Hello World (and my first trip to the Washington Coast)

This is me

Let's start this out the way everyone does, why am starting a blog now?  After moving out of yet another town, there are too many people to keep updated on my adventures, and I haven't been journaling much lately...so this seemed a happy medium.  Plus, people here get sick of hearing the same stories over and over again. Let's start with the latest misadventure.


  It all started last Thursday night, somewhere between 1130 and midnight.  Jess, Brian and I had a fun freezing camping trip planned for the weekend, and Brian and I were too excited to wait till morning to leave.  We dragged Jess out and got an earful for that one. After almost running out gas, almost hitting a dear, rocking out to some old school hip hop, and watching crazy trucker drivers....we made it to the parking lot at 5am...only to sleep until 1pm.  But that worked out for the best because we managed to wake up to sunshine!  Hiked in the 3 miles to Cape Alava (the Western most edge of the contiguous 48 states!) and set up camp before exploring the beach.  Great weather all afternoon and evening, but no hopes for a good fire. That wind was impressive, the type that lets you lean into it and feel like you're Kate Winslet in Titanic.

This is my crew for Misadventure #1

   Woke up to drizzle the next morning so packed up our gear before exploring up coast a little ways.  Found the abandoned Makah Ranger Station on the Ozette reservation, and paid homage to the old village site of the Ozette nation.  The site was marked by a worn down wooden shack filled with bones from sea animals and necklaces, and a bronze sign.  The whole thing made for a humbling shelter from the wind and stood guard over the sacred island of Tskawayah (which I tried to walk out to, but the tide said "nay").  We also saw a coyote, which I'm convinced was the look out for the island.
  Back to camp to grab our gear and begin the 3 mile hike down the coast at high tide to reach Sand Point.  Easy right?! Beautiful, windy, chilly, wet, hard work...and I pulled my quad. But I tore it while climbing up and down some crazy rope course type hills to avoid high tide.  The injury may also have happened while I squatted to get under massive tree trunks on the beach (but that doesn't sound as cool).  Got to see a few petroglyphs, but the camera was hidden in a nice dry spot in Jess' pack so I will not be able to share them with you.  My apologies.
  We took a good 20 minutes to pick a camp site when we finally made it to Sand Point, but found something we thought might be safe from the wind.  Explored some more after a little make shift ground cover turned rain fly.  Then the wind went crazy.  We climbed a big grass covered rock, making sure to hold on tight, and leaned 45 degrees into the wind.  Weeeeee!!! Brian decided to wuss out while Jess and I explored another weird rock that you can only get to during low tide. While I jumped from kelp covered rock to kelp covered rock Jess made a good observation "Syd, you're like a puppy who needs to be taken on more walks".  Agreed.  But, we saw Sea Otters!!!
  Then we discovered just how non water-proof our rain gear really was.  Dinner was cooked just outside the tent while we all tried to dry off and stay warm.  Our entertainment consisted of UNO, patty-cake, and way too many pictures of goofy faces and up close face shots.  Then the worst night sleep I have had in far too long. You know its bad when you wake up and consistently hope that morning has arrived.  The wind...the WIND!!
  630 am wake up (or something) and we made pancakes!!!  The easiest 3 mile hike through coastal rain forest as Jess obsessed about mushrooms, Brian smoked more cigarettes, and I...don't remember what I did. And then I got to put on dry socks!!!!  The ride back consisted of two more highlights, I almost broke the car because Brian did not warn me about his finicky car alarm and not opening the door from the inside while its locked. All went well, then we got to pick up some hitch-hikers...yay! They were coming from Occupy Victoria to hit up Occupy Seattle, so we got some good stories from them.  Great people, and Star can play some mean banjo.  Then home.
  Well that ends Misadventure #1.