Chinook

Rick and I just returned from a 2-day guided Chinook (King) Salmon fishing trip out of Astoria, OR, on the Columbia River. Our guide was Jason Schultz of Hell's Canyon Sport Fishing.



Astoria is a really neat town. For one thing, the house from The Goonies is there. Someone even told me that before I went, but I forgot all about it until I got home. There is also a maritime museum that explains all of the perils of the Columbia River Bar and shows how many shipwrecks there have been over the years. It didn't help much that this was the first place we visited upon our arrival in Astoria.



We stayed in a fantastic B&B. It was very clean, reasonably priced, owners were friendly, breakfast was delicious, and they had a respectable collection of Fiesta ware.




Astoria has an impressive column towering on the top of the town. We climbed the spiral staircase to the top for a stellar view of not only the Columbia but of all the land surrounding Astoria.





Our favorite restaurant was a Bosnian place where we ate the best cabbage rolls ever.



And now on to the fishing. On day 1, Rick and I both caught a roughly 20lb Chinook. Rick also caught one Coho. On day 2, we caught two more Chinook. That's the limit - one per person per day. This was my first time catching a fish of any size beyond a mountain lake trout. It was quite exciting, and I was tired after reeling them in!







After our time in Astoria, we drove north across the river to Washington, up the coast - stopping briefly at Ruby Beach, around the Olympic Peninsula, and on to Sequim, Washington. Sequim is famous for its sunny days due to being in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains. We rented a cute little cabin right on Sequim Bay, where we had our own BBQ grill and fire pit. We cooked some of our salmon, simply, with salt & pepper. It was delicious.

Backpacking near McCall

In early August we made two backpacking trips out of McCall, ID. It was our first time backpacking in this area. We'll probably go there more often now that we realize a few things: McCall is only about a 2 hour drive from Boise, there are good places to eat in McCall before/after the trip, there are lots of lakes to hike to, and surprisingly there aren't too many people.

Hike #1

Our first trip was about 2.5 miles to a no name lake. The first part was on the trail to Duck Lake. Then we headed cross country, and up a steep hillside, to this no name lake our friend Mike told us about. I'm not a huge fan of cross country hikes, especially when we don't have a GPS or even a map with us! But Rick is a pretty good navigator, and he took us right to the lake. My belly-aching, as usual, was unnecessary as Idaho mountain lakes never cease to disappoint. It's almost always worth a grueling hike in exchange for the serene beauty to be found at the top.





Hike #2

Our second hike was to a group of four lakes. The one we chose to camp at was called South Lake. After the previous weekend's cross country hike, I happily agreed to a 4 mile hike on-trail into these lakes. Well.....it turned out to be more like 6 miles, and the elevation gain was a killer! For the first time in Idaho, the pain really wasn't worth the gain. The area had recently been burned, and it just wasn't that pretty. We both agreed we would not be doing this hike again. On the positive side, we did have a completely clear and still night and were able to sleep in our new mesh tent with no rain fly. AND there was a full moon.

Backpacking with Jennifer

My best friend all the way back from third grade, Jennifer, came to visit in late July. We took her backpacking to our favorite little destination, Lost Lake.

ALL kinds of things went wrong - a flat tire on the way IN, disintegrating hiking boots, fishing poles left behind, and a minor auto accident.

BUT we had fun together. AND Jennifer said she would go again!

Swanholm

We made our annual four-wheeler camping trip on Swanholm Peak in mid July. The road to the lookout at the top was snowed-in still, so we settled for building an inuk shuk.



The next morning, our friends Gabe and Tanya arrived. We left our 4-wheeler's behind, braved the snow, made a hike to the top.





Then we tried something new - a ride into the little town of Atlanta for dinner. The views along the ride were very beautiful.



We were quite impressed with our dinner at The Hub.

Backpacking-Summer-FINALLY!

Summer finally got here, and although it hasn't been warm long enough to melt the snow in the prime backpacking areas, we did make it out last weekend for an over-nighter.

We walked about 10 miles before we figured out we must have passed our destination. No matter. Our packs are significantly lighter this year thanks to some new super-light gear. Plus, we needed the exercise.

Here we are at the trailhead on Saturday morning - super happy to be out in the warm sunshine. You'll see more of the orange article around my neck. A new favorite item; it has many uses.



Wildflowers and butterflies everywhere.






We turned into pirates.




The sun set beautifully, and we woke to a crisp, sunny morning.

Mom in Boise

Mom came to visit for a couple of weeks in June. We had a fabulous time doing the things that Moms and Sarahs love to do. Susie came too.



One new thing we did was build a terrarium.



And we learned two things: 1. Susie is an alien. 2. Sarah has horns.

Northern Idaho & Couer D'Alene.

In early June we made a road trip to Northern Idaho with the ultimate destination of Coeur D'Alene. The landscape drastically changes at Whitebird pass.





Had Susie been with us, we would have stayed here.



We arrived in Coeur D'Alene on Saturday afternoon. It was graduation day, and the lake front was packed with people having a good time. We found a shady spot to hang out and enjoy the view. We loved it.