We went on a trip of a lifetime! Granted it was a road trip and we spent way too much time in the car but it was fun and definitely worth it. Bart and I have been saving for this adventure for 2 years and Bart did 90% of the planning-which is the hard part. We invited Adam and Julia along for the ride and surprisingly they said "yes", so the 4 of us started our adventure by driving through western Utah, Nevada and finally into California where we camped.
Other than getting terribly lost finding the campsite and the 108 degree temperature in Redding California, the first day was uneventful.
The next day we drove up through the Redwood forest. Utah really is a dry desert compared to the trees, forests and moss in the Northwest. Redwood trees are really quite pretty and I think they are my new favorite tree.
We then drove up through Portland and back over to the coast, where we staid in Long Beach, WA for 3 days.
While there, we saw some of the many lighthouses, walked on the beaches, visited Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark wintered, shopped in Seaside and watched kites fly at Cannon Beach.
Just before the vacation, Bart finished reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose which is a terrific book that follows Lewis and Clark on their journey. Bart thought it was great to be able to see so many places that he had just read about-it made Lewis and Clark much more real.
The remainder of our trip was up at Discovery Bay in Northern WA on the sound. We took a ferry across the sound to Victoria BC to sight see and eat fish and chips.
This is the Parliament building.
Bart's favorite part of the trip was the ferry ride back to Port Angeles. The water was really rough with white caps, so Bart decided to embrace the cold and wet by purposely standing where waves could get him... I huddled with the other passengers up top.
A scuba diver named Bruce did a sea life exhibit on the dock at Discovery Bay. He had all sort of creatures-starfish and sunflower starfish and an octopus and crabs and clams. At the end of his presentation he asked if anyone wanted lunch...I raised my hand so he gave me 2.5 crabs and he even pulled off some blue mussels for our appetizer...they were right off the dock.
Yum, yum, yummy but the crab legs were still twitching when we cleaned them!
We were also able to meet up with Matt and Joanna (Bart's sister) and their 2 kids. They took us up into the Olympic National Park and we did a little hike up on Hurricane Ridge. Beautiful scenery and we even saw a black bear.
I'm a shrimp in the Leeflang family. Everyone towers over my 5'6"- I'm on my tippy toes for this picture.
Along with the sightseeing, eating, driving and sleeping, I also read 3 books. I would call this a successful vacation.
