Goin' downtown

Sorry have not posted in a while...there are new pictures on the photo site if you want to jump there first. The main events this past week were our separate day-trips to Seattle with our Sol Duc friends. Alex took Alex and Oxana, our Russian friends who wanted to get there before leaving (which they sadly did yesterday...miss you already!!) along with another friend, Josh. I took Tom later in the week and after a rolling 20 minute trip on the Kingston-Edmonds auto ferry, we had a good time seeing the Space Needle, riding the Monorail, seeing the Public Market, eating my way through the Public Market (including a Mexican Chocolate cheesecake truffle with cinnamon and cayenne pepper and an 18-year old balsamic-vineagar)...my favorite Seattle place now. We also saw the well-known fish market where customer's orders are called loudly and then flung through the air (yes large whole fish and crabs flung through the air) to a well-trained (or at least well-practiced) catcher waiting with a sheet of wax paper to complete the sale. Quite fun...other street performers were abundant (see pix) and the place was just a lot of high-energy fun. Tom was in a shopping mood so we hit some well-known and other more eclectic spots for clothing and antiques that he knew of. He came home with a 60-yr-old pair of shoes...who am I to say anything? I like chocolate cheesecake with cayenne pepper! We ate at the Crab Pot on the piers and finished our day (after a free public bus ride back to the center of town) at a Barnes and Noble where Tom shopped for CD's and I enjoyed an Oreo brownie and double espresso (fuel for the 3.5 hour trip home). Good day. I am encouraging Alex to get on here soon to share her experiences. As I mentioned before, we were sad to see Alex and Oxana leave. We barely had time to get to know them a bit but feel a bond was made...thank God for email so hopefully we'll stay in touch. We are really really glad to be here to make friends and to love and serve. The rains have come and forecasts are for it to continue until 2011. Welcome to the NW!! I am about to help out the housekeeping staff for a few hours, then hit the pools tonight to close them down. Hopefully the guests haven't lynched Jeff who is working them now. The power was out for about 6hrs last night (we all knew for it was a scheduled outing), but since the pool pumps were down, the pools were cold this morning (antithetical when we are talking about hot springs) so hopefully the guests are in an understanding mood. Missing our home but God is good!
dk

Beach-time

((NEW PICS ON THE PHOTO PAGE NOW))
Have been able to explore a bit more of the area this week...we drove to the coast again on Wednesday and, while aiming for Rialto Beach, found ourselves in La Push...a small outpost of the Quileute reservation where the tribe continues to fish the dangerous Pacific waters for sale and survival. We stopped by Second Beach on the way back, accessible via a short, challenging, and beautiful 0.7 mi hike through the forest. The next day (yesteray), I made it to Rialto while Alex was working and walked 1.5 mi (one-way) to Hole-in-the-Wall, a very cool geological feature...essentially a sea-stack that was still connected to the mainland but which has a large hole eroded through the middle at sea-level (promise to have pix up soon of all this). There was a small steep stair on the inland side which took me up on top of this stack for some sweet views. Met an empty-nesting couple from Kentucky there and we exchanged photographer services. After a gray and misty-wet walk back, I stopped at the Hungry Bear Cafe for some quiet and warmth (inner and outer). While studying 1 Samuel, enjoyed a mocha, a cup of minestrone, and a slice of "bumbleberry pie" so-named by the cook but really just consisting of a medley of different berries. Satisfying, nonetheless. Before getting back, I stopped by the Salmon Cascades just off the road that approaches Sol Duc. Nothing spotted this time, but there was a deer peacefully grazing next to the road just before arriving at the lodge. Today, after a coffee-house study-session at Bella Rosa in Port Angeles, Alex and I stopped at Crescent Lake Lodge and did a short 2 mi loop to see Marymere Falls (didn't have my camera with me...will see again another time). We found the trailhead for the Mt. Storm King trail too so this will be a good challenge for us soon (only about 5 mi round trip but with 2000 ft of elevation gain). Now just hanging and getting my work clothes clean since my work week starts today. We praise God He is providing for us so well and for giving us opportunities to love and serve our new friends in His Name. We also get to see Tabatha, Aaron P, and Grant K soon about which we are very pleased! We are reminded in anticipating their arrival how important fellowship is and how acute is the missing of it while away. He is good...and He is more than enough. We are so grateful for His provision of our brothers and sister at this time.
dk

