Tag Archives: Washington

Jul16

A Washington Adventure – Backpacking Flapjack Lakes

Posted on July 16, 2022 by perfectusvarrus

Sunday and Monday, 19-June-2022 & 20-June-2022

It’s been a while since I’ve had an adventure like this, hasn’t it? One big adventure with a few different blog posts dedicated to it? Well… Here we go! Adventure to Seattle, solo-style!

A while back, I was granted citizenship to Austria, through an update to the Austrian Constitution allowing repatriation for descendants of those displaced by war. I compiled paperwork over six months, sent it all in, and then waited almost nine months. Then, out of the blue, I get a package in the mail – a very official package with my “Bescheid” included – my new citizenship!

Now that I have it, though, I need a passport… and the closest consulate is in Seattle. I haven’t been for a few years, and I’ve never had an opportunity to either explore the city on my own or to go backpacking in the Olympic National Forest… which happens to be right across Puget Sound from Seattle…

When I told my Manager at work that I’d be taking some time off, I got a very unexpected reply. My manager, since I don’t think I’ve discussed him before, is an older gentleman. He’s small, and fairly frail. With absolutely no offence intended, he’s not someone I’d expect to be out in the woods.

But when I mentioned that I was planning on backpacking the Olympics, his face lit up in a way that I hadn’t really seen before. He started rattling off hikes that he recommended, and our conversation ended up meandering all the way from the Olympic National Forest to his ascent of Mt. Rainier.

It’s always amazing, to me, to learn the subtle details of someone’s life that you never would have learned otherwise. The people we see, day to day, tend to become one-dimensional caricatures… “Ohh, Bob is just a guy who works in the shop, and eats PB&J every day”. It’s… unfortunate… that we tend to loose out on the rich tapestry that everyones lives actually are.

I learned that he, as a younger man, had been an accomplished outdoorsman – and mountaineer, in his own right. He regaled me with stories of glaciers and hikes… nothing too crazy, mind you, but stories that, simply put, mirrored my own surprisingly closely.

From all this, I got a target – Flapjack Lakes, from the Staircase trailhead.

I looked up the details, and planned my ascent. The trail was a normal length for me, and the elevation gain wasn’t outside my comfort range. It was high, don’t get me wrong, but it felt doable – especially with all the Physical Therapy that I’d been doing recently.

I’d planned the adventure well – I’d leave Seattle on Sunday, taking the ferry across Puget Sound, and then drive to the trailhead. It wasn’t the fastest route, by a good margin, but it was the best adventure… and you know what? That was the whole goal here – I enjoy taking the scenic route, and a ferry absolutely meets that criteria.

The ferry ride went beautifully. I had time to not only enjoy the pastries that I’d picked up from the Panama Hotel tea house, but I even had time to call my Dad and StepDad to wish them a happy fathers day! What – you expected that I should forget such an auspicious day? Never! Well… I did forget to call my friends who have kids, but… yeah. I felt bad about that, when I realized.

Anyways! To the hike!

It… Uhh… It was a hike.

You know how I usually skip the details of the hike, because it’s effectively just me stepping one foot in front of the other for seven hours?

Yeah… this was like that. But beautiful!!! I mean, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for seven years now (yeah, I can barely believe it myself), but I’m always awestruck at the sheer volume of vegetation that surrounds me when I step into the woods. Don’t get me wrong – West Virginia puts up a good fight, but… Well, The Olympic National Forest is a rainforest. And Rainforests have a very high biomass concentration.

It was, simply put, beautiful.

I walked, I adored the views, and I appreciated the many waterfalls that I saw. I enjoyed the snow-capped peaks when they shone through the trees, and I loved every foot of elevation that I earned, with a 40lb pack on my back.

I camped at Flapjack Lakes, exceptionally happy and proud of my ascent. It wasn’t an easy one, to be sure, but I felt good by the time I was setting up the tent in a small clearing next to a snowfield. The lakes were clear and cold, and the nearby Sawtooth Ridge stood out against the cloudy sky. It was exquisite, exactly what I had been hoping for.

That night, I camped under the stars. I ate my dinner, drank both cocoa and apple cider (yep, I brought them both), and read my book. It was… It was. It simply was, and that was exactly what I’d been hoping for.

The next day dawned… well, it didn’t quite dawn bright. It was cloudy, but… you know, it wasn’t bad at all. It might not be bright and sunny, but it was cool, beautiful, and I didn’t need to wear sunscreen. So… you know. Win!

The hike back out was beautifully simple. I took my time, making sure to not overstress my knees or burn myself out, and stopped every hour or so for a nice rest to read more of my book. I enjoyed the scenery, sipped water, and clomped along down the trail toward the car.

Simple. And. Beautiful.

Once back to the car, I took my time unpacking. The next leg of my adventure was driving to the next campground… and I wasn’t in any rush. It wasn’t too long of a drive, either – approximately 500ft, give or take, to pull into the next parking area and pick a pull-in campsite.

Yeah… advantage to doing my second night in an established campground.

Once settled into my new campsite for the evening, I relaxed and gorged on some more freeze-dried food. Drank more cocoa, sipped more cider, and read on into the night…

A very good adventure, and an excellent escape from the day to day life.

Jul15

A Washington Adventure – Seattle Aquarium!

Posted on July 15, 2022 by perfectusvarrus

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Saturday, 18June-2022

It’s been a while since I’ve had an adventure like this, hasn’t it? One big adventure with a few different blog posts dedicated to it? Well… Here we go! Adventure to Seattle, solo-style!

