Month: June 2011

A quick 6am stop by Countryside Donut House (our favorite) and we were heading east to Yakima to visit our good friends Phil, Jessica, and Evan. We made good time arriving in Yakima around 9am. A quick bathroom break for everyone and off to Cowiche Canyon for a Father’s Day morning hike.

Before we go on, I want to give a little background about Phil and Jessica. We’ve known Phil since 2002 and Jessica a few years later. Phil and I use to fight fire together while at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Living in the small town of Mineral we often hung out together. Of course that was at our house because he always kept his house so dang cold. During the winter months Phil, Laura, and I would do evening runs in the forest and challenge each other to put in a good run. Phil was a returned Peace Corps volunteer that served in the Dominican Republic in the late 90’s. He often spoke highly of his service and encouraged us to try it someday. Well, as you know, we did try the Peace Corps and Phil was a major player in it. Every since leaving Lassen in 2004 we kept in touch via email and phone calls and a visit every so often. When we moved to the Seattle area he had just accepted a job in the Yakima area and he and Jessica moved from Seattle within a couple months of us arriving. We’ve always enjoyed their company and looked forward to this visit, especially to see their 1.5 year old son Evan who was now out and about like Autumn.