Soggy fun

We spent the weekend in Newport, OR with some darn awesome ol' buddies - Mike and Jennifer! I've known them since 2000 when I first started working with them in Glacier Bay and Jay first became friends with them on a 5-day paddle up the bay in 2003. We haven't seen them since their wedding a few years ago - jeez. Too long. We consumed only a few beers each night and spent the day wandering around in a soggy and gorgeous rainforest. They also dragged us to the Rouge Brewery where we were vastly overwhelmed by the choices of tasty beer and spent almost more time deciding what to drink than drinking.

This was an awesome day hike - filled with HUGE trees, loads of rain, and great friends.

On our way home we drove up a tiny bit of the northern Oregon coastline. It was filled with as many saltwater taffy and fudge bars as you would expect in the occasional cheesy east coast beach towns. BUT - what a coast!! Just like the east coast, cheesy beach towns here give way to beautiful open space and coastline. Some parts of it even reminded us of the outer Cape! The cliffs just might be a bit higher here. And there is a rainforest. =)

Fantastic weekend, too bad they are not just a bit closer to us! But there are loads of protected bits of land to explore halfway between Anacortes and Newport. You will have to stay tuned to find out what kind of adventures we get into this summer with Mike, Jennifer, and Denali the wonder dog.