Postponing the Crazies

Okay, I'm sitting here gazing out the window and snowflakes are softly falling from the sky, drifting past the blossoming cherry tree and the bright yellow daffodils in my back yard, Bach's cello 1st cello suite plays endlessly in the background (not because I have a CD in but because my son is practicing cello) and I once again curse the weather. If you've never heard Bach's 1st cello suite you really should - it is the essence of melancholy and is the perfect soundtrack for this tableau of suburban sorrow.

I will not be camping this weekend. When I took the dogs out last night to fertilize the lawn I realized that crazy or not I would be miserable sleeping outside in this weather. Earlier in the evening I had actually begged my awestruck husband (I'm always bitching about being cold) to camp out on the windy and snowy bluffs of Whidbey Island and called him a wimp for not being willing to consider it. But last night in the snow with the dog crap steaming in a pile of snow at my feet, I finally accepted my lot. The weekend trip to the island would have to be postponed. All that planning - the lists, the maps, the perfect campsite, the printed out driving and walking tours - now sit in a forlorn pile on the coffee table.

So now we are hoping to camp next weekend, our last open weekend before school gets out and we fly to the east coast. I might actually crack if we have another sunny week that ends in snow and rain. I NEED a day of blue skies. Even just one day would do me, but I swear I'll go psychotic if I don't get out for some camping and hiking soon.

A last minute day trip has been planned, a sad replacement for the weekend I had planned, but it will still be fun if I can let go of the bitterness. We'll be driving down to Centralia, Washington (named for its location halway between Seattle and Portland) and then taking Old Highway 99 north, visit a sculpture park along the way, and end up in Olympia for a late lunch at the Spar Cafe, maybe some time at the Olympia Farmers Market, and a quick stop at Wagner's European Bakery for some goodies to eat tonight while we watch a movie. We'll be hitting a couple roadside attractions along the way, some beautiful old historic architecture, and waymarking some great vintage neon which I'm sure will console me a bit.

The photo above was taken last weekend at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. It is an example of Western Washingtonians thinking that the blueish tint to the overcast sky is actually sunshine and heading to the beach. You see, it's been so long since we've seen true sunlight that we forget what it looks like. Of course they are still wearing Goretex ski coats. Any Washingtonian worthy of the title knows that you can't put away your Goretex until the 4th of July.

Spring Craziness

Every spring, usually in early April and sometimes even as early as March, I start to get an itch to get out of town and go camping. It's like the stuffy air of a fall/winter spent inside starts to get me a little nutty and I crave fresh air and forests. The problem is that the damp season here in Western Washington lasts from about September through the end of June. I mean, we get some beautiful days during that time, don't get me wrong, but the chance of those beautiful days falling over a weekend are rare until late June. The photo below, taken from Deception Pass at the north end of Whidbey Island, was taken over just such a weekend - a glorious sunny stretch in October a couple of years ago.



Well a couple of weeks back I decided I couldn't take it any longer and planned a weekend trip to Whidbey Island for this coming weekend. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the stars would aline and we would get a beautiful weekend.

Well, as that began to look increasingly unlikely I figured we could stay in a hotel and just spend the days outside. No such luck - a couple with a fourteen year old teen and two dogs are about as welcome to hotel managers as a couple of lepers. Anyhooo - so the weekend is supposed to be off. But now I'm totally invested. I mean - this place is a waymarking paradise: central Whidbey Island is a National Historic Reserve co-managed by the National Park Service and a group of locally elected officials. It has been kept much as it looked in the late 1800's with wide open prairies, windswept bluffs and beaches, a small town with most of its architecture from the 1800's, and not 1 but two forts that have been turned into state parks with a ton of batteries to explore. The entire reserve is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. I've downloaded walking and driving tours, trail maps and read up on the history. I have a list of good restaurants and cafes. This is killing me!!!! I must escape this suburban hell!!!

So now the question is do we stay home and take a day trip on Saturday down to Olympia or do we brave the cold (and possible snow) and head to the island anyway. Mind you, we are pretty hardcore campers so when I say "camping" I mean a three person backpacking tent in a walk-in campsite, not a motorhome with a heater, toilet and microwave. The predicted weather is highs in the mid to upper 40's and lows from the lower to mid 30's. At this point there's about a 30% chance of precipitation and the snow level is down to sea level, but central Whidbey is in the Olympic Mountains' rain shadow. How bad could it be? I don't mind cold weather camping, but I don't handle wet and cold camping well (which is why I hate snow camping.)

Our 14 year old is game, but this is a kid who wears shorts year round. Hmmm... well, stay tuned to hear if decide to embark on this mad adventure.


The photo above was taken during a past season of madness. We were backpacking in the Cascades up off of highway 2 and when we hit the last 1/2 mile we discovered that the trail (and our campsite) would be in snow. This did not stop the guys from swimming in the pristine glacial lake - or me from laughing at them after they hit the water and tried to scramble back out before their muscles seized up from the cold.