Rounding out Washington and into Oregon

After we left Leavenworth, we headed two hours over to Issaquah to stay at the Issaquah Village RV Park. The main reason we stayed here is for its proximity to Seattle. We were able to get up on Tuesday morning and have a short drive over to the factory tour at Filson.

That's a long time!

Street view

 After 2 nights by Seattle we headed another 2 hours south to Suntides Golf Course in Yakima, WA. We didn't do much here, just relaxed and went to a few thrift shops. There are so many amazing and fun things that I would love to purchase!

Hi there handsome feller!

 And after many, many rainy days - we finally saw the sun.

YEEESSSSSS

 On Friday, we crossed over into Oregon to hang out just down the road from Hood River at Memaloose State Park in Mosier. We stayed 5 nights, and let me tell you - this is one of my favorite areas. If it wasn't for the housing prices we would buy some property here. Big sigh - maybe someday.

While we were there we went on a fun little brewery tour at Full Sail Brewing. They are one of the first microbreweries in the country!

Smell all the things!

Don't eat me, I'm to cute!

Me and Porter popped over to The Dalles one day and went to Klindts Bookstore, an adorable little shop that's been around since 1870.

And through it all Emma watched over :)

My long suffering girl

More Washington

After cruising the Olympic Peninsula, we drove a quick 70 miles to Sequim, WA. We stayed a single night on October 6th at Rainbows End RV Park. It was just a stopover point so that we didn't have to drive to far, but it was well worth it. Sequim has a really quaint little downtown area filled with amazing little shops.

It was here that I discovered the joy that is the affogato at Hurricane Coffee. As a coffee lover, I don't know how this has been hidden from me for so long. But I'm seriously happy to have been introduced. Two shots of espresso over a scoop of ice cream - genius!

You are my life now

I didn't get any treats :(

From Sequim, we headed down the western side of Puget Sound another 80 miles. We spent a long weekend, Friday to Monday, at Gig Harbor RV Resort in ... Gig Harbor. This is another super cute little town. The little downtown area is right on the harbor and is full of great little shops too.

We mostly had a quiet weekend, it rained a lot and it was kind of nice to just relax. We did drive over to meet up with family at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma though. Not only did we get to meet our newest niece, but this museum is seriously worthwhile. The place is filled with amazing pieces of art there, and we got to watch a live demonstration. We really enjoyed it!

Family is the best

Can I take these home? Please?

After Gig Harbor, we had a long(er) drive, 161 miles over to Alpine View RV Park in Leavenworth, WA. This stay is the actual reason we even headed up to Washington. We had made reservations many, many months before - which is not at all usual for us. But we have been trying to go to the Leavenworth Oktoberfest for years, but lodging sells out in the spring. Plus, we met up with our Michigan traveling buddies Green Heart Adventures who we hadn't seen since the first of May.

Okotoberfest isn't the only thing in this area though, the town itself is adorable, and the surrounding area is gorgeous. We decided to do a short hike on Tuesday afternoon. The Icicle Gorge View Trail is a little 2 miler that should be easy with 6 kids in tow. What we actually ended up doing though? Was the Icicle Gorge LOOP - which ended up being a FIVE mile hike. Oops. The kids survived and it was gorgeous.

See? Gorgeous

Most of the week it rained. And rained. And rained. So, we didn't do a whole lot. I did have a chance to walk into town from the RV park and snapped a pic off the bridge.

Not to shabby

Friday night, the festivities began. We hopped the free shuttle and went down to partay! Okay, so we just went to listen to some music, have a few beers and check it out. What can I say, we're not in our 20s anymore :)

Prost!

Goofy kids

Saturday is the big day for Oktoberfest - a big parade and the keg tapping ceremony. But it was still raining so much that the parade was cancelled. They had one sad little wagon go the parade route. Here it is in all its glory:

Woohoo!

On the Road Again

After an entire summer back at home in Bend, we hit the road again on Thursday, September 29th. We headed up to Portland, about a 3.5 hour drive, to Columbia River RV. We only stayed 2 nights, but it gave me a chance to get my hair fixed up and for us to go to OMSI, which is always fun!

Run for your lives!

Cheering for his stuck ship

From Portland we headed over into Washington to a tiny little resort in Silverlake by the same name. We found Bigfoot while we there.

