My Potato Chip Rock At Mt. Woodson

Let me take a break from sharing our fun and wonderful summer trip at Washington and Oregon to go back to what is closer to heart and home. I know some may find the picture below scary, but it's not really that scary when you are up there. That slab or rock is pretty strong and not as narrow as you might think.

On Top of The World at Potato Chip Rock
click here for the different hiking trail options  to Potato Chip Rock in Mt. Woodson.

What are the different options to reach Potato Chip Rock? Clicking on the link will lead you to various trail options hiking Mt. Woodson, where the Potato Chip Rock can be found near the summit.

Mt. Rainier National Park

Our Hike at Mt. Rainier :(

Frankly, the picture above (and some more below) is the very reason why I am not that very excited to post yet about Mt. Rainier National Park. I still do not feel like leaving my pictures of star fish with the sea stacks, and the enchanted kingdom-like rain forests in my Olympic National Park post. It is not that Mt. Rainier National Park has nothing to offer, for Mt. Rainier is an amazing nature wonderland and National Park. Only that for 2 days we were there, we had gray sky, had mostly thick fogs the visibility was so poor, we had rain, snow, and some sort of blizzard blowing on us. How was the visibility like when we were there? It was like these.

( the picture above with the wide landscape of Mt. Rainier is what we were supposed to see in front of us, but in the picture, you will only see some snow and nothing, thick fog in front of us that won't let us see a few feet away from us)

Now, I do not really dislike fog, in fact, I love waking up to it most of the time in the morning here in San Diego, especially when the sun breaks in middle of the day. But not when we spent for 2-nights lodging and get thick fogs, rain, on and off snow and blizzard for 2 days we were there. But then, of course, this is not the fault of Mt.Rainier National Park, for the park is really a natural beauty and a source of inspiration, even when we were there at one of Mt. Rainier's worst days in the middle of summer. So, let me count the ways how we enjoyed the park despite having bad weather......

1. stopped on the road for whatever waterfalls we hear ( we can't see it from afar because of fog), and true enough, it was as joyful to listen to the sound of nature.

What is He Taking a Video Of? 

This Waterfall Below....

Waterfall in Fog Beside the Road

2. Hiked despited we did not know if we will be seeing anything because of visibility. But then, the thick fogs were lifted once a while for a brief moment for us to take pictures.

Does This Look Like a Summer Hike?

( Love it when fogs are lifted higher and can take some pictures)

But we were rewarded in some of our hikes, such as:

What? We See Mt. Rainier Now :)

Fogs Slowly Rising, Ice, River and Comet Falls

Blocks of Ice and Comet Falls

(it's such a joy being here, after 1500 ft uphill hike on icy snow packed trail in some parts, steep rocky strewn trail in other parts, and a not so good weather )

320 ft-tall Comet Falls Behind Me

( even despite dark skies and storms, you never know when the heaven will lift the fog to open up to you a world of wonder )

3. Focused on waterfalls and wildflowers, something that you can still take pictures up close when visibility is poor.

Christine Falls

Narada Falls

Despite a bad weather when we were there, nevertheless, we were still able to have some fun, and enjoyed Mt. Rainier our way. 

Sliding Down Instead of Hiking Down

Definitely, we will be back here at Mt. Rainier, and we will call it, Mt. Rainier take 2, hopefully, the next time we go back the weather will be on our side to explore and experience Mt. Rainier at its beautiful best.

Trip to Portage Glacier

Guest post from: Joe Castro

The best thing about taking a day trip is the fact that you get to spend time away from home. Whether I go with friends, family, or alone, taking a day trip to Portage Glacier is always wonderful. I remember when I was young and there were a great deal more glaciers here, but due to warming of the environment and natural causes, there are not many glaciers.

When I was younger I went with my parents. I wasn't old enough to drive but I loved to go! I would marvel at the many types of birds that I could see, the beautiful ice blue of the glacier water, and the refreshing wind that blows off of the glaciers themselves.

Today when I go there are few glaciers, but the water is still the pristine blue color that I remember. This is a very low population area and it gives me time to think about the things that are important to me. There is a great research facility that allows people to visit and check out ice worms, animal life near the glacier, and even some of the sea life such as otters and whales that call this area home.

No matter what stress I am dealing with, it is virtually wiped away after I set my home security system and set off on the two hour drive to this majestic landscape with my fiance.

Dreaming of a Weekend Get-away, with Family and Friends!!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.


Whenever I am home, my mind wanders to having fun out of the doors, always thinking where to go, where to kick my feet, where to relax, and where to have fun. My kind of fun is a combination of both hiking and the ocean. I love to hike, and at the same time, I love to ride the ocean's waves and feel the oneness with the wave. However, my most memorable vacation each time is those spent with family and friends. It is always a joy to share the beautiful gifts of nature and feel its power with family and friends. Though I also treasure the moments where it is just my husband and I exploring the outdoors, but then, we do this most times of the year. Everyday is a vacation for us in San Diego, just the two of us. Thus, when we take vacation, we always invite family to share the fun and memories.
Now, if only I can invite a lot of friends in our nature get-away to share the gift of nature and the great outdoors, without having to worry about hotel bills. But there is something to dream about for me, that is winning the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes.


