Vermont and Home Sweet Home!

April 25^th, 2015 (Saturday):

     Today Scott and I drove to Burlington, Vermont around the Lake Champlain. It was a pretty drive along the water. We had lunch at a Vermont Brewery & Restaurant which was yummy. And then walked around exploring all of the shops. It was nice to see stores selling local, hand-crafted products/art…not just stuff made in China.

    We found a neat antique store which had everything from wooden skis, to bright colored furniture, to beautiful dishes. We enjoy looking through antique items and finding hidden gems. My inner designer comes out and inspires me to decorate rental properties that I don’t yet have but imagine in my head J

    Overall, it was a nice, relaxing day in Vermont. We were going to camp out in New Hampshire at a campground however there aren't any places open yet. And being so close to Maine we decided to push on. We arrived to Pownal, Maine a little after 11:00pm.

    Thank you to everyone who followed my blog and came on this adventure with us in spirit! Looking forward to having a beautiful summer in Maine with you all.

With Love,

Heidi & Scott

 

 

Podcasts through Canada

April 24^th, 2015 (Friday):

    We spent last night in the RV at a parking lot next to Tim Horton’s. I did not sleep well due to the large trucks coming in and out all night (as Tim Horton’s is open 24 hours). We’ve both been pretty sleep deprived the past few days. And also have sore muscles from sitting for hours upon hours. However one good thing we came across that you can download for free on iTunes are podcasts. We are podcasts junkies now.

    Two podcasts that we have been listening to every day is Stuff You Should Know which is hosted by two guys that do their own research (looking at peer reviewed articles) and report to the public what they found about a broad range of topics. They tend to go off topic once in a while sharing random thoughts or humorous sayings. Apparently they also have a website where you can find an array of articles on whichever topic you decide to search. We have been listening to topics such as “How Patents Work” and “How Chocolate Works”. It’s interesting and our brains are filling up with so much knowledge! J

   The second podcast that we found to be interesting is called This American Life. The host portrays stories in an unbiased way. He also has guest speakers come onto his show to explain their personal stories and they tell it in such a way that makes it so intriguing to listen to. So, next time you go onto iTunes make sure to look for free podcasts, music, television shows and books at the iTunes store. Every few weeks they seem to have added more free stuff. You can also subscribe to podcasts so that new episodes download automatically into your iTunes library.

    Okay, enough tech advice…we literally drove all day through Canada, mostly on highways and through residential areas. We only had to stop once to get gas and twice for food. We had considered going all the way to Montreal however with the higher gas prices and the fact we’d have to find parking in the city we decided not to go this trip. We went south just before Ottawa, Canada on HWY 416 and arrived in upper New York about 8pm at which time we drove another 1.5 hours to Plattsburgh, New York.

    Exhausted, it’s now 12:15AM into Saturday morning…we are in a chic hotel along Lake Champlain; we plan on getting a good sleep this morning (already asked for a late checkout). We will check out Vermont over the next 1-2 days then head home to Maine! What a journey it has been.

    Sleep well,

Heidi & Scott

Oh Canada!

April 23^rd, 2015 (Thursday):

    This morning we are driving towards Canada where we will take Route 17 through Ontario. Depending on gas prices and how expensive it is in Canada we will decide to either continue through Canada until we reach Northern Vermont or may go south earlier and go through Northern New York. We shall see…be home in less than a week!

 

Great Lakes and Good Cheese

April 22^nd 2015 (Wednesday):

     Vantastic is re-aligned and had an oil change yesterday. We drove quite a bit through Minnesota eventually finding a Casino to camp out at. I won $15 playing the card game Black Jack. I also have been on a winning streak with Lotto tickets…even if it’s just $1 to $2, I win on a ticket and take my profits to the next gas station and purchase a new ticket. It’s been fun.

    Today we took the more scenic Route 13 off of Route 2 in Wisconsin to get a closer view of Lake Superior. Everything is pretty much closed right now as we are arriving earlier in the season than most visitors. It’s so cold and snowing here that we didn’t get to hike trails that had wanted too.

