Miles 6520-7090: Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Drive to Park City, and Park City

7/30

In the morning, we packed up and hung out at the place while Mom took our luggage to be put in the car at the mechanic. It was an eight-and-a-half hour drive to Park City, so if the car wasn’t ready by about two or three, we would have to stop without getting all the way there. We took our rental car into Truckee to hang out until the car was ready. We had lunch at Squeeze In, and Jackson and I split french toast with syrup and cream cheese. It was really good, but almost too much food, even when we split it. We went to the car place, dropped off our rental car, and began our drive to Park City with time to spare. We picked up dinner at McDonald’s and finally got into our hotel at Newpark. We were staying in a townhouse; we checked in and got in bed, done-in after our long, tiring drive. 


“The man who persists through the bad luck is the man who is there when the good luck comes.”
— Anonymous

Miles 6481-6519: Lake Tahoe, Squaw Valley, and Truckee

7/29

Mom and Dad took our car to the mechanic to get the air conditioning fixed before our eight-and-a-half hour drive to Park City, Utah. Pampam and Grumpy left early for their drive back to San Francisco for their flight, so they could wind through Napa Valley. We stayed at the house with them while they packed and got ready, and then drove our rental car to the bottom of Squaw Valley Resort, where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held. We took a gondola up to the top of the mountain to spend the afternoon. We ate lunch at the grill there and Jackson and I split a grilled chicken, brie, and fig jam sandwich. We started at the pool, which was obviously heated, but still pretty cold. After spending some time swimming and in the hot tub, Jackson and I went to explore the roller-skating rink and Olympic museum. The museum was cool; it was really interesting that such a small town was chosen for the Olympics and seeing the differences between then and now. For instance, ice hockey teams didn’t wear any helmets and there were many less countries involved. We, or I should say, I, went roller skating. Jackson tried it and it definitely wasn’t his thing. I stayed for a good while, just enjoying the silence. The rink was right near the edge of the cliff and had some really amazing views. We went back down to the pool and hot tub, swam, and changed. The gondola ride down was so much cooler than the way up because we managed to get near a window. There were some really amazing view of hills, mountains, and old Olympic complexes. Apparently Walt Disney designed the opening and closing ceremonies. While he was in Squaw Valley, he made sketches of rock stacks on the mountains and used them to design some of his rides. We went into Truckee and walked through some shops, including a cool, little bookstore. I got an awesome shirt that said “Climb like a girl.”. We got ice cream (raspberry sorbet for me) and then went back to our Airbnb. We got dinner things at Safeway. While we ate, we turned on the TV and the Parent Trap happened to be on. My dad had never seen it before and it was hilarious watching him. He was exasperated, saying it was so unrealistic for the parents to have separated their twin daughters at birth. I did some of that astronomy research, drawing a constellation/star map. We got ready for bed and then went out on the porch. We were able to identify about half of the constellations I had drawn, but some of them were behind trees or too big and complicated to find in our limited time. We got in bed, our last night in Lake Tahoe.


“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
— Walt Disney

Miles 6437-6480: Lake Tahoe, Old Greenwood Golf Course, and Truckee

7/28

We hung around the house the whole morning until Jackson, Dad, Grumpy, and I went to play golf. We picked up my rented clubs and went to the driving range and putting green. I hadn’t played in eight months, so it was not good, as I expected. My putting and chipping was almost as good as it used to be, which still isn’t saying much. Even though I played terribly, it was enjoyable to get back into the game. I had forgotten how fun golf was; the calculation of each shot, the accomplishment of finally getting the ball in the tiny cup, knowing you had only done it by hitting it with a stick from up to 400 yards back. We met Mom and Pampam, who had been exploring the nearby town of Truckee, for dinner. We ate at Bridgetender, our last dinner with our grandparents before they flew back to the East Coast. It was very enjoyable, with normal, huge, American portion sizes that were fine for once, as I was hungry after a long afternoon. I got a grilled chicken burrito and finished the whole thing. We drove back to the house, got ready for bed, and went outside to stargaze for a short while. We were able to find a few constellations, but we couldn’t identify many, so I decided to do some research before the next night. 


“Every day you either get better or you get worse. You never stay the same.”
— Bo Schembechler

Miles 6391-6436: Lake Tahoe

7/27

That morning, we got up and watched some TV. We didn’t really have a plan, so I hoped we could play a game, but we kept watching. Eventually, we decided to go to the beach. The beach was so crowded, but we found a spot when a picnic table was vacated. The water was so, so cold and felt good at first after the long, hot walk, but I was shivering every time we got back out. Jackson convinced Grumpy to get in and so did my dad. It was awesome. After hanging out, swimming, and eating snacks for a while, we went back to the car. On our way back to the house, we stopped at an overlook over Emerald Bay. A place called Vikingholm, a 30-room mansion, was down on the bay. We didn’t visit it, but we could see it from above and it looked like a castle from the British Isles. Before going back to the place, we stopped at the lake-shore closer to where we were staying, to see about renting kayaks and SUPs (stand-up paddle-boards). After changing at the house, we went out on the water. Jackson was in a kayak and Mom, Dad, and I were on paddle-boards. I stood up after about ten minutes and it was so amazing. I’m definitely going to remember paddle-boarding. It was a pretty good work-out, the balancing took a lot of energy. Dad tried to stand-up before me and fell in… twice. Mom stood up near the end. I started getting really hot in the life-jacket out in the sun, so I gave Mom my paddle and my hat and jumped into the water. It felt so good, especially when I got back on the board. Jackson switched with Dad with about 10 minutes left and stood up and paddled around a small protected inlet for a few minutes. We showered and changed for dinner at Sunnyside. I got a salmon rice bowl that was the perfect size and also delicious. We came back from dinner and went outside to look at the stars, which were clearer than I have ever seen before. There were so many, everywhere you looked. 


