Day 4 - Home Via...

This was the last day of our trip.  I woke up early, as I always do, and read a little while Felix slept.  When he began to stir, he reached over and put his arm across my chest and slept a little more before waking up.  We laid in the tent for a while, listening to the unfamiliar sounds from the forest, quietly trying to find the source through the tent windows.  As the sound of other people waking began to blend in with the forest din, we had our cereal breakfast and proceeded to pack up our gear to avoid feeling pressured when it was time to go.
We took a last walk down to the lake and through some woodsy areas, and then got into the car for our drive home.
The drive let me reflect on our trip and how much fun it was for both of us.  It's really a special feeling when each night my son curls up with me, after a moment of consideration,  and says "Daddy, I really love you".  He said that and/or something very similar several times throughout our trip.  Because he is only five, I wasn't sure how he would like a trip like this; if he would get bored and ask to go home.  He never did.  He had moments of being moody, as did I, but we both really enjoyed the company of each other and we would have liked several more days like this.

When we left for our trip, Felix packed a small backpack for himself that included some elementary "survival" supplies: binoculars, compass, magnifying glass, and also his beloved stuffed hawk he named Parroty.  He took very good care of Parroty during our trip and Felix was cute as I watched him be nurturing.  There was one time when we were getting set to go down to the lake when, before leaving, Felix felt he needed to just go see Parroty in the tent, to touch her.  He picked her (Parroty, he tells me, is a boy, though Felix always refers to Parroty as her) up from under the sleeping bag and just moved her.  Just to reassure her that her well being and security have not been overlooked.

We made one last stop on our drive home: Gorge Creek Falls, which is part of the larger Ross Lake National Recreation Area.  Gorge Creek Falls is where Gorge Creek falls into Gorge Lake.  Hwy 20 passes over the gorge and as you can see in the picture to the right, there is a footbridge along the highway.  The footbridge is steel grating and Felix found it a little unnerving- he had me either carry him or he would traverse by clinging to the railing with his feet on the bottom rail.  The falls were beautiful and the pictures I took just could not capture it.  In fact the pictures were such a disappointment I'm not going to post them, which means you will have to take my word for how beautiful this area is.
We found a trail that went back into the woods a little and had a view overlooking Lake Gorge and its dam.  Not unlike the nearby falls, this too was beautiful, and this too you will see no posted pictures... sorry.  We did take a moment to set up the camera and get a picture together.  After I set the timer, I ran over to sit in front of Felix when he put his hands on my shoulders.  I found that very endearing.  After a little looking around, we set back on the road heading for home.  We took a scenic route by cutting through Darringtion via SR530, until we reached I5 above Everett.
I have to say, this was one of the best vacations I have taken.  This will be an annual trip for Felix and me, though we will take more time and visit other locales.  Perhaps finally getting down to Crater Lake.  We'll see.
We arrived home some time after noon.  I got a picture after we pulled into the driveway:

Day 3 - North Cascades

We set out early for the North Cascades.  In truth, I found the desert bleakness a little depressing, and those RV campers didn't help things.  Besides, with the trouble we had finding a camp site the day prior, Felix was anxious about having the same problem this time.  From SR97 we took SR153 to SR20 until we came to the town of Winthrop; a touristy, frontier themed town.  Until then, I had never been there, though Renae was there a few months prior and told me I should at least stop there.  When we arrived it was still pretty early, except for a handful of restaurants and a coffee shop, the town was still closed.
Felix was not happy with us stopping and didn't care that I hadn't yet had a coffee- but there are privileges that come with being the driver.  We sat outside the coffee shop with our coffee, chocolate milk, and cinnamon bun on a deck that overlooked a small miniature golf course.  Felix didn't care for the cinnamon bun so he went downstairs to check out the mini golf.  Soon he was done and he told me it was time to go.  Perhaps he just doesn't dig frontier themed towns, I thought.  The picture to the right captures probably the happiest face he made in Winthrop.  Eventually I heard him actually say "I don't want to not have a camping spot".  I explained that if we got there too early, the people who were going to leave that day would still be there.  He understood but I also learned that Felix just doesn't dig frontier themed towns.