Turning

The season that is...the non-evergreens (there are a few!) here are beginning to redden and yellow-en. We finally saw a couple gray, misty days and an infusion of coolness prompting me to don an insulated Sol Duc rain jacket for my guard shift on Saturday. My new job has proven to be as quiet as expected though certain guests are sometimes determined to skirt the posted rules. (i.e. after being told twice not to flip off the side of the pool...."can i flip?"..."no"..."why not?"..."because there is no flipping"...."can i jump off the board?"..."that's the guard chair"..."let's call it a board"..."no, let's call it a guard chair". sheesh. Another little girl (maybe 3?) after being told 3 other times to get out of the bigger pool (not for guests under 4)...looked me right in the eye and shook her head no...her dad shooed her out. The restaraunt has remained fairly busy and that makes for a good night (time and tip-wise). Hiking to Mink Lake and around Hurricane Ridge was very cool. Will try to get pix up today or tomorrow. We could easily see Canada and Mt. Olympus from the top of the Ridge...and we were well-above the cloud cover over Port Angeles and the Straits so it was like looking down on an ocean of clouds. The walk to Mink was actually the highlight for me. At a couple points, I came to a spot, surrounded on all sides by hundred-foot pines...not a sound to be heard...the sunlight filtering down...the moment was really sacred and I just had to stop for a few minutes and just stand there...breathing in beauty...breathing out prayers of praise and thanks. We are continuing to enjoy our new friends and are finding opportunities to share. Alex and her guitar have been a hit and she has been able to share some of her own songs. Another guy here plays so this has been a fun connection. We were up late the other night singing and playing pop songs. A bonfire on "Pebble Beach" recently was the occasion for me to connect with a guy who tells me that he knows the Truth and knows he needs to get back to it...praise God! Looking for more opportunities like this to encourage and be a conduit for Him.
dk

First day off....sort of

Not in the dining room today anyway...will need to clock in later tonight to train on closing the pools (testing, draining, cleaning, refilling) as I will be taking some lifeguard hours soon. The pools are tested several times a day for bacteria count since they are untreated. They are each closed twice daily for an hour during open-hours in order to let them "rest". Temps and flow are also measured hourly. Despite all this, guarding appears to be one of the more sedate jobs around here, consisting mostly of observing people lounging, sitting, relaxing, floating, breathing or whatever other non-mobile verbs people find to do in the pools...which is precisely the reason they come. There is a big chlorinated pool too so the usual "no running", "no diving in the shallow end"-type rules are all enforced. Alex and I headed into "P.A." (Port Angeles) this morning to do a couple errands and had a great lunch at The Haven. She is working the front desk now so I am heading out to hike to Mink Lake (and possibly Deer Lake)...another couple beautiful spots nearby. Excited about tomorrow as we're taking the morning to hit Hurricane Ridge, one of the trademark/marquee sights around here...easily Googled I am sure if you want to see. We'll certainly have our own shots to share as well. I am uploadig pictures to the photo site as often as I have time. This one is of us at Kalaloch Lodge where we found time on a free morning to sit and enjoy a mocha earlier this week.

dk

PIXPIXPIX (for real!)

OK...finally got some pictures from the drive up on the HOK photo page. Please enjoy! Took a few more today on a 6-mile loop to Sol Duc Falls and back...so beautiful...like being in a cathedral where the hundreds of tall and mighty pines form the architecture, the roaring Sol Duc river and falls lend the choral voice, and the abundant life all bear witness to their Creator. Awesome.

Mocha on the coast...a

Was just uploading pix to the Flikr page when the laptop I was borrowing ran out of gas. But not before I got this one up of us on the auto ferry taking us across Puget Sound (that's the top of the Space Needle coming out of my head). Oh and the new one above (sorry so big, again no juice to reduce). So close, but will have to wait another day...sorry. Alex was off today and I only had the late dinner shift so we got our first taste of the Olympic coast today. Stopped at Ruby Beach first and got our own pics of the scene from the "WA-bound" post. Next stop Kalaloch Lodge where we got some excellent mochas and found a great spot on the lodge deck overlooking the beach. We read, talked, and I took a stroll on the sand. Watched some skim boarders brave the 50-degree water, kids building sand castles, sunbathers, and a group building a raft out of the abundant driftwood and challenging some kayakers to a race up the river which empties right there into the ocean. Brought back a couple of ocean treasures to Alex: a fairly large crab shell which had been eaten out and a likewise empty clam shell (nothing too exciting, not allowed to disturb the living treasures). Just a beautiful place. Saw a huge cedar tree on the way home which was amazing. Then back to Sol Duc for the dinner shift where I handled my first "10-top" (party of ten), almost spilled water on a guy's camera, and met a party that had seen us today at Kalaloch and again at the big tree. They also turned out to be from Tennessee so I felt obligated to apologize to them for our very substandard iced tea which they all ordered. It was no problem because they all drink unsweetened anyway (age not preference they claimed)....so I didn't tell them it comes from a concentrate like the sodas. Enjoying waiting but I will also be trained to take care of the pool and hotsprings next week so I can take some lifeguard shifts as well. Really itching for some trail hiking too to take in some more of this place's beauty. Also have plans to see Victoria/Vancouver Island and the Hoh Rain Forests at some point. Still building relationships with our new friends, looking for opportunities to love and serve. Pray for us to be transparent bearers of His image.
dk

