NW Trip '12 - Day 10

6/11/12 - Day 10: Given our early bedtime the night before, we got up and left Mt. Rainier relatively early (grabbing breakfast at the Inn's cafe on the way). On the way out of the park, we stopped for a brisk 1.5-mile hike at the "Grove of the Patriarchs," which was a "must-see" according to our National Parks book. The hike was nice and quiet, winding through some very old, very tall douglas firs and across a suspension bridge before making it to "the grove." The grove consisted of several 1000+ year old trees that looked like they were straight from Jurassic Park (in size and age). We took a few pictures, hiked back the way we came, and hopped in the car to head to Portland!

On the way to Portland, we made the biggest mistake of the trip: we stopped for lunch at Subway. We didn't realize it was a mistake at first, but once we got into Portland and found a parking garage near Pioneer Courtyard Square, Cari made good use of her empty sunchips bag. :/ It wasn't a very pleasurable experience for her, obviously. Once she was..umm..done, we walked down to the square and took a few pictures of the flowers (see above). I also went out on a hunt for ginger ale. After hanging out and hoping that her stomach would settle, and then seeing that it wouldn't, we decided against further sightseeing and drove across the city to our hotel near the airport, the Clarion.

We took it easy the rest of the afternoon -- Cari rested for a bit while I did laundry and checked work email. Around dinner time, I drove to Target and bought some chicken noodle soup for Cari and stopped for takeout at Buffalo Wild Wings for me. It was a relaxing, recovering night of eating, watching the Kings win the Stanley Cup, and yes...folding laundry. I'm sure Portland is a nice place, but there really wasn't much we wanted to see/do here, so having a day of rest (which was much needed) was probably a wise decision. Maybe we'll make it back one day and see all the splendor that the city has to offer ... until then, good riddance!

NW Trip '12 - Day 9

6/10/12 - Day 9: Jon and Megan got up and left early today (4:30 a.m...yuck), and since Mt. Rainier National Park (our next destination) was only a couple hours away, we decided to sleep in a little. I still woke up a little earlier than Cari to try and do a little laundry, but had a couple unsuccessful attempts (either all the machines were taken or broken). So, with dirty clothes bag still in hand, we left the hotel by about noon and ate brunch (yes, brunch. I know I said noon. Hush.) at IHOP and hit the road. 

We made it Mt. Rainier National Park around 3 and drove through the park and up the mountain to the visitor center (right at the base of the mountain itself). The park was beautiful and fascinatingly underdeveloped, which made it feel much more like I would expect a national park to feel. There were trees everywhere, waterfalls, and mountain vista views on the drive up. Once we arrived, we bundled up (40 degrees out) and took a few pictures outside before watching a video in and walking around the visitor center. We decided to try and hike one of the nearby trail (the "Skyline Trail") but we didn't have our snow boots and crampons and couldn't make it through the feet of snow that was still on the ground (yes, multiple feet). So, instead of hiking, we drove back down the mountain a little ways and slowly made our way back up, stopping at some of the main sights. 

We stopped and took pictures at Christine Falls, a random bridge and viewpoint, and Narada Falls. The latter was an adventure, since there was still a foot of snow on the hiking trail to get to the falls viewpoint. I went it alone because Cari wasn't feeling well, but it was our first larger waterfall of the trip and well worth the treacherous hike. Back to parking lot safely, we continued the drive back up the mountain to our hotel, the Paradise Inn, and checked in/unloaded. The Inn was very old and rustic, but still classy... but old. And rustic. Given the lack of food options, we defaulted to the restaurant at the Inn -- I had chicken parmesan and Cari had a venison shepherd's pie. We finished up dinner, took a few sunset pictures of the mountain peak, and turned in EARLY (9:15!). 

NW Trip '12 - Day 8

6/9/12 - Day 8: Short drive day!! We were thrilled to wake up and know we only had to drive a couple hours max to get to our next destination. We didn't, however, factor in "waiting at the border" time, which added an additional hour. Regardless, we hit Starbucks on the way out of Vancouver and got to the border in about a half hour. We waited in line for a while. There were plenty of border agents, but unfortunately there were also a LOT of people that wanted to get into the U.S. We finally got through and made our way to Seattle in a 1.5-hour car ride filled with some fun travel "I Spy"-type games. 

