Don Mah's Webpage

The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risks of leaving the harbor.

Rian's first time on a ferris wheel proves to be an unforgettable blast.

Thumbs up for cream filled chocolate cake.

Rian and Bodhi at the annual Victoria Day fair in Cloverdale.

Eli, Bodhi and mama at Jericho Beach in Vancouver on Mother's Day.

"So what's the attendance been like so far," I asked the gate attendant as we handed him our tickets to the annual Cloverdale Rodeo fair. "A trickle", he laments back, "but at least you won't have any line ups if you don't mind the rain." He was right, there we no line ups for anything, unlike last year. But then again, enough rain had fallen that the kids roller coaster ride was "closed for drying" before they decided it was safe enough to operate again. The weather made no difference to us anyway, though only a week before we had temperatures high enough to spend an entire afternoon and early part of an evening at Jericho beach in Vancouver with everybody for Mother's Day.

It's safe to say that I've never seen so many tulips in my life.

Another tradition: the La Conner Sweet Shoppe.

Bodhi borrowed the camera for this one. Not bad.

Now if tulips can make this kid this happy, imagine.

Rian could only manage a leg-up in time for this pic.

One more from Bodhi's point-of-view..

The obligatory Tulip Festival family photo.

Calls us gluttons for punishment. Every other year we decide to take boys, four of them now if you include me, to the Tulip Festival in La Conner, which though may only be about an hour south of us, can feel like twice that if, for example, dad loses the youngest's soother along the way. At the other end, Bodhi is seven now so some simple math would mean that he's been there three times, which also means he's had the pleasure of three of those giant waffle cone ice creams from the La Conner Sweet Shoppe, also a must stop for us. Not a bad deal I guess: mom gets her tulips, dad and the boys get some handmade sorbet. Three cheers for the Tulip Festival!

Bodhi and Rian at the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, Washington.

Fruit Loops in our cabin at Gold Bar, Washington.

A post-snowfall, early morning, campfire warm-up.

Exploration time at the "Small Falls" along the Wallace Falls trail near Gold Bar, Washington.

The elevation gain has given Rian the funnies.

Thick and wet foliage along the crossings to the falls.

Looking down from the viewpoint at Lower Wallace Falls.

Four hours later, time to relax back down by the lower part of Wallace River after 5.6 km of hiking.

In search of climbable rock near Index, Washington.

We found it! Bouldering at Index, Washington.

There really are still "General Stores".

Our final stop on the way back home was near the Boeing assembly plant at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, a private-but-open-to-the-public immaculate collection of working World War Two aircraft. I'm starting to think Washington state has more airplane museums per capita than any other US state. I was told that the collection is owned by one of Microsoft's founders and that Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who lives in nearby Bellingham, sometimes drops in to fly the P-51 Mustang parked behind the boys (above).

Spring Break was a little different this year. Sure, we still rented a cabin somewhere in Washington state like we normally do. However, this trip was just me and two of the boys. Bern was off on her own adventure with Eli in her hometown of Kitchener. Now when I'm left to my own devices with just the boys a whole bunch of things start popping into my head, and the two big obstacles to trying all those things is having the time and money to do all of it. But since having a two week spring break is no excuse for time, I guess the only thing stopping me was the money. No matter, however, because all those years traveling on the cheap has meant getting used to finding ways to cut corners, which really means if it's just me and the boys then we don't eat, or we eat things that fall under the food group of instant noodles. Seriously though we found three towns just east of the Cascade mountains, all having less than 17000 people each (the towns of Gold Bar and Index have official populations of 2075 and 178 respectively), and all of which have hiking or climbing among their attractions.

Don & Bernadette along with their three boys live in Surrey, BC, Canada.



The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risks of leaving the harbor.


		TRAVELER'S POINT PROFILE

Blogdate: Monday, May 21, 2012 Mother's Day & Victoria Day

Rian's first time on a ferris wheel proves to be an unforgettable blast.

Thumbs up for cream filled chocolate cake.	Rian and Bodhi at the annual Victoria Day fair in Cloverdale.

Eli, Bodhi and mama at Jericho Beach in Vancouver on Mother's Day.
"So what's the attendance been like so far," I asked the gate attendant as we handed him our tickets to the annual Cloverdale Rodeo fair. "A trickle", he laments back, "but at least you won't have any line ups if you don't mind the rain." He was right, there we no line ups for anything, unlike last year. But then again, enough rain had fallen that the kids roller coaster ride was "closed for drying" before they decided it was safe enough to operate again. The weather made no difference to us anyway, though only a week before we had temperatures high enough to spend an entire afternoon and early part of an evening at Jericho beach in Vancouver with everybody for Mother's Day.

Blogdate: Sunday, April 22, 2012 the La Conner Tulip Festival

It's safe to say that I've never seen so many tulips in my life.

Another tradition: the La Conner Sweet Shoppe.	Bodhi borrowed the camera for this one. Not bad.

Now if tulips can make this kid this happy, imagine.	Rian could only manage a leg-up in time for this pic.

One more from Bodhi's point-of-view..	The obligatory Tulip Festival family photo.
Calls us gluttons for punishment. Every other year we decide to take boys, four of them now if you include me, to the Tulip Festival in La Conner, which though may only be about an hour south of us, can feel like twice that if, for example, dad loses the youngest's soother along the way. At the other end, Bodhi is seven now so some simple math would mean that he's been there three times, which also means he's had the pleasure of three of those giant waffle cone ice creams from the La Conner Sweet Shoppe, also a must stop for us. Not a bad deal I guess: mom gets her tulips, dad and the boys get some handmade sorbet. Three cheers for the Tulip Festival!

Blogdate: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 spring break in Monroe, Gold Bar, and Index

Bodhi and Rian at the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, Washington.

Fruit Loops in our cabin at Gold Bar, Washington.	A post-snowfall, early morning, campfire warm-up.

Exploration time at the "Small Falls" along the Wallace Falls trail near Gold Bar, Washington.

The elevation gain has given Rian the funnies.	Thick and wet foliage along the crossings to the falls.

Looking down from the viewpoint at Lower Wallace Falls.

Four hours later, time to relax back down by the lower part of Wallace River after 5.6 km of hiking.

In search of climbable rock near Index, Washington.

We found it! Bouldering at Index, Washington.	There really are still "General Stores".

Our final stop on the way back home was near the Boeing assembly plant at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, a private-but-open-to-the-public immaculate collection of working World War Two aircraft. I'm starting to think Washington state has more airplane museums per capita than any other US state. I was told that the collection is owned by one of Microsoft's founders and that Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who lives in nearby Bellingham, sometimes drops in to fly the P-51 Mustang parked behind the boys (above).
Spring Break was a little different this year. Sure, we still rented a cabin somewhere in Washington state like we normally do. However, this trip was just me and two of the boys. Bern was off on her own adventure with Eli in her hometown of Kitchener. Now when I'm left to my own devices with just the boys a whole bunch of things start popping into my head, and the two big obstacles to trying all those things is having the time and money to do all of it. But since having a two week spring break is no excuse for time, I guess the only thing stopping me was the money. No matter, however, because all those years traveling on the cheap has meant getting used to finding ways to cut corners, which really means if it's just me and the boys then we don't eat, or we eat things that fall under the food group of instant noodles. Seriously though we found three towns just east of the Cascade mountains, all having less than 17000 people each (the towns of Gold Bar and Index have official populations of 2075 and 178 respectively), and all of which have hiking or climbing among their attractions.