Part 3: The final part of the trip

After spending a lovely evening at the home of our friends Tess and Adam, 

we drove to Montana. Destination: Glacier National Park. 

Avery had a total melt down in the car and we ended up camping in Hot Spring, MT about an hour and a half outside of the park. The town was hosting an annual herb festival and hippies from far and wide had gathered. Chris was in heaven mingling with his "kin". 

Avery really enjoyed splashing around in the hot springs. 

We arrived early the next morning. Glacier National Park is AMAZING! I kept wandering around the park saying to myself, "How have I never been here before?"

 

The first thing on the agenda was to track down an old friend of mine who spends her summers as a park ranger in Glacier. Teagan and I lived in the same neighborhood at BYU and after she graduated she left for Calgary Canada to pursue a PhD in climate change. She is currently working on her dissertation which focuses on effective methods of teaching climate change to park patrons, especially to those who don't believe in it. Isn't she amazing? I was only sad that it was her day off because I was really looking forward to her nature program. 

Avery is NOT excited to be a junior park ranger

Our first day we took a short 2.5 mile hike to Avalanche Lake, which was so beautiful. The hike was fairly easy and the view at the lake was incredible. Avery also had fun playing in the mud.

We then set up camp at Fish Lake. We spent the next morning reading and playing along the rocky beach. It was just so beautiful.

Our second day there we took two short hikes. The first one was along the Shoreline trial which is about a 20 mile hike but we only did a couple miles in and then out. 

We still caught some amazing views, 

and shared the trial with a family of mountain goats. 

Our second hike was to the Hidden Lake View Point which is a very steep hike along some glaciers. 

 

 The entire park was so beautiful but also made me very sad. Due to increasing global temperatures Glacier National Park is projected to be glacier free by 2020.

We spent the last part of the trip at our friends Andy and Marie who live in Great Falls. Andy and Chris were band together a few years ago. We had fun relaxing on their farm. 

Andy also took us to the Louis and Clark Museum which was really cool. 

Coincidentally, I had just finished a book about the periodic table of chemistry and learned a very interesting antidote about the Louis and Clark team. Apparently they all suffered from constipation (related to a diet consisting mainly of dried meat) and took a very popular remedy for that time, which was a pill of 60% mercury. Mercury, a natural laxative, goes right through a person and doesn't degrade. Therefore, modern scientists have been able to identify the trail of Louis and Clark by taking soil samples and identifying where they pooped.

We loved our trip!!!

Epic Trip: Part 2

The entire point of this trip was to drive the Pacific Coast. Originally we were going to drive from Seattle to San Diego but we shortened it to save time. After our time in SF we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge excited to get on with our original concept.

However, after two hours of driving the coast, we had only gone about 40 miles along this very windy road and we were all feeling a little sick to our stomachs. So much for that. After picking a lunch of blackberries we quickly headed over the I-5 in the center of the state, and drove up to Northern CA where we spent the night just outside of Jedidiah Smith State Park.

The next morning we took a lovely hike through an amazing old growth Redwood forest.

We then drove on to Grants Pass, Oregon where we stopped in to visit a family Chad knew on his mission. We had fun at the old time pharmacy in town which as far as I can tell is just mostly a craft store now. We enjoyed $0.25 phosphates, which are supposed to be old timey sodas but taste more like flavored fizzy corn syrup. It was still fun.

We then drove on to Crater Lake National Forest. 

We hiked a long the rim trail before setting up camp for the night.

The next morning we hiked down to the lake. 

Chad and Chris jumped off of a rock into the freezing water.

We then drove on to Portland and stayed with my sister Courtnie and her husband Kenny. The next morning we showed Chad around town. We went to Powell books where Avery had a fantastic time pulling all of the books off of the shelf.

We stood in line for Voodoo doughnuts (not worth it, but still fun).

We then drove across the OR/WA border to visit Grampy Steve and Ann, Chris's Dad and step-mom who live in Vancoover. Ann basically runs the local farmers market and we had a great time visiting family and browsing the local produce and arts/crafts.

Avery and Cass, her cousin.

Ann and Carson, our nephew.

We then drove on the Seattle which we loved! We walked through the famous Pikes Fish Market,

 

had lunch on the Pier,

chased some pigeons,

went to the gum wall (gross),

and then to the Space Needle.

We then split up. While Chris went to the Experience the Music Project Museum,

Chad and I went to the new Dale Chihuly Museum. Chihuly is a famous glass artist and he has been one of my favorite artists for over a decade. He did the famous Belagio ceiling.

Before we left town the next day we stopped off to see the Fremont troll.

Part 2 was a blast and it was wonderful to see so much family and friends along the way.