Our first stop was going to be the downtown market, so we found parking a few blocks away (for $15!!) and walked down the step grades to the market. As we expected, it was incredibly crowded, but we walked inside one end and made our way down to the other end. The inside tent area was filled with a few souvenir shops, some restaurants, and a lot of fresh seafood, produce, and flower vendors. About halfway through and feeling a little claustrophobic, we stopped for lunch at Lowell's. I had a beef brisket dip and Cari had a large seafood sampler. The food was pretty good, but definitely not worth the price. Either way, we enjoyed the break from the crowd for a little while before heading back through the rest of the market! After lunch, we continued through the tent area and got to the end where the famous fish-throwing seafood vendor was. We watched for a little while but didn't see much action, so we continued on. 

Cari and I took a little break and walked a few blocks up to a shop she saw on the way into town while Jon and Megan got some food items from a place Jon saw on TV (mostly desserts). We met up in the grassy park-like area near the market and just relaxed and hung out for a few. Once we were slightly rested and even more full than before, we walked the mile to the Space Needle! Jon and I took the elevator to the top which was a little disconcerting given the full glass elevator door. We walked around the entirety of the top and took some pictures and then headed back down. It was a cool sight to see, and I'm glad to say I've done it, but $20 was a little pricey for a 5-minute view of Seattle on a cloudy day. 

Once we were back on the ground, we walked around a little more, heard some bad music at a festival nearby (including some Filipino rapping), and took the monorail back to a station close to our car (instead of walking the mile + back). After a long day (or, after 8 long days!), we decided to just go back to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon/evening and hang out, so we did just that. We checked in at the Doubletree by Hilton near the airport and walked a LONG walk to our room. After unloading, we went to the hotel bar/restaurant for dinner -- I had some buffalo wings and Cari had linguine with a spicy red sauce and veggies/chicken. We hung there for a little while, watched one of the NBA games, and retired to the room for drinks and tv movies. We were also entertained by the constant shaping and re-shaping that Jon did to his beard while he shaved it. I think it was a great way to spend the last evening with our travel buddies!  

NW Trip '12 - Day 7

6/8/12 - Day 7: While we only got about 6 hours of sleep, we woke up with a renewed sense of excitement knowing that we would only have to spend about 4-5 hours in the car today. We didn't get to see much of Osoyoos given the rain and fog in the morning, but we were anxious to get to Vancouver anyways, so we didn't mind. We had a beautiful drive through some of Canada's wine/produce country -- the roads weren't too windy, but the mountains and greenery were stunning. We arrived at our hotel (Westin Wall Centre) around 1:00, and they were nice enough to let us check in early. After unloading and taking a quick bathroom break, we walked to the train station (about 10 minute walk). 

We took the sky train (an elevated monorail-type train) to Waterfront station, where we were told to get off if we wanted to see the main "tourist" area. We found our way downtown and located a food truck called "Fresh Local Wild" that Jon had seen on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Overall, it was extremely good food. Cari had a fresh salad and I went with the fish and chips, salmon-style. We also got the opportunity to sit in their small one-table seating area attached to the back of the truck and chatted with the guys running the truck. They gave us a good recommendation for a dinner location, which we ended up trying, but more on that later. 

After lunch, we strolled down to the waterfront, walked around, and then walked back up through the "shopping district." The culture of people was much different here than any of the other locations we had visited thus far. We noticed lots of young, "fashionable" people, many of which were of Asian descent. Next, we located a bar and settled in with a couple of pitchers for the U.S. vs. Antigua/Barbuda men's world cup qualifying match. It was a good "reset," since I think we were all a little grumpy as a result of being indecisive with our plans (and probably moreso due to spending 24 of the past 48 hours in the car). Anyways, after we watched the U.S. win handily, we decided to walk west to Stanley Park to find our dinner location. We didn't realized exactly how far of a walk it would be, but we enjoyed being outside and seeing a new place. 

