In which we are seduced yet again by the Wallowas

You'd think we'd have learned after the first time: the Wallowas do not kid around.

Being the suckers for granite, alpine lakes, and green trees that we are, Charlie and I decided that, rather than blow things up for the 4th of July, we'd hit the trail for a two-night 14-mile backpack up into Oregon's Eagle Cap Wilderness area.

You may remember our previous trip there - what with the September first snowfall and all.

This time, we were on the run from a storm front that was scheduled to pummel Idaho's mountains with some nice thunder, lightening, hail, and rain over the long weekend. Looking at the weather forecast, we determined there might be better opportunities for visiting the "Frank Church/River of No Return" wilderness (like, you know, when there was a better chance of us returning).

So back we went to our beloved Oregon. We were delighted to discover that the in-point for the trail was just outside of Baker City - just a 2.5 hour drive from Boise. We'd be at the trailhead in a scant three hours. Definite striking distance for a weekend hike.

Things started off great. We reached the trailhead at about 1:00 on Friday. Already it was stuffy and warm, with big puffy clouds gathering above the mountains. Undeterred, we loaded our packs. Just .6 miles in, we were already stopping (and posing!) for a photoshoot.


Charlie looks cool and calm as usual (he knows how to look good in pictures!), Ariel, on the other hand, had a different "face" in mind:


Little was I to know that this face would re-appear, in various forms throughout the rest of our adventurous weekend. One needs to start practicing early on in the trip for any real success, right?

After a mosquito-rich slog up-hill through some pretty dense brush, our hike opened up into a series of lovely meadows.


Though difficult to see in the picture, the wildflowers were just starting to bloom on this hike, and we were surrounded on the trip by purples, blues, yellows, and pinks. At points along the trail, it looked like people had planted them especially for our enjoyment.

In this picture, you can see the clouds starting to gather in earnest. The sky was darkening, and we didn't want to be caught out in a downpour. This was about half-way through our first day's intended mileage. We consulted, and made the, in retrospect, rather foolish decision to postpone lunch until we hit camp. It was only a few more miles! In the hot weather, we weren't noticeably hungry, and the gorp seemed to be doing the trick.

Of course, anyone who's been on a backpack or two, knows that this is exactly what NOT to do. We pushed through to Eagle Meadows, and fell into a heap at the campsite. Aching legs, headaches, the gamut. And, adding insult to injury, all the campsites in the meadow appeared to be taken. Ditching the packs, we set off in opposite directions in search of a private (ie: off the trail) spot to camp. Eventually, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a campsite in the trees close to the creek. A little dark, and apparently unused yet this season, it nevertheless fit the bill.

Charlie threw a nice campfire together, and after a snack and a short nap, life was looking just peachy again. We even had a nice granite fireplace, to boot!


We had a peaceful night in camp, and the next morning dawned sunny and bright. We packed up camp and headed up the short (yet steep!) trail to our second campsite: Eagle Lake.


Saturday was even hotter than Friday, and the day's climb was on a good, study trail, up a rather exposed slope. The views back down the valley were incredible and we racked up elevation with every switchback.


As we climbed, snow grew more prevalent along the trail, and near the top we came across this neat snow-bridge above the trail. Decided it was wise not to climb inside it for a more up-close view, but the cool air blowing through it felt amazing. It was hard not to want to curl up for a nap inside.


Shortly after the "cave" we arrived at the lake. In retrospect, July 4th is quite early in the season for Eagle Cap trips, so it should have been no real surprise to find it almost still completely frozen.


The lake itself was a beautiful spot. It was dammed by people in the region early on to help with irrigation for farming in the valleys below. The dam itself is a quite impressive work of backcountry engineering.


We goofed around up at the lake for the next couple hours, and set-up camp. Despite the existence of a spectacular campsite out on a rocky bluff at the end of the lake, we elected to pitch our tent in what appeared to be a more sheltered location on the shoulder of the hill, amongst several large granite boulders.


Even though it was more protected, as you can see, the view left nothing to be wanted:

Unfortunately, though, bluebird skies gave way to dark clouds, and a decent thunderstorm rolled in. Charlie was a pro (all those years living in Iowa, perhaps?), but I was quite the wimp--repeatedly wondering aloud why we'd chosen to camp at this $#%@^$ lake, and why we hadn't just stayed in our safe little spot in the valley and made a day hike out of it??

As the rain (and hail) hammered down on the tent, we also noticed something about our nice, protected little site: it was a bowl for catching runoff. So much so, that there were little rivers running down the sides of the hill right into our campsite. Fantastic.

We found ourselves with an inch of water evenly divided between the ground, the ground tarp, and the bottom of the tent. We waited out the storm floating in a puddle on our thermarest matresses.


