Watery Wednesday - Hiking in Washington

I don't remember exactly where this waterfall is.....just that this is what I came across when taking a little hike while on a home exchange on the Hood Canal in Washington back in 2007.

Be sure and check out some other great photos over at "Watery Wednesday".

 

Washington State on Dwellable



Watery Wednesday - Heron in Washington

One of my favorite wildlife pictures.

This was taken while I was cycling along the Olympic Peninsula near Port Townsend Washington. 

Please check out Watery Wednesday for some more fantastic "Watery" photographs!

 

Washington State on Dwellable

Here I am, Back in Las Vegas

Well it took me awhile, but I finally finished my stories about our fantastic month long trip this past April "Driving the Great Northwest"!

As you may or may not know, this trip was inspired and began with a 2 week home exchange in Vancouver Washington. Just click here if you would like to read about how it all started and all the adventures we had from hiking to the top of waterfalls and into lava tubes, to watching mermaids swim in Montana and seeing buffalo covered in snow in Yellowstone.

This was our home while we explored the area of Washington and Oregon.

I have been doing this for 4 years now bringing the total of home exchanges to over 10!  Because of home exchanging I have been able to visit places like Australia twice,  (Click here for the story on my second one),

Provence France (story),

Florida twice, (story of the second one),

And also places like Copenhagen, England and Playa del Carmen Mexico!

I know it probably sounds like I'm the Poster Child for home exchanging, but if not for home exchanging, I certainly would not have been able to see such beautiful places or meet so many wonderful people!

So get ready for some more stories on home exchanging! My next series of posts will be about our home exchange this past February to the Algarve, the beautiful south coast of Portugal!

Driving the Great Northwest - Off to Montana

Sorry this post is soooooo late!  I have been met with the challenge of Melanoma and it has set me back even more than I already am with my posts about our fantastic trip through the great northwest!  So I figured it's time to catch up a little bit more before I have some surgery and start treatments.

Let's go back in time a little bit to April 21, and put ourselves on the road leaving from Vancouver Washington and making our way to Billings Montana.  First stop, Missoula Montana.  Our route takes us through the magnificent "Columbia River Gorge".  I never tire of traveling this portion of I-84 that travels along the second largest river in North America. It is so beautiful with the waterfalls of Oregon on my right.......

 and the Columbia River on my left which creates the border between Oregon and Washington.

We arrived in Missoula just in time for dinner, so we decided to check out what "Historic Downtown Missoula" had to offer.  With a recommendation from a very nice lady we met while parking our car, we took the short walk to "The Iron Horse Brew Pub" located at 501 N. Higgins.  This place had a typical Western feel to it with it's wood beams and rustic decor.  They had a nice side patio, where of course we needed to be!  The food was nothing to exciting and the only thing I really have to comment on is the Sweet Potato fries!  Remember I had some great Sweet Potato fries at "Casa Nyranja" in Portland, and I was thinking that everyone made them that way.....WRONG!  These were so skinny, and quite flavorless.

Well it had been a long day so we headed back to our room at the "Mountain Valley Inn", which by the way is really within walking distance to Historic Downtown.  After a good nights sleep, and some breakfast in the lobby of our hotel, we were on the road again!

Next stop, Billings Montana!

Driving The Great Northwest - One Last Happy Hour

Our home exchange has come to an end in Vancouver Washington and I can't believe how fast 2 weeks has gone by!  April actually turned out to be a great time of year to be in the Great Northwest with mild tempetures and very little rain.

Now it's time to head to Montana, but not before we hit just one more happy hour before we leave!

We had seen this great restaurant on the water when we rode our bikes along the Willamette River on April 18th and I thought what a great place to have a drink.  So on April 20th, the evening before we leave, we decided to drive over the Columbia River into Portland and stop in at the "Newport Seafood Grill".  

This is Portland's only floating restaurant!  Which seems sort of odd based on all the river's around here. 

We probably parked to far away, but we enjoyed walking the waterfront on our way there.

Happy hour here is from 3pm til 6pm and then again at 9pm until closing, every single day!  The place was pretty much empty when we arrived so we were able to pick our table at a window with a great view.  Actually the whole place is nothing but windows, so no matter where you sit, you will have a great view!

We actually ended up ordering off of the regular menu as the prices weren't that bad and everything looked really good.  I had the Mahi Mahi Baja style tacos with grilled mahi mahi, mango tomatillo salsa, cilantro lime sour cream, in corn tortillas for $10.95.  If you want three it's $13.95.  Two was plenty!  Stijn had the Alaksan Halibut Sandwich with seasoned grilled halibut, lemon caper tartar, sun-dried tomato pesto, dressed sweet greens and cucumber on a toasted brioche bun for $11.95.  Sorry no pictures of these fantastic dishes, we were too busy eating!

