Rouse Family Adventures

Q: "What's your boats name?" A: "Sarin" Q: "Oh you mean like the nerve agent" A: "This boat needs a better name... " This conversation has been on repeat since February. Luckily for us Phil had a great proposal, one that is also thrifty as we would get to reuse many of the letters. Our Current Name                                                            A crude artistic  rendition with the computer program                                                                                                   "paint...

Brandon and Bell playing "Up Periscope "  After fixing a flat tire less than a mile from the house, and loading a weeks worth of food and supplies onto the boat - we were ready to start vacation.  Annabelle and I  consume 21 bananas a week and amazingly, the boat had a place for everything we needed.  I am a total goldilocks sailor-  it has to be just right. If it's too windy I'm not into it. If it's not windy enough I'm not into it. Princess Goldilocks.  The Rosario Straight was little choppy. Brandon was sailing in all it's glory - loving every minute of it- expertly navigating the waves and single handedly adjusting lines. I was shitting  my pants, debating whether I should break into Annabelle's diaper stash and wear one. Annabelle likes to sleep through choppy seas and was peacefully napping in the cabin. Crossing the straight took 20 minutes, soon after   we saw a pontoon boat come through. As far as I know, pontoon boats are not known ...

Strong center of Balance  Brandon and I have spent every Fourth of July making the most of our extended time off in the mountains. This year we decided to hike into Stehekin - a backpacking trip purely designed around visiting a bakery. July 2nd - 3.5 Miles, one bota box of wine and chocolate We got off work super late and ate a bunch of food at the trailhead. We hauled the mail, covering about three and a half miles in an hour to reach our campsite just before  dark. We learned that our tent is a $400 pack and play. Annabelle loved toddling all over it, crashing into sides, body slamming on the thermarests, and thrashing our belongings all around. I had no idea you could anything in a 36 square foot area- but Annabelle pulled it off.   July 3rd -10 miles, some Jameson and more chocolate Despite an early wake up call from Annabelle at 5 am. we weren't moving until 7 am. The trail was covered in downed logs and had a lot of stream crossings. Luckily, Brandon has a goo...

Day one 56 miles We left our house excited and nervous about our dam bike ride.  Dragging our feet - almost trying to stall our departure, not sure why. It was only three miles from our house and we met a group of bike packers who were starting a cross country trip from Anacortes WA to Maine.  A Dad with his 9 year old daughter on a tandem bike, and their Uncle loaded down with saddle bags. We enjoyed riding with them for the day and they insisted to buy us lunch Sedro Wooley. You can read about their journey here if you are interested. https://www.wealthwithapurpose.com/the-ride-2021    We had a flat tire in Sedro and briefly considered riding back to the bike shop to get another patch kit or tube- but figured we'd probably be fine.  After setting up camp in the small town of Rockport, the highlight was taking turns eating 32 ounces of sherbet ice cream and biking circles around the campground with Annabelle in the trailer to get her to go to sleep for the nigh...

The first day's ride was from rattlesnake lake trailhead out of North Bend to a campground in Eaton just off of I-90.  We biked uphill on an old railroad grade until we were knackered, finally ready to stop... it turned out we were actually already at the top of Snoqualmie Pass.  At this point there is an old railway tunnel two miles long.  Complete darkness and temps in the 40's, its safe to say we "couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel"! Snoqualmie Tunnel Time  Brandon and The Girl gearing up We grabbed the first hiker/biker walk-in site, which are first-come-first served and not reserve-able ahead of time, they're just our style!  Our base camp was setup at Eaton Campground by early afternoon and Annabelle played in the tent like a big enclosed playpen, jumping on air mattresses, and such.   Annabelle is working on a bouldering project Just checking out the accommodations   The highlight of our day was a random bathroom trip -where we...

On May 8 th , we celebrated Annabelle’s Birthday by getting her jacked up on her first carrot-cake cupcake. Turns out babies like cake. My parents were visiting from Wisconsin and agreed to watch her for the night so Brandon and I could have our first baby free adventure together since she was born. Since we both have only skied a handful of times…  we thought Mount Baker would be an appropriate objective. " I'm ready to get jacked on cupcakes guys!" Baby Free is the way to ski!!!  We headed out to Baker Lake road super stoked –and with a van stocked with some beers, a tub of ice cream and a bunch of other technical crap we thought we might need. We were surprised to run into snow right away and parked at 2,800 feet. We knew it was going to be a long haul.  When the alarm went off at 2 am we second guessed our decision not to go to a spa, or out to eat, or stay at a fancy hotel, or really do anything else. None the less, we got up and were moving by 2:45 am and started sl...

Welcome to Washington Ass   Pass Since 2013, Brandon has always wanted to ride highway 20 before it is opened to traffic- but somehow we've never done it.  It's the weekend before highway 20 opens up to traffic-the weather looks amazing and four of our friends are riding - it's time to make it happen.  As we left the Ross Lake Dam gate, Brandon looked like a total bad ass hauling the baby trailer up and we ticked the miles surprisingly with ease. We sleighed the elevation gain and got to Washington Pass- descended the hairpin and dragged the bikes a cross a slide that still needed to be cleared. We road back up to Washington Pass and enjoyed the good vibes as other bicyclists reached the pinnacle of their journey. Since there was no traffic we let Annabelle run around and play naked on the double yellow lines in the middle of the road. She was quite the greeter as people made it to the Pass.  All smiles at the top  Avalanche debris won't stop this trailer T...