Alaska to California Part 5: Oregon (and a bit of Washington again)

One of our travel goals is to visit every State. We decided to check Oregon off our list during this move. It made sense, especially since we were so close. A friend recommended we go to Multanomah Falls, and it turned out to be a fantastic suggestion because the falls are absolutely beautiful.

The desk clerk at our hotel suggested we drive the Fruit Loop, a scenic drive through the Hood River Valley that takes you past orchards, farms, and wineries, and gives you unbelievably gorgeous views of Mount Hood. There are farm stands all along the way, although not many were open yet because it is just the beginning of the growing season. We did stop at one farm stand, where they mostly had jams and syrups made from last year's harvest. I bought a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam (for $7, much to Husband's shock, but then again he has never had strawberry rhubarb jam so he doesn't know that you can't really put a price on good jam). The farm stand had some goats in a pen nearby so of course we had to stop and say "hello" to them. Words and pictures do not come close to describing the beauty of this area. I want to live here. 

Doesn't this look like the most beautiful spot for a farm stand?

Once we finished the Fruit Loop, we drove along the Columbia River Gorge. You have a couple choices when driving along the gorge: you can take the new highway, which runs along the bottom of the gorge near the river, or you can take the old highway, which runs along the top of the gorge. I recommend taking the old highway. The views are better, and you can go at a more leisurely pace since it doesn't have a lot of traffic.

We crossed back into Washington, and on the recommendation of the same friend who suggested we visit the falls, we made a small detour to the Maryhill Stonehenge. This replica of the Stonehenge in England was completed in 1929 and is the first monument in the United States to honour those who were killed in World War I. 

We finished this portion of our travel by spending the night with some dear friends from Virginia who now live in Washington. It was great to be reunited with them for a few hours. They gave us same tips on visiting Yellowstone National Park, which you will read all about in the next post. Stay tuned. 

Alaska to California Part 4: Washington

Our ferry docked in Bellingham, Washington, and this was the end of the ride for us. We drove our car off the ferry into the mayhem that is Seattle area traffic. Gary the Elephant was pretty excited to be back behind the wheel. Our cars are older, which means they don't have the fancy technology that newer cars have. We love listening to audio books so we had to get creative. Husband's genius solution involved attaching an MP3 player to a bluetooth speaker. It worked perfectly. We listened to Education: A Memoir by Tara Westover (side note: Very interesting, but crazy book. We kept looking at each other saying "This is crazy.") The book held our attention and we often couldn't wait to get back on the road so we could listen it. 

Our first stop was to visit some old friends. We spent the afternoon and evening catching up and making plans for a future summer trip to their family lake house (H and I if you are reading this, we haven't forgotten the offer. Don't be surprised if we show up with our bathing suits one day). We had so much to catch up on that I forgot to take pictures.

From there, we headed to Mount St. Helens. This stop is out of the way, a bit of a drive off of the main highway, but it is definitely worth it. It's not every day you get to visit the site of a volcanic eruption. There is a great Visitor's Center that tells of the events leading up the eruption and also discusses the aftermath. There is a viewing platform that gives you great views of Mount St. Helens. The drive up to the Visitor's Centre was beautiful and you can get some great views of the mountain along the way.  As we drove up, we came across this valley that was covered in fog. I have never seen fog as thick as this fog. It was beautiful and slightly spooky.

Because of the fog, I was afraid we wouldn't get a good view of the mountain. The fog was isolated to that one area and as we got closer to the top of road, the sun shone brightly giving us perfect, clear weather. The landscape close to the mountain was surprisingly barren. I guess an area covered in volcanic ash makes it difficult for things to grow. Everywhere you looked you could see trees that had been destroyed by the blast. It was amazing to see the horseshoe shape that was left after the blast removed 1000 feet off the top of the mountain.

Beautiful peek at Mount Adams in the background.

Just as we were about to leave, we spotted something moving in the distance. We were surprised to see a mountain goat family hanging out on the rocks below. The babies were so cute. I wanted to take one home but Husband said we didn't have room.

If you are ever near Mount St. Helens, and by near I mean anywhere within a couple of hours of it, you should plan to visit. You will get the opportunity to experience a unique part of American history. There is a small charge to tour the visitor's center and go out on the viewing platform but trust me when I say you won't regret the time or price.

Alaska to California Part 3: Juneau and Ketchikan

Our ferry stopped in both Juneau and Ketchikan on its way down the coast. We had about 3 hours to explore each city. In Juneau we walked to a beach not far from the ferry dock. We watched porpoises swim in the water. It was so cool to see these animals move through the water. We counted at least 6 of them. They were pretty close to the shore. Husband estimates that some were as close as 25 feet from the shore. I will defer to his distance judgement, as mine is non-existent. 

As we left Juneau, we had an incredible view of Mendenhall Glacier. 

The next day we stopped in Ketchikan. I was excited for this stop because I knew there would be many totem poles in the city. I love totem poles. I think they are a very unique way to tell history. We spent our time reading about the totems poles and visiting the stores in the area.  

One of the pros for taking the ferry was being able to stop in Juneau and Ketchikan, especially since we didn't make it to either city while we were living in Fairbanks. Travel in Alaska can be difficult because a number of cities and areas are only accessible by plane or boat. There are still a couple of cities on our list that we didn't get to visit (I'm looking at you Nome and Sitka) but we were happy to be able to cross two more off of our list. Who knows, maybe we will make a trip back to visit and finish off our list.