Monday, July 10th

Starting mileage: 7654, Distance travelled: 256

Miles hiked: 3.8 miles

We started the day with a really picturesque drive on route 58 in Oregon, winding and thickly wooded with occasional dramatic valley vistas. When we got closer to Crater Lake, we encountered some interesting evidence of forest management. On one side of the road, the entire forest had recently burned. On the other side of the road, there were carefully stacked piles of brush that had been swept up surrounding unburned trees. David’s half-serious theory was that it was in response to Trump’s order to the Park Service, blaming the unraked forests for rampant forest fires. We also saw snow on the way up, foreshadowing later issues.

We arrived at the Crater Lake visitor center only to find ourselves in yet another combat parking situation, but we lucked out and found a spot. Crater Lake was amazing and as spectacularly blue as promised. We made lunch and ate it overlooking the lake. We learned about how the lake was formed by a massive volcanic eruption nearly 7000 years ago that left a crater to be filled only with rain and snowmelt, resulting in the pristine lake.

Our plan was to hike the 3.6 mile out and back Garfield Peak Trail but when we reached the trailhead, we found that it was closed due to dangerous snow conditions. We still wanted to get in a little hiking so we drove to Discovery Point and hiked about a mile and a half of the Rim Trail around the top of the rim above the lake. Also foreshadowing future challenges, Laura struggled to keep up on the relatively moderate hike. In addition to all the beautiful lake views, we caught sight of a marmot right on the side of the trail…and more snow.

We hit the road to Redwood National Park, traversing yet another S-curved, hairpin-turning road down the southern side of the mountain.

David had one of his best days of driving ever. Of our # miles, only 15 were on the interstate, leaving miles of mature woodland stretches, windy river valleys and twisting carved rock faces. Route 58 into Crater Lake, route 62 from Crater Lake, route 199 from Oregon into California, and finally 101 into Redwood.

We got our first glimpse of the California Pacific in Crescent City, complete with surfers.

Our campground was in the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, located in a deep canyon 2.5 miles down from 101 on a long and winding road. The setting was spectacular, nestled among old growth redwood stumps and mature new trees, dappled with sunlight, and alive with birdsong.

Sunday, July 9th, 2023

Starting mileage: 7429, Distance travelled: 369

Miles walked: 5.75

We woke up in the Comfort Inn to hot showers and a surprisingly yummy free buffet breakfast, including Belgian waffle-making for the kids. The room was decent and this was much better than our last same-day roadside hotel choice. We drove into Portland, over the Columbia River.

After parking, our first stop was Powell’s City of Books, the world’s largest independent bookstore. Everyone found something (or several somethings) to buy. We wandered Dow to the Willamette riverside park and found the Hamilton building.

Next we decided to try one of the quirky food offerings the city is known for and headed to Voodoo Donuts. We waited in a long line but they were very organized and it moved quickly. There were so many choices of plate-sized donuts but we decided on the Old Dirty Bastard, Memphis Mafia, Passion fruit cheesecake, Raised glazed, and Voodoo doll.

Next we headed to Pioneer, which frequently has public performances but was quiet when we visited. It’s still a lovely square.

We stopped at the Columbia store which we thought might be the flagship store because it was founded in Portland, but alas, it was just a regular store. David was finally able to score a new long sleeve shirt. We stopped at a Japanese import store, Muji, and got a few cool things including some coffee tea bags which has made AM coffee-making easier. Lunch was a well-reviewed Thai restaurant that started as a food truck that specializes in chicken and rice. David loved the sauce so much that he bought a jar to bring home. We hopped on the streetcar up to the Pearl District to get well-reviewed Salt & Straw ice cream in interesting, foo foo flavors like olive oil and lavender. Susan tried the Strawberry balsamic and black pepper, while Brady and Laura stuck to the more conservative Salted, Malted Cookie Dough and Chocolate Gooey Brownie and Double Fold Vanilla. It lived up to its reputation. We strolled the Pearl District and checked out the fun shops and did some people watching. One person even was walking a pet pig!

