First OD of the spring!

I love sunshine in the Pacific NorthWest. I'll take any temperature, just give it to me with sun!

With daylight savings time, there's a few hours beautiful daylight after work that lures you away from the office and into the hills. I had the best company for this trip. We traipsed up the trail, arriving to a stunning view of the San Juans.

Four fingers between the horizon and sun told us we had about an hour of light left, which meant a gorgeous sunset as we made our way back to the road and reality.

Meet Buckley, the Wandering Bison

Life back in the great PNW really hasn't been as dull as my silence would lead you to believe. I haven't gotten out and about as much as I'd like (work and dreary weather), but life goes on.

A few weeks before my birthday, Mom and Dad came down to Charleston for a visit. While visiting the national park at Ft Moultrie, Mom bought me my first birthday present: a mascot for my future travels!

Meet Buckley, the Wandering Bison

My new buffalo buddy and I had an easy flight home, and are looking forward to our next round of travels... wherever they may be!

Buckley, tucked in the back of my backpack with his plaid travel pillow.

Snowshoeing with Dad

Dad's Christmas present this year was a pair of snowshoes. Tromping down a trail in snowshoes gives you all the fun of a day playing in the snow without the pain of ski boots.
We took off from the Salmon Ridge sno-park, just east of Glacier and down the hill from Mt Baker Ski Area. The park has a network of XC and snowshoe trails maintained by the Nooksack Nordic Ski Club. You need to buy a sno-park pass to park in the large, ploughed lot. Next time around, we are thinking of using our Discover/Parks pass to park at the Shuksan picnic area across the river.

At the trailhead

We hiked along the north fork of the Nooksack river for a mile or two, then climbed up to the Razerhorn Road. The snow was fresh and soft, and the trees neatly frosted. The trails weren't especially busy, but we did see groups of snowshoers, classic skiers sliding by, and skate skiers flying. And a few 4-pawed friends loping along, too! Nearly 2.5 hours after we headed out, we tiredly unbuckled our snowshoes back at the car.

Winter Wonderland

Parents visit!

Mom and Dad came to visit on Thursday, and just left today. It was an almost perfect last-hurrah around Chucktown. Perfect would have been above-freezing weather when they arrived and not getting soaked today!
While I was at work, Mom and Dad toured downtown, Ft Sumter, one of the museum mansions, Middleton Place Plantation, and a bunch of other fun stuff. In the evenings we had good food, walked around, and relaxed.

This morning we rolled out of breakfast and headed to Shem Creek. A drizzle turned into a straight up rain, and we were soaked as we came back from the boardwalk.
After changing into dry pants we went out to Ft Moultrie, which displayed 200 years of defensive history on Sullivan's Island. The original fort was palmetto logs with dirt behind. They held off British ships at during the revolution. Instead of splintering, the logs flexed when shots hit them.

It's pointed at Sumter.

In the civil was Moultrie was held by the Confederates. It was from there that the shots starting the Civil War were fired. The fort was modernized during the Spanish-American war, and was fully manned as part of the coastal defenses during the 1st and 2nd World Wars.

After one last bout of Barbecue at Firey Ron's and a walk on the beach, Mom and dad packed up and headed back to WA. There's a light at the end of the tunnel - I'll be following them home soon(ish)!

All the other Christmas stuff at home...

This is long overdue, but to fill in the blank... 

I love being at home for Christmas. Any excuse to gather with the amazing people in my life around food and traditions.  

This year, Ana and I went down to San de Fuca to celebrate a German tradition with our friend Monika. Every year, she lights her Christmas tree and house with candles. The neighborhood enjoys an evening of gingerbread, Stollen, Glühwein (mulled wine), and good company. Ana and I got to light the tree this year. 

I also made a new friend at home. This is Wellington, the corgi puppy. I was trying to whistle to get his attention!

Dad, Emily, Marcus and I got in one hike up Oyster Dome after the new year. We thought it was going to be a wet hike, but we popped up above the clouds at the bench. It was beautiful!

 The view from the top was even more amazing. All in all, it was a great Christmas break :)

Back to Chucktown

I flew back to the Palmetto state a few weeks ago for another tour of duty at the Big B. The weather was pretty good, so I thought it was time to take up jogging again. A beautiful 4 mile loop along the sea wall and through the heart of downtown. January. Shorts. Tshirt. And running shoes. 

Charleston Sunset

No Lifeguard on Duty...

Mountain Time

People here ask me if I would like to stay in Charleston, and my answer is always the same. It's a gorgeous city - I love the food, the art, the history - but it doesn't have mountains. There's something about wild space to get lost in, a horizon that draws you upward, that Charleston just doesn't have.

Before I even came home for Thanksgiving, I booked a cabin at Manning Park and figured I had enough mountain-loving friends in the area to fill it. Sure enough, the cabin was completely full with a random collection of people from work, college, and significant others. It became a condition of me going back to Charleston that I got to stay in the PNW long enough to have some quality mountain time.

I didn't bring a camera, so the pictures here are shamelessly pilfered from Katelin's facebook.

Manning park is one of my favorite spots in BC. There's so much to do there!

• Snowshoe trails
• XC (Skate and classic)
• Downhill (Great bunny hill!)
• Ice rink
• Pool, hot tub, dry and wet saunas
• Lodge (With a big fireplace!)
• Bar (Also with a big fireplace!)

The long and short of it is that we had a great weekend. The snow conditions were great the first evening (people went ice skating and hot tubbing).

It rained overnight, and conditions were crappy for xc skiing Saturday morning. When we came in around noon we were already tired, so we spent the afternoon in the spa. And doing burpees in the snow. Cait made chili in the evening and we had hot cocoa with schnapps and played games.

The next morning, the snow came back... almost too much of it! The groomers hadn't kept up overnight, so the XC ski paths were loose. We decided to snowshoe instead. So. Much. Beautiful. Loose. Powder.

As we were driving out of Hope, this was our parting shot of Cascades.