8/21/2011 Posting

I spent the last week hanging out in the Wallowa Lake recreation area in northeastern Oregon with my family. My folks rented a cabin and Matt and I stayed in our trailer in the state campground. The sun shined every day and the temperatures were in the 80s. We did a couple of hikes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, spent a day in Hells Canyon, hung out at the lake, walked around the cool town of Joseph and got lots of reading done. It was a relaxing and wonderful week.

The best thing about it our trip was that the Wallowa Mountains (which are in the Eagle Cap Wilderness) are pretty much all melted out—at least in the places where the trails are. Most trailheads start around 4000 feet and we were able to get up to over 8000 feet on one of our hikes. No snow to impede our hiking progress like we’ve encountered here in the Cascades. It was nice to finally make it to a destination without having to worry about snow!

I’ve done a bit of domestic and foreign travel to some cool places, but it never fails to amaze me what wonderful travel and relaxation opportunities we have here in Washington and the rest of the Northwest. In just one day’s drive or less you can hike in lots of different cool mountain ranges, ski at several world-class destinations, visit one of several National Parks and Monuments, paddle (or zoom) around in thousands of lakes, walk in the ocean surf, or hang out in the hot desert.

Several years ago, I was planning a trip to New Zealand with Matt and some of our friends. We had another friend couple that lived in Australia and had been to New Zealand several times helping us plan our trip. Early on in the planning, the husband of the Australian couple mentioned that while beautiful, the New Zealand mountains and forests looked a lot like the Washington Cascades. And you know what—he was right! There were some different flora and fauna to look at, and I had blast driving on the left-hand side of the road, but the actual hiking destinations weren’t all that different than what we’d left behind in Washington.

So while it may be exciting and perspective broadening to travel to destinations thousands of miles away, don’t let the exoticness of foreign places blind you to all of the wonderful and unique places close by to visit. If I’ve only got a limited amount of time to vacation, I’d rather spend the time vacationing than trying to get to get to my destination—especially if it means cramming myself into an airplane seat!