Our last stop in the city was the Breakside Brewery, where Brady and Laura ordered the largest pretzel we’ve ever seen. Laura also got to have her first Italian Soda.

We drove out of the city discussing the large homeless population we had seen throughout much of our day, including the progressive approach to managing it. We asked the children to consider the challenges faced with addiction and mental illness that we witnessed, and connected it to our own addiction to caffeine and Dad’s prior tobacco use.

We had a lovely, reasonably short drive from Portland to our campground. We saw our first covered bridge outside of New England.

We stayed in one of the best RV parks we’ve been in so far, Casey’s Riverside RV Resort. It was very well maintained, had a beautiful riverside setting, and awesome showers. After dinner, we started to walk around the campground along the wind river. It was beautiful, but as soon as we made it a few feet to the recreation pavilion the kids abandoned us to play ping-pong so David and Susan did the remainder of the loop by themselves.

Saturday, July 8th, 2023

Starting mileage: 7060, Distance travelled: 369

Miles hiked: 2 miles

We spent the morning agonizing over whether to take the shorter route to the super popular west side of Mount Rainier National Park where we might not get in at all and the slightly less-popular east side which meant much more driving but a better chance of actually seeing the mountain. We were also anxious about arriving before the visitors center closed and missing our chance to get our passport stamped and buy our national park stickers. We had quite a long drive from Forks, WA. On the way, we drove by Lake Crescent on the north side of Olympic National Park. It was amazingly clear and aquamarine.

After a very long day of driving, we reached a ridiculous twisty, turny drive with multiple hairpin turns up to the Sunrise visitor center, the highest point reachable by car at Mount Rainier National Park. The videos below give you a basic sense of the amazing views and adventure of driving up 3000 ft.

Videos

We arrived so late in the day that we were at risk of missing getting our cancellation stamp at the visitor center so we went straight there. There was a really great self-guided nature trail that took us about 2 miles around to get views of both Mount Rainier and the Cascades. We learned a bunch about the ecology of the area, especially how the flowers and trees survive the harsh subalpine environment.

The most striking thing was the number of different flowers in bloom simultaneously. We captured a few on camera.

In the last stretch of our trip today, we drove within about 20 miles of Mount St. Helens but didn’t visit. We did catch a distant glimpse of it, however.

We stayed at a Comfort Inn so we could finally get a decent shower and the kids got to play in the pool very late (10pm).

Friday, July 7th, 2023

Starting mileage: 6917, Distance travelled: 143

Miles hiked: 5.5

We woke up in the Hoh rainforest. On the way to the bathroom, David heard the morning conversation between momma elk and her calves, but never caught sight of one. We headed north on route 101 to Sol Duc Hot Springs to soak up some vitality-giving minerals. We arrived to find we were at the end of a timed soaking session so we got tickets for an hour later and headed for a quick 2-mile hike up to Sol Duc Falls. It was a beautiful 3-pronged falls nestled in the boundary between temperate rainforest and traditional forest.

We enjoyed a lovely soak in the odiferous hot springs, which David blamed on Brady. The pools came in three temperatures, 99, 102, and 107. The hottest was too warm to stay in for long. The kids and Susan bravely transitioned between the hot pools and the 74-degree freshwater pool which felt very chilly compared to the hot springs. Susan had seen people with towels earlier so we left ours in the van, only to  learn while we were dripping wet, that they cost $5 each to rent. Epic fail!

After lunch in the van, we drove out to Rialto Beach, one of the northern coastal regions of the park. We stopped briefly at Salmon Cascades along the Sol Duc River. Sadly, the salmon were not running but the River was beautiful. We hiked along the coast to Hole-in-the-Wall, a big rock you can walk through at low tide but it was submerged when we arrived just after high tide. We had to be watchful for Sneaker Waves, which could suddenly crash much higher on shore and pull you out to sea. The tide was coming in as we arrived so we were increasingly clambering over the enormous, tree-sized driftwood along the upper shoreline. We saw diving cormorants, flocks of swooping pelicans, and a few seal heads popping up. About halfway down, we came across a dead skate that had washed up on the shore. The day epitomized the diversity of ecosystems you can experience in Olympic National Park, beginning the day in a rainforest, hiking to forest waterfalls, soaking in a natural hot springs, and walking along the Pacific Ocean.

