Cape Alava, day 1 (of 4)

Last weekend Julie and I were able to go on a 4 day/3 night backpacking trip to Cape Alava, out on the Olympic Coast.  The trip was GREAT...it's a beautiful place to visit.  We were able to camp about 10 feet from the edge of the beach; right where the "rain forest" meets the "ocean."  I've broken my posts down into the 4 days; mainly because I have a lot of pictures to upload.

Day 1 started with a 7:15AM departure from our home in Bellingham followed by a 7 hour drive out to the trailhead.  The trail starts at the Ozette Loop Trailhead next to the Ozette campground which is, you guessed it, next to Lake Ozette which also happens to feed the Ozette river.  Ok, that was a little lame.  However, the hike was anything but lame...  Click here for a good map;

It's about a 3.5 mile hike, fairly flat (which was good considering my 45 lb pack).  The hike out to the coast is mainly through wooded areas, as well as one part through a small prairie.  It was a beautiful sunny day on the hike in, but about 1/8th of a mile from the coast we hit the fog bank.  That first day the fog never lifted and we had a damp evening with no sun/starts.  Still, the coast and beach were beautiful.  We chose to hike about 1/2 mile north around the point to find a more secluded campsite where we could also enjoy the sound of the waves.  Surprisingly, on the south side of the point, (Cape Alava and Tskawahyah island, which actually is only an island at high tide), there were no waves at all...and thus, no sound of the waves.  Once you get around that point, though, instant waves!  I loved falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.

We made camp by about 5:30, had a nice dinner of freeze dried ____ by 6:30, and had a campfire going by about 7:30/8:00.  If you're counting, that's about 10 hours from Bellingham to having a tent pitched...not bad!  We'll wrap up day 1 with that;

I should note: we were camping in the Makah Indian Reservation...quite a bit of history here, but also a little sad to see some of it dying out.

A few pictures below, click here to see all the day 1 pictures.

4th of July a little late

Ok, finally, I'm posting some pics from the 4th.  Click here to see them all!

Catching Up

Ok, so I've been taking lots of pictures but been dragging on posting them.  Here are a few from the last couple of weeks.  Click here to see them all.


1) Julie and I made it down to see FC Seattle Sounders play (and beat) San Jose.  While there Julie did something a little out of character - her hair.


2) Just some more shots from our lovely city.


3) A killer "white spider" that lives in our yard.  First up he killed this bumble-bee - then, just a couple of days ago, my wife witnessed the spider jumping on top of a monarch butterfly and repeatedly "biting" it or something - the spider killed this big, beautiful butterfly...if I would have been home, the spider would have died.  Still, I'm curious about this spider...anyone?


4) Julie ran and finished her first running race - a 5k.  I was very proud of her - she ran the race with her friend, Sue.


5) Lastly, Julie and I hiked up to Pine and Cedar Lakes in the Chuckanuts...

Lost Lake - Sumas

So a couple of weeks ago, on Julie's birthday actually, we went for a short hike to Lost Lake just outside of Sumas; (went with Julie's younger brother, Matt and his wife Nicki).  Had a great little hike - not great pictures however.  But here they all are nonetheless...

(cick here for all)

Julie's Birthday

Ok, I'm 2 weeks late, but here are the pictures...and there are some really good and cute ones.  In fact, there were too many good ones to post - you'll have to click here to see them all.  I've posted a few of the best below.  Thanks to Matt who took most of the pictures this day; albeit, using my superior Canon 40d to do it with.  :-)

If anyone wants any of these, full resolution, let me know.  Happy to email them out to you!























Click here to see EVEN MORE!

Flowers, Bham and Semiahmoo

What?  You were expecting something else?  It's just what it says; pictures of flowers, some more shots from around Bellingham, and some shots from a short trip to Semiahmoo.  Enjoy!
Click here for all the pictures!




















Click here for all the pictures!

Finally, some updates

Ok, so I got a little behind. Click here for pictures only - I've got some new pictures and stuff but have gotten a little lazy - I recently spent some time last week with a friend of mine who told me he checked my blog from time to time - this was all I needed for a little "kick" to get me back on the updates. So, here is the first of three updates...

A few weeks ago, Memorial Day weekend to be exact, we did two things. First, as is our tradition, I bought Julie a lobster and she had a lot of fun cracking that thing open. It's a tradition for us as a local grocery store in the area always has "lobster days" during the weekend.

Secondly, Julie and I packed up a nice dinner and went for a short walk along the Nooksack River, followed by a campfire and a nice dinner together. Here's some pictures from the day! As you can see, Kathryn is not someone you want to mess with when she has a hatchet in her hand.

Also, for you photo nerds, yes, the pictures of the green leaves are much sharper than what is displayed here - these are pretty low res uploads.

Our Fair City

If you don't make it out, much, shame, shame. There is so much beauty to be seen in Bellingham. All of these pictures were taken within a 1 square mile block in downtown Bellingham.  I simply parked my car and started walking.  To see all of the pictures, click here.