Off to San Francisco

This is the end.  After 1.5 years of travelling, seeing beautiful things, getting married (!), and generally having a great time, it’s finally over.  We’ve moved into our new rental house in Oakland, and are getting ready to head back to work after Labor Day.  We don’t know what awaits us from here on out, but maybe sometime in the future we’ll get to do it all again!

Go Congress–Tacoma

This year, Go Congress was in Tacoma, WA.  Congress was fun; I rode my bike a lot and hung out, while Kristen won most of her games.  We again played pair go together, and went 1-1 at the second worst table.  At least we didn’t get beat by a 7 year old kid.  But we won the pair go costume contest!

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier as seen from Grand Meadow

Kristen and I headed up to Seattle early before Go Congress started.  The idea was that we were going to hang out with our friends Brian and Cathy for a day, then all head up to Mt. Rainier together to do a quick 1-night backpacking trip.

Kristen’s hip started to hurt on the way up to Seattle, and the next day she could barely walk or move around.  It was probably the worst it’s ever been.  She decided there was no way she could do a backpacking trip in that condition, so I drove her to the start of Go Congress in Tacoma and headed to rainier on my own to meet up with Brian and Cathy.

I’d never been to Mt. Rainier before.  It’s really quite spectacular.  I don’t think there’s anything like it in the continental US.  It’s incredibly massive and glaciated, especially up close.

Brian, Cathy, their two friends, and I met up at the base of the mountain, and shuttled our cars for the one-way trip.  Our hike was mostly be downhill, and passed through the spectacular Grand Meadow on the second day.  We camped near a creek the first night, and went for a short hike/rock scramble up a gully into the descending fog.  The next day, we hiked out through the meadow, which lived up to expectations.

I’d really love to go back and do some hiking around Rainier.  The terrain is so varied and beautiful.  Hopefully Kristen heals up quick so we can do it.