The good news about our site was, even though it accumulated water quickly, it also drained almost just as fast. The picture above was shortly after the storm ended, and already we were seeing progress on our little houseboat situation.

Once the storm had passed, the rest of the evening progressed without incident. We cooked up some instant backpacking food, watched the sun go down on the mountains, and tucked into the tents for the night. It was a somewhat sleepless night, what, with the deer traipsing through camp and schnuffling through our backpacks (hurrah for hanging food high!), and the silent flashes of lightening that illuminated the sky (I nervously counted in my head, "Mississippi-one, Mississippi-two..." by the time I got to "Mississippi-twenty-one" with no thunder, I decided that I was being somewhat ridiculous.).




We awoke the next morning to bright skies, and clean air. We had a long hike ahead of us, so got started early, said goodbye to the lake, and set off for the valley.



The hike back involved some useful adventure skills such as fording frigid creeks in sandals, balancing across logs, and keeping one's feet under one's legs on steep descents.




In all, it was a great expedition into the backcountry, and, while the Eagle Cap Wilderness always has something new and adventurous in store for us, it also never dissapoints. We always leave yearning to go back next weekend, and the weekend after, and the weekened after that....


If you're still antsy for more pictures, there are a bunch more up on Flickr (as well as the ones here).

Proving myself wrong, yet again.

Two weeks ago, I was lamenting our spring here in Idaho:

"It just isn't LUSH enough!"

"I miss Portland's exuberant cherry trees."


"No magnolias? (Heavy sigh.)"

Pouting, I prepared to move from a drab, brown winter, into a muted, subdued spring. But, as usual, when I complain about something, I had to eat my words.

While Boise doesn't have the outrageous explosions of blossoms and greenery and fecund growth that I became accostumed to in Portland, it puts on a pretty good springtime show.

On Easter afternoon, since Charlie had to work, I took a walk by myself through the North End to enjoy the sunny day. Cherry trees! Plum trees! Forsythia (Boise LOVES this plant)! Tulips! Magnolias! Everything was just a riot of color and flowers.

Better yet, the farmer's market started up last weekend. We wandered, dazed, through the throngs of people attending, and only bought a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs. Asparagus was the vegetable du jour, but they were asking almost $4 a bunch. While the general populace was there, and ready to eagerly embrace the market, the vegetables seem to have a little more growing to do before things can really begin in earnest. Nonetheless, life here is feeling a little more bearable again. Just being able to comfortably go outdoors in a teeshirt and sandals raises my mood 100-fold.

With spring in full-blast, it means that summer, with its 100 degree days and dusty afternoons is looming just over the horizon. The last two days have been hot--85 degrees yesterday, with similar weather forecast for today. But, being that it's still spring, we have to take this in stride, and enjoy the taste of summer before it becomes opressive: a week ago today, there was snow in the forecast, and the prediction for the weekend is rain, and 58. I think we should be able to handle this task. If there's one thing growing up in Washington has taught us, it's to enjoy and appreciate sunny, warm days when they come around.

So for today, I'll put sunscreen on my shoulders, and dig out the shorts, tank tops, and sun dresses I packed away last fall. I might also pack up a few sweaters--I just don't see myself wearing a wool turtleneck from here on out.

The Great Coffee Table Search... or... Welcome to Craigslist Boise

I will just do away with the "I'm-so-sorry-we-haven't-posted-in-forever" apologies right now. Life, Christmas, a case of the blues, and winter all struck at once, and things get behind.

If anyone is reading any longer, and you're interested in keeping up, most of our recent adventures (including a trip to the Snake River Birds of Prey Area) have been documented on my (Ariel's) Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arielarielariel . There, you can also find interesting things like The Funeral Cone and Charlie's New Personal Hygiene Plan.

But, the point of this post isn't to fill you in on things that we've been up to, but, rather, on one specific point of interest: a photo-walk through the truly amazing selection of coffee tables available for sale on Craigslist here in Boise.

Last weekend, Charlie got the idea that perhaps we needed a coffee table for this room--with the thought that, with a table, we might live in it a little more. Always up for a hunt--especially if it involves things like furniture--I immediately pulled up Craigslist to find the perfect secret bargain.

In doing so, I forget that, even here in Boise, Craigslist is no longer the somewhat hip, "subculture" exchange of goods that it once seemed. Or, for that matter, even just a place to get good stuff from people with decent taste.

Which leads me to the thought that maybe the problem isn't a slide toward a trailerpark garage sale, but rather a simple difference in taste between myself and the average Craislist seller.

Then again, perhaps you'll disagree?

It's hard, in fact to disagree with the seller's statement that this is an "impressive" coffee table. Though, I find the expectation that they'll get the requested $500 for it "impressive" as well.


Impressive wasn't quite up our alley, so instead I opened up one that the seller described as very "sterdy" (sic), and "handmade." I never would have guessed it was handmade. Or, sterdy for that matter, actually.


