Staycation

This will be a very long post, with lots of pictures. Click on the pics to enlarge.

Luvassa Paljon Kuveja. Kilkkaa isommaks.

First of all, I want to thank for all the comments to the last post. They mean a lot to me, and I don't remember to thank you enough (or reply to them) so I want to thank you for all of them, they all mean a lot to me.

Ihan ensmäisenä, kiitos kommenteista (edelliseen ja vanhempiinkin posteihin). En muista vastata niihin tarpeeksi usein saati kiittää niistä, mutta jokainen on tärkeä ja luetaan varmasti. Koitan parantaa tapani! Mutta kiitos vielä kommenteista kaikille :)

As for the trip, well, we didn't really go anywhere. And the reason was my hand. Mr Hairyfeet didn't want to risk an infection, which was very wise, so we ended up staying home. What happened with my hand, you ask. In short, I had a wee operation on a finger, and apparently had a bad allergic reaction to the ointment I was supposed to use to help it heal. The end result: imagine, if you will, dipping you finger in boiling oil, until you get nice 2nd or 3rd degree burns. The skin takes quite a while to heal. And it's quite painful too. I couldn't knit for over 3 weeks (mainly because the finger would not bend properly), but I did some cross-stitching and quilting which I'll show later. But the hand issue was why we couldn't go anywhere too far. I couldn't risk getting an infection in the middle of some podunk town in Montana - I was sure I'd end up in their ER/feed store/gas station/Marty's Grocery Store. I've seen some Martys in my time and I just don't trust the sign saying the little table next to the propane tanks is the ER when all the equipment seem to belong to a slaugterhouse. So we stayed home.

Meidän piti lähtiä reissuun mutta ei sitten voitu, kun käsi ei ollut kunnossa. KarvaJalka viksuna miehenä totesi, ettei kannata lähteä ettei käsi tulehdu. Lyhyesti, käsi operoitiin (tai yks sormi) jokin aika sitten ja jostain syystä se ei parantunut. Ilmeisesti joko hoito-ohje oli väärä ja/tai iho ei tykännyt voiteesta jossa sitä piti pitää. Lopputulemana toisen/kolmannen asteen palovamma ja iho totaalisesti pois. Ei kaiken kaikkiaan mikään hauska kokemus, ja vie penteleen kauan parantua. Ei sitten viittitty lähteä sompailemaan pitkin mettiä, ettei tule tulehdus, koska semmoiset tulee aina jossain jierankairassa kaukana sivistyksestä, ja jotenkin ei houkuttanut ajatus siitä että ollaan jossain käpykylässä missä ensiavun virkaa toimittaa pöytä propaanitankkien takana siinä bensa-aseman/ruokakaupan/rautakaupan takahuoneessa. Niin että pysyttiin kotosalla.

What we ended up doing is sometimes referred to as a staycation. We ended up going on two day trips, and I have some pictures for you. We went to the Columbia River Gorge and to the North Cascades National Park, and they were really awesome. First, the Columbia River Gorge.

Me päädyttiin tekemään lyhyitä päiväretkiä. Hurauteltiin North Cascades National Parkiin ja sitten etelään Columbia-joen varteen. (En viitti kääntää noita tekstejä, joten osa on vain kolmannella kotimaisella.)

This was taken at Mitchell Point. There used to be a massive tunnel carved into rock in this place, but they took it apart when they built I-84 on the Oregon side.

This is also taken on the Oregon side. The scenery is quite different once you get to the east of the Cascades - the landscape is rather dry and brownish, whereas on the western side it's very green.

The scenery is much better from the Washington side.

We made it to Beacon Rock before sunset and the scenery was absolutely magnificent.

We even thought about climbing the rock, but frankly, it is 848ft and the way up looked really intimidating. So we climbed only a little and took some pictures.

The river is really beautiful at sunset.

For some reason the air was filled with some smoke, which made the sunlight look very pink. It reminded me of the weird color of the sun last fall when we had the fires in San Diego.

I really loved the river, it was really beautiful. But I think I liked the North Cascades National Park even better.

Kuten kuvista näkyy, joki oli tosi kaunis, mutta taisin silti tykätä enempi pohjoisen kansallispuistosta.

The water is greenish because of the minerals the water brings from the mountains. There are several waterfalls along the river, this one's called the Gorge Creek Falls at Gorge Dam.

The Skagit River has several dams, and thus artificial lakes, too. This one is called the Diablo Lake.

But the best thing about the national park are the mountains. I love the mountains, the scenery and the fresh air and all.

So those were the actual trips we made. But since we got some sunshine over the past two days, I managed to take some nice pictures of Bothell, where we live. So here are some quick shots of this wee town.

Sen enempää ei varsinaisesti reissattu, mutta koska pari viime päivää on aurinko näyttäytynyt, kävin näppäisemässä kuvia mein pitäjästä, Bothellista.

