vacation

Driving back through Glacier and home to Seattle

Posted by Jason on September 22, 2013 - 2:11am in Our Travels.
When: 
August 31, 2013

I woke up a bit early on our last day so that I could take some photos of the morning sun hitting the mountains. It was really pretty to watch the sunrise, and I got a few good photos. I also wanted to get up early so that we could get an early start to our busy day. We had to pack all our stuff back into the suitcases, drive back across the park (about 50 miles), drive to the airport, return our car, and catch our plane. In the end, we had ample time to make our 4pm flight, but I didn't want us to be rushing at the end.

Lake St. Mary and the east side of Glacier National Park

Posted by Jason on September 22, 2013 - 2:02am in Our Travels.
When: 
August 30, 2013

For our last full day in Glacier, we drove over the pass to the east side of the mountains. Unfortunately, the weather was still overcast on the west side of the pass, so we didn't have very good views of the mountains as we drove over the pass. Instead, we just drove straight over and down the other side. On our way to our next campsite, we stopped at a turn off for a short hike. We hiked to St. Mary Falls and then continued to Virginia Falls, a total of 1.2 miles in from the road. At Virginia Falls, we stopped for lunch along the bank of the creek, then headed back down the trail.

Logan Pass and a crazy storm

Posted by Jason on September 21, 2013 - 6:28pm in Our Travels.
When: 
August 29, 2013

Penelope woke us up around 7AM, which was perfect, because we had a busy day ahead of us. We wanted to get up early to Logan Pass, one of the most popular spots in the park, to avoid the crowds. We had our first hot breakfast of the trip: instant oatmeal and hot cocoa. Penelope usually eats oatmeal for breakfast, but she was very excited to have the overly sugared "maple brown sugar" instant version. After breakfast, we got in the car and headed up to Logan Pass, about 3000 ft above our campground at Avalanche Creek.

Lake McDonald, Avalanche Creek and Avalanche Lake

Posted by Jason on September 21, 2013 - 5:43pm in Our Travels.
When: 
August 28, 2013

After our first night in the tent, Penelope woke us up at about 6:45, same as usual. Still without any way to start a fire, and not feeling like asking for more matches, we had a cold breakfast of yogurt and leftover breakfast pastry from Stefan's backpacking trip (thanks Stefan). We would be staying at three different campsites in the park as we traveled along the main park road, so after breakfast, we broke down our campsite and stuffed everything back in the car. It was a complete mess, with barely enough room for Penelope in the back seat, but it worked.

Fish Creek Campground

Posted by Jason on September 21, 2013 - 5:21pm in Our Travels.
When: 
August 27, 2013

We spent our first night in Glacier National Park at Fish Creek Campground, on the shore of Lake McDonald (or Old McDonald Lake as we liked to call it). This was one of the few campgrounds that you could reserve a campsite ahead of time (the rest were first come, first served), and we didn't want to feel rushed to get there early to get a spot. Penelope was very excited to be camping and was very interested in helping to set up camp.

Glacier National Park - August 2013

Posted by Jason on September 21, 2013 - 5:08pm in Our Travels.
When: 
August 27, 2013 to August 31, 2013

I've been meaning to post about our trip to Glacier National Park, but with our upcoming move, I got a bit behind. It was a really fun vacation. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring along my travel journal, so I'm going to try to remember all the stuff that we did.


Japan - March 2013

Posted by Jason on March 22, 2013 - 11:37pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 7, 2013 to March 16, 2013

Katie and I recently got back from our trip to Japan. We decided to have Penelope stay at home while we traveled, rather than bringing her with us, and this was the first time we had both been away from her at the same time for more than a single night. It was hard for us to be away, and a little hard on Penelope too, but it really worked out for the best. We were able to do the things that we wanted to do that would have been too boring for Penelope, without having to worry about naps and strange potties (she would have loved the food, though).

Alaska RV Adventure - June 2012

Posted by Jason on June 25, 2012 - 12:28am in Our Travels.
When: 
June 9, 2012 to June 17, 2012

As I recently mentioned in a blog post, we went to Alaska a week ago for a vacation. Katie has never been, and we wanted to be sure to go while we are still in Seattle and relatively close. For this trip, we decided to try renting an RV, since it seemed like the best way to be able to get around and see lots of different things without having to a) find lodging each night or b) pitch a tent each night. We liked the idea of the convenience of having everything with you all the time and not having to pack and unpack every day as we moved around.

Kauai helicopter tour and more beach fun

Posted by Jason on December 21, 2011 - 1:50am in Our Travels.
When: 
November 29, 2011 to December 1, 2011

After our backpacking trip, we were very sore and tired, but we had one more Kauai adventure in store. Katie and I booked a helicopter tour to get a birds-eye view of Kauai. (Thanks Mom and Dad for sitting through the timeshare sales pitch to get us a discount!) Although the concierge who booked the helicopter for us said that Penelope could join us (what a bad idea), we left Penelope with Omi and Abuelito one more time while we went for the 1 hour tour. Katie and I were a little nervous about getting into a helicopter, given that they crash every now and then.

Backpacking the Na Pali Coast on the Kalalau Trail

Posted by Jason on December 21, 2011 - 1:46am in Our Travels.
When: 
November 27, 2011 to November 28, 2011

In planning our trip to Kauai, Katie and I decided that we would like to backpack along the Na Pali Coast. The coast is formed by a series of sharp cliffs that are hard to describe, but look really cool. I really wanted to try backpacking it, and Katie was interested because the views from the trail are supposed to be amazing. Also, it is a part of the island that is inaccessible to cars, so the only ways to see it are to hike or take a boat.

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