My late, rainy, night obsession

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvK8Gn3zGkw

Take me down to the back side of town
Down by the railroad tracks
I don't want to see what they are trying to show me
I want to see what's slipped through the holes and the
cracks
And you can take what is new
All I want it something true

You can block the sun you can stand still while we run
And make better time with every step we take
I thought I could live on what I had to give
But now you tell me I've made some mistake
Am I the one who's been misled
Holding on to the hopes that the others left for dead

Chorus:
What will we do when our strength and our money's been
spent
Will our love survive by some strange accident
I want to hear you say
When something is broken or something is bent
I want to hear you say
We can make do with whatever is left

We swore on the buttons of our coats
And the laces of our shoes
Our backs to the wind a broken world ours to mend
We didn't have much else to lose
Just a song to sing
If we've still got that well ain't that something?
Chorus:

Take the old make it new
Make it over, make it do or do without
Take what you find from what others left behind
The ashes and the bones and the echo of that shouted
word
That I still don't know
But somehow I still cannot let it go

Clearly, I've been focusing on other things...

As I haven't updated in 3 weeks. Let's see...there is the normal mix of dieting followed by candy eating, line dancing every Monday night, and I'm currently debating going back to graduate school. The weather went from sunny beautiful to rainy yuck, and I've been reading up a storm.

I love, love, love working instead of being in school. It is so nice to come home after a long day, and not have an equally long night. At the same time, I think I need more credentials than I have, and in this economy getting hands on experience isn't the option it should be for me. So maybe it is time to start applying. I found a program at WSU that I think I'd like, so my thought is "what the hell," I'll give the applications a try.

We are two days out from November. It hasn't ever been my favorite month. I just think Thanksgiving is not the thrill for vegetarians that it might be for a carnivore. On the upside, in two weeks I'll be in Canada (woot!), and in three Jessie is coming up here to visit. So I'm certainly doing a good job making the best out of November. And December is going to be awesome. There is a play, a concert, two horse shows, and a ballet, not to mention holiday parties and Christmas!

Ah, Christmas reminds me that I have about a million hours of knitting to do if I want to get done with my presents in time. I think I really am 80 yrs old when I think about how excited I was to get a set of all the needle sizes in double points. Hats, and gloves, and mittens, oh my!

Well, there is always more to say, but as always, places to go and people to see.

Portland and Eagle Creek

I took the BoltBus to Portland last weekend, costing a whopping $12 round-trip. It was great. I was able to knit, type, and nap during the trip. When I arrived, Jessie picked me up and we went to Yarnia, a yarn store that allows you to spin your own custom yarn using the different colors and materials they have there. I'm in love, and have a really classy blue variegated that is a mix of acrylic, wool, and cashmere. It's going to end up being snazzy gloves shortly.

After we went to a journal store that turns old hardcover books into journals. The man let us pick one each for free too! Jessie and I went to an outdoors store where we got more gear for our next hiking/camping adventure, then to Nicolas, this awesome restaurant I used to go to all the time when I lived in OR. Full and content, we headed to Sauvie Island for haunted corn maze fun.

The maze was nice and creepy, complete with werewolves and zombies. Jessie and I screamed and held hands, then afterwards, we hit up a bar that served some pretty excellent mixed drinks (the Broadway Saloon). We stayed out til midnight, which is pretty late for us old ladies.

The next morning we went to My Thai restaurant, which was super good for a cheap price (though I think Seattle has made me think everything is cheap). From there, we headed along the river to find Eagle Creek, a popular hike complete with waterfalls. It was gorgeous, though we only had time to hike 5.6miles, rather than the full 12.5.

After we headed to Jessie's for the night, then she sent me home on the bus early the next morning. Since I just started working full time, this may be my last trip like that for a while, and it was an excellent way to end the summer :)

Olympia Camping

So, who knew there was free camping outside of Olympia in the Capitol State Forest? Not me. You just need your Discover Pass, and you can stay there up to 7 nights per year free. Jessie and I checked it out last weekend, and I will definitely bring Starla there next year. Great, horse trails, well maintained. Nothing of huge interest (there is a creek, and little water fall), but pretty and lots of it. We hiked about 8 miles or so (hike 18), and we didn't even need to drive to a trail head.

Walking the pretty trail we saw fall is definitely here.

Our snazzy campfire dessert- crescent rolls made on sticks over the fire, filled with pudding, drizzled with chocolate and pomegranate seeds. Yum!

Mima Mounds- a mysterious piece of geography just outside of the forest- miles of perfect mounds caused by an as yet undetermined natural phenomenon.

Crater Lake Hikes

        I went camping at Crater Lake National Park in September. It was insanely pretty. The water is oh so blue (and cold), and the nature is outstanding. I was able to fit in another couple of hikes, bringing me up to 17 hikes over all. While there, we did the Pinnacles loop (a whopping .6 mile trek), Cleetwood Cove (only 2.2 mi round trip, but 700 ft elevation change in the first 1.1 mi), and the Annie Creek trail (3 mi). These were short little hikes, but very pretty, and I'm going to go ahead and count them as two hikes when all together (when you are trying to reach 24 hikes in a year you have to accept some of the shorter hikes too). 

