Pacific Northwest Road Trip

In mid-October, Jim and I headed out on a ten-day road trip through the Pacific Northwest. It was part research, part meeting up with friends, and part vacation. We are not very good at taking selfies, but here’s one from midway through the trip at the redwoods!

Our first stop was in Moscow, Idaho, to meet Sharon Cousins for the first time. We’ve known each other online for years. I’ve shared a three-post series on solar cooking starting here. In fact, you can probably blame a good chunk of the solar craze in my books on Sharon. She’s a dynamo preparing for a trip to Haiti to teach solar practices in the wake of the recent hurricane. If you want to help her financially, let me know, and I’ll hook you up with her. What she’s doing will make a huge difference.

We spent a couple of days near Twin Falls, Idaho. The Snake River canyon in amazing! I took quite a few photos, but here’s one that shows the intensity of the water.

Next was a long drive across Nevada. When we arrived at Margaret and Colin Fisk’s home near Reno, we went for a sunset walk in the wild area nearby.

The next day Jim, Margaret, and I took a day trip up the Mount Rose Highway, stopping for a wander through Galena Creek Park. So pretty with the fall colors, a little pond, a creek, and lots of rocks and trees.

Back in December 2009, I spent a week with Margaret at Tahoe. This time, we drove around the north end of Tahoe, stopped for lunch, and returned to Reno via Truckee. It was amazing spending a couple of days with Margaret and her husband. We’ve gotten together several times, but not since the summer of ’10. She’s an author buddy who writes steampunk, science fiction, and Regency romances. Check Margaret McGaffey Fisk out on Amazon!

We spent a day crossing northern California, stopping west of Susanville to snap some photos.

A while later, we arrived at Hat Creek Lookout for this amazing view of Mount Shasta to the north. The whole panorama was stunning.

The next day we spent a few hours at the Trees of Mystery near Klamath, touring the redwood forest. I’ve seen some very big trees before, but yes, these were the biggest! The Brotherhood Tree. No words.

One of the reasons we chose this particular place to tour the redwoods was the sky tram. The forest was so misty and peaceful, but we couldn’t get decent photos from the tram itself due to the water running down the windows!

One more of the redwoods. Yes, this was probably the highlight of our trip!

How’s this for a sunset off the coast of southern Oregon?

This was taken near the Coquette Lighthouse, one of my favorite “sea” photos of the trip.

Also one of my favorite “seal” photos! Several were playing in the water, and this one came close enough to the jetty for a better shot.

We made many little stops along the coast. I wish I could show you all of them, but this post is already getting long. But we drove down into Umpqua Lighthouse, unaware until we reached the parking lot that we were visiting a Coast Guard station and that they were practicing maneuvers! How that boat tossed in the waves, not for the faint of stomach.

At the Spouting Horn pullout, there were half a dozen or more sea geysers. Hard to catch with a camera! Oh, so fun.

A trip up the Oregon coast wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. We’ve seen nearly everything there in the wild, which was pretty cool. Except for the octopus, which made a brief appearance and then hid for the next hour. Yes, I kept checking back, but he stayed in his corner, laughing at me.

Our final night on the road was spent at Hood River, Oregon. The sun shone under the clouds for a few minutes at breakfast time, but was soon swallowed up in the clouds again. All in all, it was a whirlwind trip, but I’m so glad we went!