Renae had told me several times over the years that highway 20 is a beautiful drive.  She wasn't lying, it was an amazing drive.  As I had seen myself, it is a fairly popular route for cyclists, and those are some pretty steep climbs up the Cascade Mountains- I was impressed.
But the views were truly stunning, several points along the way you overlook Ross Lake.  You come around a corner and see an awesome view of snowy peaks.  I took lots of blind pictures while I drove, the picture to the left is one such picture.
I was intent on camping in Newhalem but I too was a little anxious about getting a campsite.  At about 11am we came across Colonial Creek campgrounds, which is about 12 miles east of Newhalem and was not listed on my map.  At first I passed it, intent on Newhalem.  But I thought "I'm right here, why not", actually it was more like "If Newhalem is full I don't want to backtrack 12 miles to find out this one is full as well".  I drove through the campgrounds, which sat on Diablo Lake, and saw several empty sites.  But it was a really beautiful site, the whole site.  Initially I thought that if Newhalem is full, I'll have plenty of time to get back here, but after checking in with the ranger and finding out I don't need a reservation (more on that in a second) I realized that Colonial Creek is gorgeous- there really wasn't a reason to leave it.
Second's up.  In my limited experience, there appear to be a few differences between state parks and national parks.  One is that state parks allow motorized vehicles on the bodies of waters where national parks don't, another is that state parks are quite a bit more; $21 to $12 a night, and state parks take reservations.  Also, the national parks seem to be better staffed and maintained. 
The true highlight of our trip for Felix was when he was bestowed the title of Junior Park Ranger.  This experience illustrates another difference between state and national parks, and here's the story: initially the site we selected was right on the lake.  The site next to us had a boy that looked to be six or seven.  I thought this was perfect, and Felix really liked it too, but then we crossed the small access road to a secluded site surrounded by the forest.  Felix was in love and we set up there.  Anyway, while we were scoping out the lake front site, the father of the boy told me that the ranger station had some activity books for kids I should check out.  After we moved and were all set up, Felix and I went down to the ranger station to see what they had.  One of the rangers explained the Junior Ranger Program: the child was given an age appropriate activity book and had to complete, in the case of the age group Felix was in, five of the eight activities in the tree frog themed book.  We took it back to the campsite and over the next hour or so we completed seven of the eight tasks.  The last task was to interview a park ranger, which we would do when we returned to the ranger station.  Though we had discussed the questions he would ask the ranger when we returned, that task got lost in the excitement.

