Theo's Sawtooth Weekend

Me and Theo and Uncle John headed up toward Stanley for a weekend of camping and fishing.

Theo was pretty excited.

He got really dirty and stayed that way. Dug holes, climbed rocks, ran around and had a ball.

And we went fishing. Theo caught his first rainbow trout! (I hooked it and handed him my rod, which he thought was about the coolest thing ever--until the fish jumped out of the water, all 6" of it, and he handed it back and put some safe distance between him and that fish.

It wasn't all fun and games. Theo got sick the first night, throwing up all over the inside of the tent. And it was in the low 20s F, very VERY cold. We had some gear, but we were prepared for summer camping, which made the night seem pretty long indeed.

These pics don't tell the tale, but he was not feeling well on Saturday, and got sick a few more times, so we packed it in and headed home. All in all a good trip, and bailing was the right choice for the sake of excitement at future camping opportunities. 

We'll be back.

The History of Typography

Pretty cool, if you're interested in such things.

Birthday and Bike Rides

Quite the momentous weekend at the Hess household. Cathy had a birthday, and Theo braved a pedal bike with no training wheels.

We finally made it to State & Lemp. I can't even begin to tell you how good it was. Well, yes I can. The scallop done sous vide in something called Chawanmushi, a custard made of eggs and peas served cold, set the tone. I hate peas. And this was some kind of an amazingly delicious dish that tasted of the most fresh and green pea flavor you can imagine. And I loved it. 

A hearty farro salad, an intermezzo of grapefruit sorbet on crushed up grapefruit merangue, sturgeon that blew the top of my head off with its pickled mustard seed tobiko, lamb with pickled cherries and black olive carmel and OH MY GOD it was so freaking good.

More to say. But I must finish this post.

I took Theo to see Planes 2: Fire and Rescue. In 3D! And it was so, so cool. I don't know which of us was more captivated by it, but safe to say we had a great time.

And Theo made a few valiant efforts at riding this bike with no training wheels. He had a good run, but a few tumbles while standing still and a movie we needed to get to meant we put another run off to another day. He will get it--he's very close. Can't wait to see him ride away. 

Theo Turns 4

We went up to Donnelly to celebrate Theo's 4th birthday. 

Waverunner on Lake Cascade. Swimming all day long. Campfires, hot dogs, a cake covered in tractors.

Good times.

This is one amazing kid.

Who has a fantastic family. 

Happy 4th birthday, buddy.

Certainly goes by fast.

Oh yeah... TdF!

This is going on. Time to tune in, I suppose.

Middle Fork Weekend

Lacking a permit for a river trip this year, and needing connection to this magical waterway, I headed out this weekend with Adam K to do some fishing, see some wilderness, gain some quiet. We succeeded.

We camped at Dagger Falls and hiked the Middle Fork of the Salmon for 2 days, fishing and walking and taking it all in. We even made our way to the boat launch at Indian Creek, just to see it. The anticipation and nervousness and excitement on the part of the boaters launching was palpable. I was jealous. 

We watched salmon leaping up Dagger Falls, too. A surprisingly emotional experience. Beautiful and tragic and noble. (You can't see them in this picture, but they're there, working the lower falls on the left and the steep second tier above it.) 

A fantastic weekend, and great potential for easy backpack trips to amazing fishing spots in the future. 

Dagger Falls

Going fishing this weekend. It's an interesting point in the season right now--some rivers still too high, some fish still down too low, Silver Creek hurting in both temperature and flow.

Marsh Creek and Dagger Falls is looking like a good option. Especially since we're on the verge of when migratory cutthroats are moving in and going nuts. Maybe I'll see some of this out there.

Heads High

The US Men's National Team lost yesterday to Belgium, 2-1. It was an amazing match, incredibly well played and hard fought, clean and true with few penalties and a whole lot of class.

We lost, but we lost to possibly the best team going, and we lost a close match that saw many chances not realized for us and a mindblowing performance by our goalkeeper, one of the best, Tim Fucking Howard (there is no longer any other way to say his name).

I am heartbroken after that loss, when victory seemed so possible and even sometimes likely.

I am also so proud of the way our players and our coach and our fans acquitted themselves. Soccer has become a serious sport, and lots of people are paying attention.

Great job, Yanks.