We left triple-digit heat in Portland on Sunday and drove west to Seaside, where the beaches were socked in with fog, the wind was strong, and temps were in the 50s. I had a bad cold and the sudden chill…
The Kiss That Launched a Thousand Bullets
I think about that kiss. The one Omar Mateen witnessed with his son at Orlando Gay Pride. The one he felt the need to avenge with blood. And I’m immobilized by emotion. I think about those nameless men. Joyful and…
Reunited at Columbia River Gorge
After more than a year away, we crossed the border into Oregon last week and met our oldest Eugene friends at Viento State Park campground on the Columbia River Gorge. We hadn’t seen Kathy and Robin since we’d left, but…
Keep the Wildfire Burning
I posted this essay on my Facebook page yesterday and have gotten such a positive response that I’ve decided to post it here as well, even though it stretches the boundaries of a usual travel blog. We saw Bernie Sanders…
Pause in Paradise
Paradise RV Resort is in Southeast Washington, near both Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier. It’s not too far off I-5 and Highway 12, but when we reached the entrance and saw the sweeping view below, we thought maybe we…
La Conner and the San Juans
We left Seattle on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and drove north to La Conner, a small town on Skagit Bay in the Northwest corner of Washington. It’s also close to Anacortes, where you can catch a ferry to…
Sleeping in Seattle
Our journey started in Seattle, really. Twice. We bought Bessie in Marysville, north of Seattle, and drove first to Whidbey Island where we stayed overnight with friends, then to Seattle where we parked in our daughter’s driveway for the night.…
Little Bavaria in Washington
Our friends who live on Whidbey Island (north of Seattle) wanted to meet us somewhere as we came through the state. None of us had been to Leavenworth, and we’d heard it’s a beautiful mountain town – a Bavarian village,…
LGBT Connection at Little Diamond Lake
Sometimes you just need a place to hole up a few days. This was a convenient Thousand Trails park in Northwest Washington not far off the road to Leavenworth, where we would meet friends later in the week. It was…
Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho
This lake (pronounced Lake Pon-der-ray) is the second largest lake in Idaho and a popular destination. It’s near the Washington border, north of Couer d’Alene and south of Sandpoint. We’d planned to stop somewhere in Montana after we left Yellowstone,…
Yellowstone National Park
We drove into Yellowstone the first day the South entrance opened, so there was a still lot of snow, but the sun was shining and it was a warm day. Our plan was to stop at Old Faithful, where we…
Grand Teton National Park
This is one of my favorite national parks. The mountains are too steep to traverse by car, so the roads through the park mostly go alongside the range, offering incredible views and access to beautiful lakes and trails. No twisty,…