Snowy and Sunny

Here I am up on Mt. Baker snowshoeing last winter. Let me tell you, it is hard work--you need to have some stamina and a good lunch to eat in the sunshine. Lots of layers of clothing, so you can take it off and put it on, and determination. I only did one trip this year, but I have hiked across snow at Hannigan Pass and Yellow Aster Butte. Today, here by the bay in Bellingham, rain and wind. I heard high winds--but we'll see.

Recently I've seen a coyote and trumpeter swans, oh yes, mallards, Canada geese, Bufflehead ducks and loons. Oh and 12 great blue herons huddled in everygreens down by the water.  
Happy New Year!
Nan

Orcas Island

Here I am sitting on a tree hanging over Mountain Lake.  I've taken a lot of photos of reflections at this lake, beautiful ones that have become paintings. It's a pretty little lake on the way to Doe Bay, one of my favorite places on Orcas. I've stayed at Doe Bay more than once, kayaking out to the Pea Pods with a friend one weekend, doing a memorial to his mother. It was lovely. A giant Steller's Sea Lion slide off the rocks and into the water when we passed. Very cool.

Nan

Reindeer

Well, it isn't really, but being just after Christmas it could be. This is up at Hart Pass. There was snow at the top and couldn't proceed, but turned down this road and sat for a long time watching this buck wander toward us, feeding, watching us, feeding some more. The woods had burned up at the top at one point, near a little ranger cabin. I have some cool pictures of those trees, bark half black and bare. Very pretty in a way.

I love the woods. Back in the 70s I lived at Priest Lake in Idaho with my husband at the time. We worked at Hill's resort and when not working or playing music or skiing, we'd be up wandering back in the mountains. The roads get piled pretty high with snow up there. Beautiful

Nan

Ballard Camp 7-4-2010

Here's my friend David when we camped at Ballard Camp on the other side of the mountains. It was the fourth of July weekend. We'd been up to Hart Pass and had come back, gathered wood, made some dinner. It cools quickly in canyons along rivers, so we needed our jackets. The fourth is always my favorite weekend of the year, better than Christmas. I just love fireworks. Not everyone likes the racket or the sulfur in the air, but if I can get out to fireworks, I do. I've had several amazing experiences lying on the ground watching the blooms overhead. Truly amazing.

Up here on the 4th of July, a bit of rain, and cool.  We gathered wood, so much down wood that's dryer than a desert, I just wondered how quickly fire could race through.  We kept the fire small and we did get some nice heat from it and  cooked part of our dinner there.  Well, re-heated I think, since we'd brought along cooked chicken on ice.  Up at Hart Pass we picked up some containers of snow to help refrigerate our food for the rest of the weekend.

This was the weekend Sid had just had the silt from his bladder washed out and had been put on special food.  I'd watched him for the day and he was doing better.  They wouldn't have been able to see him until we got back, so I decided it was okay to go away.  I must say I was a nervous cat mom the whole time.

I hadn't camped for years and now will camp.  It just gets some taking used to again.  The hard ground--even though I have a pretty good mat, it's my hips these days, getting older. But seeing the stars at night, man-oh-man, it is worth it.  Nature makes me feel good, no great.  It truly feeds my soul.

Winter Travel

Haven't been traveling lately, but have been getting out on my daily walks.  It's been cold here in Bellingham.  Frost and freezing fog--but sunshine--which is a godsend.  For me, if there's sunshine in the winter, I can take the cold, and long dark nights.  It's the gray and rain during the day, and then dark at 5, that bothers me, depresses me, actually.  It's usually January and February that grow too long, too depressing.  It's the time of year to travel--go somewhere warm, hangout for awhile.  Although I've been getting down to Post Point, my favorite place to walk in the winter, or on cold sunny days, as I can sit in the sandstone, sheltered, above the water and soak up the rays.  It's healing, these moments of warmth, breathing in good clean sea air, feeling the elements.  I feel happiest in the sun.

David is in Antarctica.  He's having cold weather too.  Lots sideways blowing snow.  Here's what he says about the wildlife.  "Just back myself from our landing at Petermann Island with Adelie and Gentoo Pengies, Antarctic Shag (Cormorant), Kelp Gull, Antarctic Tern, Skua and Weddell Seals. It was a nice cruise thru the Lemaire Channel getting here, saw the Ocean Nova and the CEO wanted us to photograph him with the Quark flag... only they(12) were like a kilometer away and tiny dots... right!  So, got a bit cold in the wind with the barometer now dropping... Will be driving zod this afternoon at Pleneau Bay amoungst the icebergs doing two cruises...so will bundle up!"

Soon he'll be back and we'll be getting to the mountains and the snow.  Last year I snowshoed for the first time.  In the 70s I cross-country skiied, which I loved.  When my daughter was born, I carried her in a pack on my back while skiing.  It was fun, but hard--keeping my balance, staying warm enough.  I don't recall that I ever fell with her.  Now she downhill skies.