“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

Miles 6131-6390: Mariposa, Drive to Tahoe, and Lake Tahoe

7/26

We got up and packed up pretty early in the morning. After both cars were packed and everyone was ready, we played some more Monopoly, packed it up, and got on the road. Jackson and I both rode with Mom and Dad because Pampam and Grumpy had decided to drive through the park and out the Nevada side to see more of the park and it added a little over an hour to the drive. I spent the whole time catching up on how behind I was blogging and journalling, as I am now. We stopped for lunch in Sacramento, which was smaller than I imagined it would be. We stopped at a place called Bacon and Butter. I got a grilled cheese Benedict, which was huge and I needed lots of Dad’s help to finish it. When we got to the Airbnb near North Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, we had to disable the bear fence, which was made up of wires strung in front of all the doors and windows that were electrified to keep bears from breaking in. We got settled and watched TV until Pampam and Grumpy arrived. We walked down to the lakeside, which was huge, pretty, and choppy. There were a lot more waves than I expected. We ate leftovers and snacks and went to bed. There were bunk beds and I got the top bunk, with about two-and-a-half feet of clearance. Let’s just say it was interesting trying to get in bed each night. 


“Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.”
— Erika Taylor

Miles 6041-6130: Yosemite, Mist Trail, and Mariposa

7/25

Yesterday morning, we got up around 8:30, so we could get an early start for our hike. I packed up, ate, brushed teeth, and we got under way. We parked about a mile from the trail-head because the parking lot was full. We walked to the bottom of the trail and began our hike up the Mist Trail. The first part was paved and very steep for about 0.8 miles. It was a really crowded trail and there were some people there that definitely shouldn’t have been. They weren’t dressed for it, or wearing the right shoes, or just not physically able to do it. Once we got to the end of the first part (the footbridge over the Merced River underneath Vernal Falls), some people turned around, but it was still pretty crowded. It was still paved and pretty steep, but was a little easier. It was right along the river and some really good views downstream. Once we got in view of Vernal Falls, it became wet rock and stair climbing. It felt so good to get drenched with mist. It was the first time I had really sweat since probably our hike in Badlands. The stairs were fun, but there were so many people trying to get up to the falls and back down that I was glad Dad was behind Jackson in case he fell. Once we got to the top of Vernal Falls, it was a really pretty view of a different side of the valley than we had seen the day before. A mountain called Half Dome was on our right and it was huge, very awe-inspiring right there. We ate lunch a little way up from the falls next to the river. There were these huge ground squirrels that were very fat and bold; they had obviously been fed a lot previously. Mom made a good point: that we were in the squirrel’s habitat and it wasn’t their fault that they were bold from being fed, but I still shooed them away from all my food. We started the hike up to Nevada Falls. It was a lot less crowded; most people turned around at the top of Vernal Falls. It was a little harder, but not much. It wasn’t even that steep, just winding back and forth up the slope. Jackson had some trouble, but we made it all the way to the top with only a few breaks. It was probably my favorite hike so far because it had some amazing views and was pretty challenging with the elevation gain of around 2300 feet over 3.5 miles each way. It felt like a really big accomplishment, having basically just climbed a mountain. Overall, it was about 8 miles round trip. That makes a total of around 44 miles of hiking on this trip. When we got to the bottom, it started raining pretty hard. We ran into the village and took cover in a store. We met our grandparents in the village. We were going to visit Glacier Point (another high-up panoramic view) before we went back, but 1) it was raining and 2) Pampam and Grumpy had visited it while we were hiking. We hung out in a large eating area facility until the rain died down a little and then made a break for the car. It took us a little over an hour just to exit the park because everyone was trying to leave at once. At the house, the men grilled steaks on the porch while the rest of us played Monopoly. We ate the steaks with some baked potatoes and salad and then got in bed.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.”
— John Muir

Miles 5857-6040: Mariposa and Yosemite (El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and Tunnel View) (7/24)

