All good things

So, at some point during our trip, I asked my friends if they could do anything in the world for a living, what would it be? My answer was that I would get paid to travel around the world, eat good food, stay in cool places, see amazing things, and then blog about it. However, blogging is hard. It's hard for me to realize that you really don't care very much about what I ate for lunch on my sixth day of vacation even though it mattered to me (it was the only InNOut burger place in Oregon). Putting pictures up takes time and I didn't even edit them (thanks Nikki and Rachel!). I think I'll stick with nursing for now. This is my final push for days 6, 7, and 8. They were still fantastic, but just a little slower.

Day 6
We had pancakes for breakfast and drove to the Jedidiah Smith Redwoods Park. Redwoods are big, but you knew that already. But they're really big. We were there on a Sunday morning, and I thought it was cool because some people describe being in the redwood forest as being in a natural cathedral. I totally get that because the leaves have a beautiful stained glass effect and the trunks look like huge pillars. We took a short walk and lots of pictures that I'm not even going to attempt to format because I fail.

Our view

As a note, we did a lot of driving this day. James was a trooper heading through many mountains along twisty, uphill roads. We had lunch at InNOut. I ordered their Animal Style Burger (I don't really know what that means, but it was good :) ) Our next stop was Crater Lake. I had seen pictures of Crater Lake and was really excited. Here's a picture I saw online versus what we saw in real life. 

Online view

Believe it or not, all the pictures look organized when I write this, but when I post it, all goes to chaos. I need a formatting class or something.

Basically, Crater Lake was still covered in snow and fog. The visitor's center had a hallway with windows that were completely blocked by snow which made it quite creepy. We couldn't see much at all- although I swear I saw the lake. I did. I saw ripples in the water. My friends don't believe me. We did however watch a video that showed us the lake on a nice day. Luckily, this was the only event or activity that was inhibited by weather. Oh well. I still got a stamp. 

We drove for a better part of the day, so that was pretty much it. That night we stayed at my favorite AirBnb. It was in the middle of absolutely nowhere with no cell service. We stayed in a renovated garage, but it was so great. There were mints on the pillows, sleeping masks and scented heating packs in a basket, supplies for coffee, tea, or cocoa on the stove, music was playing as we walked in, an old stove with a fire, and extremely comfy beds. We introduced Nikki to Pirates of the Caribbean and our hostess delivered hot breakfast to us in the morning. I was in heaven. I had been tired after driving all day, so staying here was a great way to end the day. 

Day 7

Day 7 was basically getting back where we came from. We tried to get another stamp in at Fort Vancouver, but it was closed on Mondays. Go figure. I was there though. We took our time getting started and drove back up to Tacoma. We arrived at our hotel early and just hung out at the pool, caught up on life, and watched Dancing with the Stars. I think it was a smart thing to have most of our adventures at the beginning of the trip because by this point, I was worn out. Could I have hiked a mountain on day 7? Yeah, but I enjoyed it a lot more on day 3. 

Question of the day: There are little buildings all around Oregon that sell coffee. Customers just pull up to them and there's no seating or anything. It's just a little building. You know what I'm talking about? What do you call those buildings? This was a big debate. Huts? Shacks? Sheds? Please comment if you have an opinion. I'm right by the way. 

Day 8

Our flight was in the evening, but we definitely didn't want a repeat of our flight to Seattle, so we decided to arrive VERY early. That morning we found the Pacific Bonsai Museum really close to our hotel, so we stopped there because why not? I'm including this picture because it looks like Nikki is wearing a bonsai on her head. 

We stopped at a park in Seattle for lunch and finished up all of the groceries that we had bought. All we ended up throwing away was a third of the jelly. Pretty good planning. We returned our rental car, I felt rage boil inside of me, but I acted like a grown up and was polite. Then we went to the airport and hung out until our flight. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it still ended up being a really good day. On the flight back, the three of us had been within shouting distance for the ENTIRE trip and within whisper distance for most of it. However, we still had a great time for four hours on the flight playing card games. These two were the absolute best to travel with. Thanks friendies :) 

Wrap up

Here's my final breakdown of the trip. 

Nikki's Days Ranked:

1. Oregon coast (day 5)

2. Space Needle Day (day 1)

3. Seattle (day 2)

4. Mt. Rainier (day 3)

5. Multonomah falls (day 4)

6. Redwoods (day 6)

7. Driving day (day 7)

8. Travel day (day 8)

Nikki's favorite activity (besides the unanimous tidepools): seeing seals

Nikki's favorite meal: La Paniere breakfast in Seattle

Nikki's scariest moment: waking up from a nap when I was swerving in traffic to avoid a car

Nikki's favorite AirBnb: Night #3 outside of Portland

Rachel's Days Ranked:

1. Oregon coast

2. Seattle

3. Multonomah Falls

4. Space Needle Day

5. Mt. Rainier ( she really didn't like hiking in the snow)

6. Redwoods

7. Driving day

8. Travel day

Rachel's favorite activity (besides tidepools): Multonomah Falls

Rachel's favorite meal: Subway on Day 3 ( I have no idea......)

Rachel's scariest moment: almost missing our flight

Rachel's favorite AirBnb: Night #3 outside of Portland

Caroline's Days Ranked:

1. Oregon Coast

2. Seattle

3. Multonomah Falls

4. Mt Rainier

5. Space Needle Day

6. Redwoods

7. Travel Day

8. Driving Day

Caroline's favorite activity (besides tidepools): Pike's Market

Caroline's favorite meal: La Paniere or InNOut

Caroline's scariest moment: Crossing my fingers before walking into every AirBnb

Caroline's favorite AirBnb: Night #6 at the remote bed and breakfast

Number of miles traveled: close to 1600 by car- many more by air

Total cost of expenses: $630 for shared costs. $730 total including personal expenses.

Pictures taken: I'm not sure how many Nikki got but it was way over 1000. Rachel took a couple hundred too.

Number of stamps for my passport: 9 +1 I should have gotten but it was closed.

Other things gained: No extra pounds!, so many lasting memories, enhanced friendships, a suntan, knowledge about travel, history, geography, nature, boldness, and adventure. 

Things lost: My belt and respect for Hertz Rentals. 

That's all I got folks. Peace out.