Upcoming overseas travels.. And more!

Photo: Goofing around on my birthday Mount Shasta climb last month-- Story and photos from our climb, and other recent outdoor expeditions, are coming soon!

Mushroom Rock, 12,800 feet

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Aug 31, 2015 at 12:31pm PDT

Baby Levi's U.S. passport should arrive any week now.  Now that the spring/summer hiking and climbing season is slowing down, it's time once again to get the Hamiltons out and about.  And of course, that includes our occasional quick trips overseas!

Studying for my "Big Church" sermons has kept me too occupied to update this blog recently (or participate in the annual Triple D hiking event with NW Wilderness last weekend!).  I'll be back after my preaching to blog about some about some of the recent outdoor events that I've lead.


But for now... not in any chronological order, here are just a few upcoming trips on the horizon for us in early fall:

1. Destination unknown: Europe, South America, or Asia

Lena's very first overseas trip, to Spain

Whenever Levi's passport gets here, his first international journey will be ready for him.  And lil' Lena is way past due for her next overseas jaunt.  Her 4th birthday is next week!

2.  Waterfall rappelling, Take 2  (Undisclosed location)

In search of waterfalls to #rappel down off of, with the Mountain Hamster for my birthday yesterday... Mount Shasta climb is tomorrow!

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Aug 13, 2015 at 8:35pm PDT

Both caution and a tight timeline got the best of Katya and me when we trekked out and geared up for this last month.  Once again, we'll need to commit to the entire canyoneering route after rappelling the first of the waterfalls... With no escape options until we complete the circuit, the first rappel will mark a point of no return.

If I can finish enough of my sermon prep this week, we may head out into the wilderness again on Friday for a second shot at this canyoneering thrill ride.  Rope and harnesses ready!

3.  Australia

Several years have passed since we last went Down Under for hiking, caving, and surfing.  And it just so happens that my parents will soon be exploring Australia for a few weeks.  Hmm, I wonder if I'll run into them?

4.  Banks Lake, WA- camping/boating

Was there any doubt we'd be making an appearance at our family's annual Banks Lake camping trip this month?  Wakeboarding, waterskiing, and tubing are much more enjoyable in those warmer waters.

5.  Salt Lake City- Delta Airline's Velvet 360 event

It was an honor to be asked to represent PDX at Delta's upcoming two-day event in Utah.  According to previous Velvet 360 guests, it looks to be quite a unique opportunity.

6.  Italy-France-- Mont Blanc climb

My recent daytrip to Italy was only long enough to visit a couple of friends.  I'm hoping to string together a few days soon for another, more extended weekend.  But like fall, Mont Blanc's weather conditions are a wild card so late in the climbing season.

If not a climb, then we'll just throw one of our usual Italian get-togethers.  This overseas trip will be another quickie, but those are always worth it!

7.  Middle Sister climb [New! Added 9-15]

Some of our mountaineering crew from last month's Mount Shasta climb are headed south again, this time to the relatively local Central Oregon.  The date is set.  We're still working out the details, but it's looking like a drive-camp-climb-summit-descent... all squeezed into two days.  Only Sam.

Top 10: Most popular NON-travel posts (Unpublished #2)

This is Part 2 of a previously unreleased "Best of" series from January 2014, based on page views for my 2013 posts.  The 2014 page hits haven't been tallied yet.  My new blog content still isn't quite ready.  We've been celebrating baby Levi's first birthday since last Thursday with all of our might!  In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to have a look back.

Links look like this.  Last week's "Honorable mentions: Most popular non-travel posts" is here.  And the list of Top 10 travel posts (from 2013, *snicker*) is coming next!

10.  Blog Changes: Twitter Feed and More

A throwaway post about the latest tweets from @garth_hamilton on Twitter being added to my blog’s sidebar, as well as some other design changes

9.  Dude (Looks like a baby):  We're having a boy!!

As if the bad Aerosmith jokes in my earlier Lovin' an Elevator: A tale of entrapment misadventure at PDX Airport weren't desperate enough, I returned to the well for our baby's gender announcement.  This one features an early guest photo appearance by baby Levi!

8.  Our home’s first Thanksgiving

For a change, we had the family (plus a special guest) over to OUR house for Thanksgiving dinner.  This post also includes pics from the always-huge day after Thanksgiving extended family dinner at my parent's house.

7.  Father’s Day week photo spectacular

This was a simple collection of exclusive Daddy-daughter photos from the previous year.

I had so many favorites that the pics spilled over into Father’s Day week photos, Part 2: The Outtakes.

6.  Olympic Mountains, Day 1:

Lena’s 1^st camping trip

The spectacular photos of Mount Ellinor (which I'm climbing this winter season) and Mount Washington from Olympic Mountains, Day 2- Back on the trails took a back seat to family camping photos of Day 1.  Okay, so it was only car camping.

Scouting out Mount Ellinor/Washington  for Daddy's upcoming double-header climb

Lena lovingly sidetracks Daddy from setting up the tent

As a bonus, the follow-up "Day 2" camping blog boasted another exclusive-- A photo of Lena hiking her first mini trail!

5.  Sunriver, Pt 1: A wedding countdown (feat. Kathy)





The excitement began to build during our preparations for Brent and Cheryl's wedding in Sunriver, near Bend.

And the Kathy-penned Part 2 featured the wedding ceremony, toasts, cake fight, reception, and after-party!