Stijn did have a beer and I had a glass of wine and we toasted to another fabulous home exchange, thanks to Terri, our exchanger in Vancouver Washington! 

You can also see these pictures at "Where's Debbie".  Just click on the album "One Last Happy Hour"

Driving The Great Northwest - Mount St. Helens

Another beautiful day in Washington draws us out to explore some more on April 15th. Sure beats doing taxes on that day!

We decided to take a drive up to Mount St. Helens and check out "Ape Cave".  This is a lava tube that was formed 2,000 years ago and is the longest in the United States at 12,810 feet (3.9 kilometers) long.  And it's only about 1 hour away!

We headed north on I-5, and then east on State 504 which took us past some beautiful lakes.

As we continued it was becoming apparent that winter wasn't quite finished up here yet!

Okay, so let me share something with you here....if you are going to go and explore this lava tube on your own in the off season, which this was, you are going to need to bring a flash light!  A big one!  Somewhere in all the brochures I read, I missed where a flashlight is a must if you are going to walk the mile and half long lava tube.  Hmmm.  But common sense might tell you that hey, your going in a long lava tube, underground...Hello!!  I have visited many caves and even a lava tube when I was in Hawaii, but it was always with a tour guide, and low and behold they had flashlights!  Okay enough of that.

We went ahead and went down the steep rocky wet stairs that lead into the mouth of the lava tube.

Took a few pictures and left in great dissapointment that we didn't get to hike through the lava tube.

So we say good-bye to Mount St. Helens and head back to meet up with Sterling and Carrie for Happy Hour!

If you would like to see more pictures of our day just click here "Where's Debbie" and then click on the album "Mount St Helens"

Driving The Great Northwest - A Bike Ride Along The Willamette River

I can't help but think how lucky we had been with the weather during our home exchange in Vancouver Washington.  I mean it was April and there was hardly ever any rain!  Read my previous posts, I'm not lying!  Nowhere will you read that any of our plans, while in the Northwest, where cancelled because of rain.

And on April 18th it was another beautiful sunny day and we decided to take a 10 mile ride on our bikes along the Willamette River in Portland.

Oregon is a fantastic place for cycling and you can choose a route that suits you from the many maps that are on line. Click here for maps.

We of course chose the path along the Willamette River because you know how I love the water! 

 

For a minute I thought I was in New England somewhere with the colors and the white steeple church!

And then on our way back to the car we were able to see how an elephant crosses the road in Portland!

There are a few more pictures of our ride on "Where's Debbie".  Just click on the album "A Bike Ride Along the Willamette River"

Driving The Great Northwest - Some Great Places for "Happy Hour" in Portland - Part I

First let me start by saying, thank you so much for being patient while waiting for some more posts on our trip through the Great Northwest.  I am home now, so it's time to get cracking on the writing and let you know about some more of the great things we did.

I would like to focus this post on some of what I think are the coolest places to eat and drink in Portland.  Having our home exchange in Vancouver Washington made it very convenient to visit Portland Oregon because we were only about 20 minutes from downtown.

There were a couple of evenings when we met up with some friends who live in Portland, Sterling and Carrie, and they took us to some really fantastic places.  Portland has some great "Happy Hour" spots and we tried to hit as many as possible during the next few days!

So let's start with April 12.  First stop "Jake's Famous Crawfish".  It's located at 401 SW 12th Ave. at the cross street of SW Stark.  Jake's has some outside tables and if you know me, you know my motto is "When at all possible, eat outside!"  Plus, it wasn't raining!  What to have, what to have?  Well how about some Steamed Mussels in garlic butter and Thai Curry Clams.  And let's try the Tempura Ahi Sushi Roll along with some Sweet Potato fries served with a Chipotle Aioli sauce for dipping.  And of course some great Oregon wine!  The prices for Jake's Happy Hour menu range from $1.95 to $4.95.  A fantastic price for what you get if you ask me!

From Jake's we walked a couple of blocks to SW 3rd Ave. and stopped in at "Huber's". 

Huber's has been making traditional turkey dinners in Portland since 1879.  But we're not here for the turkey, we're here for their signature drink, the "Spanish Coffee"!  Now, I don't like coffee, can't drink the stuff.  But put several types of liquer in it and light it on fire, I'm lovin' it!!

We end our evening with some "Beer Tasting".  Yes, I said beer, not wine.  So needless to say it was Stijn and Sterling who did the beer tasting.  The "Green Dragon" was the place for Stijn to try and acquire a taste for some good American micro brews.  This place had a very relaxed, warehouse feel to it with it's long wooden picnic tables for seating.  

It's time to make some choices, decisions decisions.

 and it seems the choices made were good ones!

What a great evening of exploring the great little "gems" of Portland!  Can't wait for our next "Happy Hour" tour!

