Matt & Taja's visit + hiking on Mount Baker

Sadly, Matt and Taja are long gone; it was great having them around. I've been lazy (actually, trying to find a job), but I've finally uploaded some pics taken during their visit.

This is a two-part entry, so...

On Saturday, Anya and I took a trip to Mt. Baker; click here for those photos.

Mount Baker (10,778') is another of the Cascade volcanoes - of the same ilk as Rainier & St. Helens - about 90 miles north of Seattle. Compared to Mount Rainier, Baker is shorter, less prominent, and less visible - it takes an exceptionally clear day to see it from Seattle. Perched amidst the North Cascades (the 'American Alps'), Baker still gets its fair share of visitors due to its beautiful natural surroundings and spectacular alpine scenery. Its real claim to fame, however, is its ample amounts of snow.

Mount Baker is the snowiest place in the world. There's a ski area at 4300' that averages about 600" of snow per year (yes, that's 50 feet) which is the highest snowfall of any ski area in the world. In the winter of 1998-99 they received 1140" (that's 95 feet of snow), which is more snow than has ever been recorded in a single year anywhere on Earth.

These mountains take the brunt of storms blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, so winter (as you and I would define it) lasts about 9 months of the year - even at a relatively modest 6,000 feet in elevation. Spring comes in mid-July here, and you'll see that the flowers are starting to bloom.

Of course all that precipitation isn't possible without plenty of clouds. We didn't actually see Mt Baker when we visited; at least not the summit area. It was shrouded in clouds despite everywhere else being sunny. The picturesque peak you see in our photos is actually Baker's non-volcanic 9,127-foot neighbor, Mt. Shuksan.

As you can see, there is still plenty of snow left at 5,140' at the top of the dead-end Mount Baker Highway. The pictures at the beginning are from a place called Artist Point; the later ones are from a very scenic valley nearby in an area called Bagley Lakes.

Matt, Taja, and Mount Rainier

Matt and Taja are here visiting us for the week; on Sunday we went hiking at Mt Rainier. The pictures are here.

Now that it's finally summer, the flowers were in full bloom and the wildlife was out. We saw chipmunks, deer, a marmot sunning himself, and a black bear hunting for berries. We all had a very good time and enjoyed Mount Rainier's abundant natural beauty.

Portland & Cannon Beach

This past weekend we took a trip down to Oregon. The photos are available for both Portland and Cannon Beach.

Back in the 1960's & 70's Oregon had a visionary Governor named Tom McCall who is credited for making Portland the way it is today. McCall was a big environmentalist and accordingly enacted many 'green' laws. He permanently set aside huge swaths of state-owned land as wilderness areas, increased funding and acreage for state parks and forests, and shut out big-business tourist development by making the entire coastline (including all the state's numerous beaches) public property, free for anyone to use. His most influential act, however, was a law placing an "Urban Growth Boundary" around all Oregon cities. This severely limited suburban sprawl and protected Oregon's natural beauty. (As an aside, Tom McCall was a Republican...interesting how things have changed.)

The UGB forced Portland to grow denser rather than wider; the acres of asphalt parking lots common in cities like Minneapolis and Seattle are unknown to Portlanders.
This density, along with Portland's narrow streets and short blocks (200 ft instead of the 360 ft standard in many cities), makes it very pedestrian friendly. We parked our car the entire weekend; everything you want to see or do is within walking distance or can be easily reached on the streetcar (Portland also has the best public transit system in America).

The downtown core area has a lot of great old architecture and seems to always be bustling; it's reminiscent of a small London. A short walk away, the Cultural District has big musuems, Portland State University, and lots of tree-lined streets. A short walk in the other direction brings you to the Pearl District, a masterpiece of smart planning and easily one of the most livable urban neighborhoods in the country.

Portland has great bakeries and restaurants, a thriving microbrew scene (there are 80 craft breweries in the city), great coffee, and is just an all-around great place to walk around. It's been called the best place in America to live, and you'll find no argument here. It's a 2.5 hour jaunt on I-5 from Seattle, just close enough to make a long day out of it...which Anya and I will certainly do in the future.

On our way back to Seattle we took a long detour over to the coast (60 miles west of Portland) to a town called Cannon Beach. Check out the pictures; they portray the rugged and beautiful coast better than I can. The beach was great, but even on a 80+ degree day in the summer the water (coming straight from Alaska) was extremely cold.

