Not much
happened the first 3 days of travel. Lots of driving,
windmills, corn, and hay. In addition, Kelly & I did
visit some Roadside America attractions. We
stopped overnight in Iowa where we stayed at a Ramada water park
hotel, but unfortunately, the hot tub wasn't working. We
spent the second night in Nebraska and got our room comped
at a Quality Inn. On the third night, we stayed in
Cheyenne, Wyoming and had a great dinner. I also tasted
my first Huckleberry Mojito (while Kelly got his standard
Guinness).
On day 4,
we arrived in Murray, Utah (which is just south of Salt
Lake City) on Thursday, June 15 at 4pm. IT WAS SO HOT!!!!
It was 103 degrees, which in hindsight was not even close
to the warmest temperatures on our trip. After breakfast
the next morning, we went drove to Temple Square, and we
had a tour of the grounds, and saw where the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir performs. The actual temple is currently
being renovated, and it will be another 2+ years before it
is finished. After the tour, we went north to Antelope
Island on the Great Salt Lake. Because of the severe
drought, the lake levels were at an all-time low. On the
island, we saw many bison and walked through Fielding Garr
Ranch which was an actual working ranch in the 19th
century.
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The temple under construction
- Margaret is prepared for the brine flies at the
lake - seeing hundreds of bison around the Great
Salt Lake |
After a
wonderful time at Great Salt Lake, we pushed on and made
our way to Boise, Idaho, where we stayed the night. When
we arrived in the morning, we stopped at 'Timber &
Love', a store where the HGTV show 'Boise Boys' is filmed.
Jessica showed us around the place and gave us a personal
tour. Of course, I bought a sweatshirt as a souvenir.
Afterwards, we trekked on to our destination...
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Cocktails at Applebee's for
dinner in Boise - Timber & Love the next
morning which is home of HGTV's Boise Boys TV show |
We headed
for Oregon, and arrived in Bend on June 17th at 3:30pm. We
had dinner at Red Robin and the next morning, Alexa and
Cooper washed all the bugs off the car.
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Lots of bugs on the car were
washed off by Alexa and Cooper - a spirited game
of hangman also took place |
On Father's
Day, Amanda arranged for a beautiful twilight dinner atop
Mt. Bachelor with the dads. Guests of honor included dad
Chris, dad Kelly, and dad Barry Westfall. To get to the
restaurant, we had to take the ski lift up to the top. The
lift up, and the views from the restaurant were just fabulous.
There were some wildfires in Oregon, so the skies were a
bit hazy, but the scenery, dinner, dessert, and company
were first rate. Thank you Amanda for a wonderful evening.
During the
next week back in Bend, the kids had basketball camp
Monday through Friday in the mornings, so Kelly & I
drove them each day. On Tuesday, Amanda had a day off, so
we all went on a hike to Steelhead Falls. It was a 1 mile
trek and it was HOT - HOT - HOT! After the hike, we went
to Smith Rock State Park which had some phenomenal views,
and to Crescent Moon Ranch and we saw,
petted, and fed the alpacas.
On
Wednesday after bball camp, we took Alexa and Cooper to
Sun River Resort where the kids played on the rides,
putt-putt, and had a nice lunch. Then we visited a nature
center, and then had ice cream to cool down.
Thursday
night, Chris and Amanda treated us to a nice farewell
dinner at El Caporal Mexican Restaurant. Food and company
were top notch! It was such a fun week. It was the first
time since COVID that we were able to spend time with
Chris, Amanda, Alexa and Cooper. We love them all, but now
it's time to turn up the heat!
On Friday,
we started our drive up to Washington to Olympic National
Park. We arrived at Lake Quinault Lodge in the Olympic
National Forest which was located on Lake Quinault which
was were we were staying the night. That
evening, we went on a long hike by the lake, which also
took us through the rain forest.
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Lake Quinault Lodge
overlooking Lake Quinault - Hiking and trailing
around the forest |
The next
morning, we had on the agenda lot's of hiking and sightseeing. We saw the world's largest Sitka Spruce tree, Merriman Waterfall, Maple Glade Rainforest Trail. We even hiked down to the Pacific Ocean via Ruby Beach. The ocean was beautiful and cold, even though the air temperature was 110 degrees, so, not so bad.
We
tried to make reservations for that night's
lodging, but every lodge or national motel chain
was booked, so I found a place called Sportsmen
Motel in Port Angeles, WA. It was only $75, so it
must be good, right??? Since we were in the area,
we wanted to find the Dungeness Lighthouse in
Sequim, WA, but we couldn't see it from the shore which was the closest we could get the car. It was out past a 5 mile hiking trail, with
110 degree temps, and our age, we decided not to do the trek.
We had some dinner and went to the Sportsmen Motel.
It was clean, but like many motels and lodges in Washington, no air conditioning. They did give us a fan, and I slept great! |
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The next morning, we headed to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. There was snow up there and we even saw several deer. We
did some hiking and saw just spectacular views from the trails. We then drove to, and checked into Sol Duc Hot
Springs Resort. We got a small cabin... Big Mistake... No air, no fan, no fridge, no microwave! Because we were in a National
Park, we slept with the windows closed because there were
probably bears in the area. Finally... at 1am, we tempted the
bear attack and opened up the windows. We went to the hot springs, but stayed in the fresh water cool pool, as temperatures
rose to 112 degrees.
We left Olympic National Park the next morning on the way to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Some of the drive highlights were stopping in Liberty Lake, Washington, at The "Real" Legends bar for dinner. Kelly had a
Guinness (or two). Lunch in Butte, MT, and stayed in Billings, MT for the night.
We arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park on June 30th at
1pm. We stopped and spent some time at the visitors center which was
educational, then hiked up Buck Hill for a spectacular view of the park. On the way out of the park, there was a herd of wild horses. Kelly & I were also getting a little stir crazy in the car, so we
did some singing to pass the time (you can see some on the
Dateline News page under Quick Videos).
The remainder of the trip was driving home. We stayed the night in Duluth (no, not the store), Minnesota one night, then Escanaba, Michigan the next. We took pics of Mike and Karen's first house, and the bar that sponsored his hockey team. We stayed at a Quality Inn, which was the first motel we stayed at that had it's own bar, and we had a good time there.
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Arrived in Escanaba - former
home of Mike & Karen - Ore Bar is the current
name of Mike's former hockey sponsor Stropich Bar |
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The last day on the road, we
went across the Mackinac Bridge had a late lunch in
Frankenmuth, and picked up some chocolate at the Lindt
Chocolate store.
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