Snoqualmie

Snow Day Snow Angel

We've had a bit of snow here recently in the PACNORWEST, and I've been itching to get out and use the snowshoes I got for Christmas.  On the holiday last Monday, a bunch of guys from my wardroom and I planned to go to Mount Rainier to do some snowshoeing and sledding.  Unfortunately, there was too much snow and they road up to Paradise remained closed that day.  Instead, we decided to go to The Summit at Snoqualmie, commonly referred to as simply "Snoqualmie."


I had no idea how big Snoqualmie is.  For some reason, I was thinking Snoqualmie would just have one central parking lot where we all pile out and head off to the ski slopes or to the tubing area or to the snowshoeing area.

Not so.

The place is ginormous and spread out across three exits off I-90 (exits 52, 53, and 54).  I'm glad I went with one of my shipmates who had been there before and led us directly to the Nordic center to rent snowshoes, because I never would have found it otherwise.  Well, I suppose if I was going by myself, I probably would have done more research on their website before driving up there.  The website clearly gives directions telling you which exit to use for which part of the resort you want to visit, and they have interactive maps of the place (click here for the maps).  

Let me just say up front that I'm really glad we went.  I took my boys, and we had a great time.  Now that I've been there once though, there are a few things I learned and probably would have done differently.  Our plan was first to go snowshoeing with the guys from my wardroom, and then head over to the tubing area, and it was a pretty good line-up of activities for our snow-fun day.

My boys in front of the Nordic rental center at Snoqualmie.

We got off I-90 at Exit 54 around 9:30-ish and got one of the last parking spots way in the back-forty of a HUGE parking lot.  We trudged through the parking lot snow and across the ski resort to the Nordic center where they rent snowshoes.  They DO have kid / youth-size snowshoes to rent there.

Traditional Blunoz family foot photo.

(Minus LW at home enjoying a day of peace and quiet.)

However, comparing the price I paid for rentals versus the price of new showshoes on the internet, if my kids used them TWICE it would have been more cost effective to have just bought them.  Plus, the rentals at the Nordic center don't come with poles.  They don't have any collapsible or kid-sized poles.  Most of the snowshoes for sale online come with poles.  Given the snow that dumped around our house this week and the 3 snow days the boys had off of school, I'm sure they would have used them just to walk around outside the house this week.

 Leaving the parking lot, heading out on the trail.

If I had gone alone, then I probably would have sunk another chunk of change into the trail passes to use the trails there around the Nordic center.  Luckily, going with someone who's been there before, he took us to a different area that was free and didn't require a trail pass.  It was back two exits off of Exit 52 at the northern end of the Alpenthal area, and it took some time back-tracking through the snowy roads to go there after we had rented our snowshoes.  If we had just bought our own snowshoes, then we could have gone directly there instead of going to the rental center.  Shoulda coulda woulda.

My boys on the trail with a cross-country skier passing by.

The trail we went on was well defined due to heavy use, but I never saw any clear trail markers on the trees to guide me if I had been the first person out there for the day.  There were a lot of cross country skiers and snowshoers out on the trail.

The boys and I did the snowshoeing thing for a little over an hour.  Then we got back in the car and headed down to the "central" area of Snoqualmie where the tubing area is located.  We ate lunch at the little grill / snack bar at the tubing area.  Lemme tell ya... It's pretty bad when your 10 year old son claims the prices are "highway robbery."  Considering he never actually pays for any of our meals, I was surprised he even noticed.  As for me, it gave me flashbacks to Disney - both in price and quality of food and service. 
Note to Self:  Next time, pack a lunch.

The boys at the entrance to the tubing area.

They sell tickets for the tubing area in 2-hour blocks.  We bought tickets for the 1:30 to 3:30 slot.  After eating our lunch, we actually started tubing about 2 p.m., so we were on the tubing runs for an hour and a half.  In that time, I think we probably flew down the hill about 7 times.

 My youngest son taking off down the hill.

My youngest son was dragging his feet and said he didn't want to go tubing.  I think he was just cold and needed some time to warm up in the snack bar area.  When he got to the bottom of the hill his first time, he bounced up and down with glee, saying, "Again!  Again!"  

