Drizzle is better than smoke

Vaughn is amazing! It is alternating between ridiculously saturated brilliant blue and green hues, to washed out gray drizzle. I forget how wet it is here, even in the warmest, driest months.

The drizzle dampens everything including our moods, but I’m not complaining. The wildfire smoke is terrible in Boise right now and although I’m not a fan of drizzle, it’s much preferable to smoke.

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I am grateful I am not in Boise right now! And Tucson isn’t any better, with punishing temperatures and mosquitos.

Something has been affecting my health though. I’ve had migraines almost daily since this trip to Washington started a couple of weeks ago. I also have had mild cold symptoms or allergies since we’ve arrived. It is cramping my style! And rather disappointing to be sitting around feeling so blah with such a summer wonderland beckoning out the window.

I wake up in the mornings feeling god-awful, but (often with the help of meds), I feel better as the day progresses, and often feel nearly normal by late afternoon and evening. Particularly if it’s a sunny day and I’ve spent most of it resting outside on the deck. I’m wondering if it’s a mold/mildew issue in the cabin. This is a very damp and verdant region. I imagine all of the old cabins are going to be a bit funky in this climate, there’s really not much you can do about it.

Tonight I am going to sleep in our camper van to see if that helps. It’s perfectly comfortable, particularly for just one person. It’s primarily a desert van and any forest funk we’ve picked up in the nearly decade we’ve owned it, gets well baked out of it in the dry heat. On the other hand, it’s possible I’ve just been fighting a mild but tenacious cold and I will be better soon. John doesn’t seem affected and has felt fine.

Next up, some photos and stories from some afternoon and evening activities on the days that I’ve felt well during the second half of the day. You’d never know I’ve been sick for a big chunk of every day for two weeks!

Enroute to Washington

We made it to our rental cabin in Vaughn! But not without some adventures along the way. Remember last August when practically all I posted the entire month was pictures of the sunset over the water? We’re back!

Not only are we back, but we’ve already reserved for next year too. I feel like we can now say, our favorite part of every summer is our stay at Blueberry Cottage! It’s a 1-bed, 1-bath cabin with a huge deck overlooking a small, shallow bit of the Puget Sound in Washington. These photos are all from the deck.

And yes, there are actual blueberry bushes. The blueberries are just starting to ripen.

This next photo is of a little cabin across the inlet that I admire in the morning light. Many of the houses on the water are huge mansions. I like these little old cabins.

The day we left for Washington, we had a lot of packing up and loading to do in the morning, so we didn’t get on the road very early. We were glad our reservation for that first night was not too far away – Emigrant Springs, just outside of Pendleton, Oregon.

The campground turned out to be beautiful, but it was adjacent to the freeway. Convenient, but it sounded like we were at a freeway rest area with all the traffic noise. This was not the perfect camping spot! But you’d never know from these photos.

This year we decided to attend a blues festival in Winthrop on our way to the cabin in Vaughn. The advantage of attending festivals on our way to somewhere is it saves a lot of driving time. We get to attend festivals that we might not otherwise have taken the time to go to. For example, we had a great time at the Silver City, NM festival on Memorial Day weekend, on our route from Tucson to Boise. I don’t think I posted about that trip this year, but I did write about that festival last year. We go to the Silver City blues festival every year. This year, instead of driving out and back from Tucson, we stopped at the Silver City festival on the way to Boise.

The disadvantage of going to festivals on our way to somewhere else is that we have the dogs with us and a lot of baggage. Dogs are generally not welcome at festivals, so we need to have somewhere we can safely leave them while we are at the festival. For example when we go to the blues festival in Silver City, we get an airbnb where the dogs are comfortable resting inside for a few hours while we’re gone. Or alternatively, sometimes John likes to go hiking with the dogs while I attend a festival. Also if we’re just going to the festival and not onward to elsewhere, we can leave the dogs at home with a pet sitter. But in this case, the dogs were coming with us to the cabin for two months.

Our drive to Winthrop seemed to take way longer than it should have, one back highway after another. I was getting tired, so we started stopping more frequently, which just made the drive take longer and longer.

We finally arrived at the lakeside resort in Winthrop that I had reserved many months ago. We were immediately very disappointed with our campsite. We are used to campgrounds with plenty of space to stretch out, put the dogs on a run, set up our camp chairs and enjoy the scenery. Although the resort was lakeside, and the lake was beautiful, the campsites were just rows of RVs. It was like camping in an RV parking lot. Our campsite was a dirt rectangle the size of a large parking space. This was not the perfect camping spot!

