Are we there yet?

I love a road trip. One of the bonuses of climbing Rainier was it made for a good excuse to take the family on our longest road trip yet.

In the months leading up, we took a short road trip up to visit Dave and Robyn in Berkley, only a little 6 hour jaunt, but by the end of it Sara had vowed that there was no way she was riding in a car all the way up to Washington.

“Come on Babe, this is the trip of a lifetime. Think of everything we are going to see. All the things we will experience. It is certain to be an epic.”

After a couple weeks of sweet talking her I had re-sold her on the long journey.

We blocked out 3 weeks on the calendar for the trip but actually made it home in 2. There were highs and lows along the way but there always are in anything that epic.

Here are some of the highs and a couple of the lows.

Our first stop was in Reno to visit our friends the Hills.

We spent a day at Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful.

It is the second deepest lake in the US after Crater Lake which we would see the next day.

This place in Aden, California had fresh strawberry shakes to rival those of Taco Amigo. Not that we had a choice of where to eat. It was the "Oney" place in town.

We all were looking forward to a hike at Crater Lake but all the trails were still covered in snow. Thats a lot of snow if you are from SoCal.

Rig practiced kicking steps so he can climb Rainier someday.

No one makes an RCHS beanie look as good as Caroline.

Rig at Crater Lake.

As soon as we checked into any hotel the first activity was always Bed Gymnastics.

One pair of beds did fall apart and I had to reassemble them.

Jillian couldn't jump across the gap but that didn't stop her from participating. Most nights she would get rough-housed off the bed and end up in tears but that didn't stop her from participating either.

The trip was the hardest on Jillian. When we finally crossed the Columbia River into Washington everyone cheered except her.

"I hate Washington!"

The kids tried to cheer her up.

"Here Jilli, you can play with my doll."

"I hate dolls!"

"Jilli you can have my happy meal toy."

"I hate toys!"

"Jilli you can pick out the next movie."

"I hate movies!"

"Jilli you can..."

Jilli cut off the next sibling with a line that became an instant family classic, "I HATE EVERYTHING!!!"

Everything got better when we finally got to Sheila's house. We got spoiled for 4 night's in Yakima. It was much needed respite for more than just Jillian. Swimming, relaxing by the pool and feasts that rivaled the Ricker's 3 times a day, it was just what the doctor ordered. For the rest of the trip Caroline and Jilli both kept asking if we could go back to Sheila's house. Sara only asked a couple of times.

My only regret of the whole trip is that Sara lost her camera in Seattle. So the only pictures I have of Sheila's house is a photo shoot of the girls with these bunnies.

Darrell took the Rainier clan and their families on a hike to do some mild spelunking.

It was beautiful.

I traded my Rainier hiking buddies in for these two.

I used red-eye reduction on this photo and I don't know if it is better or worse.

We posed with the same piece of scenery for a cutest couples contest.

You pick the winner.

The contestants are:

Me and Sara.

Roman and Michelle.

Or Jillian and Rhett.

From Yakima, it was on to Seattle.

There are lots of cool things to see around the Space Needle.

"Look Mom another homeless hippie!"

We ate dinner at Ivar's and fed the pigeons.

Jillian ran out of shrimp so I told her to fill up on ketchup packets.

We went to the public market and watched them throw the fish around.

It was going to be about 70 bucks to take the family up the Space Needle. We saved some money and went up the Columbia Building for 1o bucks instead. At 76 stories it is more than twice as tall as the Space Needle. That is some good value for your viewing dollar.

If you look close you can see the wimpy Space Needle in the skyline.

We left Seattle via the ferry across the Puget Sound. We are all smiling because we haven't realized yet that Sara's camera is still somewhere over there.

Port Angeles was as close as we got to Canada. It was only 18 miles across the channel.

Port Angeles is the gateway to Olympic National Park.

This beautiful lake in Olympic NP is where we realized we didn't have Sara's camera.

We did some awesome hikes in Olympic.

Jillian does not appreciate the sound of a rushing waterfall.