My youngest son on the tow line back to the top.

 They DO have a tow-line that will tow you back up the hill on your tube, but the line of people waiting to get on the tow line was pretty long.  So the first 4 times, we just walked back up the hill.  (See the people on the right side of the picture above walking up alongside the tow line).  THAT was quite a workout.  ESPECIALLY the two times my youngest son's hand slipped, he let go of his tube, and it went flying back down to the bottom of the hill.  So I actually got to climb the hill 6 times after walking back down to get his tube and bring it back up. 

Going that fast down the hill on the tube, it was hard to keep my eyes open with the snow pelting me in the face.   
Note to self:  Next time, bring ski goggles.

All-in-all, it was a great snow play day for me and my boys.  We added to the awesomeness of the day by bookending our fun in the snow with Krispy Kreme doughnuts on our way driving out to Snoqualmie and with Chipotle on our way driving back.  I'm not sure why neither Krispy Kremer nor Chipotle have crossed the Puget Sound to open a location on the Kitsap peninsula yet.  It was nice to get some while we were on the Seattle side of the water.

Snowshoeing on Mount Rainier

Last week, I told my new shipmates that I wanted to start exploring the area with a hike on Saturday.  There was a sudden twinkle in their eyes and the gears in their noggins started churning on the plan for a most excellent outing to Mount Rainier National Park. 

They told me I would need snowshoes.

This excited me, because I've been wanting to try snowshoeing for a while, and I was disappointed there wasn't any snow on the ground when we arrived in NH for Christmas this year.

There is an excellent outdoor recreation place called Pacific Edge Outfitters at Naval Base Kitsap.  I stopped there on Friday and rented snowshoes and poles, plus some snow pants.  I thought the prices were pretty reasonable.  It cost me $20.75 to rent the gear for the weekend since they're closed on Sunday and I would have to return it on Monday.

We left the Kitsap area around 7 a.m. and started the approximate 2 1/2 hour drive to Paradise on the southern side of Mt. Rainier.  There was a pitstop at Starbucks, then a rendezvous with some members of our group at Krispy Kreme, then another pitstop at the Rainier Basecamp.  By the time we finally made it to Paradise, got suited up, and ready to set forth from the parking lot into the snow, it was 11:15 a.m. 

The snowbanks were about 3 times as tall as our truck.

View of the mountain from the parking lot.  Note how high the snow is on the lodge.

Tunnel entrance into the lodge.

It was pretty cold when we got there, too.  The thermometer on the truck said 31F.  I was glad I rented snow pants and brought my big snow boots.  There were 8 of us total.  Two members of our group had been here before and were experienced snow-hikers.  We got all bundled up in multiple layers of clothing and headed out.

 Time Stamp - Leaving Parking Lot

Snowshoe-Up!

I didn't keep detailed notes on the trail, but the initial timeline went something like this:
11:16 a.m.  Set out from Paradise Visitor's Center parking lot.
11:20 a.m.  Snowshoes on, commence trudging uphill through the snow.
11:21 a.m.  If I were on the elliptical or exercise bike at the gym, then it would have dinged, saying, "Target Heart-Rate Reached, Resistance will change to maintain heart-rate at XXX bpm."
11:22 a.m.  Sweating.  Took off winter hat.
11:23 a.m.  Still sweating.  Took off gloves.
11:24 a.m.  Sweating profusely.  If I were on the exercise bike at the gym, it would be making angry beeps at me, "Reduce pace to lower heartrate."
11:25 a.m.  Burning up.  Took off jacket and removed fleece liner.  Stuffed fleece liner in backbpack, put jacket shell back on.
11:26 a.m.  Doing better without the fleece, but still wishing I had NOT put on that long-underwear and heavy wool socks.  Unzipped jacket.

Actually, from then on it wasn't too bad.  Next time I will definitely not wear as many layers.

On the trail, heading up the Skyline Loop Path clockwise from the Paradise Visitor's Center.

I'm pretty sure that's the TOP of a very TALL tree.

Looking back the way we came.  

Can you see the footprints going waaaaay off into the distance up the hill?

