West Coast Goodness part 1

This trip was kind of a whim trip and I still can't believe that it actually happened! I had requested about 5 days off to go visit a friend in San Diego, but then it ended up not being a good time and so we were trying to decide if we could do anything else and talked about Park City or something. But then I looked at some stuff and realized I could make a work switch, and if we missed a couple of scheduled things (Mat Kearny concert, sister's dance concert), we'd have a full 8 days! The van was still fresh and Tanner was ordering a bumper from a guy in Oregon, so he threw out the idea of going to pick that up and then heading up to Olympic National Park, which has been a top bucket list item for a decade plus. I have a really good friend that just moved to Seattle too, so he thought we could swing by and see her too. It made perfect sense and so we went with it. Made some campsite reservations and started the countdown!
We left very early on a Tuesday morning and drove almost all the way to Portland. We stopped at Shoshone Falls for a brief pit stop and to stretch the legs. We saw a deer there. And then ate at Great Harvest.

 Next stop was Baker, Oregon for lunch. I picked a place called "Crave a Bowl" and it looked like a major dive, but it actually was extremely delicious and Harvey at all of his and Greta gnawed on some broccoli, etc.

We then made our way to Hood River (short stop to view Multnomah Falls from the road - Harv was very impressed) and stopped at a Rite Aid. Harvey picked out a police car and since he is spoiled, we bought it for him, but it ended up being a great idea because he loved it and played with it so much that week! We ate at the Crazy Pepper Mexican restaurant and then after met up with a guy named Erik and his wife - they own Outside Van's and it was who Tanner bought the bumper from. They were really nice. We wandered the town and grabbed some ice cream at Mike's and chatted. Cool little city.

Terrible photo but it's what I got...

We stayed that night at Eagle River Campground. The very first national forest campground. We were out late so pulled up when it was dark and were out first thing in the morning so we really didn't get to appreciate it as much as we could. But still was gorgeous!

So the next morning we stopped by Outside Van in Troutdale to get the bumper. Tanner was impressed with their operation! We stopped off the freeway in Portland at Fleur De Lis Cafe and it was AMAZING! Tanner had a delicious egg sandwich and mine had a tomatoey pepper sauce with plantains and it was incredible. Great find!
Then we headed up the coast a bit more and made another stop at Canon Beach. It was beautiful but SOOO windy and a bit chilly. And Harvey is not a fan of the wind and he is kind of wimpy about little things, like the wind and the waves pushing water up on the beach. Ha. He was kind of whiney there but it was a fun stop all the same.

Not the most conducive photo opp with wind and grump...

But these are adorable I think :)

 We made it to our first campsite at Olympic...Kalaloch Beach...late afternoon. It was incredible. Amazing trees, gorgeous beach, good weather, everything about that place made me happy. Harvey loved the beach and ran barefoot all over the place. We went down there the first night and stayed till we got hungry and then came back and made a fire and roasted hot dogs. Our camp site didn't have a view of the beach, but there was a cool little tunnel you could crouch through and go out and have a great view from a ledge. Harvey loved going through there.

 

 

 

Not nursing, even though it looks like it. She's just passed out and life is good.

 

The next morning we ate breakfast and cleaned up a bit. Harv and dad went down to the beach again while Greta and I napped. Then we headed up the coast again. We stopped at a giant ceder tree. That's what the sign on the road said. "Giant Cedar Tree". So we passed it and then decided if there was a road sign, it probably was cool enough to turn around. We did and it was cool!

We were told Ruby Beach was a must see as well so a few more miles up the coast we pulled off to check that out. I'll second/third it - must see. It was so pretty and all the rocks were flat and round and smooth and so cool. I decided I love the rustic beach with the trees and rocks. Not that I'm not a fan of crystal blue waters and a pina colada in hand...but there's something breathtaking about this Washington Coast that I fell in love with this trip!

So amazing. So after that we headed a few more hours up the coast the the Hoh Rainforest, which we took a billion pictures of and have posted for your viewing enjoyment in part 2.