Jan’s Oregon trip, Day 1. I’m heading to Salem to visit Skye and her family for the Fourth of July weekend. Angela drops me off at King Street Station, and we stop at Zeitgeist Coffee for morning coffee and so I can pick up a better lunch than what they’ll have on the train. The train journey is uneventful.
Skye picks me up at the Salem station and we spend some time catching up at a boba cafe before heading to Skye’s home. Although Skye and Jared moved to the house two and a half years ago, this is the first chance I’ve to visit. It’s nice to meet Jared, Leif, and Auden again. The boys are consumed by the ongoing World Cup soccer tournament; Auden shows me the handmade bracket poster on which he’s tracking the progress of the games. I also get to meet their new-ish cats, Rumble and Jojo.
We walk to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then on the way back Skye takes me to the small park near the house. Leif arrives to shoot hoops, and he and Skye have a little playful time on the court.
Back at the house, Leif pulls out fireworks he’s gotten from a friend. They’re small enough to set off on the concrete patio in the backyard. Jared proactively waters the nearby lawn. Leif and Auden have fun lighting the fireworks, many of which spin around. Some seems like they’re just going to shoot up a fountain of sparks — then surprise us by spitting out tiny fireballs in random directions. We’re happy nothing burns to the ground.
Angela makes a day hike up Squak Mountain to Debbie’s View.
Jan’s Oregon trip, Day 2. I’d forgotten what it’s like to get a family ready for a trip — Skye and Jared spend the morning helping the boys pack for the trip, packing for themselves, loading the car, and getting the house ready for a brief absence.
We make the hour-ish drive to the Oregon coast, then drive up 101 for a bit. This is the same highway that Evan and I biked down in 2021 on our month-long bike trip from Seattle to Stanford. It’s a little strange to travel the same stretch of road again.
We stop to make a day hike at Cascade Head, a natural reserve that includes a climb through coastal rainforest. The trail eventually comes out onto a high, open scrubland that looks out over the Pacific.
After the hike we continue to Pacific City and check into our little AirBnB for the weekend. As soon as the boys are in the house, they’re keen to turn on whatever World Cup soccer match is in progress. They will spend the rest of the weekend either watching soccer or trying to watch soccer. During theoretically screen-free times, Leif will occasionally disappear “to use the bathroom” or “to get something” and then not come back. He will be found watching the game on his phone.
The best dinner option in town is Pelican Brewing Company, and we’re happy to learn that the wait for a table will be less than half an hour. We kill time on the adjacent beach.
After dinner, we walk up the beach a bit to a huge sand dune. Leif and Auden are just as keen to run up the dune as the last time we were here in 2021. It seems to take forever to reach the top, but there’s a nice view, and then the descent just takes half a minute.
Angela celebrates the nation’s 250th birthday by baking a red, white, and blue cake! Her friend Shu-chih comes over with two of her neighbors to enjoy the cake.
Jan’s Oregon trip, Day 3. Leif and Auden consistently and immediately dismiss all predictive advice from their parents. When told to take a sweatshirt because it’s chilly outside, both boys will insist that they’re comfortable in a t-shirt. As soon as we leave to go to breakfast, first one boy, then the other, says that it’s cold. Leaving the house takes a long time.
We start the day with breakfast at Grateful Bread with its heavyhanded Greatful Dead theme: menu items like “Shakedown Street” and plenty of tie-dye.
In the mid-afternoon we drive to the small town of Neskowin, home to an annual Fourth of July fireworks show. We’re just barely early enough to secure a spot in the beach parking lot. We load ourselves with beach chairs, a beach canopy, a cooler, and so on, then trudge for 10 minutes to find a good spot on the beach near the evening’s show.
The beach is already busy but more and more people arrive for hours. Many groups set up elaborate fire pits or encampments with grills, tables, and other furnishings.
It’s pleasant to walk along the beach. Like all beaches in the Pacific Northwest, the Neskowin beach looks inviting but the water is bitterly cold. Jared and Leif recently purchased wetsuits, so they try those, but the water is still pretty cold. The wetsuits don’t come with booties, so their feet become numb with cold.
At one point we notice some odd, clear blobs in the sand that look like water but are semi-solid. They turn out to be moon jellyfish.