    One thing we wanted to make sure to do while in Wisconsin was to try its’ local cheese. We bought Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Curd from a small grocery store and it was really good. Now in Michigan driving through the Ottawa National Forest.

North Dakota

April 21^st, 2015 (Tuesday):

     Yesterday afternoon we stumbled upon the “Geological Center of North America” in Rugby, North Dakota. It’s apparently the center point between Mexico, Canada, Maine and California. There are flags flying which represent the three countries and a plaque that describes the history of this particular location. It’s been super windy on Route 2 the past two days. It’s mostly flat, farm land here so there’s nothing to block the wind. It’s been in the 40’s-50’s for temperature…we’re missing the 60 – 70 degree weather!

     We stopped at a nice espresso shop called “Speed Shots” in Wolf Point, MT off of HWY 2. The owner was very friendly, the Chai tea I bought was delicious and he even gave us a free home-made rice krispy treat for the road. I would recommend this espresso shack if you’re ever in the area.  

     Last night we stayed in a town called Devils Lake, North Dakota. Now we are heading to our alignment/oil change appointment in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Heading to North Dakota

April 20^th (Monday):

     This morning we continue on Route 2 heading East. We are almost to North Dakota. We scheduled an appointment for Vantastic at 1pm tomorrow in Grand Forks, Minnesota. She will have an alignment done as well as an oil change. It’s a cold, windy day here in Montana. We are going to get lunch at the next town which is probably about 100 miles away. We just passed two beautiful horses running outside. The amount of wildlife and animals we’ve seen on this trip has definitely been a highlight!

     Have a wonderful day,

Heidi

Glacier National Park

April 19^th (Sunday):

    We stayed at a Travelodge last night in Kalispell, Montana. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant. It was a pretty quiet town. Today we saw Glacier National Park (the west entrance to the park is right off of route 2). Most of the park is still closed due to snow however we were able to drive up to Lake McDonald. The water was so still when we arrived. The reflection of the mountains, trees and clouds on the lake was unbelievable! I've included pictures of this lake below. The picture of the rocks were actually under water but it was so clear you can't even tell! Definitely one of the more beautiful National Parks we've seen. We didn't do much hiking as most of the trails open were over 5 miles long and we wanted to get on the road. We got a lot of driving done today, a little more than 10 hours.

 

 

Sandpoint, Idaho

April 18^th (Saturday):

     Last night we slept at a 24 hour Walmart parking lot just before Spokane, Washington. Today we finished up driving through Washington, part of Idaho and arrived into Montana. One highlight of our day was stopping at Sandpoint, Idaho. We picked up food and brought it to Sandpoint Beach. It’s a wonderful park right on the water. And everyone was really making use of it. There were people playing kickball, volleyball, basketball, and riding around the park with their bicycles. We put a blanket down on the grass nearby other picnics and enjoyed eating our lunch while watching everyone enjoy the sunny day outside. It’s been 60’s-70’s for temperature- a lot warmer than we were expecting on this Northern route.

-Heidi & Scott

Route 2-Mountains and Bratwursts

April 17^th (Friday):

     Last night we took an evening Ferry Boat ride with Vantastic back above Seattle area. The sun was setting and sailboats were out. It was a gorgeous ride. We ended up sleeping at a rest stop on the highway.

    This morning we started our journey on Route 2, driving East along the Skykomish and then Wenatchee River in Washington. We were both impressed with how scenic the ride has been- so beautiful. We found a town called Leavenworth after riding in between all the mountains and it’s a must-see. The feeling you get when going into this town brings you into another era. The buildings have a lot of flare to them, the letters on signs bring you back to the movie “The Hobbit” and the food is mostly German. We ate Bratwursts for lunch and they were delicious. The restaurant we went to had 10-15 different home-made sauces you could put on your meat. I went with Maui onion and curry ketchup and it was so good.