Right here, we are hiking over this waterfall.

(Click the link to see what it looks like in summer.)

The scenery was spectacular throughout, and I'm very glad we went.  Unfortunately, the battery on my Garmin Forerunner is dead, so I don't have a link for you to see our trip stats on MyGarmin dashboard.  Using Google Earth, I think we went approximately 2.1 miles and climbed approximately 800 feet in elevation (starting around 5,400 feet and going up to about 6,200 feet). 

Time Stamp back in the parking lot.

(Elapsed time almost exactly 3 hours.)

We made it back to the Visitor's Center just in time for a Park Ranger to tell us about the National Park.  I have yet to be disappointed by listening to a Park Ranger, and this one was no exception.  His description of previous expeditions to the summit was both educational and entertaining.  They show a 21-minute video at quarter-past and quarter-til the hour, and the video was excellent, too. 

Aside: < rant > Will someone please explain to me why Pepsi has a stranglehold on the Pacific Northwest???  EVERYWHERE we go, it's always Pepsi.  You don't have to read my blog for long to know that I'm a Diet Coke addict, so this has been a frustrating part about moving to the area.  As much as I hate eating at McDonalds, I will now go through the McD's drive through simply because it is one of the few bastions of Coca-Cola products in the state of Washington.

Case-in-point:  The Cafe in the Paradise Visitor Center

Recommendation:  Bring food and beverages with you, or be ready to shell-out movie theater prices at the Visitor Center.  $3.23 for a soda the size of a medium at McD's, seriously???  < / rant >

To end on a positive note, we were able to stop at the REI in Tacoma on our way back and take advantage of some of their end-of-winter sale prices.  Then we had some dinner at a Mexican place I hadn't tried yet and was very good.  I owe some of you a review of the various Mexican restaurants I've tried so far on the peninsula though, so I'll cover that in another blog post to come.

In the meantime, if you would like some beginner info on snowshoeing, check out the REI website here.  Next on my snowshoeing to-do list is Hurricane Ridge.

Snowmageddon 2010

First, there was the 33 inches of snow we got Friday night through Saturday night (5-6 Feb). That wreaked all sorts of havoc on the DC area.

Between the snow on the ground, the local infrastructure's inability to quickly dig us out, and the prediction of more snow to come, the local schools just plain shut down for the week. No school until Tuesday (after the Monday President's Day holiday).

Tuesday night into Wednesday (9-10 Feb) we got a blizzard with another 8 inches of snow and white-out conditions that shut down the snow plows and power outage repair crews.

The DC area ended up getting the most snow in one winter since 1898.

Here are a few pictures from around our house from Snowmaggedon.

The aftermath

Our Street

It took a while for VDOT to get out to the secondary residential streets like ours, so we were snowed in for a bit.

You'd think I captured the beginning of a waterfall,
but no, it's frozen there just like that.

Defying Gravity

As the snow peeled away, you could see the brick pattern on the snow.

Bird tracks around the bowl of bird seed we set out.

Icicles weighing down branches in our back yard.

Ice or candle wax?

Loudoun County kept reminding everyone to dig out their fire hydrants and make sure their address is visible for police, firemen, and ambulances trying to respond to emergencies. The point was driven home for us, and I was glad I cleared the snow around our fire hydrant. The weight of the snow caused one of our neighbor's rain gutters to come crashing down off the side of the house, and it hit and broke the natural gas line going into their house. Next thing we knew, there were 6 fire trucks of various sizes on our street, and they immediately went to find the fire hydrant (just to be prepared for the worst if an explosion happened).

I came under attack when I got too close with my camera.

I'm thankful for this snow storm in some ways. For one, my boys actually look forward to and enjoy going out to play in the snow. If it had been a quick snowfall that sent us all back to school and work right away, then it would have maintained its status as a novelty. At first, the boys would spend more time getting suited up in their snow pants, jackets, mittens, hats, and snow boots than they would actually spend outside playing. The first little bit of snow that got in the top of one of their boots or touched their cheek from a glancing snowball would send them back inside whimpering.

