Wednesday, June 28, 2006

2,100 mile TREK!

Hi everyone - my sock decided to take over the blog today so with no delay - here is TREKKY!

Hi everyone! I'm Trekky and I'd like to tell you about the long journey that my mom took me on in June. This post is very long so please bear with me. The photos can be enlarged by clicking the thumbnail.

I was born in Pinehurst, Texas on a hot June day. My mom took me out on a few practice hikes along our country road. Here I'm hanging out in the mailbox ready to actually GO somewhere! As you can see, I'm a handsome fellow being knit in a beaded rib pattern out of Trekking XXL color #78. I'm destined to be a gift to a friend.

On June 15th, my mom, dad and I took a long plane ride from Houston, Texas to Portland, Oregon and began an 11 day trek across the Pacific NW. The first stop was in Troutdale where my dad took a picture of mom and I in front of the fishy statue.




We then proceeded to drive along the Columbia River and saw some gorgeous waterfalls and mountain streams. Mom was careful not to get me wet. See how big I'm getting! That's mom knitting on me while enjoying the cool weather :)





I have to say I was a bit jealous because mom was working on another pair of socks in Shaeffer Anne yarn. They were so soft and cuddly. But eventually she finished those and turned her undivided attention to me.

After we spent the day in Hood River, we drove north into Washington to visit Mt. Rainier. It was COLD and WET and I hid in my knitting bag most of the day to keep warm and dry. But that evening, we stayed at the National Park Inn and mom took me out to enjoy the sunset while gazing at Mt. Rainier. To the left is mom working on me while enjoying the view to the right.

The next day we again went northwest and ended up on the Olympic Peninsula. Mom got some stomach icky stuff and we had to spend an extra day in Port Angeles. She did knit on me a little when she was feeling better.

After the delay, we decided to explore a temperate rain forest and went to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. There I got to see a bunch of large trees and moss and ferns! I'll never get tired of trees and mountains :) We stayed overnight in Astoria and started out the next day along the Oregon coast.







Here I am enjoying the rugged beach of Oregon and on the lookout for one of the many lighthouses that we visited. I loved hanging out on the driftwood as long as Mom was careful not to get sand on me!








Oh look! I've got a heel! Yeah! I loved the lighthouses and all the parks around them.










I also enjoyed reading about the sea life although looking through the binoculars proved to be a bit beyond my talents.


I even got to meet a celebrity on my travels. My mom is a friend of Soxie - YES! that Soxie from PT Yarn the Opal distributor! She had dinner with her and her delightful husband and Soxie even posed with me :)












That evening, we ventured out into the California Redwoods and I posed with several of these awesome trees. It was right at sunset and we could hear the elk males in the distance. Was kind of spooky on that hike!







The next day we drove down through more of the Redwoods and of course, we had to visit the Lady Bird Johnson grove since she is from Texas. It was quite beautiful.










We then cut inland and north to Crater Lake in Oregon. This is where I became one finished sock and the beginnings of another. The lake was the bluest I've ever seen and the snow was everywhere! Quite a contrast in colors.








But, overall, the best time I had was at the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene Oregon on Saturday before we left. It was so neat to see all the sheep/ goats/ bunnies/ alpaca! And the vendors were wonderful and mom bought lots and lots of stuff to make more socks, shawls and scarfs!



I even got to meet other projects being knit on by bloggers. Left to right are my mom, Dene, Tammy, Jen and Chrissy. It was super the way these gals made me feel welcome. Thank you!


Well, you may wonder if I was completed on this journey. Sadly, no.. but I was shortly afterwards. To the left is a picture of my travel-mate, Anne and to the right is me, Trekky!




10 comments:

aija said...

Fabulous trek!! Thanks for sharing your sock travels :)

jenknits said...

I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one trekking at the BSG. Lovely photos - I cannot believe how huge those redwoods are!

Susan said...

Great pictures and beautiful socks. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the photos! I was at BSG on Saturday. You can see my photos from the gathering on my blog. Unfortunately, though I had my trek sock in my backpack, I forgot to get a photo!

We also visited the coast on Sunday and it was beautiful. I live in Bend and it doesn't seem you made it up this way, but come back some time, it's really beautiful here!

Anonymous said...

What a great trek and fab colour on your trekking socks!

HPNY KNITS said...

good job trekky!!! and thanks for sharing the views and adventures. its great.

Maureen said...

WOw! Trekky is so adorable! I hope my trekking socks are as brave and fun as your are! I keep staring at the skein and changing my mind on the pattern I want to do for the trek along. Keep up the good work!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures of your sock and trip across the PNW. I have a few balls of Trekking in my stash but haven't knit with it yet. Thanks for sharing.

Tammy said...

What awesome pictures, Trekky. I love Crater Lake!! Dene, it was great to meet you at BSG!! Glad you are home safely and that you enjoyed your trip.

--Deb said...

Hi, I'm dropping by for the Amazing Lace pit stop--that was quite a trek for your socks!!