If you would like to see more pictures of our evening just click here "Where's Debbie" and then click on the album "Happy Hour - Part 1"

Driving The Great Northwest - On The Road Again

Just a quick note to let you know that we are leaving tomorrow for Montana.  Our home exchange has come to an end and I still have a few more stories to write about during our time here.

So I will have some more posts of our adventure very soon and I hope you have enjoyed reading about what we have been doing since we started "Driving The Great Northwest".

Driving The Great Northwest - Go Trail Blazers!

It just seems fitting that if you are in the Portland area you should go see a Trail Blazers game!  Especially since the Blazers were heading to the NBA playoffs, and neither one of us has ever been to a professional basketball game. 

It was tough trying to decide whether to watch Friday's game against the Dallas Mavericks or Monday's game against Oklahoma Thunder.  So after talking with some people who know more about basketball then either one of us, we chose the Blazers vs Thunder game on Monday April 12 and headed to the Rose Garden. 

To fit in with the 20,000+ fans we bought some Blazer hats and then made our way to our seats and settled in for the game. 

It was a great evening and a great choice.  The Blazer's win 103 - 95!

And because the Blazer's made 100 points, all the fans were treated to a free Chulupa from Taco Bell!

I could so become a Blazers fan!

There are a few more pictures of the game if you would like to see them.  Just click here "Where's Debbie" and then click on the album "Go Trail Blazers"

Driving The Great Northwest - Waterfalls, Waterfalls and More Waterfalls

Okay, it's already April 10 and two days of rest is enough!

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but as much I as love lighthouses, I love waterfalls even more!  So today we headed for the "Columbia River Gorge" to explore and enjoy the waterfalls! 

We start towards the Gorge on I84 heading East, but decide to exit onto "Historic Route 30" which brings us to our first waterfall of the day!

Wahkeena Falls is a 242ft waterfall with a great trail that takes you to the base of the waterfall.

Our next stop is Multnomah Falls and here we take the 1.25 mile trail to the very top of the waterfall.

There are 11 switchbacks on the way to the top of this 620ft waterfall and on the way we have some amazing views of the Columbia River and Washington in the distance.

After we reach the top and have a look over the edge, we decide to continue on the trail that takes us along the upper part of the falls.

  

But as beautiful as this is, we need to get back down to the car and see some more waterfalls.  And within just about 10 minutes down the road is "Horsetail Falls".

Here you just park and walk across the street and you are feeling the mist of the water of this 176ft fall.

Our last waterfall of the day comes as a complete surprise as we were driving West on  Historic Route 30 on our way back to Vancouver.

Latourell Falls has a couple of great options for getting some great views of the 249ft fall.  We of course did both.  First the little walk of 0.1mile to the bottom where we could just look straight up at the fall.  Then we also took the little walk from the parking lot to the viewpoint.

Okay, back on the road to get home.  But then we end up with one more unexpected stop.  Built between 1916-1918, "Vista House" was built as a memorial to Oregon Pioneers.  This is a great place for unbelievable views of the Columbia River Gorge.  However the wind was blowing about 50 miles per hour up here, so we took a quick tour and some pictures and headed home.

 

Of course there are more pictures to see of all the waterfalls we saw today at "Where's Debbie".  Just click on the album Waterfalls.

Driving The Great Northwest - Let's Go Crabbing!

It is absolutely beautiful in Coos Bay Oregon this morning!  The sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky.  This is very unusual for this time of the year on the coast of Oregon and we are going to take advantage of it by doing a little crabbing before we continue on our road trip today to Vancouver Washington.

A great place to crab in this area is at the Charleston Marina.  So after a little breakfast we head on over to Charleston to get our 3 day crabbing license, a couple of crab rings and two pieces of frozen chicken for our bait.  Yes crabs love chicken!

As we make our way down to the docks to pick our spot for some morning crabbing we are forced to pick another spot because there are some sea lions sunning themselves right where we want to crab.  They seemed very disinterested in us but I'm sure once we started pulling crab up they would have quickly become our new best friends.

Stijn has never crabbed before so a little lesson from me based on the limited knowledge that I have, Stijn is ready to throw in the first crab ring of the day.

Well the first thing we discovered was that my instructions for leaving the ring in for only about 5 minutes was incorrect.  As Stijn brings up the first ring, we see we have no crabs.

The day wasn't a total loss however.  We did get some crabs........................

........and even some starfish!

Well 4 hours has gone by and we must get on the road.  It's another 200 miles before we reach Vancouver Washington. 

We do make a few quick stops along the way however, it's just too pretty not to.  At "Cape Perpetua" we stopped and took a look at the "Devil's Churn" 

and then in Newport we had some dinner at "The Chowder Bowl" in  "Historic Nye Beach".

Well it's just about 9pm and we have arrived in Vancouver Washington!  Our home for the next 2 weeks.

If you would like to see more pictures of our day just click here "Where's Debbie" and then click on the album "Let's Go Crabbing!"

Oregon on Dwellable