Month: September 2013

I spent the entire weekend doing yard work, running errands, and doing more yard work. Hard to get caught up on everything!

We left Ocean Shores (layover spot) early on the morning of Thursday, September 5. We were all anxious to get to Olympic National Park.

But first, I wanted to visit the beach. Unfortunately, reaching the sand would have required bushwhacking through that dense brush seen in the photo below.

That’s why the desk clerk looked at me as if I had two heads when I asked her the previous night if I could get to the beach.

She said, “It’s really dark. And you need to follow our beach path.” But I could tell she really wanted to say, “That’s a stupid idea.” I thought to myself, “Don’t Washingtonians like to walk on the beach at night?” I was forgetting that the Pacific Coast, at least in the Northwest, is MUCH wilder than the Atlantic Coast.

As Annelies and I discovered that morning, there was a path, but it wasn’t wide at all. And did require a bunch of ducking and stooping. We reached a little knoll after about 100 yards, saw how far we still had to go, and decided to turn around.

We really were looking forward to seeing Olympic National Park, too. So off we went.

For a change, we let the guys do the driving. Annelies and I rode in the backseat. I was navigating with my Google Maps app and couldn’t resist capturing a screen shot when I saw we were on Kirkpatrick Road.

It only took about an hour and a half to reach Lake Quinault from Ocean Shores.

 

 

 

 

We were undeterred by the rain. I mean, we were about to hike into the Quinault Rainforest, one of only three temperate rainforests in the Western hemisphere. And Annelies and I, being the excellent travel planners, had made sure everyone brought rain gear.

We’d only gone mere steps from the parking lot at the ranger station when we saw this…

 

Wow, right?

I took a ton of pictures during our hike, but am only going to share a choice few here.

 

 

I couldn’t help but think of Robert Frost as soon as I saw that image, which I’m glad I captured. It’s one of my favorites from the trip.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth…

 

I did tell y’all we laugh a lot when we are together, right? We really do. We have the guys trained to ham it up for the cameras, too.

We were all completely awed and amazed by the rain forest.

 

 

I look like such a dork with my crooked glasses. They’re newish, but have been stepped on and need to be replaced.

 

 

 

I’ll share more rain forest images on Flickr one day.

After we emerged from the rain forest trail, we ate lunch at the lodge. The next photo is another one of my favorites from the trip.

I’d like to be on one of those chairs right now.

We stopped to visit this tree, which is near the lodge, then were on our way to Kalaloch (pronounced like “clay-lock”) Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We probably spent a good hour or more exploring. I love beaches! Although there was still one left to see nearby (Ruby Beach), the sun was setting, and we still had about a 2.5-hour drive to get to Sequim.

We actually got to Sequim just as the sun was setting. We were all so bushed, we opted to order pizza for dinner.

Yet another awesome rental property.

More on Olympic National Park in Installment 7…

 

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TRIP Re-cap

 

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 4: Beyond Portland (afternoon of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 5: Olympic Peninsula, Here We Come!

 

Even if Portland wasn’t our favorite destination during this vacation, as you saw in the last few installments (see list at bottom of this post to go back), we still had a good time.

One thing we do a whole lot of when traveling with Annelies and Yves is laugh. We really have fun together. So even a bad day is a good day. Know what I’m saying? And so-so days are grand.

Anyway… I was very excited on the morning of September 4 because I knew we were headed for the coast. I LOVE the Oregon coast. Love, love, love it!

Our first stop of the day, though, was a place our Victorian’s owner told us about… the International Rose Test Garden. He emphasized that it was a great place to get a view of Mount Hood. It was sort of on our way anyway, and there was no admission fee, so we decided to stop for a visit.

 

Unfortunately, as you’ll see in the image shown below, the cloud cover and/or fog was too thick to see the mountain.

We did see lots of gorgeous roses, though. I took quite a few pictures. Sadly, I had a blonde moment in the car and deleted about two-thirds of the images I captured there.