This is Rialto Beach in Olympic NP.

These giant trees get washed up on the shore and it gives the beach an eerie feeling.

It feels like you are in the book "Where the Wild Things Are."

We saw a bunch of Elk up close in Olympic NP.




This is one of the few times Sara actually drove on the trip.




Olympic NP is incredibly diverse: mountains, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, beaches, wildlife, even a rainforest.


Everyone told us it will be raining on the peninsula. It always is.


So we borrowed umbrellas from Darrell and Sheila, but we must have brought the good weather with us from California because we never saw any rain not even in the rainforest.




Last stop in Olympic NP, Ruby Beach.




Livi said this was the coolest beach she had ever been to and that is saying a lot for a Californian.





There were tide pools, sand and cool rocks to climb on.




Finally it was time for the visit to Forks. The rainiest city in America and it was sunny. Talk about Sara's bad luck. You can't spot a Cullen in Forks if it's sunny because they have to stay inside.




We found the Vampire Threat to be high.


We made the drive down to La Push and crossed the treaty line.

For dinner we had to get the Bella Burger.

It came with a complementary set of Vampire teeth.

"Look out Jilli, she's coming for you next!"

We spent the night in Forks and luckily in the morning there was at least a little bit of drizzle, unfortunately we woke up with some dental abnormalities.

We did the full Forks tour. It took about 2 minutes. In other words the town is tiny.

Sara posed with her boyfriends. For the record I am totally Team Jacob. Edward seems like a pretty boy.

Last stop in Forks with Bella's truck.

We did most of the trip off the interstates, which meant lots of small towns with a Forks type feeling minus the vampires of course. We had a couple of sections where we went days without seeing a McDonald's. It was awesome.

You can only eat so much fast food. So we had to get a little creative with some of the lunches on the trip. This was our cheapest. We fed the whole family for 4 bucks at the dollar tree, two boxes of cereal and two cartons of milk. So I splurged and let everyone pick out a toy. Just what every family with 3 daughters needs, a couple more stuffed animals.

The kids were pretty good travelers. Most the time they kept their seat-belts on. As you can see from this picture Caroline was the most likely offender. Luckily Jillian couldn't undo her own seat-belt, but she was relentless in requesting help from anyone else. This was her most common phrase of the trip. "______, Dit me out!!!" (Insert family member in the blank.) She would yell at one person over and over for 5 or 10 minutes then without a break switch to the next family member. We are a pretty hearty family but everyone has their limits. Eventually someone would give in and unhook her. I knew we had lost total control of Jillian when I turned around and she was bouncing around the backseat totally naked and someone had drawn tattoos all over her body. It was one of the lows.

We were all excited to be back in CA.

We had seen amazing beaches but somehow when you get to California they just get sunnier.

The next major landmark was the Redwoods.

The tallest trees in the world.

They are pretty special. I am by no means a tree-hugger but I loved walking amongst those trees as much as any part of the trip.

Check out the size of the base when they fall over.

Ridiculous!

We couldn't go all the way to the Redwoods and not drive the car through one.

We were all stoked to see Paul Bunyan and Babe.

Never was I more happy to see a gas pump than this one. I had pushed it a little too far and realized that if the next tiny town didn't have a gas station we were not going to make it to the one after. We drove into the town and saw a Chevron that was out of business. My heart dropped. I was thinking I was going to have to ask a farmer if I could buy some gas and then we saw this at the other end of town. I had to wait for the tractor to finish pumping his gas but I wasn't complaining.

I had seen a family hike on TV called Fern Canyon and it was a non-negotionable. We were doing it. It required a pretty good distance on a dirt road and we had to cross a small river in the car.

The check engine light is on now, but it was totally worth it.

The kids all said it was their favorite hike of the trip.

Livi is turning into quite the adventurer.

Whenever there was something to explore she was the first one out of the car.

We stayed at some nice hotels, some average ones, and one very poor one. This was the very poor one. We were having trouble finding any vacancy and didn't want to push on to the next town. I came back from the lobby to report the price of the room to Sara.