Seattle, 2 months on...

It's been exactly two months since I moved to Seattle (and 3 months for Anya), so I thought I would write a little bit about some of our observations and address some of the common stereotypes.

1. The People
I've always suspected that "Minnesota Nice" was an exaggeration; a quaint illusion that was perpetuated more by outsiders' stereotypes than by anything Minnesotans actually did. My time in Seattle has backed up my beliefs: Anya and I have found Seattelites to be no more or less friendly than Minnesotans.

People here are laid back, neither annoyingly gregarious nor overly cold. This is probably predictable: of the 50,000 people who migrate to Seattle (and its environs) each year, half are from California. Restaurants are casual and unpretentious. Things might be changing (the Four Seasons hotel opens next year), but stuffiness is generally looked down upon; dress codes are rare.

Seattleites are outdoorsy, but it's hard not to be when there are such beautiful natural surroundings. It seems that nearly everyone is a skier, climber, kayaker, mountain biker, etc.

People here are also somewhat self-effacing. They don't brag much about their city, and they seem to idolize San Francisco...it's impossible to read a newspaper article about some infrastructure project without seeing a description of how they did it in San Francisco. The two cities are probably pretty similar: temperate climate, tech-based economy (we don't have Oakland, though...so read into that what you will).

2. The Climate
To say about Seattle,"It rains all the time," is about as accurate as saying that it "Snows all the time" in Minnesota. Since we moved here it's been cool (50's) to warm (70's), and rained only occasionally. There have been only two weekends where our plans were dampened by all-day rain, but both of those times we were in Canada (we don't know what the weather was like in Seattle). Anya would like it to be a bit warmer, but I've found it pleasant to walk around without needing shorts and sandals. On several occasions locals who know that we're new here have apologized for the "bad spring" we're having...this always confuses me as I've liked the weather so far. Summer is said to begin on the 4th of July, so we'll see how that goes.

3. Coffee
Yes, people here drink a lot of it and they like it 'strong,' at least by MN reckoning. Yes, there are quite a few Starbucks. I've been told there's one place downtown where you can see 4 individual Starbucks locations without turning your head (I haven't seen this but I don't doubt it). But there are also plenty of local, independent coffee shops and roasters, as I've discussed previously.

Perhaps the most unique coffee-related thing happens when you leave the city. Anya and I have driven through a fair amount of small towns on our way to hikes in the mountains. There are two things found in every small town across the country: a bar and a gas station. In Washington, there is a third ever-present element to small town life: the drive-through Espresso hut. Usually they're cute little log-cabinesque structures, barely larger than a parking lot attendant's booth. They all have the same red neon sign that announces, in large letters, "ESPRESSO." I've never actually stopped at one, but I suppose it's reassuring to know that even in a small town I'll never have to resort to drinking gas station coffee.

Overall, both Anya and I like Seattle very much. Compared to Minneapolis, Seattle has an even more screwed up transportation system (although it's getting better), more homeless people, more petty crime, and costlier housing. It also has better food (including tons of great locally-grown products), a better climate, less violent crime, more urban neighborhoods worth exploring, more innovative companies, a downtown that's alive after 5:00 and on weekends, more tech jobs, more super-rich people giving vast sums of money to local cultural institutions, more great local coffee, beer, and wine, and more day or weekend trips to interesting & beautiful places.

Mount Rainier

Yesterday Anya and I again went to Mount Rainier for a hike; pictures are here.

I've already written about this topic, and posted a bunch of pictures. However, there are two main entrances to Mount Rainier National Park that visitors coming from Seattle use. Previously we went to the southern (and busiest) end of the park, known for its cascading waterfalls, old-growth temperate rainforest, and bumper-to-bumper weekend traffic. This time, we went to a much less crowded area named Sunrise in the northeast corner of the park.

Sunrise is set on a sub-alpine meadow at 6400'. July is "spring" on this part of the mountain (the snow is finally melting), and the wildflowers are in bloom. Many trails criss-cross these meadows; some descend to the forests, others ascend into high alpine tundra where nothing but moss and small grass can survive in the 3-month growing season.

The pictures don't do it justice, but they do a good job of approximating the scenery on our hike: secluded lakes, hardy wildflowers, chipmunks, the occasional marmot, snowfields that last until August, and sweeping larger-than-life views of the Mountain itself and its glaciated flanks. We obviously had a fantastic time, and can't wait to go back.