washington

Jeff and I are part of this little thing called Camping Club this summer. We are going camping as often as we can manage and hiking as much as possible all summer long. So far we've been pretty good at getting out at least once a week and have already gone camping twice this spring (and that is with some pretty crappy weather happening in this part of the world). Here are some pictures I shot while we were on Whidby Island in Washington two weeks ago. Oh, and then we finished our long weekend with a Destroyer concert in Seattle. The picture of Dan Bejar was taken with the VSCO camera app on an iPhone 4S. The rest were taken with Camera +. Love that tree with a face.

disconnect

Brohm Lake, British Columbia taken and edited on an iPhone 4S with Camera+

good night and good luck

At the end of our weekend in Larabee State Park in Washington we decided to drive down to Burlington on Chuckanut Drive because from what we'd already seen of the road, it was narrow and winding and beautiful. We were not disappointed. Just where the road comes out of mixed forest and heads over a bridge to flat, delta farmland we discovered the abandoned house of Edward R. Murrow. When I read his name on the sign in front of the property I knew it sounded familiar. I looked him up when I got home and discovered that we had stumbled on the former home of a legend. I stopped in at the library last night on my way home from work and found Good Night and Good Luck (and a good cookbook) and watched it again. Murrow was very prescient about the way television programming and journalism would end up being mindless distraction. It would be good autumn evening watching if you haven't seen it before.

Tomorrow I'm excited to be running my first feature post. Laura from Cubits Organics is offering up an amazing guest post and giveaway just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving. Did you know our Thanksgiving is in October here? And that it's earlier than in the States because our harvest is earlier, too? Fun facts. Be sure to drop in tomorrow (or perhaps you'd like to subscribe via e-mail, which you can now do over there in the sidebar...). You won't want to miss this post!

master cleanse

Sometimes you have to get out of the city, head south to warmer, less rainy places. Sleep outside. Watch Hazel (the little dude at the top here with her favourite camping mug) go crazy for nearly 48 hours straight. Wash raccoon prints off of your car windshield. Hike for hours to see lakes and beaches. Make a fire. Use ketchup in the dark. Master cleanse your brain. Here are some highlights from our first day in Larabee State Park with Adam, Emily, Hazel, and Lola.

• lookout point over the pacific ocean and the san juan (southern gulf) islands •

• fragrance lake with lola and hazel •

• clayton beach tide pools •

• candlelit cheese plate •

I think I'm in love with fall camping and getting away for an entire weekend without computers, cell phones, television, and all that other distracting stuff. Now I'm dreaming of a fall camping road trip next year after Jeff is finished school. The cooler temperatures are just right for a long hike and evenings are nice and long for hours around the campfire. I hope you enjoyed your weekend, too. Is it very autumn-like where you are?

camping times

source

Jeff and I are going camping this weekend with some friends and some dogs. Ever since I read the Bon Appétit feature on the Pacific Northwest I've been trying to make a camping trip to the Washington coast happen.

Quite a few years ago Jeff and I had a Washington camping adventure with two friends of ours. We went down to camp and search out a natural hot springs that we had read about. It was supposed to have a beautiful view from the hot pools and be well-maintained, though not commercialized. We drove down to Washington late in the evening, probably with no clue about how far we had to go and definitely without any idea about where we might camp. We stopped at a gas station for provisions: beer and cigarettes, if I remember my early twenties correctly. We forgot firewood.

I remember sitting around a single mini maglite flashlight in "candle" mode at a picnic table in a closed campground with Laura, Rosie, and Jeff. It must have been winter or late fall, because there were no other campers in the park at all. We all slept in a four-man tent that we had rented from the outdoor equipment store Jeff and I worked at in Vancouver.

In the morning we followed the directions we had to find the road to walk into the hot springs from. We followed a rough trail off a slightly less rough road and located the power lines that were meant to guide us through what appeared on first look (and second pass) to be completely impenetrable bush. Thwarted repeatedly by our inability to locate the markers meant to guide us to this hot springs paradise, we eventually turned back towards the car. Down the highway we passed a ranger station and decided to stop in to ask about the elusive hot springs. Turns out we had been on the right track, but the hot spring pools had been dismantled and the trail purposely destroyed by the landowners who were sick of risking litigation from hot springs users. Damn American tendency to sue! We would stick to Canadian hot springs for years thereafter. And there are some good ones.

It was kind of like this, but not really:

source

Where do you go camping in your part of the world? We mostly stick to mountains and forest, so I'm looking forward to this coastal excursion.

elemental

A few more pictures of our amazing weekend to share with you. Nairn Falls is beautiful and apparently has a lot of tragic stories of people getting too close. It's pretty impressive as waterfalls go, though I still think this one in southern Ontario that Jeff and I went to was better. Probably because of the nearby floral clock, though. I'm sure many of you Canadians have camping trips planned this weekend and I'm also sure that a few of you Americans have some fireworks in your possession. It's kind of great that our big national holidays fall on the same long weekend. Jeff and Lola and I are going to try to get some Vancouver stuff done this weekend but we're also thinking about getting out of here for a bit. 

The truth of the matter is, I need to see some sun, and there is truly none in the forecast for Vancouver for the next few days. We have this new weather forecast here called "marine clouds," which I hate. It basically means a layer of thick, grey clouds with a bit of rain and zero actual sunlight. Time to head somewhere sunny! What are your plans for the long weekend?

night light

new face

future glasses

weekend camping

"I grew up with landscape as a recourse, with the possibility of exiting the horizontal realm of social relations for a vertical alignment with earth and sky, matter and spirit. Vast open spaces speak best to this craving, the spaces I myself first found in the desert and then in the western grasslands."

Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost