#32 Astoria

Astoria was really fun. When my parents were living in Cape Cod and were scheduled to be transferred they picked Astoria as one of their top places to go. They ended up in San Diego which is cool, but Astoria would have been fun too.

One of the main things I wanted to do while we were in Astoria was get some Chinese food! I had been craving it really bad. We checked out a few Chinese restaurants while we were there. They all seemed pretty gross so I had to save my craving for another day.

While we were in Astoria I of course wanted to see the Goonies house. Jordan doesn't even like the movie and I've only seen it once when I was in college so it wasn't a childhood favorite of either of ours. The house could have looked like anything and I wouldn't have known whether or not it was from the Goonies ;).

We went down to some docks that had a Coast Guard boat. We were hoping to get a tour, but no such luck.

Astoria tower was really cool! It was a really nice day which made for some beautiful views.

They had little wooden planes you could buy to throw off of the tower. We collected as many as we could find on the ground before heading up. It was fun to see how far we could get them to go. And we also tried getting them to fly down in tight little circles.

You can see the bridge in the background where we rode with that man in the RV from Washington.

#31 Fort Stevens State Park

After Ocean Shores we took a couple of days to go down into Oregon. We were at a library and overheard a man talking about needing to get to Portland. We were at least heading South to Oregon so we decided to give him a ride. He was an interesting guy. Definitely a talker. I was a little nervous about giving a stranger a ride, but he seemed pretty harmless and we felt good about it. I did, however, keep my pepper spray on my seat the whole time, just in case.

Entering Oregon! I was really excited to go to Oregon. It was my first time here and back in 2009 when Jordan and I were dating he started in Astoria and biked the entire Oregon coast all the way down to California. So I think he was excited to show me all the places he had been.

We spent two days in Astoria. There was a lot to do and see! We spent the whole first day at Fort Stevens State Park. We checked out Shipwreck beach and the old military forts.

This fort was really cool. It was two stories and had lots of little rooms to explore.

Shipwreck Beach was one of my favorite places. I had seen pictures of it before so I was excited to finally see the boat in person. Its pretty cool. 

We also did more bird watching at Fort Stevens State Park. Saw a lot of little shore birds I had a hard time properly identifying :)

#30 Aberdeen

After leaving Forks and the Olympic Peninsula we headed down the coast on the 101. 

We spent the night on a dirt road pull off in the middle of nowhere in dense forest. The next day was Sunday so we got ready for church. I felt really silly getting ready in the church parking lot and then climbing out and walking into the church building. We had a crazy surprise as we sat down to sacrament meeting. Jordan's old friend from high school was in that ward! Pretty crazy. Their ward was fairly small and they obviously didn't get new people very often, especially young couples like us. Everyone was very hopeful in asking if we had moved to Aberdeen. 

After church they invited us to their house  to spent the day with them and for dinner. Here we have Brooke and Aaron (Mom and Dad), Emma, Heidi, Gracie, Megan (girls, oldest to youngest), and Carter. 

We had so much fun with this wonderful family and were sad to say goodbye. So are their kids, apparently. 

My birthday was a couple months back on our trip and we finally ordered my birthday present and had it sent to Aberdeen. It was supposed to arrive while we were there. Jordan called the post office to ask if we could get a package delivered and they said yes and told us what address to put. We followed their instructions and wrote General Delivery on the mailing address. Well, the delivery man didn't like that. He wouldn't leave our package at the post office because it didn't have an actual street address. Oh what a headache! We drove all over Timbuktu trying to get that stupid thing. We weren't very happy. After they held our package hostage we finally got it in Cosmopolis, 20 miles out of the way. Which is a lot when you drive a slow tank.

After Aberdeen, and trying to get that dumb package, we drove to Ocean Shores. Its a fun little tourist town and you can drive your scooter on the beach! It was so much fun!

I had a bit of a scare in Ocean Shores. We spent the night next to a golf course and went for a little walk before going to bed for the night. We were walking along an unlit path next to a canal and heard a big splash. It didn't sound like an animal sliding into the water, but more like a person throwing something in saying, "Hey! I'm here!" I did let my imagination get the best of me and wanted to run back to the RV. Jordan wanted to stay and poke around to see what made the noise.

The next morning we woke up and Jordan did about 1000 donuts in the sand on his scooter at the beach before we left town

#29 Forks and Hoh Rainforest

Forks! The land of Twilight and Twilight lovers. Forks is a small town that is really trying to hold on to their Twilight fame. We had fun scooting around town and going to all the twilight-themed places. There were half a dozen stores dedicated just to selling Twilight merchandise. I'm surprised most of them have stayed open this long. We stayed the night there and of course watched Twilight that night in the RV. 

Bella's truck from the movie:

The only other thing note-worthy about Fork's was their timber museum. Jordan was geeking out on the historical timber industry artifacts.

Just outside of Fork's you can get to another part of Olympic National Park, the Hoh Rainforest.

 

That night we rode the scooter several miles down a dark forest road to the campground where we could shower. Then Jordan found an outlet at aDark city park which we used to watch twilight.

we camped in an empty lot near the center of town along the main drag. This apparently was also the spot all the teenagers go to meeting each other and then drive their cars up and down the main drag and pull over and hang out again. All the riffraff teenagers of this Tinytown hope the stylus the movie.

