Saturday June 11 - home 😊
2 months, over 15,000 miles, 14 states, tons of adventures. It’s nice to be home.
Friday June 10 - back to Canada 🇨🇦
got an early start. Anxious to get home now. after an excruciating weight at the border, they let us in. We got a great campsite right on the lake at Clear Lake for the evening.
Thursday June 9 - Mayo Clinic
After breakfast we joined Joanne and Sumi on a walk. This was a paved path that Joanne quite often cycles on. We met up with Doug around noon. He took us on a short tour of the mayo clinic. What an impressive complex with amazing comfortable sitting areas, marble floors and walls, and dedications to...
Wednesday June 8 - Moseley’s
We had an uneventful drive through the rest of South Dakota and on into Minnesota. We arrived at the Moseley’s around 4 PM. After we parked the airstream in the driveway we caught a tour of Doug and Joanne‘s gorgeous new home. Doug and joanne had organized a hike to inspiration point at Whitewater S...
Tuesday June 7 - Badlands
We started on our drive through Badlands National Park. The formations are amazing and we couldn’t stop taking pictures every time we turned the corner. We saw 4 mountain goats lounging, 2 pronghorns, another goat descending the mountain, lots of very loud prairie dogs and one bison. We found a se...
Monday June 6 - Custer State Park
We started off our day with a drive thru the Wildlife Loop, Custer state park no bison were to be seen. We saw lots of prairie dogs, a few pronghorn, a wild turkey and burrows. The Rangers had to chase the burrows as they had grouped in the bison corral. Once they’ve been chased across the road, num...
Sunday June 5 - Devil’s Tower
Montana is a huge state. The eastern side has been lots of green rolling hills with exposed rocks and numerous buttes. We are now in the bottom of an ancient inland sea. We finally made it to Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. After coming within two or three hours of Devils Tower on the last couple of previo...
Saturday June 4 - driving through Montana
Rain again. We got off to an early start and were soon in Idaho with its gorgeous mountains and forests. Through Lookout Pass and into Montana where we drive through green forests with a rushing creek right beside us. The forests gave way to green rolling hills on the north side. Stopped for the...
Friday June 3 - heading home 😊
Heading home. Our drive-through the Snoqualmie pass on Highway 90 was a piece a cake. Once we got through the huge Craggley mountains of the North Cascades, the rolling hills were mostly brown with short grass growth and some scrub. We are staying at Walters’ Fruit Ranch, another Harvest Host. We...
Thursday June 2 - Leavenworth
We heard about this town which was reminiscent of Bavarian Alps town and we decided to visit. The drive to Leavenworth was spectacular with many rivers running along beside us and huge craggily and some snow topped mountains. Leavenworth itself is right in the valley with the mountains surrounding i...
Wednesday June 1 - Pike’s Place Market
we headed north to Lake Pleasant RV Park. This will be our home for two nights before we had back home. We quickly checked in, set up, and headed to downtown Seattle. The pikes place market is huge. Over 50 vendors plus all the streets surrounding the market are restaurants and stores. We purchased...
Tuesday May 31 - Snoqualmie Falls
What a great day. We got to wear shorts, short sleeves and no jackets. We also got to sit around our solo stove this evening. Two pieces of wood lasted us for over two hours. Great purchase. After a quick visit to the airstream dealership to get some tips on how to fix the leak in our window, we dro...
Monday May 29 - driving day
Goodbye Olympic National Park. We have enjoyed our adventures here and are on our way to Seattle. We made it to Dash Point State Park at the bottom end of Puget sound in Tacoma. While we are in a very wooded area, it is only about 5 miles west of us that you have an extremely busy port with at least...
Sunday May 28 - Makah Indian Reservation
Our last adventure was a drive to the Makah Indian reservation. We visited Cape Flattery which is the northwestern most point on the continental US. Our hike to Shi Shi beach was Terribly muddy, wet, and long. The hike itself was through some beautiful old growth forest and led to a beach with cou...
Saturday May 28 - Hoh Rainforest
We left early for our visit to the Hoh rainforest. We did the hall of mosses and the spruce nature trails. This old growth rain forest offered huge trees that could be up to 1000 years old. Diameters possibly up to 14 feet and heights of 200 feet or more. I love the moss that was growing on the tre...
Friday May 27 - Rialto Beach
We left this morning for Forks, our home for the next 3 nights. We stopped in Sequim for an oil change and groceries and then we’re on our way. Our host recommended Rialto Beach. Lots of angry waves were crashing on shore here. The beaches mostly small stones. We saw some seastacks in the distance a...
