  just a few blocks away from our place.  Hot dogs, Gyros, pasta, bagels and schmear, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Italian...  There was a great deli across the street from our apartment that had fantastic salami and cheeses.  The boys worked late a few nights, and I laid out a midnight snack of peppery, thin cut salami and some aged parmesan for them.  The cutting board was all but licked clean in the morning.

The view from Above

Since the boys were working for several days, I had lots of time to see the sights on my own.  I ended up buying a CityPass booklet, which included tickets to the major museums, as well as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.  I wandered museums on my own for the first several days, losing myself in ancient Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the incredibly lifelike dioramas of the Museum of Natural History, (especially the Hall of African Mammals, and the Hall of North American Birds),  and wearing myself out walking all over the Park and the City.

Peregrine Falcon diorama at the Museum of Natural History

Temple Offerings in The Hall of Pacific Peoples at the Museum of Natural History

I'll never understand Modern Art.
A blank Canvas at the MoMa

The Competition went extremely well.   It was well attended, the walls looked great, the competitors climbed hard and interesting routes.  The New York Times even covered the event! It seemed really short to me-  it began at 2pm, and was over abruptly at 5pm.  Putting up the wall seemed like a lot of work for a three hour event!  The boys stayed late again that night to take the wall down.

Men at Work.  Cody is second from the left.  

The Famous Flat Iron building

We celebrated Cody's birthday the way he wanted to;  which is to say, simply and inexpensively.  We went to the top of the Empire State Building,  walked around the City, had a good dinner in Chinatown, and went to bed early.  We had attempted to get tickets to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but the show wasn't filming that week.  The next day, we headed down to the Financial District, saw the place where George Washington gave the first Inaugural Address,  the Bowling Green, the New York Stock Exchange,  the big Bull sculpture.  We rode the free ferry out to Staten Island, which passes right by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We went home and rested, had dinner, then took the subway to the Strand Bookstore, where we perused thousands of books.  A milkshake was a perfect way to end the night, and to try to shake some of the humidity that lingers into the nights.

On top of the Empire State Building.

I flew home early the next morning.  Sarah (and little Fisher Bell)  picked me up in SLC, and we had lunch together and hung out until I had to go pick up Cody late that evening.  We slept hard that night!
We spent the next day in Salt Lake,  then headed up to Lander, Wyoming, for the 18th International Climber's Festival.  But that's another story.   Until then...  I hope you all are living your dreams.

Setting Sail

Nine months of work and miserable weather all lead to this.  One month of sailing and exploring the Puget Sound and destinations north.  We had been looking forward to this for the last 9 months, most of which was rainy and full of work.

We spent about two days getting the boat ready for the trip.  Finishing last minute repairs or improvements that we had put off and packing the boat up with a plethora of bulk food from Costco.  We figured we had enough basic food for the month and we could supplement it with fresh veggies, fruits, and whatever else was for sale at the places we went.  We bought two small kayaks to serve as a way to get to and from the boat, they worked great and were a lot more fun than a ratty dinghy.

Lots of clothes on, trying to stay warm.

The plan was to spend our final day on land finishing up little jobs and organizing the boat, but the unthinkable happened.   The weather was good, it was sunny and warm and there was wind for sailing.  At about 5pm we set sail and left Eagle Harbor,  we needed to get to Port Madison which is less than ten miles away.  This seem like a short distance but when you top speed is 6 knots (7mph) it takes a while longer.  The wind was out of the North so we had to tack upwind for several hours until it started getting dark, then we decided to start the engine and motor the rest of the way.  In the fading light we anchored and nervously watched to make sure the anchor was set and that we wouldn't swing into another boat during the night.  All was well, we crawled into the v-birth and fell asleep.

The next morning was rainy, cold and windless.  We wanted to get to Poulsbo for Viking days, so again we started the motor and sat out in the drizzle motoring for 2 or 3 hours.  Viking days had some cool things, like a great Norwegian Luncheon, a Viking Village, and some live music (First band was AWFUL, second band was really good) but we wouldn't bother going more than once.   The rain was off and on but the legendary northwest overcast was in full effect making it just barely cold enough to be uncomfortable.

Beth tied up the anniversary roses so they wouldn't spill over when we heeled

Viking days ended and we sailed very slowly, but without the engine back to Port Madison.  The next morning was pretty decent it was partially sunny, but the price you pay for sun in the in the Northwest is often time wind.  We spent five hours "sailing", and after going less than two miles we turned on the engine and motored to Kingston.

So for the last few months Beth and I have be really psyched on the idea of sailing engineless.  Of course, we have and engine on the boat, but we liked sailing without using it.  I built a sculling oar and mounted an oarlock on the stern of Gesena, a sculling oar is what they use on the boats in Venice.  Anyway we were getting good at it, we could leave our slip scull out to the harbor, short tack out, sail all day and park the boat back in the slip without ever turning on the engine.  We had been doing it this way for quite a while and loved the challenge it provided.  This is why we are always so bummed to turn on the engine.

