Author Archives: Rick Freeman

Rachel Lake Hike, May 2015

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Rachel Lake
Date: May 21, 2015
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 8.0 Miles / 12.8 Kilometers Roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 1,600 feet / 487 Meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 62 of I-90 in Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry to the lake
Hiking With: Jim Darmiento, Rick Massie & my fearless dog Macho

My wife Linna is always complaining that I do the same Washington hikes through-out the year, well today I would have made her proud. It was my good friend Jim Darmiento that suggested we try Rachel Lake wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/rachel-lake hike for something new; exit 62 off of I-90 in the state of Washington. It turned out to be a worthy hike with abundance of waterfalls through-out day.

The elevation gain seemed much more than what is posted on the Washington Trails Association website…which was 1,600 feet, but for some reason it felt more like 2,500 feet or more. Once we hit the summit, Jim got out his Jetboil and heated some water up for our lunch at the lake. I came damn close to jumping in, but my body said no….pretty much ice water temperature right now.

We didn’t see too many people all day….just like it should be.

Italy Trip, May 2015

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The last time I was in Italy was 1995 and I have forgotten most of what I have seen or done, so this trip was a nice recap. My wife Linna put this trip together and invited her friend Xiuyun Jiang and her husband John Biltucci and a long-time friend of mine Mike Curry. Xiuyun did an excellent job of planning an itinerary for us in Rome and Florence, our two cities we rented apartments in.

We flew to Rome via a connection in JFK in New York on Delta Airlines and Italia Airlines to Rome. Note to oneself…skip the connection and fly direct to Paris and then bullet train down. Not only is JFK an old grimy airport, you end up flying two long legs. I will never fly Italia Airlines again, my Delta diamond status had no prominence with this Skyteam Alliance airline. It all started when I checked in and my seat all sudden went from a comfort plus up front to a cramped window seat in back with audio equipment utilizing all of my leg room. My wife Linna with no flying prestige was well situated with a four row seat all to herself, she was nice enough to ask me to join her. We were able to get some decent sleep on our way down to Rome.

Our group rented an apartment in the heart of Rome www.vrbo.com/1131096ha with all the beautiful amazing attractions surrounding us. Even though we were all pretty hammered by our flight we mustered enough energy to walk to the Spanish steps and found a perfect outdoor café for lunch and then shopped before we walked back our apartment. After a well-deserved shower we had dinner at a local café right below our apartment.

Mailbox Peak Hike, April 2015

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Mailbox Peak
Date: April 24, 2015
Difficulty: 9 out of 10
Distance: 7.5 Miles / 12 Kilometers Roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet / 1,219 Meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Wet to Snow-packed
Hiking With: Sam Elder, Rick Massie & my dog Macho

The last time I hiked up Mailbox Peak goo.gl/y3ANNn was pretty much the same conditions, wet with blowing sleet on top. Today’s hike actually turned out better than the forecast which was calling for rain all day. We started around 8:00 a.m. on the old steep trail with cloudy skies, but no rain until we hit the top and it started sleeting some.

I invited my friend Sam Elder to join Rick Massie and myself on this brutalizing journey to the famous Mailbox Peak 34 miles East of Seattle. Sam hasn’t hiked in a couple of years and he had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he made it to the summit with only a few hesitations along the way.

Right before we started up the last steep part out in the open we changed out into dry shirts and left our backpacks behind for a quicker scramble to the mailbox. After a few pictures we descended down the new long 5 mile route. I have now descended twice on the new trail and again it just feels forever, but it still trumps the knee pounding old steep trail.

Granite Mountain Hike, April 2015

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Granite Mountain
Date: April 9, 2015
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles / 13.8 Kilometers roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,800 feet / 1,158 meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Exit 47, I-90
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Northwest Forest Pass Required
Trail Conditions: Dry to Fresh Snow At Higher Elevation
Hiking With: Dr. Richard Stiles & my dog Macho

I knew we had a couple of sunny days approaching so I decided to take a day of vacation from work to hike Granite Mountain goo.gl/M4Xqcz just 47 miles East of Seattle. Even though the hike was in middle of the week, I was able to find an adventurous soul to appreciate this thigh pounding sunny hike; I picked up Dr. Richard Stiles mid-morning on Thursday and headed out to Exit 47 off Interstate 90.

The last time I hiked with Dr. Stiles was 10 years ago the summer of 2005 when I was training for Mt. Rainier. He hasn’t misplaced any speed with his pace either, the doctor led the way with a vigorous stride that totally impressed me.

Trail conditions were good until you broke-out in the high meadows and started hiking is semi-slushy snow. We decided to put on our traction devices on during our first break at the beginning of the basin where the snow was getting deeper. We started to ascend to the look-out tower via the basin and midway through traversed back up to the ridge and boulder field. The heavy snow in the basin definitely increased my heart rate, but my poor dog Macho had to deal with the deep snow and boulder field. There was a couple of times I actually had to pick him up to get him to the next boulder.