Off and running

It is looking like Alex will be working second shift at the front desk pretty regularly. I tossed cabins with housekeeping yesterday from about 915 to 345 and got stopped in the middle of the day by the food and beverage manager who said "got you on from 430 to close (1045ish) tonight!" all right! dinner was pretty busy but i slid into the groove fairly quickly. was handling my own tables within the first hour or so. it is such a pleasure to serve good food to happy vacationers. Our first taste of the natural hot spring was much needed and enjoyed last night. Talk about good medicine for tired bodies. Then up early today for the breakfast run, a nice break for sunning/napping/ipod-ing/blogging, then back for the dinner run tonight. Since they've been shorthanded for a while, a lot of folks haven't had consistent days off in a while so my first day off may not come till later next week. It's ok of course, we are here to work. Still really loving meeting and getting to know our new friends...it's a pretty tight group but we really feel welcome. Also looking forward to some hiking and sightseeing soon. I will have pictures up in another day or so...a fellow waitstaff has her own photo blog and a handy laptop for that purpose.
dk

No pix yet

Unable to upload pictures with the employee computer so will be seeing if I can borrow a co-worker's laptop at some point. Apologies for that. Brilliant, blue, cold day today. Alex has started training at the front desk. I am probably going to do a shift with housekeeping today and also expect to begin training at the front desk at some point. I am told I will be of use serving in the restaraunt this Sunday and Monday and at the pool side (drawing on my life-guarding history). We are really enjoying building friendships with our co-workers. Everyone is really open and friendly. Our desire is to be salt and light among them...the aroma of life. I am excited to get to work but even more so to magnify God in every thing I do. I want to be a living sacrifice here and used of Him for His glory.
dk

Jaw-dropping

Coming around a corner and seeing Mt. Ranier...a 14,000 ft volcano surrounded by mere 3-4,000 ft hills....in all its snow-capped glory after hundreds of miles of farmland is quite an experience. The land only got more dramatic and beautiful as we made our way across Montana, Idaho, and into Washington (excepting the plain, flat, farmland of eastern WA). We hopped an auto ferry in Seattle along with a few hundred commuters and had a nice break letting someone else drive us across Puget Sound (no orca-sightings this time). We arrived at Sol Duc around 8p yesterday after a fine pizza dinner in Port Angeles. Getting settled and familiar with our new digs today. This is an amazingly beautiful place...will post pix later on the photo site. The drive to Sol Duc from the main road is 12 miles of pristine beauty through pine forrests and past Crescent Lake which looks like it came right from an Artist's brush (the truth actually). We are boarding in a rennovated shower (not kidding) right off the pool/hot spring deck which was quickly nested by Alex last night and transformed into a very welcoming/homey retreat. Meeting lots of very cool and friendly co-workers....it looks like we'll be doing a variety of jobs around the place (which really isn't very big at all)...front desk, waiting tables, lifeguarding, cashiering, etc etc....essentially whatever is needed. Thanks for keeping up with us...will do our best to keep this current. Peace....dk

Halfway there!

Hi all...so far so good. We spent last night in Rapid Falls, SD. We are about to swing by Mt. Rushmore before hauling another 700ish miles through Montana to Missoula. Lots and lots of time in the car over the last 2 days (quite weary-ing), but having good conversation and lots of thinking/reading/ipod time. The country really started getting beautiful about 2 hours out from our destination yesterday. The terrain is starting to change which is a relief from the miles and miles of farmland. Woke up to an incredible sunrise and hopefully some renewed endurance.
No new pix yet...peace to all.
dk