Plus, the conditions weren’t lining up well for us to be able to attend the festival. Due to an unusually severe heat wave, it was too hot to leave the dogs alone in the van (and too hot for me to enjoy dancing). I had also imagined that John might be happy hanging out lakeside with the dogs while I checked out the festival for an hour or two. But after we got there, I realized John wasn’t going to enjoy hanging out at that tiny dirt campsite in that crowded RV resort. It was hot, the campsite was disappointingly small and smoky, the town was overly crowded, and we started wondering: did we really want to spend the weekend here at all?

The next morning, instead of going to the festival, we packed up, checked out, and headed up into the mountains. As we drove by the festival on our way out, I craned my neck to see what I thought of the festival, wondering if I’d want to try this one again next year if I could find better accommodations and the weather cooperated.

I was disappointed to have driven 3 hours out of our way just to bail on the festival, but there’s no point toughing it out in the heat if it’s not going to be any fun. Finding a good outdoor festival is an art form, as fraught as finding a good campsite. It takes planning, insider knowledge, and luck.

We prefer small festivals held in grassy parks in small towns with hiking nearby for John. The Winthrop festival advertises as a small one, and it is located in the foothills of some of the best mountains in the country. It sounded promising. But as we drove past, I wasn’t sure. It looked suspiciously large, crowded and dusty.

Next year we are scheduled to already be in Vaughn by the time the Winthrop festival rolls around, so maybe I could go to the festival with my friend Ali and leave John and the dogs at the cabin in Vaughn. Ali is the one who owns the cabin where we stay every year in Vaughn, and she’s the one who originally told us about the festival. She goes to the Winthrop festival almost every year, although she didn’t make it out this year. Maybe Ali and I can drive out to Winthrop from Vaughn together. And we can get better accommodations than my camper van perched in a tiny, dusty RV parking space!

Meanwhile, now what? We couldn’t go straight to Vaughn early, because Ali’s cabin was rented through the weekend. She wasn’t expecting us until Tuesday. Our route to Vaughn took us through some of the best mountains in the country, so the no brainer solution for the weekend was to find a great spot to go camping. It’s beautiful country. However, all the campgrounds for miles in any direction were already fully booked.

The Northern Cascades boasts gorgeous lakes and rivers, and we knew if we got ourselves down a Forest Service road somewhere off the beaten track away from the beautiful lakes and rivers where everyone else goes, we would have the area to ourselves. Camping at large (boondocking) on Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands is generally legal unless posted otherwise. This is not the case for monuments or national park lands. But there are plenty of areas in the Northern Cascades where we could simply pull off a back road and camp for a night or two (or longer). Our van is well equipped for us to spend up to several days without any amenities.

We spent some time looking at the satellite imagery on Google Maps, and identified a likely spur road, off a small Forest Service spur road, off a larger Forest Service road, off of Hwy 20. We put our chosen spot into our navigation and headed out to see if it was any good. A nearby second option was a small loop near the spur, if the spur didn’t end up working out. You can see the unnamed spur in the middle left of this next screenshot, and the unnamed loop off another spur near it.

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One thing that is hard to tell from Google maps, especially in areas without Google street view, is how steep and narrow the road is, and how sheer the drop off. Yikes. It wasn’t the worst road I’ve been on driving the van, but not the best either! I crept along, staying well away from the drop off.

Our first attempt to pull over at a likely campsite was a big mistake. It looked like a meadow, but it turned out to have tons of sticky burrs that clung to the dogs’ fur. Luckily we noticed that immediately before we had gotten set up. Time to get back into the car and keep looking!

We struck success on the nearby loop road, finding a wonderful campsite with views in both directions. We were in the inside of a U bend in the road, meaning there was a road bounding our campsite in three directions. That doesn’t sound great, but it was still a very large site. And the loop road was actually just a minor dirt track running along the far edge of the campsite. Plus, believe it or not, we never saw another vehicle on that loop road the entire 2 days we were there. Not once. We had the area completely to ourselves. And it was beautiful!

This is John’s new-used Jeep he bought for our new townhouse in Garden City. We were driving two vehicles, the Jeep and the van, which is why it was taking us a long time to get from Boise to Vaughn. I can only drive so far before needing a break.

We spent the whole next day blissfully doing absolutely nothing except for taking a couple of short walks. I spent a lot of time in my camp chair gazing at the trees and marveling at the silence.

Unfortunately, by the second day the air quality was significantly poorer due to wildfire smoke from a large fire in Canada as well as a smaller fire about 100 miles from our campsite. We have a Starlink satellite internet system, which we bring on van trips and set up when we’re camping. We can also use it at remote cabins or wherever the internet is inadequate. It’s nice to be able to look up conditions and not worry about whether there is a nearby fire racing your way.

