It's been so long!!!

Hey everyone. How long has it been? Quite awhile and we have done so much, so this will probably be a lengthy blog. So here it goes:
After we left Bellingham we found our way to Mt. Rainier. What a beautiful place. We stayed on the Sunrise side and stayed for 3 days. The first day we hiked 9 miles and did some ridge running. That was fun. It was very hard hiking, but fun. The next day we hiked to the summit of Dege Peak which was only 4.2 miles and an easy hike. We then left the Sunrise side and headed to Ellensburg, WA. The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute is located there with Washoe and her friends so I had to go. It was absolutely amazing! We sat through a lecture and then had the opportunity to watch the chimps and communicate with them through sign language. It was so fascinating and exciting! Washoe kept asking to see our shoes and asking for gum. I couldn’t believe I actually got to see them. I watch them on the internet all the time. (www.friendsofwashoe.org) After we left Ellensburg we headed to the Paradise side of Mt. Rainier. We did a ton of hiking and summated Pinnacle Peak and Plummer Peak. What amazing views you get of Rainier when you are on top of a mountain. While driving back to camp after a long day of hiking we were rewarded by the sight of a Mountain Lion. It was pretty cool. We were driving down the road at dusk and right out in front of us leapt a mountain lion. It ran from one side of the road to the other. It was small so we think it was a female. We then left Mt. Rainier after spending a total of 5 days there and headed to Mt. St. Helens. We only stayed there a couple of days. Most trails were closed due to the volcanic activity and it was cloudy and cold the whole time. The day we left the clouds dissipated for awhile and we were able to see steam coming from the crater. That was cool. While leaving the rv park Bret spotted Sasquatch by the road. He chased after him and grabbed him by the leg. Sasquatch was so strong that he was able to get out of Bret’s grasp and get away. We left Mt. St. Helens and headed to the Oregon coast. We started in Astoria at the very north tip and made our way down. We stopped in Cannon Beach, watched some surfers and walked along the beach. Bierstadt absolutely loves the beach. He is afraid of going in the water but the sand intrigues him. The water is soooooo cold that I can understand why the surfers have to wear wet suits in order to get in the water. Along the coast we saw seals, sea lions, a California gray whale and many seagulls. The Oregon coast is a beautiful place. There are some great little towns and not so great little towns. We stopped at Mo’s Chowder House to get my picture taken (of course), we saw some cool lighthouses and had a horrible experience at a chinese restaurant. Bret was craving asian food so we came across a little town that had a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. While we were walking to it I made the comment, “I hope it is not authentic Chinese with creepy seafood and “things” in it.” We got inside and everything seemed normal until we sat down. On our table underneath the glass surface was a sushi menu with pictures of what the sushi items were. I glanced at mine and then looked at the menu. Bret on the other hand scrolled over his sushi menu and came across the most disgusting thing I have ever heard of. Amanda you will not like this either- A spider roll. Yep, how disgusting is that. It looked like a normal sushi roll but had SPIDER LEGS sticking out of it. Who in their right mind eats things like that! Not us anyways. Needless to say, we ordered our food and was unable to eat it. We left after only taking a few bites. Chinese has not sounded good ever since. Just the thought brings up the vivid picture of the ______ roll. So we left that horrible experience and continued down the coast. We came to a small area called Cape Kiwanda. If we had enough money to buy a beach house this would be the place. (No worries mom, we don’t have the money. Yet  ) It was so cozy and cute. The beach was right there with a sea stack and very friendly people. We stayed in Cape Kiwanda for a night visiting the Pelican Brewery and having breakfast at a very cute little café. We followed the coast down to Bandon by the Sea where we left the coast and made our way to Crater Lake. Crater Lake is absolutely beautiful. No much to do there but it is worth spending a day. The lake is so blue due to how clear the water is and how far the light rays can reach under water. We stayed a day and a half and then headed to California.
We are in Klamath Falls, OR right now getting updated on news, emails and since classes have started we have homework to do. I have already had to write one paper and I have another due in a week. Lucky me. Bret is taking online classes for the first time this semester so we shall see how it goes. Internet access is not as easy to find as we thought it would be. Not every town has little internet cafes. We are heading to Lassen Volcanic National Park today and then to the Sierras where we will spend about a week. Hopefully, not to long before the next blog. Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you!!!!

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