 

That’s why you only see pink roses here. Oh well…

Sure I was upset, but we were headed for the Oregon coast. The loss of images was completely offset by my joy knowing we’d be at the coast soon.

Our first order of business was to find a spot for lunch, which we did, just south of Cannon Beach along US 101.

We were all starving, but visited the beach first.

 

 

 

 

 

After a lovely bread, cheese, fruit, and wine picnic, we headed back north to see Cannon Beach.

Cannon Beach is a cute beach town, but I remember it best for Haystack Rock, a sea stack that rises 235 feet out of the sand and the sea at the low tide line. Haystack Rock and the area around it are abundant with sea life in tide pools, which I also love.

Sea stacks are geological land forms consisting of a steep, often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, isolated by erosion. Stacks are formed by time, wind, and water, which separate the stack from the headland.

That’s not a great picture, since I was shooting through fog into the sun, but it gives you a better idea of the scale of Haystack Rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could spend DAYS exploring beaches, but we had places to go. We still had to get to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Our destination for the night was Ocean Shores, Washington. Just a stopover, really.

Speaking of stopovers… I had to pose for a photo op here after seeing Warrenton, Oregon on the map (I live in Warrenton, VA).

After a very quick stop, we continued north. We crossed the Columbia River on a steel truss bridge that spans the river between Astoria, Oregon and Point Ellice near Megler, Washington. I didn’t know at the time that the bridge, which is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) long, was the last-completed segment of US-101 between Olympia, Washington, and Los Angeles, California, and is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

We were going to stop for pics of the bridge, but couldn’t find a convenient place. Knowing we still had a ways to go, we continued on our way.

We made one brief, but important stop in Long Beach, Washington for this photo op…

…after Annelies told me she’d never seen or been photographed with anything labeled “world’s biggest.”

With another 2.5 hours of drive time between Long Beach and Ocean Shores, we didn’t reach our destination until after dark. So that’s the end of the images from September 4.

The next installment will introduce you to the amazing sights we saw in Olympic National Park. Y’all come back now, y’hear?

 

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TRIP Re-cap

 

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 4: Beyond Portland (afternoon of Tuesday, Sept 3)

 

Continued from Pacific Northwest – Installment 3…

After lunch, we skedaddled out of the city and headed east into the Columbia River Gorge (CRG) National Scenic Area. According to the Forest Service’s CRG web site…

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area encompasses 292,500 acres, running from the mouth of the Sandy River to the mouth of the Deschutes and spanning southern Washington and northern Oregon. The Gorge is unique in its natural and cultural history, as well as its designation as a National Scenic Area.

That’s a pretty big area. We could easily spend a week exploring it all. We didn’t have that much time, of course. But Annelies and I both new we just HAD to see Multnomah Falls. The falls are 620 feet high, which makes it the highest waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge.

The image posted above was take from the base. This place is pretty close to the road, which makes it very easy to get to and VERY popular. Even off-season, there are lots of people.

We did walk up to the bridge you see in the first shot to get a closer look at the upper falls…

… and the gorge.

The lighting was better on the bridge, so we got a few good people shots, too.

 

Yves loves reading informational signs.

After coming down from the falls trail, we walked under the nearby Union Pacific train track. I’m glad no train passed while we were that close to the tracks. That would have been LOUD!

Once we’d seen enough of the falls and gotten our fill of people-watching, we headed back toward Portland. There were a couple of stops planned from there. The first was the Vista House scenic overlook.

 

 

 

 

The second planned stop, still a bit further west, was the Portland Women’s Forum Stace Scenic Viewpoint. (If you must know about the odd name of that place, CLICK HERE.)

While there, we had time for a group shot. To get the lighting right, we had to sit facing the sun (sort of), which is why we all look squinty.

From there, we went to Costco. We really know how to show people a good time!

I wanted to see if they sold Blue Crab meat. They didn’t. But we did buy some thick NY Strip steaks for dinner. And Annelies bought a new suitcase. Yves wanted to buy a new car. But we talked him out of it.

