Pacific Northwest Summer Travels

It would be a shame to skip last year's family reunion, since it's always one of the highlights of my year, so I will do my best to give some kind of recounting of it.

The family reunion was held in Sequim, Washington last year. Because this is in easy enough driving distance from here in Utah, it was determined that all of us from this area, meaning me and my siblings with their families, would simply drive up. After the proposal of several driving schemes, it was eventually determined that Mom and Dad would fly in to Salt Lake, then would ride up to Idaho with me in my car. From there, we'd pick up Grandma and her car and drive together to Washington. Mom and Dad decided that after the reunion, they would swing up into Canada with Grandma and Aunt Merina.

For me, half the fun of the trip was simply getting to the reunion. We didn't hurry there, but made several scenic stops along the way. In Idaho, we first stopped at Shoshone Falls. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was really beautiful! The falls are very dramatic and I guess we managed to visit them at a good time because they had a lot of water. Honestly, I think I found them more impressive than Niagara, because they have a similar feel, are much less crowded, and aren't a total cliche. I've been in Idaho many times, but I never had any idea such a beautiful place existed in the state.

Malad Gorge

Farther down the road, we went to Malad Gorge, which was a pretty interesting place. Unfortunately, I'm too terrified of heights to actually go on the bridge which gives you a good view of the Devil's Washbowl, but I did get to see some nice views of the beautiful blue/green river further down the canyon.

Next, we made a detour into Hell's Canyon, which is apparently the deepest canyon in the US. This was billed as a cool place, but we found it to be mostly a bust. It probably is cool if you do one of the jet boat tours up the river where you can see some impressive canyon views and a lot of wildlife. We just did a lot of driving on poor roads and didn't end up seeing much canyon. Worse yet, in trying to get to a viewpoint that was supposedly better, we spent a while on the most terrifying road I've ever been on. It was a narrow dirt road with a sheer drop on the uphill side. It was very hard on the car and even worse on me with my fear of heights! We didn't even get to see much on it, since the "good" viewpoint was quite far up and we had a long way to go to get to a decent hotel that day. Overall, I wished we'd skipped it and spent more time in one of the nicer areas.

The next day, we went to church in Oregon before driving through  the Columbia River Gorge. It was really interesting approaching from the east because the rain shadow effect was so evident. For a long way along the Columbia, it was totally dead and barren. Then everything started getting all nice and green all of a sudden.

Latourell Falls

We stopped first at Multnomah Falls, which I'd long wanted to see after finding a picture many years ago of Grandma and Grandpa visiting there. It was very beautiful, but it was also quite crowded because it is easily accessed from the interstate. After seeing it, we drove up further and got on the scenic road. First we stopped at Crown Point and got a fantastic view of up the river. Then we went to Latourell Falls, which has really fascinating basalt formations and some interesting moss, followed by Shepard's Dell and Bridal Veil Falls. I think I liked Bridal Veil best because it was a little more tucked away, and the slightly longer hike probably made it less crowded. Plus, those falls also had more water than most of the others we saw. Even that hike was pretty short and it was the longest of all of them. It was crazy how close most of those waterfalls were from the road. In under half a mile, you were in full view of a fantastic waterfall. There were quite a few waterfalls we missed and we could have spent a lot more time at each one, but were pressed for time, so we had to keep it relatively short. I would really like to go back and see more of the river gorge some day. It seemed right up my alley!

Bridal Veil Falls

That night, Paul and Marinda met us at the hotel. Poor little Rawley had gotten painfully constipated because of eating a weird traveling diet and sitting so long, so he was having a rough time of it. Fortunately, he was able to get relatively comfortable after some simple remedies like prune juice.

The next day, we went and spent some time with Mom's Aunt Bang who lives north of Seattle. It was enjoyable to spend some time catching up with that family and learning more about family history from her. Her family also filled us in on some good tips about vacationing in that area.

The day after, we took Rawley and went to the family reunion location in Sequim while Paul and Marinda did a getaway somewhere in the area. Most of the family was there already, though Gerrit and Elisabeth came in quite late that day with their family and Brad arrived in the middle of the night. It was fun getting to hang out with the family again. Our cabin was also quite nice with a decent view looking down into the Puget Sound when it was clear. Unfortunately, there were quite a few wildfires in the area that greatly diminished visibility while we were there. Still, we spent a decent amount of time just eating and talking on the front porch.