Our final night in the Cascades we stayed at a fun little inexpensive resort on the western edge of the mountains that had little trailer cabins at each campsite. The trailers were equipped with a partial kitchenette with a mini table, and a tiny little bathroom with a toilet and shower. About half the trailer was taken up by the modestly sized double bed.

The campground trailer was not significantly more spacious than our van. In fact, given that the trailer had a hot plate but no microwave, and the van had a microwave, we ended up using both kitchens. We parked the van with the sliding door facing the campsite, so it was like a two room house with the campsite in the middle. The most important addition the trailer added was the shower! Everything else the van has.

It was a very pretty spot.

The next day we drove south through the Seattle corridor to Tacoma, and then northwest to Vaughn. It wasn’t very far but it was definitely an annoying drive. Even on a Tuesday in the late morning, Seattle traffic is terrible. But worth it to get here.

In My Happy Place

This video that Laura took of me speaks for itself.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t the only crazy person dancing with oblivion in a fountain. This was towards the end of a two day festival, and fountain dancing was a well established tradition by then. And anyway, joy is always cool in my opinion.

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Laura, Alex and I were enjoying the weekend Fountain Blues and Brews Festival in San Jose, California. Laura had noticed it going last year when she walked by the park on the way to somewhere else, and we immediately made plans to go this year. And it is already on my calendar for next year!

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A good music festival is a rare event. Bad ones are common! They can be enormously crowded, scorching hot or bitterly cold and windy, a ridiculously long drive to nowhere followed by gridlocked entry and exit, require camping in the mud, imbued with a haze of pot smoke, and worst of all, offering terrible soulless music.

I have discovered, through trial and error, that the festivals that work best for me are blues festivals. They tend to have a smaller, older, mostly sober crowd, with good musicians playing danceable beats.

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Weather is also critical. Too hot and it’s too hot to dance, too cold and no one wants to sit around shivering. Although I don’t mind the cold while dancing; it can be quite a workout.

And the setting matters. Grassy small-town parks are great, waterfront plazas and beaches can be amazing. Places that aren’t so great are dusty fairgrounds, parking lots, dark bars, and other places where you can’t lounge around in the sun on a picnic blanket listening to the music.

I also like venues that allow you to bring in lawn chairs, your own snacks, etc., unlike the huge concerts that can be very restrictive. I have an excellent little camp chair that is amazingly lightweight and folds into a quarter of the size of a traditional camp chair. Ok, yeah, I’ll just go ahead and post an ad on my blog, lol, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXPLSCDH?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

That chair is so lightweight I can carry it with one pinky finger. It’s small enough to fit in my tote bag. When set up, it’s low to the ground, which not everyone would like, but it’s perfect for me. I like be reclined with my feet up. Sitting that low to the ground means that my feet don’t have to be up on something – it brings the ground up to me!

Here’s another video of the festival from Laura:

That guy’s got his shirt on inside out with the tags flapping in the breeze. Maybe deliberately, who knows. But no one cares. The blues festival crowds aren’t snobby – in fact, they are some of the least pretentious people around.

The other excellent thing about blues is it tends to bring a relatively diverse and tolerant crowd, still retaining its Black roots. Also, addressing a more recent social concern, it tends to unite the liberals and the conservatives. You get a combination of people in bali-print sarongs who have kicked off their Birkenstocks to dance in their bare feet, and people showing off their pearl snaps, big belt buckles and cowboy boots. Blues, which has its roots in West Africa, is a core component of more modern styles of rock, jazz, and country. So it appeals to a broad audience.

Here is a couple enjoying a traditional country dance, but we also had several same-sex couples in the crowd dancing in a more modern style that doesn’t require a male lead. Or any lead at all.

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I always dance freestyle, ideally out on the floor near a few friends. I commonly get offers from guys to partner dance, but I always turn them down (as nicely as possible, unless they are overly persistent). I couldn’t follow someone else’s lead if my life depended on it. Not that I’d want to anyway. I am happy doing my own thing!

Dancing is currently my favorite hobby. The only downside (and it’s a major downside) is that I feel like I need someone to go to these events with me. And that can be hard to find! I don’t need a dance partner, but I don’t like to go to entertainment venues alone.

There’s a lot of other things in life I don’t mind doing alone – biking, shopping, walking the dogs, etc. But not public events. That means I’m constantly trying to talk John into going, and he has other things to do. I miss my dancing friends in Tucson who will go with me! Laura and Guen both like to dance, so that’s great when I’m hanging out with my kids.

For example, all Alex did was get a beer and fall asleep, but I was still so glad he was there. It’s a lot more fun when I can come back from the dance floor and have a group of my people there hanging out enjoying the festivities with me, in whatever way makes them happiest.