Then we went to a regular grocery store before heading back to the house where Yves cooked us dinner.

That ended our last full day in Portland…

Next up, visiting the Oregon Coast!

🙂

 

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TRIP Re-cap

 

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

 

Our second full day of vacation started out wet. We were in Portland, after all, so the rain and overcast skies didn’t surprise me. It made for some dramatic wet-flower pics (did you miss yesterday’s post?). It also gave us an excuse to take our time waking up and preparing for our day.

The plan was to spend the entire day exploring the city. We thought it best to wait until after rush hour before heading downtown, anyway.

We made it into the city and found parking without a hitch, thanks to Annelies and her guidebooks. Then we went for a stroll.

I did enjoy the sites in the city. That bookworm shot, seen in the window of a bookstore, is one of my favorite captures from that day. It makes me smile.

One of the first oddities we encountered was a parking lot rimmed with food trucks aka food carts. I guess if I’d read-up on Portland before venturing into the city I would have known these were one of Portland’s calling cards, so to speak. According to a web site focused on the food carts, there are “500 food carts available at any given time.”

None of us were feeling particularly adventurous. When I think of food trucks/carts, I think of Baltimore hot dog vendors serving what Shannon always referred to as “dirty water dogs.”

Mobile trailers in a city can’t be very clean, can they? I have to say, there was an astonishing variety of foods available.

The second oddity we noticed was the sheer number of homeless folks. Wow. From young to old, sane to insane, dirty to clean. It was amazing. And depressing.

Since none of us really enjoyed the city, rather than give you a step-by-step description of what we did/saw, I figured I’d just share images of stuff that caught my eye. Some of it is a bit odd, I know, but that’s the stuff that catches my eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite building in Portland was this nine-story structure at or near the Oregon Historical Society. The western face featured a trompe l’oeil mural depicting the Lewis and Clark expedition. To learn more about the mural, and see before and after images of the building, CLICK HERE.

 

 

I’m embarrassed to admit that we missed an entire mural on another side of the building!

 

While at the Oregon Historical Society, Yves, Mike, and I were sitting on a bench, resting. I noticed our reflection in a window. Behind the window was what appeared to be the museum’s gift shop.

Y’all know how much reflections intrigue me, right? Since I had nothing better to do, I started taking pictures. Just about the time Annelies sat down with us, I noticed an elderly woman inside the gift shop. She was looking at me, probably wondering why on Earth I was taking pictures of her shopping!

Of all the images I captured, that one is my favorite. I know it’s weird and maybe even creepy-looking, but I think it’s cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next picture shows me in front of the Great Harvest Bread Co. store in Portland. Y’all also know I LOVE the Great Harvest Bread Co. store in Old Town Warrenton (my hometown), right? I distinctly remember walking down the street and SMELLING home. For real. When I looked up and saw the store window, I had to laugh. How weird to recognize a place by its smell. It wasn’t the first bakery we’d passed either. Apparently, Great Harvest has a distinct smell. Who knew?

 

 

 

 

After a truly delectable lunch at Mother’s Bistro & Bar (thank you, Yelp!), we decided to exit the city in favor of some more-natural sort of stuff.

I’ll save that for the next trip installment. For now, here’s a sunset shot captured from the back deck of that Portland Victorian.

Maybe once Shannon moves to Portland, we will re-visit the city…

 

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TRIP Re-cap

 

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

I was really bad and didn’t so a single blog post while on vacation. Not because I didn’t want to. It’s just that long days and limited Internet accessibility made it challenging. I chose to use the down time we had in the evenings relaxing and enjoying the company of my traveling companions. Now that we’re home, I’ll be playing catch-up.

So, from the beginning…

Hubby and I have two very special friends, Annelies Van Damme and Yves Carlier, who we only get to see once a year. Why only once? Because they live in Belgium. Several years ago, 2009, to be exact, we started the tradition of alternating continents for annual visits. That year, they visited us at our old house in Maryland.

