c r o s s o a k - Archives for August 2008

Fun around La Push

Hunting for blackberries

Wiping out in the Pacific surf

Clearing beach access

Beach olympics: shown here the javelin qualifying event

Beach walks

Hide and seek

Wave watching

watching the world pass gently by on second beach

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Road Trip

All buckled up for a trip to the Olympic Peninsula

It was blowing hard as we crossed the sound on Walla Walla

wiser heads spent the crossing inside.

Sequim , population 5,688, is supposedly in the rain shadow of the Olympics. It's been raining on all four occasions that I've passed through.

Traffic was a tad backed up, but luckily it looks like the accident wasn't nearly as bad as the rumors had suggested.

We stopped off at the aptly named Storm King Ranger Station. It was chucking it down.
This picture is especially noteworthy since taking it delayed our departure...

...putting us behind the extraordinary wide load (again!) and therefore is slow stop-start traffic around Lake Crescent .

But the view from the cabins on the beach at La Push was worth it.

Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Cheese cake tasting

...guess who ate the most!

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Not a shaft passer

Safety harness at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks with a clever mechanism to bypass the posts that secure the wire without disconnecting the harness.

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Trip to the locks

It's that time of year again , a trip to the locks to watch boats...

...and fish

and to sit and watch the world pass by.

Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Lego Fest

The guys partaking in a spot of intensive Lego construction just before bedtime.

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Creek Running

Stan and Harvey demonstrating superior skills creek running on sourdough creek.

Superior than their dad's that is.

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

NCI in Mono

Deer creek trail

Bridge over deer creek

Sourdough Creek

Paul

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Bat watching

Bat watching on Diablo Dam by (winder powered) torch light

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Green Power

Diablo lake is formed by Diablo Dam, one of the many dams built to provide hydro-power to Seattle and around...

...the power lines can be quite pretty...

...as can the lights that they power.

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Family getaway weekend (part II).

Last year was such a great experience that we headed back up Highway 9 to the North Cascades Institute with Team-Whitty-Waelend for some outdoor education and relaxation.

R&H did sterling work as TeamFred...

...and R wasn't too shabby with the group shot either!

[PS: Comments should be working again now] Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links [PPS: Comments have been removed. Because, comments]

Posted by aiddy on Sat 30 August 2008

Mountain Sun to Moon

Sun going down above the clouds...

...to reveal the moon smiling down.

Posted by aiddy on Wed 20 August 2008

Adams

183 is the South Spur route (aka the dog route) from cold creek camp ground up Mount Adams.

The spring flowers were out in abundance around 7,000ft...

...but the landscape soon dried out.

The hike in gave us some time to practice poses for the summit photo...

...and to see how tall Martin is.

The first snow field was a welcome change from rocks and gravel

but it didn't half go on, and on, and on

until eventually we reached the lunch counter @ just over 9,000ft and found a stone wall to pitch the tent behind (out of the wind so long as you kept below 2ft) and a sunset above the clouds...

...which made for good piccy's :-)

Next day was a slow sicky slog up past piker's peak...

...to the top

where a miners hut remains,

and then a more rapid decent, pausing for views of St Helens and Mount Hood in the distance.

For the interested, the picture that started it , and more on flickr .

Enormous thanks to Chris and Martin for getting us all up and down safe and sound.

Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links

Posted by aiddy on Wed 20 August 2008

Kids on holiday

Assaulting the lookout

New forms of interpretative surf dancing.

Checking the neighbours mail.

Kite flying.

Fluid replenishment.

Taking the 'technical route'.

Driftwood & Surf.

Sand hugging.

Rock pushing.

And a bit of bird watching for big kids too.

Posted by aiddy on Tue 19 August 2008

Oregon Seascapes

Posted by aiddy on Tue 19 August 2008

Fun at Fort Stevens State Park

Fort Stevens State Park had all sorts of fun stuff for the boys to climb on and in, stuff that was built to defend the Columbia River over the last 100 years or so.