Summer Vacation 2015

In August, we took a trip through Middle America combining a big city, a train ride, three national parks, and two baseball games. Lots of fun, including ...

1. Chicago -
We rented bikes and rode along the lakeshore, saw places where Mom and Dad used to live, rode the El, went to the top of the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower), and took a boat ride along the river and into Lake Michigan:

Going through the lock into Lake Michigan

On Lake Michigan

Henry pondering the depth of the lake

Henry on the el platform

2. Amtrak to Colorado - 

We took the "California Zephyr" from Chicago to Denver - it leaves Chicago @ 2pm and then arrives in Denver @ 9am the next morning. The rooms are tiny. The food was surprisingly good. And we'd never seen so many stalks of corn!

All Aboard !!

Corn rows through Iowa

Crossing the Mighty Mississippi

3. House in Westcliffe

We stayed in a small town in Southeastern Colorado for three nights. Beautiful house with an amazing view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Our house - big deck, lots of windows

It would rain everyday at 3pm. Then the sun would come out - on this day, complete with a big rainbow

Great view

Relaxing on the deck

4. Great Sand Dunes National Park

The biggest sand dunes in the US are actually in Colorado. It's a beautiful park, and you can not only hike to the top of some dunes, but then also take a sand sled down again.

The biggest beach in Colorado

The car after being in sand all day

Click on the video to see Jack sledding down a sand dune

5. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

A small but beautiful national park in southern Colorado - amazing scenery and a nice hike.

6. Rocky Mountain National Park

One of the most popular national parks is a couple of hours out of Denver. We took a beautiful hike to Bierstadt Lake.

Joseph at Bierstadt Lake

Close-up of Henry on the hike

7. Rockies Games at Coors Field

To end the trip we spend two days in Denver. We went to a Rockies-Nationals game one night, followed by a Rockies-Mets game the following day. The boys got lots of autographs and Jack caught a homerun ball during batting practice.

Nats fans at the Nats-Rockies game

Jack with the ball he got in the bleachers during BP

Henry (#11) and Jack (#34) getting Clint Robinson's autograph

Jack with Jeurys Familia

Folk Hero Wilmer Flores signing for Henry

Yoenis Cespedes had a huge night - 3 HR - as the Mets win, 14-9

Crabbing - 2015 Version

In early August, Dad and Jack took their annual canoe trip off Camano Island to go crabbing. We have our own crab pot this year - Xmas present last year - so we alternated dropping two in the water. In total we got 10 crabs, plus one Red Rock crab. A great crab feast followed !

Jack row, row, rowing the boat, gently through the Sound

Lots of crabs ... they can check-in to the pot, but they can't check out!

Macklemore Rocks for Mom & Dad

To celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary, Macklemore played a private concert at Century Link Field for all Amazon employees + one guest. Dad went with Mom and enjoyed lots of hip-hoppin' songs that Dad had never heard before.

Joseph and Dad Climb Mount St. Helen's !

On Saturday July 18, Dad and Joseph climbed to the summit of Mt. St. Helens. It was a 5-mile hike which ended on the rim of the crater from the May, 1980 eruption. The entire north side of the mountain was blown out from that eruption; we hiked up the south side, starting at 6:30am at a campsite at 3500 ft of elevation, and reached the rim (8300 ft of elevation) at noon. While it's essentially "just" a hike (no ropes or crampons required), we signed up to climb in an organized group with guides.

It was a hot day, and a fairly grueling hike. The first two miles were a gentle incline through a forest, then you get above the tree line and climb through boulders for about 2.5 miles. That was the most difficult part of the hike, as there's no defined path and it is fairly steep. The final half-mile is another steep incline, but through soft, sandy soil.

The views from the top are amazing. You can see the other major volcanoes in the Cascade Range - of course Mt. Rainier (which is about 50 miles away), as well as Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. You also look down on the crater, which over the past 35 years has been "filled in" with new rock from much smaller volcanic activity. You also see the destruction from the 1980 eruption, including Spirit Lake, a lake that had been a major tourist destination before the eruption and is now largely off limits, still covered with lots of dead trees blown down thirty-five years ago.

Climbing up the mountain

Joseph, about two-thirds of the way up the mountain

Mount Adams in the distance

Mount Hood in the distance

Climbing up the last half mile

Amazing view at the top - Mt. Rainier, Spirit Lake, and the crater

Success !

Full view of the crater

Joseph at the top

Sunset, July 2015

It's been a hot summer so far, with multiple days above 90-degrees. Mary Jo and John went for a walk by the lake at sunset on a night in early July.