In 2010, Hubby and I traveled to Europe. Hubby and I did a motorcycle tour of Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, then spent some time with Annelies and Yves touring in Belgium and Luxembourg.

In 2011, they traveled to the US and we spent two weeks touring Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Last year (2012), Hubby and I did a motorcycle tour of the Alps in Italy and Switzerland, then spent just over a week with Annelies and Yves touring Northern Italy, with a brief stop in Switzerland to visit our mutual friends Tammi and Martin near Lausanne, Switzerland.

This year, our friends traveled to the US for a tour of the Pacific Northwest. They stopped in Virginia, first, to see our new hometown, and then together we flew west to see Washington, Oregon, and a small piece of British Columbia (Vancouver Island).

We would have liked to see more, but, it terms of scale, the states in the Pacific Northwest are HUGE when compared to similar land area in the Northeast US and Europe. Shile it may sound like we didn’t see much, trust me when I say we covered a LOT of ground.

There’s no way I can cover the entire vacation in one post, so I’ll be doing a series of posts as a re-cap. Beginning here…

Annelies and Yves arrived in Virginia during the late afternoon on Friday, August 30. I was beyond excited to see them. Mike was, too.

Shortly after they arrived, we were off to El Toro, our favorite local Mexican restaurant.

Serving sizes in the US are far larger than in Europe. Both were stunned at the size of the “small” Sangria Margaritas, which Annelies was not able to finish.

The meal was delicious, as usual.

It was an early night since they had spent the whole day traveling. Not to mention the fact that 9:00 PM in Virginia is equivalent to 3:00 AM in Belgium.

On Saturday morning, I took the girls up to Baltimore (my mother-in-law dog sat for us) while Hubby took our friends to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center, a companion facility to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. While in Baltimore, my Dad hooked me up with a couple dozen Maryland steamed crabs. So we got to introduce the Belgians to a Maryland summer tradition… crabs, beer, and corn-on-the-cob.

We had been planning to serve crabs for a while. But plans had changed several times. In the end, we were glad to be able to introduce these two seafood lovers to this new-to-them treat.

Yves sampled the seasoning while Hubby explained how to open the crabs.

They both learned very quickly and, before long at all, we got down to the business of eating and thoroughly enjoying our crabs.

We had planned to walk around town on Sunday, but it was in the 90s and extremely humid. So we just hung out inside until it was time to head for the airport.

We arrived in Seattle just before sunset, picked up our rental car, and headed south to Buckley, Washington. After checking in, we walked to the nearby Mariachi Alegre restaurant for some more delicious Mexican food.

The next morning (Monday, September 2) we headed off to Oregon by way of Mount Rainier National Park. The weather looked very promising.

 

 

Our first stop in the national park was the Grove of the Patriarchs, where we walked through a forest of old growth trees, across a suspension bridge onto an island in the middle of the Ohanapecosh River that houses a grove of giant trees. Many of the trees are more than 25 ft (7.6 m) in circumference with at least one that’s close to 50 ft (15 m) around. Some of the trees are around 1,000 years old.

 

 

 

 

While there, we captured one of many silly group photos.

 

Then we made our way deeper into the park for a stop at the Paradise Visitor’s Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After stopping at the Paradise Visitor Center, we continued on to Portland. We stopped for one last look at the mountain.

It was a LONG day. While to route didn’t seem too intimidating on the map, that was the day we learned that drives through the Washington back country can seem VERY long. The roads were paved, but extremely curevy and rough. And all we could see in the way of scenery for hours on end was trees.

We crossed the Columbia River into Oregon not long before sunset. Because we were all exhausted, completely tired of being in the car, and anxious to reach our destination, we headed west without stopping. We did make a brief stop at the Cascade Hatchery…

… then continued into Portland.

It was dark by the time we reached our rental house. We did go out for dinner, but didn’t take any pictures of our lackluster, sports bar meal.

Thus, this post ends at the conclusion of our first full day in the Pacific Northwest.

More to come later. I have to get to work. Sigh…