Awareness, adaptation, and waiting

Lots of thoughts have been building and swirling in my mind over the past two weeks. This post is my attempt to organize them, make sense of them, siphon them off, and share them. Hopefully it makes sense!

I. Awareness

For several weeks this summer, I felt somewhat spiritually stagnant, like I was going through the motions of daily scripture reading because it was the right thing to do, but not getting too much out of it. I understood that it isn't always fireworks; often it's quiet daily work with subtle small simple effects that aren't immediately visible. So I kept at it through the uninspired weeks, but it felt dull and hard.

PCT to Shoe Lake

After bathing in Deet, I met another wilderness celebrity on Monday (August 10th). The Pacific Crest Trail was beyond dreamy. How have I lived in WA for over ten years and never run on the PCT? Words seem inadequate to describe the beauty, especially since I'm still sapped of sufficiently descriptive superlatives after last week's run on the Wonderland Trail. It has been a great summer for magical WA-exploration!

A Victory on the Sunday Battleground

For the most part, home church at the White house is short, sweet, and to the point. Brevity helps us avoid (or at least stave off) the inevitable tussles that seem to occur whenever we are all in the same room trying to Do Something Spiritual Together. Today I approached home church with a different attitude: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! The Come Follow Me Primary manual had a stellar idea that was right up my family's aisle. I love it when pre-made lesson plans are perfect! That rarely happens, because I'm picky and tend to resist overly cheesy activities. This week it worked! 

Wonderland to the Panhandle

Ever since I first read about the Wonderland Trail a few years ago, I have dreamed about it and drooled over descriptions of its epic terrain and scenery. It became something of a celebrity in my mind, with an allure similar to that of the Appalachian Trail. The Wonderland Trail circles around the entire base of Mt. Rainier, creating a premier 93 mile loop. For some reason, I always thought of that 93 mile trail as a whole and never considered doing a day hike or a trail run on a small section of it like I often did on the Appalachian Trail back in Virginia. Then we drove past a Wonderland Trail access point on our way to the Snow and Bench lakes trail last week, and it clicked: I could enjoy the Wonderland in pieces! No need to commit to a multi-day 93 mile trek! 

Target: acquired.

Excessive heat warning

At the beginning of the week, the weather forecast issued a four day "heat advisory." It quickly expanded to five days, and soon devolved into an "excessive heat warning," with triple digit temperatures five days in a row. The Yakima Valley was a scorching place to be--not uncommon at this time of year, but blisteringly uncomfortable nonetheless. We fled to the mountains for a family hike on Tuesday, and spent the next two days recovering from our exertions. (Why are family hikes more tiring than solo trail runs?) 

By Friday we were ready and rarin' to go again. I picked out an easy-access, family-friendly mountain lake with beachfront that was a mere 2 hour mostly-highway drive from home. The highway component was key--we didn't want another carsick puking kid on this outing! The forecast was 23 degrees cooler at the lake than in Sunnyside. We craved that break from the heat ravenously. 

Two Lakes

Yakima Valley is in the molten grip of a heat wave this week. The five day forecast is all in triple digits. Mountains to the rescue! I love being able to escape our smoldering valley to the cooler mountains! We were not in the mood to camp (too much work, not enough sleep), so we decided on a day trip. After performing my signature intensive research, I selected the Bench and Snow Lake trail in Mt. Rainier National Park for a family hike. On Tuesday, (July 28th), we made the 2 hour 20 minute drive, with somewhere around 20 minutes of added time for two sections of stop-and-wait road work. We listened to music together and watched the trees flash by. 

Once we entered the official park, the road got steeper and curvier. Predictably, Rose got car sick and threw up on the side of the road. Cue the slamming of brakes and hasty opening of door for the green child to upchuck! Once Rose was all cleaned up, we forged onward. The drive was gorgeous, in spite of the sinuous road, and since Rose was all emptied out, she didn't puke again. 

A backyard walk

The day after my trail run adventure was a Saturday. Instead of going on a run, I went on a walk with the kids behind our house. They led me all over the farmland and fields, proudly showing me all of their favorite places to play, run, climb, and dig. It was sweet seeing the familiar places through their eyes. Even though the constant "Mommy, look!" can get exasperating at times, it really is fun being their number one Person To Show Everything. On this walk, I realized (again) that setting specific time aside to be fully present with my kids definitely brings that joy to the forefront. Instead of me feeling irked at being interrupted with a "come see this," I was already there in the moment, ready to look at all of their favorite places. 