That morning, we hung out at the house and then went into the park. The park was huge, and we only saw a small part of the valley. Our first stop was El Capitan, a really tall mountain with a sheer face. I wanted to see it because of a movie called Free Solo, where a man named Alex Honnold climbed the face with no ropes or safety gear. It was a little underwhelming at first, if only because there were other mountains right next to it that were just a little shorter than it. Once we came up to it, it was insane; over 2000 feet of sheer, straight-up rock, if not leaning backward at all. I couldn’t climb up 100 feet with a rope; the rock was smooth. We stopped at the visitor’s center and then walked down a trail toward Yosemite Falls. It was so tall, taller than the Lower Falls at Yellowstone. Our guides in Yellowstone and Grand Teton said that the Lower Falls were the tallest in America, but that was definitely not true. Maybe it only counts if it is there year-round; Yosemite Falls drys up in August and sometimes September. On our way back, we came across a rock field where people had made many rock towers. We each made one; it was really nice to be part of such an old tradition. I imagined coming back in several years and finding my tower still there. We went back to the car and went to eat lunch on the riverbank. There was no one else around, which was refreshing after being in such a crowded place. It is definitely the most popular national park we’ve been to. After eating lunch, I went wading in the river. It was pretty cold, but I didn’t feel it too much anymore after going swimming in cool water a good bit lately. It felt really good after such a hot day. It was another instance of realizing how much difference humidity made in the effects of heat. If it was that hot in Winston-Salem, it would have been so miserable that I wouldn’t have left the air-conditioned paradise of a building or car. In Yosemite, with lower humidity, it was only annoyingly hot, not miserably so. After drying off, we drove up to Tunnel View, a panoramic view of about half the valley. It was so cool, being able to see everywhere that we had been earlier that day. We could see people and cars on the roads and they were so tiny, compared to the falls, El Cap, or any of the other mountains around the valley. We drove back to the place in Mariposa. Jackson and I played badminton in the backyard, using a set that we found in a closet. I won, 38-32. We went out to dinner at 1850 in town. I got a grilled chicken salad that was good. After we came back to the house, I blogged about San Francisco and then got in bed. 


“If I’m gonna do something, it’s gonna be sick and it’s gonna be so cool... or it’s gonna be the most hideous four seconds of my life while I just freefall to the ground!!”
— Alex Honnold, Free Solo

Miles 5702-5856: Alameda and Drive to Mariposa (7/23)

That morning, we got up and had donuts for breakfast. Dad had picked them up when he went to get the car from the mechanic. We drove to Sausalito, an area on the bay near San Francisco. We took a shuttle from there to Muir Woods National Monument. It was about a thirty minute drive, but it was pretty fun. The first half had good views of Sausalito and the second half had really pretty views of the valley near Muir Woods. It was also a really bumpy, twisty-turny ride. We went into the visitor’s center for stickers and pins and then began walking the main trail through Cathedral Grove. It was supposed to be really quiet and peaceful, but there were so many people who would not shut up. It was still really nice, just not as much as Redwoods. In Cathedral Grove, there was even a sign saying to please be quiet, but there were people jabbering away anyway. We went to the end of the trail and then took a different path back, up on the side of the ravine. It was a really unique view of the valley. After we’d taken the shuttle back to the cars, we got underway in the drive to Mariposa, California, our jumping-off point for Yosemite National Park. Jackson and I rode with Pampam and Grumpy. We picked up some snacks and then began our drive. The traffic was so bad going out of San Francisco that we didn’t get there for about 6 hours. At the house, I ate dinner and then we got in bed. 


“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools-only Uncle Sam can do that.”
— John Muir, 1897

San Francisco: Miles 5164-5700

7/17-7/23

 We got up and drove to San Francisco the morning of the 17th. We drove across the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Palo Alto. We walked around the Stanford campus for a little while before checking me into camp. Stanford is a really pretty campus; every building matches. It’s not a hodgepodge of buildings like a lot of other schools I’ve seen. Almost every building is made of white/tan stone with a clay roof. I’m not going to blog about camp, just because not much happened except field hockey playing, eating, and sleeping. Not many of you would understand anything I said about what we did at sessions anyway. I had a really great time and learned a lot. Shoutout to my awesome team: Anna, Lily, Georgia, Claire, Margaret, Jaccoa, Kiera, Ryann, Valentina, and Luvey. After I got picked up on the 20th, we walked around the Stanford campus again, showing my grandparents around. We walked through the bookstore and then went to lunch. We got lunch at Gott’s Roadside, where I got a blue cheese burger and a cookies-and-cream milkshake. It was one of the best milkshakes/ice cream we’ve gotten on this trip. We drove to the Presidio, a national something or other (park, monument, memorial, etc.), that had a great overlook of the bridge, bay, and city. We went back to our Airbnb, where Mom and Dad made beef tacos and corn salsa, an amazing regular in our house. Pampam and Grumpy went to their hotel and we went to bed.


The next morning (the 21st), after breakfast, I caught up on journalling entries and then had a Skype flute lesson with Lissie. I read out on our patio in the sun until Pampam and Grumpy showed up. We went through Oakland, looking for a place to eat. There was some festival going on or something, so we kept moving through (that’s supposedly the reason we didn’t eat there, but I think it was because the smell of marijuana was so bad). We ate at Sea Breeze Market and Deli, where I got a pulled pork sandwich. I didn’t think through the fact that we weren’t back home in the South, so it wasn’t barbeque, just pulled pork, lettuce, and mayonnaise. It was still pretty good, and the sweet potato fries with it were delicious. I also had some real ginger ale, which was really good, but kind of spicy. We drove to Berkeley/Cal, which I always thought were two different schools. We walked around, by the clock/bell tower and a bunch of other buildings. It was a real hodgepodge of buildings, with really modern and glassy ones and old mansion-looking places. Once we got back to the Airbnb, we prepared for our night out on the town with the grandparents. First, we went back to their hotel and went swimming in the ‘pool’, which was the same temperature as the hot tub, and it was a legitimate hot tub. After we showered, we went out to miniature golf, a Camp Pagrump tradition (our nickname for vacations at the grandparents’ house). We played at Golden Tee Golfland, which was one of the coolest putt-putt courses we’ve ever played at. I won, as usual. Even though Grumpy and Jackson are both much better golfers than me, Pampam and I usually do better than them. Go figure. There was a 19th hole challenge, where if you made it in a pipe from a certain distance, you won a free round of 18. Only Grumpy made it, and it was kind of useless, as we wouldn’t have time the next day and were leaving the day after. It was really fun. They stopped at McDonald’s, but I wasn’t hungry after my huge lunch. Pampam and Grumpy dropped us off at our house and we got in bed.