#28 Cape Flattery

We left Olympic National Park and kept heading around the peninsula. Cape Flattery is the farthest North West you can get in the contiguous states. To get to it, you have to buy a permit at Neah Bay, this little Native American town. We stopped at a tiny grocery store in Neah Bay. The day we were there they were having a BBQ sale. They had ribs that looked delicious and hot dogs. We were trying hard to save our money while we were on our trip and only spend a certain amount per day. I think we debated for half an hour about getting a hot dog.

The night before we went to Cape Flattery we spent the night at a pull off on the road next to the beach. I loved all of the cool foggy weather!

I'm not sure if anyone will appreciate this, but Jordan and I did such good bird watching when we went to Cape Flattery! I really wanted to see a puffin while we were there and we did! We also saw some other really cool sea birds I had never seen before: oyster catchers, all sorts of cormorants, common murres, and pigeon guillemots. 

The hike to Cape Flattery is really beautiful. You wind though trees and some dense forest and walk along little wooden boardwalks.

Jordan took this picture for his friend, Jake. It was the perfect little natural bonsai tree. 

#27 Olympic National Park and Port Angeles

After staying in Poulsbo, we continued around the peninsula to Olympic National Park. Most of the Olympic Peninsula is taken up by Olympic National Park. It was a lot different than the other national parks we had been to so far.  There's one road that goes all the way around the park but its on the outside, not actually driving through.  It dips in occasionally. If you look at a map there are a ton of trails that go into the park but they are meant for backpacking. The trails are 50-100 miles and longer.

We did one small hike that was about two miles long. By the time we were done, we were soaked through because the fog was so heavy.

Along the north side of Olympic National Park is Lake Crescent, one of our favorite places we went to. The weather was overcast while we were visiting, but not too cold. Of course, Jordan had to go for a swim.

We stayed just outside of Olympic National Park a couple of days. One night in Port Angeles and one night along the beach so we went back up to Lake Crescent a few times. The first day there it was quite overcast. We went to Lake Crescent Lodge and they had canoes and kayaks you could rent and take out on the lake. There was also a dock to hang out on or jump off if you're Jordan. I think everyone at the lodge thought we were crazy. The weather made it seem much colder than it actually was. I didn't get in the water the first day, but we went back the next day. The weather had brightened up a bit and the water was actually quite warm. 

The water was also very clear! As we were driving around the park, we pulled over and there was a little bridge, again, for Jordan to jump off. The bridge was at a bend in the road so you couldn't see Jordan until you were right up on him. I was walking around a little ways away on the shore and Jordan called me over. As I'm walking up to him, and he is standing on the side of the bridge, and officer pulls up behind Jordan with his lights on. It was too quick for my brain to make a connection and say anything. And right as Jordan is jumping in the water the officer blips his siren. Too late! Jordan was in the water. I'm sure the officer thought Jordan did it on purpose. It was pretty funny. Jordan didn't get in trouble. The officer just asked him not jump any more since the cars couldn't see him until they were right up on us.  

Here is what a lot of the park looked like. Huge trees covered in moss. I loved it. Everything was green and wet.

Port Angeles was a pretty small town. While we were there it was very foggy and felt quite eerie. It was suprisingly active at night too. We've been noticing that about all these small towns we've been to. A ton of people seem to be walking around at night. I guess there isn't much to do.  We walked around town and went to the docks and watched the boats and listened to the fog horns. We also ran into some friendly raccoons! They lived in a big pile of rocks that was along the water. I got pretty close to them and was glad there was a fence between us.

#26 - Poulsbo, Washington

It's been so long since we've done all this but I wanted to finish writing about our trip! We left Uncle Tad and Aunt Kim's house and Seattle on August 12 to head to the coast and go around the sound and the Olympic Peninsula.

We went to this cute little touristy town along the water, Poulsbo, with colorful houses and a ton of different bakeries.  They were even having a little concert in the park right on the water. We got some treats at one of the bakeries and walked around town.

 

We picked this bakery because it had the best reviews online. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but the desserts definitely looked better than they tasted. It was still fun though.

The town had a lot of murals painted on the sides of the buildings:

When we were walking along the water we noticed all of these danger signs posted everywhere. Don't think I'll be swimming in that water!

#25 - Seattle

While we were in Issaquah we ventured to Seattle a few times. I had a few toursity things I wanted to make sure we did while we were there including The Fremont Troll, Pike's Place Market, Locks, the Gum Wall, and eat all the delicious foods.

Ever since we've been going down the coast I've been craving seafood. We got fish and chips at Iver's and fed the gulls.

Visited the gum wall. So much gross-ness.

We visited the Locks. I've never seen anything like it before. The Locks are where Lake Washington meets the sound. The lake is higher than the ocean so when boats are travelling through they need to be lifted or lowered so they can keep moving. 

 

 

Fremont Troll

Katie, Jordan, and I went to a wooden boat museum.

And to Gasworks Park

Pike's Place Market

We really loved Seattle. I got kind of a bad taste in my mouth for large cities after our Vancouver adventure. It was a big change to be able to drive a car into the city instead of the scooter or the RV. All the cities around Seattle were really beautiful, too.