Epic Wind, Rain and Thunderstorms in December

So we are in the midst of three storms off the Pacific Ocean and I am not too happy about it.  For three days the wind has kept me up or had woken me up in the middle of the night.  Winds sustaining over 50 mph whipping through our really beat up Douglas Firs sure make you question whether or not they will keep up this abuse over and over again.  We are also in La Nina which brings a really warmish wet winter.  Not my favorite.  Not my favorite at all.

Over the years just a slight breeze would send us into the dark for a few hours to a couple of days.  For some reason we haven't lost power as often now as we did then and we also have a generator we've only used maybe a handful of times.  Dad purchased it almost 8 years ago.  I think we could have benefitted more while we lived in the other house and we were little. 

Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning was the first time the wind was that bad.  It woke me out of a pretty deep sleep.  I looked out the window and the wind had to be going at least 55 mph.  I was terrified. It sounded bad but the sight was worse.  I imagined all of them breaking, snapping in half and hitting the house causing a lot of damage.  It started to die down around 3 and I tried to ignore the awful outside and try to fall asleep again, 6:30 a.m. came too fast.

I got up after an "in and out" sleeping cycle when my alarm went off.  I got ready for work, grabbed all of the stuff I had set aside for our Christmas party at work, ate my cereal and was off.  As I headed towards Rainier I noticed this really big gray-green colored cloud.  That doesn't look good.  Last year when the weather looked like that we had an F1 tornado/waterspout out in the Nisqually Refuge area.  As I got into Rainier, I saw a huge bolt of lightning in the distance.  Oh crap!  I never have experienced a thunder storm during the winter let alone December.  We usually get this type of weather in the spring and early fall. 

I made my way towards Tumwater, via Rainier Road (this section of land is owned by the military therefore, cell reception is pretty poor) and I got into the area where there were a lot of trees.  At this point it wasn't raining.  When I went around the corner, after seeing multiple flashes in the sky and some rumbling, all of a sudden hail just started slamming down on me and the other cars on this stretch of road.  I saw break lights and several people who had pulled over because they couldn't see.  I continued on.  All of a sudden the sky broke loose and hail came down as hard as it could.  I am glad we don't live in an area that produces huge pieces of hail the size of quarters or bigger.  It would have ruined my car in less than a second.  It was a slow commute through this area.

As soon as I got to the guard rail area of Rainier Road, I heard a huge crack and everything around me got really bright.  I think a bolt of lightening just struck the ground not too far from where I was.  I really wasn't scared but my body shook from being startled by it.  It was so loud it trumped my radio and I had that up somewhat loud.  That was the craziest thing I've seen especially for December.

We had a few calmer nights but it rained a lot.  Many places were flooded, parts of Hwy 12 towards White Pass were closed due to a section of road being washed out, Ben didn't have to go to work on Thursday because the Chehalis River flooded and most of the roads out that way were closed.  There was a landslide down by Woodland that closed one lane of I-5 North indefinitely. On Thursday we had reports of a EF1 Tornado touching down in Battleground.  My aunt lives there and so does Brenda and Ray.  Everyone was fine but it still baffles me that we are having weather that comes around usually in the spring and fall.  (Below is a picture Ray took at the tail end of the tornado that touched down near their house.)

Some more damage caused by the tornado.  Pictures are from KGW-TV (Portland, Ore.)

A photo of the landslide near Woodland I-5 Northbound.  Picture is from WSDOT.

The third part of the storm is suppose to be done Saturday evening and we would revert back to our normal December weather.  We may even get some snow come Christmas time.

Next Adventure:  TBA

Mount Rainier Winter Time Adventure

Ben really didn't get a Thanksgiving holiday so I thought I would come up with something fun for us to do together on Saturday.  The weather was ideal, cold and clear, so I decided it would be fun to drive to the snow.  I picked Mount Rainier because of the views and I have never been up there in the winter time before.  I pitched the idea to Ben and he loved the idea. 

That morning we did some family pictures in Cochrane Park, similar to what we did two years ago, but this time we had to take our own pictures.  Jenna had some family stuff to do and we waited too long to ask her.  We all had breakfast before we left the house.  The French toast, sausage and fruit all hit the spot.  When we got to the park, I had to bust out the tripod and remember how to use the self timer on mom's camera.  When you don't use it as often you forget how to use it.  It was chilly and everyone didn't have a ton of patience since my siblings and their significant others were wanting to hit the road towards home.  We got a few of each group, a couple of all of us together and some specialty shots.  I thought based on what we had we did a good job.

