join us on our adventure as we visit all of the lower 48 states in one year!
Our week in the state of Washington was amazing and exhausting. Mt. Rainier. Mt. St. Helens. Olympia. Olympic National Park. And finally, Spokane. So many beautiful sites and so many miles of lush, green amazingness, a few whale tails and then, as we headed east, the familiar mountain desert that reminded us of home in Colorado. What a unexpectedly beautiful and memorable trip!
Continue reading “Week 7 – Top 5 Memories of Washington State”
Oregon was one of the states that none of us had been to, but all of us had high hopes and expectations for. There is no doubt that this state is amazing… We just were unable to view it as we had hope we could. There were wildfires burning up the southern half of the state. Our tires suddenly decided not to be tires and the coast decided it didn’t want to let the sun kiss our skin. Despite our sob story, we had a great time and now know that there is even more beauty to behold when we get a chance to come back in the future.
Willie Nelson.
Most everyone is familiar with his hit song, On the Road Again. You know…
“On the road again. I just can’t wait to get on the road again. The life I love is makin’ music with my friends. And I can’t wait to get on the road again. On the road again, goin’ places that I’ve never been, seein’ things that I may never see again…Like a band of Gypsies we go down the highway…”
This is pretty much the theme song for our life right now. Seriously.
We dropped down from Lake Tahoe into Sacrament for the first leg of our stay in California. From their, the state made it to the top of Izabella’s list. Mainly because of our trips to the ocean. She has always been a lover of water. Drinking or otherwise. Kari used to call her our water baby. But she also loved Redwood National Park. Along the way, we saw tide pools, did some boogie boarding and pigged out a sweet burger joint.
It sounds strange, but we were excited to escape to Nevada to get away from the heat. Back in Hurricane, Utah, we saw temps around 120 degrees! So heading northwest to the sub-100 degree heat near Great Basin National Park was a treat! Plus, who can argue with the beauty of Great Basin National Park, the Lehman Caves and Lake Tahoe?!? Not us!
Week 3 was definitely a treat as we made our way south from Idaho into Utah. It was a bit of a haul going from Clayton, Idaho to Salt Lake City Utah – but along the way we had some fun surprises that made it a bit more bearable!
A funny thing happened as we were driving through Nevada down the “Loneliest Highway”. As I was staring down the road for what seemed like endless miles, off in the distance I saw something. The road appeared to be turning into water straight ahead of us. As I focused more intensely, wanting to make sure to keep Zeke, Gipzee and the family in a safe place, the water seemed to never get closer. After a few minutes, I came back to reality and realized it was an optical illusion. It was kind of like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I think Bugs called it a “miragee”. As the miles passed by in my rear view mirror, the “water” staying safely off in the foreground, something occurred to me. This “miragee” was much like life.
Week 2 started with a LONG, HOT drive from Wyoming to Boise Idaho. One thing to remember for any rookies like us out there, letting GPS estimate your time of arrival can be very deceiving. If your top speed is 70, but GPS calculates on a speed limit of 80, you get a bit of a discrepancy…
After a ton of planning, preparing, cleaning, packing and waiting, the day had finally come. It was finally time to hitch up Gipzee, fire up Zeke and motor up I-25 from Castle Rock to Cheyenne. Or, more importantly, it was finally time for our epoch. Our new beginning. Our life. Revised. With a pug and a chicken no less.
So, it arrived. The big day finally arrived. Ten days ago, from the time I am writing this, our new season in this journey of life started.
June 18, 2018, our 52 week, 48 state adventure began.