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After we left Vantage, we headed to Spokane, WA. We drove through lots of well manicured farmland with big open skies. When we got closer to Spokane, the landscape changed to pine tree forests.

We stayed at an RV park on the north side of Spokane. We got settled in and then- had to take Matt to the airport for a work trip in Florida the next morning. That morning was Mother’s Day! The kids made breakfast in bed fabulous French toast and banana bread in a mug. Claire made me a ‘garden’ of tulips that each had a gift written on it (spa day, fancy meal, help with a household chore, etc.), and Reece made me a paper dahlia corsage! I felt very loved (and yes, I know I have wonderful kids!).

The week consisted of school, laundry, sleeping in, seeing old friends, and exploring the area.

On Tuesday we met up with Rick and Karen Meyers. (I know them from Santa Cruz. They often hosted pizza parties for the young ‘career’ aged people at the church we went to. I don’t think I’d seen them since they came to our wedding in CO. And fun fact – Rick graduated from Hope with my parents!) They picked us up, so we gave them the tour of our set-up (they have a camper too), and then grabbed lunch at a local bakery before heading over to Manito Park. Manito has a number of gardens that you can walk through – rose, perennial, formal English, a conservatory/greenhouse, and a lilac garden – which was in full bloom! It smelled amazing and was beautiful! (Spokane hosts a lilac festival every year and it was happening the week we were there!)

After Manito we got a driving tour of downtown and Whitworth University and then stopped for frozen yogurt right by their apartment. They retired to a newly built retirement community right next to Whitworth (their younger son is a Whitworth grad). It’s pretty incredible. We got a tour of their apartment and the facility before getting dropped back off at the campground (less than a mile away). We had a lovely time.

The next day it was windy and rainy and the Meyers invited us over for pizza and games, which we gladly accepted! We passed a lovely afternoon/evening, catching up more, seeing their oldest son, Jeff (also a Hope grad, but who lives in Spokane now), and going through old guest books from their parties in Santa Cruz – I think we’re going to start a guest book at our house too! Another lovely time – so grateful for the Meyers!

On Thursday the kids and I went hiking at Indian Painted Rocks. It’s a beautiful hike along the Little Spokane River that Rick had suggested. Then we headed over to check out the Bowl and Pitcher area of Riverside Park – the bowl and pitcher are two large rock features in the Spokane River. It’s an historic and popular park in the area with a neat suspension bridge.

On Saturday afternoon we pick up Matt from the airport. And then on Sunday afternoon we went to Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane – what a cool area! Lots of bridges, playgrounds, art installations/sculptures, a tower clock, and a garbage goat!

Matt ended up going to a last minute show when he found out a comedian/magician he likes was performing at the event center at the park. The kids and I needed to get some dinner and didn’t really care if we went, so we stopped by Zip’s Drive Thru on the way home.

On Monday, we climbed in Spokane at Minnehaha. It was a climbing area right off the road, and it was a lot of fun! We also helped our climbing neighbors retrieve the rope bag they had gotten stuck in a tree. It was great fun!

Tuesday morning we packed up and then washed the camper before heading out of Spokane. Moby and Richard are looking sharp!

From Tacoma we drove east to Vantage, WA. The landscape changed dramatically once we got east of the Cascades. The sky opened up, flattened out, and became much dry.

We spent the night at a state park on the Columbia River. (Yes, the same river we crossed going from OR into WA near the coast. It runs north to south in this part of WA. Vantage is right near the famous music venue, The Gorge Amphitheatre. We didn’t see a show, but we see why it has appeal.) The campground was beautiful and had a nice swim area (we waded and skipped rocks in it) and other open grassy areas. We even saw another bee swarm!

The next morning we got up and headed to Frenchmen Coulee to climb at an area called The Feathers. The ‘feathers’ are basalt columns that stick up out of the ground, like feathers. We got several climbs in before the wind kicked up and we called it a day.

Then we drove down to the boat ramp to check out the area before heading over to the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park Visitor Center. The area is covered in multiple lava flows with one layer among those being many petrified logs. Then we hiked the interpretive trail to see more examples of petrified wood in the places the pieces were found. It was a windy, but fun hike.

When we returned to the camper, the wind was still going strong. There were definitely some strong gusts that shook the camper, but we were ok!

By the next morning the wind had died down and it was beautiful and sunny. We packed up, but before heading out we walked down to the river/reservoir to dip our toes, skip rocks, and toss a frisbee. As we headed east, we got a good view of the wild horses monument up on the hill.

We had a lovely dinner with Mo and Devin on the night we arrived in Tacoma, but then headed out the next morning to adventure up to Camano Island. We stayed at the state park campground and spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and flying the kite. Besides the massive and prolific mosquitoes (like really LOUD swarms), we enjoyed our stay there. We were very glad we had our screen tent!

The next morning we went over to Ron and Terry’s house. Terry is my sister-in-law, Sara’s, mom. We had seen Ron and Terry in Michigan last summer when they came to visit Sara and Tim and family, and they had said to look them up if we made it that way – so we did!

We got a lovely tour of their beautiful home, walked down to the beach in their neighborhood, and enjoyed tasty snacks. The kids loved their new dog, Zoey! We just really enjoyed reconnecting with them and were grateful for their hospitality.

On the way back to Tacoma, we decided to get a taste of Seattle. We decided to check out the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and the West Point Lighthouse at Discovery Park – right on the sound and in the heart of Seattle. Daybreak Star has an amazing history of reclamation and is a beautiful and thoughtful building architecturally. Check out the link for more info.

Driving through Seattle wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be in the van and we enjoyed the sights and different neighborhoods/areas we encountered!