The next day, Dad, Jackson, and Grumpy were playing golf at Half Moon Bay, so Mom, Pampam, and I went into the city for the day. Grumpy dropped us off at the ferry landing. We took the ferry into San Francisco from Alameda, where we were staying. After arriving, we walked through the Ferry Building, which was like an indoor market. We got lunch, with cheese, fig, and lettuce sandwiches and some macarons. We took a bus to SFMoMA (the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Before going in, we ate our lunch at Yerba Buena Gardens across the street. It was really pretty, but there were pigeons everywhere and I hate when birds get close to me. The art museum was really cool: there was an Andy Warhol exhibit that we spent over an hour in. We got to see really famous pieces, like his Campbell soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. There were some other cool galleries, especially one with Alexander Calder’s mobiles in it. I got a traditional San Francisco dishes cookbook in the gift shop. We walked down to the historic cable car stop and rode that up to Chinatown. We had to hang off the sides and hold on; it was really fun, like a really mild roller coaster. Chinatown was really cool. We went into a fortune cookie factory and some souvenir shops. I wanted to get a shirt or dress, but I knew I would never wear it. I think traditional Chinese or Japanese or Indian clothes are so much prettier than Western styles. I wish I could wear stuff like that without just being seen as a white girl in Chinese clothes. Pampam got me a shawl, that was really pretty. I wore it to dinner. We took the ferry back and ate our macarons. They were really good: hazelnut, espresso, chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, pistachio, salted caramel, and oddly, rose-geranium. The salted caramel was the best, but they were all good. We got a Lift back to the house. We walked to dinner at Burmese Superstar. Mom and Dad went there with a friend of Dad’s while we were playing mini golf and said it was amazing, so much so that Mom was willing to go back with us for the second night in a row. We got a fermented tea leaf salad, platha and a chicken curry dip, and pork and pumpkin stew with jasmine and coconut rice. It was amazing. The bad thing about finding so many new and fun experiences, like restaurants or the climbing gym in Bozeman, is that I’m sad they don’t exist in Winston. We walked back to the place, got ready, and got in bed. 

“There’s no straighter road to success than exceeding expectations one day at a time.”
— Robin Crow

Miles 5066-5163: Best Western Hotel in Eureka and Redwoods State and National Parks

We woke up in the morning and Dad wasn’t feeling great, so we decided to hang out at the hotel in the morning and go to Redwoods in the afternoon. After eating breakfast, Jackson went to the pool with Dad and Mom went to the fitness room. I stayed back in the room and worked on some stretching for dance. After a while, I went to the pool with Jackson. After lunch, we drove to Redwoods and did the Cathedral Creek Trail. The redwood trees were pretty huge, but nothing compared to Big Tree, the destination of our hike. Big Tree was huge, over 256 feet tall and 1500 years old. It was really cool being back in the woods with no one else in sight. It looked like Endor, and Endor was filmed in Redwoods. After finishing our hike, we saw some elk in a field and drove back to the hotel. After dinner from a hot bar at a grocery store, Jackson and I went to the pool again and played some pool again. I won as usual, and then Dad beat Jackson as well. After brushing our teeth, we went to bed. Check out my dad’s Instagram for pictures from Redwoods because I didn’t have anything to take them with. (@cameronleefarmer).


