Let's go in and kick the dog.
My mom used to sing this to me when I was a kid. We had a dog.
We're back, and Kian looks none too happy! 15+ days of travelin, 1,300+ miles of road trippin, 3 hot springs of dippin, 4 international borders of crossin, 42 diapers of changin, only 5 showers of takin while countless rivers of dippin, O restaurants of eatin, 1 campground of payin, 2 times of email checkin, so many things am I missin. We had a blast but are mostly happy to be home: Annie is back to school, I am back to unemployment, and Kian is back to a regimented schedule of naps and baths... poor little dude. I've never met a baby who took so easily to the life of vagabonding and dirt-baggin.
I am about to post some pics from our most recent travails, and will insert prior adventures and their corresponding pics into their rightful place in the chronological log of our trip. We had the fairest of weather the entire trip save 2-days of drizzle, but this was while we were spending a day of quadriceps recovery at Radium Hotsprings and while I hunkered down sick in the RV, so it was a no-nevermind. The rest of the time we suffered from perfect skies and an overabundance of sunshine.
The last few days has been our final charge home from Skaha Bluffs above Penticton BC, where awesome Gneiss cliffs are strewn with clean lines of bolted and unbolted routes perfect for climbers just getting back. Lots of great people there to share the rock, their guidebooks, and baby watching We subscribe to "it takes a village" and are refreshed to find others willing to help out in the process.
Kian was amazing, as usual! We hiked Kian into Skaha in his hardshell backpack hoping we could park him in a shady spot while we did some short climbs. In the parking lot I noticed a directional sign that said "Daycare": amazing, only here could you find a daycare at a climbing area. That thought lasted a few moments only because I noticed that it was the name of a section of crags in the area. So without a guidebook we headed in that direction and came across a young family of 5 who agreed to show us around, and so we spent the better part of the day hitting routes on this wall while Kian was entertained and nurtured, mostly, by the youngest member of their family: Osa, a 4-mo black lab puppy. That night was the only night that we paid to camp, and we did it so that we could hang out with the Hess'.
Next day we hit a different area of Skaha but we took Kian out in the Chariot and the Ergo. Different experience: he was still a super good boy, couldn't ask for better, but it was tough to belay with Kian on our backs, yelping and pulling our hair while laughing hysterically.
Hit the road that evening but we were busted at the border smuggling firewood, and so we had to turn-around, re-enter Canada, take the firewood to a nearby campground before we could return. I still had a good campfires worth of wood hiding in my new rear bumper trunk and so we are now an International band of wood-smugglers. Always wanted to do that: checked off the lifelist!
Last full day of the trip was in the Methow! Annie climbed on the Funrocks with Kian and some newfound friends while I got lost and broke expensive bike components on Goat Mountain. Hot sunny Autumn days in the Methow are hard to beat.
Camped on the Sauk River last night and this morning was treated oh so rudely on the I-5 while being given the Semi-truck sandwich. Having been chilled to the bone for the past two weeks up North its hard to relate to all this hustle and bustle.
Oh yeah, the story in pictures:
Kian approves of the campground: picnic tableand waterfront campfire pit.
Here we are at "Daycare".
In the backpack during.
In the backpack after.
Annie on repel, day 2.
Kian helping us tangle the rope.
Overlooking Mazama from above Goat Creek Wall.
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