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.