Forgive the long hiatus, as it's been a wonderful, crazy summer!
We had a wonderful wedding in Mazama, Washington on the Summer Solstice, June 21. It was all outdoors, the weather was perfect and nearly all of our friends and family were able to make it out to this far away, hard to reach place in the middle of the week, more or less in the middle of nowhere. Bardzo dziekuje to all those whom travelled such great distances to make it and helping make the whole week such a great experience!
Mountainhigh Honeymoon
After the straggling relatives and friends headed on to greener pastures, Jill and I sucked it up and rented a smooth driving machine, a 2006 Subie Legacy Outback for an entire week, just so we could go hiking and climbing in the Enchantments, a region of spectacular high mountain scenery east of Seattle, and west of Leavenworth. For a total of 5 hours of use of the fancy rental, we got to experience our favorite spot in the Cascades for 5 days of mountain solitude. The Enchantments are under a strict permit system and people order them months in advance. But a select few are held for a daily morning lottery... and it was meant to be... we were the only ones to show up... securing our honeymoon in the wild!
We parked at the Snowcreek trailhead, hid our crag rack in the car (in case we hadn't gotten the permit-we'd climb in Icicle Canyon and Castle Rock for a few days) and headed up the long, gradual climb to Snow Lakes, battled the horrendous mosquitoes and settled in amongst the granite, the goats and some gorgeous weather.
After a two day approach, we were poised to climb one of North America's most beautiful peaks, Prussik Peak. Named by the first men to reach its summit... by lassoing the top and prussiking up the rope because they couldn't climb the steep granite!
Day three we woke up early, after a nice night's sleep and hangin' with the papa, mama and baby goats on a high perch looking out over the upper Enchantment peaks and lakes. We set out for the highly enjoyable West Ridge of Prussik, a classic 5.7 alpine climb of about 4 or 5 pitches. Only one party was on the route, but they were far enough ahead that we never saw them when we were on the peak. I'd done the route once before, and this was Jill's first. Since I knew the way, I led the climb bottom to top... and Jill got to climb, climb, climb without having to think of routefinding and placing protection. The weather was a bit iffy in the early a.m... but turned out fantastic!
We were up to the summit relatively quickly and had a good view of several peaks, including Mount Daniel, and Glacier Peak, a well-timed view of a climber falling from the second to last pitch of the awesome south face route (his belayer wasn't paying attention and he fell a good 30 feet (9 meters), but he was ok!), and namely, our next objective for the day, Little Annapurna, the smooth, sloping peak in the background:
We rapped down the north face and headed up the broad, rounded-rocky valley, still inundated with snow from the previous winter's dumping. In fact, earlier in the 20th century, there was even a series of glaciers here... but they melted back to nothing but snowfields, tarns and lakes.
"Off the couch", is how I like to describe these kinds of trips. Jill and I weren't in climbing shape or hiking shape... maybe just a hint of bicycling shape, as finishing up things in Warsaw, riding in the parade, um, and, oh yeah, getting married took up just a bit of our time and energy. So taking on this 'romantic getaway' in our 'condition' was a bit of an undertaking, to say the least. Carrying 5 + days food, full technical climbing gear and gaining more than a vertical mile in elevation, just for the approach alone... and not being fit for it, except for having our mental and muscle memory help us through from first step, to summit, and back to the car... hopefully all in one, happy piece!
Little Annie was a great hike. Early season, it's a cruise up snow and a few boulder hops and step by step you get above 8,000' and oddly the snow and rock turns to grass and flowers!?! Possibly the strangest summit I've ever seen, we stepped from the snow to a dirt trail, winding its way through scrub grass, wild flowers and then came upon a series of 3 large groups of rocks, in some ways reminiscent of Stone Henge. Naturally formed, for sure, but the regularity of the shape and location of each was just a bit strange. Regardless, the skies were clear enough to offer us a great view of one of my favorite volcanic peaks in the world, Mt. Rainier (14,411') to the south, and even Mt. Adams, another volcano, was peeking it's top four or five thousand feet out above the horizon, closer to Oregon and the mighty Columbia River.
