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We left Champoeg and decided to drive north through Astoria up to the Olympic Peninsula. We took a beautiful, and at times narrow, road over to the coast and made a pit stop in Seaside, OR. It’s a fun touristy town. We walked down to the beach and saw the ocean again – it had a sandy beach, so we dipped our toes in. And then we discovered that this was where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition at the Pacific Ocean! It was a neat little fact to come across.

Then we drove across the Columbia river at in Astoria, OR, and up into Washington on Hwy 101. The highway doesn’t hug the coast, but it was a beautiful drive (and rather bumpy at times – that was fun with the camper!). We made it to Kalaloch Campground for the evening. It’s part of Olympic National Park, and it’s right on the ocean. We enjoyed a long walk on the beach where we got to see the sunset and the moon rise. It was amazing.

The next morning we drove up to Ruby Beach and then over to Sol Duc Campground (both part of Olympic National Park). Sol Duc is almost rain forest and we felt brave for driving the camper there, but we made it! We got set up and then hiked out to Sol Duc Falls through rain forest areas. It was incredible.

That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was SO quiet. Sound just seemed to disappear in the moss. It was crazy.

The next day we drove by Lake Crescent and then to the Olympic NP visitor center in Port Angeles, WA. Matt really wanted to drive up Hurricane Ridge, so we asked if we could leave our camper in the parking lot to drive up to the top and they said it was fine! We soon found ourselves at almost tree line among snow covered peaks. It was a neat contrast.

Then we continued on to Tacoma where we were greeted by our friends, Mo and Devin and their dog, Barley. It was lovely! Seeing dear friends along the way has definitely been a lot of the highlights along this trip – and really, part of the reason for doing the trip. So grateful.

Champoeg is pronounced sham-poo-y (pretty much). I pronounced it wrong the great majority of the time we were there. It’s a state historic area to commemorate a town where a lot of Oregon’s government and statehood began. The town was washed away in a couple floods, but they have now made it into a state park. We camped there after being in Albany..

It was another beautiful campground with lots of green open space, walking trails, forests, rivers/creeks, and a nature playscape right next to the campground.

The day after we arrived there, we drove down to Silver Falls State Park. It’s a popular state park known for its Trail of Ten Falls – a 7-8 mile loop where you get to see 10 impressive waterfalls. It was really beautiful and we’ve got lots of pictures (sorry I didn’t caption them all!).

On the drive back to our campground, we were able to see more of the landscape (it was cloudy/foggy on the way there), and I was able to get a picture of the many Christmas tree farms we drove through on the way there. (Made me think of my Grandpa Koop!)

The next day we went over to the visitor center at the Champoeg to learn more about the area. It was once a large and significant town in Oregon’s history, but huge floods on the Willamette River washed it away. Amazingly no one died. We also learned that Oregon became a state in 1859, before Colorado (1876), even though it is quite a bit further west. Besides the explorers that took paths there, it is also a very lush place that is similar to the east, so we guessed people were able to survive there more easily than other low water areas of the west. Also, Oregon is the only state that has a two-sided flag!

We walked down to the actual town site where the roads that were once there are marked. There’s a stone marker there honoring the people that voted to create Oregon’s first government in 1843.

Then in the afternoon we stopped by a hazelnut orchard on our way to Portland. In Portland we went to Powell’s Books (the original one). It was a neat place that we’ve heard about. We visited the Rare Books section and saw their oldest book which was published on August 11, 1494! Really cool.

From there we drove out to Hillsboro where we had dinner with one of Matt’s friends from growing up – Heather and Rian and their daughter. Matt and I had visited them years ago after we did the John Muir Trail (and Matt had been there since for work as well), so it was nice to catch up and meet their daughter. We enjoyed a lovely time. The kids had fun. The food was delicious. The conversation flowed. And we even got some protest frog souvenirs that we’re excited to wear back in Colorado Springs! (Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture together.)

Oregon has been a lovely state. We look forward to coming back someday and exploring it more!

From Joseph Stewart C.G. we drove further up the Rogue-Upmqua Scenic Byway around Diamond Lake (seeing Mt. Thielsen on the way) and then took 138 back to Roseburg, OR and Hwy 5. It was a beautiful drive and we felt adventurous doing it with the camper (we’re finally getting a little more courageous!).

From there we drove north up to Albany, OR where we had a couple nights at a Harvest Host at Deluxe Brewing and Sinister Distilling. As we drove we discovered that this area is the grass seed capital of the country (world?). Over the next several days in that area of Oregon, we discovered there is a plethora of agriculture in the area from hazelnuts, to apples, to vineyards, to Christmas trees, to peaches, and more!

Matt and I got drinks and played a little shuffleboard after dinner. Then the next day we made good on Reece’s Christmas present of hang gliding lessons! We got up and walked over to get coffee and a cute shop in downtown Albany and then drove to the Corvallis airport for our lesson. BUT, the wind wasn’t great so the instructor pushed our time back to later in the afternoon when the wind was supposed to be better.

We pivoted and grabbed some groceries and then headed to Avery Park in Corvallis where we were one of many groups that were out enjoying the sunny day. We hiked around, skipped rocks on the river, ate lunch, made daisy crowns, and tossed a frisbee. Eventually it was time for our lesson.

We started with the basics of flying/wind patterns/etc. It was very informative, albeit not particularly adrenaline producing. Next, we got harnesses on and tried out the simulator. Then, we put the hang glider together and brought it over to the field/runway.

