Summer Vacation 2003 - Washington, Oregon, Northern California

As the kids were growing up, we made it a point to take summer vacations, and given the number of people, it was usually a road trip.  We frequently traveled long distances, so we had plenty of time in the car.  One popular activity was keeping a journal of our trips.  I found this while cleaning out some boxes late last year.  It contains our road trip to Oregon.

I apologize for the lack of resolution in some of the pictures, the scanner had difficulties with some colors.  And I made the images pretty big so that there's a chance you can read them. 

This was also the trip where one of my favorite pictures was taken. 

America the Beautiful Pass

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Wallace Stegner, novelist, environmentalist and historian, once said "National parks are the best idea we ever had.  Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."  I agree.  

Every year, we manage to visit at least one National Park, and when we go, we make sure to get an America the Beautiful pass.  It allows access to all the parks and any national fee site.  We may not get full value from the pass, but the money goes to a good cause.  When I retire, I'd love to devote some of my time volunteering in the parks.  

When I hear of certain individuals who "take over" national lands and demand that it be "given back to the people", I am puzzled.  As a US citizen, I own 59 National Parks, 82 National Monuments, 19 National Reserves, 50 National Historic Parks and a huge number of other public areas.  If they aren't being run the way I like, I vote.  

Buy one today.  

Disclosure:  I am not compensated in any way for any sales from the National Parks.  

Camper

When we were in St. Louis, we frequently went camping with our friends from church, Dan and Donna.  Their daughter, Rachel, was about the same age as our oldest two and they all loved to have little sleepouts in their camper. 

A few years later, Dan called us up and asked us if we wanted to buy the camper.  We agreed, and we then began dragging the kids around the country in the camper.  It went with us to Yellowstone, Glacier, Utah, Oregon, California, and many places between.  The most notable was 15-days straight when we were moving from Iowa to Washington (via the Grand Canyon). 

Now it's primarily used once or maybe twice a year.  It makes a great shelf in the garage.  This year, I had 4 days off around the 4th of July holiday, so we went camping near Mount Rainier. Deanne was able to come, and Maria and Chris came up from Oregon to visit for a bit.  It's showing its age, and there are fewer parts than there used to be, but we still enjoy getting out in the "wild". 

Hiking - Goat Lake

As a technology professional, I end up staring at screens much more that I should.  That may account for my desire to get outside when I can.  One of my favorite ways to get outside is to go on a hike.  Living in the Northwest lends itself to many spectacular hikes within a couple of hours of the house. 

On Father's Day this year, I decided we'd go on a hike to Goat Lake.  It was recommended by one of my coworkers who enjoyed it the week before.  So, I made everyone get up early, and we hit the trail. 

The trail follows Elliot Creek about 5 miles to the lake.  Along the way, the trail divided, so we went up to the lake by the creek and back down by way of the old logging road.  

We were doing fine until we were within half a mile of the lake.  We missed a switchback and ended up on a non-maintained, overgrown trail heading toward the falls.  After wandering around for a half an hour or so, we decided it was time for lunch.  We headed out to the little rocky island at the base of the falls and had our lunch.  The dog never really got relaxed, but it was a very cool place to be.

Goat Lake

After we got our energy back up, we doubled back, found our wayward trail, and made it up to the lake.  There were a couple of dozen others up there, some camping, some sleeping, some just enjoying the view like us. 

After the dog got his swim in, and we found a geocache, we headed back down.  The trail along the road was easier, but in the end, it was about 2 miles too long.  We got back to the car nice and tired and picked up some KFC on the way home. 

All in all, a good day.