Sacramento

It looks like I forgot to publish this post. I’m going to try to insert it where it belongs in the blog, but you’re going to get it out of order in your emails. This post was from the end of June, when I drove from Boise to California to see Laura.

In addition to the San Jose Blues Festival, the other thing Laura and I did on my California vacation was look at houses for sale in Sacramento. Laura is considering buying a house there.

We rented an Airbnb right near the river trail and brought our bikes.

It was tons of fun, but in hindsight, I should have flown and just rented a bike. I had ridiculous weather on the way out.

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The wind at the edge of the storm was hitting my tall van so hard I had to pull off the road just short of Reno at a truck stop.

The freeway was a mess ahead, with reports of flooding, wrecks, and construction causing long delays. After waiting for the worst of the storm to pass, I ended up taking a small highway north to Pyramid Lake, and then back down to Reno.

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I was joking with my neighbors in Garden City – with one kid in Boise and the other kid in California, too bad Winnemucca, Nevada isn’t more of a mecca! We could just live there and be one-and-done. Fun facts: according to the internet, “Winnemucca is the only incorporated city in Humboldt County, Nevada, United States, encompassing approximately half of the total population of the county. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 8,431”

The only town in the entire county!!!

I am very happy in Garden City, although it’s been a lot of work to get settled in, and I’m not done yet. It’s actually been quite frustrating; every time I turn around I don’t have something I need to get done whatever I’m trying to get done. Meanwhile, John is back in Tucson continuing work on the remodel there. We’ve been apart a lot and are not enjoying working on the houses, but I think it’s going to be wonderful when we’re done.

Cassowaries, Wallabies & Waterfalls

John continues his description of his adventures in Australia:

“Today (Sunday) was my last full day where I could sightsee. On Monday night I fly from Cairns back to Sydney. I plan to visit the small free botanic garden in Cairns and then walk along the beach esplanade in the tourist part of town before heading to the airport. 

Based on some recommendations from one of the snorkeling guides from yesterday, today I traveled south of Cairns to do some hikes down there. By heading south I avoided the road closures and crowds from the triathlon that is centered in the main part of Cairns and north of Cairns. 

My goal for today was a beach area known for cassowaries and a hike through a rainforest to a big waterfall. I did see a cassowary! It was crossing the road in front of me while I was driving. Unfortunately by the time I could pull over and stop and grab my phone, it had disappeared in the bush on the side of the road. I peered into the bush shortly after it disappeared, but I couldn’t see any sign of the 5’ tall bird. On the beach itself, where sightings are frequent, they had this great sign. 😛

Though I didn’t get a cassowary photo, I saw lots of wallabies, which look just like kangaroos to me. There were several groups foraging in grassy areas along the road. Here is one photo. They were pretty cool to see!

The waterfall hike was also good. Even though I didn’t see any terrestrial leaches trying to attach to me (as some trail reviews noted).

I did enjoy the birds. I saw a sulphur crested cockatoo (like a white parrot with a yellow crest) and Merlin ID’d its loud call.

The waterfall itself was pretty cool. The main drop is 120 to 150 ft (depending on the source of information). The water was flowing well, so it was impressive.

Tomorrow’s travels will kick off my long slow return. I gain an extra day because I cross the international dateline. So when I leave on Tuesday night from Sydney I actually arrive in LAX Tuesday morning. 

(later)

Since my flight today doesn’t leave until early evening, I used my morning time to travel to Sydney Harbor to see the city. I figured out how to use the city train (very easy), and then exited the train near the famous Sydney Opera House. Based on a recommendation online, I signed up for a guided tour of the Opera House, which was great. In addition, Sydney has a very large city park and botanical gardens that adjoin the Opera House area. I spent the rest of my time in Sydney City walking all over the very pleasant gardens. It seems like quite a nice city because you can stay out of the urban environment very well. 

Here are a couple photos from the Sydney harbor area. 

Now I’m officially at the airport and waiting for my flight home.

Cairns and Daintree Rainforest National Park

John continues his description of his trip to Australia:

“I’m all checked into my hotel in Cairns, and I think I will like it here. All I basically did this evening was drove from the airport to the hotel (driving on the left, which takes my concentration), unpacked a little, ate at the hotel’s poolside cafe (just meh). 

The hotel is not too bad. It’s pretty affordable, and it has lots of green space. It’s like the garden hotel we stayed at in San Diego. Here is a picture of my room and balcony.  

I also spent some time to figure out and arrange a couple of excursions. I’m going to do a guided night hike in the Daintree rainforest national park about two hours north of Cairns tomorrow. On Saturday, I booked an all-day snorkeling trip to the outer reef. Sunday is my reserve day. Sunday is challenging because Cairns has their big annual triathlon that brings people from all over. A lot of the routes in and near Cairns will be closed to vehicles, so that will be a good day to walk everywhere. 