In downtown Bothell, my favorite spot is definitely this mural on Festival Street. I really love the idea of bringing beauty to otherwise ordinary buildings by painting something pretty on them. Bothell artists contributed to this and it depicts some scenes from local history.

Suosikkipaikka Bothellin keskustassa on tämä seinämaalaus Festival Streetillä. Mie tykkään tästä seepianvärisestä historiallisia aiheita kuvaavasta maalauksesta tosi paljon, kiva että pitäjää on kaunistettu tämmöisillä yksityiskohdilla.

I like the downtown anyway, I think it's really pretty and has a nice, small town feeling to it. (And Bothell is a small town, but unlike so many small towns in metropolitan areas, it also feels like one.) It's especially pretty now that the trees have so much color. (I had to include this one, if only for the fact that I managed to take a picture of the mail delivery vehicle from Hell.) :D

Keskusta on muutenkin aika viehko, se tuntuu (ja on) pieni pitäjä. Toisin kuin moni ison kaupungin likellä oleva pikkukaupunki, Bothellissa tuntuu kuin ois niin sanotusti maaseudulla. Varsinkin nyt keskusta on tosi kaunis kun puut vaihtaa väriään. (Oli pakko panna tää mukaan, kun onnistuin näppään kuvan pirullisesta postiautosta.) :D

I came across this cute little advertising trick on my photowalk. It seems to be made of old vacuum parts, and it's an ad for a vacuum repair place nearby. I think it was really cute!

Mainostamiseenkin on panostettu - tämä kierrätysmateriaaleista tehty pikku imuri oli tosi suloinen ja erilainen mainoskikka.

One of my favorite places in downtown Bothell is this little bakery. Their raspberry turnovers are heavenly!

Yks suosikkipaikoista keskustassa on Hillcrest Bakery. Tuore leipä ja vadelmapiirakat on tosi hyviä!

We actually live north from downtown Bothell, in an area called Canyon Park. On the way there, there's a little shopping center called Country Village, and I try to stop there as much as I can, if only for the feeling of the place.

Meidän koti on vähän pohjoiseen keskustasta. Matkalla meille päin on pieni ostospaikka, Country Village, jossa mie koitan käydä aina silloin tällöin ihan vaan tunnelman vuoksi.

There's also a quilting store called Keepsake Cottage. It doesn't really look like a store at all!

Country Villagessa on suloinen pieni tilkkupuoti, joka ei kyllä näytä puodilta ollenkaan.

I went grocery shopping in Mill Creek (about 7 miles north from our place), and had to take a picture of this cute little "mill" in front of an apartment complex. The water actually runs the mill.

Mill Creekissä (noin 10 kilometriä meiltä pohjoiseen) on yksi ruokakauppa jossa käyn tiuhaan, ja matkalla sinne näppäisin kuvan yhden paikallisen asuntoyhtiön edessä olevasta "myllystä". 

At the parking lot of the grocery store, the fall colors had suddenly appeared on the trees.

Ruokakaupan pihalla oli puut vaihtaneet syysväreihin ihan muutamassa päivässä.

On the drive home, I realized you could see Mt Rainier! This doesn't happen too often, so I took a picture of it too! I find it mind-boggling every time I see it. It's so massive - the mountain is a 2-hour drive away from our home and still you can see it if the weather is right.

Kotimatkalla huomasin että Mt Rainier näkyy. Tätä ei tapahdu kovin usein, joten otin kuvan siitäkin :) Vuorelle on matkaa pari tuntia ajaen ja silti se näkyy meille asti jos ilma on sopiva.

And while we're at the subject of mountains: there is a road which goes right past our home, and it goes over a hill, on top of which you can see the two mountain ranges of western Washington. Again, if the weather is right, that is. In the east, there are the Cascades.

Ja kun puhe on vuorista: meidän kodin ohi menee tie, joka ylittää ison mäen. Mäen päältä näkee hyvällä säällä molemmat läntisen Washingtonin vuorijonot. Idässä ovat Cascades-vuoret.

And in the west, the Olympic Mountains.

Ja lännessä Olympic Mountains.

And there is my favorite sign on the road too. I honestly have no idea why this is on the road, unless the fish actually jump onto the road :D (It's probably there to note that this is a protected creek, there's quite a few of them.)

Tien varressa on hupaisa kyltti. En käsitä miks tämä merkki on tien varressa - ehkä kalat (lohet) nousee tielle asti syksyisin :D (Nojaa, todennäköisesti tämä kertoo suojellusta purosta, näitä on täällä tosi paljon.)

Maybe I should bring a fishnet next time I go grocery shopping? :)

Täytynee kulettaa haavia jatkossa ruokakauppareissuilla :D

Next time, more poorly taken shots, and some finished projects too! I'm off to have some birthday cake now. (Yeap, that time of year again.)

Ens kerralla lisää huonoja näppäisyjä ja jotain valmistakin. Nyt otan vähän kaakkua vanhenemisen vuosipäivän kunniaks. (Se aika vuodesta taas.)