“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
— Oscar Wilde

Miles 4720-5065: Bandon Dunes, Bandon on the Bay, and Drive to Eureka

Yesterday morning, we had to wake up at 6:30 (leave at 7:45) so Dad and Jackson could make their 11:20 tee time. It was about a two and a half hour drive to Bandon and they wanted to hit balls at the driving range and putt. Mom and I didn’t know what we were going to do, but someone Dad talked to recommended that we walk at least the front nine with them for the pretty ocean views. We decided to walk through hole seven, which doubled back by the club house. It was a really pretty course and made me nostalgic to play golf again. I haven’t swung anything in about eight months and I kind of miss it. I know that when I first play again, it will be very frustrating. Picking up the clubs again will be tough, but I think I want to. Great time to realize it; on the road with my clubs 3000 miles away and no cheap golf courses or free time in the near future. There were some pretty amazing views of the Pacific, off some short cliffs. The Pacific Ocean is so blue and calm compared to the Atlantic, when I thought it was supposed to be much choppier than the Atlantic. It looked like a reflecting pool, smooth and motionless, but blue. I knew there were waves because there always are, but from far away, the water looked still and flat. We saw some young deer, bucks, really close up. Dad and Jackson’s caddy (you’re required to have a caddy at Pacific Dunes) told us that they know that they are safe on the course, so they don’t bother keeping their distance. At the seventh hole, Mom and I went back to the clubhouse. We got a map of a few hikes/walks that you could do in and around Bandon and planned to do the Beach Trail after lunch. We drove into Bandon on the Bay (the official name of the port/town) for lunch. We ate at Tony’s Crab Shack. It was delicious. We got a crab sandwich with 1000 Island, Swiss cheese, and lettuce with cole slaw and the lunch special, a bowl of clam chowder with a salad and ciabatta bread. We ate off of everything and my favorite was the Famous Crab Sandwich, what they were known for. After lunch, we drove back to Bandon and started the walk. Since we began on the dunes, I thought it would be a very short walk to the beach, just over the dunes. Instead we went over the dunes, over some more dunes, over a few more dunes, and then into a forest. There wasn’t much of a path, so we got stung by some sharp grass and our tennis shoes were full of sand a minute in. After we came out of the small forest, there was some flat land and then more dunes right before the beach. As we got closer to the beach, the fog really rolled in. After getting what sand we could out of our shoes, we walked barefoot down the beach. It was a miracle that we found the trailhead again. It was really cool how thick the fog was and how empty the beach was; it added mystique to an otherwise normal, if abandoned, place. There was this odd seaweed all over the beach; at least, I think it was seaweed. There was what looked like normal seaweed attached to a bulb-like thing that led into a long rubbery rope. It was very firm, not hollow, and was really heavy and slick. My mom thought that the bulb was to keep it afloat because it was full of air and when you stomped on it, it would make a very loud, satisfying popping noise. I had a really good time on that walk with my mom. I like those times when the boys go off and do their own thing, because it gives us some alone time. I may not be great at conversation or small talk, but sometimes quiet is okay. I love you, Mom, and I love hanging out with you. Don’t worry Dad, I love you too, just as much. I’m going to miss you both so much when I’m at Stanford (and maybe, Jackson a little bit too). For those of you who don’t know, I’ll be at Stanford Field Hockey Camp Wednesday the 17th through Saturday the 20th. I will do a recap post when I get back. Anyway, after our walk and trying, but failing, to get sand out of our shoes, we picked Jackson and Dad up from Pacific Dunes. Jackson had shot a 94 and beaten Dad in match play, 7 and 5, which I guess is ok for an eleven-year-old. After the boys got some souvenirs, we went back into Bandon for the boys to eat lunch… at 5 PM. They also ate at Tony’s and pronounced the Famous Crab as amazing as we did. Then we began our four and a half hour drive to Eureka, California instead of Montana this time. We drove through a few redwood’s forests and saw a few pretty big trees, but they were just a preview for what we would see the next day, when we went into the national and state parks. In Eureka, we had some snacks at our hotel and went to bed. 

“Listen to silence. It has so much to say.”
— Rumi

Miles 4441-4719: Oregon Coast, Drive to Eugene, and Eugene

That morning, we packed up and left pretty early. We drove for about two hours to the Oregon coast and our first stop was Cannon Beach, to see where one of the last scenes in the movie The Goonies was filmed. My dad loves that movie, so of course, we had to see it. There was a really cool huge rock in the ocean called Haystack Rock. Cannon Beach was pretty crowded, but was cool to walk down. The water was pretty cold, and only a handful of people were swimming in it; everyone else was just enjoying the beach, sitting, walking, or playing in the sand. It was very different from East Coast beaches. It wasn’t chilly, but I needed a jacket because it was so windy. We stopped at a few vista points looking off cliffs over the ocean. They were gorgeous views, with the blue ocean off a cliff and the occasional rock that made it look like something from a movie or a postcard. Our next stop was at the Pier's End Historic Coast Guard Boathouse. It was an old coast guard boathouse at the end of a long pier on the Tillamook Bay. We learned about how the Coast Guard used the boathouse to rescue ships in the bay and the Pacific Ocean and about Bayocean, which was a city that literally fell into the ocean. Our last stop on the coast was at Pacific City, where Jackson and I went wading/swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Because of the Gulf Stream, the Atlantic Ocean is so much warmer on the East Coast than the Pacific is, a good twenty degrees. The water was around sixty degrees and it was freezing at first, but felt really good. It was a lot easier making myself get in the ocean than a lake because in the ocean, you can stand still and let the waves wash over you. In a lake, you have to force yourself to get wet. After drying off and changing, we went inland toward Eugene. Once getting settled in our hotel room, we went to meet Neil, from the camping trip, and he showed us around the University of Oregon. It’s a really cool campus (granted, I’ve never been on an ugly college campus) and Neil was very knowledgeable about what everything was and its history. After walking around the campus, we had dinner at McMenamin’s with Neil. I got a gyro, which was huge, delicious, and I definitely shouldn’t have eaten it all. We had ice cream the day before in McMinnville, but Neil recommended a place called Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream across the street and there was a pretty long line, so you knew it had to be really good. Apparently Obama visited once, so they milk it for all it’s worth, marketing their mint chip as Obama’s favorite. It was pretty delicious though and definitely worth the wait. I got one scoop of mint oreo in a waffle cone and it was 1) amazing and 2) the biggest one scoop I’ve ever seen or had. Mint oreo is probably my new favorite ice cream flavor, even if they probably don’t have it many places. We walked back to our car with our ice cream and said good-bye to Neil. It was really nice seeing him again and reminiscing about our trip in Grand Teton. Back at the hotel, we went to bed pretty quick, excited for our two-hour drive to Banden. 


