Monday, September 8, 2008

Fun Sandwich

Mary and I just got back from a 4-day backpacking trip down the coast of Vancouver Island, BC with our friends from MN, Erica and Josh. The trip was incredibly fun, but it was sandwiched between two slices of pain.

Let me explain.

Last Monday we moved out of our apartment. On our way down to Tacoma (where we're storing everything) my truck started to sputter out. Yay! I was thrilled. So we took Mary's car and made arrangements to have my truck picked up when Firestone was through figuring out and fixing the problem. Luckily, they figured out what was wrong while I still had a cell phone signal and I was able to ok the service. $488 of pain is not the best way to start off six-months of salary-free living, although the situation could have been much, much worse I guess.

That pain quickly faded though once we actually made it to the trail. The hike was simply great. Good exercise, Great company and whales! The trail hugged to coast the entire time (rising and falling in between beach access points). The north half of the trail had kelp beds paralleling the coast line, and feeding in the kelp were gray whales (some apparently live off the coast of Vancouver Island all summer; most migrate all the way to AK). It must drop off quickly because they were pretty close to the shore.



It's tough to explain how exhilarating it is to be hiking in a forest and then to all of a sudden hear a 50-foot whale take a deep breath, but you hear it and it makes your skin tingle and your heart race. At our lunch break on the first day we saw at least five whales cruise past us within a hundred feet from shore, some closer, and we'd see many more over the next three days. There weren't any spectacular jumps or tail displays, but a whale coming up for air was enough to widen your eyes and slap a huge grin on your face.



The hike was by no means easy, but completing it over 4 days left plenty of time to lounge around and enjoy the scenery. There was beach camping complete with camp fires, suspension bridges, bear sightings, and mushrooms. All very exciting! Besides the whales, the image that's burned into my head right now is a misty, morning sea scattered with cargo ships talking to each other in bellowing fog horns.



Now we're back in Washington and we're trying to get on our way. We still need to sell Mary's car and finish storing our stuff (we were in such a hurry with the truck mess that we had to dump most of it in a friend's garage). So there's still some more pain to deal with before we're truly free, but if this trip was an indicator of what's to come, then it'll be worth it.

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