Seattle, WA

Himne: Stopping in Seattle to visit Steph (Tim’s sister), Steve and our nephew Jackson. Had a blast hanging out with them. Did a duck boat tour – by far the most fun way to learn about the city!

TD: Seattle is a unique place to live. With all the waterways and overcast weather it creates a relaxing atmosphere – yet industry thrives here, people aren’t lazy – they just seem to live more calmly than other big cities and have better work/life balance. With the exception of downtown, Seattle is made up of several small cities – each with their own personality. In general Seattle seems to have a lot more culture than most American cities. I could live here for a while but eventually I think the weather would catch up to me.

We spent our days fixing issues w/ the camper and nights with Steph, Steve and Jackson – the coolest kid in school.

Oregon: Bend and the Columbia River Gorge

Thursday, April 16th

Himne: On our way to Bend we stop at Crater Lake and hike just 20 feet from the parking lot to see the full view. Amazing!
We get to the Allreds’ place late afternoon and Scott meets us there.

Friday, April 17th

Himne: Today is Howard’s birthday and Ann takes us all out to Typhoon – a very hip Thai place with a delicious martini menu. Then back home for a round of Rat-a-tat-cat and a lot of laughs. We had a great time and I especially enjoyed catching up with Kirsten. Hope it won’t be too long before we see them again!

TD: Here to visit Howard, Kirsten and Ann and maybe get some boarding in. Spent a few days in Bend relaxing. I had been battling some type of bug for weeks so I figured I should see a Dr to get some antibiotics. I couldn’t believe how dramatically different my healthcare experience was in Bend. If you ever get sick, move to Bend. I had no appointment but found a local clinic, no waiting, friendly staff and the Dr spent 20 minutes with me (most of the time chit chatting about travel). I was in and out within 30 minutes.

Saturday, June 18th

Sharks in the Deschutes!!

TD: Scott happened to be working in Portland this weekend and came out to Bend to hang with his gnomies (gnomies defined in a later blog). We went for a quick paddle through a river that runs through Bend and we were viscously attacked.

Sunday - Tuesday, April 19-21

  
BLD: Horsetail Falls hike.  I did a gnome-check. All Clear!

TD: For our trip up to Washington everyone kept telling us to take this longer more picturesque route from Bend up to Washington. Everyone was right. Extremely beautiful area – the Gorge runs all the way from the Dalles to Portland and is beautiful all the way. Take the historic Columbia River Highway if you run through this area as there are several short waterfall hikes along the route.

Himne: Right across on the Washington side of the river we explored a cool ice cave. No gnomes here either.

Napa, Sonoma & Calistoga

Himne: We left Truckee around mid-day on Sunday. With the snow and pine trees back in the distance, we drive through green rolling hills and farmlands were happy cows and horses live.
Beautiful weather all the way to Sacramento and eventually Napa. The vineyards literally show up as soon as we enter into Napa county. Monday we take it easy as Tim’s flu bug seems to be back. Visit the Buena Vista winery (claimed to be the oldest “premium” winery in California, but we had a pretty disappointing experience) and then dinner at a little French place in charming downtown Sonoma.
Tuesday we visit Viansa winery - highly recommended by Scott, Karli, and MC respectively - and have lunch there. Fun & interesting wine tasting experience. Great Cabernet Franc and Cab Sauvignon Reserve.

Drive to Calistoga and hang out with the Ames’s. Can’t believe how big the kids are! Also too cute for words! It was great to see them.

Wednesday we leave Calistoga and stop at the petrified forest and Old Faithful geyser on the way out. Next time we might take a mud bath and go to Karli’s lunch recommendation – the culinary institute.

 

Buddy: I had a blast playing with Zoey in Calistoga! No pigging this time.

TD: Super picturesque region… I can’t believe how close it is to Oakland and yet so different. I am also surprised I haven’t been up in this area. So close to SF and so nice. Meet up with Susie, Chris, the kids and Zoe for dinner in Calistoga. Calistoga in particular has a very cool old town.