Before we drove away from the beach, we found an Olympic National Park sign at one of the many boundaries between park land and Indian reservation. We had been seeking a sign to get our picture for two days but there was never enough warning or parking available. This one was right on the beach and we were already parked!

Thursday, July 6th, 2023

Starting mileage: 6658, Distance travelled: 258

Miles hiked: 2.2

Our departure from Bellevue was bittersweet. We were so excited to see our next national park, but so sad that meant our whirlwind visit with Jesse and Ben had to end. Thanks so much to Jesse for the hospitality, providing laundry facilities, serving as tour guide, and running us around for errands. Thanks to Ben for endless entertainment for Brady and Laura and sharing his bedroom. It was a sad goodbye and all the kids wanted more time together to jump on the trampoline (playing dodgeball) and play demon.

We attempted heading north to Edmonds, only to find a 2-hour line for the ferry across to Kingston, the only way to head west. We decided to bail and head around the southern route back through Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia. The drive was not particularly interesting, but we did pass through Brady, Washington. Just before we got onto Route 101 we missed a turn and ended up going over hill and dale through rural Washington, which David loved.

After a 4-hour drive we arrived at the entry road to our campsite back in the Hoh River Rainforest. As the rangers had warned us, we had to sit on line, waiting for our turn to get in. There were signs posted estimating that it would take two hours to get in. Fortunately, it was late in the day and several cars were leaving and it took a little less than an hour. Our campsite was lovely, right on the Hoh River with elk grazing nearby. Brady was excited because it was the first campsite we had with trees, but sadly, none well-positioned for the hammock tent. We did see a momma elk nearby while we got dinner ready.

Once we got settled and ate dinner, we walked back over to the visitor center where the trailheads were. We walked the Hall of Mosses and Spruce Nature interpretive trails. The enormous trees and drooping moss were super cool. The trails were well curated with very informative placards about the rainforest ecosystem. We learned all about nurse logs and how they support new growth on the forest floor. Someone coming off the trail promised us baby elk viewing but some loud tourists scared them away ☹️

Wednesday, July 5th, 2023

Starting mileage: 6664, Distance travelled: 0, in the camper van

Miles walked: 3

Today we played the ultimate Seattle tourists, visiting both the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. Jesse and Ben have been amazing hosts, taking us to all the sites. We drove into the city, borrowing Jesse’s car so we didn’t have to navigate the urban highways in our giant camper van. Our first stop was the Space Needle, taking the elevator to the top level and walking on the revolving glass-floored lower level. There was even a giant Lego space needle in the gift shop.

We took the monorail from Seattle Center to the one stop it makes, down closer to the waterfront. We got Boba tea from a Taiwanese chain that makes boba fresh from scratch each day. Everyone agreed it was the best boba tea they’d ever had.

We walked down to Pike Place Market, where we were packed in like sardines, browsing the market stalls. A produce vendor offered us a slice of nectarine as we walked by and everyone agreed that it was the best so we sent David in to buy some and he came back with those along with some fresh lychees, a special childhood treat of his. One of the fish vendors was selling enormous cooked shrimp, so Susan grabbed a bunch with some cocktail sauce. We wandered down to the far end of the market to watch the fish mongers at Pike Place Fish Market. Jesse chatted up one of the fish tossers about Ben’s Zelda shirt which led to a series of fish tosses aimed at Hamilton kids. Check out the video.

By this time, everyone was getting hungry so we found a brewery (Old Stove Brewery) on the waterfront and grabbed some lunch. Susan had an IPA flight in the most adorable glasses ever. The food and beer were great. Jesse and David were amazed by the new waterfront development happening where the old elevated highway used to stand, including lots of outdoor public space overlooking Elliott Bay.

On the way back to the car, we stopped by the fountain near the Space Needle and watched kids running in and out of the powerful water jets synchronized to the playing music.

