Sunday May 22nd, 2011: Federation Forest State Park hike

Location: Federation Forest State Park in Greenwater, WA

Trail: White River trail

Elevation: 100-200

Duration: 1 hour

Miles: 1.5 miles

Level: Easy

I wasn't at all disappointed with the spectacular views at White River, because it made for an amazing picnic. However, I was a little disappointed on the level of the trail, and how short it was. Federation Forest does offer harder and a lot longer trails, but I am very snobby and love hiking next to bodies of water. Access to Federation Forest is incredibly easy, and I will come back for the other trails. I will also come back for those trespassing "hidden" trails I just adore so much as well. I was also incredibly disappointed that I didn't get to see the cute gnome that greets happy trail goers (No, seriously. There is a garden gnome that lives in Federation Forest). To much rumors and everyone getting my hopes up for decent weather. There was sun peak! Some cloud coverage, but that does not bother me.

Rocks along the trail near the river.

Crooked bridge.

Fungi!

Our picnic spot! :D

LICHEN!!

May 19th, 2011: Eisley @ Neumos

I've roughly became a fan of Eisley around 2004 when I first heard "I wasn't prepared". This year, I just discovered their album "Combinations", and I just went to their show and bought "The Valley". I love Neumos because the venue is very intimate, and it's easy to fully appreciate a good show when you can see all of the band members. Amanda and I had one of the best seats in the house on the 2nd floor overlooking the band.

Christie Dupree. Eisley's little sister. She was the opening band.

Eisley on the first floor.

Amanda and I outside of Neumos after the show :D

No Mt St. Helens? It's okay, there was always the trails at Evergreen!

I mentioned Evergreen in the title, but let me tell you the great news: I got into University of Washington! Hooray! I will be starting as a junior this Fall for an environmental studies degree. And this will be my second Bachelors degree. Let's hope this works the second time.

Now, onto the real deal. Garry and I were suppose to go to Castle Rock, Washington to the Mount St. Helens National Monument, but he couldn't sit in my small car for that long of a ride. We ended up hiking the trails at The Evergreen State College (the first college I graduated from, Garry's current school). I wasn't miserable, but it was pouring rain, and we couldn't reach the Eld Inlet :( We were descending down a really steep, and muddy trail that required baby steps, and looking for the safe paths down. It was so fun though. We both found a lot of interesting things on trail, which includes a voodoo doll. Yeah...