More updates tomorrow…

Hi, I’m writing this email as I’m waiting for my night hike in the Daintree rainforest to start. I will be getting back to my hotel by about midnight and I need to be at the boat tomorrow by 7:30 AM for my snorkeling trip, so I will be pressed for time later tonight. 😛

Today, I did a bunch of short hikes in the Daintree National Park. The park is a rainforest that runs right down to the ocean. Many of the hikes are on elevated boardwalks because it can get swampy. Here are a couple of pictures. 

I didn’t go in the water because of this sign. 😛

In general it was an easy day, but there is a decent amount of driving. It is 2.5 hours from Cairns to this area, including a short ferry ride across a river. After all this driving, I’m starting to get a hang of driving on the left.:P The biggest thing I need to think about around the right turns and remembering which direction to look. The roundabouts are also confusing. 😛

Tomorrow’s snorkeling trip is out on the Great Barrier Reef, and it should be a full day. I hope the weather and seas cooperate!

John continues on from Japan to Australia

As before, this story continues in John’s words…

“I’ve enjoyed my alone time a surprising amount on this trip (I was afforded a lot of that with all the hiking in the solitude and rural towns of Shikoku). … Today is a different story, however.

The good news up front is that I’m at my Tokyo airport, and I look to be all set for my departure about three hours from now. However, an hour ago I wasn’t so sure about that. When I checked in for my Japan Airlines flight to Sydney, the app said I needed to get a boarding pass from an agent at the ticket counter. So I proceeded to do that, and everything looked fine until she asked if I had my “ETA” or Visa for Australia. I said, I thought I didn’t need one. But when I checked on the web, it said US citizens need an ETA (electronic travel authorization) filed and approved before entering Australia. <Gulp> Ironically, I HAD checked into that for travel to Japan (not needed). Also, the ETA is newish, and it wasn’t something I needed went to the UK a few years ago (the UK and Australia use the same ETA system, but you need approval to each individual country).

Fortunately, there is an app to fill in and submit your ETA application online. You have to scan your passport and enter other information about your address, where you are staying in Australia, etc. After the application is submitted, you will get a response (granted or rejected) usually within 72 hours. … But … but I’m supposed to travel today. 🙁

My mind was running on what do I do next. I can’t go to Australia without an ETA. I would need a hotel in Japan. My flight home is through Australia, so I still need to go there. Uh oh.

After a worrisome several minutes, I checked my email. Yay, I had already received an email with a file saying my ETA was granted. Whew! However, when the ticket agent scanned my passport it didn’t show the ETA was linked to my passport. Is there some problem? Or does it just take time to electronically link? The ticket agent brought in her boss (or at least someone higher up) and they were troubleshooting the problem. After several more minutes, they scanned my passport again, and this time it worked! Five seconds later I had my boarding pass in hand, and I was a much happier camper! Also, I could finally use that restroom which was my original target before I said to myself, I should just check-in now since I’m here and get that part done with. I’m glad I gave myself lots of time to check-in today!!!

My pictures today are of this great outside! observation deck at my airport terminal where I can kill time waiting AND be outside. :)”

Last night and today I’m back in the urban environment of Japan which I like much less than rural Japan. Actually much much less. I would never go to Japan for the cities. I do see lots of cars, however. My favorite is the Suzuki Jimny which is a modern version of my old Suzuki Samurai that I liked so much. Here is another newer Suzuki model that I think looks pretty good (kind of retro and kind of mini SUV). It’s actually a gas electric hybrid with all-wheel drive. It’s called a “Suzuki Hustler”. Something tells me that they would probably want to change the name if they wanted to import this to the US. 😛

Well, I have a lot more time before I will be in Australia. The next update from me will be after 12 hours from now when I should be landed early Thursday morning Sydney time.

(later)

I’ve landed in Sydney and made it through immigration and customs and am now at my terminal for my next flight to Cairns … which is another 4.5 hours from now. 🙁

So far, my impression of Australia is that it’s just like England. It’s cloudy, cool, and drizzly and the shops all look British except for an occasional surf shop like Billabong. Also, everyone sounds like they have a British accent to my untrained ear. 

My flight seemed long. I maybe dozed for an hour which was not long enough to get enough rest nor to shorten the time with my butt in the seat in a conscious state. The plane was fine, but I just find the airline seats uncomfortable for my body despite pillows, me slouching, etc. I just got some coffee at the airport as my goal is to stay awake until bedtime tonight so that I won’t be jet lagged in the morning. 