Driving back to Jesse’s, Laura came with Susan and David because she was losing steam. We missed a turn and ended up in an industrial district that sent us on a wild goose chase for the highway. We must have run over a nail or something because once we got back on track, the tire pressure warning came on shortly before we could feel the flat. We pulled off to the top of the exit ramp to find a completely flat front, passenger side tire. Thank goodness for AAA, because they had us back on the road with the donut from the trunk in about 30 minutes flat…no pun intended.

Once we got home and recovered, Jesse chauffeured us around to run errands: Home Depot for bins to accommodate our new trailer-hitch-free storage solution, REI to get David a day pack so he could share the load a bit more on our hiking excursions, and Whole Foods to re-stock our food supply before heading to our next park. One of David’s favorite moments in Seattle was discovering that the highest rated beer in America, Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing Company in California, was available 15 minutes from Jesse’s house. That was our first stop and we scored 6 bottles. Everyone agreed that it lived up to its reputation when we tried it later that night, including Jesse, who’s not a big beer drinker. We ended the evening with delicious, funky takeout including pork-duck burger and banana cream pie milkshakes.

Tuesday, July 4th, 2023

Starting mileage: 6139, Distance travelled: 525

We got on the road with breakfast from Starbucks by 7:15am. Before long, we were passing Flathead Lake in the Flathead Indian Reservation. We saw a fence made out of bicycles but didn’t get a picture. The second photo of farmland represents what to us seems crazy. This narrow two-way road through Montana farmland has a 70 mph speed limit, despite having no shoulder and winding all over the place.

Somewhere near Paradise, MT the road began following the Clark Fork River winding through the valley all the way down to the I-90 junction. It turned out to be the Paradise to St. Regis Scenic Byway, we found out when we reached a truck stop in St. Regis.

Shortly after 9am (after the time change), we crossed into Idaho. We drove through the 4th of July Pass, ON the 4th of July, and captured a shot of the largest American flag ever…at Camping World, home of the enormous American flags.

As we approached the western border of Idaho, we drove the Lake Coeur d’Alene Scenic Byway past the beautiful lake and surrounding hills. Sadly, Susan missed the Washington state sign because she was desperately trying to catch up on the blog posts while we had the recently rare 5G cell service.

After stopping at a very sketchy truck stop to eat lunch, we started seeing what looked like tornadoes off in the distant field, despite crystal clear skies. After some googling on “dustnado” we realized they were likely dust devils and weren’t going to take our camper off to Oz. They were hard to capture on film, but if you look in the distance you can see the vertical dust spirals.

We started noticing the state route number signs in the shape of George Washington’s head once we crossed the border. Then we were very excited to enter George, Washington. We snapped a photo for Gargy, in honor of Susan’s dad.

We stopped at a pullout before crossing the Columbia River and saw some beautiful views up and down the River.

Brady snoozed for the last stretch before we arrived at David’s brother’s house in Bellevue, just east of Seattle by about 4:30pm. We were pleased to see how quickly the kids settled in and got along with cousin Ben, who they hadn’t seen went for years. They bounced on the trampoline, staging scenarios to film in short video clips, and hilarity ensued. We all went for a walk, exploring Jesse’s beautiful neighborhood and surrounding green spaces and ended the evening watching fireworks from a hill in the nearby botanical garden.

Monday, July 3rd, 2023

Starting mileage: 6023, distance travelled: 116

Miles hiked: 8 (5 miles in Glacier and 3 miles to dinner and back)

Despite setting our alarm to get up and out early, we still didn’t get out of Waterton until nearly 7:45am, with coffee in hand. With an hour drive to get to Glacier’s front door, we missed the window to find parking basically anywhere on the Going to the Sun Road, except for a brief pullout along the hairiest part. Check out this video to get the real gist.

The road was about as wild as it gets and we had to remove our rear trailer hitch storage rack to meet the 21’ length limit. It was a challenge to get pictures because Susan was monitoring the passenger side mirror so it didn’t scrape the cliff edge while David tried not to get distracted by the amazing vistas and crash into oncoming traffic.

