2013 Pacific Northwest

Technically this was not a “cross country” trip, as we no longer had to make the long slog across the U.S. every time we set out on the road. Our motorhome had been safely tucked away in storage in Petaluma, California, since the boys move west in June, and was anxiously awaiting our return. It sure was nice to just get on a plane in the morning and be ready to start having fun 5 hours later. I think this major adjustment in our travel mode was going to be a good one.

Having the boys living on the West Coast provided us with an excuse for frequent trips, but also their being 13 hours apart (San Francisco and Seattle) made it a logistical challenge to share our time, especially since they both work and only have weekends available.

Since the motorhome lives near Andrew in San Francisco, we started our trip with a few days exploring San Francisco and Marin County with Andrew and Celeste before driving up the Pacific Coast Highway through Northern California and Oregon to visit Tommy in Seattle – not exactly a hardship.

Rather than spend our time together in the city, Tommy suggested we spend the weekend in Leavenworth – not the prison, but rather a beautiful alpine village in the Cascades with a distinct Bavarian theme. You would truly believe you are in the Alps. Here we would venture out on a truly spectacular hike to an alpine lake and then reward our efforts with some truly spectacular (and large) Heffewisens. I only regretted Herb not packing his Lederhosen.

After our visit with Tommy ended, we headed back down to the San Francisco area along a different route away from the coast, visiting such wonderful places as the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Byway, Sisters, Lava Beds National Monument, and Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The trip was great for many reasons, beyond just the new places we explored. It was wonderful to see our grown up sons happily settled, and to get a feel for what their new lives were like. Also, it was, of course, great to discover that Herb and I truly enjoyed traveling, just the two of us, as well. We too were settling into our new lives and it was all looking pretty good.