Glacier

Well, Seth and I returned on Tuesday from our trip to Glacier National Park.  What we had planned as our big, 10 day summer trip turned into something of an "outdoors light" situation, which is what prompted the slightly early return.  We went to Glacier by train, having ridden through several times on our cross-country trips to visit home, and used the shuttle that runs the East/West road (nearly the only road) that crosses the park.  Our hope had been to hike from West to East across the park over several days, and then slowly make our way back to the West Glacier train station by way of the shuttle.  However, they had an unseasonalbly late snow this year and the Continental Divide was still snowed out, making a long West/East traverse a no-go with the gear we had.  We did some beautiful day hikes (though they were busy), took a kayak out on Lake McDonald (something new for us and probably the most solitude we got on this trip) and met some absolutely lovely people.  We're definitely hoping to go back sometime when we might be able to do the type of trip that we had originally envisioned, and perhaps even a more extensive trip through Montana, as the small taste we got of the culture there was intriguing and fun.  We're considering this something of a recon/planning trip for our return, so without further ado, the visual intel:

First Day: the dock at Lake McDonald, layers of the jagged Rockies behind

Also on the first day, we hiked up to this lovely Chalet.  You can book a room here (at least 6 months in advance, please); it's one of two hike in only Chalets in the park.

This is what it looked like on the way up.

...and this

...and this.

and this is what we looked like at the top.

not bad for a bus stop, right?

Day two: out in the middle of Lake McDonald for a picnic lunch.  We rented the kayak overnight, and were able to take it out two more times: once for sunset and again for a quick morning paddle before we returned it.

Day four: (three was kind of a wash of planning/failure) hiked up to a lake, of which there were no good views, but there were good views on the way.  This is one of them.

Bear grass flowers (and Seth being silly in them)

Day five: we got some inclement weather so Seth and I rode the shuttle over the the East side of the park and back.  This is what it looked like over there.

...and this.  Check out the banding on this thing!

Staying dry while literally in the clouds, snapping a photo out the shuttle door.

For our last couple of nights we moved to a smaller campsite with great access to Lake McDonald's pebbly beaches (and no generator noise)!

Big Sky Country over the lake

On our last day we did a less popular hike (no vistas) which allowed us some solitude, and a walk through this lovely meadow.  The trail otherwise wound through the woods paralleling the road, meaning that we got to hike it one way and grab a beer at the lodge afterwards!

Dress for S

I've been so busy with sewing and enjoying the summer, the blog has been greatly neglected as of late.  I keep meaning to do a "catch up" post, but in the interest of getting anything up, here are some photos of a knit dress I just finished for Sarah:

Dad Visit Photos

We had a blast last month when Dad came to visit: spent most of our time eating and drinking our way through Portland.  He got some pretty great photos while he was here, and I thought I would share a couple of my favorites, for those of you who haven't had the chance to see them.

Triple selfie in the park, on one of the warm beautiful days we were lucky enough to get during Dad's visit

Below: a comical but great series of Sarah and I out at one of our favorite Indian eateries.

Winter Dress

This December Ashley requested a nice "Christmas Dress" for her trip back home.  In the past I've made patterns for her in the traditional way: by drafting one side and then doubling it for a symmetrical garment.  But Ashley had pretty bad scoliosis as a teenager (as you can maybe see in the first photo) and as a result one hip sits about an inch higher than the other.  This time I build a full pattern for each side of her body that can function as a base pattern for any future bodice she might want, and it fits like a glove!  She was really excited about the fit, and so am I.  We finally got around to photographing it just the other week.  I'm working on another couple of projects for her right now, as well as refining my underwear patterns, so more project posts should be coming up soon.

 

A few weeks ago we also drove Lenny down to San Francisco to start a new tall ship gig, and I have a handful of photos from that trip that I'll hopefully find time to pick through and narrate soon.  This week Seth's mom, sister, and brother in law are visiting, and got a condo in Newport (at the beach/bay), so we're all hanging out enjoying the (intermittent) sun and sand.  Hopefully our relaxing beach week will provide some more blogging time!

Spring Flowers

A quick look at what I've been up to: the newest version of my base pattern.  Also, happy spring!

Lace and Snowflakes

I was able to steamroll the momentum from our class directly into lingerie production in anticipation of a sales party planned for the following weekend (the weekend before Valentine's).  Nature, it seems, did not approve of my plans and sent a three day snow storm that effectively shut down the whole city. Everyone made the right choice and didn't drive over that day, so instead of a party I had a trickle of clients stop by throughout the week once we returned to the reign of rain and all of the snow had melted away.  I'm extremely happy with how my underwear making is progressing:  I have four sizes and several different styles patterned and tested, and I've had moderate luck sourcing materials at a reasonable price for the kind of small scale production I'm doing.  More than anything, this is the first sewing venture I've undertaken where I'm able to pay myself a living hourly wage and price items at a level that I could/would buy them.  Here's a little sampling of what I whipped up this week:

The last few days of our class, which I never got around to blogging about, were as enjoyable and educational as the beginning portion had been.  We learned how to give an muscular injection (Seth and I were each other's guinea pigs for this one), how to identify a hernia, and how to rotate a twisted testicle back into position (no guinea pigs here, just a theoretical explanation).  Our class ended on a Thursday, and on Friday we had those folks who didn't have to skip town right away over for snacking, drinks, and a fire in the living room.  I know I've said it already, but I can say enough about what a great social experience this class was and what an interesting and diverse group of people we met and became friends with: a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, a Shakespearean actor, a beekeeper, a yoga instructor, a professional poker player...  And despite the differences in lifestyle, we all had in common a love of the backcountry and a desire to be prepared to help ourselves and others while enjoying it.

Connecting on this shared interest lit a fire under me and Seth to do some summer planning, and last week we bought train tickets to (finally) visit Glacier National Park this July.  We'll be there for about 10 days in the middle/latter part of the month; I'm extremely excited to take a backpacking/camping trip without use of a vehicle.  The Amtrak (the same train line that we've taken cross-country) stops directly in the National Park, and then Glacier runs a shuttle (free with your Park Pass) along the main park road and to the major campgrounds and trailheads.  We hope to spend several days doing a backpacking trip and the remainder of the time camping and going on day hikes, perhaps with one night in the lodge to clean ourselves up before we board the train back home.

I'm also excited to announce that for the first time in many years we'll be home for Thanksgiving.  I thought that perhaps if we bought our tickets now that they would be comparable in price to a "normal" time of the year, and I was right, so we did.  I'm really looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner with family, to Grandma's pie (I'm putting in a pecan request now), and to some kind of blackened fish concoction of Dad's!

In the meantime...

I don't have a wrap up post on our class yet, but I stumbled across the Halloween photos from this year.  We had a super hero themed party:  I'm Wonder Woman (obviously), Sarah's Hawkgirl, and Seth is the Green Arrow.  Also featured: Supergirl, Aquaman, and both a male and female Batman!