The Adventures of Dave, Lindsay, Cora and Edie

After years of talking about it, we finally made a trip to Alaska. It's definitely all it's cracked up to be. Seriously huge, full of wildlife, with monstrous mountains, glaciers, and rivers. It's certainly the smallest we've ever felt. Not only is the landscape immeasurable, but when you're standing on your two feet out in the open, you're the smallest mammal around. Alaska's great like that. We spent about 5 days bussing and hiking around Denali National Park and Preserve... and the weather was great. Perfect for hiking and sleeping in a tent. No bugs and no crowds. (The tent part was interesting though... somehow Dave grabbed tent poles belonging to a different tent. But we figured it out and made it work.) Mt. McKinley peeked out a few times for us and we were amazed every time. A truly spectacular mountain. (I've marked a photo so you can get an idea of the scale.) The video shows us trudging through a little Alaskan bush on our unsuccessful ascen...

Now that it has been several months since we came back from our trip, we've reluctantly decided to get back to work... which we quickly realized was totally lame. However, if you absolutely have to work for a living, we both ended up in pretty good positions. Lindsay is starting her 3rd week as the Donor Relations Officer for Boys and Girls Aid - www.boysandgirlsaid.org - a great non-profit that does foster care, adoption, temporary shelters for youth and a mentoring program called Mentor Portland. She's enjoying being back in the non-profit world but still adjusting to a full-time work schedule after working only part-time or not at all for the last year (yikes!). She's missing the world of conservation and environmental issues but hopes to fulfill that passion through some volunteer work in the near future. Dave has had an intense summer keeping up with school and two part time jobs. One job was working with Lindsay's Dad selling automotive parts around Oregon and ...

Every year, we meet up with some good ol' friends from Seattle and head out camping. This year brought us to a State Park in the shadows of Mt. Saint Helens. We have a great time sitting around the fire, taking turns making the meals and wandering through the nearby hills. Of course, over the years the camping has changed somewhat. Kids! No, we don't have children. But some of our friends do, and this keeps us all on the lookout for wandering toddlers and fallen pacifiers. Things have changed, but we're having as much fun as ever before. Our schedule works around nap times and early bed times... but maybe that part hasn't changed at all! Another change might be our furry friend Peeka. She likes to keep us on our toes... eating scraps that aren't scraps and barking at anything moving in the woods. Fun fun! We also got to take our new wheels into the woods for the first time. As you can see from the photos, we packed 'em in and tried it out. It was great. The bed ...