After a few pictures, warm tea and snacks at the summit we descended through the basin to finish off a perfect day.

Tokyo Trip, March 2015

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So…I didn’t visit any ancient sanctuaries, hot springs, mountains or red light districts on this trip, but did have a few great dinners with some good friends. This was a short trip to Japan with Shinjuku being my home base.

My first day out I took a special express train from the enormous Shinjuku train station to Hashimoto station where I met up with my good friends Yuichiro Kanagawa, Yasufumi Mizuguchi and Ryo Saito. I have known Yuichiro and Saito for many years and I had the pleasure to hike up Mt. Fuji with them 1 ½ years ago. We walked off to a local izakaya (Japanese tavern) and had a chance to talk about old times and chomp down on some delicious local dishes.

After a day flight to Komatsu and back for some meetings we hit another local izakaya but with different group of friends…Nishigaki, Shirakawa, Tokumaru and Watanabe in Hashimoto again. Tetsuya Tokumaru choose Hashimoto area for me because it’s a train station that is direct to Shinjuku without any train changes (easy for foreigner).

This was another lovely Japan trip with sunny days, great food and good friends.

São Paulo Trip, February 2015

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I left the cool rainy weather of beautiful Seattle for São Paulo, Brazil to soak up some warm sunshine and stuff my belly with some charcoal grilled red meat at one of the many Churrasco style restaurants through-out Brazil. I was supposed to get my dental braces installed before this trip, but I knew this carnivore was going to be grinding down some succulent red meat so I postponed the metal work for after this trip.

My friend Afonso Fernandes picked me up the airport and for a 22 mile ride it took us a little over 2 hours to get to my Hilton Hotel. One of the biggest challenges of living in São Paulo is definitively the commute, according to Time magazine São Paulo has the world’s worst daily traffic jams. Getting around São Paulo is a pain in the ass unless you rent or own a helicopter, go figure São Paulo metro area has 19 million people.

In São Paulo, the average traffic jams on Friday evenings is 180km (112 miles) and as long as 295km (183 miles) on bad days according to local traffic engineers. There are 420 helicopters registered in São Paulo, a total second only to New York City. There are up to 500 helicopter flights daily in Sao Paulo and the city has a staggering 193 heliports.

Although the traffic was a pain in the ass during the day, I had a great time with my friend Afonso Fernandes during this trip. He is a master at providing unlimited hospitality and finding fabulous restaurants.

Peoria, Illinois Trip, January 2015

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Can you believe it…my first trip for the year and I choose Peoria, Illinois. We all know Peoria is not a vacation spot or a destination spot, but it still has certain qualities about it to provide a comfortable life for most people. Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and if you have a view from a riverfront hotel you can see the many barges being pushed by the huge tugboats through-out the day. I just happen to travel to Peoria a couple of times a year and I usually make the best of it.

There’s not a lot to do in Peoria, but they do have some great restaurants and I typically try to find a new one (if there’s one) when I am in town. This trip I discovered a treasure and found the The Edge during my Open Table search when I was up in the air 36,000 feet flying from Seattle utilizing Gogo internet. The Edge edgeinpeoria was opened by Chef Dustin Allen promoting a farm to table experience. I totally recommend this restaurant and you would be a fool not to make a reservation here.

I had the distinct pleasure to enjoy my lovely dinner with a couple of friends, Jason Hartley from Washington and Douglas Hovel from Illinois.

Mailbox Peak Hike, December 2014

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Mailbox Peak
Date: December 27, 2014
Difficulty: 9 out of 10
Distance: 7.5 Miles / 12 Kilometers Roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 4,000 feet / 1,219 Meters
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Wet to Snow-packed
Hiking With: Paul Bates, Carl Brandt, Gustav Brandt, Mike Curry, Emelie Espling and Rick Massie

My friend Emelie Espling had two friends from Sweden visiting and I thought I would introduce them to the thigh pounding Mailbox Peak. The last time I hiked the Mailbox goo.gl/y3ANNn was a year ago August with Rick Massie so I was past due for some grueling physical exertion. Our group consisted of Paul Bates, Mike Curry, Emelie Espling, Rick Massie, Carl and Gustav Brandt from Sweden.

The new trail wasn’t open the last time I was here so I was looking forward to the new 5 mile trail on the descent to save on the knees. The young men from Sweden was quick to take off and we eventually saw them again about 100 yards from the Mailbox on their descent. The last 1000 feet of elevation was snow packed with blizzard like conditions on the final push to the summit.

