Oregon and Washington

1999

Well we are back from our trip to Oregon and Washington - it was very interesting and fun too - but not entirely what I had expected! We drove up to Vida, Oregon (near Eugene) with a friend of mine, Barbara Cochrane, who has had an Inn there for 22 years. (She currently has it for sale - it is right on the MacKenzie River!) We stayed 3 nights with her and explored the area somewhat. It is beautiful and we saw some lovely waterfalls and hiked around a lovely lake. It was a nice visit with one small problem. After our five mile hike around the lake when we arrived back to the car David discovered he had locked the keys into the trunk of the car. Since I wasn't carrying my purse I was no help. The other problem was we were 100 miles from a city in a dead space area with no electricity and no phones. We did try the usual methods of breaking in but they didn't work. Then a lady who lived there came and she had a short-wave radio phone which she let me try to use - I did get a hold of Triple A in Washington but since we faded in and out everytime the wind blew and eventually got cut off I wasn't sure what the situation would be and in any case we'd have to wait two hours to see if they got the message and location so David decided to break into the car. He used a billy club but the glass wouldn't break! Finally a kid suggested that he cut the rubber in order to save the glass and sure enough that worked so we got in the car. Then we had to drive to a pay phone to call Triple A again to make sure the order was canceled. Then of course we had the problem of fixing the window in order to safely continue our trip. But the part would take several days to arrive so David bought rubber cement and glued it in so we could continue the rest of our trip. Annoying it was but it will make a great story for time to come and of course I can embellish it even more! Anyway we left Oregon and drove up to Washington stopping to visit Mt. St.Helens which is claimed to be there but we never saw it. It was really socked in the fog. We did drive around the area and see what the explosion had done - it was very interesting. Then we continued up to Mt. Rainier N.P. where we stayed two nights in a lovely Inn - built in 1926 and remodeled very comfortable. We stayed in the small Inn not the big one you often see in photos and I liked this area a lot better - less crowded. Again we saw very little of Mt. Rainier - it was really socked in most of the time we were there. One evening it came out in the moonlight and we could wee if for an hour or so from our window. We did hike on the mountain one day - starting at 5000 feet and hiking up to 7000 feet. The meadows were beautiful and so full of wild flowers at 5000 feet. As we continued to climb up it got foggier and foggier until we could only see 20 feet in front of us. I almost got scared for a while but the trail was well marked. We were above timber line hiking in the tundra and wondering if we were having fun and/or were crazy. We had ice on our eyelashes and eyebrows and I had icicles hanging from the bill of my hate. When suddenly in front of me were a group of Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. These are high elevation birds that I have looked for many times. I looked in the Rockies - we drove to a place where they are supposed to be - we looked many places in the Sierras - all to no avail and here they were! I was so excited! They were hoping around our feet and so cute. Well we continued the climb to Panorama Point and looked at the fog and then came on down. What an adventure! The last night in the park was a tremendous storm - rain and wind with lots of trees down. Fortunately it was clear in the morning when we left and drove to Olympic National Park. We stayed one night at Lake Crescent in the North part of the park and enjoyed a hike up hurricane ridge where we did have lovely vistas and a view of Mt. Olympus. We could even see the San Juan Islands! The next day we stayed on the West side of the park right on the beach with a beach view. We enjoyed the sunset on the beach and all the other views. We spent the day walking in the rain forest. It was so interesting to compare this rain forest with the other ones I've been in. This was a temperate rain forest and those were tropical rain forests. This rain forest in Olympic NP was cold and I really wouldn't have known it was a rain forest unless someone told me. There was moss on everything but the vegetation wasn't as thick as in the tropical forests. It was a pleasant walk especially because we didn't have any mountains to climb and it was mostly clear. Then we drove on down the coast of Oregon until Reedsport (we stayed one night in Florence) when we cut across to Highway 5 and came home. It was a pleasant trip and now we have to recover from the time away - laundry, mail, and house and yard work but it was worth it.