Author: Amy Kline

We were fortunate enough to tour New England earlier this year. We stood next to the Atlantic Ocean in Gloucester and agreed that we were very lucky to be able to see both oceans in one year. We smiled at that today as we stood on the sands of the Pacific…

We headed out of Seattle very early in the morning on Monday. We chose to make a counter-clockwise loop around Olympic National Park. What an incredible day. This park completely took Amy and I by surprise. We drove 17 miles (and 5000+ feet of elevation) to Hurricane Ridge. Here we stood face-to-face with a variety of glaciers. We then coasted down (literally – not touching the gas once for 17 miles) back to sea level and drove another 80-100 miles to the Hoh Rainforest. It’s the only virgin, temperate rainforest left in the United States. We didn’t know if we were in Washington, Mirkwood or on Endor. (Wake-up sci-fi nuts…) Beautiful, huge, moss-covered trees. Dense forest… Amy was nuts using her camera. This was truly a major highlight of the trip. We ended our day by driving to the beach. 47* 42.634’N by 124* 24.939’W was our furthest point west on this trip. At this point – it was all eastward heading back to Green Bay. Our campsite was a bit further down the beach and it was lovely. We strolled in the sand and watched the setting of the sun. This was an incredible day.

Today we were on the road at 7:00 a.m. We were able to tune into news of the shuttle launch. We were very happy to hear that it went well. Today was a 12 hour day in the saddle. Olympic National Park to Boise, ID. Not a lot of sightseeing – although we followed the Columbia River along the Oregon/Washington border for quite a long time and we were able to catch a few nice views of Mount St. Helens. The goal was to get a lot of miles under our belt so that we have some time to stop in Promontory, UT (a spiritual spot for Jeff) as well as have a full day in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Great to hear from all of you. Loving this trip…

Jeff & Amy

“We ate the food… we drank the wine… everybody having a good time…”
-U2

Wow… what a great wedding. While we’ve had a great adventure coming out here – it’s important for us to remember the reason behind it all. Tracy and Tobias’ wedding was a beautiful event. Pardon us for a second to get a little deep. Weddings are a great thing. Especially in this case, where people from all over the world (literally) came together and embraced an incredible occasion. We’ve met some fantastic people and made some good friends through this celebration. The bride was beautiful. The wedding was amazing. It truly brought things into perspective.

We’re posting a picture of the “Fab Four” at the pre-nuptial gathering as well as a picture at the wedding.

We motor off tomorrow towards Olympic National Park and then off to Boise, ID. We’ll check in again on Tuesday night.

Love to all,

Jeff & Amy

P.S. Sorry to those of you in the Midwest. Sunny and 75 out here… 🙂

2,480 miles!!! We made it! We’re safe and sound in Seattle, WA. Just checked into our hotel room. We’re sad that our trip is exactly at its halfway point. However, we’re excited to see the things on the upcoming agenda – including Tracy’s wedding!

Just one picture today. It’s another one of those “looks like its fake” shots. We visited the Grand Coolee Dam and camped on Lake Roosevelt last night. Kind of a funny place – the whole area is trapped in the 1950’s. The visitor center shows the oldest information film I’ve ever seen. Reminds me of Mr. Hays’ social studies class in 8th grade. The area has all of those cheesy drive-in motels/restaurants. Even the campground was uniquely “antiquated.” It felt like we were in a time warp.

The geography of eastern Washington is fascinating. First of all – the drive from Missoula, MT to C’oeur D’Alene is amazing. Absolutely beautiful. Then you hit eastern Washington and it’s as flat as a pancake – almost like being back in southern Minnesota. However, if you drive a little bit north and hit the Columbia River area – it’s back to being breathtaking. We followed Highway 2 all the way to Seattle. The Cascades are amazing and there is still some snow up in the peaks – just like the Rockies in WY.

It’s very odd driving around in a major city. We’re used to dodging bison and climbing 7-8% grades in the mountains.

We’re off to see some sights and find a cold beer or two. (Speaking of which – Pat or Dennis: Have you guys ever heard of “Moose Drool” beer before? UNREAL! Very good.)

To the New Buffalo bunch – Hope “Shore House” is going well. We miss you guys.

Mark – glad you’re back from Minnesota. Hope everything went well. I’ll give you a call later this week…

Jen & Andy – welcome back from Paris. Sounds like it was an incredible trip. We’re looking forward to an evening of grilling, cocktails & trip stories when we get back. We’ll host – I’m itching to cook again in a real kitchen…

Love you all – we’ll be “on-line” until Monday morning.

Jeff & Amy