Ground squirrels were everywhere, and pretty friendly.

Phantom ship island.

Wizard island (actually a volcano).

The Pinnacles (made by hot volcanic gas).

 Annie Creek trail. 

Hiking Recap

Catching up on my hikes:

I said I would complete 24 hikes this year, one for every year I am old. I've been lax in documenting the hikes though, so a brief recap with photos seems like the best plan. I am now up to 15 hikes this year. Hopefully I can manage 9 more in the next 4 months!

Coal Creek:
I hiked this in early May with my friend Alisha. It's a  pretty, easy 5 mile hike right between Bellevue and Issaquah, and it's one of the easiest to get to outside of Seattle.

Teton National Park:
I hiked a little 3 mile hike with Renee in June, as part of our trip to Yellowstone. Gorgeous place, I can't wait to go back one day.

 

Yellowstone:
We hiked another 3-5 mile hike or so around the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". It was insanely pretty, with so many colors in the rocks. The trip was just so gorgeous.

Craters of the Moon:
This is an amazing old lava bed in Idaho on the way to Boise. I'm not sure how much hiking we did, probably only 2.5 miles, but we wandered around in caves and saw a very unique landscape. I loved it! Renee and I had a pretty awesome time there. 

Cougar Mountain:
I did this old standby as a 5 or 6 mile trip with Gabby, Charlie, and Angela in the rain in late June. It's such a good place if you don't want to go far, or don't have a ton of energy, since you can make it as long or short as you like.

Spencer Island:
This is a wildlife preserve near my hometown of Marysville. It is flat, and about 5 miles. It is a pretty, basic, "walk the dog" style hike.

 

Barclay Lake:
This gorgeous lake is freezing cold, but napping by it's shores in the sun is nice. It is supposedly only a 3 mile hike, though I would guess 4 miles. Alisha and I did this in late July. It was seriously pretty. My photos are on my parents camera though, I need to download them.

Thomas Lake Trail:
This is in the Gifford-Pinchot forest, I hiked with Jessie. It is a six mile hike, though we probably only did 5 miles before the bugs bothered us. After, we swam in one of the 7 mountain lakes on the trail!

 

Butte Camp Trail:
This was 7.5 miles from where we started, and Jessie and I took Annie, her dog as well. Beautiful hike up St. Helens with wildflowers everywhere. It starts at old lava beds, then winds up through a forest to the blast zone, where we stopped. I would seriously recommend this hike. 

Transitions

It has been a while since I've posted. After a gruesome last quarter, I'm still fighting for my degree, applying for jobs, and in an odd state of unemployment (odd as in, all time and no money--though even time is tighter than I'd like). I need to update this blog soon, I have another four hikes to add to my list for the year, as well as general thoughts and musings.

Finding a job I want to do has been difficult. I really wish I'd taken a year or two and worked after college, so I could be certain the school I applied to was what I really wanted. I find myself with little prospects (none actually using my Master's degree), and specialization in a field I'm not at all interested in. At least it was a broad degree, and hopefully I'll find something where I can twist or sell the degree as a good fit. The whole thing has been kind of depressing. I feel like I've always been taught that you basically can not have a job that you enjoy while still having the bills paid. This outlook makes the whole process way more miserable than exciting. Still cautiously hopeful though. When I have kids, I'm going to teach them how to budget and work, but push them to follow their dreams and interests, however impractical--because my friends that did that, rather that what I did, are both employed and happy. I can't say I'm either.

I think I'm going to start looking at retail jobs in the next week. Even though the pay won't be great, I can stretch a dollar pretty well, and it will give me more time to find something long term.

Escape Artist

I ran away this weekend to the Olympic National Rainforest. It was necessary to get away for a while, as life has been brutal the past month. I hiked in the Quinault and Queets rainforest, bringing me up to six full hikes this year, getting me closer to my goal of 24 hikes by January 1st. Not too bad considering I lost a month while my leg healed up. I hiked a little over seven miles total on Saturday, then frolicked at Kalalock beach this morning. I'm sore but happy, and a little more able to sit down with thesis. Since I'm on a deadline, I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

Biking to Matthews Beach Park

I did an 8 mile bike ride today, to enjoy a little sun, and a break from my constant computer time. I think I'm developing carpal tunnel, and that isn't even a joke. I thought I did pretty good for my first bike ride since surgery. I was fine when I was moving, but starting up the bike I could tell my strength and balance aren't all back yet. Maybe I'll start biking to school again on nice days for the last month of school.

Yikes. There is still so much to do in the next month if I want to graduate. Hope I can get it accomplished. Maybe I should hope for more rainy days, they make it easier to study.

The first few pics are from Meadowbrook Pond, then the last ones are Matthews Beach.

Spring flowers