The snowstorm lasted long enough that the boys went out to play many times. Each time they went out a little bit longer and a little bit farther from the house. Now, they actually enjoy and look forward to going out to play with the other neighborhood kids down the street, and I'm glad they've had that experience. They may come back in to get warmed up again, but they will go outside to play three or more times a day.

Traditional Blunoz self portrait.
See our pond in the background?

Meanwhile, back inside the house...
...no satellite dish reception.

I wish I took my camera with me when I waded out through the snow to dig our satellite dish out. It was buried in a mount of snow.

...and battles raged.

At a loss for words.

Shhhhh! Don't tell him he got to practice his math and spelling skills when we played UpWords. That would spoil his whole week off of school.

Triangles and Stupid Kevin Tricks

Last night, I went with four friends from church to the National Symphony Orchestra's performance of Handel's Messiah at the Kennedy Center. Overall, it was a wonderful performance, and I tremendously enjoyed sharing the experience with friends. (It's not LW's cup of tea, so she took the boys out to admire the Christmas lights in the nearby neighborhoods.)

I changed into a suit and tie in my office and left my uniform in my office, then headed over to meet my friends for dinner at CPK. We were a little worried at first that the traffic would prevent them from joining me for dinner, but the timing worked out perfectly. They trusted me to order a few pizzas and a salad for us all to share. I ordered, and the food was delivered to the table mere moments before they walked in the door. We had plenty of time to eat without feeling rushed, then drove over to the Kennedy Center.

C, me, and J at Kennedy Center

This was my first time to the Kennedy Center. It's ginormous and spectacular inside and out.


Of course, anytime you attend a live performance such as this, there will be little differences in how they present it to make it their own. For example, one section I'm used to hearing sung by the soprano was sung by the baritone. Another part that I am used to hearing done by the brass section was done by the wood-winds, and the wood-winds have never stood out in my mind as a prominent feature of previous Messiah performances. Those differences are easy to adapt and enjoy. However, there was one key difference that really threw me for a loop.

Before the performance, I was reading the program and noted the list of instruments included. Among the list of the usual violins, cellos, french horns, trumpets, and trombones, there was listed one triangle. I laughed, leaned over to my friend M sitting next to me and said, "There's a triangle down there somewhere." We spent a few moments scanning the orchestra trying to find the triangle. M guessed that it would be in the percussion section. (She was right, BTW). We joked about how we wouldn't be able to hear it over the rest of the orchestra, so why bother with it?

On went the performance, and when we got to my most favorite part...

And the government shall be upon his shoulders And his name shall be called

BRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!
Wonderful counselor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace

It sounded like someone wheeled in a 2-ton version of the classic alarm clock with the two dome-shaped bells on top and was wailing on the bells with a sledge hammer at the speed of a hummingbird's wings. There in the percussion section of the orchestra stood a man who must have been a professional body-builder by day in order to lift this very manly triangle. Ney, not a triangle. It was a

It would be inappropriate to use lower-case letters to describe this TRIANGLE. It had the diameter of a steam-roller. I think it was made from some recycled battleship gun barrel. Even from our seats up in the nose-bleed section, we could see the guy's rippling muscles as he lifted up that TRIANGLE.

Each time the chorus got to my favorite part, he beat the holy crap out of that darned TRIANGLE so hard that the echos of it ringing reverberated through my skull for several moments after the percussionist had set down his monstrous instrument, turned the page of his music and taken his seat.

After he did this the first time, M and I turned and looked at each other and laughed out loud at how wrong we were to assume that the TRIANGLE was such an un-manly instrument or that we would never notice it in the performance.

Stupid Kevin Tricks Vol 37 Ed 342

For those of you who aren't in the DC area or didn't notice in the news, the weather forecast last night was calling for heavy snow starting last night and throughout the day today. During the intermission, we stepped outside briefly to see the first snow starting to gently fall. It was very surreal and beautiful out on the terrace outside the Kennedy Center overlooking the Potomac River as the snowflakes slowly fell - only visible in the shafts of light from the spotlights under the evenly spaced trees on the terrace. After a short while, the house lights flicked on and off and signaled that it was time for us to return to our seats.