But as with all things, we'd reached the 'midpoint' of our honeymoon and had to start thinking of getting down, packing up and heading out. After glissading (sliding down the steep snow slope on our butts or feet) down Little Annie's north slope and ambled back to camp, we took advantage of the rest of the pleasant day lazing around our camp, reading, and attempting to plan the rest of our summer in Seattle before our return to Warsaw in mid-August. This was our first chance to really relax ever since I popped the question to Jill high on a sea side cliff in Spain just over 6 months ago. At our high camp, situated in a nook of an oblong rock ridge that had a calendar spread panorama, we had a family of mountain goats with some young kids to entertain us this day and the next:
Over the next two days we slowly walked down hill, soaking up the mountain air and views, happy to be home, but sad to be leaving such a special spot, yet we were also excited, as we were talking all the time about us, who we've become as adults, who we've become as partners and where we'd like to go in the future-physically, professionally, spiritually and emotionally. All was good.
Except for the fucking mosquitoes.
Race back to the rat race in Seattle and on with the summer!
Next stop:
Tamara's Farewell Hike
One of Jill's best friends, Tamara, (see last Fall's posts for her visit to Polska!) was leaving soon for Africa for at least a one year stint with Right to Play, an NGO in Tanzania, and she wanted to get out in one of her favorite spots before she left. So a group of ladies... and me, all went out hiking on the north side of Rainier for two days, just before the 4th of July.
More 'off the couchers' suffered on this trip, but the company and weather was fine, as was the wine that Dawn carried up in her monster pack! It was a bit of an international in/out reunion, as Jill, Dawn Skarset and I had just returned from overseas (Dawn's in Seoul) and Tam was on her way out. One of us, likely me, had the bright idea of extending our hike into a big loop. The smarts ones (Tam and Dawn S) chose to pass and sleep in and the not-so-smart ones ended doing a viewrific jaunt but at the cost of more elevation gain and loss, and namely more miles than we'd thought we're read on the map the night before. Ho hum for our excellent map reading skills! But, the view was fantastic, and this ended up being the closest I got to Rainier's summit this summer. I'll definitely be tackling one of the routes behind me next summer.
Oh, I misplaced my pics, so big thanks to Maureen for these last two shots! Thanks, Mo! If you're reading this and know Tamara, write her! She, like us, likes news from home! ;-)
4th of July
Mark Gleave, one of Pierce's buddies, who's finally completed his saga of visiting every state in the union, hosted a fireworks viewing party from his porch. A good time was had by all, and if you're in his Cap Hill neighborhood, stop by to see the crucifixion of Barbie in his bathroom (another lost pic :(
It was a glorious evening of time spent with several Mangos ona gorgeous night, and by the way, Gasworks' fireworks blew away Elliot Bay's, so you know which to set up and watch next year if you're stuck in the city that night.
Hitch #2
We weren't the only ones tying the knot this summer... Sue and Brian also made the giant leap, except they did it Canadian style, up in their favorite playground, Whistler, British Columbia.
CONGRATS SUE AND BRIAN!
May you have a long, healthy wonderful life together!
:-)
They loaned us Brian's car, as long as we'd haul some stuff up for them. How could we not, especially since Brian was our top, completely underpaid, photographer of our wedding a few weeks earlier! ;-) Huge thanks, again, Brian... we're hopefully getting some prints made tomorrow... hopefully!
So Jill and I got to spend a few days rock climbing in Squamish, on and around the massive Squamish Chief, the largest granite 'monolith' in North America. I'm not sure what that means, as there are some taller walls in Yosemite, and thicker, wider ones in Alaska's Ruth Gorge... but regardless, it's impressive and we had fun.
Their wedding was also a reunion of Jill's old gang, so we all had some grand fun over the days around the wedding, in one of the most picturesque environments accessible by car (or skis!). Whistler will be home to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Check it out, and soon before it's even more overwhelmed by people and development. (The Sea to Sky highway on the coast from Vancouver to Whistler is being completely revamped and widened with the Olympics as its best excuse ever to remove some of the most stunning coastal sea cliffs, trees and earth, just for the sake of some flat asphalt)
Time's Up, Part I
Jill and I did a 6 week house swap with a couple on Capitol Hill. They lived in our house in Warsaw, we lived in theirs. Easy, free and, um, interesting. All thanks to a simple little website: www.craigslist.org Check it out, there should be one near you. Amazing. Anyway, they had a well-lived in house, covered with fun and creative art, much of it homemade, including many dioramas and Jesus and the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) motifs were also popular, but we're pretty sure they're not religious. To give you a small taste of their fun stuff, here's their fridge:
and here's their cat Filthy, whom's full name is Filthy Cloud of Fur:
Nice cat, sheds a ton. I thought the summer heat wave was going to kill him. He just lied there on the floor, looking up to the heavens, meowing, "Oh, God, take me now, or at least take all this hair from my body!"
Thankfully it cooled down and we didn't have to explain a stiff cat to its owners upon their return.
