Oregon & Washington

Hello again everyone! Once again, we’ve got a lot to catch you all up on! We are now in Seattle. Seattle is one of those cities that everyone who’s from here loves it and we decided to find out why. But we just got here so we’ll have to tell you how it was a little later…

Rewind nine days. We left wine country and headed into the wild. The Redwood National Park was our destination. We camped at the campground and hiked several miles into the Tall Trees Grove, home to some of the tallest trees in the world. After two nights in the Redwoods, we left California once and for all! California was a long state but we much enjoyed it!

In Oregon, we hadn’t made many specific plans so we just drove up the coast until we could find vacancy at a campground on the beach. We found a campsite at Oregon Dunes National Beach and stayed there for the night. The hills of sand extend to the horizon and were incredible! We walked along a ridge, enjoying the views.

The next day on our way to Portland, we stopped at a Youth With A Mission base in Salem and we got to meet up with some people, Josie and Matt, that I had met while I did YWAM three years ago in New Zealand. Talk about a small world… We had good conversation and it was great to see them again!

Jillian and I loved Portland! After getting a much-needed oil change and spending quite a few hours (and dollars) at Powell’s Books We ended up staying with Jillian’s high school friend, Lucas (thanks Lucas, you were a great host!). He showed us around the city, bringing us to the famous (infamous?) Voodoo Donuts, coffee shops, and parks. It was a great time! The next night, once again not planning ahead for this part, we were able to stay with Josie. We were so glad for the generosity of our friends.

Leaving Portland, we hit the woods again; this time at the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Olympic National Park is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the entire U.S.; it even has a rainforest!

We camped one night at Kalaloch campground near the ocean and the next night in Altair campground in the highlands near the Olympic Mountains. We visited the Hoh Rainforest and hiked through giant trees covered with moss, reminding us of Narnia, or at the very least Fern Gully.

After Olympic, we took a detour from the US of A and took a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. We will update you on Victoria and Seattle on our next entry. You can look forward to a timely update this time!

- A