Sunday night we returned home from our big summer vacation-- a roughly 1300 mile road trip to Montana and back. Henry, Matt, and Duncan were all first time pilgrims to the treasure state, and it was wonderful to get to share such a lovely place with my favorite guys.
Henry enjoyed visiting with his aunt and uncle, grandparents, and great grandmas. Honestly, it was just great to have some backup for the week... and incidentally, the little guy has discovered cake, cookies, ice cream, and french fries-- there's no going back now.
I'd like to think we'll squeeze in another decent trip or two this summer, but right now the next several weeks seem likely to be hectic-- Matt started a new job (!!!) on Monday, and we've accepted an offer on our house that has us moving by the middle of August. I'm a little too superstitious to do much besides mention that at this point, but all in good time.
For now, some Montana pictures... plus more on Matt's blog!
So, it has been a little while, huh? Now, I don't presume that any of my 5 (4? 3?) readers are put out by my month long absence, but I initially intended to update this joint about once a week. And you know... it's good to have goals, so here I am, recommitted. I aim high, you know?
So to catch all 3-5 of you up...
About a month ago we headed east to spend Thanksgiving weekend fishing, eating pie, and visiting with assorted members of my family. It was a pretty tasty time. I won't even mention the utterly disgusting staph infection I contracted somewhere along the way, but jesus, I can't help myself... sorry folks.
Back home, I finally made it onto the überexclusive VIP substitute teacher list (you think I'm joking...), the ladies started pumping out hella eggs, and vacation rolled around once again (oh, education).
Then, despite recent raccoon sightings, we left the ladies home alone in their fortified coop (just think of the coons as Joe Pesci), and headed south on the train. We made stops in Eugene, Portland and Cannon Beach-- the donuts were delicious and the weather stupendous.
We made our triumphant return late last night, and boy oh boy is it nice to be home. I can finally focus on working my way through the last few episodes of TrailerParkBoys. Like I said, I aim high.
(watch this, but not if you are easily offended...)
For several months now we've been planning an epic summer pedal. The original plan was to bike to Banff via the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, but then we realized a "muti-use path," in Canada includes numerous ATVs. No thanks. Our next plan was to bike to Spokane via the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, but there was a bit of red tape involved with the East side of things (figures!), and nowhere but a shoulderless bridge on 1-90 for crossing the Columbia. Again, no thanks. Finally, we figured out a sound plan that involved a 400 mile round trip ride.
This trip, like the others we had begun to plan, started and ended at home. Additionally, our voyage featured approximately 120 miles of trail (each way), a 2.3 mile tunnel through Snoqualmie Pass, and a stay at a Forest Service cabin on the beautiful Teanaway River near Cle Elum, WA.