“It’s great to reminisce about good memories of my past. It was enjoyable when it was today. So learning to enjoy today has two benefits: it gives me happiness right now, and it becomes a good memory later.
”
— George Foreman

Miles 4387-4440: Wineries, McMinnville, and Newberg

  Yesterday morning started kind of chill: we ran to Walgreen’s and got our AC fixed as well. After going back to the apartment to make a plan, we went downtown and got picnic food from a market. At our first stop (Stoller’s Winery), we ate our picnic. Jackson and I played some Frisbee golf (I won) and played on the tire swing. It was nice playing outside with Jackson; we haven’t had a backyard to play in at all lately. However, I think I like breweries better; playing board games and card games is a little more fun than lawn games, at least when you only have three people. After the winery, we went into downtown McMinnville, where they were having a festival called Turkey Rama. Apparently before there were wineries and hazelnut farms in the area, there were a bunch of turkey farms. We walked around the festival and I couldn’t really see a connection to turkey; it just looked like any festival with tents and vendors in the streets. It was cool though; we went into some cool shops: a bookstore, souvenir store, and a really good ice cream place called Serendipity Ice Cream. I got mango sherbet in a waffle cone and the sherbet was delicious. The waffle cone was good, but it didn’t really go great with the ice cream. It was still amazing though. We went to a winery called Brooks Wines. This was a little of a different style than Stoller’s; we could relax inside in the air conditioning on a sofa and drink lemonade. I made some offhand remark, wondering how much wine they’d had today and Dad started complaining and making jokes about his children judging his wine intake. Guess what Dad: you need to let it go. You always tell Jackson not to take jokes too far (which he definitely, totally needs to stop), but you do it too. We picked up some snacks to have for dinner: a baguette (which Jackson talked Mom into buying), some goat cheese, jack cheese, prosciutto, sausage, fig jelly, and local cherries. It was a pretty good light dinner after a big lunch and ice cream. We played Hearts after dinner and journalling. My dad won, as we all expected, but surprisingly Jackson came really close to beating him. I did not do well at all. On our last hand, Dad shot the moon to win. If you don’t know how to play Hearts and/or what that means, just know that it is very hard to do and also that you should learn how to play Hearts because it is awesome. After Hearts, it was bedtime. 


“No amount of money or success can take the place of time spent with your family.”
— Savelt

Miles 4171-4386: Packwood, Mount Rainier, and Newberg

 At the hotel, we ate breakfast and then started our drive to Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier is one of the less celebrated national parks, but it was amazing. I can’t say it’s my favorite, because we went camping in Grand Teton, but it was definitely the most beautiful easily. It was a fifty minute drive to Paradise parking. The visitor’s center was closed, so we started our hike. We went up the Skyline Trail Loop. It was an amazing hike, up to a Panorama Point. It was a very steep incline, but was still really fun. The views were amazing, more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. On one side, there was Mount Rainier, looming huge taking up the entire northwest sky. It was unreal; it was covered in glaciers and the ice was actually blue. On the other side, we could see the rest of the Cascade Range. Once we got high enough, we could see three peaks over the range in the distance: Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, and Mount Hood.

It was a challenging hike, but not too much; it was enough to be fun, but not to make it overly tiring or frustrating. By the time we came back down, the visitor’s center was open. We got stickers, pins, and a deck of National Parks, Monuments, and Memorials cards. I’ve been wanting a deck, but couldn’t find one anywhere. We got in the car and started driving to new, outside of Portland. We stopped for lunch at a roadside place, where I got a grilled chicken burger with salad. The chicken breast was so big; I couldn’t believe I ate the whole thing!! After a long, hot car ride (the AC leaked and it was 85), we got to our Airbnb apartment. I was so excited to not have to share a room with Jackson. I got a room and bed to myself for two nights!! We watched TV, showered, and I journalled while Mom went shopping. We had a variety of food for dinner: soup, wings, salad, carrots, and chips and salsa. I had chicken-and-noodle soup, carrots with hummus, and two wings. It was pretty good, as far as grocery store meals go. After dinner, we split a chocolate-chip cookie that had been in a basket of goodies left by the owners, got ready for bed, and got in bed. 

“The most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”
— John Muir, speaking of Mount Rainier

Miles 4065-4170: Victoria, Ferry to Seattle, Drive to Packwood, and Packwood

Yesterday morning, I woke up with a cold, but it wasn’t that bad. I got up and went on a 3.5 mile run with Dad around Victoria. It was really pretty and the cold air made my throat feel better. We went down by the ocean, not the harbor, and there was a humongous cruise ship pulled up next to a dock. That’s where we turned around. We didn’t have a car in Canada, so we didn’t get to see much of Victoria except for the downtown right around our hotel. Dad and I got to see a little more of the residential area. It’s a nice little town. Apparently climbing is really big around there (sadly, we didn’t have much free time or I would have looked for a gym). We came back to the hotel, showered, got dressed, and went to breakfast at Mole’s (pronounced mo-lays, not moles). I knew it was a Mexican/Spanish/Central American style place, so I thought I might be able to try gallos pintos for the first time, but no luck. I had really good huevos rancheros, with a hard tortilla, salsa, and fruit. Probably the best breakfast I’ve had so far on the trip. We went back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and started walking to the ferry. Mom had misjudged how faraway the boat was and we had to walk about twenty minutes with bookbags, purses, and suitcases. We got there on time though and boarded the Victoria Clipper with no problem. The boat moved really fast, around thirty knots, or so the captain said (35 mph).


