Welcome to Canada!

Jake with Port Angeles in background

We took a ferry from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia. This was the little boys first trip outside the US and was something that they were really anticipating. When we drove our car off of the ferry one of the boys said, "Huh. It doesn't really seem like we're in another country." We agreed until we met the immigration officer extraordinare. He quizzed us like we were the worst of terrorists and nearly had the boys in tears by the time he was done, but he gave us a pass and allowed us to enter Canada. We drove into Canada yelling at each other, all of us completely frazzled. Thank you, Canada for your warm welcome.

Olympia, Washington

Dan and Emily were wonderful hosts. We took a Sunday drive/walk down by the old brewery despite continued rain.

Cape Disappointment, Washington

Lander, Noah, Madeline, Josh, Jake, Audrey and Blake standing at the entrance to our yurt

After missing the entrance to what was later named the Columbia River, English explorer John Meares dubbed the massive headland jutting out into the Pacific Ocean "Cape Disappointment." That was in 1788. Almost 20 years later, Capt. William Clark and members of the Corps of Discovery explored the headland in their final push to the Pacific Ocean. 

Our visit to Cape Disappointment wasn't exactly a disappointment, but it wasn't a raging success either. Torrential rains that the news called "epic, even by the Northwest's standards" started within hours of our arrival, and didn't stop for days.

Dan and Emily met up with us and we tried to make the most of it, hiking along the beach in the dark until we got trapped by incoming tide. Josh, Dan and several of the kids had to scramble up barnacle covered rock to avoid being swept out to sea. It was a massive wave and scared our boys enough that they were done with the beach. Josh learned that barnacles are very sharp.

We rented yurts, played games, watched mostly tame raccoons as they scoured the place, marveled at the hundreds of frogs jumping across the roads, counted at least 10 deer, and were nearly blown off the face of the cliff when we toured the lighthouse museum.

Jake, Madeline and Audrey run to the car in hurricane force winds

Fort Clatsop

 Netul Landing, part of the Columbia River estuary, near Fort Clatsop

When Captain William Clark wrote "Ocian in view! O! the joy!" he wasn't actually at the Pacific Ocean but in the Columbia River estuary. It would be another couple of weeks before he and Captain Lewis would stand by the ocean. By then they had travled more than 4,000 miles across the North American continent. Fort Clatsop was the winter encampment for the Corps of Discovery (Lewis and Clark) from December 1805 to March 1806 while they prepared to return east.

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

The first real stop on our Spud Harvest road trip was at Multnomah Falls. It is a beautiful waterfall that is literally seconds off of the interstate. We hiked the trails and marveled at the level of green. 

"The Panic"

Every year as September races past, we start to get The Panic. The Panic is a brought on by the start of school and increasingly crisp mornings. The only cure to The Panic is to (a) move to a warmer climate or (b) cram as many summery activities as possible into the month of September. Since (a) isn't really a viable option, we usually go with (b).

This week's option (b) meant a 7 mile bike ride to Big Jud's for shakes.