"It's only 60 bucks but the lobby stinks...bad."

"How bad can it be, we can handle it for one night."

"I can handle it, if you can."

We probably would have extended the trip a few more days had it not been for the Motel Garberville. It was bad enough to make Sara and I both decide to wake up early, find the interstate and bolt for home.

The kids didn't seem to mind. Sara wouldn't let Rigdon sleep on the floor but it looks like there was plenty of room in the bed anyways. Heck it looks like we could fit another kid or two in there.

Despite the ending, the trip was awesome. I asked Sara if she wanted to do one to New York next summer and she said that is going to have to wait a few more years, but if I start sweet talking her now you never know.

Guys Trip on Mt. Rainier

Two years in the waiting, this year's guys trip was perhaps the most anticipated yet. Mount Rainier is the most prominent and most glaciated peak in the continental U.S. At 14,411 feet it is the 5th tallest and certainly one of the most dangerous mountains in the country. Needless to say we were all pretty stoked to give it a go. Bram put it into perspective when he stated in an email "I am as excited to climb Rainier as I was for my honeymoon."

This years group included the regulars, myself, Rocky, Roman, Bram, Rhett and then we also picked up some locals Nick and Derrick and then of course the person we are all indebted to for making the trip possible our guide Darrell.

In an attempt to ward off blister as long as possible, Rocky and I wanted to start the hike in running shoes, then when the terrain turned bad we would put on our boots. We asked Darrell how soon we would be encountering snow on the trail. "As soon as you leave the parking lot." We thought he was exaggerating a bit and so we wore our running shoes to the trailhead.

When we got to the parking lot and saw the trucks parked next to 35 foot high snow banks we quietly changed our shoes.

As we started the hike there was thick cloud cover and no sign of the summit. Within a couple of hours we started to clear the clouds and almost instantly we went from gray skies to blue and spectacular views of Rainier and the clouds covering the valley.

Emerging from the cloud cover.

Roman with the summit in view. The summit didn't look that far away and distance wise it wasn't. It was just that darn elevation.

Blister break.

The climb requires a staggering 9000 ft of elevation in 9 miles. That is 3000 more than Mt. Whitney requires in 11 miles. Basically that means it is steep and for the Smart brothers that means blisters. Try as they did to spare their feet, Roman's and Rocky's both got hammered. My were spared thanks to a generous gift from Bram. He got me the Air Jordan's of hiking boots and my feet never faired better.

Darrell leading the charge. He was impressive to say the least. Despite being 18 years my senior and exactly twice Roman's age, he kept right up with everyone. After the weekend was over I didn't know whether to be more impressed with his pharmaceutical hook-ups, his patented water basketball "flying hook shot" or his mountaineering skills. OK, I guess it was his mountaineering skills.

Darrell gave Rocky a chance to lead the charge for a while. Slowly the clouds were getting further away.

Finally at Camp Muir 10,000ft, I found a bored and lonely Rhett. He had already staked us a sweet spot and set up a tent. He's also not a bad photographer and he's available.

We spent the evening melting snow for the next days climb and eating a smorgasbord of Mt. House dinners.

Roman enjoys a Mt. house. I had two other pictures of Roman in this exact pose looking much less photogenic. It was hard for me to refrain from posting them, but I did.

Pictured right here is the Walrus. It doesn't look like a 4 man tent does it? But Darrell claimed it was as long as you are all short and not scared of touching the person next to you. I usually fit that description no problem but Darrell and his pharmaceuticals were making me a little nervous.

We turned in at about 9:00 to get three hours of sleep before the Midnight wake-up-call. The best conditions for climbing Rainier is when the weather is the coldest so you start at 1:00 in the morning so you can summit and get down before the snow starts to get soft.

At midnight I put on my crampons for the second time ever, got roped up and we started climbing in our two teams under a full moon bright enough that a head lamp was optional.

The 3 hours of sleep wasn't quite enough for Roman,

or Rocky.

