No other region of the United States has a stronger reputation for beautiful mountain and coastal scenery, outstanding recreation activities and a general celebration of the great outdoors than the Pacific Northwest, or the PNW.  And by the PNW we mean the progressive states of Oregon and Washington which cover everything between California and Canada.  Julie and I wanted to do more exploring of the nooks and crannies in this outdoor playground and for good measure we threw in Idaho which is equally known for it’s natural features and barely touched by us in the past.

And on top of all that, we were planning to catch up with family who live in the PNW, including my brother Ken and his wife Anne, and travel for a week with my sister Kathy and her husband John.  All in all, a great combination.

Before we left on this next leg of our journey we spent three days at the California Rodeo in my home town of Salinas, an annual can’t-miss spectacle that celebrates all that is good about this bustling agricultural town and the traditions of the cowboys who helped establish this country. 

The Salinas California Rodeo is one of the top ten rodeos in the US with prize money topping US$550,000.  No wonder we saw some of the best cowboys in the world and had a fabulous time dressing the part and taking in the action.

And as we had done the month before, we spent a week at the family holiday home at Lake Tahoe, relaxing on the shores of this crystal blue high-altitude lake, catching up with family we hadn’t seen since before Covid, and generally recharging our batteries before our PNW adventure.

But the United States is a big place and if we were going to cover such vast expanses in the PNW on our limited timeframe it meant we would have to drive a bit more each day than we’re used to.  Luckily we had the Chevy Suburban, the 20 year old trusty four wheel drive that we had previously used through Northern California, as our hearty companion. 

And so it was that on the first day we headed north from Lake Tahoe and crossed the beautiful high-altitude desert of the state’s northeast corner before reaching the Oregon border and pitching our tent near the shores of a dried-up Goose Lake.

We love our barns and there were some outstanding examples in Northern California

The drive north through Oregon on secondary roads was gorgeous, scattered juniper pines across high rolling hills, mountain cliffs in the distance, passing around large ancient dry lake beds.  The scrubby brush and dry terrain were more reminiscent of traditional American deserts like Nevada or perhaps Arizona and we didn’t expect this in Oregon. 

On a whim, which usually means trouble, we decided to visit the large sand dunes and what is called the Lost Forest in Christmas Valley, a remote valley marked by huge hay farms and massive barns stacked with oversized bales of hay.  This must be big business because the farming equipment and infrastructure to support these businesses was enormous.  

We spent the next three hours exploring the huge sand dunes and Lost Forest, never seeing a single vehicle on these rough dirt tracks that made us pause more than once about how maybe we’re doing something a bit too crazy. 

Never mind, the scenery was stunning and the Lost Forest, which is really ancient ponderosa and juniper pines miraculously growing in crusty sand dunes, was all very special.  By the time we hit the payment again the Suburban was covered in fine bull dust and we were giddy after passing through such beautiful wild forgotten Oregon territory.

We broke the piggy bank that night and stayed in a motel in the cool outdoor town of Bend, celebrating our wedding anniversary and savouring our great day.  We hadn’t made very good progress at reaching my brother’s house in Washington but we inched our way closer.

The Cascades Mountains run through the guts of Oregon as part of the continuous mountain range running from Mexico to Canada.  They also feature many of the huge volcanos that helped form this range in the distant past.  We needed to cross the Cascades but we wanted to see as much of it as we could before finishing on the Colombia River in the northwest corner of Oregon. 

Outside of Bend rises the Three Sisters, three handsome snow-capped volcanos that are all over 10,000 feet (3,100 metres) and attest to the volcanic activity of this region.  And for good measure we could see Mt. Hood in the northern distance, standing alone, perfectly conical in shape, at over 11,200 feet the highest point in Oregon.

The drive through the Cascades was fabulous, winding mountain roads, tall pines covering the slopes, cold streams bouncing down through the canyons.  Sadly, there were many large burned-out sections providing a long term scar to this marvelous range.

Travel is all about unexpected surprises and we were hit with a big one right between the eyes when we made the oddly named Detroit Lake and saw the thousands of locals with their boats out enjoying this beautiful large dam-formed lake.  It was a wonderful chaos of families, pick-ups and motor boats, coolers (eskies), inflatable floating toys, pumping music and sunburned shoulders.  We loved the scene and might have been a bit envious of it all.

We made our way northward on secondary roads through green agricultural land, around the large city of Portland and camped the night near the banks of the huge Colombia River which marks the boundary between Oregon and Washington.  It had been a stinking hot day with temps well over 100°F (about 40°C).  We were grateful for a little shade and wishful of a little breeze.

My younger brother Ken and his lovely wife Anne have a home on Puget Sound with distant views of the handsome Mt. Rainier from their balcony.  Always the gracious hosts, they welcomed Julie and I into their home for couple of days of relaxation, exploration, over-indulgence, reminisces and most importantly, catching up.  Like many families, Covid had kept us all apart for far too long and it was fantastic to hear all their news and updates in such a beautiful setting. 

After Ken, his son Brad, and I had an invigorating paddle in their kayaks in the morning of the third day Julie and I reluctantly packed up and headed around and east of Seattle to the historic little town of North Bend where we spent the night with our nephew Ross, his wife Lenke and their two darling little girls.  We were overdosing on family time and loving every minute of it.

But a lot of family time is never enough and our next plan was to rendezvous with my sister Kathy and her husband John in Idaho for a week of travelling together.  To get there we headed eastward, stopping to explore the eastern region of Mt. Rainier National Park before following the American River and the Naches River down to the open flatlands of eastern Washington.  We camped that night at a place called Horn Rapids, hugging the shade in blistering 99°F/38°C heat.  Sadly, our tent didn’t have any air conditioning.  For added American-style excitement, the coyotes were howling very close to us all night.