We got another 3-5 inches today and schools in the area were closed for the 4th consecutive day.

But the white stuff can also add to the already beautiful scenery as exhibited here by Mark Griffith:

You can check out more of his excellent photography on Flickr.

A week ago tonight, wrote this post about how I was going on spontaneous hiking trip for a few days out on the Olympic Peninsula. In short, It was great except for the parts where it sucked.

I barely made (and I mean barely) the 5:50 am ferry from Edmonds to Kingston though when I got on, I was surprised to pick up a wireless access point on my MacBook Pro. Not a huge technical feat at all, but I was surprised nontheless, especially since it was free that day. The boat ride (yes, we stay in our cars the whole time) was over quickly and then I got to cross the Hood Canal Floating Bridge for the first time and then on up to Highway 101. Past the bridge and Port Ludlow, there's not much civilization until Sequim (pronounced Sk-wim). As the sun rose, I was treated to the eastern foothills of the Olympic Mountain rage and water almost everywhere else. It is a stunning drive. The first (and really only) large town on the Olympic Peninsula is Port Angeles and I was blown away about how big it was. I stopped at a Starbuck's drive through and got a latte.

About 20 miles outside Port Angeles, a body of water on your right appears as you wind your way down a pretty large road. But suspiciously, the water is oddly clear with a green sheen. This would be Lake Crescent which gets it's color from it's source, glacier runoff. The lake is stunning. It's incredible stillness and green color is something I'd never seen before and I stopped for an hour just to chill out along it's banks. It's huge! A few years ago I'd read a very interesting story in the Seattle P-I (it's worth stopping here and reading) and I thought alot about the young couple that's probably still at the bottom of this lake. What were there last thoughts before the accident? What would they have done that afternoon had they not crashed? What was the day like? And on and on.

After the lake, there's not much, I don't think I saw a single car for over 50 miles. It's primarily logging land so make sure you get gas in Port Angeles (click for map). I was tired but wanted to get Rialto Beach and hole in the wall before I checked out Forks and possible lodging. I turned right on Route 110 and headed for the beach. Along this road, I saw a surprising number of large homes that looked pretty civilized.

The beach was beautiful and I was the only one there. Low tide was scheduled for 9:54 and I had arrived at 9 so that gave me time to get my gear together (I obviously didn't want to drive 5 hours in my hiking pants) and get out to the beach. The approaching storm (the one that dumped almost a foot of snow on the eastside of Seattle) made for a rough surf which is what I had wanted. I must admit that it was not easy to hike on this beach. The surface was made of billions of tiny litte stones that were wet and felt like quicksand. It took me almost an hour to cover the first mile. It was cool being the only person in the world on this beach. At the one mile mark, I reached what was supposed to be a small creek. Heh. Not exactly. This was a raging river. The water was at least 4 feet deep and swift enough to carry a 20 pound stone 20 feet down the way. I didn't want to risk getting my feet wet so early so I spent about 30 minutes pacing up and down the thing (to the ocean water) until I devised a clever path using some fallen logs. When i decided to go, I was committed since I had thrown my pack over to the other side which had my car keys and everything else in them. Turns out I shouldn't have worried about getting wet. A few minutes after crossing the creek, I got tackled by a 9 foot wave that came at least 10 feet furhter up the beach than anything previous. Completely knocked me on my ass but I was smart to keep my camera over my head. I really wasn't worried about getting pulled into the sea by an undercurrent but I was shocked about how warm the water was. It was like a warm bath. I went to Hole In the Wall and turn around towards the car. I walked half in the water though since I was already wet.

I drove into Forks, looking for some lunch and a possible hotel. Forks (click for map) is a small logging town about 12 miles from the shore and there's not much here in the summer, let alone the winter. The only place to get food was at a small grocery store but there was a nice little hotel called the Forks Motel. It looked clean and rooms for $39 a night on the weekdays during the off season. Since the place was so cheap, I decided to call it a day (I'd been awake now for 39 hours) and I got a room. I took a warm shower and was asleep within an hour. Around 8 pm, my cell phone woke me.

The trip was over. It seems I had not obtained the necessary permits. I packed up, checked out (the woman at the desk insisted I get a refund while I insisted I pay for the night) and got on the road. 9 hours later (I missed the Bremerton-Seattle ferry by less than two minutes) I was home.

I'd love to go back, but probably won't. You can check out all of my photos from the tip in my Flickr gallery.

This has been one helluva a weather year. In Fall City, we got about 14 inches and as of 11:04 pm, it's still coming down. Other parts of Seattle got less than an inch but we were hammered here in the foothills.

Poor Amy left Kirkland (about 16 miles from home) just after 4:20 and is still 10 miles away here at 11:05. She's ok but behind a bunch of dumbasses who can't drive in snow. For some reason, people up here think it's perfectly acceptable to abandon there car in the middle of the road and just leave.

