Road Trip 2013

"As long as I live,  I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing.  I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can."

John Muir

 

The Washington Coast with North Head Lighthouse



Baxter enjoying running on the beach

Every year we make a trip up to Washington, to visit family, and to spend some time at our cabin by the river.  When we were working, we had limited time, so we would usually just get there by the quickest route, and come back.  Now that we are retired, we can take more time, explore things along the way, and relax for a time at the cabin.  This year we took a little less time than we have in the past few years, because we had just gotten home from our trip to Africa, and decided we didn't want to turn around and spend another 6 weeks gone.  We did go for a little over 3 weeks though, and it was a nice trip.

We headed up the I-5 till we got to Salem, then we turned toward the coast.  We spent 3 nights in Long Beach, Washington at a cute little cabin near the beach.  We could get up each morning and take a short walk down to the beach.  We had our 2 dogs, Baxter and Sadie, with us on the trip, and they love running on the beach.  We also went down at sunset to let them run, and to watch the colors of the sky.



The trail from our cabin to the beach

During the day we visited with my husbands family.  This is the area where George grew up and he still has some family in the area.  It is always nice to see them.  He also has a cousin who comes up to Long Beach each summer from Arizona.  He fishes and catches crab all summer.  He had us over for some fresh crab and a salmon dinner.  He also sent us off with some crab to take on our next step in our journey.

From Long Beach we headed into Vancouver, Washington.  My mother is 95 and lives in a retirement home here.  We shared our crab with her, and made Crab Louie salads.  We spent the next 2 1/2 weeks at our cabin on the river, which is near Vancouver.  We have had this place since my mother was a little girl.  She turned it over to my sister and I a few years ago and we put a nice new cabin up on the property.  It now has running water, electricity and indoor plumbing, which is always nice to have.  It is small, but quite comfortable to stay in.  We have a deck overlooking the river, and we eat most of our meals outdoors at the table on the deck.  We enjoy watching the wildlife.  This year we saw various birds, ducks and geese.  We have, in the past, seen deer and once we saw an Osprey dive into the water and pull a trout out.  So you never know what you might see.

Geese on our river

During the time we spent at our cabin, we visited with numerous friends and family that we both have in this area.  It is always nice to re-connect with loved ones.  I also had a small get-together of old classmates from my high school days.  We had lots of laughs while we reminisced about the past.



Baxter and Sadie in the inner-tube with me

I was glad that the weather was nice while we were there.  That is not always the case in Washington.  You can never count on it being warm and sunny, even in the summer.  We did have a couple of cooler days, and one day when it sprinkled, but for the most part it was warm and sunny, and I spent most days in the water, either swimming, wading and looking for pretty rocks, or lazing around on my inner-tube.  I did make a point of walking up river each day with the dogs, to the upper rapids.  I then loaded the dogs onto the inner-tube and floated over the rapids and back downstream to where the cabin and our beach was.  The dogs enjoyed this walk and the ride back.

The deck of our cabin overlooking the river

I picked blackberries, which were ripe, in the field near our cabin.  I made blackberry cobbler and blackberry pie for desert with our friends.   We barbecued on the deck and had some pleasant meals with friends and family.  I celebrated my birthday on the deck with my sister, my mom, a cousin and George.  It was a peaceful and relaxed couple of weeks, and I hated to leave.  But eventually one must go home. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

So we headed back down I-5, but shortly after entering California we took a side trip on the 89.  We headed east and then south until we reached Lassen Volcanic National Park.  I am trying to visit all of the National Parks that I can, and this is one I had never been to.  We spent most of our 2nd day of our return home at the park.  It is a smaller park, and of course we had the dogs with us, which meant that most of our exploring of the park is limited to the main areas.  The dogs are not allowed on any of the trails. We are not big hikers anyway.  There were a few places that required short hikes, but George was willing to stay with the dogs while I explored.  I will be writing about the park in the next few days and will add that to my National Park series.

Lake Tahoe

From there we drove a rather longer route home, just exploring and seeing a new area.  We ended up on Hwy 50 which took us around Lake Tahoe.  We had not been in that area for many years, and it is a pretty area to drive through.  We would have enjoyed a few days stay at Lake Tahoe, but I had a commitment I needed to get home for, so headed south again on I-5 and finally got home.  Dogs were glad to see their home and to get out of the car.  And we have next year to look forward to, and another adventure.


Here are two more pictures taken on our trip:





Mount hood with a full moon

The river just below our cabin