A while back, I was granted citizenship to Austria, through an update to the Austrian Constitution allowing repatriation for descendants of those displaced by war. I compiled paperwork over six months, sent it all in, and then waited almost nine months. Then, out of the blue, I get a package in the mail – a very official package with my “Bescheid” included – my new citizenship!

Now that I have it, though, I need a passport… and the closest consulate is in Seattle. I haven’t been for a few years, and I’ve never had an opportunity to either explore the city on my own or to go backpacking in the Olympic National Forest… which happens to be right across Puget Sound from Seattle…

Of all my adventures and exploration around Seattle, the Aquarium takes the note as the one I wanted to dedicate an entire post to. Simply because there’s so many pictures!

I mean… how can you NOT stand and play photographer to a darling Giant Pacific Octopus? Or phosphorescent coral? OR THE OTTERS???

Anyways. I went to the Aquarium with my friend Nicole, and we had a blast! It was my first time there, but her second, so she played a bit of a tour guide for me… pointing out neat things as we wandered, and making sure to comment on my ability to poke sea cucumbers and urchins.

Yup. They let us poke things! Of all the parts of the Seattle Aquarium, I have to say the tide pools are my favorite… not just from an animal perspective, but from an engineering perspective… See, the Aquarium is right above Puget Sound, and they have pumps and channels that actually pull water directly from the sound into the building!

That water is then… somehow… turned into waves? And those waves feed the large enclosed pools that fill the first room you go into – all of which have animals safe for human contact! It’s so cool!

So, without further ado, please enjoy the many awesome sights!

Jul14

A Washington Adventure – Exploring Seattle

Posted on July 14, 2022 by perfectusvarrus

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Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – 16-June-2022 through 18-June-2022

It’s been a while since I’ve had an adventure like this, hasn’t it? One big adventure with a few different blog posts dedicated to it? Well… Here we go! Adventure to Seattle, solo-style!

A while back, I was granted citizenship to Austria, through an update to the Austrian Constitution allowing repatriation for descendants of those displaced by war. I compiled paperwork over six months, sent it all in, and then waited almost nine months. Then, out of the blue, I get a package in the mail – a very official package with my “Bescheid” included – my new citizenship!

Now that I have it, though, I need a passport… and the closest consulate is in Seattle. I haven’t been for a few years, and I’ve never had an opportunity to either explore the city on my own or to go backpacking in the Olympic National Forest… which happens to be right across Puget Sound from Seattle…

I’ve listened to the entire Halo soundtrack, every single game, through. 27 hours of orchestral glory, start to finish.

I’ve rocked out in the office to 10-hour playlists of techno, and I’ve burned gasoline to the discography of Angels and Airwaves, Breaking Benjamin, and more.

Somehow, I’ve never listened to a single complete album by Pink Floyd.

I mean, I’ve listened to Roger Water’s solo album, Radio KAOS, countless times… but the band that made him famous? Never listened. So that’s what I did on the drive up to Seattle. Listened through Pink Floyd, cruised the I5, and enjoyed the wind in my hair.

I arrived in Seattle almost exactly when I aimed to, thanks to some lovely lack of traffic, and quickly got myself checked into the hotel I’d booked. Now, I could have gone with a standard Hyatt or Marriot… and I could easily have booked some fancy penthouse suite on AirBnB… but frankly, both of those would have been expensive. I was hoping to just enjoy a relaxing adventure where I could get a sense of Seattle itself, and sequestering myself away in a fancy apartment or a sterile hotel didn’t quite do it for me.

Instead, I’d booked a room at the Panama Hotel – A hotel, to be sure, but one with an interesting history… It was a cornerstone of the “Japantown” district of Seattle, from before World War II. Which, if my dear readers remember their history, was emptied of its populace during the war. Those people were sent to internment camps in the central United States under the (hopefully) now infamous Order 9066.

When they were removed, many couldn’t carry all their belongings… and so stored them in the Panama Hotel. Many of those belongings are still on display at the hotel, in a small tea shop below the rooms. Their previous owners never able to collect them.

When I saw this hotel, I knew it was the right place to stay. It was perfect symmetry – I was in Seattle to reclaim what was taken from my Grandfather… so it was right that I at least pay homage to a group that suffered a similar fate.

Without diving into a history lesson (Feel free to review the links below, if you’d like more background on the Panama Hotel), the hotel was perfect. It was lived-in! The room was small, but comfortable. It had a shared bathroom and shower, and I felt like I was back on the road again during my earlier adventures, staying in small hostels. The tea shop was a perfect morning haunt, and it was perfectly located so that I could wander around town when I wasn’t at my Passport appointment.

And did I wander! I tracked over 7 miles every day of simple walking.

I wandered the waterfront, explored small parks, and appreciated the interesting graffiti art that I found all over town. I followed whatever path I felt at the time, and reveled in the freedom from timelines and tasks. The simple joy of wandering, and enjoying the world around me.

Two places of note that I want to mention specifically, though:
– Whiskey Bar. Aptly named, I went here two nights in a row to sample there amazingly impressive selection. Whiskey and scotch all the world over… including a brand-new Israeli distillery that ages their whiskey in the dead sea!
– Fuji Sushi. A restaurant right across from the Panama Hotel, they had amazing sushi! I mean… just enjoy the photos. I can’t even describe how good it was, and how full I felt by the end!

I don’t have too much else to add, here. I enjoyed, I wandered… what I said above. It was lovely!

As an extra – Some of the street art that I saw!

And, an extra-extra – but more somber extra – a beautiful memorial that I found one evening while wandering the city. A collection of names, but also of quotes from the past… a reminder that any conflict is always about death, and that each tallied death in a conflict is a unique life lost.