Category: Uncategorized
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More Sailing. Plus, Canada!
After my disastrous effort at sailing in Puget Sound, you might think I was crazy to get back out on the water again. Maybe I am. But when we rolled through Anacortes, Washington, stopping at Penguin Coffee to do some research, I found Anacortes Kayak Tours. We’d talked about doing something like this for our…
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Hot and Humid Seattle
We were driving through Hoquaim on our way to a coffee shop in Aberdeen when I saw it: a big sign with a giant “Y.” Is that a YMCA? I asked. Pull in, Michael said. And it was! A really nice YMCA too, I might add. $15 got both of us day passes. And the pool…
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Olympic National Park
I had no idea there were so many National Parks in Washington State. We’d already hit Mount Saint Helens and Mount Rainier, and we weren’t done yet: It was time to see the rain forest. Olympic National Park was a bucket list item for me. I’ve always wanted to see the only rain forest in…
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Wonderful Washington State
I started out our first full day in Washington State with a trail run. We were in Gifford Pinchot National Forest and I ran on the Lewis River Trail. Not very technical, but I enjoyed the rolling hills – as did Bailey. The views of the Lewis River were pretty sweet, too. After breakfast we…
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Mount Saint Helens National Monument and Mount Rainier National Park
On July 28th we finally made it to Mount Saint Helens. Of course, that was after morning snuggles for Bailey… After departing our campsite at 10am, we made a few stops in the towns of Longview and Kelso. Wal-Mart (paper towels and almonds), Winco (to fill the water containers) and Safeway (for gas). Too bad…
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Escaping Portland
I know, the title makes it seem like a bad thing. Hear me out. It’s not like Portland was a bad place to be imprisoned, mind you, but the clutches of the Portland area seemed to be pretty long indeed. July 17th we headed out on a little day trip. I’d mentioned to our friend…
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Adventures in Portland
As we came creeping up through Oregon, not one, but two different Portland friends got in touch via Facebook, offering a place to park the truck. And showers. Our friend Jon used to work with Michael at Colterra, and he rents a place on the southeast side of Portland. He’s been there for about 2…
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Beyond Bend
During our stay in Bend, OR we had a lot of camping options, as Bend is pretty much surrounded by National Forest land. Such is not necessarily the case throughout the rest of the state. We left Bend on a Thursday and drove west to Eugene. Along the way we had a pleasant stop at…
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Bend, Oregon (Part 2)
After July 4thwe finally had a chance to really check out Bend, which we did… for a whole week. I have to admit that I went back and forth with this love/hate relationship with Bend. Love: bike lanes everywhere. Bikes everywhere. Boats (kayaks and SUPs) everywhere. Friendly people. Friendly drivers. Tons of great restaurants, parks,…
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Bend, Oregon (Part One)
Heading out from Crater Lake National Park we headed north, towards Bend. It was 4th of July weekend and we steered towards an area south and west of Bend called Cascade Lakes. Tons of lakes there and lots of camping opportunities. The biggest lake around was Wikiup Reservoir. But after seeing the crowds Michael decided…
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It’s Just So Blue
After leaving Oregon Caves National Monument we headed north towards Crater Lake. We stopped in Grants Pass for a bit – specifically at Rogue Coffee Roasters. In addition to excellent coffee, this large coffee shop had power strips at every table so we could charge all the electronics while I worked on the blog. We…
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Leaving California
After spending the morning of June 26th looking for abalone shells in King Range NCA, and the afternoon finding out all the interesting nuances of Eureka, California (read my last post for that story), we were both tired and a little cranky as we approached Trinidad and our (possibly illegal) rest stop campsite. The sun…