The dogs loved it. Sally absolutely loves the snow and plays Tazmanian Devil until she exhausts herself. Poor Kirby jumped off the deck and was completely submerged. He let out a huge yelp and jumped back. Poor widdle guy.

Check out the pics in my Flickr Gallery.

[EDIT]: Amy got home at 12:11 AM last night, nearly an 8 hour commute. FROM KIRKLAND.

Take a look at this normally very busy section of I-90 near Issaquah. Tons of abandoned cars right on the highway. A total cluster...

Right now, I'm about 300 yards out into Puget Sound on the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry but have high speed internet access for free. How cool! I think I remember reading something about internet access on the ferries but have only used a ferry once in the six years I've been here. I opened up my MacBook Pro and saw an available wireless network. How Cool!!

It occured to me yesterday while watching the Seahawks squeak by the Cowboys that I have a unique opportunity to do some exploring and shouldn't pass it up. So starting in a few hours, I'm taking the first Edmonds to Kingstong Ferry and am hitting the Peninsula. The plan is to not have a plan. I have no idea where (or even if) I'll be sleeping, or where I'll go. For safety reasons and to keep my family from freaking out and calling the coast guard at noon today, here is my rough draft:

1) Monday: Rialto Beach to Hole in the Wall (low tide is at 9:54 am), will likely stay somewhere in Forks
2) Tuesday: Point of the Arches & Shi Shi beach
3) Wednesday: Ozette Loop?
4) Thursday: Crescent Lake?

The weather? I'm not looking for a sunny day here. Meteorologists are expecting a pretty good storm to roll in off this part of the coast tomorrow afternoon and I'm hoping to see some pretty impressive surf. Other than mist, most of the rain forms between the beach and the Olympic Mountain foothills 20 miles inland, that being said, I'm still expecting to get extremely wet.

Point of the Arches from the air

I'm taking my good cameras and hopefully there will be some decent pics here in a few days.

As much as I like to beat myself up about sucking at this or that and not being perfect at everything I try, I know that I have one innate skill. Driving in snow and ice. Allow me to explain.

Being extremely close to finishing the project I was hired for work, I elected to stay until I was. Around 1:15 am, I stepped out into the Cingular parking lot and got into my car. It was raining rather heavily. Less than a mile later, I hit a serious wall of large snowflakes with an inch or snow on the ground. I knew this was going to be trouble, it was fairly warm out and snow when it's this warm is wet and much slicker than powder. One more mile and I was now into 3+ inches on Route 202, a two lane country-ish road with deep enough drops off both sides. My car was going everywhere and I cursed myself for not bringing my cell phone and not balancing the weight of my car by filling up the tank (I was pretty much on empty). I knew this road like the back of my hand however and knew when to give it gas to make it up the gradual inclines and when to lay off.

It was just after Ames Lake Rd. where I lost it. The rear of my unbalanced car spun wildly to my left putting me into a 180 and then hard up against the guard rail (though I cursed its existence at the time, I thank the gods of Alpe D'Huez for placing it there). Screwed I thought. No phone and 8.1 miles (I told you I know this road) from home. But I couldn't just leave my car here, it was on th wrong side of the road in a blind uphill corner. So I took some breaths, did my little chant and with some funky moves that any physics professor would be proud of, got my car going back towards Redmond. I resolved to go back to the Shell Station, balance my car out and try 'er again. Filled my tank and got some compliments from some guys in trucks that witnessed my escape moves. I called Amy and told her that if she did not see me in one hour, to drive up 202 towards Redmond where she would find me walking in the middle of the road.

I had some incredibly close calls on the second try but my techniques proved useful and I took an alternate way home that had minimal stops and inclines. About 55 minutes after I called Amy, I opened the garage door and was pumped up! I must have seen 25 cars along the roadside, some of them with AWD/4x4.

Oh, so my coping mechanism, it's none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's infamous developers, Developers, DEVELOPERS speech. He's a psycho crazery bastard but for some dumb reason about 4 years ago, while driving in some treacherous snow in Colorado, I found myself chanting this instead of "keep it together, keep it together." It' stupid but it must work.

Aside from the neighbors' outrageously loud generators, we are fine. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have a gas fireplace in our bedroom which is ironic because I'd always thought about having that thing ripped out. The dogs and cats have gotten along well though Ellie is tired of just sitting around so she wants out every hour or so. The ambient temperature in the rest of the house is around 45 so she usually wants to come back in pretty fast.

And no, there isn't any baby makin' going on, lol. If anything, we'll strangle each other due to cabin fever! I'm sure she's sick of me leafing through my Linux books and magazines with my dorky looking headlamp!