What A Difference A Week Makes

Early season skiing in Washington can be dicey. Last week when we went to Crystal Mountain, it had just rained and the lower slopes were a mix of snow and grass. We returned 8 days later and there was much better coverage and it was snowing hard.

Crystal Mountain - Nov 24, 2017

Crystal Mountain - Dec 2, 2017

Christmas Tree 2017

We went to our usual tree farm in Carnation for the eighth time to cut down our tree this year. All five of us went, with Jack driving out there!

Crystal Mountain - Ski Resort #3

On the day after Thanksgiving, Dad, Joseph, and Jack went down to Crystal Mountain for day #3 of skiing. The snow coverage was pretty light, as it had warmed up over the week and the resort got a bit of rain, but Joseph and Jack were able to ski for several hours.

Thanksgiving Traditions - 2017 Version

It was a warm, rainy week in Seattle. We perservered (all except Jack) and ran in the Issaquah Turkey Trot for the third straight year. Also, in Rodgers Bowl XI we had our best game in years as Jack and Dad defeated Joseph and Henry 63-42. Plus a Thanksgiving dinner with all the usual trimmings!

Starting line for the Turkey Trot

Setting up the field for Rodgers Bowl XI

2nd Ski Resort of the Year

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we went up to Mount Baker for the second skiing day of the year - and our second resort of a potential dozen or so by the time the season is done. It snowed hard while we were there, and the resort shut down some of the lifts for high-winds. But great coverage for this early in the season and Henry and Jack had a great time on the slopes.

Warren Miller Film

For the third straight year, Dad, Jack, and Henry attended the Warren Miller ski film in mid-November. This is an annual film featuring skiing and other winter sports, with a series of ~10-minute snippets showing skiing at various places around the world.

Review from Jack and Henry on this year's movie - too much snowmobiling and snowboarding, and definitely not enough skiing!

First Ski Trip of the Year!

On November 11, we drove down to Oregon to ski Timberline, on Mount Hood. The local resorts were hoping to open, but decided at the last minute to wait a week. So we drove down on Friday night, making it as far as Vancouver (WA), and finishing the drive in the morning. In total it's about a four hour drive.

Timerbline features a beautiful lodge, which is a 1937 WPA-construction lodge with big stone fireplaces, wood panelling throughout, and nice restaurants. Mary Jo and John didn't ski but enjoyed the lodge, while Henry and Jack hit the slopes from start to finish (9 to 4).

Fall Bike Ride

We had a lot of fall color this year through October and into November. Henry and Dad went for a bike ride along the I-90 bridge across Lake Washington in late October, with lots of leaves turning.

Joseph & Dad Tour Michigan

In mid-October, for Joseph's Fall Break, Dad travelled to Michigan so we could tour around the state together.

Starting in Ann Arbor on Friday night, we first drove west about two hours to the shores of Lake Michigan and stayed in Holland. The following morning we hiked to the top of Mount Pigsah, a 150-foot sand dune on the lake, and then drove north from there. We stopped about two hours north in Cadillac, a town where Joseph's great-great-grandfather was once the Postmaster. We saw the Post Office as well as the Gaffney family homestead! From there we continued north to Petoskey and then across the Mackinac Strait to the Upper Peninsula (barely), staying in Saint Ignace on Saturday night.

On Sunday morning we took the ferry to Mackinac Island, a beautiful vacation destination Dad and Mom had vacationed at a long, long 26 years ago! Joseph and Dad stayed at the same hotel and hiked around in the cold and a bit of rain. The following morning we took the ferry back to the mainland and drove back down I-75 practically the length of Michigan back to Ann Arbor. It was great to see the sites of the great state of Michigan!

At the bottom of Mount Pigsah ...

... and at the top of Mount Pigsah

The Cadillac, Michigan Post Office, built in 1914, while Great-Great-Grandpa Gaffney was Postmaster

At Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

Fort at the top of Mackinac Island

Joseph in front of Island House Hotel, roughly the same spot ...

... that this picture was taken at in 1991!

Night-Time Ferry Ride

On the way back from camping, we took a late ferry back from Bainbridge to Seattle. Some great views of the city lights!

Fall Camping

The last two days of September we went camping at Salt Creek park. 

The park is right on the Straight of Juan de Fuca, which is a waterway separating Washington on the South from Canada to the north, and connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Puget Sound. We had been out to this park several times before for Joseph's Cross-Country meets through the years, and picked out some campsites to visit in the future. We had two adjacent camping sites overlooking the water. We climbed around some rocks down by the shoreline, hiked through the park to an old fort built during WW2 to protect against a naval attack. Jack and Dad also went over to Olympic National Park to check out the ski hill setup there that will be opening up in a few months. As all too often has been the case for our camping trips, we wound up leaving a little early because it was raining. 

Here are some photos of our trip.

