I Drew a Blank and Put it in a Frame: Cou Cou

If you're wondering, yes, I am still alive. Camille and I are back at the tiny house in Massachusetts. However in blog land, we're still in Seattle.

We drove to Matt and Yurie's new place in Seattle and very quickly got out of the city and into Olympic National Park.

Hope you're not sick of waterfalls yet, because this one is quite stunning, especially with that magical rainforest light.

Then we drove to the coast to find a place to camp on the beach. It's not often you get to hike on the beach with backpacks full of camping gear.

We stayed at a camping area called hole in the wall. I overheard a woman asking, "So is this the hole in the wall?". I'm not entirely sure why it wouldn't be.

Camille and I slept next to the fire, my favorite place to sleep while camping. We met a family of raccoons that night. They spent most of the night trying to dig through our packs. And they successfully got our bag of food from the "tree" which was only 5 feet off the ground. Our laziness became their dinner.

The next day we did some more hiking. We found some really large dogs hanging out by the visitor center.

Beyond Olympic, we explored Seattle a bunch with Matt and Yurie and after a week or so we said our goodbyes and headed out for more adventures around Washington.

We really wanted to explore the Enchantments but the permitting system is quite strict and availability is slim to none. So instead we hike around areas just outside of the permit zone which were beautiful enough for our standards.

Then we headed to Mt. Rainier. Interestingly, up to this point we had spent several weeks in Washington but saw Rainier either due to clouds or other mountains obstructing the view. So the reveal as we approached the park was quite wonderful.

And then I got terribly sick. Worse than I've felt in many many years. Sick enough to justify getting a hotel room for the night... A rare moment indeed. But my god did that feel good to have a hot shower and large warm bed!

Then we started making our way back south, via the coastline. The drive was a mix of small towns and untouched wilderness. We made many stops and saw lots of wildlife, including whales, seals, pelicans, dolphins and sea lions!

Our trip down the coast ultimately led us to Sacramento where we picked up Tim from the airport. He had some vacation time left and we told him that Yosemite was our next stop and the rest is history.

It was Tim's and Camille's first time in Yosemite Valley and my fourth, but it still felt like the first time for me. It's a spectacular place.

Day one was spent hiking around the valley. And of course we saw some more waterfalls.

Watching the colors change on El Cap as the sun set can be pretty nice.

On day 2 we climbed a few pitches on Yosemite's pristine granite. With 3 people and 1 rope, we didn't dare do any multipitch, but had a great time nonetheless.