Pacific Northwest Road Trip

俄勒冈州之开车旅行：俄勒冈7大景观+几个周边国家公园

Jun 3 - 20, 2022 Erik & Jeri

A Pinterest article about 7 wonders of Oregon caught my eyes and that is where we will go next! While gas price is super high, Jeri is planning a road trip :)

We planned to take a longer time off since we both could work remotely. We can drive some and work some, but, the free time ended up with being filled up with more FUN, as usual!

It took a long time for me to plan this trip. I didn’t complete the planning before we left. Not my style, but I have been really busy. Time to practice go with flow.

Jun 3, 2022 Home to Seattle 飞到西雅图

I was still on a conference call for work on the way to the airport. That was how busy I had been lately. We are flying to Seattle. One is because it is direct flight. Two is because Washington has two national parks that are not far from Oregon. Why not!

After a quick grocery shopping at Safeway, we got to the Hyatt hotel.

Jun 4, 2022 Olympic National Park Day1 华盛顿州奥林匹克国家公园第一天

Woke up around 5:30am, which is 8:30am at home. Left around 7:30am. Started hiking Hurricane Hill trail at 11am. Time change came in convenient at times :)

It is such a beautiful hike. The view is stunning. One of the best hikes I ever had! I enjoyed every minute of the hiking. It is breathtaking. I was worried about the rain after watching the weather forecast couple of days ago, but we were blessed with sunny day going up and drizzle coming down.

How about a waterfall hike after snow mountain top hike. I loved this hike because we were surrounded by many tall trees and many of them had mosses. I cannot wait for tomorrow the Hall of Mosses hike!

It began to rain after Marymere Falls Trail. We didn’t get a chance to see Lake Crescent at its best on this trip.

Jun 5, 2022 Olympic National Park Day 2奥林匹克国家公园第二天

Hall of Mosses didn’t disappoint me! We hiked in the drizzle, which was the perfect weather for Hoh rain forecast. The best part of the hike WAS the HALL! The hall that full of mosses!

Beach stops after the Rain forest.

It had been raining after the beach in Olympic park. We skipped Quinalt lake and head to Astoria directly.

Motel 6, least furniture motel. Wish we had a table…but we did have a yummy dinner on the corner of that TV table :)

Jun 6, 2022 Oregon wonder #1 Coast Line Day1俄勒冈景观1: 海岸线第一天

• Deer family in First Stevens State Park

• Nelson family by the ship wreck in First Stevens State Park

• Clatsop Loop Trail in Ecola State Park

• Ecola State Park overlook

• Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

• Jeri hugging the sea and sky at Hug Point

• No picture at Short Sand Beach Trail

Jun 7, 2022 Oregon wonder #1 Coast Line Day2海岸线第二天

A day of sand, light houses, and sea lions…

• Sand dune climb at Cape Kiwanda

• Devil’s punch bowl at low tide

• Yaquina head light house and lazy sea lions at New Port

• Yachats Thor’s Well with sea water

• Hecata head light house

Last minute planning for ATV ride on sand dunes in Florence. So lucky to find this place that takes walk-ins. We arrived just on time to ride for an hour. The timing couldn’t be better. It was so much fun! Even if you ‘might’ get stuck in sand and be scared, it was still fun! Following Erik and watching him finding places trying to go straight up and downs was also “exciting”, but I had to judge which route I could follow…your leader is not always trustworthy….

What a lovely place in Bandon to stay for the night. Built before World War II. Ocean view with nice sunset…

Jun 8, 2022 Oregon wonder #1 Coast Line Day 3海岸线第三天

It was an adventurous day today with hiking exploration, which had amazing views!

Better views only available for those who take the effort and risk to seek them. Left upper picture shows the view from the viewing deck which is for many. Bottom picture shows the hidden view for few who are more adventurous that not afraid to take the “sketchy way”, and go around “Dangerous, do not enter” sign…hehe

After hiking to the opposite way for half mile, We decided to turn to hike the right way. :) This is Cape Ferrelo overview hike. It was so windy at the top. Clouds covered everything when we got to the top. While we were heading back ( Jeri was disappointed), clouds began to move away quickly and the wonderful view was unveiled little by little…I was so excited and grateful at the same time.

