10/10/2024 Van Trip 2

Got up early and left Olympic National Park with a tear in my eye. We drove to the Willamette valley and stayed at a vineyard for the night. It was a beautiful campsite and I hear in the summer they have wine tasting in the campground. I walked up to the vineyard to see the grape plants. 

Until tomorrow...

10/9/2024 Van Trip 2

Sadly this is the final day at a national park. We got up early and drove from basically one end of Olympic National Park to the other we started out in Port Angeles area and drove all the way to Rialto Beach. After walking the beach with the dog we packed up and drove to the Hoh rainforest. I've been in the back part of the rainforest the day before but we wanted to see the main part of the rainforest. First I did a trail called Hall of Mosses. That child was full of Tourists. So then I did Spruce Trail where I was alone for 99% of it. So incredibly beautiful. 

I saw some animals, elk and fancy named squirrel. It was rutting season so you were born to stay away from elk. 

Until tomorrow...

10/8/2024 Van Trip 2

First day in Olympic National Park. It is a huge Park and to get from area to area is multiple hours in the car I think the whole way around is like 300 miles. 

Today we focused on one part which was the area Lake Crescent, Salmon Cascades and Sol Duc Falls. We also went to Madison Creek Falls where Miss Vivien was able to hike to a falls. 

Miss Vivien Butterfly became a Bark Ranger. Some of the more dog friendly parks are part of a program called bark Ranger. It's where our dogs and their owners promise to follow basic steps and the dog gets a little dark Ranger medallion to put on there collar. 

Until tomorrow...

10/7/2024 Van Trip 2

Today was another travel day. It took almost a whole day to drive from Mount Rainier to Olympic National Park. It was also a little bit difficult because now I'm Miss Vivien is not doing well in the van. She is panting and crying. 

Since we got to our campsite at Olympic National Park and a reasonable hour I decided to make vegan fried rice with some vegan applewood sausage in it. Surprisingly it tasted very good. 

Until tomorrow...

10/6/2024 Van Trip 2

Listen to the rangers advice, we got up bright and early and was once again at a park at 7:00 7:30 a.m. we ate our breakfast there and walked around an awful lot to give the dog some exercise. We could only walk in the parking lot with the dog. I went on a hike by myself to go see a waterfall. 

After half a day at the park we decided to go back to the campervan and campsite and get some things done. 

I made some lentil stew. 

Until tomorrow...

10/5/2024 Van Trip 2

We got up early and drove to Mount Rainier National Park. It is a beautiful Park. It is also a very long drive up a big mountain just as Mount Hood was. There were lots of switchbacks and very high altitude and poor Miss Vivien do not like it at all. Poor thing got altitude sickness and car sick. She didn't vomit but she was panting her heart was racing and she was very uncomfortable. 

I kept taking her out to go on little walks but at Mount Rainier it is not very dog friendly. So she mostly had to stay in parking lots. Each national park has their own dog policy depending on the park. 

When we got to the top of Mount Rainier (or at least as far as I could drive), the parking lot was packed. We decided to leave and come back the next morning. One of the rangers told us that the parking lot starts to fill up at 7:00 a.m. 

Until tomorrow...

10/4/2024 Van Trip 2

We got up really early and decided to have breakfast at Mount Hood. We'd heard that you want to get there early to be able to park. So we got up and didn't eat drove all the way to Mount Hood and made breakfast while we were at the highest point you can take a car. We ate our breakfast looking at Mount Hood and watching the sleet/snow coming down. 

Beautiful and cold park. 

Then we drove to our campsite at Mount Rainier. 

Until tomorrow...

10/3/2024 Van Trip 2

Today it was another driving day on our way to Mount Hood National Park. Along the way we stopped at this rest area that had a funny sign. The sign said "keep pets out". It seems strange considering was a big beautiful grassy area. Then the sign said "many dogs have fallen to their death". You know I had to carry this Vivien and find out what this was all about. 

We walked across this gigantic grassy area to a cute little picnic area. Well still holding Miss Vivien, I walked over to a wall about 4 ft high. On the other side of the wall is a Gorge that was probably 25 stories down. I guess what has happened is that people will play ball with their dogs and the dogs don't realize there's nothing on the other side of the wall and they jump over and fall to their death. Gory. 

I did not let Ms Vivien near the wall even though there's no way we can jump 4 ft. 

We made it to our campsite and tomorrow we'll go see Mount Hood. 

Until tomorrow...

10/2/2024 Van Trip 2

This morning we woke up and went to Rogue Gorge, a long the Rogue River, which is a park near our campsite. Miss Vivien Butterfly and I went for a long hike. 

Such a beautiful place. 

10/1/2024 Van Trip 2

As you can imagine Crater Lake National Park is beautiful. It is a humongous Lake at the top of a volcano from trillions of years ago. But the lake is crystal clear. No boats are allowed on it so it's just such a clear beautiful water.

We drove around the entire Loop around the lake. 

Until tomorrow...