Betsy Blog

Monday, April 30, 2007

Climbing Mt. Erie after the Tulip Festival


Birdy is enjoying the view of Anacortes from Mt. Erie.



Birddog clipped in hang'n out.


This was the second pitch, there could have been one or two more, but I had to put my foot down and say "let's go back down". It was way too exposed for me to keep climbing. Freeky Deeky. See me clinging to the tree, I was praying that its roots went deep into the rock. I need to work my way up to the level of craziness that rock climbing requires. I'll try again next time.

Photo opp., just before we belay otta here.

Our weekend hosts in La Conner, Aunt Marion and Uncle Sam, did not join us climbing, but they did make sure we ate like "rock" stars. Salmon, baked potatoes and string beans for dinner, apple crumble for dessert. Our choice for breakfast, Me- brown sugar & oatmeal, Birdy- eggs, bacon, & toast. Aunt Marion even packed a sack lunch for us to carry up the mountain, Turkey Pastrami sandwiches with chips. Super lovely wonderful, we can't wait to visit again soon.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Tulip Festival 2007


Tulip Angel Boy

There were rows and rows...

fields of plenty,

long stemmed ...

and one lonely tulip.


Birddog has a fun slide show of the festival on his blog, click here to check it out. We also went rock climbing, more photos on the slide show.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Love Your Mother


Mt. Saint Helen's Earth Day 2007

We headed out early early in the morning of Sunday, April 22 to join the Washington Trail Association (WTA) for Earth Day trail maintenance at Mt. St. Helen's.


Look Out- He's Got an Axe! and a shovel and some sheers.


Gett'n Diggy With It!
I enjoyed the demolition of the trail. Swinging my big heavy tools, chopping out solid hunks of soil. I really got in touch with the earth on Earth Day.


After about 1.5 hours of work, we saw progress, but progress in the wrong direction. Birdy and I both felt that our efforts should have been used on different projects. We weren't pleased with the idea of widening the trail, it looked perfectly fine to begin with. The volunteer staff for WTA didn't really know what she was doing, it didn't seem that out of the 20 people out that day no one really knew what was going on.
Lack of planning and direction on their part. Bummer for us, we thought we were going out to do some good, I feel that we sort of did some good by volunteering, but what we actually did was make a nice scenic trail look twice as wide in one small section.
It was our first time with WTA, now we have a better understanding on what should be going into trial maintenance, we'll do better next time.

The most exciting part of our trip was on the way back home. When we jumped into the truck at the trial head parking lot we saw our gas light was on, yup our tank was EMPTY. Earlier in the morning on our way to the mountain I noticed our gas was getting low. Someone decided we didn't need to stop and fill up for gas because he didn't want to be late for the WTA trail safety talk. Always ready for a Birddog adventure.

We had about 25 miles to the nearest gas station, or that's what we thought. Birddog remembered our drive was mostly up hill, so we could just roll all the way back down. Around every corner and every long stretch along the mountain I kept reminding him that I'd be waiting for him in the truck while he walked for gas. We were both nervous. We tried turning off the engine on a big downhill, NOT RECOMMENDED.

We thought we could save some gas fumes, instead the steering wheel got stiff and the brakes barely worked. Forget that idea. At mile 25 our minds lifted, but around the corner was a barn, not a gas station. At least we were near civilization, we could hop on a horse and ride bare back to the Pump'n'Go. I don't know how, but we ended up going about 30 miles after our tank read Empty. I think the Mountain Gods did appreciate our attempts to save the land!

Monday, April 16, 2007

I got two wheels and I pedal hard

Today my eyes burn, but yesterday was fun.



We went on a Sunday ride to the Redhook Brewery in Woodenville, 46 miles round trip. We tried to make it in time for the beer tour, but we got a little lost on the way and we were 10 minutes late. No biggy, we'll just have to try again. A good excuse to ride is the reward of better beer.


Bits zoom zoom


Birddog glub glub

The Sammamish River trail, and the Burke Gilman trail made this ride easy, well moderately easy, actually very flat, beatiful, wide, popular, and easy. The last 8 miles home made me feel like a Rock Star, or was it a Snail?




scenic photo stop

I wish I could call the Ghost Busters and get my eyeballs Slimed. That cold- wet- gooey- slimy stuff would feel fantastic on my eyes today. Do I need special contacts? different sunglasses? bike goggles? or is that just a nice bike ride for ya?

Fun fun, I'd do it tomorrow, but oh yea I gotta work.