A Stint in the Northwest

As our time in Canada came to a close, Courtney and I began to chart the next portion of our route.   We knew that we wanted to head down the whole West Coast, and try to see Olympic National Park in Washington and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, so we headed south into Washington and stopped at the first hotel we came across.  Metaline Falls, WA was maybe 20 minutes after we crossed back into the states, so we stopped there and got a cheap motel and a meal at a little diner in the middle of nowhere.  The only thing we'd eaten the two days before that were 2 or 3 juices so needless to say we were cranky and voracious.

The next morning we sped off for Seattle, excited to see a city finally.  Myself and Court were completely delighted by the surprising hipster bohemian feel of the section of the city we landed in; plenty of cool restaurants and bars around, with the typical shopping stores implanted between them.  We found ourselves at a diner, something like Lucky's Diner or some Irish name.  We were over the moon about the food (we're diner big freaks), and both enjoyed omelettes with a homemade biscuit on the side.  Stuffed to the brim with food for the first time since we left, we explored the quirky street and people-watched the tourists and locals. We spent so much time in Seattle we forgot to look for a campsite nearby until it was too dark, so again we found a motel.  At this point it felt like we were doing motels more than camping.

We quickly realized that night in our room that I had miscalculated how far Olympic was from Seattle, while I thought it was only 2 hours, it was something more like 6.  Though when I look at it now on google maps it does say a little over 2, either way we got our wires crossed and decided 6 hours was too far out of the way, so we tearfully skipped it and headed for Oregon.

After another brutally long day of 9 hours in the car we were greeted with the beauty of Oregon.  Our goal was a campground at Crater Lake, and after hours of driving in the wrong direction, missed turns, hidden signs, and ultimate confusion we gave up on the idea that we were going to find the campground before sunset.  We ended up staying at a little state campground for pretty cheap, which was plenty nice.  We were one of two people with a tent, and the rest consisted of retired couples in their RV's.

We walked the campsite, waved to our friendly neighbors, played a few rounds of poker, got baked and hit the hay.  It was a long frustrating two days and I most certainly plan on doing a trip back to the northwest so I can really spend some time there.  From the little I saw it is a gorgeous place and I intend to see it all.