My 27th Birthday!

Ok, So I've procrastinated enough. I finally am writing about my birthday weekend which was like 3 weeks ago. For my birthday, my brother Jesse and my friend Matt decided to come celebrate it with me! They flew in Thursday night and I showed them around my work at Stratus Automation. Although I think they still don't have a clue as to what exactly I do. Either way we got some great firewood for the camping trip ahead of us.

Friday morning we arose early in preparation for a mountaineering journey ahead of us. Although the first point on our trek was of course REI. Jesse got a pair of shorts and hiking socks, Matt got some hiking socks and I got an under armor shirt. With new gear in tow we head back to Ira Springs. This is a great way to experience the Northwest. Jesse even found his obligatory slug slowly making his way up the mountain side.

After a couple hours we reached a fork in the road (see sign above). Do we go to Mason Lake or continue up to Bandera Mt.? We were on a high point of the mountain but I really wanted to go higher. Plus me and Chrissy have already experienced Mason Lake. So we continued upwards. The next hour was quite possibly the worst hiking trail ever. It was a bramble path that was basically straight up through a field with a bunch of rocks. After this painstaking hike everyone debated on going further knowing there was still an unknown about of distance to the real summit. As the rest of the crew acclimated to the altitude I decided to trudge on. I was on a mission and was focused on on thing. I was not going to let anything hold me back. After about 30-45 minutes of climbing up a waterfall of rocks, I finally did it! I reached the top! It was absolutely stunning from there. I was above the majority of the mountain top which gave me a clear view of Mt. Rainier. Although more rewarding than the view was feeling of accomplishment.

The hike down was as if not more difficult due to the steepness of the decent as well as the fact that you must use the muscles in your legs that don't normally get used. Needless to say after a day of hiking we were beat.

Later that night we recuperated and celebrated my birthday in the only way we know how: Wiggly & Fat Faces!

I even got Matt to eat a Thailand Dragon pepper. He said it wasn't hot but after 2-3 minutes he said it started to get real hot. There's even video below so be sure to check it out.

Saturday was the big camping day and going to see Dave Matthews at The Gorge! We packed up the car and headed out with Andy en route to our favorite free camping spot (see pretty much any camping post). Just like the last time we were there, it was incredibly windy! This lead to a giant pain in the butt for setting up the tents. Giant rocks in the tent for the win. Before we left for the concert, our assitance was needed. Some dumb girl had managed to get her Scion stuck on a GIANT rock. Her car was actually teatering and rocking on a rock, which she somehow managed to wedge the middle of her car onto. After trying hard to push and pull it off we decided we needed more POWA! Andy went off and found a tow rope, which he then hooked up to his super sweet Toyota 4Runner. With 4 Wheel Low engaged he pulled her out as smooth a butter. Although this wasn't with out giant, loud, painful screeches and scraps of the her car grinding the rock. Some people's kids...

The concert was amazing! I think everyone would agree that this was THE best DMB concert that any of us have been to. He played a ton of good songs including Big Eyed Fish jamming into The Stone, Warehouse, a superb rendition of All along the Watchtower with Ben Harper and even an encore performance of Two Step! This has been like my 12th year in a row seeing him and I always leave an even bigger fan than I once was. You can even download the show on my Music blog below:

http://wedoworkson.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/dave-matthews-band/


http://wedoworkson.wordpress.com

We came back, cooked food and just relaxed around the cozy fire. Everytime we go camping Matt falls asleep sitting there, and that night was no exception. No matter how hard he fights it and what wired position he is in he still manages to fall asleep. Sorry Wink, I had to ;)

Sunday we came back and went to the market where they got some fresh salmon, crab and delicious vegetables. We came back and had a feast on the rooftop. It was so good you can't even imagine. They even steamed the Crab.

Monday morning they left us to head back to the Midwest :( I was so happy that they came out to visit and I am sure they had a good time. I am confident that they will be coming back out here soon enough, maybe even permanently ;) Thanks guys, it was a great birthday!

The next weekend Chrissy and I went blueberry picking. We got a pound or two blueberries. I even tipped the lady caused it was so much fun (who does that?). We are still eating blueberry concoctions to this day. In fact Chrissy just made a Blueberry Buckle which is delicious!

We even saw Lake Joy Road! Oh what great memories we have of Lake Joy...

Below is the rest of the pictures I took during this two week period. Enjoy!

Below are two video's of the journey and fun that resulted. Matt got me a suction mount for my camera so we did a time lapse of the trip to the trail head. The other video is just random goodness of the hike.






And just to leave you with a nugget of intrigue, Chrissy bought a new car :)