First time dining in for the trip. Fish and chip concluded our 3-day Oregon coast line drive perfectly.

Jun 9, 2022 Redwood National Park, California加利佛尼亚红木国家公园

So close to another national park that I couldn’t make a plan without, even though that might mean our vacations are not so relaxed, but I believe Erik will be happy with my plan eventually after he realizes…life is short that we need to pack it up? Hehe, who knows…

We hiked Stout Grove Trail and Trillium Lake Loop Trail. We skipped the Lady Bird Johnson Trail, because I wanted to drive the Bald Hill Road to the desert looking area. I was curious to see the desert among forest…we drove a long time but no desert in sight. We checked the website picture that I saw before only to find out the “desert” was actually the snow! :(

Jun 10, 2022 Oregon wonder #2, Crater Lake National Park 俄勒冈景观2: 火山湖

Almost 4 hours of driving to the park, but the whole way was with nice mountain view, which made the driving very enjoyable. The East Rim Drive is still closed, so we can only go to the West Rim Drive from south entrance and come back to get to tonight’s hotel. All the hiking plans didn’t happen either, which made someone secretly happy…

Jun 11, 2022 Oregon wonder #3 Smith Rock State Park; #4 Painted Hills 俄勒冈景观3: 史密斯巨石公园，景观4: 彩绘山

Another long day of driving, but through forest and mountains. These couple of days, wherever we went, we brought sunshine! Really couldn’t ask for more..

Smith Rock is famous for rock climbing. We saw many climbers including Jeri. Hiked the River Trail which was so pretty.

I love Painted Hills! Even though we saw this kind of hills in other places before, I think here has the best. We stopped by Painted Hills overlook three times in order to get a good picture with the blue sky. :)

Jun 12-14, 2022 Oregon wonder #5 Wallowa Valley 俄勒冈景观5: 乌洛瓦山谷

Kind of lazy day on the 12th. Drove 4 hours of scenic parkway to Wallowa valley. Our hotel is facing the mountains! I hoped we could get a view room before we checked in, but Erik said no view room left. :( I showed the front desk that my confirmation said jacuzzi with a view, but the front desk kept saying I didn’t pay that price and my confirmation wasn’t right. Argued for couple of minutes. He wasn’t very helpful to trying to get us a view room. Oh well…

But when we got into our room…wow wow wow…what a surprise! Front desk must have forgotten which way our room faces. :) Unexpected happiness felt sooooo good!

Walked around the town of Joseph. Didn’t do much.

Nine days without Chinese food has been a challenge. Erik found a place yesterday called something Steak Saloon where they had orange chicken or kongbao chicken in addition to burgers and sandwiches. I looked at it and didn’t feel angry for Chinese enough to get in. But today, real Chinese restaurant! Happy Garden! The name itself just sounded so Chinese!

Here goes my hero who bought me Chinese food! Mapo doufu, kingbao combo, beef broccoli…they tasted so much better now than I ever had these dishes! 9天没吃中国饭，这顿美式中餐已是美味佳肴。方圆上百个英里就这么一家中餐馆儿，满足了 ：）

Jun 13th: How cool is a railroad ride! Tried it today. It was fun, especially with spectacular mountain views. Erik, the peddler when motor is on. Jeri, the peddler when motor is off. While Jeri is enjoying the view and busy taking pictures, Erik is busy figuring out how the cart knows which direction he peddles…

Drove to Hells Canyon Overlook. 1st picture is the view. It was great view, but I was hoping to see the gorge. the other 3 pictures are the mountains behind the sheered curtains…

Jun 14: After a short hike, we took the Wallowa Lake Tram which takes 3700-foot vertical ascent to the summit of Mt. Howard (8150 feet). The ride is about 15 mins with amazing views of the mountains and the Lake.