When we approached, one of the rangers was talking to two bikers and another was at the window listening in on the conversation.  There was another fellow with a large camera strapped around his neck I thought was camper as we were.  So Felix and I stood behind him for a few minutes figuring he was waiting to talk with the ranger at the window.  After a couple of minutes it became clear that he wasn't waiting, so Felix and I approached the window to tell the ranger we had completed the tasks.  And this why I love national parks: the ranger in the window interrupts the other ranger and announces, "Excuse me gentlemen for interrupting but we have a very important occasion here.  Felix here has fulfilled the requirements to become a Junior Park Ranger".  She then hands off the badge to the other ranger while he congratulates Felix and pins the badge on his chest.  The two bikers applauded and one of them showed Felix his retired police officer badge; it was all so cool.  As we turned to leave, the fellow I thought was another camper was, in fact, a photographer for the National Park Service.  He photographed Felix being honored and asked that I sign a waiver so that Felix's picture may appear in a brochure or any type of National Park literature.  We'll see.
Felix was so proud of his achievement, he wore it on his shirt for the next few days.  While at the campsite, later that evening Felix was standing on a large rock in our campsite that was close to the access road when a girl a couple of years older happened by.  They greeted each other and then Felix realized he didn't have his Junior Ranger badge on (the reason will be explained shortly).  He rushed back to me so that I could help him put it on, explaining "when the other kids come by, I want them to see my badge so they can ask me about it".
Early afternoon that day we decided to take the twelve mile drive to Newhalem, and am I glad we did.  When we got there we came across Old Number Six, now a monument to the glory days of Newhalem in the early part of the 20th century.  Here you see Felix sitting atop the old steam engine.  We then got a couple of ice cream sandwiches and walked around the very tiny, Seattle City Light owned town.
When we were about to leave I noticed a sign above what was a bridge I could not yet see, it read: Trail of the Cedars.  I had intended only to get close enough to take a picture until I saw that it was a suspension bridge.  We were both pretty awed at how cool the bridge was, and how beautiful the Skagit River was below us.  Well, I can't speak for Felix regarding the beauty thing.  Anyway, we crossed the bridge and found a trail down to the river.  We skipped some rocks and took the picture at the very beginning of this post.  I had noticed that the rocks at the river's edge were mossy and were pretty slick.  Felix noticed it too... when he fell in.  It wasn't that bad, he wasn't hurt and the camera he had in his pocket was fine.  Though all of his clothes were wet and stained with moss.  Luckily, I happened to have all of our clothes still in the car and he was able to change.  And that is why he didn't have his badge on when that girl passed by our campsite.
We drove back to our campsite and had a very pleasant evening just being with each other and talking.  In the car we listened to a Black Francis song called Dead Man's Curve (not Jan and Dean), back at the campsite Felix told me about a song he was thinking about that would eventually become a movie called Dead Man's Fear.  Dead Man's Fear, it turns out, is actually the main character and he is quite an interesting fellow- he's a skeleton with a multitude of abilities.  I asked Felix how the song would go and he told me he hadn't worked that out yet.
We also were able to start a campfire and I think Felix felt that that really completed the wonderful trip we took.  This was our last full day- tomorrow we would wrap up the North Cascades and begin the trek home.

Day 2 - Alta Lake

Leavenworth to Lake Chelan State Park would make the shortest drive on our trip as I had planned it, but things don't always work out the way you expect, so now I will say- Leavenworth to Lake Chelan State Park would have made for the shortest drive, but...
Upon leaving Leavenworth I didn't want us to feel rushed to get to our next destination. I thought we should take in a few sights on our way. Our first stop came at Wenatchee Confluence State Park, where the Wenatchee River meets the Columbia River. To get there we had to drive through an industrial park which made me question whether we were going the right way. Eventually we found it and, initially, we were going to just spend a little time at the playground and eat some sandwiches- until we saw the beach. We went back to the car, grabbed our swimsuits and beach gear, and headed for the water. The temperature outside was in the 90's though the water was pretty cold. Felix had his fun in the water and even dunked his head, but eventually the call of the sand was too much. Felix and I built a mountain range in the sand including a few volcanoes. We even played out a mock scenario where one of the volcanoes erupts and wipes out a town. It was fun, we had our sandwiches and hit the road. On to Lake Chelan State Park.
Sometimes on a road trip something catches your eye that you didn't notice on your map. Something right off the path that makes you say "why not, it's right here", and after you do, you are really thankful you did. That didn't happen to us. Yes it did, and that spot was the Rocky Reach Dam up SR97 on the Columbia River. When I saw the first sign I thought "cool, that might make an interesting picture as I drive by", the next sign indicated a visitor center and I thought "why not, it's right here". On the approach you come to a security booth were a very friendly guard asks why we are there (I'm not being sarcastic, he was very friendly), I explain that I'm on a little trip with my son, I saw their sign and thought "why not, it's right here". We park, walk through another security checkpoint, and enter the visitor center. Not only is Rocky Reach Dam a dam, it is also a fish ladder and hatchery.
We headed down to the hatchery and saw young Tiger Troutfish, and then the fish ladder viewing room and got to see several Chinook salmon pass by. I "know" they were Chinook salmon because a kindly fellow told me so, as he had been fishing this very river just the other day. Felix was fascinated and got very excited as a salmon passed by, following the fish through each corresponding window to the step in the ladder that we could see. After the fish ladder viewing room, we headed back upstairs and walked across the dam to a museum and a viewing area that allowed us to see the water coming out of the dam. We finished with, what has become our ice cream treat of choice, ice cream sandwiches, headed back to the car and hit the road.

