Day 12: Portland, OR to Ellensburg, WA
total miles traveled: 447
Today we actually met up with Jeanie and Brian Ceneviva at the Nike headquarters in Portland. Mom called me up and said that Jeanie had just moved out there with Katherine (C or K), so it would be nice if they saw a familiar face. I was concerned about taking more time to get to Seattle because that was Turtle's main place he wanted to go. After about 5 minutes at Nike, my concerns were not needed; Turtle fell in love with the place and found where he wants to work. Brian actually took us on a mini tour of the campus and told us about the different buildings and the different things Nike had going on. We saw an exhibit for Nike's contribution to soccer, which was really interesting. Turtle and Sarah were in love with that room. We stayed at Nike for about an hour and then headed on our way. As we drove through Portland, we realized that it was actually a very clean city. We ran into some traffic along the way, but nothing too serious. We drove on up to Seattle and found the Pike Place Fish Market from our FISH video we watch every fall at job training. We recognized a couple of the guys from the video, which was pretty cool. One of the guys who was standing out front started talking to us and asking us where we were from. We told him that we were from NC, we were doing and epic road trip, and that we watch their video every year. This prompted him to allow us to go behind the counter and get a picture with one of the workers. We stayed and watched them throw fish and even got some video of their antics. I bought a long sleeve t shirt and Jenn bought a sweatshirt, so we supported them without having to buy fish. They gave us free stickers, which they told us they normally give to kids. Turtle wandered off towards the rest of the street market while Sarah, Jenn, and I walked around the block. We were on a mission to find a t shirt for Sarah, and we ended up running into a street grunge band. One guy kept asking if we could spare a dollar so he could buy pot; none of us had cash, so we did not support his drug habit. Jenn ended up going into a little coffee shop and getting a thing of hot tea, which helped her throat which has been hurting. We walked into a couple more stores and tried to find a t shirt that wasn't a) expensive, or b) incredibly cheesey. We headed back into the market area, and as we were passing the fish maket, one of the guys yelled "hey roadtrippers!" It was kinda cool to be recognized when we had just met these guys. On our way back to the car to meet up with Turtle, we actually stopped and tried some homemade pasta at this one booth. The samples they were giving were for chocolate pasta, which was actually really good. You serve it as dessert and can put toppings such as ice cream or whipped cream on top. We headed back to the car, got everyone situated, and then drove over to the canal to try and find the Deadliest Catch boats. We didn't find any of the main ones, but we saw the Retriever and the Alutian Lady which have both been on the show before. We ended up parking in this park and walked up a big hill which gave a beautiful view of Seattle. There was this lady who was placing placcards of astrological signs and planets down on the compass that was set in the concrete. She was discussing how something exciting was going to happen when aries combined with Jupiter 14 minutes from that time. Needless to say, it was at least interesting. We ended up leaving Seattle and all came to the consensus that Seattle is Boone, only 20x bigger. As we were driving along I-90, we saw an ASU Dad bumpersticker on one of the cars that passed us. It made us all pretty happy. We arrived at the hotel pretty late and all just crashed.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The silhouette of tree tops, they flash by the window
Day 11: Eueraka, CA to Portland, OR
total miles traveled: 130 + the number we didn't record again
Today we woke up and the sun was shining and we knew the day was going to be beautiful. We were driving along hwy 101 and there was actually a place to pull over and see a bunch of elk. Apparently the elk like this one field and stay there often because there were a bunch of people taking pictures. We pulled over onto a side road, but couldn't proceed to where the elk were because the road was flooded by a stream. I feel that Sylvia could have taken it, but I didn't want to risk it since she sits so low to the ground. Turtle, Jenn, and I walked through the marshy grass to the other side of the stream in order to get some good pictures of the elk. Turtle wanted to go up and pet one, but luckily, he spotted the sign that told him that elk are very hostile. We snapped a couple of pictres and went on our way. We were approaching the redwoods when we started looking for signs to the tree you can drive through. We stopped off at a state park ranger station and asked one of the people there who directed us to the only one that was on our way. People apparently get lost trying to find this tree, but we actually found it with relative ease. We got to the tree and paid the $5 to visit the tree. When we got to the top of the hill, we were the only ones, so we got to take a bunch of pictures. We drove through the tree twice, and each of us actually took pictures while standing inside of the tree. I had the idea, being the true Boone kid that I am, to hug one of the trees. I also have seen other pictures of people hugging the redwoods and it just