21 posts from 2008

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.

The weekend began when I left work early. Due to a horrible traffic jam, I still got home the same time, but boy did I read a lot of 1632. Anyway. Got home, changed, pumped up, called people, put on makeup, straightened my hair, and then we headed to Goldie's for karaoke for Quent's birthday.

After singing "Revolution" and "Don't Stop Believin'", I could tell I wasn't going to get another chance to sing. So Reg and I started asking people if they wanted to come over. Quent, H, and Casey agreed, and so we entertained them till about 4am. I so haven't stayed up that late in months. (I grow old, I grow old.)

And so much for that. The next day we had lunch at Boom with Ashley, then headed over to Jeremy's to talk him into seeing Gonzo. Which he did, and no one else did, because all of you are assholes. It was a good time, and I think I'm feeling exorcised with respect to being so damn obsessed with HST.

We walked back afterwards and there was one person besides Katie there, Chris I believe. More people soon arrived, and the smell of pie baking and meat grilling began to permeate the area. It got pretty crowded just around sunset. In fact that's when people started taking crazy amounts of photos, because it's the second year in a row that twilight/night wasn't cloudy or rainy or excessively cold.

Jeremy's balcony is almost perfect in its locale, and it wasn't difficult to see both the Seattle Center and Gasworks fireworks (Elliot Bay and Lake Union respectively.) The really creepy thing was that we could even see the edge of Gasworks Park, which was completely packed tightly with crowds of assholes and douchebags. So we watched the 'works and said "oooh" and "ahhh" completely without irony, and that was pretty much it. Reg and I didn't stay much longer, but it took us forever to get home. Our route home was one of the roads the aforementioned douchebags used to get onto the freeway from the park, so getting from I-5 past Greenlake took probably an hour.

The next day I made pasta! From scratch! And also gorgonzola cream sauce to go with it. Not too shabby. I tried again today and did far better. And with broccoli and chicken to go with it, it was a real meal. Good thing too, since I hadn't really had a proper one today. Before that we went to Second Ascent, where Reg got a new tarp and line, and I got new pants and a Green Trails map for this weekend. I already ordered the tent and am rather looking forward to trying it out.