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| Pacific Northwest |
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Home Stretch
Hello Everyone!!
It has been weeks since our last update. Since then we have finished our journey, both moved home and have started figuring out what to do with our non- travelling selves. However, it is a must that we write about the last couple weeks of the trip.
After we left Missoula we headed to NW Washington and stopped at the Kootenai Falls. We parked on the side of the highway and took the short trail down to the falls. I was so surprised at how spectacular these falls were! The rushing water was so wide and powerful you couldn't stop watching it. We continued down the path and walked across the swinging bridge, snapped some pictures and got off of there asap because it was a bit scary. We then headed to our campsite on the Yaak River. It was a beautiful site right on the river so of course Conner had his pole and was in the water within 5 minutes. About an hour later, I was talking to the campground host and he came back holding his vest, but no fish. He told the lady we would be having chili for dinner. When she left, he opened his vest and there was a big, beautiful trout! I asked him why he didn't tell her and he said he wasn't sure if he was allowed :) So needless to say, we had a yummy trout dinner.
The next day we drove to Spokane, WA and camped at a state park. The park was, again, right on the river and had tons of hiking and walking trails all around it. We found a little beach and spent the day on the river, Conner fishing and me lounging. We got some company a couple hours later, a dad and two little kids who soon became Conner's fishing audience. After a full day in the sun, we decided a date night (dinner and a movie) was in order. We went to a great Diners Drive Ins and Dives restaurant that was, not surprisingly, amazing. We headed to the movies and saw The Help, which is highly reccommend to everyone, I read the book and still loved the movie.
We spent most of the next day driving through eastern Washington, which was nothing like I imagined it. All plains, desert and just very barren. We finally got to Mt. Rainier, however, a few of Conner's friends were meeting us to go to Seattle and we got confused as to when they were going to get there so we really only drove through the park, which was beautiful, and then headed to Kent, WA. We landed on a KOA, which was apparently overflowed with tents, so we had a choice of putting our tent in a random field or right by the pool. Finally, the lady gave us a spot right next to the road, but at least it had an electric hookup. Around 11:30 pm, Alex, Jason and Ryan showed up and we began cooking a feast. Tri-tip, potatoes, veggies and wine. I'm sure our neighbors were not too pleased but we were just so excited we couldn't help oursleves. The next morning we all headed for the Travellodge in northern Seattle. We immediately got a cab and headed to Ballard, a very Scandanavian influenced town. We went to a small bar and played some shuffle board while we waited for the bar we really wanted to go to to open. At 4 pm the viking bar opened. This place was a crazy weird little bar. It was supposed to be part of an old viking ship and they had pictures of naked ladies everywhere. We got some drinks and ordered some meatballs and mashed potatos which were amazing. After the bar, we were getting hungry to we headed for Mike's Chili Parlor. it was very highly rated and reviewed and if I'm not mistaken was also on DDD. Of course when we finally got there it was closed. Hungry and a bit tipsy, we walked around looking for somewhere to eat and landed on a great burger place. After dinner, we found another bar close by where we spent the rest of the night playing darts.
The next morning we went to Beth's Cafe for breakfast. Beth's was on Man VS. Food because of it's 12 egg omlettes. Rediculous. The omelettes actually came out on a pizza sheet. We, obviously, did not order the 12 egg but the only other option for an omelette was a 6 egg, which is still massive. Conner and I split one and still didn't finish it. The best part, it was actually good! After breakfast, we drove through Chinatown and down by the stadiums. We walked around a bit and then headed to our hotel to relax. Come 11:00 pm, Ryan and I were still super tired so the other three went back out on the town.
We headed to the Pike Place Market the next morning. It was the biggest market I had ever seen packed with crazy food stands, a giant fish market and awesome little vendors. The boys had a 11 hour drive ahead of them so they took off soon after. Conner and I were exhausted as well so we got a cheap hotel on the peninsula. The next morning we drove to Olympic National Park. The forests were beautiful, it felt good to be back on the west coast. We camped at Rialto Beach and hiked down to the water. It was gorgeous, massive pieces of drift wood flooded the beach making it almost an obstacle course to walk down the sand. Our campground was right near Forks and La Push, which happen to be where the Twilight Saga (vampire books) were set. If you didn't know this going into these towns, you would know the second you got there. "Twilight Tours!", "Home of Twilight!", "Stephanie Meyer Day!", menus themed off Twilight characters...it was rediculous. We grabbed some pizza and beer and headed back to camp. The next morning we drove through Astoria which was a really cool town but kept heading south to Seaside, a pretty touristy coastal town. We didn't really care though because we spent the whole night watching a 2003 Oscar nominated best movie marathon. We watched 4 movies, ate too much dinner and had a few greyhounds. We woke up the next morning and headed to Portland!
