Week 10, Southern Washington and Oregon

Welcome to week 10 with less reading and more pictures.  On the plate for the week- Southern Washington and Oregon.  The rain was crucial at the start of the week, but the only real damage it did was prevent a good view of Mount Rainier.  Once again, Allen, Bub and I have made it home safe and this is been written from the best of my memory.    

Here is a quick rundown of the week

Monday October 10th- Recovery day from Seattle and Vancouver 

Tuesday October 11th- Mount Rainier

Wednesday October 12th- Mount St. Helen's and Portland

Thursday October 13th- Portland

Friday October 14th- Waterfalls and Casino

Saturday October 15th- Oregon Coast

Sunday October 16th- Crater Lake National Park

Mount Rainier

After taking a whole day to regroup and staying at a really cool campground on a river near Olympia, Washington, we hit Mount Rainier National Park on the way down the west coast.  The Pacific Northwest is known for the rain, and combine it with the fog and we couldn't hardly see anything.  You could obviously tell that there was a mountain somewhere in the fog, but below is what we saw.  Bub had been to Seattle and the surrounding area a few summers ago and tried to go to Mount Rainier with no luck so we realized this wasn't just a one time thing.

The best shot of Mount Rainier

   

Mount St. Helen's and Trailer Parks

After Mount Rainier, Allen Bub and I ventured on in the general direction of Mount St. Helen's, just an hour or two south of Mount Rainier.  We couldn't find any campgrounds in the big RV book or by phone, so we said, "hey let's drive until we drive up on a campground."   We passed a sign for an RV park and pull in.  This looked more like a trailer park, but the manager said they had open spots for one night so why not give it a try.  We parked and realized, yep, we were definitely staying in a trailer park with people who live there full time.  With campers, you can obviously tell who is staying at the campground for only a couple nights (pull in the night of, don't set up much, and pull out the next day) and people who actually live there (flowers outside, patio furniture, decorations, etc.)

So all campgrounds have community bathrooms that we usually use.  Note I said campgrounds, not trailer parks.  The manager told me that he only let the permanent residents use the bathrooms because in the past, others have destroyed them.  "Hold on, what?  What good can come out of destroying a bathroom?"  I couldn't imagine someone actually doing this.  His response?  "I have had people rip the sinks off the wall and tear the shower heads off."  I didn't have a good comeback so I paid and walked back to my camper. 

In Seattle, we ran into a similar situation where we pulled into a trailer park/ campground looking for a place to stay.  There ended up being no open spots at this specific campground but Bub talked to a guy who lived there full time.  He didn't work there, but filled us in on the campground/ trailer park.  We almost got stuck backing the camper up in a tight spot and the guy was impressed with Allen backing up the camper to get out of a tight spot.  The following conversation actually happened.    

Bub:  How's it going?

Random Guy:  Awww pretty good, how you guys doing?

Bub:  Good, we were looking for a place to stay tonight, are there any spots open?

RG:  No, this is more of a permanent spot to live, not a nightly thing.

Bub:  Oh ok, well we might find another place to stay tonight.

RG:  Your friend over there can back up a camper pretty well.

Bub:  Yea, he knows what he's doing.

RG:  Wish I did, I have trouble backing my camper up.  I backed mine in here about 2 years ago and decided it was easier just to stay here instead of going somewhere else and backing up again, so, I haven't left.
Bub:  (Unsure what to say)  Well this seems like a great place, thanks for the help.   

Mount St. Helen's went off in the late 1980s and completely wreaked havoc on the area.  The top of the volcano was much higher prior to the eruption but sunk down about a thousand feet when it erupted.  We drive up to the visitor's center and checked out the vantage point.  The mountain had snow partway up and made for some good pics.  Afterwards, we wander in to the gift shop and realize a Mount St. Helen's movie is about to start.  This 20 minute video gave a quick history lesson of the volcano and then showed what happened during the last eruption.  The movie ended, the screen came up and the entire wall was glass with a direct view of Mount St. Helen's.  We had just taken 20 pictures of it a few minutes ago and were still in awe of its beauty.  I have to get one of those theaters/ view of Mount St. Helen's at my house.  Best Buy is bound to have them.  

Let's bounce back to the recovery day on Monday to a thrift store visit.  Not only did I add another blazer to the collection, but I also found a $2 Aerosmtih Greatest Hits CD.  10 weeks in and the first CD is finally played in the truck.  Allen and I stumbled across this huge sombrero for $5.  This thing was too cool to pass up, so paper-rock-sissors and the loser had to buy it.  I won the game, but almost regret doing it because the hat turned out to be a hit.  This thing is so big that is has to be folded down when going through doors. 

