If you’ve read The White Cascade, you probably recognize Wellington as the sight of one of the greatest train disasters in history. In 1910, a couple train got stuck on the tracks by a huge snowstorm and was eventually taken out by an avalanche killing 96 people. It’s located in Stevens Pass and on Thursday, Mom, Dad and I headed there to check it out.
I tried to hike to Wellington on Father’s Day last year but got turned around by snow. This year we didn’t have any problems like that. We drove to the top of Stevens Pass, caught the north end of Old Cascade Highway south down the valley to the Wellington trailhead.
Unfortunately it was raining just hard enough to thwart our attempts at a good hike, but we hiked about a mile underneath a concrete snowshed and saw the entrance to the old Cascade train tunnel.
Since our train adventure ended a bit early, we headed on to Leavenworth. After a quick stop to walk through the shops and get some fudge, we drove south and did the three pass blast in the Subie (Stevens, Blewett, Snoqualmie.)
Every year around December, we check out the Washington State Parks website and see which campgrounds are filling up. There are usually some good campsites left at those parks and we snag one for the following year. Previous trips have been to Deception Pass and Fort Flagler. This year it was Moran State Park on Orcas Island.
Tyla and I spent Memorial Day weekend camping in Garibaldi, OR with her family. They headed down earlier in the week, but we didn’t leave until Saturday morning in hopes of avoiding some traffic. We met them in chilly Cannon Beach where the wind and cool temps made for a short walk on the beach. Oskar enjoyed the ocean, we had some lunch in town, and then we visited a few shops before heading out.
Mom, Dad and I spent the weekend in Whistler. I wasn't sure what to expect there in the summer, but it was a blast. The weather was a bit foggy the first day but it didn't deter us much. The second day was full of sunshine and we had some great views. And we got actual snowfall at the peak on both days (no accumulation though.)
Chelsea, Tim and I headed for Ocean Shores State Park this weekend for what is likely the last camping trip of the year. We set up late on Friday night and had a quick campfire before bed. Saturday morning we walked on the beach and then spent the afternoon riding mopeds. In Washington, the beach is a highway so there are cars out on the hardpacked sand (and stuck in the not so hard sand.) You can ride mopeds out there as well so we took full advantage of the opportunity. On Saturday night, we were joined by Cheryl, Joe, and Lisa. After a second chilly night, we woke up on Sunday for an hour long horse ride on the beach.
Whew… that was a long trip. It was two layovers and both ways because I'm too cheap to pay extra for better plane tickets. I was up for almost 24 hours on Sunday because of my early flight coupled with the time change.
We're back from the big camping trip, and I happily declare it a success. There were some doubts about the weather, but the worst we got were a few sprinkles here and there. Thankfully Tim bought one of those tents that goes over the picnic table and that really saved the day. It kept stuff from falling on the table and gave us a respite from the rain when we needed it. Our days were filled with walks on the beach, a catamaran boat trip, a Flexi-straw challenge, and general laziness around camp fires.
Today a plan hatched in January comes to fruition. Seven month ago, we made reservations for the oh-so-popular 
On Saturday, Tim and I hiked up to the top of Tiger Mountain along the West Tiger #3 trail. I’ve read about it online and it’s often mentioned as one of the most popular hikes in the area. Tiger is the mountain (large hill) that stares you in the face as you get off of I-90 on exits 17 or 18 and when you leave my house and head down Trossachs Blvd. There are over 80 miles of trails on Tiger Mountain, but the trail we hiked was 2.5 miles and 2000 vertical feet one way.
Tim, Chelsea and I headed for Penrose Point State Park on Friday. It rained most of the day but stopped before we arrived at the site. We had just enough light to set up the tents before spending the rest of the night around the campfire. Saturday was full of cornhole, hiking, and sleeping. We packed up on Sunday morning and headed home. The weather was 75-80 and sunny all weekend.