The weather in Cairns looks fine – temps around 77 with chances of rain everyday but in the form of short passing tropical squalls. I will be very curious to see that area, and I’m hoping for some good photos to share from there. 

I’m at that point in the trip where one gets tired of the travel and would just like to be in the comfort of home. But I know I will be re-energized to see something when I’m in new surroundings tonight. I’m hoping to use some of my waiting time to look at TripAdvisor to identify some possible good snorkeling tour companies. I’m hoping to book something for tomorrow. I think there will be lots of options. 

John’s hiking tour in Japan

Like the previous post, I’m just going to let John speak for himself. These are the pictures and annotation he sent to me in emails.

“Today I started the official trek which involved visiting 6 temples. I wore the traditional garb, see selfie pic, and tried to do the temple visits properly, which was confusing and somewhat exhausting.“

(Ok, this is Kristina with a comment, I just have to say, that picture is HILARIOUS! Now back to your regular programming.)

(John continues), “I think I’m templed out 😛 Fortunately the rest of the trek is mostly about hiking on trails through scenic areas with a lot fewer temples. 

Here is a picture of one of the temples.” 

“Our lodging tonight is more basic. I’m at one of the Buddhist temple lodges which are more dorm like – private rooms but shared baths.” 

“Tomorrow will be the most challenging day of the trip with over 10 miles of hiking in steep terrain with predictions of over 4 inches! of rain (a solid  twelve hours of moderate rain). I’m just going to pile on the rain gear and muddle through. I have trekking shoes but not hiking boots, so they are likely to get thoroughly soaked. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. :-/“

(Next day)

“I survived the hike and had a great time despite the all-day non-stop rain. 🙂

Today’s hike was in the mountains with cedar forests and waterfalls (actually the whole trail was a waterfall at times with the non-stop rain). 

Here are a couple scenery photos:“

“My inn tonight is way more upscale than the temple lodging last night. It is almost too upscale as I felt bad traipsing in with my hiking gear, muddy shoes, and literally dripping water everywhere. Oh well, I’m blaming Walk Japan for booking something too nice. 😛

Tonight’s meal was absolutely gourmet. Definitely the nicest meal I’ve had in Japan. There were multiple courses and lots of dishes that I had no idea what I was eating. I ate all of it since I was hungry from the hike. 

Tomorrow is another mountain trek at similar elevation but not as far distance or elevation gain. Also, it is not supposed to rain all day, so that should help. 

I would say that today was kind of exactly what I was looking for in my Japan trekking vacation. The upside of the rain is that I had the trail almost all to myself (I met one older intrepid couple that were  hiking who were super friendly and we shared pictures of our dogs … he started it by showing a picture of his dog Momo :P).“

“I had another excellent day of hiking. The rain held off until the last 30 min of hiking, so I was able to stay dry. 

The trails continue to be amazing with lots of running water, beautiful forests, and NO people. I had solitude on the trails for five hours of hiking. There were a few people at the temples (they can be reached by car), but even the temples were mostly deserted. It is like a beautiful apocalyptic world. I even passed through one small mountain village with a school just like the one that Laura taught at in Kojima, but the school was abandoned and deserted. You can still see the empty school hallways and the building is being taken over by vegetation and rust. This is what the end of human civilization looks like … but the nature is gorgeous. 

My inn tonight (actually an onsen or hot springs plus inn) is along a pretty river with a great view from my room. The meal tonight was also fantastic again. 

I think you would really like the food and a lot of aspects of this trip but I would say the hiking is strenuous and, yes, bathrooms are few and far between. 

Tomorrow is an easy day with just six miles of walking near the coast and then a train ride back to Tokushima city where I will catch my flight the following morning. 

Here are a few pics for today, a selfie, an apocalyptic abandoned elementary school, and my dinner with a great view out the window. 🙂

I completed my last day of trekking in Japan. It was a nice low-key day of hiking. I finished the last temple visit that was on the agenda and then left my hat and walking stick behind to donate to future pilgrims.

I added a handwritten note. It says “gift for pilgrim”. Actually gift for henro pilgrim which is specific to this pilgrimage.

This last temple is on the coast, so today’s walking trek including views over the Pacific Ocean – the first ocean views I’ve had on this trip. 🙂

The guidebook from ‘Walk Japan’ was excellent. Everything worked exactly as they described it, and their bookings and taxis were glitch free. This would have been SO much harder if I had tried to do this on my own, and I would have missed out on a bunch of cool stuff they pointed out. They do other treks throughout Japan. I would highly recommend them if someone wanted to do a self-guided trek somewhere in Japan.”

“Tomorrow I fly to Australia.” 