looks cool. We all ended up hugging this one tree. A couple of other people had actually come up to drive through the tree so we went on our way. As we drove along 101, we stopped off at one overlook area. The water was crashing against the rocks that were out in the surf. The view was gorgeous, and we all stopped and were actually able to have a group picture because a nice person took one of us. We drove further north and got off 101 and took hwy 199, which was BEAUTIFUL!! The road was curvey and had beautiful views the entire way. We crossed over the Smith River multiple times, which was amazing. The color of the water was spectacular and we already have plans to come back and kayak. We arrived in Oregon and got some gas. The gas station actually had no self service, which was weird. Apparently in Oregon and New Jersey, it is a state law that you can't pump your own gas; an attendant has to do it. I guess you learn something new everyday. We ended up getting to the hotel just outside of Portland around dinner time. We all walked over to the Wendy's and grabbed some food and then headed back to the hotel. We sat and ate and watched tv. Turtle ended up going to Bally total fitness (we got a free pass with the room stay) and the three girls sat on the bed and ate our frostys. Sarah and I ended up heading down to the hot tub, where we met a very nice man from Atlanta. We chatted with him for a bit. Jenn came down a little later, so we all hung out for another half hour or so. After our fingers were all pruney, we headed back up to the hotel room. Turtle came back from working out and decided that he wanted to dye his hair. He had bought hair dye in New Oreleans, so we finally used it. Turtle is now the proud owner of a very red head of hair. Sarah had actually done her laundry in the hotel tub and proceeded to hang her clothes all around to dry. We all grabbed showers and such and headed to bed.
total miles traveled: 130 + the number we didn't record again
Today we woke up and the sun was shining and we knew the day was going to be beautiful. We were driving along hwy 101 and there was actually a place to pull over and see a bunch of elk. Apparently the elk like this one field and stay there often because there were a bunch of people taking pictures. We pulled over onto a side road, but couldn't proceed to where the elk were because the road was flooded by a stream. I feel that Sylvia could have taken it, but I didn't want to risk it since she sits so low to the ground. Turtle, Jenn, and I walked through the marshy grass to the other side of the stream in order to get some good pictures of the elk. Turtle wanted to go up and pet one, but luckily, he spotted the sign that told him that elk are very hostile. We snapped a couple of pictres and went on our way. We were approaching the redwoods when we started looking for signs to the tree you can drive through. We stopped off at a state park ranger station and asked one of the people there who directed us to the only one that was on our way. People apparently get lost trying to find this tree, but we actually found it with relative ease. We got to the tree and paid the $5 to visit the tree. When we got to the top of the hill, we were the only ones, so we got to take a bunch of pictures. We drove through the tree twice, and each of us actually took pictures while standing inside of the tree. I had the idea, being the true Boone kid that I am, to hug one of the trees. I also have seen other pictures of people hugging the redwoods and it just looks cool. We all ended up hugging this one tree. A couple of other people had actually come up to drive through the tree so we went on our way. As we drove along 101, we stopped off at one overlook area. The water was crashing against the rocks that were out in the surf. The view was gorgeous, and we all stopped and were actually able to have a group picture because a nice person took one of us. We drove further north and got off 101 and took hwy 199, which was BEAUTIFUL!! The road was curvey and had beautiful views the entire way. We crossed over the Smith River multiple times, which was amazing. The color of the water was spectacular and we already have plans to come back and kayak. We arrived in Oregon and got some gas. The gas station actually had no self service, which was weird. Apparently in Oregon and New Jersey, it is a state law that you can't pump your own gas; an attendant has to do it. I guess you learn something new everyday. We ended up getting to the hotel just outside of Portland around dinner time. We all walked over to the Wendy's and grabbed some food and then headed back to the hotel. We sat and ate and watched tv. Turtle ended up going to Bally total fitness (we got a free pass with the room stay) and the three girls sat on the bed and ate our frostys. Sarah and I ended up heading down to the hot tub, where we met a very nice man from Atlanta. We chatted with him for a bit. Jenn came down a little later, so we all hung out for another half hour or so. After our fingers were all pruney, we headed back up to the hotel room. Turtle came back from working out and decided that he wanted to dye his hair. He had bought hair dye in New Oreleans, so we finally used it. Turtle is now the proud owner of a very red head of hair. Sarah had actually done her laundry in the hotel tub and proceeded to hang her clothes all around to dry. We all grabbed showers and such and headed to bed.
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