Tag Archives: Bass-Katayama/Katayama-Bass Family Adventures

Familymoon Trip to Maine, August 2009

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Adventures of a Blended Family during one Summer in Maine

*  This is an extended work in progress. Please explore & enjoy anyway!  *

*Graphic heavy with many fotos*

1. Introduction

The Little Red Cottage where we stayed for most of our trip to Maine. This grand adventure was one of our most memorable trips ever. Most of these fotos were lost for years after the 2010 house fire and recently recovered. A good many remain missing and probably lost forever. Life goes on anyway. I start composing this foto-essay for my family in August 2024, 15 years after those wonderful, halcyon summer days of August 2009. We all loved this little cabin. You can see the blue waters of the lake thru openings in the trees.

Crawford Pond, the huge lake the Little Red Cottage overlooks. The cabin sits back in the woods up on a ridge overlooking the water’s edge. Both cottage and pond weren’t too far from the little town of Union in Downeast Maine. In Maine and in much of New England lakes were called ponds. We swam and paddled in it daily. Monday 17 August 2009.

Water’s Edge. Canoe of dreams. People didn’t worry about theft despite stories of rare, rogue hermits back in the woods who pilfered around for supplies.

Kate takes the leap!

Happy sisters! Morgan (now Dylan) & Talia grinning away at Acadia National Park, Wednesday 19 August 2009.

These two former lovebirds, however, when together during those years were the reason this Familymoon Adventure happened. Kristina Katayama Bass & William Dudley Bass at Acadia National Park, Maine, on Wednesday the 19th of August 2009.

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Beaver Hill Wild

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Two crazy parents have fun getting their kid to do a steep, grunt hike up a local classic in the Washington Cascades, Saturday the 25th of July 2009

“I don’t wanna hike. I’m too tired!” Talia, my youngest, says as she lays down in the trail on the way up Beaver Hill. She’s rebelling, fussing, and laughing all at the same time. And she’s game! Tater Tot does make it to the tippity top. Her mom, Kristina, watches patiently before gently nudging her to stand back up. “C’mon, Bug, let’s go!” Kris finally says. Foto by William Bass.

We parked at the Phelps Creek Trailhead. Got out of the minivan to stretch and look around before opening the rear hatch to pull out our packs. The three of us were about to start our backpacking trip up into Spider Meadows when we realized something weird was going on like some kind of spacetime distortion from a shimmery syfy show. Because, what? Where were…hey, our backpacks aren’t in the car. What?!? I was so flabbergasted and confused I even peered up into the bushes. Darn! Where were OUR PACKS! Even peeked underneath the car. Ugh, not there either. OK. How? How could I forget? I’m SO CAREFUL and METHODICAL! It’s how our post-multiple divorce, remarried, extra-blended, postmodern, post-polyamorous family managed our logistics amidst chaos! Truth was we’d forgotten the packs. Nope, I’d forgotten the packs. Me. I failed to doublecheck back at the River House, our base in the Greater Leavenworth-Lake Wenatchee-Plain-Spider Meadow area. My goodness, was I upset! Mad, despondent, but also laughing at the absurdity of it. Deep down I felt grateful, tho, as a menacing tumult of heavy, dark clouds rolled in, the wind blew, and a few raindrops fell. Kristina thought it all ridiculous, and yet so divinely perfect as we didn’t have to camp in the rain. She was more peeved at how grumpy I was. Talia threw back her head and rolled her eyes in her most perfect act of pretend delirium. 

Stormy skies thunder into the Glacier Peak Wilderness here at the Phelps Creek TH where the hike up to Spider Meadows begins.

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Father’s Day on The Mountain, June 2008

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Snapshots of a family in the Great Outdoors playing in the shadows of volcanoes, Sunday the 15th of June 2008

The Mountain. This massive, majestic, and dangerous volcano loomed above us wherever we went this bright, sunny Father’s Day.

The author with 2 of his daughters: Foto Left to Foto Right: Katie (10 & a half+), me (49), & TaTa (6). Kate performed over 30 cartwheels nonstop earlier this day, her personal record. We all encouraged her, of course, coached her, too, and, to be clear, it was all hands off. Left us in awe. As did being up in the snow at Paradise in Mt. Rainier National Park wearing sandals and flip-flops.

Breakfast for Daddy! Red eyes for the camera & all! Kate & Talia surprise William for Father’s Day 2008. Foto by Kristina.

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Upside down in Snow

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A romp in the woods with my lover at the time & two of our kids goes, well, upside down! Our winter ramble in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, near where the old Mountaineers Cabin used to be one Sunday on the 22nd of January 2006.

Silly Daddy leads the way. Kristina laughed & refused to follow. “I’ll just take pictures. How about that?” she said & chuckled again.

Kate & Talia can’t wait! Kato’s in purple & purple, and TaTa’s in pink & polka dots. Sunday afternoon on the 22nd of January 2006.

Four of us rode up together in our blended family minivan. We all wanted to go play in the snow! Except for my oldest girl, Morgan, now called Dylan, and I cannot recall why she stayed behind. Probably because the future Dylan Blair preferred to pal around with her tween friends. Especially as she was 12 years old back then and soon to turn 13 in less than 3 months. Hmn. Never mind my pet baby name for her was my Li’l Twinkle Star. Katie Kate Kate could barely wait, tho, and she was already 8 years along. No longer was she just my Li’l Kitty Kat. Our youngest, Talia, or, ahem, TaTa the Tater Tot, as we called my Li’l Butterfly back then was still an adorable 3 years old. I drove thru the village of Snoqualmie Pass, known for its concentration of ski resorts, hiking, climbing, and even a small, rare cave system, and parked in a cleared-off lot near a snowy lane leading to where the old Mountaineers’ old cabin is.

Or was back then in January of 2006. Cabin is a misnomer. Aye, it was a palace in the forest! The Mountaineers Club, however, called it a lodge. Snoqualmie Lodge. Hey, this place was historic! Snoqualmie Lodge was a major hub for backcountry action for over half-a-century. A quasi-medieval frontier fort of a sort, the lodge looked ramshackle and all teeter-tottery after the snows melted, but altho rustic, it was built solid by engineers and carpenters. By men & women who knew what tools they held in hand, knew what they were doing, and if they didn’t, they knew how to work together to figure things out and make it so. The snow seemed to help hold it up, but truth is the snow exerted walls of pressure on the famous old building. This was before the Fires of Spring.

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