Union Creek

Another Shainadventure is in the books! On Friday (July 24th), I drove 99 miles west into Chinook Pass with my sights set on a well-researched portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. In the car, when I was a scant three miles from the top of Chinook Pass, I drove into a cloud. It wasn't a fluffy white happy cloud; it was an ominous dark gray cloud that completely covered the road and the sweeping panoramic vistas that characterize Chinook Pass. When I jumped out of the car to use the vault toilet at the trail parking area, it was forty degrees, windy, wet, and dark. 

It was decision time. Did I want to have a cold, wet, possibly stormy/slick trail run with all big mountain views hidden in mist? Or did I want to turn back and drive a couple miles to one of many other unknown, un-researched trailheads lower down out of the cloud? After agonizing for a while, I reluctantly turned around and drove back the way I came until I saw a likely looking trail sign for Union Creek Trail. 

Union Creek Falls, a quarter of a mile down the trail.

Sunnyside Summertime

Summertime is in full force here in Sunnyside, with endless blazing blue skies every day and several triple digit temperatures every week. The crops are a lush, leafy green under the farmers' careful irrigation. The canal is full and deep, flowing life and color into the dry brown land. On the horizon, Mt. Adams' blanket of white snow is patchy and receding. The sunrises are early and bright; the sunsets are late and lingering. It's the season when fair Sunnyside truly lives up to her name. 

Our country cottage is in the middle of all that irrigation, agriculture, sun, and sky. We had a quiet week at home. It was noticeably quiet for two reasons. One: we did a post-trip self-quarantine, so we didn't socialize. Two: our summer screen time rule is an equal ratio of outside time to screen time, with a baseline requirement of two hours outside everyday. The kids learned to get up earlier and go outside before the heat set in, and consequently, the inside of our house was serenely peaceful for several hours every morning. When the kids came inside, they were [mostly] tame and tired, so the calm-factor continued. It is a system that works wonders for our family sanity! 

Bridger Ridge

During our last night on the road, while we were lounging in our Bozeman, Montana hotel room, I started browsing nearby trails in the All Trails app on a whim. I happened across a popular trail that was only a twelve minute drive from our hotel. Twelve minutes to a gorgeous mountainous trail? At home I drive at least two hours to get to the good trails! The riches of such proximity were too tempting to pass up. After a brief conference with Jeff, I committed. The next morning (Wednesday, July 15th), after Jeff finished his run (on firm even sidewalks to coddle his poor ankle problem), I drove that brief one dozen minutes across Bozeman to the College M and Bridger Ridge trailhead. 

Old Faithful

Our final stop in our Yellowstone day was the classic Old Faithful geyser. The parking lot was massive and packed with cars. We drove up and down rows and rows of vehicles with license plates from at least half of the states. Rose and I enjoyed reading out all of the different states on each car. It made the hunt for a parking spot a little more fun. After ten minutes or so with no parking success, Jeff and I had a quick consultation wherein I was fine with skipping Old Faithful due to the non-pandemic-friendly crowds. Jeff was determined to have our kids see Old Faithful, though, so he agreed to drop us off and keep searching for a parking spot. Jeff saw Old Faithful when he was Jay's age, so he wouldn't be crushed if he missed it. We agreed to meet back at the curb every 15 minutes to check in (no cell service).

As the kids and I walked up the long sidewalk towards the geyser, we saw a sign with the next eruption prediction. It said 1:40pm. It was 1:39!! We ran for it and way up ahead the geyser began spouting! We stood and watched from afar while the steam and water shot into the air. It lasted longer than I expected it to, and out of the blue, Jeff came sprinting up. He had found a parking spot right after dropping us off! So we all got to see Old Faithful together after all. 

Paint Pots

Our second stop in Yellowstone was the Paint Pots geothermal area. We had planned on seeing the famous rainbow Grand Prismatic Spring, but decided to see Paint Pots first since they popped up first along the park loop road. We were glad we stopped when we did because later when we drove past the Grand Prismatic Spring area, there was a long line of cars waiting to turn into the full-to-bursting parking lot and hoards of people swarming the place. We skipped it. Paint Pots gave us our fill of rainbow-edged hot springs, bubbling hot mud pits, and we even saw a few geysers spout along the path. 

The place was otherworldly. It seemed like a cross between Mars and the moon, with the contrast between the bright orange "bacteria mats" and the desolate white cratered expanse of bubbly mud and geysers. There were several holes that were gurgling and sucking like an old drain. The boiling mud bubbles rose and popped endlessly. The steam never stopped rising from the hot springs. The colors and complete foreign novelty of the place kept us entranced.