The trail on top of the mountain was mostly covered with snow, but we had to go since it was so expensive to be up here! It was freezing cold and was snowing when we first got up. But, we brought sunshine again. :) The mountains from far looked similar to the ones in Olympic Park, but while you were in there, you knew that they all have different personalities. I enjoyed them so much and hard to leave.

These couple of days, we looked at these mountains from almost everywhere and under different weathers. But the views were all uniquely beautiful. Nature is amazing.

Jun 15, 2022 Oregon wonder #6 Mt Hood 俄勒冈景观6: 胡德山

Long drive to Mt Hood today, but part of the drive was through Hells Canyon scenic byway and part was along the Columbia River

We hiked the most popular trail: Trillium Lake Trail which has the best view of Mt Hood. Hiked extra 3 miles since the parking lot next to the lake was closed. Unexpected walk, but I felt less guilty about the McDonald’s ice cream cone :) Trillium is the name of the white flowers we saw around the lake.

Glad we stayed at Timberline Lodge. It is a historic landmark built in 1930s. Old styled room, Mt Hood view, museum on the first floor, dining with sunset on Mt Jefferson and mask in sauna room. Great experience!

Jun 16, 2022 Oregon Wonder #7 Columbia Gorge 俄勒冈景观7: 哥伦比亚河谷区

Last wonder in Oregon. We drove along the Columbia Gorge from Hood River to Portland and stopped by several waterfalls. We hiked the Wahclella Falls Trail. We both liked it very much. The hike is in the valley with the stream from the falls alongside.

Erik called an airplane company hoping to sit in an airplane. It didn’t work out. What’s next? We discussed some options on what to do, but either we were not interested or none of us was interested enough to spend money to go. Finally we decided on FOOD!

Portland has a lot of areas with food trucks. We picked Cartlandia area which has the most trucks.

It is not a big area, but it does have lots of choices. While everything looked good, we felt like middle eastern at the time. And two grilled chiles from Mexico. And some fried dumplings from Vietnam:) Tasty inexpensive food made two tummies happy!

I was reminded how much we had been blessed when we met this homeless person returning empty bottles at a Walmart store. We saw him doing his, then we just gave ours (not many at all) to him. He took them and was surprised, but very grateful and happy.

We left after buying some fruits that I wanted and could afford no matter how expensive they were. Who am I that God chose to bless? And I take it for granted every single day until moment like this, after which I may have 5 minutes self reflection, then life goes on…I never had an answer for why God provides for some so much and some so little. Erik always says because God is God and He can do whatever He wants. I know, but why???

We talked about abortion, the homeless, society and politics on our way to the hotel. We were not able to solve any social problems during the discussion.

Jun 17, 2022 Mt Rainier National Park? 雷尼尔山国家公园

It is a rainy day. We believe we did go to Mt Rainier National Park even though we never saw Mt Rainier today.

What we DID see today…我们看见的…

What we did NOT see…雾中雷尼尔，给你留下无限的想象空间！

六月太早了，又赶上下雨，一个山的影子都没看见，有些失望。 下次有机会7、8月再来。

Either like Erik said Mt Rainier was a joke or it was still too early in the season to visit the park. I intentionally made this our last stop before heading back to Seattle vs the first stop after we got here, but I think Jul and Aug are definitely better. The road was closed after (no)Reflection Lake. We had to go back the same way we entered the park instead of driving the loop counter clockwise as planned, but I wasn’t complaining given the foggy weather.

I already felt so grateful that how well the trip turned out so far. We had almost perfect weather wherever we went. When we wanted shade, it was cloudy. When we wanted little wet, it rained. And when we needed blue sky for picture background, the sun drove clouds away…I couldn’t ask for more, but but why did I wish it was Aug in Mt Rainier?

Not being able to see anything gave us more time for a good sit down dinner. DDD is a good show that Erik watches in hotels. He found this restaurant that was in the show before and there we went.

