The trip today was one that has been only the calendar in the study for a number of month's now. We headed down to McChord Air Base for Air Expo 2005.

We arrived reasonably early, which meant we could get a good position near the fence to photograph the day's flying.

Unfortunately, I had taken note of the security advice on the website and decided not to bring our chairs...I must learn to ignore such advice at times.

So, standing next to the fence for the next 6 hours became an interesting exercise in keeping my legs moving without straying too far and letting someone grab our spot...

I was fortunate that we had decied to drop into CompUSA to pick up a couple of extra memory cards for my camera. I filled all three that I had with me, and could have really used the fourth..which I had left in the card reader at home.

I'm really happy with how the photos have turned out - the more practice I get with shooting airshows, the better things seem to get! We were lucky to get a spot right next to the Thunderbirds control/support van, so we had a good idea of what was going on all day. It also afforded a really good view of the Thunderbirds' ground show too! There's plenty more photos in the gallery, with C-17s, F-18s, F-15s, and of course, more of the Thunderbirds' F-16s.

Some of the guys at work have organised a golf day for this Friday, so after resisting for so many years I finally caved in and bought a set of clubs. Had a much bigger range to choose from once I figured out I was right handed, and not left handed!!

Now I just have to undo about six years of softball games I played in high school. It's a barrel of laughs for everyone else watching me automatically drop into a batting stance, but doesn't help me hit the little ball very well. So many things to think about - don't move your head, keep the left arm straight, watch the ball, follow through ... apparently you need to aim somewhere down the course, too!! Should be good for a giggle on Friday, anyway.

Andy's been making a valiant attempt to teach me some semblence of a swing in the back yard - plastic orange practice balls on the back doormat, because the grass is still too long even after mowing! It still feels completely gammy ... but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

My other project for the weekend was - what else? - golf club covers!! Found a chatty little knitting site on the web when I went searching for patterns on Saturday ... lucky for me, they had a crochet pattern too! I was somewhat inspired by a furry scarf Mum knitted me about a month ago (must finish those ends in one day!), so went out hunting for some furry yarn - ended up with some Lion 'Fun Fur'. Very nice effect, but a bit of a pain to work with. Kept having to fish the ends out with a tapestry needle as I went ... next time I'll go with shorter fur!

Rather pleased with the end result - my first real project with non-standard yarn, and I managed to get the look I was after! No chance of mistaking these clubs out on the course. Andy's a little bemused, though ... maybe I'll make him a set, in some more 'manly' colours!

Steve, Jack, Sooty and myself took Friday off to attend the Mustangs Northwest Roundup, held in Bellevue. Ali helped me detail the car, but we were still finishing things off at 10pm Thursday!

The day started with an 'interesting' breakfast at Lil Jon's restaurant - where Chris (Steve's son) ordered a breakfast so large that he broke the cardinal rule of not trying to eat anything larger than your head.

Steve thought it would be nice if there was 50 or 60 cars involved in the Pony Trails drive to the Le May Auto Museum... When we arrived at the Bellevue Community College to register, we found that we were registered in the low 90's...and that was almost an hour before the start time! In the end, there was over three hundred cars running in the Pony Trails. You can see my car here, and also Jack's, and Steve's just after the drive.

Some rain on the way home, meant that I was going to need to detail the car again on Saturday. Another long day of washing and waxing, saw the car finished at 9pm (a little earlier than Thursday!), ready for the People's Choice judging on Sunday.

 Steve had attended last year's People's Choice day as a spectator. This year, Steve, Jack and myself decided to enter the judging...hoping, but not expecting to win anything...

We had a fantastic day...this is reportedly the largest gathering of Mustangs in the world. With over 1300 cars packed into the parking lots of BCC, it might have been one time when American's really did have the world's best of something! In the Shelby category there was over 60 of the sought after and very expensive cars.

Steve spent a short while talking to a nice lady from the Mustang Times (Mustang Club of America magazine), who was intrigued by his accent...so much so, that photos were taken of us with our cars, and the president of the Mustang Club of America, for inclusion in a forthcoming issue of the magazine...

And of course...the president of the MCA voted for our cars...

We didn't win anything...despite our high hopes. But we learned a few things about what people like to see at a car show (bonnets/hoods open is apparently a good idea). I managed to get a line on a '65 fastback for sale, and Jack has now being bitten by the car show bug...

Glad we remembered to pack headlamps – it was pitch black overnight!! Really, really, can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face-type dark. The sound of the two nearby creeks was pretty loud due to the nearby falls (only a 30ft drop or so), but in a white-noise sort of way . Very peaceful.