Ok, so we got to Kingston and my parents showed up it town. We took them sailing and showed them the island, and ended up going to visit my aunt and uncle(where my parents were staying) in Lacey.  It was good to see them all. I hadn't seen my cousin Sarah in about 6 years so it was nice to meet her kids and for her to meet Beth.

After a night in Lacey we got back to the best sailing weather we could have asked for (at least in the Northwest).  It was sunny, there was plenty of wind and it was in the direction we wanted to go.  We paddled out to Gesena, lifted anchor and headed north.  We ran wing and wing with following seas for a few hours.  We were covering ground faster than we ever had before.  We decided to go through Port Townsend Canal and anchor on the other side for the night.  We were less then 1 mile from the canal and the wind completely died.  With the sails flopping around we sadly turned on the engine and motored about 1.5 miles to the anchorage.

I grabbed this crab off the bottom while kayaking.

After an an uneventful night near the canal we lifted the anchor and sat windless again.  We took turns sculling the boat, more for something to do than to actually get somewhere.  The wind slowly started to build and soon we were tacking our way towards the inlet to Mystery Bay.  The entrance to the bay is pretty intricate, but the chart looked like we could take a shortcut and skim over a shallow area.  We slowly motored our way through where our shortcut was.  With Beth on the bow and my eyes glued to the depth sounder it was no real surprise when we slowly ran aground.  I will say this was actually one of the coolest experiences of the trip.  We knew that it was only a matter of time before the rising tide lifted the boat off the bottom, so no need to panic.  We tried using the motor to get us off, but it didn't have the power and there wasn't enough wind to get the boat to heel enough to lift off.  So I got into my kayak and Beth handed me the anchor.  I paddled about 200 feet out in front of the boat and dropped it.  We piled every thing on one side of the boat to get it to heel over just a little.  Then with Beth in her kayak watching the anchor dig into the gravelly bottom I winched the boat slowly forward.  I cranked against the anchor until the line was super tight and then I would go jump on the low side of the boat.  Gesena would heel just enough to slide forward six or eight inches.  Once we were off it was a quick sail into mystery bay.

Mystery Bay was certainly a nice comfortable anchorage.  The first morning we were there we paddled a mile or two up to Fort Flagler, an old military base.  It was fun to wander around the bunkers and just enjoy the mostly sunny day.  We left around noon and got back to the boat just in time.  The wind picked up and the water was to choppy for kayaking, so we spent a boring, cold afternoon stuck in the boat.  The next day was decent weather and the little town was having a festival called Tractor Days.  Tractor days was ok, I think it would have been much better if you were from Mystery Bay.  We did catch some really big oysters and fried them up for lunch which was nice, but again the afternoon got cold and we were stuck under blanket in the boat.  We planned out our course for the next day.  This was to be the big crossing of the trip about 35 miles of more exposed water than we were used to.  The wind and more importantly the tides looked good for the next day, so we got the boat ready for a morning departure.

I used the hammer and screwdriver to help pry open the strong oysters

Things went slowly in the morning.  Just enough wind to think that you could sail, but not enough to really go anywhere.  We told each other "Once we are out of the bay there will be wind".  We motored out to find once again no wind.  This is when we decided we had had enough.  Not enough wind not enough sun not enough fun.  We motored defeatedly back toward Bainbridge.  The mood was not good,  I think that we just burned out on the Northwest, which I have now dubbed "The Gateway to the Great Indoors".  It was a great experience living on Bainbridge Island, Beth and I learned so much and got to spend a lot of time with Beth's family, which was great.  We just stayed too long and left too early for a sailing trip to be warm and fun.

We got back to Bainbridge, spent a day cleaning the boat and sold it for our asking price in less than a day.  That put some spring in our step and after being soundly beaten in pickle ball by my 52 year old father in law, we left for the west, the arid mountains, and close friends we were longing to get back to.

Update Coming Soon!

I know, I know.  It has been nearly over a month!

A brief update:

We've sold our sailboat!  Woo-hoo!  Thanks to Bruce from Indiana.

We're in Salt Lake City, staying with our dear friends PJ and Sarah, and their week-old daughter Fisher Bell.

Cody just had Lasik surgery today!  He's going to be on Fisher's schedule for the next few days-  eat, sleep, eat, sleep...  He'll be pretty light sensitive and is supposed to take it easy for the next few days.  His vision will be around 20/40 at the end of the week, and should be 20/20 or 20/15 within 3-6 months!

That's all for now..  A post on our boat trip, and more current events will be up soon!
Until then...
Live the Dream!