Day 2 in the Olympic Peninsula

After saying goodbye to Eric, Carla, and Ryan on Saturday afternoon, the 3 S-Y's stayed the night at Lake Quinault Lodge and explored the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic Natl. Park on Sunday. This took us through Forks, Washington, made famous by the "Twilight" books and movies. In the photo below, Ben is brandishing his Harry Potter book at Bella's red pickup (Bella is the main character in "Twilight").

The top 3 photos are from our stop along the coast, where the forest bordering the beach looks eerily like the forest in "Lord of the Rings" where the hobbits hide from the big black devil horses.

After lunch at the Nilsen's (C and E made teriyaki chicken and rice), we caravanned to Aberdeen, WA with Erik, Carla and Ryan, stopping at Fort Clatsop on the way. We  hiked in the Olympic National Forest with Carla, Erik, and Ryan, and saw a honkin' big tree, as Ryan would say.

Seeing Old Friends

In Portland, we stayed with Carla and Erik Nilsen, wonderful friends from pre-Ben days. Friday morning we took the kids (Ben, Kari, and Ryan) to the indoor bouldering center, and Bill McFarlin joined us. Erik and Carla were my first friends in Ann Arbor, MI, when I lived there on my own for a year while Doug was still in Venezuela. Then when Doug had a temporary teaching job in Portland, they had moved there, and kept Doug from getting too lonely while I was still in Texas.

Bill and Beth McFarlin were our first friends in Fort Collins. We're sorry we missed out on seeing Andrew and Bryn Nilsen, and Beth, Katie, and Sam McFarlin.

Columbia River Gorge

Last Thursday we left the fly-fishing mecca of Ketchum, Idaho, and drove to Portland, via the Columbia River Gorge.

A Best Western in Fort Hood had a wonderful restaurant with patio seating overlooking the gorge.

SYFFMRT - Day 3 - Tuesday

Doug booked a fishing guide for the day. I drove him from our lodge/condo while Ben slept in, and we had breakfast at "Moose Girls" - they had a lifesize cut-out of James Dean on the wall, and an almost crunchy granola menu. We discussed our fantasy 6-month trips - what we would do if we had 6 months to travel anywhere, and money were no object. And then we came back down to earth and talked about what we might do next year for our 25th wedding anniversary.

Ben is going on a 10-day school trip to Italy and the Greek Islands at the beginning of June, so that would be the perfect time for us to schedule our trip. (The down-to-earth trip, not the fantasy trip.)

After breakfast, we met up with J.C., Doug's fishing guide for the day, and Angus, J.C.'s fly-fishing chocolate lab, and I sent a smiling Doug on his way.

Ben and I found the Ernest Hemingway Memorial, where we both got to do a little photography, then explored Ketchum. The moose on rollerblades and the dog on stilts were two of the highlights. (Sorry - no pics of Angus the Fly-Fishing-Chocolate-Lab, or the moose on rollerblades.)

We also found the weekly Farmer's Market and Art Market, and picked up some peaches, raspberries, marionberries, fresh eggs, a delicious Riesling wine, a huckleberry pie, and a salmon/jicama/avocado salad.

After we found Doug, we took him to the Farmer's Market to meet Farmer Dick, who wanted to share a fantastic fishing location with Doug. We started driving there before dinner, but turned around when the road changed from gravel to dirt, narrowed, and had a very steep drop-off down the side. Doug will put up with a lot of things in order to go fishing, but he draws the line at narrow mountain roads with steep drop-offs. Ben closed his eyes until we got back on the gravel.

Dinner was on the covered patio of an old Ketchum restaurant that included one "slow food" menu item each night, which I had - lamb meatballs on fettucine.

A lovely day.

Day 2 of the Family Road Trip

Up early enough in the morning to drive through the Tetons with just a few other cars, instead of bumper-to-bumper cars.

The mountains were beautiful.

We had breakfast at Genevieve's in Jackson Hole and found some black and white film for Ben.

On our drive across eastern Idaho, Ben was using his new film to shoot some photos from a turn-out in the road, when an INL Security Vehicle pulled up next to us, and a security guard in desert camo and probably 40 pounds of gear attached to her uniform (including a gun strapped to her thigh), and asked if we were okay and what we were doing. We'd seen signs for the INL, but had no idea what it was. Turns out it's the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear facility whose mission is to "ensure the nation's energy security with safe, competitive, and sustainable energy systems and unique national and homeland security capabilities." and whose vision is "by 2015, INL will be the pre-eminent nuclear energy laboratory with synergistic, world-class, multi-program capabilities and partnerships." She said that she wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong, but I think that Ben's camera was her concern. Not that we could even see the nuclear facility from where we were stopped. There wasn't much to see but scrub brush and a low mountain in the background. But we didn't argue. Ben got back in the car, and we calmly drove away.

More on our ghost lodge in Ketchum in the next post.

SYFFMRT - Part I

The Swall-Yarrington Family's First Mega Road Trip

Tweet Style

Saturday night, 10:00 - Doug in bed, Ben in bed, Maria not in bed.

Sunday morning, 5:50 - Happy Ben out of bed, Doug in bed, Maria in bed.

Sunday morning, 8:00 - Not-so-happy Ben in back seat of car, as we are pulling out of the driveway, suggesting that next time we ask for more help from him on trip prep day, and adding that he'll offer his help.

Sunday morning, 11:00 - Everyone happy again, eating Subway sandwiches in Rawlins, WY. Ben points out that being in a desolate place like this empty-but-for-Subway-and-the-local-Republican-Party-headquarters-shopping-center, reminds him how great a place to live Colorado is.

Sunday afternoon, 3:10 - Ben: "Are those the Tetons?" Doug or Maria: "Nope, not yet."

Sunday afternoon, 3:18 - Ben: "Are those the Tetons?" Doug or Maria: "Nope, not yet."

Sunday afternoon, 3:42 - Maria: "There they are!"

Sunday afternoon, 4:00 - All checked in, all hungry, but no dinner at the lodge until 6:00. Back in the car.

Sunday afternoon, 4:45 - Sitting at a table on a small screened-in porch of an old cabin turned cafe, with a meadow and river stretching out before us, and the Tetons as the glorious backdrop. Wonderful food, wonderful view, happy family.

Sunday evening, 5:30 - Driving along the loop road from the cafe, hoping to catch back up with the hiway.

Sunday evening, 5:45 - Up ahead, the loop road turns to gravel.

Sunday evening, 5:46 - We cross a bridge over the river, right next to a fishing lodge. Doug's eyes light up as he stares at the water.

Sunday evening, 6:00 - We turn around to go back the way we came on the loop road, winding our way back to the highway and Togwotee Lodge to read until bedtime.

Sunday evening, 7:00 - Ben is ready to go to sleep. Do we really need the lights on?

Sunday evening, 8:45 - Ben realizes he can connect his laptop to the internet, and so play PacMan, and all is right with the world.