The Great American Road Trip: Redmond

We left Casey and Bradley's house and drove around their Vancouver, WA, suburb a little before getting on the road for the three-hour trip to Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's house.

We wanted to see Fort Vancouver, and the main part was closed because of Covid, but we were able to walk around the English gardens outside the fort.

This sign talks about the English cider apples grown at the fort. Washington is the U.S. center of apple growing, and cider, too.

Before getting to Redmond, we made a stop in Tacoma because Stace has wanted to check out Bass Pro Shops for a long time. We were looking at the fishing and archery gear, in particular. But Stace was disappointed with the selection - perhaps because of the virus, there were many empty shelves everywhere. 

Then, we happily settled in at Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's house. After being on the road for a few days, it was lovely to unpack and rest. Obviously, it was great to see them, too!

On Friday afternoon, Stace, Uncle Bill, Violet and I took a walk in the nearby woods.

Our nature lover loved it! She hadn't eaten lunch but filled up on blackberries.

On Saturday, we grownups went to a nearby whiskey distillery. It was great to get out!

We also stopped at a Big 5 Sporting Goods and bought a bow and arrows for the girls. 

How awesome is it to have a yard big enough for archery??

Violet was a natural - I love Uncle Bill's reaction to Violet's near bull's eye, in a rifle target, no less!

 

Meanwhile, Cora had fun baking with Aunt Patty. They made some yummy treats!

And pizza dough!

Great American Road Trip: Day Five

We started our day in Bend back near the river, in the Old Mill District shopping area. How lovely, to have a city with a lovely river flowing right through the center!

We then took a side trip to see Tumalo Falls.

There were a few miles of dirt roads as we got close, so Cora had fun hanging out of the sun roof.

Oregon is full of rivers and streams! 

Here are the falls.

Look at this awesome photo Stace took!

Violet was in her element here - she loves being out in nature and woods. 
 

We then drove up to the Portland suburb where our friends Casey and Bradley live with their two children.

Casey's sister, my friend Kelly, and her family were in town visiting, too. We had a great night catching up, and Casey and Bradley graciously lent us their guest room for the night.

Great American Road Trip: Day 4

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Lake Shasta Caverns, a fantastic cave in the mountains that requires a boat- and bus-ride to get there.

As we boarded the boat, Stace noticed this WWII troop carrier, which was used in the D-Day landings.

Cora loved our tour - she loves caves! When we got to this one section, she begged our guide to turn off the lights, and he obliged. It was totally pitch black, obviously. I kind of ruined it by taking this photo, but I had to! When would I get this opportunity again?

This was on our walk back to the bus, the mountains and a peekaboo view of the lake.

We then carried on driving north, taking a five-minute detour to see the downtown of this cute town of Dunsmuir.

Mt. Shasta, at just over 14,000 feet.

After we were in Oregon a while, we spotted this most interesting sight on the side of the road. Stace turned our car around so he could get a closer look. 

A Royal Navy plane with the insignia from a base close to Stace's hometown! Incredible. 

We spent the night in Bend, Oregon, an absolutely lovely town on the Deschutes River. We had dinner in the Pine Tavern, a fancy English pub.

Our restaurant overlooked this beautiful river. 

 

The Great American Road Trip: Day 3

Hotel Sutter had a very nice in-room coffee maker, so I enjoyed my coffee with this lovely view on Monday morning.

We packed up and drove about an hour to our next stop, the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. 

This was the site of the first BIG gold find, the one that started the Gold Rush at Sutter's Mill.

(Any proper SClaritan knows that the FIRST discovery of gold in California was at our Oak of the Golden Dream in Placerita Canyon.)

The state historic park is a sprawling site with many things to see, including various types of mining contraption.

We spent some time in the gift store, where Stace got silly with the old telephone.

We bought a gold pan, and headed down to the American River, the site of the first gold discovery yards away from Sutter's Mill.

Violet missed out on the amazing Gold Rush projects her school does in fourth grade, when Covid sent all the kids home from school. We were happy to give Vi a real taste of the Gold Rush. 

Sure enough, 170-some years later, there is still gold specks everywhere - the riverbed looks like God shook a glitter container. We all had a good time cooling our feet on a very hot day, while finding sparkling flakes.

It was quite a moment - panning for gold in THE spot that changed California history forever.

Here's the replica saw mill. The mill never became successful - all the potential workers only wanted to dig for gold.
 

We then got on the road, driving through pretty Placerville, getting a late lunch in Folsom, and then making a quick stop in Sacramento to see the beautiful Capitol building. 

We ended up at Lake Shasta, where we stayed at a hotel close to the docks that specializes in renting houseboats. 

We settled in and Stace and I picked up a pizza from town. Then, we drove with it to another section of the lake that we were told would be better for swimming. Cora got ready in a swimsuit. And on the drive there, the skies opened up, with lightning to boot.

So, we had our pizza in the car in a parking lot near a finger of the lake. Pretty amusing.

The storm stopped, and we drove back to the overlook not far from our hotel for a few more sunset pics.