7-26-09: We stayed another day in the same campground but switched to another site that was beside the river (didn’t get the river’s name but Owl Creek fed into it). Mike went for a bike ride while Patty and the kids played in Owl Creek. The Creek was shallow with lots of stepping stones but Gaby and Luke were able to find small pools to submerge most of their bodies and mini-waterfalls to put their heads under.

Upon Mike’s return, we headed to Mosquito Lake for cooling off since the temperatures remained hot (95+ degree F weather). The lake was a spring-fed lake thus more comfortable for swimming than the glacier-fed lakes that abound in this area. Luckily it was to hot for the mosquitos to be out while we swam. We found out that Sasha did not want to jump off the floating dock into the lake; thus far she has been afraid of the ocean waves and the lake dock which is surprising since she loved fetching sticks from the Rio Grande River just outside our backyard at home. We met a friendly, young couple at the lake who had recently opened a pizza place near our campground (Mt. Currie) thus we decided to go there for dinner and give them our business. The place had Wi-Fi so we were able to update our blog while enjoying good pizza.

7-25-09 Porteau Cove Park

7-25-09: Mostly spent driving to Departure Bay, Nanaimo (Vancouver Island) to take the ferry over to Vancouver, B.C. This ferry was much larger than the previous one and had several passenger levels beside the top deck; it was a smoother ride also.
We drove N along highway 99 (the Sea to Sky Highway) to Whistler, B.C. (site of the 2010 Winter Olympics). We stopped at Porteau Cove Park which had a rocky beach alongside the ocean and Gaby and Luke were delighted to find small crabs hiding under the larger rocks. Sasha sniffed at the crabs but in general kept her distance. We camped in Owl Creek campground (N of Whistler) and had the pleasure of listening to the melodious creek next to our site. A ranger came by to remind us of the ban on campfires due to the extreme danger of forest fires; this area has not had rain in several months.

7-24 Olympic Coast Nat'l Park/Ferry ride

7-24-09: Our day was spent exploring the Olympic Coast Nat’l Marine Sanctuary of Olympic Nat’l Park (Beach 4); still in WA. The park protects about 65 miles of wild coast. The kids had a blast playing in the waves, climbing coastal rock structures, and examining all the life forms in the tidal pools. We saw barnacles, limpets, whelks, mussels, ochre sea stars, and sea anemones.
Then we drove back to Port Angeles and caught the ferry over to the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It was fun trying to keep your balance as you walked along the deck as the waves rocked the ferry. It was also interesting how they packed the vehicles onto the ferry; they were packed in like sardines to maximize space.

7-23 Crescent Lake/Naval Undersea Museum

7-23-09: We headed to Olympic Nat'l Park in northwestern WA but on the way we stopped at the Naval Undersea Museum. We learned all about submarines, their strategic use during WWII, and female divers who had their beginnings in the Navy in the 1970s (cool!). The kids had fun playing dress-up as seen in the pics.

We also stopped to view Crescent Lake which was formed by a glacier and was 600 ft deep. It was a beautiful blue-green color.

7-22-09: Spent most of the day driving to Tacoma, WA where Mike's cousin Liz and her husband Steve live. We checked out a local park (Point Defiance Park) where we saw a Japanese garden, a Rose Garden, and a duck pond. Gaby and Mom spent a lot of time in the Rose Garden smelling all the varieties of roses. Gaby collected lots of different-colored rose petals from the ground and put them in her purse. We met up with Liz and Steve again at a fish and chips place for dinner; it was nice catching up with them.

7-21-09 Multnomah Falls

7-21-09: Left Dufur, OR and went to Multnomah Falls (30 miles E of Portland). This is the 2nd highest year-round waterfall in the U.S.; it's 620ft high! We drove to Portland and visited the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) which was on the waterfront. The museum was awesome; Mike and the kids also checked out the retired U.S. submarine sitting in the water (USS Blueback). Next we headed to Powell's mega-bookstore which was full of new and used books. We picked up more books for the trip.

7-18 thru 7-20 Mike & Ronnie/Twilight Criterium/Columbia Gorge

7-20-09: We drove along the Columbia Gorge Historic Highway to view the gorge from Rowena Crest. We also rode our bikes along a converted, 4.6 mile section of the same highway.

7-19-09: Left Boise and drove to Mt. Hood/the Dalles area of Oregon to visit our friends, Mike and Ronnie Johnson. They live in a beautiful rural area outside of Dufur (with a beautiful view of Mt. Hood). We also had dinner with our friend, Ruth Winner, who moved to the Mt. Hood area from Maryland about 9 yrs ago.

7-18-09: Today was a full day. First Jim, his friends and Mike went for a morning ride. Eric, Jim's dentist friend, fell down an embankment suffering a laceration over his tibia. After he manned up and finished the ride Mike stitched him up. We were pretending that we were performing CPR on him when his wife came to pick him. She was duly impressed but didn't fall for our trick.

Later we went to the farmers market in downtown Boise and sampled all the local wines, fruits and breads. Jim had to drag Mike away from the wine stations as he thought it was an all you can drink, cirrhotic buffet. After we were all fully inebriated (lol), we attended the Green Expo (an alternative energy expo), then went home and passed out by the pool.

