No Desert Until You've Finished Your Winter

Well that (the title) is not always true. There's usually an overlap between the end of winter and the start of making weekend retreats to the dryer side of the mountains. This year, the arid cliffs to the east are ten times more appealing than anything winter has to offer. Sunny skies, great climbing, and a van begging to be driven away from the city to an area where he can let his doors hang out were all obvious reasons to send it over Snoqualmie Pass, dip down to the Columbia River Gorge, and spend three days at Vantage.

Victor proved his "haulability" again by carting two people and a dog plus a weekend's worth of climbing and camping gear up and over the mountains, two and a half hours east of Seattle.

He provided a pretty sweet launching pad for cooking breakfast and drinking coffee each day and served as a decent wind blocker on Saturday night when the fire was getting whipped around. And on Sunday, the van became a fantastic place to retreat for lunch once the rain finally showed up.
After getting a better feel for the road and a slight taste of desert, I think Victor and I are ready to take it a little further.
Here goes something!