Pacific Northwest Trip Summary

We've been home over 3 months, but are now writing a final trip summary. Here are all the states and provinces that we drove through or visited:

Distance traveled: 11,231 miles

Time away: 65 days

Where we slept: 2 nights hotels, 3 nights tent, 1 night yurt, 2 nights 4Runner, and 56 nights trailer.

 

[Click on any picture to enlarge.]

We hiked and hiked and hiked.  Bill liked 10-mile hikes that challenged him, while Barbara felt a gradual 3-mile trail was her limit. We hiked together, but sometimes we’d start out together and then Bill would continue on and occasionally we would go on separate trails. One time Bill hiked up a mountain, while Barbara drove to the top. Another time we hiked together until we saw this sign.

Since the remainder of the “trail” was a jumble of boulders, Barbara turned around, but Bill kept going and was able to reach a glacier-fed lake.

Bill's favorite hike was the Highline Trail at Glacier National Park; Barbara's was Hurricane Hill in Olympic National Park.

We saw lots of cool stuff when we hiked, like snowcapped mountains, beaches, waterfalls, big trees, glaciers, alpine meadows, rainforests, cliffs, sand dunes, and seastacks. Trails took us behind waterfalls, in a cave, and through the devastation caused by the eruption of Mt St Helens. 

And then there were the moments when we spotted something moving and said, "Oh, look!  There's a ______!"

We saw so much wildlife!

Barbara letterboxed some on the trip, adding the pink places to her list of places she found boxes.

 

Her letterboxing highlights included boxing with Judy and finding some very special boxes in Washington.

We drove over beautiful highways like the Sea to Sky Highway in British Columbia, Chuckanut Drive in Washington, Washington Pass in the North Cascades, the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon, Going-to-the-Sun Highway in Glacier National Park, and across the vast country. 

Most of our trip focused on natural scenic places. We didn't explore cities much, but explored some beautiful gardens and parks, like the Butchart Gardens near Victoria, British Columbia.  

We enjoyed various tours and ranger-led talks. How cool it was to see Theodore Roosevelt's cabin and then watch the PBS Roosevelt series when we got home. We saw 1^st Order Fresnel Lenses in lighthouses and then saw one close up in a museum when we got home.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and we are thankful for a beautiful country and the opportunity to travel, see sights, and even see a few special people along the way! 

We know a number of you followed us along on our trip as we blogged.  It seemed like our readers were right there with us.

Who's that peeking along with Bill from behind that tree? (Edited by Barbara's dad)