From Seattle, we drove around the Olympic Peninsula and entered the Olympic National Park. It’s a magical place where everything is growing, we’ve never seen a place that is so alive before! The huge trees you see in the photos are Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, or Western Hemlock, some of which are over 200 ft. tall!
Still wintertime here in the Olympic National Forest.
The last in a series of three tunnels up to the lodge
massive trees!
Even the clovers are massive!
The Ho Rain Forest. Crazy amounts of airy moss
Such gnarled trunks
Holy Moss! We learned that this type of moss absorbs it’s nutrients from particles in the air.
#R&R
Made it to the Pacific!
The beach below our campsite
Our campsite overlooking the beach
Champagne toast anyone!
Camp fish stew with fish from pikes market we got earlier in the day...it was actually pretty good if I do say so myself.
Anjs campfire skills
I just climbed down that rickety staircase to the right.
Bliss!
Made it to Vancouver! Anj has set up his office because he has some work to do...
It was a great visit with Aunt Beth, and Portland is such a beautiful place this time of year.
Some kind of rebar sculpture over the highway.
Don training Lexi in search and rescue. I came along to be rescued at one point. Lexi did great!
We did a driving exploration of the city then drove up to the mansions on the hill (see the architecture page). Most of the houses had this view of Mount Hood looming over the city of Portland. There were houses built on stilts due to the steepness of the hillside.
Cable cars to help connect the city
Since I can’t ski anymore we opted for a cocktail at the base of Mount Hood Timberline Lodge - a National Historic Landmark from 1937
A rendering of the lodge we were in
Inside the fortress was pretty impressive
So much snow! Would love to come back to ski. Check out how tall the poles are for snow plowing in the winter!
Packing the car back up is always a process. We packed a lot of stuff!
Found a sweet motel with character for the night since it was raining and I didn't want to camp in the rain with a broken leg 😟
While near Astoria, it only seemed right to watch The Goonies on VHS, in the area it was filmed, while feasting on pizza and wedding champagne. Living large on a budget!