Olympic Peninsula - 4th July

These are a bunch of pictures taken on a trip made to the Olympic Peninsula, on the western coast of Washington (OK, so WA only has coast on the west border - just bear with me).

Who were the brave souls?

• Anna, Erin's gorgeous roommate and, well, there are one or two anecdotes worth telling, but a gentleman wouldn't, so don't ask. So instead, here's a quick reminder for Anna: you still owe us the first round of drinks.
• Bertan, same ol' same ol', you might've seen him in some hiking pics elsewhere on this site. Funny anecdotes? Well, pillow fights with Erin, bets on what "wench" means exactly (look it up yourselves here), and a very, very peculiar sense of style with headwear.
• Federico, again you might've seen him in skiing pics or similar. He turned back when we went to the hot springs, but still had enough time for a few moments worth remembering - like doing a victory jig on a trail, getting ice in his goatee 'cos he didn't believe in summer snow, and playing cumbia villera music that's bad enough to disrupt anyone's digestive system.
• Lovely Erin, who is somehow related to Bertan, not as a family member, but I don't want her to slap me silly by labeling what they are to each other, so this is where I stop typing and look wise instead. Of course she was also involved with the wench and pillow affairs (plus marking her territory with a her leg and teasing us all night 'cos we slept on the floor on Friday and she got the couch).
• Me. Given that this site is the closest thing to a shrine to myself I'll ever have, I've put a bunch of stuff about myself - just click away on pretty much any link.

The song for this trip: Like lovers do, by Heather Nova.

This is me, the day before leaving, with my best 'happy birthday' smile slapped on my face because I had just bought my digital camera. Expect the server to be overloaded with crappy pictures in the near future.

This is us with gas. No, no, wait, that didn't come out as I meant it to. This is us while gassing. No, that's not quite right either... Anyway, after Bertan did the left-right-left cha-cha-cha with the turning lights, we all managed to get to a gas station to get some fuel for the trip.

These are the best of best, those brave ones who dared not only go to the Olympic Peninsula following Erin's directions, but also drive with Federico and (gasp!) listen to his CD collection. For the record, Erin didn't lose her way - I'm just teasing here.

Ah.... we also got fuel for the soul at that gas station. We're crossing the bridge to Seattle in this shot, and I'm celebrating the glory of a Frappuccino bottle.

Lakes, small bodies of water, lots of trees, more trees, bridges, small towns, more trees... The view was very, very impressive. I don't remember exactly why I took this shot, but I didn't discard it because Federico kept yelling "shoot this! shoot this!"

This is not the bridge that wobbled when it resonated with the vibration the wind made - you must have seen the video sometime. Anyway, this is for all you geeks out there that understand the phenomenon. Turns out, I took the pic with Federico's camera, not mine, so I have to wait until he gives me the right picture. This is just any random bridge, but hey, the placeholder's here and so is this note - hopefully I'll remember to update this someday. :D

This is me after I dyed my hair and no, no, no, wait! Apparently I traded places with Anna after we stopped for lunch at Wendy's. And I cannot remember the number, but all that's engraved in my mind from that lunch is: Wendy Cares. Or Something.

In this picture, you can see that mountains very often go above clouds. It's quite interesting when you're hiking up - you start the hike on a cloudy day, after a while it gets more humid and visibility gets worse (although it never gets too foggy), and then, bam! sunshine. Makes it worth your while. Of course, coming back down is so depressive then...

Snap me, baby! Federico has the counterpart to this pic somewhere.

Exactly where I stood before, this picture is here just so I can show off my camera zoom power. [insert Austin Powers quote here]

During this trip, I learnt that The hills are alive / with the sound of music actually comes from "The Sound of Music" (La Novicia Rebelde), and was not created especially for Moulin Rouge. My childhood innocence has been brutally shattered and I will never be the same again.

Snow, baby, snow. Even in summer, if you go up high enough in the mountaines, you'll find patches of snow. And more than patches, if you go really high into, say, Mt. Raineer.

Yup, wild deer. And there were wild bears too, although we didn't run into any. And, for some reason, I think somebody mentioned something about how being molested by a bear is a bad idea, because you have to pay $100 or so, or some such thing.

Here's Anna, showing off her smile just to shame the rest of us into brushing our teeth with more diligence.

This is me, posing, just because. No, I'm not feeling the effects of Wendy's food. And no, I don't think it's a funny comment.

Here we have the whole gang, celebrating that we got to the end of the trail. That's Federico doing a victory jig, and Bertan, come on, admit it - you also did it, even I didn't get to catch you in the act in this picture. Erin is right behind Bertan, trying to cover herself to avoid being in this shameful (or is that shameless?) pic.

This is the trail we took, on Hurricane Ridge (I'm giving the name here just in case you happen to be in the area - great views, don't miss it).

I would've loved to insert a quote from a LoTR song here, about winding roads leading you where your feet take you or something, but my memory is too bad to remember and my will is to lazy to look it up.

Here we all stopped for about 50 seconds, took a couple of pictures and moved on. Not kidding - I'm pretty sure we didn't get to be there for a whole minute.

Right before the hot springs, these are the Watchamacallit Falls (a native name). Not as impressive as other falls you might see in one of these pages, but definitely one you don't want to take on with a raft.

A somewhat nicer picture of the falls, this one big enough to be used as a wallpaper at 1280 x whatever.

This is me posing in the falls. By this time, Anna, Bertan and Erin were probably running on their way back to the cars, because the hot springs would close in a while. But they wouldn't leave Federico and me behind. Well, they almost did, but I guess they didn't have a paper to write directions on, which is why they had to wait for us. That's what I'd like to believe, anyway - feel free to lie to me on this one.

After losing a race on a pool and relaxing in the (smelly as expected) hot springs, we checked out the wild nightlife of Port Angeles and went to a Pacific beach the following day. Here's a big chunk o'rock jutting out - quite impressive. There were a number of these along the beach.

In the foreground, a bunch of logs that were placed there by the American No Beach Should Be Without Logs Associations (ANBSBWLA, they couldn't come up with anything better). You have to balance of these to get to the beach.

I tried to climb one of the first mounds, but (a) the handholds had a tendency to break off if I put too much weight on them, (b) there was a lot of life on those rocks, and (c), Here's a close-up of what the base of one of those mounds looked like.

I decided to go up one mound that wouldn't make me use my hands until I got high enough that there weren't as many bugs, and here's the result: a pic of Erin from above.

Top of world, looking down on cre... No, wait, wrong soundtrack. This is Bertan and I, on top of one of the mounds, looking down on Erin (only because it's true, never metaphorically).

After the tiresome climbing and being punished during some self-defense lessons (don't ask), Bertan gets a nice backrub from Erin on the sand on a fine Washington day. Die with envy all ye who gaze upon this picture.

Walking down the rainforest (non-tropical variety), or, rather, in a mad dash running from the vicious bugs. Erin as usual has the good sense of hiding behind Bertan. Bertan, man, that pose may not be very virile, but it certainly makes for a funny picture. Anna in the meantime swats flies and smiles while thinking of the Cosmos she's going to prepare when she gets back home (because there is a feeling of power when preparing the drink - I'm quoting here, you know I can't come up with these things myself). And, yes, non-tropical rainforest is kind of similar to non-alcoholic beer. The flavor is similar but not quite the same.

Here's Bertan, with the I'm-talking-with-God light from above, and a door that says it all. Hopefully his personal higiene is somewhat better. I'm pretty sure his shirt doesn't say "wash me" after a couple of days (of course, I hope he doesn't wear the same shirt that long).