Back in Tacoma, we shared another lovely meal together (yay for cowboy beans and adult grills!) and moved the yard disco ball that Reece accidentally knocked down, to now hang from their tree.

The next day we took it easy – did school, unpacked from camping, pulled weeds with Mo, etc. It was Cinco de Mayo, so we also made a Mexican feast complete with plenty of guacamole, carnitas, and tasty beverages. Their friend, Ashley, came over and we all had a fun night!

On Wednesday we went to Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. We started at Owen Beach and then hiked the perimeter of the park through beautiful forest on the bluff above the sound. We saw beautiful views including of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Then we cut down to the water and were making our way back to Owen Beach when we met a gentleman headed in the opposite direction, Elliott. He was excited to share his wealth of knowledge about marine life, so we turned around to hike the beach with him! We saw aggregating anemones, piddock clams, lots of seals, some sea lions, ghost crabs, starfish, and more! It was chilly and windy (which we weren’t exactly prepared for), but after Matt leant Reece his fleece, Elliott leant Matt his windbreaker. We were also joined by Nori, a local photographer and illustrator, who knew Elliott, and we had such fun learning about the area. It was fabulous!

(I just looked up Nori online and found his website!)

Then we stopped by the stairs and slides area right by the park. It was really cool!

We enjoyed our last evening with Mo and Devin – leopard hats, Barley’s dog collar on Reece, tasty leftovers from three nights of cooking fabulous meals, and time together. We will miss them!

We have also really enjoyed the Pacific Northwest! There are so many wonderful places and people!

But now we turn east for the final stretch. It’s a bittersweet feeling. We’re all excited to back in CO and live somewhere that doesn’t have wheels, but it’s hard to believe this big adventure is coming to an end. Looking forward to sharing stories and experiences from this trip for years to come!

We left Champoeg and decided to drive north through Astoria up to the Olympic Peninsula. We took a beautiful, and at times narrow, road over to the coast and made a pit stop in Seaside, OR. It’s a fun touristy town. We walked down to the beach and saw the ocean again – it had a sandy beach, so we dipped our toes in. And then we discovered that this was where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition at the Pacific Ocean! It was a neat little fact to come across.

Then we drove across the Columbia river at in Astoria, OR, and up into Washington on Hwy 101. The highway doesn’t hug the coast, but it was a beautiful drive (and rather bumpy at times – that was fun with the camper!). We made it to Kalaloch Campground for the evening. It’s part of Olympic National Park, and it’s right on the ocean. We enjoyed a long walk on the beach where we got to see the sunset and the moon rise. It was amazing.

The next morning we drove up to Ruby Beach and then over to Sol Duc Campground (both part of Olympic National Park). Sol Duc is almost rain forest and we felt brave for driving the camper there, but we made it! We got set up and then hiked out to Sol Duc Falls through rain forest areas. It was incredible.

That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was SO quiet. Sound just seemed to disappear in the moss. It was crazy.

The next day we drove by Lake Crescent and then to the Olympic NP visitor center in Port Angeles, WA. Matt really wanted to drive up Hurricane Ridge, so we asked if we could leave our camper in the parking lot to drive up to the top and they said it was fine! We soon found ourselves at almost tree line among snow covered peaks. It was a neat contrast.

Then we continued on to Tacoma where we were greeted by our friends, Mo and Devin and their dog, Barley. It was lovely! Seeing dear friends along the way has definitely been a lot of the highlights along this trip – and really, part of the reason for doing the trip. So grateful.

Champoeg is pronounced sham-poo-y (pretty much). I pronounced it wrong the great majority of the time we were there. It’s a state historic area to commemorate a town where a lot of Oregon’s government and statehood began. The town was washed away in a couple floods, but they have now made it into a state park. We camped there after being in Albany..

It was another beautiful campground with lots of green open space, walking trails, forests, rivers/creeks, and a nature playscape right next to the campground.

The day after we arrived there, we drove down to Silver Falls State Park. It’s a popular state park known for its Trail of Ten Falls – a 7-8 mile loop where you get to see 10 impressive waterfalls. It was really beautiful and we’ve got lots of pictures (sorry I didn’t caption them all!).

On the drive back to our campground, we were able to see more of the landscape (it was cloudy/foggy on the way there), and I was able to get a picture of the many Christmas tree farms we drove through on the way there. (Made me think of my Grandpa Koop!)

The next day we went over to the visitor center at the Champoeg to learn more about the area. It was once a large and significant town in Oregon’s history, but huge floods on the Willamette River washed it away. Amazingly no one died. We also learned that Oregon became a state in 1859, before Colorado (1876), even though it is quite a bit further west. Besides the explorers that took paths there, it is also a very lush place that is similar to the east, so we guessed people were able to survive there more easily than other low water areas of the west. Also, Oregon is the only state that has a two-sided flag!

We walked down to the actual town site where the roads that were once there are marked. There’s a stone marker there honoring the people that voted to create Oregon’s first government in 1843.

Then in the afternoon we stopped by a hazelnut orchard on our way to Portland. In Portland we went to Powell’s Books (the original one). It was a neat place that we’ve heard about. We visited the Rare Books section and saw their oldest book which was published on August 11, 1494! Really cool.

From there we drove out to Hillsboro where we had dinner with one of Matt’s friends from growing up – Heather and Rian and their daughter. Matt and I had visited them years ago after we did the John Muir Trail (and Matt had been there since for work as well), so it was nice to catch up and meet their daughter. We enjoyed a lovely time. The kids had fun. The food was delicious. The conversation flowed. And we even got some protest frog souvenirs that we’re excited to wear back in Colorado Springs! (Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture together.)

Oregon has been a lovely state. We look forward to coming back someday and exploring it more!