Once we got to Seattle, we took a cab to the parking lot where our car was. Nothing had been stolen, thankfully, and we started our ride to Packwood, Washington, our jumping-off point for Mount Rainier National Park. After getting settled in at the Packwood Lodge, we went to dinner. We were planning to go to Josie’s, which was Italian, but it was closed, on a Thursday night, at 6:30 PM. There was nothing on its website either. Luckily, we found another place, Cliff Droppers, which was a small burger place. I got a Blue Cheese Bacon burger. It was delicious, especially with their housemade sauce. We went to a brewery, Packwood Brewing Co. for Mom and Dad to each get a drink. Before we walked in, we noticed a very large animal in a school yard right next to the brewery. We couldn’t tell if it was a very large deer, or an elk, or maybe even a female moose. It had no antlers and looked like a huge mule deer. We looked at a guide book inside and it was a female elk. It was very bold; it didn’t run away when people came near. It just kept eating grass and leaves off a nearby tree. In the brewery, we played Taboo, boys vs. girls. Mom and I won easily, as expected. It wasn’t even close, 21-14. It’s like we could read each other’s minds. Back at the hotel, I caught up on pictures for the past few days, journalled, and went to sleep. 

“We should all do our best to not offend others, but also not to be offended by others.”
— Cameron Farmer

Miles 4064-4064: Whale Watching and Victoria

We had to get up at 6:30 so we could get to the boat on time. We got breakfast at Starbucks: a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. We went to the Prince of Whale’s (I know, too punny) office and boarded the boat. We didn’t see any wildlife for about the first hour while we crossed the Strait of Georgia; I stayed outside for about thirty minutes until the wind became crazy. We saw some harbor seals and bald eagles when we crossed in between the Southern Gulf Islands. We saw a pair of bald eagles on a dead tree a little farther along. We passed by a bird sanctuary where lots of cormorants nested. Fog started to close in after that and before long, you couldn’t see much farther than 100 meters (metric system when in Canada). Because of the fog, the captain said that we had to go straight Victoria and skip the rest of our meandering. However, we got a call from another boat about a pod of transient killer whales and we went to the area. There were a lot of other boats around and at first we couldn’t see anything around them. Then we saw some fins come around another boat and we thought they were dolphins (we were right in a way), but then we saw a straight one that looked like a shark fin. Turns out that it was the bull orca, whose fin is a lot straighter, and his pod. Our guides, James and Amy, said that they were chasing a porpoise. I felt bad for the porpoise, who never had a chance, but it’s the circle of life, natural selection, whatever you want to call it; it was natural, supposed to happen. Eventually they came closer to our boat and I counted five in the pod. There was one bull, one cow, two smaller orcas (you can’t tell by the fin until they’re grown), and one calf. The calf was about the size of a small dog and stayed next to its mother the whole time. It looked like a stuffed animal; it was so cute!! You couldn’t really see much through the water until they came right up to our boat!!!! I never saw the porpoise, but that was okay. It was the most amazing, beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. One of the orcas came right within inches of the side of our boat. We stayed for about half an hour and then went into Victoria.  


We checked in at the hotel, the Swan Inn and Brewery, and went to lunch at John’s Place. I got a Greek vegetable and bean soup with feta cheese. We walked downtown by the harbor and looked in a few shops. We got stickers for trunks and the car-top carrier. It started raining and the boys went back to the hotel. I went through shops with Mom, mostly clothing stores. We came back to the hotel and watched the beginning of the Espy’s. We went to dinner at Ferris’ Grill and Garden Patio. We got whipped ricotta to start, with bread and honey. I split jambalaya with Dad and it was delicious. I’ve always wanted to try it since we were in New Orleans, but it has been spicy every we’ve went. I was so glad to finally find one that wasn’t and it was everything that I expected. We went back to the hotel and went to bed before journalling or blogging.

“No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the beauty of the sea.”
— Jacques Yves Cousteau, modified by Ada Farmer

Miles 4057-4063: Seattle, Train to Vancouver, and Vancouver

That morning, we got up early so we could catch the train. Dad dropped us off at a monorail station and drove to a parking lot nearby. It was low-clearance, so we couldn’t fit with the car-top carrier. Mom, Jackson, and I took the monorail to the Amtrak station. Dad drove there and parked nearby. It was a fancy train: there was a dining car and first-class with big, comfortable seats. When we got to Canada, we went through Customs. I exchanged a little of my money for Canadian.


After going to our hotel, we went to Dinesty’s Dumpling House. It was so good: cucumber-garlic salad, spicy Mongolian beef, Shanghai fried noodles, and pork and crab soup dumplings. Best Asian food I’ve ever had!!! I tried green tea while we were there and it was really bland. After lunch, we rented bikes and rode through Stanley Park. It was really nice along the waterfront. At first, I thought Vancouver was huge, but the other downtowns I saw were North Vancouver and other cities around Vancouver.

After returning our bikes, we got some dessert: I got a mango bubble tea with tapioca pearls at Comebuy, Jackson and Dad got parfaits at Whole Foods, and Mom got mochi ice cream and a macaron. After we went back to the hotel, we went to Fanny Bay Oyster Bar & Shellfish Market. We got a bunch of appetizers: fish tacos, grilled brussel sprouts, truffle fries with parmesan mayonnaise, and open-face West Coast oysters. We went back to the hotel, I journalled, and then we went to bed. 

