Oso Slide & Mountain Loop Highway

We did an impromptu tour of the Oso Slide Area & the Mountain Loop Highway today. Sort of. The highway was not completely open yet. The highway in to Darrington goes through the Oso Slide area where a long-runout slide in March 2014 buried the community of Steelhead Haven & killed 43 people; all by blunt force trauma. While the Wikipedia article I linked above mentions the controversy over officials saying it was unexpected, it does not talk about how the slide was unusual in that it traveled at least 1700 lineal feet. Based on the height of the geological formation (650 feet), the normal expected maximum distance slide debris would move would be no more than 1300 feet & most slides don't get close to the maximum 2x distance. But long-runout slides, which are rare, go well beyond the normal distance. The department I worked for at the time oversaw the mitigation for the slide; it had also been involved with the normal slide in 2006. Co-workers who were present after the 2006 slide when the County held a public meeting to discuss buying out the properties in Steelhead Haven to provide residents with the means to relocate to a safer area, said it was very heated & residents refused to even consider a buyout; one of the residents was the co-founder of a very active property rights group in the county. He was one of the 43 casualties. I wonder if his family members were involved with the wrongful death lawsuit? FYI We did not stop because the memorial park has not yet been built; my previous access to the site was via work.

We stopped at a grocery store in Darrington to pick up some supplies for lunch. I had intended to make a lunch stop at Big Four but Kai's back was bothering him so the potholes were causing him a lot of pain.

Cascade mountains south of the highway to Darrington. (Photo by Kai)

The very popular espresso stand in Darrington; I think it's the only one.

Heading out of Darrington on the Mountain Loop Highway. (Photo by Kai)

(Photo by Kai)

I did not remember it being this well paved. (Photo by Kai)

This is what I remembered! (Photo by Kai)

We turned around & went to the White Chuck Overook Picnic Area. There was a really nice view of the White Chuck River valley if we got out of the car, but it was very cold for me at 55 degrees F & there were a lot of biting bugs around. I pulled the car up to an opening so we could see some of the mountainside. The back country outhouse there was clean but looked like people had been using it for target practice.

Our lunch stop.

Nice view!

The outhouse.

Nice & clean!

But this is a little concerning.

Our view while we ate lunch.

He decided on jerky & coffee for lunch.

We started out the day having breakfast at Café Makario; Kai's favorite coffee place in Everett. He had a Dutch Affogato which is a cold coffee drink with a scoop of ice cream; he also had a freshly baked croissant that they make at Café Makario. I had a Chai Latte with almond milk & a Maple Pecan Scone; I initially ordered the Blueberry Almond Scone but they were all out.

Not very busy this morning.

Ate most of his croissant before the coffee arrived.

Dutch Affogato.

Maple Pecan Scone & Chai Latte.

We got an early start because Kai had to be at SeaMar Community Health Center before 9 am for their walk-in intake appointments. The earlier you are there, the better your chances are at getting in to one of the openings for that day. When we arrived there were no cars in the parking lot! Hulō! He was informed that there were no appointments this morning due to a building wide audit that was being conducted. Auē! He was also told to get in by 8:30 tomorrow in order to have enough time to fill out all the paperwork & be ready for the 9 oʻclock intake time. 

As we were leaving, we decided to drop by at Terri's to look at the household items she was getting rid of to see if Kai & Dustin might like it for wherever they move to. But Terri didn't answer so we went to Plan B which was to drive by the two 2-bedroom houses I had seen on Craigs List the night before. The closer one was at 1902 State Street in Everett; it was renting for $1550 a month & was available right now. Google Maps took us through a really weird route which included driving for about 10 blocks in back alleyways! Then we got to where we though 1902 State Street was & did not see the house that was shown in the Craigs List posting; it turns out it is accessed from the alleyway off of 19th Street behind the main house on State Street. Kai liked the looks of it.

This is the route Google sent us on.

Google sent us to the house in front with the red pin.

Access for the rental is from 19th Street.

Front of house.

Back of house.

As we were finishing up our quick look at the house, Terri called back. We had been trying to save her the effort of moving things outside for us to see, but she was in the process of moving them when we left the earlier message for her. We headed out to her house to look at the gliding rocker, area rug, outdoor umbrella, & bench she was getting rid of. Kai said they might be interested in the gliding rocker.

The other house we went to see was closer to Terri which was convenient. It is at 3205 Mission Beach Road in Tulalip; it is renting for $1895 a month & is also available now. It is a 3-story house & they would be renting the top floor; it looks like it would have a great view of Tulalip Bay as well as Port Susan. He liked the looks of the house but said he would like to talk to current residents & neighbors about the potential odors from the nearby sewage treatment plant. He also wanted to check out the strength of the wi-fi signal.

We decided to drive through the rest of the Tulalip Reservation & ended up near Smokey Point. Since Kai had been complaining earlier about his back & neck hurting I decided to see if our old chiropractor Dr. Welly had any openings soon. It turns out "old" is the operative word; both Dr. Welly & Dr. Hedlund have retired. And Dr. Schultz, whom they had taken in to the practice about 10 years ago was now running the clinic along with Dr. Barrett. Kai now has an appointment next week with Dr. Barrett.

On the way out of Smokey Point we went to Arlington via the back road. Along the way we passed another Amazon Fulfillment Center; I have been seeing a lot of them in Snohomish County as we drive around.

(Photo by Kai)

In the meanwhile, the Roomba was busy cleaning the Kohala house! The 1st message I got said I needed to provide some attention; but it was only that it was charging up its battery in order to finish up the cleaning. And although there was an Error Message when it did finish, it got all the rooms.

 

We returned via the North Cascades Highway & drove through Marblemount, Rockport, Concrete, &  Sedro-Woolley. Although it would have been interesting to stop at some places along the way like the Marblemount Hatchery where I used to work, Kai's back was hurting too much & he really needed to get back home & rest it. The only stop we made was for a bathroom break in Sedro-Woolley. 

There is a Little Free Library just outside the home of the friends I am staying with. They stock the library with books; people can borrow, take, or leave a book in return.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Gary!