Oct 25 – Nov 7
Adam and Kelsie were supposed to have flown home on the 24th but they decided to stay another day! It was a nice day, I took them out to see Multanomah Falls and the Bridge of the Gods before I had to take them to the airport. Adam got some incredible photos of their visit and I plan on framing some when we have a house again. It was really nice to have them come and visit.
We did have one incident before leaving Portland – we had a large duffle bag with all our sheets and a few other house things stolen. Right out of the back of our car. Lee thinks he may have left the car unlocked, and someone came along in the night, checked the doors, and realized that they could make a quick “score” by stealing our bag and running off. Needless to say, they didn’t get much, but it did drive us a bit crazy trying to figure out what had happened, and ultimately realizing that someone had taken it. We replaced things over the next few days, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.
After we left Portland we headed up the Washington Coast. Last year when we picked up the van we drove the Washington Coast but because of COVID all of the beaches were closed. In particular I wanted to see the Tree of Life and Rialto beach. The weather was more rainy and cold than when we were there last year, but we were still able to see some of the things we missed.
The Tree of Life was pretty unique – it’s amazing the root structure can hold up the weight of the tree. The beach itself was littered with huge drift wood logs. It was a little rainy and windy and the ocean was foamy and rough. We didn’t stay long and headed towards Rialto beach. We got to Rialto Beach at high tide so we couldn’t walk the beach; it was also a little rainy so we decided to go to our campground. Mora campground was a really nice, big campground about a mile from Rialto Beach. There were only about 4-5 campers so we basically had the place to ourselves. After we setup camp the rain stopped long enough for us to get a run in. Then the rain started and basically did not stop for over a day. We spent the next day just hunkered down in the van (with a quick run to town for a coffee). Luckily we had good internet so we could watch a move, do some reading and some “interneting”. It was actually nice to just stay put and have a down day.
The rain stopped on Friday and we were able to go walk a small portion of Rialto Beach. Unfortunately low tide was in the early afternoon and we had to be on our way so we were not able to hike to hole in the rock to see the sea stacks and tide pools. Another thing on my list of “stuff we need to go back and do”. We had a long drive to get to Arlington, WA where we were going to see Lee’s cousin.
When we plugged in Lee’s cousins address in Google Maps, it said we only had 190 miles to go but it was going to take us 5 hours. We couldn’t figure out why that was the case. After driving for a while I did a little more investigation about why it was going to take so long and realized it had us going on a ferry. I panicked a little never having experienced a ferry with a car, let alone a big van and wasn’t sure we could do it. Luckily we had cell coverage and after some research learned that the ferry would be able to accommodate us. I was then relieved and excited about my first experience boarding a ferry with a vehicle.
We got to the ferry about 45 minutes before boarding time, which gave us some time to make some lunch. And then it was our turn to drive on. It didn’t take long for the crossing (about 25 mins), but we got out and walked around the large boat. I was glad to have had the experience.
We spent the next couple of days with Lee’s cousin Karen Benjamin and her husband Craig. Lee hadn’t seen her in about 40 years, so he was happy to reconnect and I was happy to meet some of his extended family. They had a sprinter van so we gave each other tours of our “tiny homes”, and also toured Deception Pass which was very beautiful.
A few days previous my sister Karen had texted to say she saw we were in Washington and asked if we were coming to Spokane. I told her we weren’t but we’d be more than happy to meet here somewhere halfway. Luckily she was able to get a few days off so after leaving Arlington we headed to Leavenworth, WA to spend a few days with my sister. We had a great time – Leavenworth is a quant little tourist town that looks like it belongs in the mountains of Germany. We toured the little town, ate pastries and German food, stayed in a nice cabin close to town and did a hike in The Enchantments up to Colchuck Lake. It was really cold at the lake, but absolutely beautiful. On Tuesday (11/2) after checking out of the cabin we followed Karen to Wenatchee to do a 24 mile bike route along apple orchards and the Columbia River. It was chilly but very scenic.
After we said goodbye to Karen we started heading south. We stayed a night in Vantage, WA and then a night in Bend OR. We got to Bend after dark, did some quick errands and had a great dinner at the Boxwood Kitchen and saw a movie (The French Dispatch, which Lee hated). We then scoped out a place to stay for the night – a quiet street behind an assisted living place. We then headed to Sacramento via a night in Redding (where we found a tiny bouldering gym on Harvest Host) and then a stay at a Harvest Host winery outside Sacramento.
On our way to Redding we drove by Mt Shasta and boy was it impressive. The sky was clear and we got an incredible view of it. We decided (or I should say Lee decided) that we needed to climb it at some point in the not too distant future.
We met up in Modesto with my former boss at Degreed, Scott Smith and his wife Steph on Saturday for dinner. It was nice to see them and they were kind enough to let us stay in front of their house that night since our other options were a little limited.
We ended the week by heading to Yosemite via Calaveras State Park to see some giant Sequoia trees. We were lucky to find a last minute campsite in Yosemite and even though it’s still a popular place in November the crowds were much, much smaller than when we were here a few years ago in August to climb Half Dome. We found our campsite, went for a walk and scoped out the hike we planned to do the next day (Upper Yosemite Falls).
It’s been a busy few weeks, with a lot of driving, but I feel very grateful to have spent time with friends and family.
Kalaloch Beach Tree of Life Rialto Beach Getting ready to drive onto the ferry On the ferry Deception Pass with Lee’s cousin Karen Deception Pass Hanging out in Leavenworth with Mona’s sister Karen Hiking to Colchuck Lake Hiking to Colchuck Lake Colchuck Lake Colchuck Lake Riding the Apple Capital Recreation Trail Mt Shasta Half Dome
