So Many Updates and Tons of History

So it's obviously been a bit since I've been able to sit down and update this so be prepared for a longer entry--if I wasn't already wordy enough, I know.

We got up from our hotel in Montana and made waffles at the complimentary breakfast (of course, being me I was more than amused to be making the waffles). We headed up to Glacier National Park to drive down the "Going to the Sun" road. Only 14 miles of it was open because of how early in the season it is but we drove all the way down and back. We stopped to take photos besides McDonald Lake (and yes, for any of my classmates who may be reading this, I am a nerd and did think of Professor McDonald in the process...Binghamton has taken over my brain and I don't know how I feel about that, haha). A man pulled over and told us he just saw a bear so we looked to our right and maybe 50 yards from us was a young bear. It stopped long enough for us to take a picture before crossing the road and disappearing into the woods. After having several camera malfunctions on my part, we were able to head back out of the park towards Washington (and yes, I did finally get my camera fixed so I could continue to take photos). When we finally got close enough to a campsite in Washington the rain was pretty intense so we ended up finding another cheap motel to stay at. It wasn't anything compared to the one from the night before, but it was dry, had beds, and a shower so we'll take it.

We got up the next morning and headed for Tacoma, which is 15-20 miles outside of Seattle. Steve (again for any classmates who may be reading this, I'm not talking about Steve Chapman) suggested we visit there since he was able to spend some time there while he was in Washington with the Army. So we went to see the Glass Museum which was closed when we got there but there was a bridge nearby that had a lot of pieces on exhibit anyway so we were able to check out a lot of beautiful works. It was also cool that Steve and I were able to get to some of the same places even if we were a few years off. We then drove up to Seattle and found the original Starbucks. I was excited and of course got some photos and souvenirs. We then crossed the street to the famous Pike Place Fish Market where they toss fish around to each other before giving them to the waiting customers. Naturally, that was just fun to watch as they chanted and tossed fish as well as souvenir hoodies and t-shirts around. We then made our way to the Space Needle. Went up into the observation deck and got a great view of the city. Spent some more time walking around until we headed out. We found a Starbucks outside of the actual city so we could park without paying and used the internet to confirm a bunch of reservations for campsites and activities we will be doing soon.

As Kayla did all of the grunt work (she's the planner in all this and I feel bad but she's too far in for me to be much of a help unfortunately) I finished reading a book I had started just before we disembarked on our trip. The book is called "The Unlikely Disciple" by Kevin Roose. I picked it up a few weeks ago out of curiosity--basically, Kevin goes to Brown but transfers to Liberty (a super-conservative, Christian university) for a semester to see what the Christian atmosphere is like there and attempt to bridge the divide between the secular world and the Christian world. I give him a lot of credit because while most people wouldn't even be willing to do what he did, he was very open-minded and gave a fair account of everything that transpired. It's great because he's just very real and is able to portray both sides of the spectrum very fairly considering his jump from one extreme to the other. I would highly recommend this book to anyone--Christian or not, because it gives a very good explanation of what goes on in a person's head when the Christian and secular worlds collide.

After finishing the book and having our reservations confirmed we headed north to Camano Island to meet up with Kayla's grandmother. It was an anxious trip because they haven't seen each other in 12 years. Things weren't perfect (when are they ever?) but they did go much better than expected. We talked for a while about Kayla's grandmother's childhood and things before having dinner and dessert. She complimented us on being strong independent women who are following our dreams and getting our educations and all of that which was nice. Then we looked through countless photos of Kayla's family from back in the day (obviously you can see a few of them here--sorry Muth family, but I had to do it! You're all just too cute!). I know there is a huge knot that finally is gone from Kayla's stomach so that's always good. We were finally able to crash a few hours later.

This morning we got up and packed all of the food and stuff that her grandmother had prepared for us and headed south. We passed into Oregon and checked into our campsite which is right next to a 12 mile hike we'll be doing in the morning. We then drove back up to Portland to tour the Underground Tunnels (aka the Shanghai Tunnels). Basically, the term "Shanghaied" came from Portland. As people would get drunk or high in bars/opium clubs the slavers would drop them through trap doors in the floor and hold them in cells until ships came to take them as workers/sailors headed for Shanghai; therefore: Shanghaied. So we met outside of Hobo's Restaurant and after some back story, we descended into the black caverns. We we shown holding cells for men as well as women (who were taken and sold into prostitution), some of the trap doors, opium cellars, and many other things. We learned a lot and heard plenty of ghost lore. It was a really interesting experience. After we ascended, we headed out in search of another Starbucks for internet so we could finally update our blogs. This is round two of mine, because after I had typed this whole thing out the website crashed on me--allowing for both the posting and pre-post saving of everything I typed not to happen. Probably one of the most annoying things ever--for anyone who knows this feeling you know how frustrating it is because you've already used up all of your good words and explanations and it's impossible to try to recreate that. Anyway, so that's all for now, we'll be heading back to our campsite and then off for hiking and more adventures tomorrow. More updates to follow as soon as we can!