View of Mt. Rainier from Mt. Si

Today was the day to climb Mount Si. All week we’d seen the mountain in the distance from our hotel and the surrounding area, and climbing its baby brother Little Si earlier in the week had convinced us we needed to climb Big Si as well. At 4,000 feet, it was more than twice the height of its neighbor. We got a slightly later start than we had planned, but we scarfed down a breakfast of granola bars and were on the trail by 10:00 AM. We were worried about getting a late start, so we started off at hard pace. The trail was a steady uphill climb, with an average grade of nearly 17% over the climb (often steeper, with no flat portions at all). This, combined with our somewhat overloaded pack, made for a difficult hike. Steven was of course very excited about his new boots, although it took him a little bit of time to get used to their extra weight as he kept stubbing his toes on roots. I was less excited about my choice to just grab a random pair of socks before we left. I ended up with a pair of thin cotton socks, and before long my entire heel was covered in a huge blister. We continued on up the hill, still moving quickly (Steven had now discovered the elevation feature of his watch, so I now got regular updates on both height and distance). Along the way we passed a lot of people; the trail was a very popular one despite its difficulty. Finally, after nearly an hour and a half of constantly grinding upwards, we came through the trees onto the summit basin. The feeling upon reaching the top was incredible – it was cool, brilliantly sunny, and we could see for miles and miles. We scampered around up top for about 45 minutes like little kids with goofy grins, taking picture after picture and just enjoying the scenery as the occasional small cloud washed over the peak.

Note the goofy Camera carrying setup. No, he didn't hike with it like that.

Finally, we decided we should head back down or we’d miss our plans for dinner, and we began the 4 mile trek back down the mountain. We made good time and soon we were back in the car, driving through the nearby town of North Bend on our way back to the hotel. We were way ahead of schedule though, so on a whim we decided to stop at the small mountaineering shop on Main street that we’d noticed that morning on the way to the mountain. That was when I realized I may have made a slight miscalculation – the shop was full of high end mountaineering and backpacking gear, despite its small size, and Steven was in heaven. I had to act fast in order to escape with our budget intact. The reason we’d actually stopped was because I had mentioned it might be fun to take some rock climbing lessons earlier in the trip, and Steven had noticed a sign for mountain guiding in their window. We didn’t think we’d be able to actually get any lessons in; after all, we only had the next morning before we had to leave for the Olympic Peninsula, but we thought it might be fun to check I quickly asked the man behind the counter if they offered rock climbing lessons, and to my surprise, he said they did. He said they could arrange some time to take us out, but we had to turn him down, saying that we had to leave tomorrow afternoon. He looked somewhat surprised, and said “Oh, you mean like now? I guess I could – the shop isn’t that busy this afternoon.” We once again had to demur, due to our dinner plans. The only time we really could do it would be the next day in the morning, which was asking a bit much. But then, a thin middle-aged man who was working on a piece of gear nearby stood up and said “Tomorrow morning? I could do that. You guys want to do a half day right?”. At this point we were a little shocked, and Steven looked a bit reluctant as if things were moving too fast. Before he could say anything I agreed to the lessons and filled out the paperwork. As I was signing the waiver form that warned us of all the potential death, dismemberment, and general mayhem that the shop wasn’t liable for, the guy working the cash register quietly said “Wow, you guys are really lucky. That’s the owner of the shop that’s taking you out”.

After agreeing to meet the next morning at 7:45 AM at the shop, we headed back to our hotel to shower and change for our evening plans: dinner at Tillicum Village. Tillicum Village is a harbor cruise, dinner and Native American show all wrapped up into one that Steven had gone on when he was a kid visiting with his family, so we decided to give it a try. The cruise itself was beautiful, as we took an hour long scenic route around the harbor to see everything (we took photo after photo of Mount Rainier – apparently its only visible from Seattle about a fifth of the year). The guide announcing everything was less interesting; I once again found myself zoning out, especially after the poor guy dressed up in Indian blankets got up to talk about the Native American heritage. He obviously hadn’t done the tour speech much before, and there were more than a few awkward pauses (my favorite: “Yeah, so I’m Native American as well, and its really neat to do all this stuff with our heritage. Well, not my heritage. I’m Nez Perce, from Idaho.”) Once at the island, we were greeted with cups of steamed clams, which we ate and then dropped the shells on the crushed shell path. We then went inside and had a buffet dinner with traditionally prepared baked salmon, and watched the dance show recreating Northwestern tribal dances. I think it was at some point during the dance that I began to realize the show and