Thursday May 26 - Busy day
We had a lot of activities planned for today. Our first was a hike of the staircase. The hike was through a forest with some old growth trees. Big cedar was 14 feet in diameter but had fallen some years ago. The staircase refers to the number of different steps of rapids in the river. Our second s...
Wednesday May 25 - Lake Crescent
A sunny day is promised so we jump at the opportunity to kayak at Lake Crescent. We unloaded our kayaks and prepared to put in at the very Windy south part of the lake. We saw a Ranger and asked him where the devils punchbowl was and he very politely told us that it might make more sense for us to...
Tuesday May 24 - Hurricane Ridge
We drove two hours to Hurricane Ridge section of Olympic National Park. After gaining 5200 feet of elevation over 17 miles, we were disappointed to find out that there was over 8 feet of snow at the parking lot. Most of the trails were closed, but the view from the parking lot was stunning… A long...
Monday May 23 - Dosewallips State Park
Off to Olympic national park. We arrived at Dosewallips State park afternoon. We wandered down to the wilderness observation area and we were thrilled to see herd of Roosevelt elk. From the observation that we also saw a coyote and couple of bald eagles. We befriended Andrew and Heather who were of...
Sunday May 22 - Lewis and Clark
We spent the morning exploring the Lewis and Clark interpretive centre at Fort Clatsop. Their journey started in mid 1804 and finished in 1806. The goal was to find a water transportation route following the Missouri river to the west coast to open trade between east and west. They encountered nume...
Saturday May 21 - Cannon Beach
We drove down to Cannon Beach for tide pooling which is best at low tide. We were able to see starfish, small crabs, anemone, krill in the many tide pools surrounding Haystack Rock. There were many people on the beach, quite a change from what we’ve seen further south. After lunch we did the elk fla...
Friday May 20 - Washington
We boarded the rib [rapidly inflatable boat. One of only nine made and it was a Marine Corps special forces boat.] for our whale watching tour. We saw three mom and baby seal families in the harbor. Out on the ocean we saw stellar sea lions and numerous seabirds but unfortunately no whales. We did l...
Thursday May 19 - Depoe Bay
Our whale watching trip for this morning was cancelled due to inclement weather. We continued on our plan to visit Depoe Bay. Had a nice time browsing the small shops and checking out the smallest harbour in the world. We drove down the coast looking for gray whales. No luck. Hopefully a better day...
Wednesday May 18 - Tillamook
There are 3 birds in this pic….can you find them? More rain in the forecast so we decided to take a drive up to Tillamook. On the way we found the 3 Capes scenic Drive. More views of the ocean, forests and at least 100 herons and egrets in a tidal flat. We stopped at the blue heron French cheese c...
Tuesday May 17 - Lincoln City
On our way up the coast we stopped at seal rock… I thought there would be seals. Turns out there was a rock in the shape of a seal. I finally did get to see my circles in the sand and saw the woman creating them. Very cool. We got a photo just as the tide was coming in to wash away her beautiful w...
Monday May 16 - Cape Perpetua
We set our sights on Cape Perpetua. The planned hike was 6 km round trip. Very nice hike through a beautiful forest with some lookouts at the coast. It started to drizzle as we got to the top and the temps dropped. We did the additional loop at the top allowing us to see both north and south coasts....
Sunday May 15 - Sweet Creek Falls
We headed up the coast. Our first stop was at the Dean Creek elk viewing area. We saw a herd of the Roosevelt elk in a distance, feeding and resting. Further up the coast we decided to spend a couple of nights at Carl G Washburn State Park. We are actually camping in a rain forest - all around us...
Thursday May 12 - Coos Bay
We packed up this morning and left Harris Bay Beach for Coos Bay. Along the way we had many beautiful views of the ocean. Oregon does not allow development on the ocean so there are lots of opportunities to stop at particularly beautiful spots. Port Orford offered the Crazy Norwegian. Renowned for t...
Friday May 13 - Bandon
We drove down to Bandon for the day. The seastacks here were plentiful and we were looking for the Circles in the Sand exhibit. This exhibit is a maze that is created by eight people at low tide but is totally wiped out at high tide. They only prepare this exhibit on select days during the summer an...
Saturday May 14 - Whiskey Run MBT
We drove down the Cape Arago Highway to Simpson Reef. As soon as we got there we could hear the seals/sea lions. We also saw a couple of raptors. As we drove back to our camp we stopped in at Shore Acres State Park. The oceanfront area here was totally different. You could see how the plates were pu...
