STATE 50: OREGON (!!)

Day 5 (cont.)

Mom was still sick today which was unfortunate as we spent a lot of time driving!

But.. we made it to Oregon which is both my dad and I’s 50th state!!! WE DID IT!! 

50th state shirt

We crossed the border and headed to vista house at crown point. It offers panoramic views of the Colombia river gorge. 

We didn’t stay long because my mom wasn’t feeling well. We were going to go to Latourell falls and Multnomah falls, but because of my mom not feeling well and because it was super crowded we headed to our next destination: Redmond. (We were near Multnomah around noon or 1 o clock and the parking lot was full so I don’t know if we would have had much luck there anyway!) 

Had dinner at 5 below steakhouse and breakfast nook and stayed at Sleep inn and suites Redmond. 

Day 6:  Our 9th wedding anniversary!! 

Mom was feeling a little better today (yay!) so all of us went to Smith Rock State Park. This park is actually the birthplace of modern America sport climbing. There’s desert landscape, cliffs, river canyons and so much more. Definitely NOT how I pictured Oregon, but I loved it!!

I did it! 50 states!!

When we drove into town yesterday we spotted alpacas. (!!!!)  After some research I discovered Crescent Moon Ranch is Oregon’s premiere alpaca destination. What luck! And on our 9th anniversary!! Oh my goodness we spent so much time walking around and petting, feeding, and talking to all the alpacas. (Or maybe that was just me…. Mike helped a little.)  The farm is 42 acres and there are literally hundreds of alpacas!!!

We had lunch at a little place right next to the farm called Brand 44 N.

Next stop was Peter Skene Ogden state scenic viewpoint. It’s basically a little rest area with stunning views of the canyon. It reminded me of my trip just a few months ago to Idaho! 

As we drove on towards our destination we stopped at Crater Lake National Park. It’s known for the deepest and purest blue lake in the United States. 

We got our 50th state together!!

9th anniversary photo

Family photo!

There aren’t any places to stay near Crater Lake (unless you get lucky and can book the lodge inside the park) so we got an Airbnb. Of course there is nothing close to the house either except a couple restaurants and a dollar general.  We ate dinner at one of the two restaurants called El Rodeo. I don’t typically like Mexican food, but it was pretty good!

Only a couple days left in Oregon so stay tuned! 

State 49: Washington pt. 2

Day 4: Mt Rainier

Comparison photo- crappy weather day vs beautiful weather day!! 

Thankfully it was only about a 15 minute wait to get into Mt Rainier National Park! We got there around 9am (on Labor Day Monday!!) We entered via the Nisqually entrance and started with the Trail of the Shadows. Unfortunately, my mom had an upset stomach and she missed out on a lot of today. 

My dad, Mike, and I saw Christine Falls and Narada Falls, had lunch at one of the lodges, and then went to our accommodations for the evening. (We did this to get my mom settled and anyways we were having horrible weather so we couldn’t even see Mt Rainier!) 

Christine falls

Narada falls

We wanted to do paradise and reflections lake, but the weather made it yucky and blah. (Mike and I did come back later that afternoon to scope it out, but it was miserable and you couldn’t see anything!) 

Bad weather photo

Reflection lake- bad weather photo

Reflection lake- bad weather photo

Day 5: Since the weather was crappy on the previous day, Mike and I decided to wake up early and get to the park around sunrise. (6:37am!) Mom still wasn’t feeling well and Dad doesn’t like to wake up early so it was just the two of us. OH MY GOODNESS !! What a difference a day (and change in weather) makes !!

Only one car in front of us at the entry and then we headed straight for paradise. The views were amazing and it was right at sunrise so the lighting was perfection! 

We got some great shots! We then drove down towards reflection lake when we saw something in the road.. it was a bear!!! I have never seen a bear in real life before other than at the zoo. I was ECSTATIC!!

Meanwhile my window got stuck in the halfway position as the bear casually strolled by my door. 

Reflection lake was phenomenal !! So beautiful !!

 It was such a great morning and we were probably out of the park by 8am! (Original plan did not involve going back a second day, but due to weather we just had to!)  
Stay tuned for the rest of day 5 and the start of a new blog post: STATE 50- OREGON!!!!!

State 49: Washington pt. 1

Day 1: Travel day! Our flight out of Cincinnati was at 11am (Eastern) and we got to Washington around 5:30pm (Pacific). We ate at Black Bear Diner which has become a new tradition for me this year - ate there in Idaho, Arkansas and now Washington!  We drove a couple hours to get to our hotel, Ocean Star Inn in Sequim. (Did this so we didn’t have as long of a drive the next morning!) All in all… looooong travel day. 

Day 2: Olympic National Park

Olympic is nearly a million acres! It’s unique because it features glacier mountains, rainforests, and ocean coast-thats three completely different natural environments! We started out the day with the scenic Hurricane Ridge drive which is part of Olympic National Park. 

After that we grabbed lunch at Granny’s cafe and headed to Madison Creek Falls. It was a short hike, only .2 miles with an elevation gain of about 46 feet. 

After that, we stopped at Lake Crescent and did a portion of the Moments in Time trail.  

We then headed to Sol Duc Falls and Mike and my poor mom go drenched in a downpour. I think it was a little more than we bargained for, but still pretty falls! 

Had Marble and Oak for dinner and stayed at Pacific Inn Motel in Forks, WA. 

Day 3: Olympic National park-Hoh rainforest

I had heard good things about the rainforest so we decided to start our morning there. (Mind you, this is Sunday of Labor Day weekend) I had heard you might have to wait 1-2 hours to get in to the park on busy days. I would say we got there around 8:45am AND WE DIDN’T MAKE IT INTO THE PARK UNTIL AFTER 12pm!!!! That’s 3.5 hours of waiting in the car!!! 

Had we known it was going to be that long, we would have probably just said “forget it” and moved on, but the GPS kept giving us different times. By the time we saw the official national park time markers we were in it for the long hull. I mean, if you’ve already wasted an hour and a half waiting, it can’t be that much longer, right?! (UGH!)

Once we got in the park we went straight for the Hall of Mosses trail which was actually pretty cool. Not sure it was worth the 3.5 hours, but it is what it is.  

The original plan was to also see Ruby Beach and Kalaloch Beach, and have lunch at one of the lodges, but the parking lots were FULL and we were over it by this point. 
We spent the rest of the day driving to our next destination and, since we didn’t have lunch, we had an early dinner at West Side Pizza. We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn Olympia. 

It was also my parents anniversary which makes me feel even worse! Horrible planning on my part- I knew lines could be long, but didn’t know they would be THAT long.