We FINALLY made it to our dinner location at the Teahouse Restaurant. We had an amazing dinner (one of the best of the whole trip). We also had a friendly server who gave us an appetizer on the house for walking all the way out there. While we watched the sun set over the water, I enjoyed a perfectly cooked tenderloin, ceasar salad, and wine picked by Jon. Cari had wild mushroom ravioli with scallops, and we shared a raspberry sorbet for dessert. We stayed for a couple hours, joking with the staff (mainly Phillip from the Philippines!). Instead of walking back, we had the restaurant call us a taxi that took us back to the nearest train station. We happened to get a GREAT taxicab driver who was incredibly entertaining. It was a great way to finish a fun night out! We took the sky train back to the station near our hotel, walked back, and passed out.

NW Trip '12 - Day 5/6

6/6/12 - Day 5: The majority of the next two days were spent in the car. Luckily, we were getting two of the longest drives out of the way earlier on in the trip (as opposed to the second to last day). I felt a little better the next morning after getting a LOT of sleep the afternoon/night before and presumably flushing whatever bug I had out of my system. 

We hit the road pretty early and headed east to Cody, WY where we stopped for some good old McDonald's for breakfast. After fueling up, we hit the road for a long day in the car (~approx 11 hours). We drove through most of Montana, which was incredibly dull (contrary to my expectations). We arrived at our hotel (St. Mary Lodge and Resort) in Glacier National Park late afternoon just in time for some light snow, along with temperatures in the 20's! We checked in, got settled, and went to the lounge in the lodge for dinner. Sitting in comfortable leather chairs near a roaring fire was exactly what we needed after a long day in the car. We enjoyed a light dinner (soups, salads, etc.) and some mild entertainment compliments of our server before going back to the room to hang out (and for me to pass out early again).

6/7/12 - Day 6: I'm combining day 5 and 6 into the same blog post since most of the two days were spent in the car. Unfortunately, day 6 was even worse than yesterday. We woke up a little later (probably a mistake, but we needed the sleep), and Cari, Jon, and I went back to the lodge for a breakfast of pancakes and fruit. We packed up and hopped in the car to drive as far as we could into Glacier Park. The main road that we were planning to take through the park, "Going to the Sun" road, was still closed about 15 miles in, so we drove as far as we could. Glacier was incredibly beautiful -- huge mountains, blue lakes, waterfalls and wildlife all over. I desperately wanted to keep driving, but a closed road meant a closed road. So, we turned around, took lots of pictures, and made our way southwest around the park. We ended up taking a "shortcut" (Route 49!!) that turned out to be...well...terrifying. Curvy mountain roads, partially gravel, no guardrails, and sheer cliffs. Luckily, we were only on the road for about 20 minutes, but the ladies would probably claim it was at least an hour! 

After making our way back to "safety," we drove west through Montana, into Idaho for a short time, and through Washington before heading north to Canada. Our meals were less than desirable today (Arby's for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner). We also were semi-delirious by the time we arrived at the border, having driven over 13 hours, some of which was on foggy, windy, and dark mountain roads through Washington. We had an amicable border police on the way into Canada, so we were glad that he didn't mistake our delirium as being caused by.. "mind-altering substances." We drove a few miles into Canada to our Best Western in Osoyoos, B.C. (a lake town, mainly a retreat for retirees) and fell asleep quickly.

NW Trip '12 - Day 4

6/5/12 - Day 4 - Sick day!!! Well, only for me. I guess it was bound to happen given our road-diet and my sensitive stomach. However, over the past couple days, I would question whether or not I was bitten by something semi-poisonous due to our stay in a rustic cabin (complete with spider webs), intense nauseousness on 6/5, and my continued bodily soreness for the next 2-3 days. Regardless, I tried to make the most of this day, and Jon, Megan, and Cari all did great in putting up with me and my frequent need to "please pull over!"

We woke up relatively early and drove to Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton Park hoping to see some morning wildlife. We didn't catch any wildlife, but we did see a great view of the Tetons in the morning sun. After Oxbow, we drove to Jenny Lake (which is when my stomach started its turn for the worst). I sat in the car while my three travel companions got out and took a few pictures. After a quick stop at the visitor center close by (yes, I'll spare the details of all the "stops" we had to take throughout the day), we headed north to Yellowstone!