It was a nice little German/Polish restaurant. I had pork schnitzel. Erik had beef stroganoff. And we both had pierogis (dumplings) for it will be my birthday tomorrow! :)

去了一家Erik 喜欢的一个美食频道推荐的德国/波兰风味餐厅，也点了饺子！三种馅儿：猪肉的，蘑菇酸白菜的，还有土豆奶酪的。我是希望能有点儿老陈醋啊！Erik 则是抹着酸奶油吃的。哎，老外馆儿，已经不错了…

Jun 18, 2022 Seattle 最后一站西雅图

Had Tianjin breakfast from a Chinese restaurant. It was super expensive, but Erik convinced me for this special treat.

Visited Museum of Flight for 3 hours. It always amazes me how creative human being is. From the first attempt to fly to today’s airspace technologies…

Tried Ellenos yogurt. Many reviews say that it is extremely good. While maybe it is better than other Greek yogurt , it is definitely not as good as Erik yogurt. Not even close. Erik felt relieved after I announced my tasting result :) It is a competition. I have been having Erik’s yogurt for years and never eat store bought anymore. I hate wasting food, but I let store bought yogurt go bad after Erik uses it for starter.

Also tried Georgian khachapuri the first time. Very much like a pizza to me.

Had Malaysian food for dinner with an appetizer of warm black bean coconut congee with coconut ice cream. It was good, but too sweet towards the end. Erik had chicken curry with “net bread” and we shared a pine apple and cucumber salad.

买了网红酸奶，比老艾做的差远了。格鲁吉亚面包船，和比萨饼差不多。马拉西亚晚餐，肚子吃的只能吃甜点了，黑豆椰奶粥+椰奶冰激凌，太甜了…老艾吃了咖喱鸡和一个黄瓜菠萝沙拉，味道很特别，还不错。睡一觉，明天接着吃吃吃….

Jun 19, 2022 Seattle 西雅图

Father’s Day, we went on the Great Wheel, and we rent a scooter all at the father of our house’ request. The first scooter refused to work with two of us on it. The father didn’t want to give up and found a stronger one which agreed to take us, except going uphill.

父亲节老艾要做高空观览车、要租电动踏板车带着我。好吧，父亲节，满足父亲的愿望。一对中年老夫妻，骑着一辆踏板车，也算一街景了吧…

Went to a local farmer’s market and Pike Place Market. So much good food. Had our seafood meal at The Crab Pot. It was really good and fun!

逛市场，吃吃吃的一天。吃了好几家小红书的网红店，还都不错。海鲜大餐也不错。

Jun 20, 2022 Home 回家啦

Before we board, airline asked for volunteers to go on a later flight. We volunteered. But in the end, they had enough seats. Oh well, we ended up being the last ones boarding plus they had to check our backpacks because there was not enough room. However, they did change our two aisle seats to exit row window and middle seats, which had more leg room, which was good for the big man. And, what we didn’t know was…

Mt Rainier! Mt Rainier! The Mt Rainier that hid from us revealed itself while we were in the air! What a great surprise! I was so excited when Erik spotted it…the further one might be Mt Hood or Jefferson. who would have know the volunteering event resulted in seat changing and resulted in a good view for both of us for the mountain that I was eager to see! Magic planning!

没想到在飞机上得见雷尼尔山！

Safely home. What a trip! A trip witnessing God’s magic hands, and a trip witnessing God being with us each everyday. Three states, 2660 miles of driving, 7 wonders of Oregon, and 3 other national parks. God spoke to me on this trip: You take care of the business I give you and I will take care of you!

每次旅行都是见证神的经历，在大自然中看到神，在旅途的每个细节中遇到神，他在我们这次两个多星期的车旅中无处不在，让我只有感谢和赞美。神保守我们平安的去、平安的回。在回程的飞机上，神对我说：你要爱神、爱人如己；你看到了，至于你，我来照顾！回想起这次旅途中很多事发生的超乎我的想象，我只有哈利路亚！哈利路亚！阿门！

Blooper: Erik on hikes and behind the camera 拍摄花絮：没听过老艾抱怨的…：）