Sunriver, Pt. 2: A wild wedding (feat. Kathy)

4.  Once upon a time in Enchanted Forest

Lena visited Oregon's unique roadside theme park, Enchanted Forest, for her first time.  Daddy, Mommy, Grandma Lora (Mimi), and Uncle Tony came along for the ride.

3.  Breaking news: We’re pregnant again!!

Hot off the press-- Baby Levi cometh!

2.  Banks Lake heats up! (Pt. 2 of 2)

This entry was chocked full of tubing/ wakeboarding near-wipeouts pics from the second day of our family’s 31^st annual Banks Lake camping trip.  That night's birthday shenanigans in Coulee City were just icing on the cake.

Camping photos from Day 1 were featured earlier in Banks Lake camping, Take 31.

1.  Video: Breaking news: Lena’s first steps!

A lifetime of Lena hiking, running, skiing, climbing, and playing sports has begun!

Coming next on Garth's Blog, one final "unpublished" post from January 2014 before we get to the new stuff...

Top 10: Most popular travel posts!

Banks Lake heats up!

...Continuing our story from the previous post, Banks Lake camping, Take 31:

Ok, so this post is a day late.  I take the blame, but y’all should see the crazy hours I’ve been working at Delta and on-set at my shoots!

Daddy hangs on for dear life.  Believe it or not: Unlike my crash pic at the top of Part 1, this was NOT a wipeout!  I actually landed this one.  But just wait… more of our spectacular near-wipeout photos are included below!

Last month's 31^st annual Banks Lake camping and boating trip was off to a good start.  Click here for the link to Part 1.  The September weather may not have been the warmest we’ve had at Banks Lake, but things heated up on the second day.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Summer (a.k.a. Country Mike and Aunt Tum Tum) Sorensen drove all day to join us at Banks Lake that afternoon.  The Sorensen love birds took up residence in the RV with my parents, while us three Junior Hamiltons Garth, Kathy, and Lena moved out to our tent site.

They call it car camping for a reason.  Our tent site was just a few feet away from our parking spot.

As mentioned in the previous post, that morning’s wakeboarding and tubing were only a warmup.

Lena puts the boat out into Banks Lake



"Grandpa Bo, can you untie the boat and push us off from the dock?"

Garth and Mike test out the water

And the water sports continue with Summer, Mike, and Garth!

Credit: The two photos above are from my parents’ camera

Above: Nope, STILL not wipeouts!  Every run inevitably ended with me slamming into the drink, but the top photo and two pics included here were my survivable ones.  With the exception of my tubing crash picture from the previous post, most of my actual wipeout pics were nothing but blurry white water and fury.

The Birthday Party

The fam threw a belated birthday party for me in the RV that night.  It was much more than I deserved.  Chili dogs were served before I was serenaded and loaded up with birthday presents.

Birthday presents: Lena used her gift unwrapping skills to bail Daddy out.  How else would those new theology books, Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray set, and Americana music CDs be unveiled?

The after party: Hooligans at Couleegan’s!

Credit: Above photo from Summer’s Facebook page

Continuing tradition, we kids headed to “downtown” Coulee City (with some of the most ironic air quotes ever used) for the after party.  Couleegan’s boasts the hottest (read: only) live music and dancing for miles and miles away.

Considering Coulee’s remote location in eastern Washington, Couleegan’s is actually a surprisingly fun and lively place to rock on a Saturday night!

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Choppy water on the lake limited our boating activities the next morning.  Staying upright on the wakeboard required superhuman endurance, and tubing was a blast but downright painful.

No matter.  Banks Lake had beckoned us back for a 31^st year, and we answered the call.  Let’s bring back the smoother water and hotter weather next year!

The Hamilton and Sorensen family squint into the sun and say our goodbyes at Banks Lake.

See you next summer at Banks for Year #32!

Coming soon on Garth’s Blog…

Lena finally becomes a world traveler!

Banks Lake camping, Take 31

Wipeout!  Daddy flips out whenever Grandpa Bo insists on driving the boat.

Upholding 31 years of family tradition, the Hamiltons made our annual trek to Banks Lake (link) last month.

The only problem to solve:  Which wheels could get us to eastern Washington?  Lena is still banned from riding in the Jeep Wrangler when the soft top is down, per Mommy.  And the Camry has seen better days.  On our way out of town, we gave in and rented a car at the airport.

Swapping cars at the PDX airport cell waiting area

Road trip:  Future world backpacker Lena takes a hiking break along the Columbia River Gorge

Dusk beat us to Coulee City.  My parents stayed awake long enough to make sure that we made it to the campground safely.  They were both excited to see Lena! 

Rather than setting up our tent in the dark, we spent the first night in my parents’ RV.  A pregnant Mommy was tuckered out from the long drive.  Lena, on the other hand, wouldn’t take “bed” for an answer.

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The next morning, commotion in the RV eliminated our chances of sleeping in.  This is how Daddy and Lena look first thing in the morning:

After setting up our tent, we untied the boat and jetted out onto Banks Lake!

Getting warmed up on the wakeboard

Prepping the brand new tube for its maiden wipeout

Not to worry, the best tubing action pics are coming to BlogSpot next week!

Mike and Summer were making the drive over to Coulee City from Vancouver, WA as we played on the boat.  Later that afternoon, our Banks Lake family gathering would be complete.  Our good times were about to get even better!

Coming next weekend on Garth’s Blog…

...Banks Lake heats up!