Busy Weeks & Busier Weekends

Everything's been so eventful since I got back from Hawaii. I was sent to Transition Assistance class the week after we returned, which teaches you how to adjust back to civilian life and gives you information on your benefits. There's a lot that goes into separating: lots of paperwork; talking with different agencies, such as the VA; making appointments; and especially working with the time constraints of getting out. I've got a lot to do to prepare myself to go back to school. It's exciting, of course, but there's a little trepidation about being let go from the Navy. It's been a part of my life now for nearly 5 years, and it's going to be a huge transition back to being a civilian. I'm trying to make it go as smoothly as possible.

Labor day weekend I traveled over to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to visit with Meegan. I thought I was going to pull my hair out going over the pass at Stevens. The traffic was backed up for miles; a sea of brake lights as the sun was going down. I had left Oak Harbor pretty late and had stopped by REI in Seattle where I stayed for way too long looking around. This put me going over the pass as the sun dropped behind the mountains. There were lots of campers and trailers with jetskis and 4-wheelers. I kept thinking there was an accident up ahead, but turns out, it was just the flow of the traffic as the lanes cut from three to two. I didn't get to Meg's until 1 a.m.


Meg & I at the Steam Plant Grill in Spokane. Great joint.

We had an awesome time during the weekend, which made the trip over well worth it. Michaela has some jetskis that we took out, and once I got over my fear, it was full throttle. We also did some hiking, lots of good eating, and more visiting with her family. I miss hanging out with her...Still can't believe she's through with the Navy!!

The traffic going back was just as bad, putting me behind 2 hours getting back. I dropped the pedal through Spokane & a cop dropped in on me. $153 ticket. Yikes.
(I don't know what the deal is with traveling lately, but my gut is telling me to keep it close to home for awhile, or at least don't take my truck!)



This past weekend was a blast, too. Dan planned a backpacking trip to the Olympic Mountains beginning on Friday afternoon, returning Sunday. LeAnne came up and waited while Dan, Matt, and I waited to get off work. Friday's are usually short, but we got stuck that day, so we left late. We didn't hit the trailhead until 10 p.m. that night. The idea was to hike to Deer Lake, camp out and head on up above the treeline for the next night. This first leg of the trip was supposed to be an easy 4 miles, with a mild (but definitely significant) elevation gain. For those who haven't visited the Olympics, let me relate to you that it's like being inside of a wet noodle. Everything's wet, and it's usually raining or at least drizzling. Par for the course, as we began our ascent, the rain began falling. Harder...and harder. At one point, I asked everyone to stop so that I could pull my poncho out of my pack. It was at the bottom, and somewhere in the process, I lost my tent footprint and some clothing. The hike for me was strenuous and definitely not very much fun. I was glad to finally get to the campsite. I don't think I was alone on this one, either. We were so wet and generally uncomfortable, that we came to the decision that it would be perilous to take our trip higher where the winds blow in, so we came back down after playing some frisbee.

This group photo was taken up at the campsite, which was supposed to be just our first stop. Really nice up there...I definitely want to go back soon.

Here I'm dangling my feet off the bridge over the waterfall.

So here's the funny part I almost forgot to mention...When we were coming over on the ferry, LeAnne and I managed to make one ferry, while the guys got cutoff & had to wait for the next one. We all decided that LeAnne & I would get the food for the trip so that it would save time once the boys made it over. Well, I guess we went a little overboard on the food, b/c we had so much it was ridiculous. I can't even begin to say how much we bought, but it was a little over $80 worth of groceries...for one night, a day, and Sunday morning. We thought that the guys would want to pig out, but evidently not. We almost bought even more food, which would have been downright disastrous. So, yeah, after we came back down, we all spread the food out on the back of Dan's truck & had a small feast. Thanks to LeAnne, we had some fresh smoked salmon that she had caught while working in Alaska this summer. Yum.


That afternoon, LeAnne and I decided to stay outside of Port Angeles in the Heart o' the Hills campground. We still got to camp out but with the benefit of a fire. We checked out Port Townsend that afternoon, and then we just hung out at the campsite. The next morning we took off up the mountain to check out Hurricane Ridge. By the time we got up to the top, the sun had come out, making it a gorgeous day. You could see for miles up there. It was really a great day.

This is a picture of the road from the top of Hurricane Ridge.


Goin' up the trail...