New Year's Eve Eve--Get Thee Behind Me 2020!

[Jersey Girl]

Hey I found one from last night! Local resident, not even a professional photog. Not bad!

[Res Ipsa]

2020 took one last swipe: I rolled an ankle while exercising.

My goals are pretty modest:

1. No Covid
2. Keep my job
3. Get vaccinated
4. Keep closer in touch with extended family.
5. Reach out to friends for more online board gaming.

Oh, yeah, and stay up until midnight to make sure 2020 doesn’t shiv 2021 and stick around for another year.

This could be my list as well, although I totally slept through New Year's Eve again last night. I wasn't even trying to stay up. To be honest, I can't remember that last year I paid attention to the countdown.

The only thing I'd add to the list is that I hope my wife and I get to finally settle down in a permanent residence. We've been in limbo for what feels like exactly 4 years.

I did stay up, although I was reading in bed. I did keep an eye on 2020, and all it did was troll on the way out.

I hope you two find a permanent residence you like!

[Res Ipsa]

Hey I found one from last night! Local resident, not even a professional photog. Not bad!

That’s a gorgeous pic (and a gorgeous peak).

[Res Ipsa]

New year; tried something new. Snowboarding!

It was like:

::plop:: lololol! ::plop:: lololol! ::plop:: lololol! ::plop::

Maybe I need to add ‘learn to stand up on a snowboard for more than 20 feet’ to my 2021 list.

By the way, Jersey Girl - that’s an awesome pic!

Never tried snowboarding. In theory, it sounds more fun than skiing.

[canpakes]

Never tried snowboarding. In theory, it sounds more fun than skiing.

It was the most fun I’ve had yet from falling down in snow.
: )

[Res Ipsa]

Never tried snowboarding. In theory, it sounds more fun than skiing.

It was the most fun I’ve had yet from falling down in snow.
: )

I understand that. One winter, my buddies and I skied up to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. I tried to burn how to telemark turn on the way down. Spent more time off than on my skis. It was a blast.

[Jersey Girl]

It was the most fun I’ve had yet from falling down in snow.
: )

I understand that. One winter, my buddies and I skied up to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. I tried to burn how to telemark turn on the way down. Spent more time off than on my skis. It was a blast.

There is something fundamentally wrong with me. We made several trips to Mt. Rainier (we could see it from our front yard, the "ice cream cone in the sky" as I described it), driving the road up there and there was some kind of cabin/lodge where you could get a decent bowl of chili or whatever. But...how is it that I don't recall even a sign for Camp Muir? The reason that I say that is because the Muir clan is what carries my lineage back to Scotland and it should have pinged something in my memory on account of that. I must be a complete idiot or something not to have paid attention to that. Do you have to hike in to it or something?

[Jersey Girl]

A friend posted this pic today on Facebook. I'm always amazed by what the photogs do with images like this. This one looks like what I would call a montage, though that's probably not the proper term. In this, you can see the peak including a little squinty view of the Summit House--which is actually under construction right now--building a bigger and better structure with huge glass windows for viewing from inside. What is superimposed over it though, is a rock formation called Kissing Camels, one of the red rock formations in Garden of the Gods which is a National Natural Landmark with tons of Native American lore behind it. Very popular place to take pics. Anyway...if you are standing in front of Kissing Camels, yes, you can see the peak but not in the way that it's pictured in the photo. I mean...maybe? I think the photog superimposed the Camels to represent a NYE kiss for good luck.

In any case, it's a nice photo. Photos of nature are extremely popular around here.







p.s. Jersey Girl Trivia: I darn near passed out on my last trip up the peak because, due to an emergency situation, they kept our group up there for nearly an hour (big no no!) I got so dizzy I stumbled my way back to the train and people were starting to fall asleep due to lack of oxygen...including me. So weird! They do have supplemental oxygen up there (and cans of oxygen...even in the stores here) but it was one of those...we're leaving now, no we're not, okay we're leaving now type situations.

[Res Ipsa]

Jersey Girl, Camp Muir is a shelter that most people sleep at when they plan to summit the mountain. To teach it, you head up the mountain from Paradise. It’s a long, steady, uphill grunt. I don’t recall any signs. I think it’s visible from the Paradise parking lot with a decent pair of binoculars.

I’ve only been the one time. There was a temperature inversion that day, so it was surprisingly warm at Camp Muir. There was a beautiful view of Adam’s, St. Helens, and Hood.

[Jersey Girl]

Jersey Girl, Camp Muir is a shelter that most people sleep at when they plan to summit the mountain. To teach it, you head up the mountain from Paradise. It’s a long, steady, uphill grunt. I don’t recall any signs. I think it’s visible from the Paradise parking lot with a decent pair of binoculars.

I’ve only been the one time. There was a temperature inversion that day, so it was surprisingly warm at Camp Muir. There was a beautiful view of Adam’s, St. Helens, and Hood.

Okay so that explains part of it. I don't think we ever went higher than Paradise. I don't think I even knew that you could. But we were in it for the drive and the seasonal change as you go up...and the chili wasn't bad either!

You know what we did? We got there in Oct 1980, not long after Mt. St. Helens erupted, right? The following summer, I think it was, there was this route (all back roads and all dirt) that you could wind your way from Tacoma (I can't recall the details of the route--maybe it was off I-5?) and we drove right up to Mt. St. Helens! I'll never forget what I saw there, RI. I still have the photos that I took with my 35 mm outfit. All that ash, all the torched trees that looked like toothpicks, and then...the wildflowers starting to grow up out of the ash! Oh and there was that one burned car we saw, totally stripped by the blast.

I really miss the Pacific Northwest some days. Where we live now looks a lot like it only without the rain.

p.s. I have a bag of the ash.