First Boat Ride

On the last weekend before school starts for all three boys, we rented a boat and went out on Lake Washington for the afternoon. We spent four hours motoring through both the 520 and the I90 bridge, down around Mercer Island, past the Seahawks practice facility, and back to the dock. We stopped a few times and swam (very cold!). It was a very nice afternoon in the bright sunshine!

Avalanche Hike

In late August we took a hike to the site of the deadliest avalance in US history, the 1910 avalanche near Stevens Pass that killed nearly 100 people on board a stranded train in the Cascade Mountains. Mary Jo and John had recently read a book about the disaster and hiked the trail along with Henry and Joseph. You can see the original train tunnel that the train went through, as well as walk through the snowshed that was built right after the avalanche to prevent future disasters. Eventually, they built a tunnel, which is still used today, to make it easier to go through the pass, and turned the old train line into a hiking trail.

Walking through the snowshed

The no-longer used train tunnel

Summer wildflowers

Henry hiking

Eclipse !

On Monday, August 21, 2017 there was a total solar eclipse across the United States, with the path of totality running from Oregon to South Carolina. Seattle had 90% of the sun covered, but if you drove about 200 miles south, you would be in the path of totality and have 100% of the sun blocked out for, depending where you were, 1-2 minutes.

Joseph drove with some friends to Baker City, Oregon, and were able to see the full solar eclipse. He took a time-lapse video over the course of ~16 minutes before the total eclipse arrived, the 2 minutes of the eclipse, and ~6 minutes after. Those 24 minutes are compressed to 24 seconds in the video below; you can see the vista getting darker, getting fully dark, and then getting light again. Pretty neat!

John, Mary Jo, Jack, and Henry stayed in Seattle where we were able to view through our eclipse glasses the moon covering more and more of the sun. It never got fully dark, but it did get a bit darker.

There will be another eclipse in the U.S. in 6 years on April 8, 2024. Come back to the blog to find out where we are!

Joseph's time lapse video from the "path of totality" in Oregon

Jack styling his eclipse glasses

Henry Turns 13 !

For the next ten months, we have three teenage boys in the family! For Henry's 13th birthday we went to dinner at Din Tai Fung - great dumplings as always!

Trip to Costa Rica !

In August, the five of us took a ten-day trip to Costa Rica. It was a great vacation filled with lots of great scenery and fun adventures.

Here are ten highlights from the trip:

1. On the way to Costa Rica we flew through Houston, and to make the trip easier stayed overnight there. We went to a baseball game at Minutemaid Park between the Astros and Rays.

Minutemaid Park

2. Stop #1 - Arenal. Our first (of three) destinations in Costa Rica was Arenal National Park, the center of which is Arenal Volcano, one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world, though it hasn't erupted since 2010. There was a major eruption in 1968 that killed nearly 100 people. No eruptions while we were there, though you could see smoke coming from the top most days.

If you click on the image you may be able to see the smoke coming out of the top of the volcano

Waterfall we hiked to from our hotel

3. Zipline Adventure in Arenal! A huge hit was to do a series of zipline near Arenal. Each run was sevearl hundred feet long and you're several stories above the ground. The views of the mountain and Lake Arenal are amazing.  

Jack getting ready to zip

Jack and then Joseph ziplining above the tree canopy

Henry coming in at the end of a run

4. Canyoneering adventure. The four boys went off on a guided exploration of a canyon near Arenal, rapelling down waterfalls, getting soaking wet, and hiking through a stream. It was amazing - and everyone (pretty much) enjoyed it, as evidenced by these smiles:

We got a little wet

5. Butterflies and Monkeys galore in Monteverde. Destiantion #2 was Monteverde, in the heart of the cloud forest of Costa Rica. There is a wide variety of wildlife there. From our hotel we saw a family of armadillos as we drove up to check in and also lots of butterflies. A family of monkeys passed through on our second day at the hotel.

Butterflies at Monteverde

6. Animal tour with 'Esteban'. The best way to see the wildlife is with a local guide - we hired Esteban, who is an enthusiastic guide who was able to show us sloths (three times!), tarantulas (so cool - twice!), snakes, stick bugs, toucans, quetzals, armadillos, agouti, hummingbirds, leaf-cutter ants, and lots more. Here are some highlights of what we saw:

Quetzal in the tree above us, as seen through Esteban's scope via a smartphone camera

A snake curled up, ready to strike

Hummingbird

Agouti

7. Our third (and final) destination was the beach at Playa Conchal. There was a beautiful sunset right after we arrived:

8. There were lots of animals at the beach as well. Henry found a few friendly cats, there were also monkeys and coati.

Monkeys swinging from the trees outside our room

A coati walking by our room

9. The Westin had a very nice beach as well as a pool - lots of fun swimming!

10. Joseph, Jack, and Dad's Jet Ski Adventure. The last full day in Costa Rica the three of us rented a pair of jet skis for two hour tours to see the local beaches from a different perspective. We also snorkeled off some rocks before heading in. (We didn't have cameras with us because of the water, but these are the jet ski's we took!)