And fruit flies like bananas...
But that is all beside the point. The point is that we have a lot of catching up to do. Tasha and Kevin have been living, working, having fun, and running all over the pacific northwest for nearly three seasons since we last checked in with them, and boy have they been busy. pictures are worth approximately 1,047 words (in today's market), so let's dive right into it.
Well, to start with, it was spring when we last checked with them, and Kevin was lining up some tree work in Bellingham. working outdoors in the spring in the pacific northwest can be... a soggy endeavor.
Nevertheless, Kevin's spirits were not hampered. He maintained a positive attitude, and continued to make friends... like Johnboy, the urban night skier...
The pair worked all spring with their friend Jenny (and her husband Ian and new son Abel) on their garden plot in a nearby neighborhood.
It was quite an undertaking, moving lots of soil and compost and eventually erecting a deer fence that would make any ungulate piss itself just to look at.
They visited with friends from the forest world, including this gnome and kitty couple they ran into while poking around under logs, looking for fungi.
The garden needed light to grow food, so some of the local trees had ti give theirs up for the good of the veggies...
and spring slowly gave way to summer...
before that fully happened, though, Kevin and his friend, Joe headed up to Ross Lake for an early season visit to the place where kevin and tasha would be spending much of the summer.
They paddled a canoe up diablo lake, and then strapped it to a cart to haul it up the road and over ross dam.
The lake level was drawn down over 100 feet in anticipation of the massive snowmelt in the spring. This uncovered many interesting features of the lake that would normally be underwater...
Kevin's friend Katie joined them for a day and offered her paddle power in exchange for a seat in the canoe.
Lunch was had in an old stump field, normally occupied by a more aquatic sort of life.
The sandy beaches that used to be forested hillsides were carved down by small streams flowing into the lowered lake.
when the ross dam was constructed, every effort was made to get as much timber out from below the high water mark as possible, but not everything could be cut.
The trees that were left standing were topped from boats after the reservoir had filled most of the way, and when the lake is drawn down far enough now they jut above the surface like giant fenceposts anchored in the lake.
The Big Beaver creek has deposited a large, sandy beach over the years, and the receeded lake reveals a rushing streambed.
complete with huge waterfalls, usually hidden under the lake.
quite impressive what a little water behind a dam can hide...
Joe and Kevin prepared camp for the night and wandered around in the woods with Katie for a bit, looking for the old homestead of one of the early pioneers before katie took off down the lakeshore trail back to the car for work the next day.
Kevin and Joe took in the scenery the next day as they made their way back to the dam.
Unfortunately, as they were making their way back up the haul road, Kevin noticed that he was missing his camera. returning to the takeout, he found it floating about 6 inches from shore. These were some of the last pictures that camera would ever take. That camera had been found 12 miles into the backcountry on a backpacking trip two years prior, and was responsible for nearly every photo on this blog thus far. it was a good run, and as they say, easy come, easy go...
As spring turned into summer, Tasha moved up to the Environmental Learning Center and for Kevin, Tree Work turned into teaching once again. Before any of them saw any real action in the field, though, there was a lot of food and gear to be prepped and packed.
Tasha was dubbed the food Tsarina, heading up all organization and packing of the food for 13 trips of 12 people, 10 days each. (give or take) it would have been enough food to feed one person for over 4 years!
Finally, Tasha and Kevin, along with the rest of the Summer Youth Staff, had everything ready for the field, and got to start bringing kids out of their shells and into the wild!
Many photos were taken over the course of the summer, but there are really too many to share here. If you would like to check out more photos from the Summer Youth Programs that Kevin and Tasha have been a part of for the last several years, check them out of flickr
HERE
In their spare time, Tasha and Kevin found time to relax, and took a weekend in august to head out to the san juan islands with their bicycles and take in some of the views.
mmmmmm grass is so goooood...
Puget sound is littered with small islands, only the 4 largest of which are served by washington state ferries.
Tasha really likes doing handstands on the beach....
After the summer field season concluded, Kevin took the opportunity to take off on a motorcycle road trip to california to see a few highschool friends, one of whom had driven his truck across the country that spring, and was living in palo alto.
His ride took him onto islands....
And Ferries...
Around Lakes....
To roadside campsites (kind of loud)...
Along beautiful coastline...
Past a cheese factory....
under sunsets...
Past massive redwood trees...
and exceptionally large bigleaf maple trees...
Redwoods really are pretty darn huge....
Even when they fall down they can be too big to cut out of the way....
His route took him down into fog, up out of it, and every which way in between....
Until he met up with Meredith!!!
They took a day to explore some of the hills of san fran....
Take in some more veiws....
and finally, pack the motorcycle up into the back of the truck... reunited at last!
Captain silverstache even made a guest appearance, stopping by on a business trip. He and Kevin enjoyed the atmosphere of Joe's Taco Lounge, and took in some of the local sights while they were both in town.
Kevin and the Capt. took a side trip to the decommissioned Nike Missile site, here on the coast north of San Fran.
