West Coast Wanderings

Last summer, I headed to the east coast for the first time. It was a great trip, and I loved seeing the Maritime provinces! Now this summer, I had the opportunity to do some more exploring, but this time, a bit closer to home, along the west coast. In early July, with my parents, and Jonathan & Sarah, we made our way from Vancouver down to Seattle, then Portland, along the Oregon Coast, and into northern California to see some of the coastal redwood forest, before making our way back to Canada. It was a great trip – we had fantastic weather, explored some great places, saw some stunning scenery, and made lots of fun memories together.

Aside from Seattle (which my parents had been to before), it was all new territory for all of us, so it was fun to see these places for the first time together. The beauty of the coast, and the sound of the ocean never grows old for me – so I soaked up my days spent driving along the water, with a stunning new vista around every turn. Definitely good for my soul! 🙂

Here’s a few of the highlights from our trip:

Pike Place Market, Seattle

Gum wall in Post Alley

Rachel the pig at Pike Place Market

Coffee at the original Starbucks

Beautiful art at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle

This is one of those cheesy tourist pictures … but it makes me giggle, because Jonathan was wearing a green shirt, and thus, just kind of disappeared into the background with the green screen

At the top of the Seattle Space Needle

Chihuly Garden and GlassAbout to ride the Columbia River Gorge highway to Multnomah FallsMultnomah FallsA highlight in Portland for me – exploring Powell’s Books (which takes up an entire city block, and has 4 floors). I think I could have spent a couple days in here.Happiness in Powell’s BooksGetting some delicious donuts at Blue Star Donuts!Cannon Beach Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon Sea Lion Caves, Oregon We met a few ‘cruel fates’ along our trip as well!Drove through a tree in California!

Fun times exploring the California coastal redwoods Cooling off at a river in Oregon, en route to Crater LakeBeautiful Crater LakeAlong the rim of Crater Lake