“Travel like a train: narrow, straight, undisturbed, destined.”
— Hetish

Miles 4056-4056: Seattle

Yesterday morning, I woke up way before Jackson and we just hung out for a long bit while His Majesty got his beauty rest. After he woke up and started eating, I practiced some flute (can’t get out of practice!) for about 30 minutes and then Jackson practiced the trumpet. He’s doing pretty well for not having a teacher other than my dad, but it will still be a while before it stops sounding like a dying animal, possibly a duck. We walked over to the University of Washington and ate lunch at a German sausage place. Jackson and I split a sausage sandwich with a four-cheese mix on it. It was delicious, even though it sounds kind of weird. We went into the University Bookstore which, though technically a bookstore, also had spirit wear, like T-shirts, hats, jackets, and everything else you can imagine. I was especially interested in the University of Washington because I recently read a book called the Boys in the Boat, which was recommended to me by Elizabeth. It’s about the University of Washington’s varsity rowing team going on to represent America at the 1936 Summer Olympics and triumphing in Berlin, Germany, under Adolf Hitler’s nose. They still have a very hard-core rowing program there and you could tell by how much of the stuff in the store had rowing on it. We walked through the University to a bus we took down to the Space Needle.

We got there around two and our tickets were for three, so we looked in the Museum of Pop Culture gift shop and the gift shop at the Needle. We went up in the elevator at about 3:20. It was such an amazing view. At the very upper layer, there was a glass wall, but it wasn’t straight up; it was diagonal out over the side. I leaned out against the wall and looked down and it was so cool, but also scary; it looked like I was about to fall off. It had been cloudy earlier in the day, but was pretty clear by then; the only clouds were out in the distance, sadly keeping us from seeing Mount Rainier. It was a great view of the city, Lake Union, and Puget Sound. We went down one layer onto the Loupe, the world’s first and only rotating glass floor. I laid down on the floor and watched the tiny ants walk around below. Jackson took a picture pretending to squash them. Everything looks different when looking down from above. For example, the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) looked really cool. There were also giant sculptures of spiders on top of the Art Gallery and some balance beam logs next to the playground spelled out SOS.

When we came back down, we walked down by the waterfront and got some drinks, beers for Mom and Dad and sodas for Jackson and I. We Ubered back to the apartment, and while Mom made dinner, Dad took Jackson and I down to a nearby elementary school to practice field hockey/baseball respectively. I thought practicing would be better on the asphalt since the ball moved faster, but it was really hard to do anything without scraping up my stick. We went back to the apartment, ate dinner (Chinese chicken, rice, and green beans), and finished the Lord of the Rings. It was so good. Jackson teared up a little at the end. I stayed up to write my blog for the seventh and then went to bed.

“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”
— Charles Kettering

Miles 4056-4056: Seattle

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 7:50 here and the FIFA Women’s World Cup final started at 8. I’m not really a soccer person (don’t kill me, Ellie!), but that was a really entertaining game to watch. It was so great that Rose Lavelle scored when she’s only 24. After the game, Dad went on a run and then Mom and I went as well when he got back. We ran three miles total down to the University of Washington. After everyone showered and got ready, we walked to the bus station and rode it down to the Pike Place Market. We ate lunch at Ben Paris outside the market and I got a ham, cheese, and onion pie. When we went inside, I knew the market was going to be big, but this took up about eight blocks and was six stories!! There was everything from restaurants to florists to jewelry stalls to the very first Starbucks!! We got to see the famous fish-throwing at the fishmongers. I didn’t manage to get a video, but my dad did: @cameronleefarmer on Instagram. There were some really huge fish.


After exploring a little bit, we got donuts at Daily Dozen Donut Company. They were small, but we got a dozen and each got three. There were cinnamon sugar, chocolate iced, and powdered sugar ones and they were all delicious. We then took an Uber to the Ballard Locks, which are like the locks on the Panama Canal. Locks are ways for boats to get from a higher level of water down to a lower level and vice versa without going up or over a waterfall. They’re really interesting to watch in action.

“Your country might be a lot bigger - or smaller - than you think.”
— Anonymous

Miles 3736-4056: Spokane and Drive to Seattle

Two days ago, we got up, dressed, ate breakfast, and got in the car to take Jackson and Dad to play golf at Creek at Qualchan. Mom and I did laundry, checked out of the hotel, and got lunch at Huckleberry’s Natural Market. It was really hard to choose from all the different types of delicious food in there, but I got spanakopita, a Greek pastry with cheese and spinach inside. It was delicious. We picked up Dad and Jackson (Dad won their little tournament, the Creek-side Open, putting him up 2-1 in the Pacific Cup) and went to Manito Park for Dad and Jackson to eat lunch. Mom and I walked through the flower gardens. There was a rose garden, an English garden, and a conservatory in a greenhouse. There was also a perennial garden, but we didn’t have time to go in.

On our drive to Seattle, it was flat and middle-of-nowhereish in some places, like South Dakota, and really mountainous in others, like Western Montana. After we checked into our Airbnb in Seattle, we went to dinner at Ivar’s Salmon House. We hadn’t had any seafood in a long time and it was delicious food. We got the seafood tower for an appetizer, with coconut shrimp, ahi tuna, and calamari. Mom and I split smoked sockeye salmon with fried corn pudding and asparagus. To finish, we all together got a biscuit (English cookie) with whipped cream and a strawberry rhubarb compote. It was so good; rhubarb is like celery almost. Who first thought that it would go with strawberry so well? When we got back to the apartment, we started Return of the King. It was so sad, but so good. I won’t spoil anything for people who haven’t read/watched the Lord of the Rings, but the books and movies are both amazing.

“One foot in and one foot back; it don’t pay to live like that.”
— The Avett Brothers