Yellowstone actually wasn't very far from Grand Teton National Park. In fact, they basically back up to each other, which was convenient, especially given my illness today. Once we entered the park, we drove about 15-20 minutes to the Old Faithful site and had a light lunch (crackers for me!) at the cafe outside. We continued to the visitor center and walked around a little before figuring out when the geyser was going to erupt. About 15 minutes before the "projected time," we walked out and got a standing spot to watch Old Faithful! Luckily, there wasn't a bad "seat" since Old Faithful was a little elevated. You could still stand in the back and see the eruption. Right on cue, the geyser built up and up before fully erupting -- what an incredible sight!! It spewed about 50-70 feet in the air for a minute or so before going back down. Overall, it was a great experience! 

Afterwards, we drove clockwise along the lower loop to Biscuit Basin where we got to see some very interesting geothermal pools and other features, including Sapphire Pool. It was interesting going from the wildlife-heavy Grand Tetons to the very different, geographical feature-heavy area of Yellowstone! After walking along the boardwalk at Biscuit Basin, we drove to the Grand Prismatic Springs. It started to rain (see picture above), and given the colder weather mixed with the hot pools, there was a LOT of steam. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much, but the thermal formation were crazy, and many of the colors looked like lava! We were glad that we went, regardless of the limited visibility.

We hopped back in the car and drove almost 2 hours to our hotel, which was halfway between Yellowstone's east entrance and Cody, WY (Pahaska Teepee Lodge). It was a very small, rustic A-frame cabin community, but it did the trick for the price! I passed out for the afternoon since I wasn't feeling well and Cari, Jon, and Megan went to the lodge restaurant to eat. Apparently, they had a very entertaining discussion with the staff about a recent buffalo attack, which didn't make Cari feel very comfortable. No buffalo/bison to speak of though, and whenever they got back to the hotel room, I woke up for a few, ate some crackers, and then passed out again for the night. It was a rough day health-wise, but we still got to see some great stuff!

NW Trip '12 - Day 3

6/4/12 - Day 3: Given our rather long drive on Day 3, we were up and out of the hotel in SLC by around 8:30 a.m. We made some humble peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast in the parking lot of the hotel, gassed up, and hit the road... again. Via I-15, we drove north from SLC through Utah and into Idaho. Surprisingly, Idaho was one of the most beautiful states we drove through -- lots of green, mountains/rolling hills, and small lakes/ponds everywhere. Since we missed the "Welcome to Idaho" sign on the way in, we stopped when we entered Wyoming and turned around to take the Idaho picture. Unfortunately, there was no "Welcome to Wyoming" sign, but we took whatever pictures we could and drove east into WY.

Our first encounter with Wyoming folk was at a small general store about 45 minutes southwest of Jackson. We mainly needed it for a bathroom break, but ended up buying a few items. As a "reward" for our business, the store clerk and his daughter gave us a sharpie and asked that we sign their picnic table in front of the store. Of all the signatures, we thought we might live relatively far away, but in comparison, we were pretty close! There were names of people from China, Australia, and many other foreign countries. On second thought, we realized that Yellowstone is a pretty famous place. Anyways, we drove on and made it to Jackson Hole, WY. We parked in the town center/square and walked around before ending up at a bar facing the square. The food was acceptable, but definitely nowhere near top of the list during our trip (frozen burger for me, chicken ceasar for Cari).

After lunch, we drove north towards Grand Teton National Park! We arrived in no time and stopped at the first visitor center to get information, plan our trip, and buy some souvenirs. First on our "to-do" list was driving Antelope Flat road to see some wildflowers and wildlife. The former was pretty non-existent except for a few small patches. The latter was abundant, especially on the bison front. We saw several herds of free-range bison roaming the grasslands (not too close to the car though). Got some great pictures of the magnificent beasts, along with some nice panoramics of the mountain range, before driving back into the park.

We stopped at a random trailhead a few miles into the park where the rangers at the visitor center indicated a mother moose had recently given birth a few days ago. There was quite a crowd surrounding the wooded area where the moose was last spotted, many members of which had very large cameras with very large lenses (National Geographic, maybe?). Unfortunately, we didn't see the moose, but we did catch some elk on our way north through the park. Our next stop attempt was Jenny Lake overlook. I say "attempt" because a storm was blowing in as we drove through the park -- lots of gusty wind and sheets of rain. We made it halfway down the one-way drive to Jenny Lake overlook and had to turn around due to a fallen tree (luckily it didn't fall on us, but it was blocking the road completely). After turning around and heading to Colter Bay Village (our destination for the evening), we caught sight of a grizzly bear walking down the side of the road. Fortunately, there was a ranger there to guard against all of the ignorant tourists who wanted nothing more than to risk their lives to get a picture.

