7/21/07

My parents came out to Washington and BC to visit both me and my sister. They drove their shiny new Honda Accord out through Yellowstone park. They were able to visit us several days before traveling up to Vancouver where they got food poisoning. We think they got it at a restaurant called the Sand Bar which is located on Granville Island. We've eaten there many times. It seems both of my parents ate the clam chowder and a salad.

We traveled up to Vancouver on Friday night. We arrived to a quiet townhouse - Bill and Karen were out at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book release party at Chapters - and we got ready to go to sleep right away. We heard my mother throwing up in the bathroom.

The next day we stayed around the townhouse. Mom and Dad were tired and sick. They mostly slept or rested on the couches. Logan was restless and wanted to get out of the house. He loves the living room deck which overlooks false creek and downtown Vancouver.

Karen fixed a delicious salmon dish for dinner. Mom and Dad sat and watched us eat. After dinner we got ready and left for Seattle.

7/15/07 Backpack

Our very first backpacking and camping trip with Logan! The lake is just to the north (on the other side of Highway 2) of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, underneath Bearing Mountain. We hiked two relatively flat miles on a lovely and well maintained trail to the lake. The trail winds through old growth forest, past many enormous moss covered boulders and over a medium sized stream. The campsites were pretty crowded - there was a group at nearly every one.

The lake is fairly small, but picturesque. Bearing Mountain towers 4000 feet above the lake with twin peaks and shear granite cliffs.

Logan loved the hike, and once we got there Logan had a lot of fun. He waded in the lake and walked around the campsite. He was fascinated with the fitful and smokey campfire Heidi coaxed out of the damp wood. He thought the tent was really fun - he crawled in and out of it, and shook the tent poles.

After dinner Heidi put Logan to bed. Logan cried for half an hour, but then went to sleep. I stayed out of the tent, put out the fire, and sat around with Chazz. Once it got dark I shoved Chazz into the tent and went to sleep. Logan slept better than I did - I woke up and checked on him repeatedly. In my half awake state I was really afraid something bad would happen. The only bad thing that actually happened was that Chazz got up at 4:30 and woke up Logan.

When we got back to the parking lot the next morning Logan shouted "car!"

While Heidi was washing our pans I saw a hiker coming down the trail with his son. He had been up the trail from Barclay lake to Eagle Lake. He said the trail after Barclay lake was rarely traveled and hard to follow. It went up steeply, then through "paradise meadow" before reaching Eagle Lake. There's a fisherman's cabin up there. Could be an interesting Hike for the future.

7/4/07

7/4/07

Logan watched fireworks for his second Fourth of July.

We put Logan to sleep at 8:30 - around his normal bedtime - and we got him up again to go see the fireworks at 9:30. It was a warm night for the 4th, and he slept soundly in his stroller on the walk down to the park. When we crossed 50th the crowds of pedestrians started to become noticeable - big groups of people were leaving their parties and streaming south to see the fireworks at the lake. We arrived at Wallingford park and immediately set up in a spot that turned out to have no view at all. Logan woke up after a particularly loud illegal firework went off in the nearby wading pool.

When the Lake Union fireworks finally started we quickly moved to a spot where we could see it. Logan was excited - he pointed at the explosions of color and shouted "Dat! Dat!" He also loved watching the planes flying overhead, and pointed those out as well. He was a pretty happy and pretty tired baby.

7/2/07

On Saturday we hiked up Dingford Creek. The trail is in the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie river, up a long, winding and bumpy road. The trail itself was pretty, but ultimately unsatisfying. We could hear the creek throughout the hike, but we could only rarely see it.

Last night Carol and Bryan came back from their trip to Scandinavia and Russia. They visited Denmark, Sweden and St. Petersburg. Heidi picked them up at the airport and took them back to their house, and I went over to meet them at around 6:30. We decided to go out to a Thai restaurant, where Logan squirmed and squealed during the dinner.

After dinner we went back to Carol and Bryan's house, and Logan was walking around like crazy. He was really excited and energetic.