Camp Out!

For the first time in years I went camping.  As tempting as it is to count a lot of the cheap hostels as camping, though they included a mosquito net, not a tent.

It was a beautiful weekend here in the Pacific Northwest.  The kind that we don't usually get until late July. It was high seventies, low eighties (roughly 23-25 celsius). Most of the campgrounds in Western Washington don't even open until the beginning of May so this is still early season. Since we (we being 25 and I) only had the weekend, we had to find somewhere close.  I stumbled upon a book, the antiquated thing with paper pages, that outlined campground in Washington and within selected Scenic Beach State Park and campground near Silverdale on Hood Canal with views of the Olympic mountains. What a location and less than a two hour drive.

25 hadn't been camping in a year, and we'd not been camping together yet. We both, wisely it turns out, decided to view this trip as a trial.  We were close enough that if we forgot anything really important we could go pick it up but otherwise we'd make a list of things that would be good to bring out the next time.  Only about a dozen items to pick up for next time and nothing that was a showstopper. Lots of things that you have to go camping agin to remember, like a tablecloth, long matches, extra firestarters, and the like. I also was reminded of why you don't just pack flashlights and lanterns, but test them before hand but actually turning them on.  I ended up with a dead headlamp, two dead lanterns, one of which was corroded so badly it was pitched, along with a broken camp chair.  Extra batteries are also on the list.

The highlight of the trip, other than the sun, was when a sea otter ran out of his den, down a felled tree and hopped in the water. The sizeable raccon was a close second.  We also saw some starfish, a couple of cranes (one flew over my house when we arrived back) rounded out the pack. The company was stellar, never boring or frustrated, even when I won at cribbage - which never happens. We listened to the Mariners game on Sunday, we walked by the water looking for crabs and critters, enjoyed roasting marshmallows and reading by the fire until there wasn't enough light left. Aside from the lumpy night's sleep (next time the air mattress is coming along.  We are car camping after all, no need to rely only on a little roll pad), it was a fantastic weekend.

We are already planning for another weekend trip in June, a two nighter if we can manage with work and all. The hope is that the weather will be just as good, though, as Seattlites, we won't expect that and we'll go either way.

Are We There Yet?

Or alternately titled "When is this flipping winter going to be over?"

It's my first full winter back in the Seattle area in five  years.  It's also the first winter back here since living in Indonesia, an EQUATORIAL country where average high and low temperatures don't vary much.  Take a look. low of 75 degrees Fahrenheit in December. Seattle on the other hand, looks a little different.

I grew up near Seattle.  I know that the fall and winter and spring are generally long gray dreary days/weeks/months. I've learned to combat the cold with long underwear that I wear all the time, everyday under my pants. What surprised me this year was what trouble I had with the dark and the gloom.

At the height (or low point?) or winter, the sun sets about four in the afternoon.  When I was working in West Seattle from 8am to 5pm for two weeks in December, I never saw the sun.I never saw what little bit of daylight we had because let's be honest, there wasn't any sun.  The same was true during my contract the first three weeks of October.  We actually had some lovely weather then and I didn't see any of it, minus ten minutes through a window. It's dark when I get up, it's dark when I drive to work, it's dark when I drive home, it's dark when I go to bed.

This is what people mean when they say Seattle takes some getting used to.  That it's a city with lots of people with Seasonal Affective Disorder*. I actually noted the Winter Solstice this year and there was much rejoicing amongst the clinic staff where I was as we all both celebrated the fact that the days would now officially be getting longer, and commiserated that they would get longer very, very slowly.

The first week of January there were a couple of days that were bitterly, painfully cold.  I know because I was out in them.  Why you might wonder? Because it was sunny.  There were three or four days that were about thirty degrees but the skies were a brilliant, shiny, sunny, wonderful . . . they were blue.  A captivating, hope-inspiring blue. I'll give up ten degrees to see the sun.

I went out for an hour walk. I went snow shoeing three times, I laid with my dog in the sunny spot on the carpet. Alright, bring on 2013.  I'm recharged and ready. Here you thought I was kidding when I said I was solar powered!

* Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a kind of depression that occurs at a certain time of the year, usually in the winter. SAD may begin during the teen years or in adulthood. Like other forms of depression, it occurs more often in women than in men. People who live in places with long winter nights are at greater risk for SAD. A less common form of the disorder involves depression during the summer months.