Recap

Here's a bit of a recap of the last couple weeks of our lives. We got to spend two incredible weeks out in the Washington/Oregon area, with our main goal being to summit Mt. Rainier with our good friend, Paul. We gave it a good go, but due to extremely high winds, we made the choice to turn around at 12,350 ft. at the top of what is called the Disappointment Cleaver [gives new meaning to the name a bit] :). Unfortunately we were a bit low on food and supplies, so we had to descend from Camp Muir, where we were staying around 10,000 ft, and didn't have time to go for a second attempt at the summit. So after a bit of deliberation, we decided on a day of sea kyaking in the San Juan Islands before parting ways with Paul. We had a blast and met some pretty cool people in the process.

Mark and I spent our second week hanging with our friends Aaron and Annie, and had the good fortune to summit not only Mt. Adams, which we attempted last year, but got turned away by weather, but also Mt. St. Helens. It was an amazing couple weeks that fits into this wierd dichotomy of being super physically straining, but also super exhilerating and refreshing at the same time. Below are some of the pics that sum up our trip and give you a visual of what it is we spent all our time doing. Enjoy!

The night before we left for vacation, Mark was ordained! I'm so proud of him and excited for how God will honor this commitment he's made to serving the church and building His Kingdom. Congrats honey!

A clear shot of Mt. Rainier: 14,410 ft. What a sweet looking mountain!

This was a random hotel we stumbled across in Elbe, WA near Mt. Rainier National Park. It's called the Hobo Inn and you stay in railroad cars made hotel rooms. This red one was ours.


Mark and Jess gearing up for the hike up to Camp Muir at 10,000 ft.

Mark and Jess hiking up in a snowy cloud. Luckily the route was wanded so we had some clear direction. We broke through the cloud deck at around 8,000 ft. which made visibility much easier and was a beautiful view.