Peace Out Alaska, Day 8, 9, and10

Day 8, 9, and 10-Portland, Oregon!

We were able to stop by and get some Q.T. with April (Tia)!  We had a blast!  April took us all over Portland and showed us the hot spots.   We stood in line for 45 minutes at Voodoo Doughnuts.  Let me just tell you that those Voodoo Doughnuts were completely worth it!  Yum, yum!



Joey had so much fun that his hair stood straight up!   

 We also checked out the Portland Zoo. 

 Joey loved watching the animals. 

 As well as, playing on some of the playground equipment!

After the zoo, we decided to go get some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Joey loved being with his Tia.  He really misses her and can't wait to see her again!   Thanks for the hospitality, Tia!   We love and miss you!

Road Trippin', Day 7

Day 7, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington to Seaside, Oregon

So, I have a dirty little secret to admit to all of you...I like the "Twilight" series.  While we were in Washington, Michael, Joey, and I took a little side trip to Forks, the city that Twilight takes place.  I acted like a giddy little schoolgirl when we got there!  I was ri-dic-u-lous!  Haha!

The town was pretty close to what I imagined when reading the series.  We even went out to La Push, the beach/reservation that Jacob (the wolf) lives at. 

 This was one of the signs you see when entering La Push. 

There are three beaches at La Push: First Beach, Second Beach, and Third Beach.  Ha!   We checked out Second Beach.  This beach was absolutely breathtaking!   The little islands right off of the beach.  The surf, the forest, the huge driftwood.  It was beautiful! 

We never intended to go to Forks and La Push, but I am so glad that we did.  I really enjoyed this side trip since I have read the "Twilight" books and watched the movies. Plus, the La Push beach was an unexpected awesome little beautiful surprise! 

We also liked that the town of Forks actually jumped on the "Twilight" bandwagon.  (Dr. Cullen is a character in the series...this parking spot is at the local hospital!)

Mt. Rainier National Park was pretty awesome, too.  However, after living in Alaska, most mountains and scenery seem a little anti-climatic. 

Joey was so worn out from our "Twilight" and Mt. Rainier touring, that he zonked right out!  Score for Mama and Dada! 

Our first view of the the Pacific Ocean! 

Leavin' in a Prius, Day 6

Day 6, Ferndale, Washington to Mt. Rainer National Park, Washington

Michael and I like to check out eating establishments that are featured on Man vs. Food.  We tried to check out The Crab Pot in Seattle last November, but the line was too long.   However, we planned this trip a little better.  Michael finally got to eat all of the crabs he was longing for at The Crab Pot!  :) 

Michael got so wrapped up in eating those crabs, that he almost ate his son because he thought he was a crab!   A little too much saltwater in the air, I think. 

 After lunch, we checked out the Seattle Aquarium.  Awesome!   We all really liked this aquarium. 

We even let Joey run around the aquarium.  He did pretty well and kept up with us.  He seems to have the attention span of an ant, just like his mama!  Ha!

Since we were experiencing way warmer temps, we tried camping again.  This time Joey slept in the playpen.  We had downloaded some white noise on our iPod, had a mini speaker system, had complete darkness, and Joey went right down!  Complete camping bliss!   FINALLY! 

It was a great campsite right outside of Mt. Rainier National Park.  This park was absolutely beautiful!  So glad that we got to check this park out.

Road Trippin', Day 5

Day 5, Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada to Ferndale, Washington

 One of the views along the way.

 Sometimes the road trip got boring, so we had to pump up the jams and do some dancing!  Whoop whoop!

 We hit tons of construction, I'm talking hours worth, and one lane bridges.   Made for a very interesting ride! 

Our view driving into Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! 

Road Trippin', Day 4

Day 4 , Fort St. John to Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada.

I have forgotten what these waterfalls were called, but they were located at a roadside rest stop!  This was super nice! 

 Joey even had a chance to learn how to skip rocks. 

The Stellar Blue Jay hangs out in this area and is supposedly very elusive.  Elusive, my butt!   We were able to catch a couple of these little birdies on film!  :)

Road Trip, Day 3

Day 3, Laird Hot Springs to Fort Saint John, British Columbia. 

After our first night of camping, we decided to stay in hotels or lodges until we hit warmer weather.  We stayed in a lodge on night two, and it was really nice!   We were greeted with this awesome sight from our lodge room in the morning! 

We stayed right next to the Laird Hot Springs.  We didn't have time to take a dip, but we did get to put our fingers in the hot water! 

I think Joey was kind of shocked of how warm the water was!   However, once he realized this was water, he was all about trying to jump in. 

After the springs, we did some walking along the boardwalk.  Michael gets impatient with Joey's pace, so Joey gets carried a lot!  Ha! 

After our little walk, we got on down the road!   Time to make up some...time!  :) 

We ran into some sheep along the way! 

A lot of Western Canada looked like this above photo.  Lakes, mountains, and trees!

Some caribou taking a stroll along the ALCAN Highway!

These are Stone Sheep.  These sheep don't even play!   They like to hang out along the highway, on the mountain drop-offs, on sharp curves. 

We tried to time our driving times to when Joey was sleeping.   We lucked out most days and Joey would take two naps, so we would have an hour and a half to three hours of pure quiet driving bliss twice a day! 

We tried to take some long rest stops so Joey could run a little, eat a little, and just not be constrained in that car seat!

Road Trip, Day 2

   We have tons of pics from this trip, so I'm going to post each day photos under their own post.  Welcome to Day 2, Haines Junction to Laird Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada!

The boys crashed out in the back of the car! This was another perk to the passenger riding in the back seat, more sleeping room!

We stopped at a visitor center in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada.  This place was pretty cool because there were tons of signs from all over the world!   This was a giant sign maze!   Joey loved it!  We're also glad we stopped at this center because the workers informed us that the Cassair Highway, the road we were going to take, was washed out at the end!  This meant that we had to drive a FEW hundred miles out of the way to get out of Canada!   AHHHHH!!  If we wouldn't have stopped at this center, we would have never known about this road, would have driven the road almost to the end, been forced to turn around and go back to the Alaska Canada Highway!  Michael and I were both very upset about this major change in our plans, but glad we found out before we had to do any backtracking!   

The other cool thing about stopping at this center was that the lady informed us of all the animals and the mile markers we would see on the road.  She was on dead on!  We saw the exact animal at the exact spot she told us!   It was crazy!   Some of the animals would just hang out in the road.  We would have to wait until they actually moved out of our way to pass! 

Yes, this is a buffalo/bison.  It was awesome!