Port Angeles day 3

Today the weather cleared up so I finally went hiking for an hour or so. Only one trailhead I could find was open from the Port Angeles side of the forest (most of the roads into the forest were closed due to snow), and when I got there the parking lot was filling up. I wandered around a bit and took a bunch of photos and audio recordings, but quickly found that my camera’s battery did not like the cold (or maybe it’s just getting old and needs to be replaced). According to the trail map I made it maybe a third of the way up before my legs were telling me that I was in no way fit enough to keep going, and then after I turned back I found that the parking lot was overflowing and a whole bunch of people were now on the trail. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Hopefully tomorrow I can go to a different trailhead but the weather report is saying it’s going to be raining again, so my last day here might be like all the others.

Also I really should have worn thicker socks, as my feet were pretty cold the whole time. If it isn’t raining I’ll definitely bring the thick pair I brought for this very reason.

Anyway, for lunch I ended up going to the sandwich/wrap place, and it was pretty okay, and then I watched some cartoons and fell asleep which I really needed. Then I went to the steakhouse for dinner and it was also pretty okay. Not fantastic, and probably not worth the price either, although it was certainly good enough for a vacation meal. Everyone there seemed to be a regular who knew the host (except me, of course) and everyone was super-friendly and they had a big ol' floofy cat just chilling in the lobby, so it was at least a nice time.

I think this trip ended up being just the right length of time to spend here, and the main reason I came to Port Angeles specifically was to see if this was a place I’d be happy to live, and I don’t think I would. And that’s fine. I’m sure I’ll come back some other time, although I’ll be sure to do it when the weather is a bit more amenable to hiking.

Also it’s been nice to have a quiet place where I can just like… work on music. Although I’ve gotten way more music scrap inspiration than the motivation to actually finish any pieces that feel like actual pieces to me. But at least I’ll have plenty of material to work with when I get back to Seattle on Friday.

It’s also been kind of nice being limited to only a small selection of portable instruments. Not that I’m ready to get rid of all of my recording gear but it’s nice being limited to doing more with less. I’m also really impressed with how well the Zoom H1 has worked as an all-in-one interface and condenser mic. I used to recommend this to people who were just getting started but along the way I kind of forgot about it until I came across this Simon the Magpie video which reminded me that, oh yeah, that’s a thing I used to recommend.

Oh, and I’ve had a shoe adapter for it for a while and it’s nice to use that to get much better audio recording on my camera. That’s a thing I’ve been doing with it for a while but it’s worth mentioning specifically. (And shoe adapters can be really cheap; mine actually came bundled for free with some other ridiculously-cheap studio mounting gear I’d bought a while ago.)

Anyway I guess I’m feeling rambly right now. I guess that’s okay too.

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