By now it was past 3pm when we reached the Lake Chelan State Park and consequently all 100+ campsites were taken. I was a little shocked, I did not anticipate this. Felix was not happy, he wanted to camp, gawd dammit! With a little disgust in his voice he said, "I told you we shouldn't have stopped". A realization struck me, "what do I do if I can't get him camped?", I thought, "where do we go?". I checked my map and saw Lake Alta campground. We got to Lake Alta about an hour later, the fellow manning the booth was surprised that I was there without a reservation, though, he said, they had five empty sites as long as I'm staying just one night. He instructed that I drive to one of the sites, plop down some gear, and then come back and pay. Only the fifth site I checked was open, which meant I got the last available campsite. After a tense drive, Felix was now at ease because we had a spot to camp.
After unpacking our gear, pitching the tent, and playing on the two large boulders in our site, we headed down to the small beach area. The sand just beneath the waterline was more like gravel. My feet are kind of tender and standing in the water was very uncomfortable to me. Felix wasn't as affected, though without me to carry him around the deeper parts, he soon lost interest in the water and it was more volcano building in the coarse sand.
We decided it was dinner time and discovered that Eastern Washington was too dry and a ban on campfires was in effect. Luckily I brought our Coleman stove. We then took a little hike where we came across a couple of quail. This caught Felix's interest and he soon went from observer to predator, chasing them through the bushes. If you blow up the adjacent picture, you can see one of those quail on top of the table.  Later on, I drew a circle in the dirt and from our chairs we threw rocks, trying to make into that circle. We then just sat in our camping chairs while Felix asked me about all the earthquake stories I had. Yes, he wanted me to tell him about all the earthquakes I have experienced over the years. By then it was getting dark and he was getting tired. We went into the tent and kind of recapped the day. We looked through the pictures he had taken on his camera and then I read to him books that we brought.
We had the misfortune of being camped close to a couple of RV's who's occupants decided to drink quite a bit and be fairly loud, though it did not wake Felix. I thought they had passed out at around midnight, but it turns out they only went for a walk. I'm not sure how much later it was when they returned as I had fallen asleep, but it seems they picked up where they left off. I'm not one to ruin other people's fun, especially those on vacation who are just having a good time, but this was too much and I had to ask them to keep it down- which they did almost immediately, I think they all just went to bed at that point.
The next morning Felix and I were both up pretty early. We had breakfast and quickly packed up our gear. I felt a little guilty about allowing Felix to continue to be very loud, as some of those RVers slept in tents close to ours. I could see them stir when Felix would make a particularly loud shriek as he entertained himself jumping off the boulders in our campsite. I only felt a little guilty. But it was now time to say goodbye to the desert and up to SR20 in the North Cascades.

Day 1 - Leavenworth

With my two week vacation coming up and no definitive plans, I got this idea that Felix and I should take a camping trip.  My original plan was a 'tour' of the Washington peninsula: Lake Crescent, Lake Quinalt, and Ocean Shores.  But Washington weather had foiled my hopes so I looked at other locales.  I had strongly considered Washington's two prominent volcanoes: Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens.  But Felix, who has been very interested in volcanoes, was wary.  He didn't like the idea because he was afraid of an eruption.  I really thought that was going to be a winner.
It makes me question the books we read to him; I don't intend to scare him with nature books that describe the awesome destructive force, the leveling of towns, the obliteration of all living things in the path of an erupting volcano.  I will have to choose more wisely.
Anyway, I had also considered Crater Lake in Oregon, a place I've always wanted to visit, but the drive would be too long.  Then Renae gave me the idea of part of the Cascade loop into Eastern Washington.  I looked through my 2002 road atlas and we decided a night each camping in Newhalem, and Lake Chelan State Park, and a final night in the comfort of a hotel in Leavenworth.  But Washington weather again altered my plans- camping in the North Cascades (Newhalem) would be met with rain on day one.  We would have to reverse our loop and begin in Leavenworth.