It was a lot of work running against the wind and trying to catch air, but it was still pretty fun. Someday we’ll find tandem flights to do, which will be much more thrilling, but we’ll be ready! (I learned Sleeping Bear Dunes area is a popular place for hang gliding (because of course our instructor was originally from MI)!)

(Note – I also caught some air, but have no photo documentation of it!)

We returned to the camper, had celebratory sodas at the brewery and then had our first Burgerville experience – the seasonal rosemary shoestring fries and strawberry cheesecake shake were particularly good!

It was a great day!

We only spent one night in Ashland and headed up towards Crater Lake the next day. We camped at the Joseph Stewart Recreation Area on Lost Lake Reservoir (on the Rogue River). It was a beautiful place this time of year with lots of walking paths, lots of grassy open space (perfect for tossing a frisbee), and beautiful forest with flowering dogwoods.

The next morning we drove up to Crater Lake National Park not knowing exactly what we would be able to see. The Steel Visitor Center is open year round, but nothing past that is guaranteed. We stopped at the visitor center to learn about the park and then were able to drive up to the rim! There’s still a lot of snow up there (not compared to the amount they normally have, but a lot compared to the campground we were at!) We got to look over the rim at the lodge area and see the lake. It was beautiful! Formed by a collapsed volcano, it is the deepest lake in the US at almost 2000 feet, with no inlets or outlets known.

On the way back to our campground, we stopped at the Rogue River Gorge and the Rogue River Natural Bridge. A lot of the river runs through old lava tubes. At the gorge area, the river roars through a narrow canyon/tube, but at the natural bridge area, the river disappears underground for a short bit. The water levels were high when we saw it, so it didn’t totally disappear, but it was still impressive.

The next day we worked on stuff around the camper for a while before heading out to check out Mill Creek Falls. It was a beautiful waterfall dropping into the Rogue River and the hike around there was through thick forest. We also hiked up the Avenue of the Boulders (huge boulder in and along the river). The water is rushing this time of year, so it was impressive and intimidating!

The last night at the campground we finally got to use one of the fire color packets that the kids bought back in Canada! And the next morning, we found a tree fort – yes, Reece is in that tree picture!

We’re liking Oregon!

It’s been a busy stretch, so I haven’t been posting – sorry! I’ll be doing several posts over the next week or so to catch up, so check back.

From Napa we drove up to Redding, CA. We spent a couple nights at the parking lot of the Shasta Rock Club (a Harvest Host location). We met a young couple from Colorado who was also parked/camped there and were headed up to Alaska. They had an issue with their trailer that Matt jumped in to help with and then followed them to the shop early the next morning. We found out that the shop was able to help and they were on their way later that day!

We headed up to Lassen National Park that day. It was rainy and chilly, but that’s the day we had to do it! We got warm beverages on the ride up and took a beautiful drive on some backroads since we found out that the visitor center we intended to go to wasn’t open on that day. So, we had to drive around to the south side to access the open Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center. It’s at about 6,700 feet, so the landscape was changing and the temperature was dropping as we went. We knew the road through the park was closed because of winter conditions, but we didn’t expect it to actually snow on us while we were there! After checking out the visitor center we bundled up and walked the road up to Sulphur Works – a geothermal area with mud pots and steaming vents. It was fun to walk in lots of snow (for us, but actually considerably less snow pack than they usually have at this time of year), and stinky when we go to the vents.

The next day we headed out from Redding and were working our way to Ashland, OR. We didn’t have many exact plans, but started with a pit stop in the town of Mt. Shasta. We got bread, baked goods, and coffee at Bob’s Oven Bakery. It was a small, but tasty, and friendly operation. When Claire mentioned wanting to be a baker, they gave us a tour of the bakery, and Matt had to go get his camera to check out the temperature on their wood fired oven where everything was cooked.

Then we stopped by the visitor center and the helpful woman there suggested a hike by Lake Siskiyou – Box Canyon Hike with a car graveyard. It was a beautiful hike and a surprisingly large car graveyard with numerous rusty cars and washing machines strewn across the hillside where you were hiking. She said long ago people just threw stuff over the hillside to dispose it in that particular area.

From there we drove over to Pluto’s Cave on the northeast side of Shasta. It was recommended by a guy from the company Matt had worked at in Napa. It was off the beaten path a bit, and we were just able to park the van and camper off the side of the road at the trailhead. We hiked in to check out a stinky, bird/bat poop covered, graffitied tunnel in the ground. It was gross. We walked through and out and headed back to the van disappointed. But on the walk back we were convinced that we had missed something, so we checked the online info again and headed back. This time we went under the arch in the opposite direction and went through an opening into a larger cave tunnel and it looked like the pictures we had seen online. Then we continued on through another opening into another cave that did not have another opening, but it did continue. The kids and I decided to turn back once we started not being able to see light from the entrance, but Matt decided to continue for another 10 minutes or so and the cave just kept going. It was crazy! We’re glad we went back.

We continued on towards Ashland, OR via beautiful high prairie roads with mountains in the background. Upon arrival in Ashland, we had a quick turnaround to eat dinner, change clothes, and head to a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We saw “Come From Away” – it was absolutely fabulous! (The director’s notes on the link are particularly appropriate for these days, so check it out!)

There are lots more Oregon adventures to share, so check back soon!