Kevin headed out of Palo Alto, and picked up another highschool friend, Jon, at the airport. they then headed for Matt's house in Truckee, CA, but first had to stop at the first In-N-Out burger they came to.
Matt's dog, Birdie, greeted them when they reached the town of Donner Pass, just outside of Truckee.
Matt and Jon really make quite the pair.
Especially when you throw motorcycles in the mix.
Kevin traded his motorcycle for a bicycle one night, getting up as much speed in the 1/8 mile afforded by the local boat launch as he could, before crashing straight into the local lake, flying over the handlebars despite his best efforts to remain atop his steed.
For a day, one of Matt's Co-workers, Mike, joined the trio for a ride through the mountains.
eat your heart out, mt. rushmore....
They did manage to hit a patch of bad weather that day. Mike emerged unscathed after hitting hail on the roadway, but his bike did not fare as well.
Ducky sure does love mountains...
It wasn't too long, though, before Kevin had to book it back north in time for the wedding of his and Tasha's friend, Amy.
It was quite the event, full of friends and otherwise fun people. Below, Tasha, Aneka, and Megan are mingling before the ceremony.
Ian, Steph, and Aneka... all quality individuals.
Gerry and his wife Hannah, dear friends to most people who know them, officiated the ceremony in the beautiful setting on the east side of the mountains.
Amy, dressed up more than perhaps anyone there had ever seen her =).
Kevin used his secondhand VOLVO vest to try and secure some luxury sedan transactions at the wedding, but to no avail.
Did we say that the people there were fun?
Tasha and Aneka, enjoying a delicious dinner.
Megan (far right) used her CIA training to simultaneous use her shawl as a fashion statement AND a sling to support her recently broken collarbone.
Ian may have earned the most fun points of the night...
But wait, there is more wedding action! The aforementioned Megan also got married in the fall! wanting to have a small, intimate ceremony, but not wanting to leave all their friends out, Megan and her betrothed, Alex, decided on a Fake Wedding party, or F'Wedding! The theme was Disco Cowboy.
and yes, the glasses, the hat, and the moustache are all real.
Cecilia, and Kate with Tasha. You'd think she really had an afro!
Later that season, Halloween came around, and when combined with a friend's birthday, pinatas are certainly in order.
This year, Kevin decided to dress as the stereotyped image of one of the most horrifying and potentially destructive things humanity has ever faced.... Ignorance.
Tasha modeled her costume after the social deviant, Lady Gaga, winning the party prize for best costume.
With the return to town came the return to tree work for Kevin. occasionally, he gets to work with cranes for removing logs of trees too large or too valuable to fall whole onto the ground.
Jeffl, the crane operator, is very good at his task.
One of Kevin's Co-Workers, Dan, makes the final cut on this massive Fir tree.
Bellingham also has plenty of old logging roads and forest access routes to explore if one is fortunate enough to have a motor on two wheels...
This year, the snow came pretty early, limiting how far up you can explore without a bit of slipping and sliding.
you can still reach places affording you dramatic views of Mt. Baker and Shuksan, however.
Kevin had to leave the old cap to his truck in Palo Alto to fit the motorcycle in the bed, but with rain and the cooler temperatures, he was able to find a replacement and fashioned up this new platform/storage system for the back end.
with plenty of easy access to what he might have stored beneath the platform.
No fall is complete without a thanksgiving celebration, of course, which Tasha and Kevin celebrated this year with their friends, Anne, Betsy, Devon, Katie, Tanya, Matt, and Devon's mother and partner up at Anne's house in Marblemount, WA.
Anne cooks a mean turkey!
And Kevin sure can eat a mean turkey...
The next day, the crew piled into Devon's pickup and went to pick up 3 cords of firewood that Anne was able to get from a neighbor down the road.
All set for winter!
Just to keep things exciting, Mt Baker Ski area opened fairly early this season, and Tasha, Kevin, and their friend Ian took full advantage opening weekend. Ian and Kevin had a little dance party in the parking lot before they hit the slopes.
Kevin and Tasha sure have some nice faces, huh?
A lot of the powder had been skied through by the end of the day, but the weather held and was quite beautiful for the trio.
New Facebook profile, Here Tasha comes!!!
Wow, so much to fit in here.... now we are at December, and Tasha is down in Oregon visiting family and friends. Kevin was left with the camera and headed up into the mountains solo for the weekend, setting his sights on an old, restored mining cabin up thunder creek.
On his way in he saw a variety of tracks in the snow along the trail, including what looks like a moose track above a swampy area near the cabins.
The Cabin was picture perfect, set in the woods with smoke in the chimney (once kevin started a fire).
The north cascades are a formidable place to travel in the winter, though quiet, peaceful, and still full of life as well.
Winter camping- it's all about cream cheese on sausage for a snack!
WHOA!!!!! last picture! that was quite the entry.
Well, we hope that you enjoyed this edition of Bananas or Bust, and a little glimpse of 1,001 different things that our intrepid duo has been up to since we last checked in with them. They fell off the picture wagon for a while with the death of their old camera, but hopefully they can keep up in the new year, and continue to keep you entertained.