Now, if I win the grand prize, I will receive a free stay at Hampton with 100 of my friends for one weekend. To help pay the tax, the grand prize winner will also receive $5000. It would be fun and exciting to invite my friends to a weekend get-away and we have the whole of 100 rooms of Hampton to us. We would find a Hampton Hotel closer to nature trails where we would enjoy hiking and ocean together! I am thinking of Monterey or Carmel, CA! These are the places I love to spend my weekend, what with the mountains kissing the sea, enjoying the redwood forest on land and the kelp forest in the sea. And those who are not into hiking or ocean exploring can stay in any of these two beautiful cities close to the sea and mountains and still find so many things to do.

Now, even if I do not win the grand prize, I still could win one of the 100 first prizes which is a weekend stay with 3 friends given away daily. The good news is, this contest is open to everybody! You do not have to be a Hilton Honors member to enter. You do not even need to have stayed previously at a Hampton to enter. This is a sweepstakes with nothing to lose. All you need to do is enter some contact information so they can tell you when you win! Now, would it not be great to spend another weekend get-away with family and friends?

We Were In Washington!!

Mt. Shuksan, North Cascades National Park, Washington

In my previous post, Arc'teryx in the Summer, Icy, Karen, Kirigalpoththa, Rainfield and Diane guessed the State we went exploring this summer is Alaska. Ebie guessed the place must be somewhere in the Salt Lake City Area in Utah which was the place for 2002 winter Olympics, while Amanda and Jag said they were clueless or can't take any guess. I really had fun in my previous 2 posts, and I thank everyone for participating and throwing their guesses. In my follow-up post, More Clues, I made the pictures a little bit more obvious, especially the picture of myself at the Key Arena. Ratty, who came in late to guess in the first post, was the first one to name the Washington State correctly in the follow up post. So, yes, we were in Washington from June 28- July 5. We then moved to Oregon late of July 5 up to July 7. Perhaps had I used this picture below in my first post, no doubt, everybody will say with confidence we were in Washington around Seattle area.

Space Needle, Seattle, WA

(perhaps the most famous symbol of WA)

I also thought that aside from the Key Arena, the orange structure of the Eagle in Olympic Scultpure Park in my follow-up post would give away the identity of Washington. 

Eagle, steel sculpture by Alexander Calder

Sharkbytes mentioned that the orange steel sculpture looks like that of Calder in the Grand Rapids. Very true, the sculpture above is one of the masterpieces of Alexander Calder, a world distinguished American sculptor and artist. The Seattle Art Museum uses an icon of Eagle to indicate the location of the Olympic Sculpture Park on its map of Seattle.This orange steel sculpture is also the most popular spot in Olympic Sculpture Park for people to take pictures.  

Calder's Eagle Sculpture and the Space Needle 

 Now, if you ask us, did we go to the top of the Space Needle? The answer is NO! First, they won't let us take the stairs for free or even for a reduced fee :( , haha! We prefer to go to the top using stairs, since we want to be different, plus what is climbing 650 ft anyway comparing it with climbing or hiking several thousands feet up in the mountains? Also, the fee is $18 per person to take the elevator? Well, not our kind of fun :) or we are simply cheap. :( Besides, I did the Empire State Building before in New York and was not thrilled at all with the experience of going up a building using elevator and fight with the crowd for a space at the top. I very much prefer a more peaceful walk. We opted to photograph Seattle from the ground, and waited for the following days to do real climbs in Washington's mountains and be one with nature. We had a great time at Washington, our trip was filled with numerous roaring waterfalls, most of them nameless as there are just too many waterfalls in its mountains. Aside from waterfalls, we tread on snow packed mountains and forests, beautiful alpine lakes and meadows, gushing river fed by glacier melts, wonderful ocean scenery at Olympic, wildlife such as salmon, deers, bald eagles, among many others. 

For my next post, I will bring you to North Cascades National Park, Washington.

The Joys of Hiking, North Cascades National Park, WA

Hope everybody is having a great weekend.

More Clues

To continue the guessing from my previous post, Arc'teryx in the Summer?,  just for fun, here are more clues and this time I am making the clues a lot more obvious. For those who are into sports, the second picture will probably give it away!

Now, this looks a lot warmer than the previous post

That's Me Having Fun at Key Arena

And The Snowy Mountain Peaks are quite at a distance from this city's pier

Special thanks to Amanda, Icy, Rainfield, Ebie, Blessing Reflections, Jag, Mei, Karen and Diane for guessing. Perhaps, with these new set of pictures, some would be able to easily identify the State now. Still guessing, or sure now?