Home sweet home #2
Jill's old teaching buddy at Madrona, Kim, was heading to Guatemala for a month, so our next crash pad was then in Ballard, Washington, home of America's Scandinavian army of ship builders, who still help create some of the finest vessels that sail the seven seas. From big house to small condo was quite the adjustment, but it was fun to be in a new 'hood, and once again we could walk to all sorts of things, a privelege we don't quite have in our neighborhood in Warsaw. Muchos gracias, senorita Kim!
Mango-mini-reunion
Pulling hairs and teeth and cross-world flights almost pulled all of Team Mango together for one final beer and chat at one of our favorite Seattle bars, the Virginia Inn (the VI). Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately for them, Scott and Susana were still in the middle of their 'Pedal to Portugal' ride, following Mediterranean coastal countries on their new bikes, and loving nearly every minute of it. Hats off to you two for completing such a fantastic adventure! Moss Lightfoot was taking care of little Samango, a shared duty we'll be learning about soon ;-)
The rest of us ate tapenade, drank Cream Ales and Sierras and talked and talked. I miss you guys so much. I just love how when we're together it's as if Jill and I had never left. Thanks for a great night!
A final romp
Before truly focusing on our return to Warsaw, we had the opportunity for one last outing to the north Cascades, with much thanks to Eric W. and Orianda, his fiancee, for letting us shuttle some stuff to their new Winthrop home in exchange for letting us use their truck! Thanks!
We got to climb 2 classic routes at Washington Pass: South Early Winters Spire's South Arete, an easy peasy fun romp, and the super fun and full of some newfound variations, Beckey Route on Liberty Bell. (Far left and big one on the right in the pic). Great weather, eh?!:
But between those climbs, our most excellent friends, Tim and Aurelia came out from Seattle to join us for a night of camping and a gorgeous hike along the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). It was a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me, as I'd walked the same steps almost 9 years ago exactly. We had amazing weather, heading north from the semi-drivable Hart's Pass and seeing familiar peaks and I even found the heli-ski yurt we'd spent our last, cold night inside back on September 29, 1997. So glad you two could join us!
However, in the region was 2 or 3 major forest fires going on. This one was pretty close to Winthrop and keeping the locals on edge, but the smoke jumpers had it pretty under control... despite how big it was!
And here's our gracious car loaners... being even more gracious by hosting a dinner at their new, beautiful mountain home! And... by coincidence?!, they, too, were getting married this summer, in September, though, so we missed it. Congrats to you two!!!
The home stretch and home #3
Amazing how things fall into place... but coincidentally, around the time that Kim was getting back from Guatemala, Super Mangos Kim and Erik and little baby Sam were heading out on a trip to the east side of the Cascades for a week, and they happily offered us their phenomenal condo back up on Cap Hill, this time on the northern end in the more peaceful Harvard-Belmont Historic District. As a final base of operations, their location worked to our advantage as we finally got around to getting our stuff that was stored in 3 different houses (THANK YOU SUE, TINA, AND TIM (AND AURELIA)) and either sold it, gave it away and eventually crammed into a small storage spot on the hill. Phew.
A final, entertaining evening was had at Kim and Erik's, sadly without them as they were still away, with some of our closest, and definitely most helpful Seattle friends. Huge thanks to you all, you helped so many things happen for us this summer!
Do zobaczenia!
Patty and Jim helped us with the final haul to SEATAC International airport, just one day after the UK 'foiled a terrorist plot' to blow up planes with different liquid or gel ingredients put inside normal, everyday toiletry containers. Lines, or um, queues were long, as no one could have any toiletry type stuff in their carry on bags. But the curbside check in guy was in a good mood and joked well with us and our 4 nearly over limit North Face Frickin' Huge Duffels, so much so that he let us add Jill's road bike in a bike box go to Warsaw for free... even though KLM usually charges a minimum of $125 to get to Amsterdam! He got a nice tip!
Nasz Domu
Our Home
Alas, we're 'back home' now. Back in the row house that we hurriedly moved into the few days before we left for Seattle, and where our house swappers lived for 6 weeks. Where we had to ask them about what our house is like, what are its quirks and niceties, etc. A bit strange, but, especially after living in other people's places all summer, it feels really good to be amongst our own stuff.
Here's Jill trying to refocus on herself and reduce the chaos and stress in her life inside our new dom, er um, house.
Enjoy the rest of summer to the fullest and talk to you all soon!
Jeremy 'n Jill
:-)
Oh, and did you hear?
We're pregnant!!!
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