Sol Duc Falls

On the first day of the reunion, we drove into Olympic National Park and hiked to Sol Duc falls. This was another lovely waterfall. It was unique because it had three spouts. I really liked it a lot. It had a very Northwest feeling to it with a lot of surrounding greenery.

After seeing the waterfall, a lot of people in the family were interested in seeing Forks because it was the setting for Twillight, but that held little interest for me, so I went with Steve and Merina and we did some hiking around the area instead. The little trail we took wasn't super impressive, but it was nice and even nicer was getting to talk to my aunt and uncle for a while. I really like them both a lot. Not only are they very interesting, they are also incredibly attentive toward and supportive of others. You always feel better about yourself and about life in general when you spend time with them. I don't know exactly how they generate that feeling, but it is a quality they have which I hope to emulate. After we did a bit of hiking, Merina wanted to get back to do a bit of shopping and then start prepping dinner. I don't remember much else of note happening that day, besides just spending time with the family.

The next day, everyone wanted to take it kind of easy. We started out with visiting a little lavender farm just down the road from our cabin. Afterwards, we went to Dungeness State Park to wander out onto the beach. I'm not a huge beach person myself, but Dad did discover a cool red starfish along the way which he showed us all. I guess there is a lighthouse out there you can walk to also. Steve and Merina did that with Paul and Marinda after I left to go home. Once everyone was satisfied with beach time, we went to lunch at a golf club in the area. It had a cool totem pole motif I enjoyed. I just think totem poles are awesome from a design standpoint.  Once lunch was done, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. That was an interesting area, but sadly, the smoke from the fires almost entirely obscured the view. Clearly, it would have been fantastic on a good day! Even in the less than optimal conditions, we enjoyed walking along the ridge trail there. We got to see some nice lupine in bloom and also a grouse of some kind perched in a tree. Missing out on a good view at Hurricane Ridge is one of the things that really makes me want to return to this national park some day.

On my last day at the reunion, we traveled out to La Push to start off the day. Everyone who went to Forks had seen it a few days prior and had come back raving about how interesting it was. Sadly, when I went, it was very smoky/foggy, so it was only kind of interesting. I did see a Bald Eagle there, so that was sweet. Afterwards, we drove over to Hoh Rainforest. That was quite and interesting place. All the moss growing on the trees was quite unique. That whole area definitely had a prehistoric feel to it. Fortunately, no raptors emerged, and there was nary a spitter to be seen! Pretty much everyone was ready to head back after the rainforest, but there was still daylight left and it was my last day, so I wasn't ready to quit. Mom and Dad were nice enough to accommodate me. I'd been wanting to see Marymere Falls near Lake Crescent, but we'd never gotten to it. We arrived there as the sun was beginning to set. Through a combination of running and fast walking, I managed to make it to the falls in time and Dad got there before dark too, though Mom didn't get all the way there since she started a little later and wasn't in such a hurry. It wasn't the best waterfall of the trip, by any means, but it felt appropriate to me to end a Pacific Northwest vacation with one last waterfall. Plus, the hike there was long enough to feel like something of an accomplishment and hardly anyone else was on the trail since it was near dusk.

Early the next morning, I started back for Idaho Falls with Lance and Skye's family. Everyone but Lance was asleep for the first few hours, but it was nice getting to spend some extra time with that family for a while. I also got to meet Skye's parents because we stopped there for lunch, so that was fun. We were in Idaho Falls in time for Sunday, so I went to church with Lance and Skye's family before driving home that day. It would have been nice to spend a little extra time in Washington and then to go on to Canada with part of the family, but everyone basically got sick after we left, so I guess I didn't miss too much.

Having spent some time in the Pacific Northwest in the past few years, I've determined that it is a place that I would enjoy living in at some point in my life. It's very beautiful and offers a lot of awesome outdoor activities. But for now, I'm glad that I got to spend some good time there with some pretty great people!