When we came out of the Kennedy Center, the roads weren't too bad, but they were a little slippery and traffic was already a mess with more traffic accidents than the emergency crews could keep up with. We left just after 10:30 p.m. and proceeded to creep home on I-66 in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

It was quiet initially in the minivan as we all had our cell phones open - texting and facebooking our experience at the Messiah performance while our driver listened to the traffic on WTOP. As time ticked on, the conversation in the car picked up as one-by-one, each of our cell phone batteries died.

Two and a half hours after departing the Kennedy Center, we finally arrived at my car in the Dulles North commuter parking lot where I had caught the bus to work that morning. I geared up - gloves on, hat on, backpack in hand, braced for the cold, got out of the car and trudged through the few inches of snow on the ground to my car. Brushed snow off my windshield, headlights, windows, then tried to open my car door... nothing.

You see, my car has the RFID keyless entry system where I just have the keys in my pocket and it senses that I'm there and allows me to open the door and start the car. I never even think about where my keys are, because they're always just in my pocket.

Yyyyyeah, not so much.

The keys weren't in my pocket. They were in the pocket of my uniform back in my office in Crystal City.

Me and that tall pointy-hat that said "DUNCE" on it got back into the van to humbly ask J for a ride home because I forgot my car keys. We made three stops to drop people off at their various homes, and then J took me to our house. I figured he would just drop me off and I'd worry about getting my car later. He insisted that I go in and get the spare set of keys and that we go back and get the car immediately before conditions got any worse.

By the time I got back to my house for the last time, it was 3:30 a.m. I didn't get out of bed until about 9 a.m. When I did sleepily stagger down the stairs, I was glad J took me back to get my car last night. There was 11 inches of snow on the back deck when first walked into the kitchen and measured it. As I write this on Saturday afternoon, we now have 21 inches of snow on our back deck, and it's still coming down hard.


I hope you all are safe and sound and enjoying some quality time with your family over the holidays - whether you're snowed in or not.

SNOW!

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted to my blog, eh?

I just haven't felt inspired to write about anything lately. I've been making a conscious effort to spend more time reading, and an unconscious effort spending more time playing video games on the X-Box. I started to write more about what I've been reading and what I've been playing, but I decided to save that for another blog post.

The main reason I sat down to write today was to share some pictures from our first snow fall of the season.

The fact that it really, no-kidding snowed today really surprised me. The fact that the snow STUCK and we have about 3 inches on our back deck surprised me even more. Last winter the weather forecasters threatened snow on so many occasions and it never came. When the weathermen said it would snow today, I didn't believe them. I just figured they were crying wolf again.

Our Freaky-Tiki deck lights are growing white mohawks.

It amazes me how clumps of snow accumulate on narrow and bare tree branches.

This is a closeup of a branch just outside our family room window.

Chalk this one up as another "milestone" post. First, 8 year old ES wanted to mow the lawn back in the spring. Then, he wanted to rake the leaves in the fall. Now, low and behold...

...he's out shoveling the snow in the driveway.

We didn't even ask him to do it. He got all suited up to go play in the snow. I went to take a picture of him from the living room window and discovered him out there with the snow shovel making himself useful. Will wonders never cease?

Warning: Tangent Ahead.

I enjoyed New Holland Brewery's Ichabod (pumpkin ale) so much that I actually went back to buy more at Wegman's after my pumpkin ale blog post. On my most recent trip to Wegman's I noticed they had New Holland's winter brew called Cabin Fever, so I decided to give it a try.


Although the Cabin Fever bottle says "brown ale" on it, I would have guessed this to be a stout. It's a thick, heavy, dark brew with no detectable hops and a slightly sweet flavor. It goes along nicely with a cold winter night sitting by the fireplace.

End of Tangent. Resuming original line of thought.

I never would have guessed that the view outside my family room window would look so much like the artwork on the Cabin Fever bottle so early this season. I'm excited it happened on a Saturday for once so I can sit and enjoy the view from the comfort of home and not listen to my feet squelch and squirch their way through the cold slush from the bus stop to my office building.

Here in the toasty warm comfort of our home watching the snow fall outside is...

...bliss.