(Note from Kristina:)

Before I publish this post, I want to add a few random pictures of John’s guidebook so you can see how detailed it was.

John goes to Japan

The day before he left, John informed me that he wanted a picture of me and the dogs to show during his travels. We had only just gotten to Garden City and I was exhausted and in no mood for photos. But it was nice that he wanted to show us off to the people he meets, so I tossed on a Japan-appropriate outfit (covering my shoulders) that wasn’t wrinkled from being in a moving box, pulled back my frazzled hair, put a chair in ok section of our very small backyard, grabbed the dogs, and pretended to smile. I was actually quite tired. At least the dogs are cute!

The rest of this post is going to be in John’s words.

“The mountain is out – We have free WiFi on this flight, so I can send you this photo of mt rainier. It looks like a sunny day.“

“I finally made it to my Tokyo hotel! I’m exhausted. This hotel is connected to the airport, so I just have to walk to my gate for my midday flight tomorrow. I think today was the hardest travel day. Hotel pics:“

“I made it to my ryokan in Tokushima  🙂 It is much more rural here, and English is not well used, so it’s been quite the immersion into Japanese language. I’ve been using the phone translate apps, so that’s helping. Here are pictures of the ryokan and my room.” 

“I also went to a local grocery store, which was overwhelming. 😛“

“Tomorrow I plan to check out some temples that are not officially part of my tour but that look interesting. I don’t officially start my trekking tour until tomorrow night.“

(Next day)

“Today was a good and adventurous day. I took a taxi to a farther out temple that had a renowned shop for the pilgrim attire. I purchased my pilgrim attire there and proceeded to visit temples that were beyond my planned trek. The rural countryside in Japan is remarkably beautiful. The first temple was in a veritable rainforest and it was eerily almost deserted. Here are some pictures:“

“At the end of the last temple I visited today I failed to get a taxi to cone out to me. I had to use a bus and then a train to get back. I wasn’t completely sure on how to do it but Japan’s precision timetables and google maps helped me to figure it out. Laura would be proud of me.

The inn here has amazing food – the best I’ve had in Japan. Tomorrow is the start of the official trek. It will be 3 days in a row of 10+ miles of hiking including some steep mountains on two of the days. Also one day should be heavy rain to add to the challenge. But it’s all good.” 

“Here are pictures of breakfast and dinner at the inn. This is breakfast:“

“And this is dinner (this was just the first round). They then brought out tempura, an egg porridge with seafood, rice and then soup). I couldn’t eat much more beyond the first round.“

Next up, John’s hiking tour!

Musings from a Tucson Airbnb

The dogs and I are relaxing at an Airbnb right here in Tucson, for which I’m very thankful, although I’d rather be home. No, don’t worry, nothing horrible happened. The house didn’t burn down. John didn’t finally get fed up and kick us out. We’re just in an especially difficult few days of the resumption of the remodel project, and I rented an Airbnb to keep the dogs safe and myself sane.

I’m hoping John joins us tonight, but he is working hard, prepping the house for the next set of contractors coming in the morning. I do not understand why it’s impossible to find a contractor willing to take the time to adequately hang plastic to protect the contents of the home from the inevitable clouds of dust. The say they will – but we’ve yet to find one that does as good of a job as John does. And that drywall dust; it’s not just on surfaces, it gets into drawers and clothes, and you’re still finding it years later. So that’s what John’s at home doing – hanging plastic; while the dogs and I are resting on the couch in the Airbnb.

John may end up working late, and he will probably decide to sleep at home, so he’ll be there already when they show up early tomorrow. At least they dang well better show up tomorrow morning, because I went to the expense and bother of moving to an Airbnb!

The dogs and I have been here three hours and they are finally calming down. Biscochito didn’t eat dinner. But JoJo – there’s no amount of anxiety that’s going to get between her and her dinner. She’s a chunk, but it’s against my philosophy to put a growing puppy on a diet, so we’ll just have to see how it goes. (And how she grows.)

So far I’ve not even bothered to use treats to train her, except one or two tiny bits a day, because she is so easily trained. But if I did need to treat train her, she would be a champ. Remember how Kai would sit at attention for long periods of time at the closet where we kept the dog food? JoJo is 3/4 poodle and a lot like Kai. Biska-Biscochito is less than half poodle, and doesn’t look or act like a poodle at all.

That’s my new nickname for her by the way. It’s alliterative or something. What happened was I was updating her records with the city (why I was doing that is a whole other story, for another time), when I realized that about 50% of her vet records are under the name Biska, and the other half under the name Biscochito. So to avoid confusion, I put both names in. I promptly got an error message saying I can’t use the same form for two different dogs and to start another record, but it ended up taking the two names ok. So now she’s officially Biska Biscochito.