Wednesday May 11 - Coos Bay
Today was a driving day north from Brookings to Coos Bay. Along the way we stopped at Port Orford for lunch at the Crazy Norwegian fish and chips. We savoured clam chowder, fish and chips and we each had a wonderful piece of pie - marionberry and coconut cream. Karen stopped at a store for some Myrt...
Tuesday May 10 - China Beach hike
We headed to a very secluded China Beach. After losing our way a couple of times on the Oregon coast trail, we eventually made it to a steep downhill path, which led to a beach that was completely unhahabited except by us. We hiked most of the beach, saw a few tide pools and lots of sea stacks. With...
Monday May 9 - Whaleshead and Secret Beach
We wanted to explore the Samuel H Boardman Corredor. First we drove to the Whaleshead beach viewpoint for a hike towards Indian head. The day was a bit brisk and rainy. After a short uphill hike on a very narrow trail we made it to the upper parking lot, then headed into the main part of the trail....
Sunday May 8 - Harris Beach SP
We had to go through the coastal mountains to get to the coast. This is a scenic drive….meaning lots of ups and downs and windy roads…..more difficult with a trailer. Our route started with a climb up and then there was snow all around us on the mountains including on our windshield. Once we got thr...
Saturday May 7 - Whiskeytown Lake
What a beautiful day. Our first stop this morning was the farmers market. Amazing to have fresh cherries just picked yesterday. They were so good! Sunny blue skies, great day for a kayak. We decided to go to Whiskeytown lake. The pictures had tons of little bays which would be great for meandering i...
Friday May 6 - Lassen NP
The north entrance allowed us to Peru’s Lassen NP is an active volcano. Unfortunately 68% of the forest surrounding this park was burnt last year in the Dixie fire. Significant logging is taking place where they are taking down the trees and harvesting them for wood. Amazing that the fires have only...
Thursday May 5 - Redding
We packed up early this morning. Looking for warmer temps and less rain we headed south to California. What a beautiful drive as we headed south through the valley with mountains on both sides.
Wednesday May 4 - Crater Lake
Our drive to Crater Lake was beautiful. Everything was so green, the North Umpqua River was beside us for half the trip. Kevin oohed and aahed over the rapids the whole drive. We did see many clear cut areas and a number of burnt areas from the wildfires over the past few years. It is amazing that s...
Tuesday May 3 - Cottage Grove
Oregon is home to many covered bridges. Cottage Grove has 7 of them. We pumped up the tires on the mountain bikes and went hunting. We really enjoyed the ride along the lake to the Dorena bridge. Beautiful views and the dedicated path made the ride very enjoyable.
Monday May 2
We decided to explore a mountain pass running along the south Umpqua River. Very scenic although lots of clear cutting in this area. When we got to the end of the paved road we followed the directions for the Umpqua wine route. Hmmm, this was unpaved, single lane and kept going higher and higher up...
Sunday May 1
We left the Gorge and headed down the Willamette Valley which is between the coastal and cascade mountains. Very very lush and green. Lots of hazelnut trees and wineries in this area. The closer we got to Roseburg our destination, the closer the mountains were, the narrower the valley became.
Saturday April 30
It rained all night and well into the morning. We decided to hunt down the Blue Star donuts. A bit of incorrect GPS programming took us to the Portland airport where we realized we would have to go into the airport to get the donuts. We quickly programmed another route. Blue Star donuts lived up to...
Friday April 29 - Angel’s Rest
Back to hiking. The hike to Angel’s Rest was recommended by Michael. It was challenging due to the elevation gain with many switchbacks till we got to the top of the cliff. The view of the gorge was 360 and spectacular. We were treated to a rainbow after it stopped raining. In his quest to see every...
Thursday April 28
This is a rest day for Karen. She has done enough hiking. Kevin couldn’t resist the stop at Multnomah Falls. These waterfalls are seen from the road and are absolutely spectacular. We spent the day running some errands and I got to see the beautiful fabrics at the Quilt Loft in Troutdale. We headed...
Wednesday April 27
We spent the morning being overwhelmed by the 40 acres of tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip farm.. The colours were spectacular and there were many different types of tulips to be seen. after lunch in Silverton and since we were in the area we decided to check out the Trail of 10 Falls at Silver Falls...
Tuesday April 26
We did it. We have now been to all 50 states. Our last state was Washington and today we chose to hike the little Maui Trail to Coyote Wall. There were lots of different wildflowers to see and we had a peregrine falcon soar within 20 feet of us. The views of the Columbia River Gorge were spectacular...
