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We stayed in three different campgrounds as we made our way south through the northern California/Redwood area: Hiouchi RV Park, Sounds of the Sea, and Albion River Campground. Here are reviews of all three: Hiouchi RV Park Price: $31/night Location: Just outside the entrance to Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, a 10 mile drive from Crescent City Site description: gravel……
What is it about majestic, ancient trees that they seem to embody wisdom? There are abundant examples in literature and film where aged trees become characters in the plot in some way. They are almost always mature, wise, and deeply respected. Walking through a redwood forest, where the tall canopy obliterates any view of sky or sun, gave me a……
Heading south into California, our first stop was at the visitor center for Redwood National Park, which was surprisingly located downtown in Crescent City. What we hadn’t realized before is that, rather than being a national park with clearly defined boundaries, controlled entrances and all that we’ve come to expect from national parks, Redwood is actually a national park and……
Sparkling and radiant blue and surrounded by rugged cliffs, Crater Lake is instantly captivating and breathtakingly beautiful. We visited Crater Lake National Park on a sunny Saturday and spent the day exploring the park and once again marveling at God’s amazing handiwork. We drove the loop around the lake, which seems to be very popular with cyclists, and stopped at……
In Portland we got to visit more friends from Sweden, the Lanns. At this point, about halfway into the trip, we were ready for a break. A sort of vacation from our vacation. Jonas and Greta were so generous as to be our home base for a little travel reboot. We stayed 3 nights (2 full days). The original plan……
As we headed south from Seattle toward Portland, we realized that Mt. Rainier wasn’t far off of our route. Since we needed a stop somewhere to break up the drive anyway, we decided to make Mt. Rainier that stop. We found a campground online called Mineral Lake Resort, and from the website it looked like a great place. And that……
Assuming that our trip is 10,000 miles (which we’re now thinking is a pretty big underestimate), then 5,000 miles would be the halfway point distance-wise. Our trip odometer reached 5,000 miles exactly on September 24, not far from Mt. Rainier in Washington. If our trip is 90 days (which seems like it’s probably a pretty good estimate) then the halfway……
Often when we visit friends, we are able to set up the camper in their driveway or yard. But since our friends in Seattle live in an apartment, we needed to find a campground. There weren’t a lot of options available, and because the Seattle KOA is actually located in Kent where our friends live, we chose the KOA. It……
Ah, Seattle. Home of the Space Needle, Boeing Airplanes, the original Starbucks, and our good friends, the Christs. Keegan and Becka used to work with us for Young Life in Sweden, and are now working for Young Life in Kent, WA. Their daughter is about 8 months older than Emelie, and their son just 5 days older than Peter. It……
Next in the American City Pronunciation Challenge: Spokane, Washington. I had to explain to Staffan that while phonetically he was right to say “Spo-cane”, the name of the city is actually “Spo-can”. Our visit in Spokane was short and uneventful. While we were driving from Deer Lodge, our friends in Seattle called. His mom lives in Spokane – would we……
After Yellowstone, our next real destination was to visit our friends in the Seattle area. But it was much too far for us to drive straight there, so we broke the trip up into three legs with two “en route” nights in between. Our long day-trip to the Tetons turned into a late night, which meant a sluggish morning getting……
While we explored Yellowstone and the Tetons, we stayed at Hideaway RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana. Here’s our review of this small but charming campground. Price: $31.50 per night Location: Easy access from West Yellowstone to the west entrance of Yellowstone NP. We found Hideaway to be central enough to have easy access, but outside of the downtown enough……
While still camped in West Yellowstone, we took a day trip to Grand Teton National Park. When Staffan took a solo trip out west more than 10 years ago, one of his most memorable moments was when he first saw the Tetons as he drove to Grand Teton from Yellowstone. He describes pulling over and sitting on the hood of……
Most mornings, when Emelie wakes up, she asks the same questions: Is it morning? Did the sun come up today? Where are we? Where are we going today? On the day we were leaving Billings to drive to Yellowstone, she was very excited by the answer to that last question. “Yellowstone! Yay! That sounds very, very fun!” We thought it……
Why Billings? Because with just a short detour off of our planned route, we were able to visit with friends that we hadn’t seen for years. We met their kids, introduced them to ours, and had a really nice time catching up. We met Julia when we were all working at Kirkwood together in 2000. The next year, when she……