    After walking around the town for a couple of hours we stopped at a small town called Cashmere. Here we found an Antique Store that was the largest I’ve ever been too. There were many things we wanted but since we don’t have much room in the van we both decided not to get anything. We had fun looking around at all the booths though. Then we treated ourselves to milkshakes from a diner.

    All in all it was a great day exploring the unique mountain towns along Route 2 and the views of the river on this drive have been amazing!

 

Hiking in Olympic National Park

April 16^th (Thursday):

       We had a late start to the morning, starting our day at about 10:00 in the morning. There was a nice 1.5 mile trail from where we slept that brought us to Second Beach which gives a spectacular view. It was gorgeous. There were a lot of big drift wood/trees to walk on and explore. Then we went south a bit to Hoh Rain Forest. We were pretty wiped out when we arrived but after having some lunch we decided to push on and do another hike. We did the Spruce Nature Trail which was a 1.5 mile loop along the Hoh River. There were many Douglass Fur, Spruce and Hemlock trees. The forest was full of trees dripping in green moss. The landscape looked so different from forests in Maine where it’s a much more dry environment. We saw Elk footprints in the mud as well.

      Now we are heading back towards Kingston (taking the faster, northern route from which we came) where we will catch the ferry tonight to Everett (start of Route 2). It’s now 4pm, coffee and chai tea in hands- ready to make some progress East!

Mountain, Lake and Beach in One Day!

April 15^th (Wednesday):

      This morning after getting free coffee and tea in the casino we headed west on Route 101 stopping in a town called Sequim where we went into a thrift store called “Serenity Thrift Store”. Scott found two nice shirts and fishing pole racks. And I found three c.d.’s for three dollars. We definitely could use more music for our road trip. So it’s kind of fun to pick out random music at thrift stores and be surprised at what you hear when you push play.

      There was a friendly park ranger we met at one of the visitor centers who gave us an overview of Olympic National Park…what’s worth seeing and hiking. We decided to first take the drive up to Hurricane Ridge which offered the most beautiful mountain range I’ve ever seen in person. We spotted several deer along the road and a few people who were hiking in the snow. It’s that weird transition time where there’s not enough snow to ski and too much to enjoy hiking. If we had snowshoes we probably would’ve used them.

      From there we drove along a beautiful lake called Lake Crescent and stayed the night for free on the Quileute Indian Reservation. We made dinner in the parking lot overlooking “First Beach”, listening to the waves crash against the large rocks. Then made Scott watch the movie Twilight because it was based out of Forks, Washington. It was fun to recognize the local areas mentioned in the movie such as the Quileute Indian Reservation, La Push beach and Port Angeles…as we had driven right by or onto these areas.

 

 

Market in Seattle, Washington

April 14^th (Tuesday):

     Check out time at the hotel this morning was 11 o’clock however we were able to leave the campervan in the hotel parking lot for the day. This was nice because it saved us money on parking elsewhere and time to find a new spot. We walked down to Pike Place Market which is a great big market which has everything from fresh wild salmon, organic produce, to hand-painted crafts and natural food stores. The sun was out in the morning so we were really able to have fun and enjoy exploring this area of the city. We later walked down closer to the water to see the ferris wheel and walked by the aquarium but the area is under construction and not much was going on there. Pike Place Market is where it’s at.

    In the afternoon we met up with Scott’s friend who currently lives in Seattle and my friend who is working out of Seattle on a ship. It was great to catch up with friends from Maine. We had a few drinks and played some pool at a local bar/restaurant. At about 9:30pm Scott and I took Vantastic onto the Kingston Ferry that would transport us closer to Olympic National Forest. We spent the night at a nearby casino. By signing up for their club member rewards program they gave us each a deck of cards and offered $10 each towards either food or slot machine play. We went with the play money. We played some black jack and some slot machines. There were not enough table workers to operate the craps table otherwise we would’ve played that too. After leaving the casino (not ahead) we played blackjack in the van with our new playing cards.