The day finished up when we went downtown to see the Twilight Criterium (bike race that started at 8:30 pm). This 50 minute race was held on a closed street circuit where the 1st one after this time period won. The bikers had a police motorcycle escort and reached close to 30 mph speeds.

7-16 & 7-17 Fun in the pool

7-16-09: Today was a chill day at the pool (95+ degrees out) followed by a picnic dinner at the park in the evening.

7-17-09: Visited the Discovery Center of Idaho (Boise); what an awesome science center! The kids saw robotics at work, experienced magnetic/light/sound/air/solar principles, and they enjoyed the neat Earth exhibit (Magic Planet) which projected a constantly moving image inside a 2 foot diameter globe. A touch screen allowed you to view images of Earth's land masses/oceans, development of hurricanes/tsunamis, movement of the Earth's crusts, the projected impact of climate change, and other phenomena. Luke had fun with the T.V. set-up that allowed him to blend into the projected image on the screen using a cloth the same color as the background screen (just like in the movies). Of course, both kids really liked making homemade slime at one of the booths!

7-14 & 7-15 Posing with our awesomes hosts Jim and Kara

7/14/09: Today Mike went Mt biking with Jim and Sasha. It was nontechnical but very fun to be back on the trail with Jimbo. The kids spent alot of the day in the pool and were totally wiped out by the end of the day. We all also went to the Boise river in town and played fetch with the dogs. Jim and Mike went to the Aire factory and watched them build rafts. They are giving us a demo raft for tomorrow! Jim has serious connections in this town.

7/15/09: (see picture above and videos below) The big day today, we're going on the Payette river. We went to Golds gym in the AM, drank some java, and then packed the raft. What a gas, it was the kids first whitewater experience. This part of the Payette is class 3 with some big waves. They (we) had a blast. We''ll link to some pictures and video clips. AWESOME!!

7-12 & 7-13 Kids in museum in Jackson Hole/Tetons behind us

7-12-09: Drove through Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, WY and admired the amazing Teton peaks with the beautiful Snake River flowing by them. We camped in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest beside the Snake River. We had a section of neat rapids by our site and watched a couple of kayakers surf the waves. We went down by the river's edge; the river had a good, strong current so we didn't go in besides dipping our feet. Dad and Gaby saw an eagle on the opposite bank of the river.

7-13-09 We drove to Boise, ID to visit with our friends, Jim and Kara Johnson. Jim is a physical therapist I had worked with in Alamosa, CO a few years ago and Mike and him became mountain bike riding buddies while he was there. Jim and Kara showed us downtown Boise and we went to a park where you could climb up a foothill and enjoy a spectacular view of the city and its surroundings. Boise is a pretty place and has lots of active people; lots of people biking everywhere. The downtown eateries/pubs had a good number of folk enjoying the outside dining.

7-6 thru 7-11-09 Campsite in encampment

7-6-09: After some hectic, final days gathering our belongings and packing the house, we left our home in our heavily-laden mini-van on 7-6-09. We drove to Denver and spent the night with our niece Jennifer and family in Brighton, CO. Gaby and Luke enjoyed playing with their cousins, George and Sam.

7-7-09: We drove to Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately, there was only 1 trail that allowed dogs so we took Sasha on a little hike of Lily Mountain Trail. She struck gold in Estes Park since they had a dog park! She fetched sticks from a little lake and met a couple of other dogs. Hopefully, this helps make up for her cramped quarters in the back of the van.

7-8-09: We got up to the North Park area of CO (Granby, Walden) and camped by Lake Granby. This area has been hard hit by the pine beetle infestation; lots of dead trees in the mountains. Our campsite had healthy trees and the kids enjoyed tooling around camp on their bikes and giving Sasha lots of walks.

7-9-09: (See picture above) We found a cozy camp/RV site in Encampment, WY. We had a lovely tent site beside the Encampment River. The added bonus was onsite showers! Ohh, what a relief it is!

7-10-09: A coffee shop in Lander, WY provided a good site for internet access and start up of our blog. It is still in its initial stages but we hope to spiffy it up within the next few days. There was an international climbers' festival going on so we were able to camp in a local park with among all the climbers.

7-11-09: Decided to stay in Lander an extra day to take out our bikes for a spin and enjoy the small town atmosphere.

6-1-09 Official start of our sabbatical year

June - Our sabbatical started officially on June 1st. Mike still had two 24 hour shifts at the little hospital in Del Norte Co. His last official patient was a patient with a stabbing to the chest. Why he was brought to this little hospital instead of the larger one equidistant away is still a puzzle to him. The patient did well with a chest tube and some blood.
Patty worked nonstop on cleaning and packing the house. We all then went to Maryland to visit the Paterson clan for a week and then to Michigan for the Anaya clan and some friends. While in Md. we all visited the capital and the White House. We chatted with congressman Salazar and watched a brief debate on the house floor. The White House was an abbreviated tour, apparently Barak didn't know Mike was there.
Will post some pictures soon.