We left at 10am on Tuesday, August 10th.  The drive through the pass was scenic enough and we arrived in Leavenworth sometime between noon and 1pm. I parked the car on the busy Front St, the main strip in this Bavarianesque town.  Felix seemed confused, "Are we going to camp here?", he asked.  I explained that because of the weather in the North Cascades on this day, we had to go to Leavenworth first.  He was bummed, he really wanted to camp the first night.  He didn't even want to get out of the car to look around.  Of course he soon did, but he was quiet and just kind of shuffling his feet.  It was about lunchtime now, so we found a restaurant (I've forgotten the name, something with 'bear' in it) and had very good pizza.  The food brought him around, and once we found a hotel (Obertal Inn), we walked down to the Wenatchee River. 
The river was pretty cold, but it was 90 degrees out and the cold water felt good.  We spent a couple of hours there.  Felix tried to catch the small fish with his bare hands, and then we dug a little channel ("Channels are on the TV, dad") from a small pool that splintered off from the river.  This was to "allow" the fish in the pool to rejoin their friends in the river.  We actually managed to push one small fish through. 
We then walked around town and came to rest at Front Street Park which had a good sized grassy hill.  This was a big hit with Felix.  His first run down the hill he managed a pretty spectacular tumble- once leaving his feet his next touch was the back of his head.  This picture is just a second before the fall.  He seemed a little stunned and then smiled broadly and ran back up the hill.  His subsequent descents were slightly more cautious.

In the park we found some large rocks that served as landscaping and a barrier between the upper sidewalk and the lower park.  The rocks surrounded a large pine tree.  Felix climbed upon the rocks below the tree and insisted I take some picture of him there- with both of our cameras.
We had dinner at Munchen Haus, I think it was called.  We took a walk along the river, bought Felix a Batman shirt, played some more at the park until dark. 
The next morning we were up early, before almost all other tourists and got to see a few of the shopkeepers preparing for the day, a lot of that was watering the flowers that decorate every building.  At 11am we checked out and headed up SR97 for Lake Chelan State Park.

Summer of the Water Park

Our friend Kelly cut a deal with the city of Renton and got season passes for her family to the Henry Moses Aquatic Center or... the water park.  Luckily, that deal included a pass for our Felix, as Felix spends a lot of time with his good friend, Charlie. 
This pass is very convenient in that even if they are full, pass holders can still get in.  Also, pass holders don't have to wait in line an hour before a session begins; a pass holder can walk on up at any.  A pass holder can even bring one non-pass holder with them.  So that is what Felix did for me a couple of times until I realized (I still had to pay for me) that as often as I envision us going, it would be cheaper if I just got a pass as well.

So Felix and I have been spending a lot of time there- on the weekends and when I get home from work.  As a matter of fact, if you look at Felix's wrists in the adjacent picture, you will see several colored bands.  The water park gives you those to wear each day you go.  Felix wears his like medals.  Eventually they become dilapidated enough that they will fall off.
In all the time we spend there, we have come up with some games: Rocket- where he places each foot in each one of my hands and pumps them as if he is building up momentum before he 'blasts off'.  Splash and Throw- this one is not my favorite because he comes up to me and splashes me in the face.  The consequence is that I toss him.  And his favorite, Crocodile- the crocodile stalks his prey while keeping as little of their body above water as possible.  The crocodile will try to hide behind the assortment of people playing in the pool until they can pounce on the prey and drag them under water.

Another benefit of the water park is that it offers before-hours swim classes, which Felix has participated in.  The change in his attitude about water is remarkable.  Prior to lessons, he was very hesitant to put his head under water.  Now, he is constantly diving under, lets me throw him and pull him under water.  It's been a really good thing for him.