By the time the sun begins to go down, there are countless campfires along the beach in both directions — a hundred maybe? Many groups begin to set off their own fireworks, some small, some frighteningly large and loud. (Some of them rival the fireworks in the official show.) These are going off all around and above us; it’s somewhat unnerving.
One type of popular firework is a box that launches a volley of packages. When each package reaches its zenith, it deploys a parachute and a small American flag, which then drifts down to the beach. Each time such a volley begins, Leif and Auden join the horde of kids that go running in pursuit of the flags. Both boys end up with a small pile of them.
Finally, when it’s nearly 10:00 pm, the official fireworks show begins. It’s a good show, and we all enjoy it. It’s also gotten fairly cold, so we’re happy when the show ends and we can carry everything to the parking lot and drive back.
Jan’s Oregon trip, Day 4. In the late morning we drive from Pacific City back to Salem. Leif and Auden show me two of their favorite Nintendo Switch games. One is Little Kitty, Big City, in which you control a cat exploring a small corner of a cartoon Tokyo. The real cat Jojo is fascinated by the virtual cat.
The second game is Overcooked, a fast-order meal-prep simulator. Skye, Leif, Auden, and I all play together. We manage to clear a few levels, but the action keeps getting speeding up until we’re overwhelmed and laughing so hard we can’t play.
Jan’s Oregon trip, Day 5. After breakfast, Skye and Leif take me to the train station for my return trip. The train is only a little delayed getting to Seattle.
Bree has graciously agreed to pick me up at the station — only neither of us were aware that the train’s arrival coincides with yet another World Cup match in the stadium next to the station. Streets are blocked off, there are crowds everywhere, and it’s very hard for her to find anywhere she can park the car. She’s very happy after I get in the car and we can leave the area.
In the evening, we download our own copy of the Nintendo game Little Kitty, Big City. As expected, Bree enjoys the game too.
Our honorary family member, Evrim, arrives for a week and a half visit. She’s working this summer for Brown University in Providence and also taking a class. It’s been a year since she was last in Seattle.
Bree turns 19! Her friend Marina joins us for a celebratory dinner at Ishoni. Marina knows Bree well: she gives Bree a pair of earings, each of which has a 20-sided Dungeons & Dragons die and a little danging cat.
Liya was home just a month ago but decides to come down again for the weekend so she can see Evrim. Sadly, Liya’s afternoon bus never appears, and after two hours the bus company finally cancels the ride.
Angela swings into action, hopping in her car to drive up and retrieve Liya. Liya, meanwhile, takes Vancouver public transit to the town of White Rock, BC, just across the U.S./Canada border. They make it back home just after midnight.
We spend the afternoon at the Woodland Park Zoo. We used to take the kids there all the time, but it’s been years since we were last at the zoo. Bree’s friend, Marina, meets us there. From left: Marina, Bree, Angela, Evrim, Liya, Jan.
It’s a big enough zoo that we have to focus on the things we really want to see before we get tired and melt. The red panda is a hit, as are lion cubs. An unexpected favorite in the rainforest aviary is the Cock-of-the-rock, a vividly bright orange bird with a dopey expression.
When Angela bought her new car last year she gave it a name, but the kids don’t find it interesting enough.
Bree proposes that the car be called, “The Velocipastor”. Liya concurs.
Liya, Evrim, and Jan go for hike to Mirror Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail near Snoqualmie Pass. The last time Liya and Jan had visited the lake was during the pandemic in October 2020. Today it’s a much more warmer and pleasant day for a hike. It is a bit of trick to reach the trailhead, however — Jan’s new car is a sedan that rides a little low, and the divots in the gravel road get worse and worse the higher we climb. We eventually reach a rocky section that looks like too much for the car, but it’s only half a mile from the trailhead so we just park on the side of the road and walk to the trail.
The PCT is a popular trail, so we see a fair number of people, but it’s still not crowded. We only see small animals, plus Liya spots a cute salamander. We eat lunch on a spot looking out over the crystal-clear lake. A pair of cute birds keeps flying around, angling to get a bit of our lunch.