My friend Megan met us in Beaverton (right outside Portland) and we stayed with her mom Leslie for the weekend. Let me just say right away, Leslie you are amazing, thank you SO much for letting us stay, cooking us dinner and showing us around!! We had so much fun. On Friday night, Megan, Conner and I went out in Portland. We got a few drinks at an Irish Pub and then headed to the Portland City Grill to have some drinks and appetizers while looking over the city from the 34th floor. It was very classy and the food was amazing. We then went to a few more Irish bars and then to shanghai tunnell, an underground chinese restaurant and bar. At one of the bars, we had a drink and then headed to the cigar room downstairs. It smelled like a sewer but it was fun. Megan and I didn't really help Conner too much on the cigar, so poor guy had to smoke it all to himself. Now, what does one crave after a giant cigar?? Doughnuts of course! Not really, but Voodoo Doughnuts was just around the corner. I don't even like doughnuts but this place is crazy. It has hundreds of crazy kinds of doughnuts for really cheap. This was when we called it a night and Leslie came and got us. In the morning we all went to the Saturday Market. It was huge and so much fun. I bought a few things, I couldn't resist and then we went to the food carts for lunch. Portland food carts are some of the best food in the city and these carts are everywhere. Conner and Megan got Greek food and I had some Korean pork and rice. A few hours at the market gets you pretty tired so we headed back home to relax. That night Leslie cooked us an amazing meal and we watched a movie. On Sunday, Megan, Con and I went to some falls outside of Portland and hiked around. It was really pretty and it felt good to get outside. Conner and I had planned on leaving that day but we HAD to go to Pok Pok, a thai restaurant in the city. Leslie and Megan's friend from highschool came as well. Holy moly, this was the best thai food ever. It was very different than any thai we had had before. We had boars collar, pork belly and crazy mango salads. It was s amazing, we al bought t-shirts. It was 9 pm when we finished dinner so being the amazing people they are, Meg and Leslie let us crash for one more night. Thank you!!
We started our drive down the coast in the morning and went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport which was really fun. Crazy giant crabs and a 30 foot anaconda were the highlights. We stopped at various viewpoints down the coast and also stopped at an amazing seafood shack. I got a crab sandwich and Conner got Halibut and Chips which he claims were the best fish and chips he has ever had. We ended up in Crescent City that night where Conner had his fantasy draft online. I watched tv while he ordered a large Pizza Hut pizza to himself, drank a few beers and had a boys night over the computer. The next day as we were pulling out of the parking lot, we saw that pizza hut was right across the street...no wonder it got there so fast!
We made our way to Jedidiah Smith State park and set up camp. The canmpground was beautiful and right next to our site was a path down to the river and some great trails through the redwoods. Its so amazing seeing these thousand year old giants...makes you feel pretty tiny. I got an email for a possible job offer so we spent the next few hours in starbucks while I wrote a specific type of childcare resume. That night we made some dinner over the fire and played cards til we went to bed.
In the morning, we went to Prairie Creek State Park and did some more great hikes through the redwoods and Fern Canyon which was absolutely amazing. These vibrant green walls were 60 feet high and it looked like a fairytale land.
After hiking, we had some lunch and then decided since we were going to head east we may as well go to Chico a day early. We had planned a reunion of few months ago so we were super excited to see all out friends. Only 3 months and we are already desperate to see each other! Chico was super fun and a great way to end our trip. Going to all our old restaurants, bars and just hanging out was perfect.
On Monday, Conner and I headed to Ferndale. It was a pretty crazy feeling knowing that this journey was actually over. It was so good to see his family and it made me even more excited to see my own. I drove home the next morning. Now we are both job hunting and in hopes of moving to San Francisco soon.
I don't really know how to end this blog, I feel like it is just part of my life now...I should just update you all on everything! It's pretty crazy to think back almost 2 years ago and remember when we first came up with the idea of driving around the country. I never actually thought about what it would be like when it was over. It was an amazing, eye opening experience and I couldn't have asked for a better traveling buddy :) (Can you believe we are still even talking!?)
I hope you all enjoyed following us!!
