Day 5

Another wet morning. A thunderstorm rolled through at about 5 a.m.  we stopped at the Diablo Lake overlook for some great pictures then continued east out of North Cascades National Park. Beautiful area. Stopped at Rainy Pass to hike out to Rainy Lake. Nice easy trail with plenty of snow for Rocco and the kids to stomp on. At the end of the trail a beautiful lake with mountains and waterfalls on the far side. Definitely worth the stop/walk. Attempted another self-portrait while we were there. Longer arms would've captured more scenery in the background. Stopped in Winthrop, WA for lunch. Super fun western town that we would love to come back to sometime to see more of it. Next stop Grand Coulee Dam. Whoa! A.Ma.Zing!!! I haven't seen water over a dam spillway since Hoover Dam in the 80s. Quite spectacular. Finally, just 4 short (ha!) hours later we have arrived at Schweitzer Mtn Ski Resort in northern Idaho. Ron found a great pet-friendly condo for the weekend. The kids and Rocco are all super excited to have a house again!  Dinner then showers for all and bedtime- in a bed! Yipppee!

Day 4

Drove through Seattle. Hot and busy so we got out of town right away. Camped in North Cascades National Park.

Day 3

Rained overnight but not as much so we stayed dry in the tent. A couple very loud trains rolled through overnight. First stop in the morning was Ft. Vancouver.  I particularly enjoyed this stop and visiting this area after reading so many Oregon Trail books. Rocco and I walked outside the fort while Ron and the kids went in. After the fort we had lunch at a local chain - Burger ville. Quite yummy.  After lunch we drove up to Mt. St. Helens. The mountain was fogged over so didn't get a good view but the movie and the visitor center displays were very interesting.  Dinner at Smokin' Mo's in Shelton after a drive-by of the capitol building. Then out to the campground. Right along the water and even set up next to the creek. Played crazy 8's before bed.

Day 2

Rained all night long. Bella's sleeping bag was soaked and Ryan's was pretty wet too. It's still raining so we shove all the wet stuff into every nook and cranny in the van and hit the road. Pick up coffee and breakfast in Weed. Sun is starting to come out so we get to see Mt Shasta after all. Drive to Bend. Lunch at Schlotsky's while Ron hits the laundromat around the corner to dry the sleeping bags.  A huge downpour soaks him even more as he's unloading the bag from the roof box. Meanwhile Ryan and Bella are outside the restaurant with Rocco, hiding under a tree. Yikes!  Luckily it didn't last long. After lunch we drove to Hood River. Mt. Hood never cleared off so didn't get to see that one. We did see Mt. Adam across the river though. Short stop to see Columbia River then off to the campsite while it was still dry and light. Dinner was spaghetti. Showers for me, Ron and Ryan (yay!). Stayed dry most of the night. Little rain at 4 am. A few really load trains passed by overnight. Campground was super close to the tracks. Overall much better camp night than Day 1.

P.s. I am using my phone for these summary updates as cell signal allows. Will post my usual play by play that I know you all love so much ;) eventually.

Day 1

A quick review of day 1 -

Left late- not until 1130. Made it through the bay area thankfully without any big traffic jams. Picked up rainy weather around redding. Rained all night so we set up and cooked in the rain. Not fun. Rocco is doing great so far.

Fashion

Duct tape sandals... quite the fashion rage these days!

Ruckus

Felisa: We don't want to be the ruckus in the parking lot. Because there always is a ruckus - crying babies, honking horns... we don't want to be the ruckus.

(Because I almost forgot to take the keys out of the car and apparently if you forget, the car will start beeping)