Naches Valley - A lads weekend at Scott's house.
A lads weekend was had. Scott who plays bass in my incredibly great but nameless new band has a house (pictured above) on the other side of Mount Rainier in a beautiful valley near the town of Naches. I took off after work with Kevin (guitar player in nameless band and co-worker) we hit the road heading east over Snoqualmie Pass and into the dry Eastern Washington where rain rarely falls. In the three years I've lived here it was my first time on the east side of Washington state and it is every bit the opposite I've read and been told about, from the topography and weather to the politics and religion.
As we wound our way deep into the desert it resembled California and my favorite drive through the Mojave Desert on the way up to Mammoth Mountain.
We got there late and hit a local bar where Kevin and I wallowed in our mistake of ordering McDonalds on the road. The other lads, Scott, Chris, Chris, Steven and Brian were sampling delicious looking plates of locally caught fish and other fresh foods. It didn't last long, we were soon well oiled on beer anyway.
The locals were out in droves as they barn danced to a single guitar player with his karaoke set as he sang everything from The Eagles to Dolly Parton. There wasn't so much of the 'squeal like a pig boy' element, but we soon got bored and hit another bar a couple miles away which was closed so we went back to the house and got shit-faced there instead.
In bed by 4 a.m. and up 3 hours later due to Scott and his friend Chris' dogs and the glaring sunlight coming through the curtain-less windows. After capturing some early morning, tall shadow shots on the digital camera, I threw together a feast for breakfast, topped off by an endless supply of coffee.
It was mid morning when we hit Scott's own personal single-track mountain bike trail that he's been working on. The trail stems from an old horse trail that winds it's way up a mountain at the back of his house. The ride up wasn't too bad but I regretted not taking up the fire road the entire way. The way down was fantastic. 
Some of the best riding I've had in a long time. Mountain biking is all about pushing you and your bike to the limit, bringing yourself as close as you can to losing control at speed, on dirt, over rocks and between trees. On a single track that is no more than a foot wide this feeling is magnified times ten and it's as much a rush as snowboarding on a good day. It's enough to cure any hang-over that's for sure.
Back at the ranch we settled into a long afternoon of barbecued lunch and beer. By late afternoon we were all passed out or reading or like myself, crashed out in a hammock somewhere. After a hit of coffee and a fly-fishing trip of which I was supremely crap at (but I must admit, I've got the bug for), evening was spent drinking and preparing a beautiful dinner of sardines, sausage, grilled pork and an exquisite elk chilli.
We spent the rest of the night getting drunk and taking turns at DJ - pass the iPod basically!
Another late night and another early morning. Both Kevin and myself were up by 8 and as the other guys were fly-fishing we decided to hit the road. After a typically massive american roadside breakfast,
we skirted around Mount Rainier through the famous Chinook Pass. The scenery here is stunning. In the mountains it is still spring, and I'm sure drivers have crashed their cars or driven over cliffs as they catch views of wild flowers in meadows hugging glaciers below gargantuan peaks. We were home by early afternoon and I was out at the dump by four o'clock getting rid of some more of that damn laurel!
Life was becoming a little predictable for me and this break was exactly what Dr. Shano ordered. Made some new friends and spent time with some existing friends in the band. I was able to throw my crap on the floor, not wash and drink as much as I wanted. Which wasn't all that much - really. Sometimes a man's gotta be what a man is. A big lazy kid! Evenings spent, watching shooting stars and drinking beers outside, talking utter nonsense are priceless themselves and a reward to getting far away from the city for a couple of days.
A lads weekend was had. Scott who plays bass in my incredibly great but nameless new band has a house (pictured above) on the other side of Mount Rainier in a beautiful valley near the town of Naches. I took off after work with Kevin (guitar player in nameless band and co-worker) we hit the road heading east over Snoqualmie Pass and into the dry Eastern Washington where rain rarely falls. In the three years I've lived here it was my first time on the east side of Washington state and it is every bit the opposite I've read and been told about, from the topography and weather to the politics and religion.
As we wound our way deep into the desert it resembled California and my favorite drive through the Mojave Desert on the way up to Mammoth Mountain. We got there late and hit a local bar where Kevin and I wallowed in our mistake of ordering McDonalds on the road. The other lads, Scott, Chris, Chris, Steven and Brian were sampling delicious looking plates of locally caught fish and other fresh foods. It didn't last long, we were soon well oiled on beer anyway.
The locals were out in droves as they barn danced to a single guitar player with his karaoke set as he sang everything from The Eagles to Dolly Parton. There wasn't so much of the 'squeal like a pig boy' element, but we soon got bored and hit another bar a couple miles away which was closed so we went back to the house and got shit-faced there instead. In bed by 4 a.m. and up 3 hours later due to Scott and his friend Chris' dogs and the glaring sunlight coming through the curtain-less windows. After capturing some early morning, tall shadow shots on the digital camera, I threw together a feast for breakfast, topped off by an endless supply of coffee.
It was mid morning when we hit Scott's own personal single-track mountain bike trail that he's been working on. The trail stems from an old horse trail that winds it's way up a mountain at the back of his house. The ride up wasn't too bad but I regretted not taking up the fire road the entire way. The way down was fantastic. 
Some of the best riding I've had in a long time. Mountain biking is all about pushing you and your bike to the limit, bringing yourself as close as you can to losing control at speed, on dirt, over rocks and between trees. On a single track that is no more than a foot wide this feeling is magnified times ten and it's as much a rush as snowboarding on a good day. It's enough to cure any hang-over that's for sure.
Back at the ranch we settled into a long afternoon of barbecued lunch and beer. By late afternoon we were all passed out or reading or like myself, crashed out in a hammock somewhere. After a hit of coffee and a fly-fishing trip of which I was supremely crap at (but I must admit, I've got the bug for), evening was spent drinking and preparing a beautiful dinner of sardines, sausage, grilled pork and an exquisite elk chilli.
We spent the rest of the night getting drunk and taking turns at DJ - pass the iPod basically! Another late night and another early morning. Both Kevin and myself were up by 8 and as the other guys were fly-fishing we decided to hit the road. After a typically massive american roadside breakfast,
we skirted around Mount Rainier through the famous Chinook Pass. The scenery here is stunning. In the mountains it is still spring, and I'm sure drivers have crashed their cars or driven over cliffs as they catch views of wild flowers in meadows hugging glaciers below gargantuan peaks. We were home by early afternoon and I was out at the dump by four o'clock getting rid of some more of that damn laurel! Life was becoming a little predictable for me and this break was exactly what Dr. Shano ordered. Made some new friends and spent time with some existing friends in the band. I was able to throw my crap on the floor, not wash and drink as much as I wanted. Which wasn't all that much - really. Sometimes a man's gotta be what a man is. A big lazy kid! Evenings spent, watching shooting stars and drinking beers outside, talking utter nonsense are priceless themselves and a reward to getting far away from the city for a couple of days.
posted by Shano at 3:07 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like fun. I'm jealous.
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