Tahoe, April 7-11 (posted by Buddy)

Drove up to Tahoe via Mono Lake. Saw these ‘tufa’ in and around the water, and deer crossing the road on our way out.

It snowed like crazy as we drove into Kirkwood (South Lake Tahoe) and I was happy to wear my fleece.

Two days later
we drove up to Truckee (North Lake Tahoe) and stayed with MC and Scott. We always have a great time with them! Little Max and Ava are adorable and provided endless entertainment! The peeps got some fun boarding in at Alpine & Squaw. With all the snow we had, my fleece got pretty wet during walks, so Himne got me a waterproof coat in Squaw Village. Will certainly come in handy in Seattle and in Canada...

Himne teaching Max yoga or break dancing?

TD: 

Perfect timing. A big storm rolls through Tahoe and dumps for about 4 days straight. We drove up to Kirkwood the night before and got to test out the snow chains in a light (perfect) snowstorm. It dumped about 6” at the base of the mountain and up to 18” up top. I was 2^nd in line at the lift and got killer freshies until about 11am when the place was chewed up. Then about noon they opened up the chair on the far east of the mountain and I was lucky to be in the right place. Continued freshies all day. I found some tree skiing spots that were empty – and opened up into open spaces that I got all to myself. After doing the sport for about 18 years, I finally have an epic snow day. Day 2 at Kirkwood was basically a repeat – it snowed all night again and got great powder on day 2. We camped free at the RV parking at Kirkwood. Pretty cold, probably wouldn’t do it again with a dog because of all the extra work making sure he’s reasonably happy and warm.

Tahoe is on our top 10 places I might want to live one day, Truckee I think might be the best spot within Tahoe to live permanently.

1st Stop: Mammoth Lakes (posted by Buddy)

How we got here- In a white camper van. Yup, Tim got rid of his Tundra with custom pop top, and got us a used Sportsmobile/Dodge Sprinter. I love it because I get to ride in the front!

What we're doing here- Tim & Himne quit their jobs to pursue an opportunity of a lifetime. Next to their dream of living in Hawai'i, they had been talking about doing a road trip to Alaska and eastbound across the US/Canada, for as long I can remember.

So we left San Diego on Friday, March 27. Mammoth was beautiful and I had lots of fun there! Snowed a few times ie fresh pow-pow for Timne and I had a spacious & cozy cabin to run around in. Great location out in the wilderness where it felt like the great wide open belonged to me! At the same time it was convenient for the peeps to be just a 5-10 minute drive from town & the slopes. (Click here for photos and reservations: http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/44883.html.)

Peter, Mike, Vika & Ricardo joined us for that 1st weekend and had a blast on the mountain. Timne encouraged everyone to do their part in reducing the beers and wine we had brought from San Diego. (No room for it on the road trip.)

Our next visitors were Tess, Mike and Doug, who made a diligent, joint effort to empty a couple of wine bottles. One night Tim dared everyone in the hot tub to jump out and make snow angels right then and there. Glad I didn't have to see that =)

These 10 days in Mammoth were great and we enjoyed having friends over. Looking forward to meet up with more friends & family as we continue North, especially since we might be away for quite a few months.

-BLD

Convict lake. Fun side trip from mammoth. Also visit the hot springs off the airport road (closes at dusk).

Yumm. Fresh igloo. Pic taken at June lake. Not a great mountain overall – but Tim’s now favorite all time carving run is there.

TD: You are never really ready to take a trip like this. I had been hoping we could do something like it for years, then when you actually make that leap to living out of a van you start to second guess yourself. You start to wonder about where you are going to stay, do, cabin fever etc... Well, after a hectic day of last minute packing and cleaning we leave San Diego late on Friday to head up to Mammoth. Thanks to Mike & Peter for the moving help.

More Mammoth pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/himneL/MammothApril2009?feat=directlink

Some additional blogs from Tim:
Tim’s blog:
http://miscellaneousdebris-tim.blogspot.com/

Blog about the Sportsmobile / RVing:
http://timnewhitehouse.blogspot.com/

Trip buying the RV in North Carolina and driving to SD:
http://timnepretrip.blogspot.com/