Throw Back Thursday - Pacific Northwest Road Trip part 1

A few years ago, before we had kids, we went on an EPIC road trip with our best friends. The 4 of us traveled from Central California to Vancouver, BC and back over the span of 9 days. We drove close to 2,500 miles, in a van that had over 200k miles to start with and it was amazing. I am not the most outdoorsy person... to say I am the Least outdoorsy of the four us is an understatement. I think I had slept in a tent ONE night in my life before this trip and that was at the beach, where there aren't food lockers to keep the bears away. But somehow it went off without a hitch and the 4 of us still really like each other!

Our first stop was in Redding, CA at the Sundial Bridge. The design of this bridge is really neat. It is one of the largest working sundials in the world. 

 The bridge goes over the Sacramento River

    We kept going north and drove past Mount Shasta. We were heading to Oregon so we didn't stop. These pictures were taken from inside the car, ha!

We spent the night in Klamath Falls, Oregon and packed up the next morning, heading to Crater Lake National Park.

Before we got to the lake, we stopped for some pictures at Annie Gorge.

 Jeff, the Daredevil

Here is Phantom Ship, you can take a boat ride out there to explore it!

 We stopped to hike Watchman Peak, which is a fire lookout above Wizard Island. I was so shocked that even in July, there was still a good amount of snow.

 View of Wizard Island from Watchman Peak

 The next stop was a hike up Mount Scott. The elevation gain is 1,250 feet in a little over 2 miles. It was rough....

 If you look reeeeeally closely, you can see the fire lookout we were hiking to- the tallest peak at Crater Lake.  **Hint-look above the snow on the left. There is a tiiiny bump at the top, That's it!

 Breathtaking

Again, Jeff, the Daredevil

 Going on hikes always makes me feel sooo small. It is so nice to break away from my own world, go see nature and gain some perspective.

 We made it! I think the hike was hardest for me, but we all made it to the top!

 We weren't done yet! We found some waterfalls to visit too! Vidae Falls was beautiful.

 Ahh, our home for the night. Yup, all 4 of us cozied up in this bad boy for several nights throughout this trip.

 On our third day, we traveled through Oregon and up to Seattle, Washington.   We made a few stops in Oregon including going to the University of Oregon for a bit and to Multnomah Falls.

God's creation.....Breathtaking

More to come from Seattle.......