We continued to Colter Bay and checked into our old, but spacious cabin. Because of the storm, we had no electricity, but this was a minor issue that was fixed by the time we returned to the cabin later in the evening. Since we weren't given any expectation of restored power, we went across the street to the general store and bought a flashlight and some Christmas ornament souvenirs. Next, we went down the street to the Ranch House for dinner -- had an excellent wild game bolognaise with a salad while Cari enjoyed bacon-wrapped meatloaf. Both dishes were very hearty, and very good. With our tummies full, we walked down to the bay marina, looked at the boats, watched the sun go down, and took pictures (while we were eaten alive by mosquitoes). Once the bugs got their fill of us, we took a short hike around part of Lakeshore trail, skipped rocks at the lake, and took a few more pictures before turning back. We stopped at an outdoor ampitheater on the way back and sat through a LONG introduction by a park ranger (which we actually thought was the entire program). Once the intro stopped and the transition began into the program, we casually and politely collected our items and left. We were almost back to the main path when Cari spotted a white-tailed deer and FREAKED OUT!! I think it caught her by surprise, but I'm glad I wasn't in her way, otherwise I might have had a tennis shoe print on my face.

Before bed, we hopped back in the car to do some dusk moose-hunting. It was a little too dark, and we didn't find any moose, but we did find a LOT of elk (male and female), some of which we almost ran into. It was a very cool sight to see dozens of elk grazing in the fields at night, so we were satisfied with our hunting expedition. We made it back safely to our now powered cabin and passed out relatively early!

NW Trip '12 - Day 2

6/3/12 - Day 2: We managed to get up and ready and out of the hotel by 9:00 a.m. (not bad for four people in one room). We had scoped out a good breakfast cafe around the corner the evening before, so we walked from the hotel to the Love Muffin Cafe. It seemed to be a very organic/fresh food type of place, and the food was excellent! I had a carnitas burrito and Cari chose the healthier route with her whole-wheat waffle. After breakfast, we piled back in the car and headed back into Arches National Park. Once in the park, we drove all the way through to the end point of the single road ("Devils Garden"). The original goal was to hike most of the trail, which would be around 6.5-7 miles, but that goal changed pretty quickly once we started hiking and realized how hot it was (95 degrees-ish in the desert = HOT). Regardless, we made it to Landscape Arch and Double Os Arch, took some pictures, and headed back to the car. After some mild disrobing to rid ourselves of any sweaty outer layers, we saddled up and hit the road heading north towards Salt Lake City. 

The landscape changed significantly, from reddish/brown desert to yellowish rolling hills, and then finally lush green mountains. We stopped in between Arches and SLC at a rest area and threw together some PB&J sandwiches for lunch; nothing fancy, but it did the trick! We finally arrived at the Hilton Airport at SLC (just about 10 minutes west of the city) around 5:00 p.m. and took an hour or so to rest. Around 6:00, we drove into the city for dinner at the Red Iguana, which was a "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" feature that Jon found. We were seated right away and enjoyed an authentic Mexican dinner of Tacos Don Ramon (and some regular tacos). After stuffing ourselves with delicious food, we drove a few miles further into downtown and parked near Temple Square. The temple (Mormon Temple, that is) was closed since it was a Sunday, but we walked around the square for while, enjoyed the scenery, and took a few pictures. 

After watching the sun set against the temple, we walked to Creek City Center (an outdoor mall similar to Short Pump in Richmond), but again, everything was closed. We made our way back to the car and explored downtown a little more before hitting Squatters Pub/Brewery, another Jon Osborn-find. We had a moment of humor because we thought it was a gay bar at first (mainly due to the rainbow flags flying outside). But, a quick google search indicated that it wasn't, so we felt at ease trying it out. Jon and I enjoyed a VERY strong (but good) IPA while Cari had her shirley temple. Finally, we went back to the hotel for drinks and a little Bill Cosby standup comedy, compliments of Jon's DVD and laptop. Bed around 11!