Libby learning to skip rocks

village was a reenactment, and not put on by actual Native Americans. It might have been the fact that many of the dancers had blond hair, blue eyes, and completely white skin. I was somewhat miffed to discover that it wasn’t completely authentic, and that the long house we were in was built for the Seattle World Fair, not by Indians toiling for their chief. We still had a great time though, and after wards skipped rocks on the beach and then enjoyed a beautiful nighttime boat ride across the sound back to Seattle. We made it back to the hotel late that night and packed our bags since we would be checking out of our hotel early the next morning before our rock climbing lesson.

Until tomorrow,

Libby of the made up Ibilibbish Tribe and Boot Happy Steven

Traveling question of the day: What happens when you do not eat all day, climb a mountain and end up at a buffet?

We decided to answer our own question: see below.

After all of the hiking, driving, and general mayhem of the previous several days, we decided that Day 4 was going to be a slightly more relaxing day for us. It is, after all, our honeymoon. To start things off, we traveled back to Seattle to look for the perfect spot to eat breakfast. Libby scanned through the list of restaurants on the Garmin looking for a cute sounding name, while I looked out the window for a cute looking cafe on our route. Unfortunately, we took too long searching, and ended up with the perfect lunch spot instead. We had a delicious meal anyway, and then decided to head back to REI to pick up a pair of backpacking boots for me to use. The experiences on Mount Rainier the previous day had given us an incentive to climb (big) Mount Si, and we wanted to have the perfect equipment. Besides, I needed a pair of boots anyway, and would you look at that, we get 10% off all purchases from our own wedding registry! I spent my usual hour or so examining all my options, analyzing the differences, trying the boots on, re-analyzing the differences, comparing the price, and starting to analyze the differences yet again, until Libby finally grabbed a pair and said “We’ll take them”. Meanwhile, Libby was tempted by a pair of flashy red trail running shoes herself, but she exhibited excellent self control and decided that she couldn’t really justify them given that she already had two pairs of top-of-the-line boots. That those boots were back in Fort Wayne was a separate issue, but she decided she could make due with her running shoes for Mount Si.

Once the purchases at REI were complete (other items picked up included a headlamp in case we decided to do some early morning or evening hiking, and a small trowel and portable pack of toilet paper in case the trail went on just a little too long), we left Seattle and headed north towards the wine country of Woodinille. Several wineries make their home there, and we decided to stop and take a tour of one of the largest, Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery. I found the tour to be extremely interesting, as our guide explained the differences between the various wines and grapes, how the different wines are made, and the history of wine making in the area. Meanwhile, Libby found the tour to be extremely boring, as the guide explained the tedious details about wines and grapes, how the wines are made, and the very dry history of the area. It turns out that while I know nothing of wine, Libby knows nothing about paying attention to tour guides. She perked up later, however, when the guide mentioned the wine tasting at the end of the tour. There, she was able to school me on pretending to be snooty during a tasting, as she enjoyed dropping adjectives like “floral”, “hints of berry”, “apricot finish”, and “oak-aged amber” in an aristocratic, British voice.

Once the tour was done, we explored the grounds of the winery a bit, enjoying the beautiful weather. We were a little disappointed to find that there were no fields of grapes to look at, as the grapes are actually grown in the eastern Washington desert, but we quickly moved on and headed back to our Lodge. Upon arriving there, Libby immediately turned in for her usual nap, while I headed out for my first run with the Garmin wrist watch (geeky data galore!). We then decided it was time to go in search of dinner, and stumbled across a small Italian restaurant only a couple of minutes from our hotel, complete with large, jolly Italian owner. We spent the rest of the evening there, enjoying the delicious food and reflection on our travels.

Signing off,

Ravioli Stuffed Lib and Wine Expert Steven

Travel question of the day: Which is better a good cup of coffee or a good glass of wine?