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| Lt. Data's costume from ST:TNG |
November 18th, 2013
After returning from Alma, I spent that last weekdays and weekend with Max and Cait before taking off on the road again. Max and I visited the EMP museum. Basically, it is a nerd haven with fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, and music exhibits. They were also handing out starter packs of Magic The Gathering cards, so Max and I were playing during lunch. I am not sure how, but I am pretty sure we were the biggest nerds there.
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| Simon Peg's costume from Shaun of the Dead. |
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| They have a recording studio upstairs where you can record 15 minutes of yourself or a group on instruments. |
On the last night Max, Cait, and myself did a night on the town in Seattle. We hit a few of the higher rated bars and speakeasies. We had tried to visit a brewery that we had a Groupon for, but they closed before we got there. Have to check those times closely! We still had a great time visiting the other places downtown. We even got to watch a class of acrobats practicing. I think Max and Cait might be trying some of that this year.
In the morning I said my goodbyes and hopped in the car. Cait said I couldn't come back this time until I finished the trip! I had my plan to make a V across the country; making my way south before shooting back home to Traverse City. This portion would be a much faster pace than my first leg, to see as much as I could before reaching home and prepping for the wedding. My first stop was Riverside State Park, just outside Spokane, WA.
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| Passing over the Columbia River. Such a great place for lunch with a view! |
On my way there I had to pass through the Cascades. There wasn't any snow when I left Seattle, but as I went higher into the mountains there was quite a bit of it. The roads weren't too bad, but you really couldn't go full speed.
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| The furthest I ventured upon arriving. |
I got there just around 4:30. This meant I only had about an hour before it got dark. I setup my tent, walked about 2 minutes to the bridge to take the shot above, made dinner, and went to sleep.
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| Other side of the bridge in the morning. |
I woke up just after sunrise and hit the trails. I hadn't been hiking for a while, so it was good to get back into nature. I didn't really see anyone out on the trail, which wasn't too surprising. I was also the only person who stayed the night at the park. It was like my own private state park for the day!
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| The trail kept pretty close to the river the whole time. It was much calmer upstream. |
I hiked along the path for about 4 miles until I saw it was another 8 miles to my destination. The maps they had didn't really give you a good idea of how long the paths were, since they stuck pretty close to the campsites. Not wanting to walk a total of 20 miles that day, I made my way back to the camp. 8 miles after not hiking for about a month would prove to be enough the next morning when my feet and legs would ache.
Being by myself, there was really not much to do in the park besides hike. Hiking is great, but after spending half the day in my own head I had had enough for a little while.
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| Really cool bar, and lots of craft beer! |
With the day halfway over, I decided I would grab some lunch downtown. I got on Yelp and found The Flying Goat. I had a pear and blue cheese pizza that was fantastic. I of course had to wash it down with a local craft beer.
After lunch I hit the road again towards Yellowstone.
Pictures of the EMP
Pictures of Riverside State Park
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