Portland

Portland receives an incomplete on the report card due to plenty of rain.  What we saw of it was awesome, and the city itself was clean and situated right on the river very close to the Washington and Oregon border.  We stayed in Portland two nights, the second night basically because I was having an extra debit card sent to me.  Where did the other one go?  I have no idea, and my inability to keep up with personal items only hurt us in this instance.  I had already lost my credit card earlier in the trip so I was down to only my checkbook and the money left in my wallet.  I decided against using my checkbook the entire rest of the trip and instead rejoined the 21st century with the plastic by having a replacement sent overnight to the campground.    

Yea, and speaking of campgrounds, I had a serious beef with the one we stayed at in Portland.  I showed up the morning after arriving to pay for my spot for the night.  Since I had no credit card or debit card, I figured I would just pay with cash.  Well, this campground didn't accept cash.  (That is not a typo)  I attempted to pay someone cash because I owed them money and they wouldn't accept my money.  So wait a minute, you don't take cash?  I was almost in shock and didn't even know what to say to the lady.  She was not a very nice person to begin with and I didn't even feel like arguing with her so Bub threw in his card and took care of business.  Hmmm, you don't accept cash, what nonsense.  

Portland reminded me of Asheville but on a bigger scale- a cool, happening city with a good music and beer scene downtown.  Portland is a pretty big city population wise, but it didn't have a big city feel to it.  Maybe Portland will get a mulligan sometime during the travels.  On a side note, Bub did make a crucial purchase in a vintage jean jacket.  He had been searching all trip for one and has been living the dream ever since.  All denim with the American flag bandana is the only way a patriot should travel these days.  Throw in that mean mustache he has and he is a force to be reckoned with.  

Bub's Canadian Tuxedo 

Multanomoah Falls, Columbia River Gorge and a Casino

The 3rd tallest waterfall in the United States was about an hour east of Portland.  The park had a paved trail that led to a few sweet overlooks of the falls, and I really don't have much else to report on it.  You know you're having a good road trip when a couple hundred foot waterfall get 4 sentences.  

The last thrift store blazer I bought won me money at the casino.  I tried a casino without it the time after, and lost everything.  This time, new jacket, new casino. (This one is black with pinstripes, and I paid a whopping $5 bucks for it)  I put up a good battle, but in the end, the dealer prevailed.  That marks two losses in a row.  The west coast casinos have turned on me.  I need to go back to the original blazer.        

The Oregon Coast

Shortly after the falls , it was off to the Oregon Coast for a few hundred miles.  The Pacific Coast Highway led us right down the coast through multiple cities and provided plenty of good views.  The coast is very rocky in some places, with cliffs having a couple hundred foot drop offs in certain points.  On the other hand, there were beach access areas scattered up and down the coast.  The North Carolina and South Carolina coast is so much different from the Oregon Coast and Northern California coast, but hey, the whole point in traveling is so see what you can't see at home.  

The weather was hard to argue with- mid 70s and sunny in the middle of October but the water is so damn cold on the west coast.  I was in central California three summers ago in May and the water was still too cold to get into as summer was approaching.  The California and Oregon coast may be great, but ya gotta love the Atlantic Ocean and the warm summer water.  The humidity may be awful, but at least the water is warm.  

An early afternoon debit card game landed Bub and I a free smoothie courtesy of Allen.  The game goes like this.  Everyone orders something, say a meal, beer, snack, etc. and then everyone agrees to put their debit card through some sort of random selection to see who pays for all the items.  So in this case, I had a 2 in 3 chance of landing a free smoothie and then a 1 in 3 shot of having to buy 3 smoothies.  Allen took the 3 cards, threw them behind him, and then we agreed that the card that landed furthest to the right was the loser.  Allen was unfortunately farthest right.

Sea Lions

   

Crater Lake National Park

Situated in southern Oregon, Crater Lake features the darkest blue water I have ever seen in my life- it looked more like ink.  A huge meteor hit here thousands of years ago and led to the formation of the lake.  It was in the low 40s and windy, so a drive around the lake was a suitable plan for the day.  As far as picture taking goes- it doesn't get much better than this.  This is the epitome of letting pictures speak for itself.

Rip JHW 3