 

Yummy Food!

April 13^th, 2015 (Monday):

This morning we left Gladstone and are heading north towards Seattle. We met up with Scott’s friend in Portland for breakfast. It was a unique breakfast place in that they sold biscuit sandwiches with friend chicken and other meats on them. I had a sandwich with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and apple butter. Boy was it good! And Scott had a sandwich with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, fried egg and gravy. The place had a line to the cashier the entire time we were there but it seemed to have a good flow to it; you didn’t have to wait too long. It’s nice to find breakfast places that have distinctive food options…it’s not just your typical omelet, scrambled egg, and pancake restaurant.

Going on HWY 5 North now and it’s a rainy day. We were considering checking out some National parks but not in this weather. So we will spend the next two days in the city visiting some friends then go to Olympic National Park along the coast of Washington. Soon, we will be on Route 2 heading East!

Monday night we stayed at the Travelodge in Seattle by the Space Needle. It was the perfect location for us to walk downtown near 4^th and 5^th avenue where the restaurants are. We caught up on a Netflix series called “Bloodline” for a bit and then found a nice pizza place to have dinner at called Bambino’s. The pizza was delicious (made in a brick oven).

 

Tulips, Waterfalls and Friends

April 11^th, 2015 (Saturday):

This morning Scott and I went to a tulip festival in Woodburn, OR. There was a beautiful variety of colors to look at, craft and food tents to explore, and if you have children there are a lot of games for them to play there. We enjoyed the festival for about two hours then left for a family friend’s house in Gladstone (south of Portland, OR) and we had a relaxing day talking, sipping tea and coffee then later playing cards. It was nice to catch up on laundry and shower too.

On Sunday, we borrowed their car to drive up to the Columbia River Gorge along the Historic Route 30. I was able to show Scott all of the beautiful waterfalls along the river that I had seen last Summer while visiting OR. Then we took an afternoon drive into the city of Portland where I brought Scott to the South harbor area. There is a nice river walk with several cafés and restaurants along the water. We looked at some of the house boats docked at the marina. Then stopped at one of the café’s and had organic hot apple cider and beer.

Sunday night we were spoiled to a quinoa, roasted vegetables and salad dinner. It was nice to have a healthy meal cooked at home. Then we sat by the fire and made S’mores. It was a wonderful two days of relaxation and down time that we so needed.

 

 

Hot Springs

April 10^th, 2015 (Friday):

       We arrived into Umpqua National Forest around 11:00 AM this morning. It was a beautiful drive along Route 138; the water was flowing rapidly by the green trees. It took a bit to find the Umpqua Hot Springs as there are no clear signs/directions on how to get there. However it’s nice that you have to work a bit to find them because everyone would be in these hot springs all the time if they were on the main route of 138. It’s only a 0.3 mile hike uphill to get to them. We were impressed by the natural hot springs overlooking the river. It’s in a gorgeous location. The higher the hot spring the hotter the temperature and the lower the hot spring (closer to the river), the colder the temperature is. If you ever go, expect nudity and hippies smoking a particular plant. Scott had a good idea…they should make a schedule so you know when to bring the kiddos and when to not!

So, we ended up going South/East to check out the hot springs and they are probably the prettiest/most natural springs we’ll ever see so it was worth it but now we’re going North/West back towards HWY 5 to get closer to Portland, OR. Suppose to be rainy the next two days. Hope the weather forecast changes and the sun comes out for us because we have waterfalls to see!

Night,

Heidi

Dune Riding in Winchester Bay

April 9^th, 2015 (Thursday):

      Today we got new shocks on Vantastic which took about 1.5 hours and $350.00 and we can tell the difference…smoother ride for sure. We continued from Brookings, Oregon up the coastline via Route 101 to Winchester Bay. Several people had mentioned the beach and dunes were amazing here and they were absolutely right. We decided to rent two ATV’s and ride around the dunes along the ocean. There were dunes of all heights, some as high as 350 feet tall. We had fun doing donuts in the sand, getting some air off of jumps and playing around. It cost us $180 for two hours so $90 each which was actually on the cheaper side of the rentals. People who rent the side by side ATV’s pay several hundreds of dollars. We were happy with the ATV experience we had on the dunes.