My skies are old, wood skies from the 70s that need waxing.  I'm hoping the snow will come low this year again, so I can ski in the neighborhood.  The plan is to get out of here in January and go to Utah, to the canyonlands, to the red rock territory.  So if it's nasty then, it won't matter.  This I'm excited for--to feel the land of red earth.  Good stuff.

Okay, I'm going to eat my breakfast now.
Happy travels,
Nan

Lake Padden

It was a beautiful fall. The summer went late. I was swimming in the sound and in the lake through September. Now, it's raining, although yesterday a sunny day. I walked to Marine Park, followed the railroad tracks to the dog park, then back along the inner-urban trail to Fairhaven.

I'm a sorry wanderer, I guess. If it's very rainy and windy, I won't go outside. I remember having to shove the cats out and then once out, Ozzie hanging close to the glass door, looking in at me with pathetic eyes. Well, it's the same for me. I did buy a new hat, and I do own a raincoat--not rain gear, just a coat that looks fashionable and repels rain. It's a must around here.

I've decided on a trip to Spokane for Christmas, spend some time in the snow. Perhaps buying snowshoes would be a good thing. I have skis from the 70s. They're pretty funky now, but still keep me on top of powder snow. Snowshoeing last winter was a first for me. It was strenuous an the next day, I was beat. Now, I'm in better shape, so maybe, some long treks are in order.

David is in Antarctica. The weather there has been extreme. Blowing sideways snow and very cold. He has to bundle completely, face covered, doubled up mitts. And still, it's cold out on the ice, standing there as a guard to the penguins for 2 or 3 hours. Yikes. Me baby!

I admire his adventurous nature and would like to have a little more of my own. I've decided, I'm just plain scared, a lot of the time. I mean, even to go to Post Point along the tracks. Why a train could come. I'm one of those folks who does the worst case scenario thing. Always something could happen. But--you don have to be prepared, right? I mean, driving across the pass and the snow and ice, etc. You could go off the road. There could be an avalanche. These are real things and they do happen. I had a friend lose both parents in an avalanche. They were asleep in a winter cabin, snow came down the hill behind them. With that in mind, I have agreed to go sleep in a snow cave on Mt. Baker. Stupid? Maybe, but David has done it many times and says he will protect me. Which means, I guess, that he wouldn't dig the cave in an avalanche area. What about cold? What about getting up in the night to go to the bathroom? What about...?

Anyway, it's adventurous even to go shopping--especially on Black Friday. You're not getting me out there.

My next plan for travel is to go to Hawaii. There are some birds there that can't be seen anywhere else in the world. This seems like the type of adventure I get sink my teeth into. So off to somewhere warm, probably not immediately, so will have to do winter for awhile. I'll let you know how it goes.

Peace,

Traveling Nan

Chain Lakes at Mt. Baker

In the mountains there are these tiny lakes that are fed by melting snow. A set of lakes that can be easily walked around, a path leaving from the parking lot up by where the groomers park at the Mt. Baker ski area. The higher parking area, up by Artist point, is now closed. There has been 6-10 inches of snow recently, but on Saturday, there'd been enough warming for the ground to be mostly bare. My friend and I walked around the lakes, staying height on the right side, which I suppose would be east and then across a snow field at the end, and then back on scree--which had a light skiff of snow on it. There were these cute little pica prints all over the snow. Wow, a beautiful day, not a hard hike, getting over a cold, but a nice time with my honey.

I'm thinking about some changes of the heart that have occurred for me over the full moon. The biggest thing is realizing how my mother, who I believed was weak, really had no choice in how she lived. She was married to a man who was very controlling. This ended up being a life sentence for her, since her "daddy" and that's what she called him, was in charge, high up in the military, and believed children where to be seen not heard. So I'm guessing, me be a rebellious child, didn't go well with the men who she picked. I'm sure they were all men in control, and me being the rebel, had a big struggle to overcome. I've mostly overcome oppression. She never did.

What does this have to do with travels? Well, travels for me are physical, emotional, and spiritual. Recently I hiked around a reflective lake in the mountains with my new backpack on my back. I ate mountain huckleberries that had frozen and thawed, and froze again. They tasted just as delicious as when they were firm. What fun, November and eating huckleberries. In the mountains, the noise in my head drops away. I'm sensitive to the car noise, train, bus, even the wi-fi that is everywhere in Fairhaven. Anyway, the mountains give me a reprieve from noise in and around me. I can think straight, which is what my mother always said.

Freedom. This is important for an Aries. Freedom from oppression. Freedom to be who I am, authentically me all the time. It feels right when I can do it. It feels wrong when I let myself cave, to shape with what someone else wants.

So other hikes? Recently I made a trip up to Fragrance Lake and back. It was a pretty easy climb for me, although four years ago, before Pilates, I had trouble with it. My knees hurt like crazy on the way back down. We can get better. We can get stronger, even as we get close to 60. Just get moving, that's my hit on it all.

Okay then, what are you doing to change and heal your life?

Peace,

Traveling Nan