Laural's blog

Local garden.

In other news, the swine flu has blocked Mexico for our stupid cruise.

It is a typical spring day in Seattle, by which I mean 55 and rainy. I did not let this deter me from getting some much needed walking in. I put on some wool tights, rain pants, two wicking shirts, a light jacket and a raincoat on top. Also my little skullcap and neck gaiter. This was far too much for walking, I quickly realized, and removed the midlayer jacket and hat things.

By the time I got to the locks, I was sweating like crazy. I peed and removed the last shirt layer and also unzipped the armpits of my rain coat. That helped. I crossed the locks, past the fish ladder and entered Commodore Park. I never really thought about going there before. Kinda nice there; that pic is from that angle. I got cold again, though, and put my hat back on.

I stopped at the kitchen supply store, because my cheese grater broke, but I had no wallet on me. I still looked around at the mandolines and grilltops and pizza stones. Not quite as extensive as W&S but still pretty rad. I was unfortunately sweaty as hell in the store, and when I came out again I immediately froze. So I went to the library to change again, but some heartless bitch had a medical emergency and the womens room was closed. I was all sympathy till I saw she was my age or a bit older, although secretly I was hoping for something gorey. Oh well. I put my midlayer jacket back on anyway, but I drew the line at changing my socks. It was all a lot of walking, and I happily soaked in a hot tub for 20 minutes or so, then made some chai. (Tip: use your french press to make foam!)

UNITE AND TAKE OVER

I thought we left early, but I was wrong. I thought taking WA State Road 9 would be a charming backway to the scenic Mountain Loop Highway, but I was wrong. I thought that with 15 different campgrounds scattered along a highway, we'd have easy pickings, but I was wrong. I thought that the Mountain Loop Highway wasn't going to have about 15 miles of gravel in the middle of it but... well, you can see where I'm going. About the only thing I assumed correctly was that the Mountain Loop Highway would be pretty. And even that was a bit off, as you can see over here. Say what you will about logging in the mountains being a great horrible satanic measure, it sure makes 530 to Darrington picturesque in a way that few other roads that I've been on can compare.

  We finally saw a campground without an "ALL SITES TAKEN" sign, but that was still a lie. Fortunately it was privately run, and the current attendant informed us that a ways up the road was another campground with a single unreserved spot, Clear Creek. It was supposed to be the group cooking site, but I guess he bent the rules a little for us. That was just fine. The campground was actually a bit more pleasant than the former one, being only 80% saturated with moisture rather than 98%, and we only got bit by mosquitoes once per hour instead of every three minutes. (I might remind you that I am from southern Louisiana, and if I speak on humidity, I know of whence I speak.) Unfortunately this was still too much for Reg, who pretty much just sat in his chair the next 24 hours (when he wasn't sleeping in the tent).

Still, we were enchanted by this site. We assume it must have been built by young men in the '30's with the Civilian Conservation Corps, like most things in the Mountain Loop Highway including the road itself. Why aren't more buildings made of round stones and concrete? Across the way was the Sauk River, which we eventually braved the next day to cool the hell off. The site was paradise when a breeze went, but for some reason when the sun went down, the breeze went with it. Day hikes and exploring were pretty much out of the question, as it was about 90 degrees in the shade.

The drive back Sunday morning was heavenly, compared to sitting around soaking in your own sweat. 88 degrees is great when you're going over 50 mph, which is the legal limit on most of the remainder of the Mountain Loop. And then, I-5N has been resurfaced and expanded near Everett, so even that wasn't the hell we'd come to expect. Our apartment was (relatively) cool as well, and we put stuff away and cleaned the kitchen and drank cold water happily. We normally complain about how dry our place can get, but at last this was a great advantage. And, ah, I see tomorrow brings August Showers and "much cooler" weather. Three cheers, huzzah.