We then found a nice diner called “Harbor Light” which was in Reedsport, OR. It had amazing food and fair prices. I would highly recommend if you’re ever in the area. From there we headed West on Route 38 which was a nice drive through farmland. Then we went South on HWY 5 to head towards the Umpqua National Forest. I went on the “RV Parky” app and found a camp site in a retirement community which was a pretty rare find. It was only $5.00 for the night to camp at a “Boon Dock” site which means no hook up but that was fine. It was a quiet and safe place to sleep. We were disappointed that we missed out on playing BINGO earlier in the night with the residents. However we are keeping a look out for a future BINGO game to play along the way.

 

Redwood National Forest and entering Oregon

April 8th, 2015 (Wednesday):

         We are currently in Brookings, Oregon staying at the first campground of this trip overlooking the ocean. The sunset was beautiful tonight...our dinner (not so much). We attempted to make pancakes however the pan we were using was horrible so it didn't come out looking so good...or tasting so good. We made some scrambled eggs after which were much better.

         The past two days we did a good amount of driving. We finished up Route 1 after finding a Redwood tree that small vehicles can actually drive through. We did attempt to take "Vantastic" through but no way was she going to fit. We have been thinking how nice it's been to be on vacation...every few months we are able to not work and go explore. We wouldn't have it any other way. It's been so fun, relaxing, and good for our souls!
       
         Today we went through the Redwood National Forest in northern California. There are many different hikes to choose from. We decided to hike some trails off of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy. The trees are so ancient yet so strong. It's incredible to think about the life they've had and still exist to this day! I have included a few pictures below but they don't do them justice...I recommend seeing them in person to get the whole picture of how enormous they are.

         Tomorrow morning we have an appointment for our camper van, it's time "Vantastic" has her shocks replaced. The original shocks from the mid-80's are still on this van and it's been a bumpy ride so we are ready to get new ones on her. After the appointment we plan on checking out some hot springs and hiking trails in southern Oregon. Then making our way towards Portland, OR to see waterfalls and visit friends this weekend!
    
        Hope everyone is doing well. Love to all!

Heidi & Scott

Point Reyes National Seashore

April 6^th, 2015 (Monday):

Today we explored Point Reyes National Seashore off of Route 1 on the Coast side. There is an old light house at the end of the point that you can take pictures at. After walking down and up hundreds of small steps (great work out!). It’s a long drive to get to the light house on a windy road but it’s beautiful and worth the drive. There are cattle roaming the fields, plenty of deer to observe and we even saw a coyote. When looking out at the vast sea, another tourist spotted a whale and pointed it out. It was beautiful to see. On the way back towards Point Reyes Station (small town on Route 1), we hiked on a trail called Chimney Rock which led us through wildflowers overlooking the sea. When looking over a cliff at a sandy beach down below we saw about one hundred seals relaxing by the water. It was wonderful to watch them quietly from above and observe their natural behaviors. They are very playful animals. Some would open their mouths wide trying to bite the other (in a gentle, fun way). Other seals lying on their backs would flick sand in the air with their flippers. They were a joy to watch.

Gas has been about $3.15-3.44 per gallon around here. Which gets expensive in a large campervan however we are finding ways to save money such as camping along Route 1 on dirt pull-over spots with amazing views of the ocean! Making dinner in the van saves money too. Tonight I boiled quinoa and sautéed organic vegetables (red pepper, zucchini, tomato) and sprinkled herbs and garlic into the pan. The meal was delicious and it was nice to use local produce from the market down the street.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day with scattered thunder storms so we will see how much outdoor activity we get. The plan is to push on further north along the coast as we did not get to far today with all the exploring of Point Reyes National Seashore- but it was worth it!