He's bigger than I'd pictured

Our goal in staying here was to go up and see Mount St Helen's, but fall weather in Washington wasn't very cooperative. We saw a few glimpses of her before going into the visitor center, but by the time we came out the fog had really rolled in!

Mount St Helen's is back there. I swear.

We decided to drive around the Olympic Peninsula since we had time, first driving over to the Quinault rainforest. We stayed at the Rainforest Resort, where the rain is plentiful, but the internet is not.

Our beautiful Beaver

The world's largest Spruce, and Porter

We did stay right next to the world's largest spruce though, which was fun. And really the entire area is just beautiful. We only stayed a single night in Quinault. On Monday, the 3rd of October we headed up to Forks, Washington. We stayed there 2 nights and went to the Hoh Rainforest (one of my favorite places on earth), and over to see the ocean at Rialto Beach

With my love

Mushrooms that look like Cala Lillies

They can't help but climb on things

Or into things

All my best guys

Hudson contemplating

Enough with the pictures

Emma trying to slay the waves

A Week Outside St. Pete

After Miama we need to get over to the West coast of Florida, but it's quite a long drive. We split it up by spending New Years Eve night in Naples, FL. It was 124 miles to Club Naples and I honestly wish we had just driven straight through. I did not like this place. At all. It was hands down the worst experience at an RV park we've ever had.

Thankfully it was a single night and we could move on! On the 1st we hit the road again over to Bradenton, FL. We drove another 123 miles up to Winter Quarters Manatee. It's not a bad little park, especially after Naples, but we weren't there for the location - my amazing friend Nicole was flying down to meet me!

Squee!!!

She flew in the evening of the 2nd so we didn't really do anything that day. On the 3rd we went to a very ... interesting flea market. But really, most flea markets are a little odd, and the Red Barn Flea Market was no exception!

On the 4th we drove over to Sarasota and went to Siesta Beach. When you think of white sandy beaches? You are basically envisioning this place. It's amazingly beautiful. After the beach we wandered some of the cute little shops, and had a delicious lunch at Village Cafe

He just loves pictures ;)

Photo bomb by Huddy

On the 5th we grabbed a Groupon deal and went to Can You Escape. If you've never heard of these, basically your group is locked in a room. You are given a certain time span in which to solve puzzles scattered throughout the room. If you solve them all, you escape!

It was seriously fun, and I'm proud to say - we did it!

YES! We can escape!

On the 6th we went to Mixon Fruit Farms. They give you a tour of the grounds and tell you about their history. It was interesting, but the highlight was the stop at Wildlife, Inc. They care for and rehabilitate a bunch of animals. We learned about them and got to pet, feed, and even hold a few of them.

I'm too cool to smile for pictures

How cute is he?!

Porter LOVED the animals

All good things must end, and on the 7th I had to send Nicole back to her family. What an amazing visit we had though!

Sad Pandas

Meeting Friends in Miami

The day after Christmas it was time to hit the road again. Key West is amazing, but we were meeting friends in Miami. So we drove all the way back up the Keys 138 miles to Larry & Penny State Park. I had a pretty hard time figuring out where to stay while we were in Miami. It's a huge city and there aren't many (non-ghetto) options. If you are ever in the area, the state park is for sure the way to go.

There was some pretty serious weather happening around this time - not where we were - but Porter's friend and his mom ended up getting stuck in Texas. They had been scheduled to arrive on the 27th, but didn't get in until the evening of the 28th. Yuck. Seriously, what is it with air travel these days?!

Porter was beyond excited to spend time with Tristan though, so I drove him into downtown and he stayed the night with them. The next morning they all went deep sea fishing and had a blast, although we did find out that Porter gets sea-sick (not a blast).

Porter and the fishing charter guy with P's fish

After they were done fishing, Hudson and me met up with them at the Everglades Holiday Park. Honestly, I couldn't believe how busy it was! I guess we were there during "Christmas Break" time of year, but wow.

I make this look good

We went on a jet boat ride through the Everglades and saw lots of fun things.

This cute little guy swam RIGHT NEXT to the boat

Another picture?

Why does Porter look so OLD?

The next day we headed back down the Keys. I love them, but holy traffic! It took us double the GPS estimate. Apparently everyone had the same idea as us :) We stopped over at Robbie's Tarpon Feeding. I don't know about you, but I'd never heard of a "tarpon". It's a really, really big fish. For a couple of dollars you get a bucket full of fish parts and you can stand on the dock and feed them. It was really fun, those fish are super serious about getting fed!