As soon as 11 a.m. hit, everyone was saying their goodbyes and we all left.  Ben and I jumped into the Escape and headed towards Safeway for some food to bring with us.  Ben also needed some coffee since he just got off shift that morning at 7:30.  He was dragging a bit but wanted a fun day off outside.  We grabbed some sandwiches, chips and drinks, and I couldn't help myself...I had to get my maple bar on.  Ben grabbed an éclair.  We paid and topped off with gas before we left town.  The further east we got, the gas got more expensive in the smaller towns.

We headed east on Hwy 507 until we reached McKenna at the Roy Y.  We took the 702 to the Eatonville Cut Off.  Once through Eatonville, we took the Alder Cut Off to Hwy 7 near the east side of Alder Lake.  I was amazed how much more water was in the reservoir than the previous visit to the area less than two months ago.  Since then, we've had a lot of rain especially at the beginning of November.  We continued past the junction of Hwy 7 that took you to Hwy 12, we wrapped around and followed the 706 to Ashford which ultimately turned into Paradise Road once you got into the National Park. 

We got to the entrance and paid our $20 fee and followed everyone else up the windy road.  We passed Longmier and continued on.  We were here with grandma and mom two summers ago.  We really weren't going to miss anything.  There was a little snow on the ground here.  We followed the road up to a really popular viewpoint with lots of cars and we managed to find a spot, park and change into some warmer clothes.  I put my base layers on, then my secondary layers then my snow paints, vest and boots.  I was good to go now.  We took many pictures from various spots along this pullout.  You could drive all the way up when there isn't snow on the ground but when there is you have to walk.

We spent a good hour at this spot before it was time to head up to Paradise.  When we got there we had to park in the overflow parking lot and walk up to the lodge.  I brought our lunch with us and decided to eat it with the view of the mountain.  Ben got in trouble by the park rangers for trying to get a picture of one of the Gray Jay's sitting in his hand.  The tomato was the decoy and too heavy for the bird to steal it.  The ranger explained that feeding the wildlife was illegal and he let Ben off with a warning.  I told him I just couldn't take him anywhere!  Haha. 

I took a couple shots of the mountain from here and Ben got out the GoPro and took a few shots of both of us and the mountain.  Man, it was a pretty day!

We walked back to the Escape and got our sleds for some sledding.  I haven't been sledding in a very long time.  Last year we tried to on Snoqualmie Pass on the way to Spokane and couldn't because there wasn't any snow. 

We had a blast but because of the altitude and walking up the hills exhausted us.  We got a few pictures and videos.  Ben ended up exploding his sled and then continued to tear it into pieces.

It was getting colder by the minute and just about time for us to leave.  The gate at Longmier closed at 5.  I took my coat, boots and snow pants off just to it would be more comfortable inside on the way home.  I needed to stop for at least one earthcache and I picked the one at Christine Falls because it was the easiest to stop at.  Rainier100 2: Where the Water Falls (GC63X7V) was a pretty straight forward earthcache.  Most of the answers came from erosion and glacial outbursts of several years that scoured the place down to bedrock.  I snapped a couple of pictures from the bridge and knew I could answer the question without heading down to the viewpoint.  One more cache down and several to go.

We stopped one more time at a closed rest area because Ben had to get out of his snow pants and I had to pee really bad.  For some reason I didn't have any toilet paper or wipies and I had to use my clean pair of extra socks.  Oh well they wash.  We both got back into the Escape and left the park until next time.  Ben fell asleep for a while and I stopped one more time for Rainier100 2:  Ashford (GC63NCK) and it was found right next to a pottery store along the road.  I found it quickly, signed our names and put it back.  That was all for the day until the one in Elbe gets checked by the cache owner.

From there, it took us an hour to get home driving the same route as we did coming to the mountain.  We both were so tired and I wanted to get warm.  Mom made some dinner but I had some turkey and jello.  Then later on we had some popcorn while we watched some episodes of How I Met Your Mother.  It got late and he had to go home.  We said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Next Adventure:  Epic Wind, Rain and Thunderstorms in December

Thanksgiving Weekend

During the past few months we have been updating a few rooms inside our house.  We've done some remodeling in the bathrooms, started the hallway a few years ago and finally got that done in September.  Plus some of the walls in the "Christmas room".  We wanted some accent walls with some color in them so we just finished painted the remaining walls a teal like color.  They turned out really well.  It took me two days.  Afterwards, mom rented one of those Rug Doctors and the cleaner that went with it and we went over a few of our carpets just to improve them a little.  They really need to be ripped up and replaced but we do not have the money at the moment so we have to do cheaper projects until we do.