Bree and Angela attend the annual Obon festival in Seattle’s International District with Bree’s friend Marina and Marina’s mom Lika. From left: Lika’s friend, Lika, Marina, Bree, Angela.
Bree and Jan hike Lake Chelan, Day 1. We set out on our annual father-daughter backpacking trip (our twelfth!), this time to hike the Chelan Lakeshore Trail along the northeastern shore of Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington.
We take Highway 2 through Stevens Pass and the faux-Bavarian town of Leavenworth. Bree is amused to see a thrift store called “Das Thrift”. We stop at a Subway in Wenatchee for an early lunch, and afterwards poke into the “Bricks and Minifigs” store selling Lego.
We eventually reach Fields Point Landing, the furthest point up the lake from where we can catch a ferry. There’s a bit of forest fire smoke hanging over the lake; we hadn’t seen any in Seattle but it’s present here. The ferry ride is less than an hour, and the ferry lets us off around 2:00 pm at Prince Creek, the southernmost point on the Lakeshore Trail. We’re the only people getting off for the hike — most people do the hike in the spring or early summer, so we’re doing the hike a little on the late side. On the plus side, at this point in the summer there are almost no mosquitos.
The Lake Chelan area was hit with torrential rains in late 2024 and 2025, which caused flash floods in a number of creeks. The floods scraped all vegetation from the side of the creek and devastated the points where the trail crossed the creek. We hit the first of the washouts almost immediately as we try to cross Prince Creek. The trail is gone, and it’s hard to pick it up again on the other side, so a distance that would otherwise take a minute or so takes 15 minutes to navigate. We hope we don’t encounter too many challenging sections like this — we’ve just started.
From Prince Creek the trail heads north towards the tiny town of Stehekin, which we’ll reach two days from now. Given the warm temperatures in the 80s, we’ll be taking our time. Today we’re only going about 6 miles to Cascade Creek.
Our low-mileage plan turns out to be a wise one — it’s hot and very dry, and the trail is constantly climbing and descending. The sides of the lake valley are extremely steep, and sometimes the trail must climb up high to avoid a steep or vertical shore. Jan really doesn’t like the trail sections that skirt the tops of cliffs.
We set out from Prince Creek with just a liter of water each, which would normally have been plenty, but the heat causes us to drink water faster than expected. Just as we’re worrying about running out before reaching our campsite for the night, we come to a tiny creek where we can top up our water bottles. A short while later, there’s a more substantial creek. To cool off, we dunk our shirts in the freezing cold water then put them back on.
Around 6:00 pm we finally reach a turn-off for our destination for tonight, the campsites next to where Cascade Creek enters the lake. The descending trail is quite steep; we’re not looking forward to having to climb back up this in the morning. The camping area has an old dock but it’s no longer servicable, so the campsites are only for hikers. We’ve seen no other hikers on the trail today (nor will we over the next two days), so we have the place to ourselves. There’s even a picnic table on which we can spread out our gear.
The first order of business is a dip in the lake, which is extremely cold but it’s nice to rinse off. We set up the tent and then make a dinner of reyhdrated pasta. Jan doesn’t have much appetite, but Bree makes up for it by eating 3 servings.
It’s still pretty warm when we’re going to bed. Sleeping bags are too much.
Bree and Jan hike Lake Chelan, Day 2. It’s going to be even warmer today, so Lego Dad and Lego Bree (and their human counterparts) are up early at 6:00 am in order to do as much of today’s hiking this morning while it’s still cool. The trail follows the eastern shore of the lake, so the long, tall ridge to the east keeps us in shadow until mid-morning.
The lake has many logs drifting in it, probably the result of last year’s floods. We notice that one log has a long line of white birds perched on it. A short ways off, there’s another log with a lone white bird — maybe he’s uncool and can’t fit in? Close to us we also notice plenty of small lizards running along the rocks and trees.
We reach the campground at Moore Point at 11:00 am. We’re warm by now, so it’s nice to take a dip in the freezing lake. We have lunch at a picnic table, then lie down to take naps. At the moment the small peninsula is being swept by a cool breeze — after a little while we’re both cold. We retreat to the small wooden camping shelter nearby and nap there for a bit.
