More Waterfalls!

So, as one can probably guess, I have been hiking the last four Sundays. It's a great way to spend the end of the weekend. This weekend was no different.

After getting locked out of my own bedroom on Friday afternoon, I realized that Roberta is not only a great roommate, but an extremely patient lock picker. For some reason all of our bedroom doors have locks but no keys to go with them. By accident I must have switched the lock in the morning. When I arrived home in the afternoon, I immediately assumed someone had played a mean trick on me. After realizing no one in my household owns wire hangars or paper clips(mine are IN my room), Roberta resorted to bobby pins. Those did little good. After prying the handle off with a screwdriver, she was able to somewhat pick the lock using the bobby pin and a small Allan wrench. After about 15 minutes of trying that I decided that I was just going to use the hammer to finish the job. Not only did it loosen everything, thus allowing the door to open, it was the most perfect object for me to let loose on. Whacking a doorknob with a hammer feels great. THE BEST OUTCOME of this "dilemma" is that now I have a broken door to paint and draw on. This could also be the place my roommates leave me notes.

After that eventful afternoon, the evening turned out to be relaxing. After weeks of searching craigslist, I finally found someone willing to sell me a Magnetic Fields ticket for under $50! Most others had been asking over $100! Ridiculous, I know. The concert was held at Town Hall. I imagined it being an old vintage movie theater, but it turned out to be more like a governmental/church building with pew seating. So different was this show from other indie rock/folk concerts I have been to. People sat attentively in their seats, no dancing, screaming or singing along. I felt as if I was at a classical concert. As for the music, the entire show was done acoustically. They played several off their newest album Distortion, a few from I and many from 69 Love Songs. I was disappointed not to hear at LEAST one from my favorite album Get Lost. Overall, they gave a quality performance. The music was so beautiful and calming, almost like an opera, where one drifts in and out of thoughts. Well worth the ticket.

Saturday was spent relaxing, eating the pounds of sweets Roberta made, and painting. I have finally begun the rooster painting. I think it'll end up being a fun project. In the early evening we decided to go out and purchase beverages for the evening. A note about Washington State: you cannot purchase liquor in grocery stores and you cannot purchase beer in liquor stores. So two trips were necessary. Goldschlager is this awful schnapps with gold flakes in it. It's not really conducive to the climate here, it's more of a negative degrees type of drink that warms your stomach. I will stick to Jameson. Hanging out with Mike and Roberta, I decided to pose a simple question to get a conversation going. Little did I know that it would turn into a philosophical debate escalating to a heated argument, making me exit to resume playing mandolin. It all started when I asked them about personality flaws. I now know what questions to avoid. Anything like that seems to turn political or religious at some point.

Ah yes, the HIKE! What I mentioned way back at the beginning of this posting. OK, so usually we have breakfast at the house. This week Roberta made orange/blueberry muffins, chocolate walnut bread, lemon cupcakes, AND pancakes! Mike also donated some girl scout cookies. I decided it was best not to add donuts into the combination, or else we might end up with adult onset diabetes one day. We were all so stuffed on the way to Wallace Falls. When I say all I'm referring to Roberta, Drew, Matt and I. Bear did not come for this one. Next time, he's coming.

It was a little over an hour drive till we reached the trail head. The hike began through some dry grassy terrain, quickly turning into lush moss-covered forest. Everything was mossy, moist and muddy. I'm so glad to have real hiking boots now, they are so much easier on the rocks. Along the trail there were three different spots which we viewed the falls from. The last I found to be the most amazing because of the view of the countryside(see picture above). According to the guidebook, the total distance of the hike was 5.6 miles with an elevation gain of 1,100 feet. It also claims to have the largest waterfalls in the area.

After the hike, we did kept the tradition in going to the first DQ(Dairy Queen-for those of you who don't eat fast food) we saw. Not such a good idea. All of us felt a little on the queasy side. Seeing the new Will Farrell movie probably didn't help digestion. Maybe next time we should opt for picnic food.

ciao for now