We were in a bit of a valley, so daylight was a little later than expected – either that, or we just slept in . After a bit of breakfast we decamped … and then had to cross that creek again. Felt much colder first thing in the morning!

Today was mostly downhill, some compensation after we spent most of yesterday’s hike climbing uphill. Just as well we’d started out early, as the early sun felt like it was going to be a warm day. The car was still in the car park when we returned – always a good sign – and it felt good to throw the packs back in the boot!

We were pretty close to Mt St Helens already, and had to head back that way to get home – so we took a bit of a detour into the National Park to the Windy Ridge lookout. Even after 25 years, the difference between the remaining forest and the hillsides affected by the eruption effect is pretty stark. Some replanting has occurred, but the sight of old-growth trees blow uphill or around contours by the blast is amazing.

At Windy Ridge we climbed to the top of the nearby hill for a better look – at least this one had steps! A column of steam was visible rising from the crater of the mountain and forming clouds around the top. We were lucky it was such a clear day – from the top of the hill, we could also see the other ‘big’ mountains in the area – Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. Not often you can see all those from here!

After the obligatory gift shop stopover, we headed for home – toyed with the idea of heading into Seattle for the fireworks on Lake Union, but didn’t feel like battling traffic to get home at midnight after a long day. A couple of the local channels broadcast the festivities for other boring people like us who stayed home – alternatively, we could look out the window of our guest room on the top floor and just see the Redmond fireworks in nearby Marymoor Park.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

After a brief stop home overnight, on Sunday we headed south again to the Gifford Pinchot National Park. This was the first of the hikes we’ve planned for the next couple of months, and a chance to test out all the camping gear we’ve accumulating recently!!

We had to pack light so Andy could bring his camera gear along – so between us, we were ‘only’ carrying about 75lb of gear. This included a ‘bear vault’ to hold all our food and other smelly things, as well as a camp stove, tent, sleeping bags, mattresses, plus clothes to cover everything from rain to heat. We were also hoping the bear vault wouldn’t be required , but you never can tell …

We drove to the trail head just off NF-90, and loaded up … all was well until we hit the first hill! Bugga . At least most of the uphill stuff was switchbacks.

The trail followed an old mining road, and some old rusted machinery was visible amongst the trees and ferns. Thankfully some of the ‘interesting’ creek crossings mentioned in the trail book had since been bridged. Unfortunately the ‘axe-flattened log bridge’ at Straight Creek wasn’t … and our campground was on the other side of the river. Shoes off!! Hooray for hiking pants with zip-off legs …

(... so we didn’t do the whole trip in the map, just the bit from the 90 to the junction between the Straight Creek Falls and Quartz Creek Falls.)

Our tent was great – just big enough for two to minimise weight, and zips together in minutes. We quickly had our camp set up, and then spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing … watching the water, taking some photos in the evening light, and experimenting with the dehydrated dinners we brought with us. We had a relatively early night – there was still some daylight left! – because we had a pretty full plan for tomorrow too.

We had an early mark from work yesterday, so we were able to brave the long weekend traffic and drive down from Seattle to McMinnville in Oregon. What’s in McMinnville?

McMinnville is home to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, and the final resting place of the ‘Spruce Goose’. I had no idea just how big ‘big’ was until we walked inside and saw the numbers of aircraft sitting underneath the wings of the giant flying boat …

Unfortunately the flight deck isn’t open to visitors, but we were able to walk into the main body and see the bottom of the staircase. Apart from the sheer size of the internal space, the workmanship was incredible – all the wire looms were neatly tied and bundled, and the exterior surface looked as if it was made from a single sheet rather than individual planks of wood.

Steve and Di had also made the trip down for the museum, so there were the inevitable comparisons to life in the P-3 world … just how long would a pre-flight take, and how on earth would you inspect the engines?!

We stopped over the road for a look at some other static aircraft displays – an F-15 on a stick, plus a C130 and a P2V-5 adapted for fire bombing work. Our pre-trip planning also highlighted some nearby caches, so while Andy was taking photos I ducked down the road for a couple of quick finds.

The tree cover was making it difficult to get a good fix – and just then another car pulled up. Great … there goes that idea. Except these guys had a GPS too – saved! I’d just met Smokey’s Friends, a husband and wife with the Oregon Forestry Service. We had a good chat about all things caching on our walk around the park, and we managed to pick up both the caches – Aviators Memory and Return to Goose Valley.

A long drive back home, although the traffic had thinned out considerably. Now to pack for our camping trip to Lewis Creek tomorrow!