The Rest of Our Epic Road Trip

After promising more posts over a week ago, I figured its time to finally get the rest of our trip documented online.

Day 9: Friday March 25, 2011

Decided to go up the Columbia River Gorge up to Hood River because Jeremy wanted to fish and heard there was good fishing. The day started out raining, but that was expected. The deeper we went into the gorge the more gorgeous it became. The waterfalls were so pretty.

By the time we arrived at Hood River the rain had subsided, so we took a little tour around the town and found Full Sail Brewing Company.

 Decided to take a little brewery tour and taste some beer.

After our tasting we went up a little further up the gorge and crossed the river into Washington. Jeremy found an epic fishing spot, but the river was a little too high to try to catch anything.

After a long day of running around the river gorge we decided to head home.

Day 10: Saturday March 26, 2011

After sitting around Brooke's house for a while, we decided to hop into the car and head down to the wine country in Oregon. It was so pretty with lots of barns and orchards. Nothing too exciting to write, but really pretty.

Day 11: Sunday March 27, 2011

After repacking the car we finally left Portland after a week. We went to the coast through the Tillamook Forest and drove up to Astoria. Jeremy and I are huge Goonies fans and consider ourselves Goonies as well! There was nothing we saw about the movie, but I loved the town. It was so cute! I loved it there, it was so awesome, I could see myself living there.

But we had to continue on across the mouth of the Columbia river to Washington so we could make it to Olympic National Park before the sun went down. 

We got a little lost, but got back on track to the 101 through western Washington. There were tons of sloughs (soft, muddy, swamp-like region according to Dictionary.com).

After driving more, clearcut logging became more and more apparent. It was kinda sad, but they do replant.

After lots of driving we managed to find a campsite in Olympic National Park right before the sunset. The campground was right on the beach, so we picked a site and immediately headed down to the beach for low-tide right before the sunset. One of the coolest beaches I've ever been to with lots of driftwood. After the sunset we set up camp and had a campfire before heading off to sleep.

Day 12: Monday March 28, 2011

After waking up early at the campsite we got an early start because there was so much to do and see in the park. Of course, we had to say goodbye to the ocean, because we aren't going to see it for a long time.

 Then we drove through the rainforest and made our way to another campsite next to the most gorgeous river I've ever seen. I'll let the pictures say it all.

our campsite

Day 13: Tuesday March 29, 2011

Left early and headed to Seattle. Didn't get to spend much time there because we had a car full of all our worldly possessions and a dog. Spent the rest of the day driving through Washington and the panhandle of Idaho into Missoula, MT.

Day 14: Wednesday March 30, 2011

Driving through Montana is pretty, but once you hit eastern Montana, it is really boring and depressing. But we did get to see Custer's Last Stand, which was our highlight of the day. Drove all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota, home of Mount Rushmore.

hehehe

Day 15: Thursday March 31, 2011

Woke up in the morning to hit up Mount Rushmore. It's cool, but nothing too exciting. But it's nice to say that I saw it, and it brings a lot of people to help out the economy.

 We also got to see the Badlands, which was cool, like a mini Grand Canyon.

We went ahead and drove all the way though South Dakota, which is the most boring drive ever! I've been on a ton of road trips, but that was the worst leg of the journey because there was nothing on the landscape and no other cars on the road.

But we decided to truck on and drove the rest of the way to Saint Paul.

Where the trip ends, but the journey begins.