We have less than three miles to hike after lunch, but we have to work a bit to follow the climbing and descending trail. We’re very happy when we come in view of Flick Creek Campground, where we planning to camp tonight. Just before the campground there’s another washout area — apparently Flick Creek was one of the creeks that flooded, and the water took out a big chunk of hillside, including the trail.
There’s a three-person trail crew at work restoring the trail; they’ve apparently blasted a new shelf into the rock near the water’s edge for hikers like us to walk on. They’re still working on restoring the area, although they’re doing it slowly. The three men seem to be just hanging around, but when we come into view, they stir back into action. As we pass they’re casually discussing which of them is going to pick up which rock next.
When we reach the campground, we’re sad to discover that it’s been taken over by a large set of camping equipment: tables, a big stove, a hammock, a tent, chairs, and so on. The campground could probably fit 8 or 10 people, but all the equipment seems to be the property of just two men. They seem to have settled in for an extended fishing vacation, and are a little put out that hikers want to camp with them. They point us towards an unoccupied flat-ish spot on the other side of the campground.
The flat-ish spot is, sadly, not flat enough to camp on. We don’t feel like walking further today, so we decide to excavate some dirt and rock from one side of the spot and shift it to the other in order to build out a rectangle big enough for our tent. This takes a while but we eventually manage it. By the time we’re finished we’re hot, so it’s time for another swim.
At dinnertime there’s nowhere to sit near our tent that’s both comfortable and not in the full sun, so we have to walk a distance away to find a spot to sit and cook. Tonight’s dinner is a rehydrated backpacker chili. There are two packages, each of which claims to contain two servings. We’re both hungry, so we decide to make both. This is a mistake.
Each package requires 2 cups of boiling water, and rehydrates into an enormous amount of chili. The chili itself isn’t bad, but it’s just okay. It’s a half hour struggle to slowly dig our way through our respective portions. When we’re done we can barely move. We spend the time before bedtime reading on the campground dock.
Angela attends a Seattle Storm basketball game with her friend Sherri. It was Helly Kitty night, and Angela was happy to pick up a small Hello Kitty plushie.
Bree and Jan hike Lake Chelan, Day 3. We’re up at 6:00 am again for the short hike to the terminus of the Chelan Lakeshort Trail at the isolated hamlet of Stehekin. The tiny town has something like 75 year-round residents, but sees a steady traffic of curious tourists during the summer. The center of the town is the ferry dock, which sits across from the town’s one hotel and restaurant. Sadly, last year’s flooding damaged the structure, so it’s closed for remodeling.
We walk to the far end of town to a bike rental stand. No one’s there at the moment, but there’s a sign explaining that you can rent bikes on an honor system. We take two, then pedal north along the lakeshore towards the town’s one other prominent tourist enterprise: the Stehekin Pastry Company. This bakery has a legendary reputation, but Jan attributes most of it to the fact that it’s the only bakery for miles around. In addition to tourists, the other patrons are park service employees and Pacific Crest Trail hikers.
We get a cinnamon roll, which is fine, and Jan’s delighted to get a latte. We sit outside in a gazebo, where Bree teaches Jan how to play her new favorite card game, “Dutch”. You keep your cards face down and only occasionally get the opportunity to look at some of them, so the game requires a good memory. Bree is much stronger at this game than Jan.
We bike back to the rental stand, return our bikes, and walk to the ferry dock to wait for the ride back to Fields Point Landing. As the boat heads south, we can look to the eastern shore to see the trail we just hiked. Jan can see just how high the various cliffy bits are, and is glad he is only getting this perspective after we’ve finished hiking.
The concession at the ferry landing is closed, but the restrooms are open so we’re able to rinse off a bit before we get back in the car. We make a short detour in Wenatchee to stop at a Dairy Queen for ice cream, then head up and over Blewett Pass to I-90 and the road back home.
Bree and Angela fly to Los Angeles to spend a few days with E-moon and Cheng-nan. Earlier this year they moved from their longtime home in McLean, VA, to the L.A. area so they can be closer to Johnny and Zenni.
Bree and Angela get together with Chen and Tsai relations. From left: George, Jaden, Zenni, Julie, Johnny, Bree, Brian, Angela, and Carson. After dinner they go for a walk along the beach.