on the oregon trail: days 7 & 8

We’ve had an eventful two days! We left Spokane at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. But before we left, I took plenty of pictures of Sharon’s yard and living room for Mom to see. What a good daughter I am!

We stopped for gas and coffee about an hour into our journey. The Starbucks we stopped at was connected to a Mexican fast food restaurant, which gravely concerned Val. She felt better when I pointed out the two places just shared a building—it wasn’t like they made the coffee and the tacos in the same area! My coffee was OK, but Val compared hers to McDonald’s coffee . . . and she doesn’t have a high opinion of McDonald’s coffee!

We stopped at a Walmart for supplies, and then we went to McDonald’s for lunch. There, Nate and I got our first taste of Tillamook ice cream—delicious! We’ll be going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory while Beth works on Friday.

Many people warned us about the road between Spokane and Portland. I came away from each conversation thinking “barren wasteland” . . . but that really wasn’t the case. Sure, the drive wasn’t as breathtakingly beautiful as much of our drive has been, but it wasn’t so bad. Part of Washington actually reminded me and Val of Kansas.

Our drive became more interesting once we hit Oregon. We followed the Columbia River, and the view was, at times, spectacular. We stopped at Multnomah Falls, which I’ve wanted to see ever since I read the Robin Jones Gunn book Echoes in high school. (Should I even admit that? Anyway, part of the story—which I recounted in great detail for my fellow travelers—takes place at Multnomah Falls.) It was not what I was expecting. Beautiful, yes, but I think the Hidden Falls has it beat.

Multnomah Falls

We finally got to Cannon Beach around 7. Beth met us at the park, and we walked over to Pizza a Feta for supper. It was the cheapest meal we’ve had yet—we each ordered one piece of pizza, and our breadsticks were free because they were out of the “real” ones and had to substitute—and it was delicious. Then we went to see Haystack Rock, rented a movie, and went to Beth’s apartment.

We're finally with Beth . . . and we're cold!

I slept through most of the movie—Inkheart starring Brendan Frasier. I can’t remember the last time I slept through I movie I hadn’t seen before, but I was suddenly exhausted! Val slept through some of it, too.

Following the movie, we all crashed . . . me and Val on a foam mattress, Steph on a loveseat, and Nate on an air mattress. Poor Nate got the shaft everywhere else, even sleeping on the floor in our motel rooms, so we decided to be nice to him at Beth’s ☺

This morning, we slept in—a wonderful thing! Then we headed to Astoria, where we had brunch. We went to Coffee Girl, and we were all quite impressed. I had a bagel sandwich—cheddar cheese bagel, cream cheese, turkey, and cheddar—and a latte. Both were excellent! Nate, Steph, and Beth all had paninis, and Val had yogurt with fruit and granola.

After Coffee Girl, Beth took us to see the sea lions, only they were nowhere to be found! Then we went to the Astoria Column. I think it has some sort of historical significance, but I don’t know what! It’s a very tall tower that you can climb to the top of. For me, coming down was a lot harder than going up. The staircase was spiral, and I got really dizzy going down. Beth bought Val and Nate little airplanes to fly from the top. Nate’s won, though Val’s also flew a very impressive distance!

Next, we crossed the Astoria Bridge, which doesn’t go underwater as Nate thought his mother had said. The Astoria Bridge connects Oregon and Washington. Once in Washington, we went to Cape Disappointment State Park. Surprisingly (at least for this Nebraskan), the park was free for day users. We hiked to two lighthouses, saw Waikiki Beach, and visited a General Store. Evidently, the Cape Disappointment lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse still in use in the United States.

I was pretty tired after the park, so I was glad for the 45 minute car ride back to Seaside. Once back in Seaside, we went to this store that sells sweatshirts for $12.99. I was amazed at the selection! Val, Steph, and I all bought sweatshirts.

The sisters in our cheap hoodies. Val said we should "look like we were from the 1800's."

We wore the sweatshirts tonight when we went to Cannon Beach. We ate at Bill’s Tavern. Steph and I got the homemade root beer. I must not have very sophisticated tastes because I’d take a good Sam’s Choice root beer over Bill’s any day of the week! All of us save Beth had burgers . . . and they were really tasty.