After feeding the fish, we decided to have a quick bite to eat at too. The Hungry Tarpon is an outdoor restaurant that overlooks the water and is part of where the fish feeding is. We sat down and had a drink but ended up having to get our food to go.

The entire reason we had come down was to hit up Seamonkeys Watersports in Islamorada. Porter had wanted to go snorkeling for his birthday, but we decided to wait until he could go with Tristan.

So ready

The water was CRAZY choppy that day. We went a few miles out to where there is a reef and there was 3-4 foot waves. Let me just preface all this by telling you that have a pretty good fear of the water. I can swim, but there's always a small amount of panic happening if I can't touch the ground.

When we first got in the water? I pretty much knew that I was going to die. Seriously. I made the guide hold my hand for a good 15 minutes before I could get myself in check.

But after I did? Wow. Just, wow.

One of the pics Porter got with his GoPro

Even with a near panic attack? It was so, so worth it. And to watch Hudson, who has a good bit of my wariness for the water, snorkel around and enjoy it? Amazing. 

That night Porter stayed over at the hotel again, and the rest of us just relaxed.

So tired you guys

On the 31st it was time for us to start traveling again. I wanted to see the Southbeach Boardwalk so I arranged to pick up Porter there. It was pretty, but packed.

Not that you can tell from this picture

Goodbyes are the worst

Porter was super bummed to have to say goodbye, but was so very happy for the time with his friend.

A Trip Down to the Keys

I love tropical places, so I was really excited on December 21st when we made it down to Longkey, Florida. It was a 158 miles over to the Fiesta Key RV Resort. Plus, its a Passport America campground - so 50% off our two night stay!

Not to shabby

An added bonus was that there was another full=timing family there so the boys got to play with some other kids at the pool!

On the 23rd we hopped back on the road to make it to our ultimate Keys destination - Boyd's Campground in Key West. It's only another 66 miles, and thankfully for us the roads were clear, but let me tell you - if there is any kind of accident the traffic backs up. The North bound lanes were at a standstill most of the time we headed South.

Have I died and gone to heaven?

Now, this is no Passport America resort. You pay for the location. You pay a lot. But it's good to splurge every so often, you know? And for me? This spot was so very worth it. And the weather? Amazing. And the scenery? Unforgetable.

The first night we were there, we strolled just down the road for some gluten free pizza goodness at Roostica. An aptly named place considering the number of wild roosters that stroll by you everywhere in Key West.

Emma likes to go out too!

Another thing about the Keys that we all really enjoyed were the wild Iguanas. Some of these guys are just HUGE. And they are everywhere! This one was right by the Beaver, and there was another one just around the corner at the same time.

How you doin'?

I was really excited for another Groupon great find - a 90 minute private sail around the keys with Sunset Sail Key West on the morning of Christmas Eve. We've been throwing around the idea of eventually doing the same thing we're doing with an RV, but on a sail boat. So this was a great introduction to sailing for the boys. It was an amazing experience, one I don't think any of us will forget.

Does this remind anyone else of an 80's movie?

The RV resort really got into the spirit and even stuff a poor old couple into costumes - in the 80+ degree weather! It was cute though, they rode around on the back of a golf cart handing out candy.

Hudson was wary though

We continued our Christmas Eve tradition of Chinese food for dinner. Not a usual tradition though - fishing off the pier behind our home. The boys caught a ridiculous amount of fish!

This is the life

I was a little concerned about having Christmas morning in an RV, it's just not our norm. I've got to say, it was every bit as enjoyable as a house. It's really not the location, it's the people that you're with.

Christmas morning smiles

I had thought doing the whole Christmas turkey dinner thing. But at 80 degrees outside? It didn't even sound enjoyable. So instead we headed to downtown Key West and had an amazing Christmas brunch at a little place called Azur.

Cheers

After we ate we strolled around Key West. You might think that with it being Christmas day that it would be pretty quite. You would be mistaken. Nearly every place was open and there were crowds everywhere.We wanted to get a picture at the Southernmost Point, but there was actually a line around the block. So we settled for a picture at the Southernmost house :)

Good enough

Random large metal chicken, and goofy boy

Why are we taking this picture Mom?