No, I was on Craigslist in search of a diamond in the rough--a bargain that we'd love, and could really live with... "Yours for only $100!" How could we resist? (Apparently, you could buy the whole living room set--which, I sincerely hope included the... mmm... "arrangement"(?) atop the table). I'll bet they would have thrown in the fireplace guard for a good price, too.


How about this stunning ensemble? For only $500 you can have the chairs AND table. Just in case I ever needed to have a "Parisian Cafe Gardern Party" in my living room.



Too curlicued for our tastes.

One of the things that was most fascinating about browsing coffee tables, was reading the excuses people gave for getting rid of things. Rather than "Good Lord, it's just too damn UGLY!" (which the people of THIS table should have said...)


People would came up with a series of curious excuses. Some were heartbreaking, and reflected the current economic downturn ("Lost house. Moving into our RV. Can't keep the furniture."), others reflected new life changes. For instance, the table below was being sold for the simple reason of, "BABY TAKING OVER HOUSE. MUST SELL." (No hard feelings, honey, but the baby's just TAKING OVER THE HOUSE.) I just noticed that the baby appears to be taking over the picture too, in the background.


Well, we don't have a baby to worry about, and who knows, maybe round is our thing?


Maybe not. It was also amazing that people thought they were doing you a favor by passing along an amazing deal for a table on which they'd OBVIOUSLY spent way too much money... This lovely Jaguar number could be had for the STEAL price of around $500. They'd originally bought this "unique" (their word, how true) gem in Las Vegas for $1000. Oh well, better than gambling it away... I think?


Shortly after this post, I ran across another advertising a similar table. Maybe a bear is better suited to an Idaho lifestyle. What's up with the animals bearing our burdens?


A couple of my other favorites include:

"We just don't use it." (I wonder why??)

"$200! Won't Last! (Can be easily spray-painted a different color!)" (Why would I spend $200 on a table only to SPRAY-PAINT it?)


A handmade creation that they put a lot of "time, effort, and hard work" into... (Yes, the legs look like firewood, and it's covered in bottle caps.)


I just have no words for this one. Is this even a TABLE?


And, finally. Tonight's winner. Found with the end-all, be-all caption: "Great in Any Setting!"


Suffice to say, in wrapping up, that we went home table-less. Better luck next time?

Waiting for our ship to come in.

Like everyone else faced with traveling through the "Storm of the Century" that's marauded the United States, Charlie and I are hanging out in an airport right now, waiting for our flight to come in. Fortunately for us, we've only been here for about an hour--we live ten minutes from the Boise airport, and so were able to easily manage the delays without camping out.

I'm pretty amazed to hear of all the madness that's happening to you all out in Seattle and Portland. As most of you know, I'm a HUGE fan of crazy weather--it breaks my heart a little not to be there for it all! We've gotten a little weather out in Boise, too, but it's not quite the same around here.

For example: it snowed in Boise on Sunday night, and not ONLY was I expected to get to work on Monday, but I was expected to BE THERE ON TIME, too! And we had like, THREE INCHES OF SNOW! The humanity. It's just not quite the same when things keep functioning despite the weather.

That said, everyone wishes that things like airports and trains functioned throughout storms. Charlie and I are trying to fly in to the SeaTac airport for the first leg of our triple-state-Christmas-extravaganza--the same airport where 3,000 people have been sleeping the past few nights because they couldn't get flights out. From the news stories I've been able to put together, they've run out of food, blankets, and flights. Remind me again why Charlie and I are trying to GET to this place that thousands of people are desperately trying to LEAVE? It's a little mad.

Here we are:

Snowtown, USA.

Well, it seems that way to Charlie and I, at least.

By now you've probably seen Charlie's last post about our Christmas tree. It was lots of fun to go pick it out together.

Currently we're enjoying (?) our first winter storm in Boise. It's been going on for about a week now. Everything is snowy and a little wild, but the city seems to do a good job managing the weather. Far better than Seattle and Portland who are in the throes of hysteria right now with their monster winter storms.

It's been warmer that they were originally predicting--only into the 10's and MAYBE a single digit. Still, it's been hard for a little kitty to adjust to. He spends his time rotating between a few warm places in our house. I almost feel like I should draw a Family-Circle style chart to illustrate it. He insists on sleeping on the bed at night. Then once the humans are done showering for the day, he sits in the warm shower (IN THE WET SHOWER!) for 20 minutes or so. Then he moves to the chair by the heater. He alternates between that, and between sitting in front of the other space heater all day.

And sometimes he burrows into any pile of fabric he can find.


Today when I got out of the shower, I sat down on the bed, and heard a quiet little "mrow" from under a pile of blankets and clothing. I peeled back a few layers, and found the cat curled up, INSIDE my skirt. Okie dokie.