Anyway, we’re here, at the Airbnb, and I’m grateful to be here, although I miss having a doggie door. Biscochito wants to be outside, Jojo wants to be inside, and neither are particularly comfortable anywhere in this strange place without me. And I can’t be in two places at once. Meanwhile, I’m regretting that I forgot my fresh spinach, and butter, and jam, and crackers and ice cream, and there’s no salt, and I don’t remotely have enough energy to go to the store, and the dogs aren’t comfortable being left alone here anyway, and it doesn’t seem important enough to use Instacart, when there’s perfectly good food in the refrigerator. I brought an entire cooler worth of stuff. I will survive. I will certainly survive without the spinach. Not so sure about surviving without the ice cream though.

So what’s going on at home that’s so invasive that I felt like I had to get out for a couple of days? We are having all our interior doors replaced. Some of the doorways are also being expanded. It’s an old house, and we prefer more modern doorway widths when possible, to better accommodate wheelchairs, and moving furniture in and out. Doing all the doorways at once means there’s nowhere I can put the dogs safely away from the workers (or myself away from the noise).

If it wasn’t 100 degrees out (literally) and if we weren’t also in the middle of the wall project, the dogs and I could have just hung outside all day. But nope. The door project didn’t get off the ground as fast as I’d hoped (construction projects never do). Not only is it very hot, now we are backed up against our big summer trip, which starts in 10 days. It would be nice to have the bandwidth to get ready for the trip, rather than dealing with the inevitable daily issues surrounding remodel projects.

In 10 days, we are driving to New Mexico on our way to Garden City (our new townhouse is officially in Garden City, a narrow strip of differently-incorporated neighborhood following the river, with Boise surrounding it on both sides). After we’ve been in Garden City a few days, John leaves for an overseas trip (about which I will tell you more later). I’m not going overseas myself because it sounds like too much for me nowadays with all my various health limitations. It also sounds like a very wonderful itinerary and I’m glad he’s taking the chance to travel like he’s always wanted to do. I will stay in Garden City with the dogs while he’s gone.

When he gets back, I’m going to drive down to meet Laura in Sacramento. And when I’m back from that, we’re going to Vaughn, Washington, where we went last year (where we left the boat). Remember when I posted sunset-over-the-water photos day after day after day last August? I couldn’t help it. Each one seemed better than the last one.

In 10 days we leave – in 10 days we need to be fully packed for an entire summer of activities, including John’s overseas trip, the stuff for the boat (there is an incredible amount of stuff needed for a boat, although most of it we left up there last summer), plus everything I want to bring to Garden City that I didn’t manage to get packed and ready for John and Dan’s trip up there at the end of March…it will be a very full van!

Wait, did I fail to blog about John and Dan’s trip up to Garden City with an enormous moving van? I was going to link to it for reference, but I can’t find it. I must not have posted it.

Here is the short of the long story. I spent half the winter sorting through our too-much stuff, separating out nearly a household worth of possessions to send up to the new townhouse. The topic was causing a certain amount of grumpiness between John and I, (John wasn’t entirely enthused about me buying that townhome, truth be told), and I wanted to hire movers. I am too old to be hauling furniture around. But you know John – he prefers to do as much as he can by himself. I suggested he take his brother up there instead of trying to do it alone, and Dan was good enough to go up with him.

Dan said John was grumpy the whole trip until the last day, when the sun came out, and everything was done and lo and behold, it all worked out. Also he bought an old Jeep Wrangler to keep up there, so that certainly helped.

We have so many cars now, I’d have to stop and count. But we needed something more practical in Garden City than just my tiny electric BMW I3 that’s so old it has almost no range at all. I love the I3 though. Best car ever made, in my opinion. Just needs a better range. Really too bad they don’t make them anymore!

The Wrangler is old too, and John is looking forward to working on it; he’s been wanting a project car. As if we don’t have enough projects! But there are fun projects and not-so-fun projects. I think we’re both tired of remodeling. That’s definitely become a not-so-fun project. Time to move on to more fun projects.

Most of the rest of the photos John took on that trip were of things like leaky faucets and piles of boxes, so I guess that’s why I never made a blog post about it. Plus I wasn’t there. I either need to be there, so I have what to bla about, or I need good photos, one or the other.

Oh hey, I guess they did take some photos at Hoover Dam on their way out there. This is John’s brother, Dan.

The rest of these I’m just going to post without comment, because your guess is as good as mine.

Yikes, ok, here’s a comment. Am I the only one out there who literally gets sweaty palms looking at these? This is why John can’t take me anywhere. I can’t even handle the photos! Eeek!

Ok, well, I like this last one.