Kudos to the many WTA volunteers that constructed the new 5 mile route to the top, but after seeing the many ill equipped “tourist” hikers in their running shoes I think Mailbox Peak will see more rescues. The majority people that came up the new easy route didn’t have the proper gear to summit this intimidating peak and only putting themselves and others at risk. I first started hiking Mailbox Peak 13 years ago when there was only a toothbrush marking the trailhead; you only came across bonafide hikers and many climbers training for Mount Rainier, sadly WTA has created another Mt. Si.

Our group took the new longer route down which was nice on the legs but it seemed to go on forever! We ended our hike in a heavy downpour and eventually found ourselves at the North Bend Bar & Grill for cold beers and warm grub.

Albuquerque Balloon Festival, October 2014

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I have always wanted to attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival and this year I made it happen. My wife Linna and my good friend Mike Curry joined me for a four day weekend of relaxation and fun. The world’s largest hot air balloon festival usually takes place the first weekend of October with over 700 balloons and considered to be the most photographed event in the world. I don’t think I saw one person without a camera, Linna must have taken over 400 pictures herself.

Mike and I flew in earlier than Linna on Thursday so we headed to the Marble Brewery www.marblebrewery (off of Marble Avenue) in the warehouse district in Albuquerque. This is a hip pub that brews an variety of seasonal beers on draft, they also had a live band playing that night…bonus!

Friday morning was our lift off in a hot air balloon for the first time in our lives…exciting! The three of us decided on a more personal flight so we paid extra for a basket only for us and of course our pilot; some of these baskets will hold up to twelve people. We hooked up with Rainbow Ryders www.rainbowryders which I would totally recommend. They are experienced, organized, entertaining and safe. The flight lasted only for an hour, but it was so peaceful and serene I could have floated all day; your flight time is limited to the fuel you have aboard.

With plenty of day left after our first ever balloon ride we were off to Santa Fe for some leisure sight-seeing. We met up with Garth Heuchert and his wife Patricia Chou for dinner at MÁS – Tapas y Vino back in Albuquerque. I have to give Patricia credit on finding this wonderful restaurant that specializes in tapas located in the historic Hotel Andaluz. Garth and Patricia are friends of ours from Seattle and now live in the cool city of Austin, Texas.

France Trip, September 2014

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France might be my favorite country to visit with its beautiful countryside and historically old cities. I usually make a trip to Europe once a year and since Seattle has a direct flight to Paris it will always be the first city we explore. Linna and I flew over Labor weekend and we didn’t miss a beat once we landed at Charles de Gaulle airport. We flung our luggage in the rental car and took off to our hotel to quickly freshen up and then drove over to the city of Versailles to visit the Château de Versailles or also called the Palace of Versailles. When the Palace was built in the 1600’s Versailles was a country village and now it’s a wealthy suburb of Paris. This is a very cool area, we actually stayed in Trianon Palace Versailles, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel about 3 years ago.

After a nice sleep we were off the next day to the Notre Dame Cathedral or locals call it “Our Lady of Paris”. The cathedral is considered one of the best illustration of French Gothic architecture and one of the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. Linna and I walked up the 387 steps to the top to get a fantastic view of the city and the lovely Eiffel Tower. We were still in tourist mode so we started walking along the magnificent Seine River running through the heart of Paris. Passing the many Love Padlocks bridges and eventually stopping for a long overdue lunch. I wanted to end my day at the Eiffel Tower for a few night pictures. This will be my third trip to the most visited paid monument in the world. It’s memorizing when you are on top looking down at the glimmering city lights with the glow of the boats cruising the Seine River.

Paris was complete and the next day we took a bullet train to Lyon where I picked up a rental car and drove over to Lake Geneva. My Hilton hotel was actually located near the shore in the small city of Évian. Its home to the Évian mineral water and hosts the Evian Championship women’s professional golf tournament every year. I was off to Grenoble, France for the day and later we drove down to the most beautiful city in the world…Annecy, France. We had dinner with Benoit and Audrey Clerc…a charming couple I met during my climb of Aconcagua in Argentina in 2012. We had a few beers and dinner later along the Thiou canal and near the Palais de l’Isle castle which was built in 1132. Benoit suggested we drive over to Chamonix, France the next day and take the aerial cable car to Aiguille du Midi an elevation of 3,842 m / 12,605 ft. to view the famous Mont Blanc up close. Well…there was no view the clouds were thick as soup. On the way back to our hotel in Évian I was pulled over speeding and had to pay 90 Euros on the spot.

The next day we were back to Lyon for a peaceful train ride back to Paris. We stayed downtown in the heart of the shopping area and found a romantic sidewalk café for dinner after hours of shopping. We both had flights the next day from Charles De Gaulle but in different directions, I was off to London and Linna was back to Seattle.