Despite Otto's wimpiness, we still made it outside for a walk today. I'll share a few shots of Boise in the winter and snow to give you an idea of what we're looking at. We're supposed to get another 3 or 4 inches tonight. This is on a walk up to Camel's Back. There were tons of people sledding and playing in the snow.

Christmastime is here...

Ariel and I bought our first Christmas tree together for our apartment last weekend. We picked up a four footer from a little Christmas tree lot off of Broadway here in Boise. Since it was so small, we had no trouble at all fitting it in our Toyota Yaris.



Shortly after getting it home, we pulled out our ornaments and got to work on decorating it.









We also pulled out some other Christmas doodads and decorated the house - it's starting to feel festive around here!



We'll be heading out of town soon to celebrate Christmas with family, first in Washington, then in Illinois. But for now, we're enjoying the holiday season for the very first time in Boise.

Ho hum. Back to the real world.

Uh.... The blog. Right.

We have an excuse this time, I promise. The past three weekends, Charlie and I have had out-of-town guests sleeping cozily on our couch and floor. Friends from Portland, friends from Washington, and Charlie's sister have all graced our humble abode.

What a wonderful time we've had. We paddled about on Swan boats in Julia Davis Park. We toured the Old Idaho Penitentiary. We got stuck in a thunderstorm and learned all about our new state at the Idaho State History museum. We saw original wagon-wheel ruts in the ground from the Oregon Trail. We ate three ice cream potatoes. We tried a new restaurant. We took a chilly hike in the foothills. We lit a fire in our fireplace for the first time. We experienced our first snowfall in Boise. We watched the debates, cooked delicious meals, played board games, drank wine and beer, and had great conversations. Wow.

We're not sure what to do with ourselves now! Perhaps on Saturday morning Charlie and I will find ourselves drawn to Boise State University and the greenbelt for our weekly tour about... it's becoming a tradition! Will our stomachs rumble because we haven't stuffed ourselves to the gills at a weekend breakfast out? What's Otto going to do when he has to sleep in the living room because there are no guests to protect from his over-eager cuddles?

It's been busy, and so, so much fun, but I'm relieved that I don't have to fuss over my clutter-pile of mail this week. Otto will also appreciate not being chased around the house by the nasty broom as we sweep the hardwoods.

In the end, though, Charlie and I are so grateful to have friends and family that care enough about us to want to fly to the middle of nowhere (haha, for you coastal folks, anyhow) on their vacation weekends just to visit us.

A few other things have been afoot, too. Charlie and I are plotting a weekend escape to the Hailey/Sun Valley area for my birthday this weekend (birthday is on a MONDAY this year, how disappointing!). We're hoping for lots of colorful trees, and a little time spent checking out Ketchum, Sun Valley, and a little hiking in the area. We might even make it over to Craters of the Moon. I'm looking forward to that. Apparently last weekend in Hailey, there was a big, awesome festival called The Trailing of the Sheep. This involved 1500 sheep being run down the streets of the city. We are definitely THERE next year. Apparently it's a really remarkable festival, and was listed as one of the top ten fall festivals in the world by MSN travel. Sheep!

Finally, I've picked up an on-again off-again part-time job in addition to my full-time one (that Charlie, he is so stingy--I had to look for another job in order to justify a tin of lip balm now and then....). This week I made a little pocket cash doing some pet-sitting for a guy who works for my company.

I was watching four pets: two dogs and two cats. The cats are old as old can be--sweet, creaky creatures that followed me around the house begging for a scratch or two. The dogs are as different as they come: one, an old mutt, is shaggy, slow, and sweet. He wanders about the house, clicking his toe nails and slowly surveying his domain. The other dog, a bounces-off-the-walls 3-year old Doberman is quite another story. She's spring-loaded and wired for sound. Even after having the chance to meet her with her people around, the first time I showed up it took us most of an hour to come to an understanding. I don't blame her in the least ("WHO are you, WHY are you in my house, and I'm-in-a-crate-and-can't-do-anything-but-bark-at-you-and-snarl-a-little!"), I think she was wound up, nervous, and protective. I ended up bribing her with her obsessive love: a rubbery frisbee. As her owner later said, "when faced with the option of protecting her house or playing frisbee, you know where her priorities are." After thoroughly exhausting her with a game of fetch, we were suddenly fast friends--even the kind of friends who try and climb in each other's laps, and dance in wiggly circles when they show up at the house the next day. In all, it was a great experience, but certainly one that stretched my creativity and pushed my boundaries a little (in a good way) when it comes to dealing with critters. Tonight is the first night in a couple days that I'm not taking care of them... and you know? I kind of miss it. Otto on the other hand is glad that I'm no longer covered in grass bits and dog slobber.

For that matter, so is Charlie.