The most romantic trip that almost wasn't

Let me clarify. The TRIP almost wasn't...the ROMANCE was never in question. If you read the post below, you know that I got super (weird) sick and our 5 day, 4 night backpacking trip through the Olympic Mountains had to be modified. The really cool (as in temperature) summer we've had also contributed to rerouting our trip a few times because there is still so stinking much snow on the mountains...in mid-August...it's just not right...don't you agree? We've been planning this trip for about a year as a celebration of Ty finishing his MBA. So these two things were not very welcome obstacles. But it still worked out beautifully.

I have no apologies for the vast amount of pictures in this post. In fact, you should thank me. The Olympic Mountains are just so beautiful.

We started our adventure on Thursday evening with a 3.5 mile hike to Spike Camp. We didn't arrive at camp until about 9:30 p.m. The trail was getting pretty dark toward the end, but we were just shy of breaking out the head lamps. We set up camp, ate our Subway sandwiches (I'm sure there's some backpacking code against such food, but it was easy and delicious), sat around the fire a bit and hit the hay.

The next day was a relaxing morning in the most beautiful forest in the world (I'm sure of it) and then we started out on our hike. The really great thing about being sick the week of your backpacking trip is that your hubs feels the need to take more of the weight for you. Hence, his pack was 50 lbs while mine was a mere 25 lbs. I think I'll pull the sick trick next time we go too. JUST kidding. But for our hike that day I was packless and Ty carried our food and some extra clothing. We hiked to Flapjack Lakes (gorgeous! the water was so clear and so blue), ate our PB&T lunch (peanut butter and tortilla...I was skeptical, but it was really good), then continued on to Gladys Divide. My Granny who passed away last year is named Gladys, so I was especially happy with the name of our trail. On the way we spotted a bear high up in a mountain meadow. We checked each other out for a while (pretty sure he/she was looking right at us) before continuing on and then I checked the trees near the trail for the rest of the hike to see if that bear had any friends. :) We wanted to hike Mount Gladys, but because of the snow it was tough enough to find the trail for the Divide...we thought we lost it for a little while. I just don't think we had the equipment or would have been able to find the trail for the mountain. We spent some time up there enjoying the gorgeous views and then hiked our way down the mountain, picked up our other pack, and continued on another mile or so.




















Our intent was to camp at Big Log Camp that night, but as we were crossing Madeline Creek we noticed that right down near the creek there were some unofficial campsites. We decided that we liked the seclusion of it (even if it meant no bathroom...cause the bathrooms are rather gross anyway) and set up camp. Ahhh....right on the river, gorgeous forest, just me and my favorite person in the world, no distractions. I was almost brought to tears with the romance and perfection of it all. We were tired from hiking 12 miles that day, but had a lot of time to relax and talk and kiss...it was bliss. I told Tyler that night that it was up there with the most romantic things we'd ever done. We WERE totally by ourselves for a while, but had two campers join us at a site a little ways away. Luckily they came just as Ty was taking a shower with the camping shower he bought for the trip. Ha! Possibly one of my favorite memories from the trip was when Ty yelled, "Dana! There are PEOPLE!" and I looked over to see two hikers looking straight at our camp. I couldn't stop laughing.


The next day we were super lazy...just as we'd planned. We didn't wake up until 8:30 and then didn't get out of our tent until 9:30. We had breakfast, relaxed for a while, took down camp, and slowly hiked out the 4.5 miles to our car, taking pictures of the beauty along the way.









I absolutely LOVED this trip. I think all couples should backpack to get away. It was heaven. No phones, no televisions, hardly any other people around. Nothing. Just you and the gorgeous wilderness. It probably helps to go backpacking with a ruggedly (I love when he gets some scruff) handsome Eagle Scout who loves a good map, can tie knots and build fires like nobody's business, carries a heavier load than he has to, and can rig up a place for a shower and some bear wire wherever he is. I'm even more in love.

Mick and Mags Visit Washington

I have a seemingly rare set of WONDERFUL in-laws. I am so lucky. They were just here for 10 days and I was choked up after they left and kind of melancholy the rest of the day. Today too. A friend called and I told her that my in-laws were visiting and that they'd been here for 10 days. She said, "Oh. Is that too long?" I answered quickly and honestly, "Oh, no!" Because I love having them here.

The first few days were perfect and then on Sunday something hit me and by Monday morning I was in serious pain, called Ty in tears at work, and agreed to let him come home and bring me some medicine (I NEVER ask him to come home from work). I made a doctor's appt. that day which lead to more appointments and even a visit to the ER. I'll blog about that at a later date. It wasn't fun and I was very frustrated. It especially stunk because Tyler and I had been planning to leave that Tuesday for a backpacking trip we'd planned for a year. But with some TLC from Tyler and my mother-in-law, Margaret, a blessing, and many prayers, I was able to get over whatever it was in just a few days. At first I was SO annoyed that it was happening while they were visiting because I wanted to do fun things together. But I quickly realized what a huge blessing it was to have them here during that ordeal. We didn't have to find places for the kids while we did all of the appointments or while I was trying to recover. Margaret didn't have to ask, she just took over and did laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, cleaning, and took care of my kids too. I am so thankful that they were here and were so helpful.

We were reevaluating the week on Tuesday night because at that point I could barely lean over, let alone carry a 30 lb pack through the wilderness. We talked about going to Mount St. Helens and a few other options. On Wednesday morning I was still weak, but feeling quite a bit better so I went on faith (seriously) and told Tyler that I thought we should go out to dinner that night with his parents, leave for Mount St. Helens the next morning, and then have Mickey and Margaret drop us off to start our backpacking trip. So that's what we did...and all of the prayers worked because I was feeling completely better just in time.

We came back on Saturday night to very happy kids who were loved and cared for while we were gone. It's so nice to leave kids with grandparents who love them and love the time with them! We watched Mamma Mia! that night while eating Tillamook ice cream and on Sunday after church we went to Scenic Beach State Park for a while. It was a fabulous visit and I am so THANKFUL that they came! I love you, Mickey and Margaret. Thank you so much for coming!

D-O-N-E

It hasn't really hit us, but Tyler Michael Foster is officially DONE with school! No more class, no more homework, no more group meetings on the weekends, no more stinkin' research paper.DONE. On Friday, August 5th, just minutes before going to pick up his parents from the airport, he put the final touches on his 40+ page research paper. I cannot express the joy this brings to our little family. The kids and Ty keep chanting, "No more school! Play with kids!"

For this momentous occasion I decided that we should celebrate. Tyler is NOT me and so I knew he wouldn't want a million people to come to a party in his honor, so I just invited a few to come to a surprise dinner celebration in his honor. My in-laws were in on it and my father-in-law was in charge of keeping him out of the house for a few hours while my mother-in-law and I threw everything together before guests arrived. The plan was for them to golf 9 holes, but Ty messed that up when he scheduled a tee time for the late afternoon. So we had to get creative - my father-in-law pretended his hip was giving him trouble so they were going to go and buy our belated housewarming gift instead (which is usually a grill for their sons, but we were in need of a vacuum and I got myself a Dyson out of the deal!)

It was perfect. He didn't suspect a thing and it took him a minute to realize that when everyone yelled "Surprise!" it was for him. He was excited about the surprise, but a few minutes later said, "Oh, this is for me!" Ha. And the picture below is the ONLY one taken the entire night. Lame, but oh well. We have wonderful friends and had a great time eating and talking. We both even received a few graduation gifts, which was so sweet.

Ahhh...so happy to be done.