Love,
Katie and Conner
After we left Missoula we headed to NW Washington and stopped at the Kootenai Falls. We parked on the side of the highway and took the short trail down to the falls. I was so surprised at how spectacular these falls were! The rushing water was so wide and powerful you couldn't stop watching it. We continued down the path and walked across the swinging bridge, snapped some pictures and got off of there asap because it was a bit scary. We then headed to our campsite on the Yaak River. It was a beautiful site right on the river so of course Conner had his pole and was in the water within 5 minutes. About an hour later, I was talking to the campground host and he came back holding his vest, but no fish. He told the lady we would be having chili for dinner. When she left, he opened his vest and there was a big, beautiful trout! I asked him why he didn't tell her and he said he wasn't sure if he was allowed :) So needless to say, we had a yummy trout dinner.
The next day we drove to Spokane, WA and camped at a state park. The park was, again, right on the river and had tons of hiking and walking trails all around it. We found a little beach and spent the day on the river, Conner fishing and me lounging. We got some company a couple hours later, a dad and two little kids who soon became Conner's fishing audience. After a full day in the sun, we decided a date night (dinner and a movie) was in order. We went to a great Diners Drive Ins and Dives restaurant that was, not surprisingly, amazing. We headed to the movies and saw The Help, which is highly reccommend to everyone, I read the book and still loved the movie.
We spent most of the next day driving through eastern Washington, which was nothing like I imagined it. All plains, desert and just very barren. We finally got to Mt. Rainier, however, a few of Conner's friends were meeting us to go to Seattle and we got confused as to when they were going to get there so we really only drove through the park, which was beautiful, and then headed to Kent, WA. We landed on a KOA, which was apparently overflowed with tents, so we had a choice of putting our tent in a random field or right by the pool. Finally, the lady gave us a spot right next to the road, but at least it had an electric hookup. Around 11:30 pm, Alex, Jason and Ryan showed up and we began cooking a feast. Tri-tip, potatoes, veggies and wine. I'm sure our neighbors were not too pleased but we were just so excited we couldn't help oursleves. The next morning we all headed for the Travellodge in northern Seattle. We immediately got a cab and headed to Ballard, a very Scandanavian influenced town. We went to a small bar and played some shuffle board while we waited for the bar we really wanted to go to to open. At 4 pm the viking bar opened. This place was a crazy weird little bar. It was supposed to be part of an old viking ship and they had pictures of naked ladies everywhere. We got some drinks and ordered some meatballs and mashed potatos which were amazing. After the bar, we were getting hungry to we headed for Mike's Chili Parlor. it was very highly rated and reviewed and if I'm not mistaken was also on DDD. Of course when we finally got there it was closed. Hungry and a bit tipsy, we walked around looking for somewhere to eat and landed on a great burger place. After dinner, we found another bar close by where we spent the rest of the night playing darts.
We headed to the Pike Place Market the next morning. It was the biggest market I had ever seen packed with crazy food stands, a giant fish market and awesome little vendors. The boys had a 11 hour drive ahead of them so they took off soon after. Conner and I were exhausted as well so we got a cheap hotel on the peninsula. The next morning we drove to Olympic National Park. The forests were beautiful, it felt good to be back on the west coast. We camped at Rialto Beach and hiked down to the water. It was gorgeous, massive pieces of drift wood flooded the beach making it almost an obstacle course to walk down the sand. Our campground was right near Forks and La Push, which happen to be where the Twilight Saga (vampire books) were set. If you didn't know this going into these towns, you would know the second you got there. "Twilight Tours!", "Home of Twilight!", "Stephanie Meyer Day!", menus themed off Twilight characters...it was rediculous. We grabbed some pizza and beer and headed back to camp. The next morning we drove through Astoria which was a really cool town but kept heading south to Seaside, a pretty touristy coastal town. We didn't really care though because we spent the whole night watching a 2003 Oscar nominated best movie marathon. We watched 4 movies, ate too much dinner and had a few greyhounds. We woke up the next morning and headed to Portland!
After hiking, we had some lunch and then decided since we were going to head east we may as well go to Chico a day early. We had planned a reunion of few months ago so we were super excited to see all out friends. Only 3 months and we are already desperate to see each other! Chico was super fun and a great way to end our trip. Going to all our old restaurants, bars and just hanging out was perfect.
On Monday, Conner and I headed to Ferndale. It was a pretty crazy feeling knowing that this journey was actually over. It was so good to see his family and it made me even more excited to see my own. I drove home the next morning. Now we are both job hunting and in hopes of moving to San Francisco soon.
I don't really know how to end this blog, I feel like it is just part of my life now...I should just update you all on everything! It's pretty crazy to think back almost 2 years ago and remember when we first came up with the idea of driving around the country. I never actually thought about what it would be like when it was over. It was an amazing, eye opening experience and I couldn't have asked for a better traveling buddy :) (Can you believe we are still even talking!?)
I hope you all enjoyed following us!!
Love,
Katie and Conner
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