On the far eastern side we lucked out and found a pull-out with a steep bank “trail” down to the bluest creek you’ve ever seen. It was filled with potholes and smoothed out rocks in every shade.

We finally secured longer term parking at Lake McDonald Lodge where we ate sandwiches in the van before heading out for a 5-mile hike along the Horse Loop. The trail was littered with horse manure but ended at the spectacular Sacred Dancing Cascades on the McDonald Creek. We all came back with a thick coating of dust, which we realized was likely comprised of dehydrated horse manure. Yuck!

We completed the Going to the Sun Road by stopping at the Apgar Visitor Center and getting another cancellation in our National Park passport. Our campground was only another 25 miles west of the park in Whitefish, MT, which had a surprisingly touristy but cute downtown. We found a terrific brewpub, the Blackstar Brewery, serving Jeremiah Johnson beer with yummy queso, pizza and mini beignets. Everyone had a laugh at dad’s expense when, after spilling queso on his shirt, he licked it off, forgetting that he was coated in horse poop dust!

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023

Starting mileage: 5920, Distance travelled: 103

Miles hiked: 1.5

After yesterday’s very early start, we all slept in this morning, except Susan, who got up early to go into town to get coffee and make a reservation for the Going To the Sun Road for Monday. While she was out and about, she caught a few photos of the Waterton Park sites. We made a bus tour for 1:30pm to get us into Glacier without a road reservation today.

We got on the road for the 1-hour drive by 11:30. Just after crossing through customs back into Montana, David’s quick reflexes saved us when suddenly a giant moose darted across the road directly in front of the van. Sadly, Susan’s reflexes were not quick enough to snap a photo, but everyone saw the young male moose dart into the woods after crossing the road. At St. Mary Lodge we boarded a Red Jammer, a traditional, refurbished 1937 open top bus. Richard, our over-sharing bus driver, took us on a 3-hour tour from the St. Mary entrance, along the Going to the Sun Road up to Logan Pass, the most popular visitor center, located in the center of the park. The views were spectacular, including the color of the lake and streams.

We returned to our Canadian campsite tired and hungry, made a quick dinner, then walked into town for ice cream and a few groceries. Although it is bright light until very late, David and Susan (and possibly Brady) did catch the sunset and nearly full moon after 10pm.

July 1st, 2023

Starting mileage: 5442, Distance travelled: 478

Miles hikes: .8

Got up at 5am to hit the road by 6:15 to exit Yellowstone before all the bison-gawkers clogged up the roads. Crossing over the northern park roads was dramatic and harrowing. We climbed way up into the mountains, winding through S-curved roads, with spectacular cliffs on either side. The equally serpentine way down offered incredible views of pristine valleys below. Susan was holding on tight while David was wishing he was in a zippy sports car instead of a clunky camper. The kids snoozed in the back while we drove, getting in nearly 250 miles before lunchtime. David and Susan saw a deer in the road and our only bear in Yellowstone while the kids were snoozing.

Stopped briefly to get a look at Mammoth Hot Springs and then to take a picture at the iconic Roosevelt Arch. We missed crossing over into Montana just before exiting the park.

We stopped in Helena and had lunch at a local diner, where Susan tried the Montana signature sandwich, the porkie, a fried pork chop. The kids also enjoyed the homemade pie of the day, Strawberry Banana Cream. Susan and David enjoyed having cell service for the first time in three days (thus, the major delay in posting). Back on the road we passed fields of yellow that we learned are a variety of mustard used to make canola oil. Lots of open fields with cattle and stunning mountains on the horizon. The cross winds in northern Montana nearly took the van off the road several times. David struggled to maintain the 80 mph speed limit on the extremely narrow roads with such high winds.

After surviving some harrowing summer-only roads, where we saw a trailer in front of us almost bounce himself off the road on a frost heave, we arrived safely at Watertown Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. We had an awesome campsite in a spectacular setting and enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the small, touristy town. Unlike other towns, all trash cans were bear lockers and deer wandered the streets like stray dogs…pretty surreal.