Washington to Oregon

Seattle forcast:
90% chance of rain before 11 and then rain showers in the afternoon. In the evening 80% chance of rain with rain continuing overnight.

So we left Seattle in the rain and drove down to Portland to see Isaac's sister, Sara. We took a small tour of gelato shops in Portland (just sampling this time!). We think we finally found a shop that made some of their own bases in house. We're not sure as the woman working in the store seemed kind of like she didn't know what she was talking about (but she was very nice). We then left to pick Sara up from work and headed out to her new house near Tigard, OR.

Sara and Pete have a beautiful new house and an even more beautiful new baby, Lucas. (And a charming new pup, Bowser). We hung out with them for a few days just sticking around the house on Friday and then taking the pups to the most awesome dog park on Saturday. I should say, it wasn't just a dog park, it was a system of trails on which it was legal to have your pup off leash. The trails included a beach on the Sandy river. Oh man, did the pups have fun there!

On the way back we stopped at Multnomah Falls (I think that's how you spell it) and joined the crowds for a look at a really beautiful waterfall. It was a spectacularly sunny day in Oregon which was a welcome treat for us!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to the family and made our way down to Bend with a brief detour to Vancouver, WA to see an old friend of mine, Sarah, and her family. We had a nice lunch with them and I got the grand tour of the place from Audrey her four- year- old. Then off to Bend!

Bend is a cute town--reminds me a lot of Flagstaff. We had dinner at the Bend Brewery (one of several in town) and made our way out to the camping spot for Smith Rock State Park. The next two days we spent exploring Smith Rock. Unfortunately I had an attack of the migraines on Monday which limited my activity, but Tuesday was super fun. I should say it was really hot in Bend. Daytime temps reached 85 degrees which was about 20 degrees warmer than Portland. I, for one, wasn't expecting such a huge difference! We hiked a lot and climbed a little. We met some really nice people and enjoyed the beauty of Smith. The one big downer to Smith is their strict policy on dogs. Dogs must be leashed and they can't be left tied to anything. So if there are two people climbing, I guess the belayer must hold onto the dog and the rope? Kind of stupid, but oh well. Luckily we have the greatest most well-behaved dog on the planet and we escaped without a huge fine!

On Wednesday we left Bend for Boise, ID. We stopped at the Sierra Trading Post outlet and spent a few hours shopping (this time it was Isaac!) Our camping options near town weren't looking so good so we got ourselves a hotel room and found some Indian food. Boise is much more metropolitan than I had expected. It's quite a large city and even on a Wednesday night, downtown was hoppin'! We hope to see a little more of it today.

After this it's off to Salt Lake City and then Flagstaff. Kind of sad to be ending our trip!

Montana to Washington

Hello all!
Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We left Whitefish, MT and headed for the coast. We decided to take the scenic route through the northern part of Washington taking Highway 20 through North Cascades NP. The drive was beautiful, albeit pretty wet. We stopped along the way first to camp, then to get some fresh apples and other fruits from a Washington orchard, and then to take a gander at the Shafer Museum in Winthrop, WA. Shafer being Isaac's last name (although he spells it with two fs), he was curious as to what the museum had to offer. Unfortunately, the museum proper was closed, but we cruised around the grounds a bit. They had a pretty amazing collection of turn of the century artifacts for a po-dunk little museum in the middle of nowhere. Winthop itself was a museum of sorts itself. It looked like it was straight out of a wild west movie set.

We made our way through the Cascades to the I5 which would take us down to Seattle. Our goals in Seattle were threefold: visit my brother, Paul, and his family; go over to the Olympic Peninsula; and see some gelato shops in Seattle. As soon as we hit the I5 I was reminded of why I don't ever want to live in a big city. Ughh the traffic! The difference in the time it takes to travel from north of Seattle to south of Seattle with and without traffic is about 1 hour. A whole hour of your life because of traffic! Of course we hit it just at rush hour too which didn't help matters! Welcome to the city!

The first of our goals proved to be the most difficult as Paul, his wife Jennie, and their youngest son Kyle lead really busy lives. We managed to get in some hang out time in the evenings though. It was nice to see some family and meet the family dog, Boomer. Rizo wasn't as thrilled with Boomer as we were, but by the end of the first evening, even she was warming up to him!

We went to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park on Tuesday. Unfortunately we left at a rather late hour in the morning and weren't able to do as much hiking as we would have liked, but it was beautiful all the same. The trees and moss were amazing as was the giant elk that just appeared out of the mist about 15 feet in front of us! We saw signs everywhere warning us about the elk and we had a good laugh at them (every park has to have its dangerous animals--Yellowstone has bears and bison, Glacier has bears and moose, Olympic has....elk). After seeing his ability to hide in such thick brush, however; we began to understand the warnings! We ended our day at the beach with a beautiful sunset and made the long drive back to my brother's.

On Wednesday we lazed around the house playing with the pups and then made our way into Seattle to conduct some business---ice cream business. Our first stop was Molly Moon's ice cream in Wallingford. Molly Moon's had some impressive flavors--Balsamic Strawberry, Honey Lavender, and Sweet Corn to name a few. The ice cream was good. They have their base made for them at Snoqualmie Dairy (I think). So still not exactly what I had in mind as far as homemade, but pretty close I guess. We then walked down the street to the Fainting Goat gelato shop. This shop is owned by a delightful Turkish couple. They were so friendly and helpful when we asked them about their business. Eating their gelato re-affirmed our belief that gelato is the way to go. It is just so much tastier than ice cream. Unfortunately for me, they also have a pre-made base that they use for their product. The same one, in fact, that the folks in Grand Junction were using. Apparently it is unreasonable to think we would be able to make our own (at least that's what folks tell us). Our final stop was D'Ambrosio Gelateria, but by this time, my belly was telling me that I had eaten too much! Isaac and I didn't plan this research very well. We both ordered single scoops of ice cream at the first two locations (kiddie cups at Molly Moon's), but the scoops at these places were enormous! I had to pass on the third, but Isaac was a trooper and managed to get a taste. Never again! We had ice cream hangovers by the time we got into the car to return to my brother's place. We didn't get to speak to the owner or gelato maker at the last stop, so we're not really sure of their ingredients, but I'm going to guess they use the same base as the rest.

We ended our stay in Seattle with a nice dinner at Salty's with my brother. I felt that Isaac needed to get some seafood while we were here and they actually offered vegetarian fare. Today we'll pack up our things and head down for more family time (and more gelato) in Portland. Isaac's sister and her family live not far from Portland in Newberg, OR.

Oh yes, and we added more pics to the Picasa site, so click the link in the previous post to see a little of our Olympic NP trip.