This was the first time most of us had done any technical climbing on a big mountain and it was in the dark.

Despite the darkness I still noticed enough live threatening hazards to get my attention on the way up. I will admit it I was a little nervous more than once.

Everything was going without a hitch until we got to about 12000 ft. We had just made it through the most technical section. That is when most of us started to feel the effects of the elevation. But have no fear our wise leader had his pharmaceutical hook-ups on hand. They had been the butt of every joke the night before in the walrus. A prescription drug that starts with a V and is meant to rekindle the love life in relationships. Yes that's right, Viagra. Darrell's secret weapon against altitude sickness was a bottle of Viagra that he rushed out to the pharmacy for the night before the trip. He claimed some Himalayan study had been done to prove that Viagra allowed you to do more work at higher elevations. Basically those desperate enough or adventurous enough partook. I was not one of them, but Nick was and about 1 minute later he hurled.

It was a barf with a pretty sweet view.

This is where some doubts started to creep in. Nick had just spewed and Derrick was not feeling good either.

We climbed another 500 feet and Nick barfed again. (I had the courtesy not to take a picture of it this time.) I thought to myself "Two-thousand feet to go and he has already barfed twice. He is not going to make it."

Derrick and Nick.

As you can see Derrick was not looking much better.

Rhett was constantly wanting to push the pace. If the Viagra had any adverse effects on him you couldn't tell.

We went to 13,000ft and stopped again. This picture isn't big enough to tell but the look on Darrell's face is screaming, "I wish I hadn't taken that Viagra."

We choked down enough Cliff Bars we should have all been sick.

I had never been on any mountain that felt that high. We were so high it felt like we were going skydiving. Throw in the cold wind and the it felt like we were climbing Everest.

Finally team Viagra had to relinquish Bram as he had not partook and put him on our rope. Our new 5 man team struggled up to the crater and from there unroped and climbed to the summit.

Bram and Rocky just about to take the summit.

Me on top of the state of Washington.

After our hike back across the crater, this is how we found Team Viagra. Fast asleep on the summit. They had gutted up and made it. The effort by each of them was inspiring, but Nick's effort was superhuman. To throw-up twice and still have 2000 feet of tough climbing to go and suffer through it. That was pretty tough.

We let Team V have a nap while we relaxed on the summit.

Rocky re-taped his blisters.

Eventually we all got a picture on the summit together.

The trip back down wasn't as physically demanding but probably more dangerous.

Most accidents happen on the descent as the snow has turned soft.

This is where you don't want to end up. We crossed 4 or 5 crevasses. They were all small ones that we were able to just jump across.

Rhett led us up but I got to lead our team down. The unobstructed view was sometimes a little nerve racking.

If Roman falls here there is a giant crevasse below him and if we can't stop him then we will all end up there together.

The good thing about climbing in the dark is I didn't notice a lot of the most dangerous parts as we were going up, but you couldn't miss them as you were descending.

Team Viagra plus Bram posed with a crevasse big enough to swallow a house.

When we finally got back to Camp Muir we couldn't believe we still had 5000 feet to descend, but we were able to glacade a good chunk of it and that got the spirits up.

Roman going into a tail-spin.

Finally back to the parking lot. Rocky pledged to never put on his boots again. He made a memorial to them and left them in the parking lot.

The trip didn't officially culminate until we got spoiled a few more times by Sheila's cooking and then our two climbing teams had to face off in a vicious game of pool basketball that actually resembled UFC more closely than basketball and that is no exaggeration. Bram led all scorers and Darrell got voted most inspirational. Darrell is awesome to be around because he somehow shows no signs of getting old. His game of water basketball is still as violent and lacking in finesse as ever. You think "Dang if Darrell is still this big of stud I don't have any excuse to let myself get old." I hope I can still play a sport who's only rules are no eye poking or fish hooking when I turn 54. That sounds like a pretty good life goal to me.

All in all Mt. Rainier was as epic as it gets and well worth the wait.