Monday April 25
The forecast was for rain today so we opted to spend the day in Portland. We did a little bit of shopping and stopped for ice cream at Salt and Straw. My ice cream was called coffee brew cashew praline and Kevin had strawberry balsamic vinegar and black pepper. Crazy combinations but they worked. 5...
Sunday April 24
We left Bend Oregon today and headed to the Columbia River Gorge. Our scenic drive took us past many snow capped mountains, the largest being Mount Hood. We found a great campsite at Ainsworth state park, our home for the next five days. After setting up the trailer we decided to explore the trail f...
Saturday April 23
We decided to explore Smith Rock State Park, known for its climbing opportunities. We chose the Misery Ridge and River Trail which started with a number of switchbacks as we gained 240 m in less than a kilometer. The rock formations were varied in both texture and colour. Our hike offered so many...
Friday April 22
We drove to Benham Falls which was created when two lava fields came together and disrupted the flow of the Deschutes river. We walked past about a kilometre of calm water and then the falls just continued to get more and more powerful and spectacular. We overstayed our time here as we got hailed...
Thursday April 21
We explored Tumalo State Park. It was snowing when we arrived and we spent some time debating whether we should do the hike or not. The trail was really just a gravel road the whole way but has some snowy patches. There was a very beautiful waterfall that you could see from both the top and botto...
Wednesday April 20
Drove to Bend. Got settled at Scandia RV Park right in the town. Very beautiful town with lots of trees and glimpses of the snow topped mountains- Batchelor, Broken Top, Sisters and Jefferson
Tuesday April 19
Today we explored the Oregon high Desert discovery scenic byway. We had just started on our trip when we finally found the sandhill cranes. Not much of a migration since we only found 4 cranes but they are huge. This is definitely the Wild West, so much of it is uninhabited. The huge ranches filled...
Monday April 18
We arrived in Burns, Oregon early afternoon. After a quick lunch we were on the lookout for the sandhill cranes at Lake Malheur. This is a very shallow lake towards the end of the migration flyway; unfortunately for us, it was completely dry when we arrived and there were no birds present. We were a...
Sunday April 17
Weather was good and the driving was pretty easy as we headed west on I 80 towards the Bonneville Salt Flats. We did a short walk at the rest area, then found out that we could drive to the actual area where the land speed records have been set. Very cool, the airstream loved it.
Saturday April 16
We decided to hike Bells Canyon to the lower waterfalls. Our favourite hike ever was through the Cascade Canyon in the Tetons and we hoped this might be similar. Walking in the canyon with mountains on both sides is certainly beautiful but this was a tough hike. 500 m of elevation in 5 km. The path...
Friday April 15
We decided to explore Antelope Island today. The island is accessed by driving along causeway across Great Salt Lake. We saw many migrating birds and some herds of bison including many newborn calves. We hiked the Fraya Trail which allowed us to get high enough to see the other side of the island an...
Thursday April 14
We left early today hoping to beat the predicted snow and wind. It looked dicey until we passed Elk Mountain and it was an uneventful drive into Salt Lake City. Our home for the next 3 nights - time to chill after the long drive.
Wednesday April 13
We woke up this morning to frost on the windows of the trailer and temps of 40 F INSIDE. Minus 10 C outside. Guess I should have turned on the furnace last night. The wind continues. Didn’t realize how much we climbed yesterday. We’re at 6800 ft. We got pushed off I80 at Laramie when they closed...
Tuesday April 12
Very very windy driving day. We hunted sandhill cranes along the N Platte River but were unsuccessful. We did see a number of them at a pond while driving along Hwy 80. We enjoyed some good pub grub at Pal’s, our third Harvest Host stop.
Monday April 11
Left around 7:25 am. Many more truckers on the road. We are in the prairies - very flat. Obsolete painted/decorated satellite dishes decorated the fenceposts of one field. We stayed overnight at Scatter Joy farm, a neat little oasis in the middle of Omaha. We had the opportunity to go inside the cag...
Sunday April 10
Left at 6:40 am. Decided to go through Port Huron. Had to give up our oranges 😕. Stopped at Indiana Dunes National Seashore and did a short walk on the beach. Arrived at our first Harvest Host - Skydive Chicago around 4:30. Unfortunately it was so windy there was no skydiving to watch and tempt us...
Saturday April 9
Hooked up our trailer and got away around 12:30. Our first stop was Bothwell to visit Kevin’s dad and Elaine. Dad is doing well. We did a 2 mi walk together.