Erika and Malachi swooped in from Reno around 7:30ish on Wednesday night.  Mom made a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone to enjoy.  Doug and Jenn made it down from Seattle around 10 and Ben came over after work was done.   I was so tired from getting up early, going to work and then finishing up the house and food.  I was out for the count.  Ben and I went to the store to get some stuff for Friday's Thanksgiving at the fire station with his mom and sister.  He does not get to celebrate Thanksgiving on the day of this year.  He was pretty bummed.  When we got home from the store we spent some time watching How I Met Your Mother, we are starting at the beginning and working our way through the series in order.  Then he had to go home to go to work the next day.

On Thanksgiving, I was so excited to sleep in.  I woke up and actually got out of bed around 10.  Doug and Jen were already up and Erika and Malachi came over shortly after to hang out before going to Kevin and Karla's house.  We got all of the food we were going to bring finished and packed up, people took showers, clean clothes on, grabbed the presents and headed on over (we were also celebrating fall birthdays).  Doug and Jen and Erika and Malachi all drove separate.  My car had mom and dad inside.  We had to go pick grandma up on the way.

We got there just after one, unpacked the car and brought everything in.  We visited for a while as Karla got everything done and put on the tables.  We said grace, piled food onto our plates and sat down and had some really interesting conversations, just as we always do.  We gave Grammie a hard time because she is always the last one done eating because of all of the visiting she did.  It was always funny.

Some of us had some dessert if you had some room, others went and relaxed and did more visiting.  We had our mini birthday party and I got a couple of Seahawk hats, a half zippy jacket, a picture frame and some scrapbook paper.  We did some more visiting and then everyone started falling asleep, that was our cue to start getting our stuff ready to go home.  I packed the car up, gathered everyone and we headed towards home.  We dropped off grandma and then took dad home.  We unloaded our bags and leftovers and put the chickens and ducks away.

I asked mom if she wanted to head to Walmart just to see all the crazy people and so we didn't sit at home in the cold being bored.  She said sure.  We headed to Yelm and we were disappointed.  It was more organized this year and there really weren't that many people being douchebags.  We walked around looking at some of the deals that were being offered this year.  We found a few movies, some bathroom things and some cat food and Cheerios.  Then we left and went home.  Doug and Jen showed up about 20 minutes later and we asked what they found and we visited for a bit.  I went into my room and turned on the heater.  It's been 25-30 degrees outside the past few days and it gets cold in there without the space heater.  I watched Season 10 of Bones, talked to Ben for a bit and then went to bed.  It was a long day.

Friday, we deemed family day.  Mom made a tater tot casserole and we had fruit along side of it.  We chatted and tried to decide what we wanted to do with our day.  Originally, mom wanted to go to the beach for the day but everyone poo pooed the idea because it was cold and no one really wanted to get up early to go.  The idea of going and seeing a movie was thrown around but no one really wanted to see the movies being suggested.  I mentioned going bowling as a family.  Everyone seemed to like that idea.  We went with it.

 
Erika and Malachi went with dad over to grandma's house to look at archery stuff while everyone else got ready to go bowling.  Around noonish we all left in separate cars.  I had to go to the store really quickly along the way to pick up some stuff for dinner at the fire station with Ben, his mom and sister later on.  We all met at the Westside Lanes and I was a little late.  Doug had bowled my first frame for me.

Beer was ordered and we all made fun of how bad we all were at bowling.  Mom hadn't bowled in almost 20 years and it showed.  Everyone had a unique style of bowling and Jenn's was the weirdest.  She's right-handed and steps with her right foot.  We tried to tell her that when you do that you take away all of your power and at that point you're just using your arm strength.  It seemed to work for her I guess.  We played three games and I lost every single one of them.  I did well in the first game.

Then mom wanted to go down to the Deschutes River to take a few pictures.  When we got there we were able to take a few until the security guard shooed everyone out of the park for closing time.  At that point we had convinced everyone to stay until Saturday morning so everyone could be in the photos, including Ben.

Then everyone was hungry and we drove back over to Westside and had dinner at Red Robin.  I had a drink and some fries to tie me over until dinner around 8ish.

We chatted, ate food and I took a few pictures.  By the time we were finished a paid I had to head to Littlerock.  From there I think mom and dad went home. and the others went to Target and then hung out at the hotel for a while.

I helped Ben and his mom finish the food.  He got a call while everything was cooking so we finished up the mashed potatoes, gravy and watched the ham.  When they got back, all of us and Parker, his shift partner all sat down and enjoyed our Thanksgiving.  It was nice. 

Afterwards we cleaned up a bit and took a few pictures of Ben and his family.  Unfortunately it was about that time and we all had to go home.  I told everyone good bye and headed home.  I took a shower and then Doug came in and bothered me for a half hour.  I talked to Ben one more time and then passed out.  I was tired.

Next Adventure:  Mount Rainier Winter Time Adventure