Nate wanted to run on the beach, so he did that while we girls got coffee, this time at Bella Espresso (which is where I’m posting this blog from). Steph thought the hot chocolate she got there was some of the best she’d ever had.

We met Nate at Haystack Rock, then we built a fire on the beach. We made s’mores and Jiffy Pop, sang songs, talked, and laughed. It was a great way to end the day!

Beth starting our fire. A mother and daughter bought us lighter fluid in exchange for watching their wood while they went to buy lighter fluid for themselves.

Nate making our Jiffy Pop. The instructions specifically said, "Do not use over an open fire."

on the oregon trail: day 6

I. LOVE. MONTANA.

That's what I've decided after spending parts of five days in that lovely state. I guess we should only count four of those days, though, because the first was just an overnight in Cooke City, and that "city" definitely didn't make Montana look good!

We left Sarah's at 10 this morning. Our first stop was, you guessed it, coffee! This time, we went to City Brew. Decent, but The Leaf & Bean is still the best coffee we've had on this trip.

Our first real stop was at Wheat Montana. We all got great cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Nate & his cinnamon roll.

We ate lunch in Missoula. My friend Camilla used to live in Missoula, and she told us about some places to eat downtown . . . except I must have taken a wrong turn, as we never ended up downtown! Instead, we got sandwiches from Quizno's and ate on the road. Camilla had also told me about a breathtaking view along Highway 93 about half an hour north of Missoula. We braved the road construction (seriously, road construction has been everywhere on this trip!) and made our way north. We reached the observation point and saw . . . that it was too overcast to see much. All was not lost, though, as our subsequent drive back to I-90 along highways 200 and 135 was, in my opinion, the prettiest drive so far. We ran parallel to a river most of the time, and the view was simply gorgeous.

Google Maps, which has lied to me several times on this trip, gave us really odd directions to my mom's cousin's house in Spokane. At one point, it wanted us to drive down a dirt path! Nevertheless, we made it just before 6 p.m. After dinner, Sharon and her family took us on a walk around the neighborhood. They've been so hospitable--we had a wonderful evening!

As I write this, Steph's sleeping, and the rest of us are watching a movie. We'll leave (relatively) early tomorrow morning . . . soon we'll be with Beth!

on the oregon trail: days 4 & 5

I was having too much fun in Bozeman with Sarah to take the time out to blog, so here's the recap of our 4th of July weekend. (Sarah, you may need to make corrections!)

We slept in slightly on Saturday, then we embarked on our amazing hike. We stopped off first at Wheat Montana to get sandwiches, then we went over to The Leaf & Bean for coffee. My Big Sky Latte (caramel, chocolate, and espresso--like a Milky Way) was good, but not as good as the one I'd had at the other Leaf & Bean in town the day before.

We went hiking at Highlight(?). It was a mile-ish trail up to a waterfall, and we were able to walk right up to the falls.

Me and Sarah by the falls.

After returning to Sarah's house, we just hung out for a few hours. One of my favorite things about vacation is how time seems to slow down--in a good way! The afternoon seemed very long and very refreshing. We watched Transformers, which wasn't as stupid as I was expecting, and I halfheartedly blogged (see my last post--that's why I had Steph take over!).

In the evening, we went to Big Sky to see a free concert. I can't remember the band's name, but I really liked them. (Val would like you to know that she "danced" in the front row.) We had to walk across a field to get from the parking lot to the pavilion, and I promptly stepped in a (hidden) mud puddle. So my shoe was wet and muddy all night. Actually, it's still muddy, as I forgot to wash it off when we got back to Sarah's!

We left Big Sky before the concert ended so we could watch the Bozeman fireworks. We ended up watching most of them from the road and got to the fairgrounds just in time for the finale. After a late-night Wendy's run (yes, I know--not local food), we all crashed.

On Sunday, we went to Sarah's church in Belgrade. Afterwards, we went to lunch at La Parrilla. They serve massive burritos, among other things. While Nate only ate 3/4 of his, Val polished hers off in record time!

On our way to Sarah's church.

We spent several hours being lazy--sleeping, reading, talking on the phone. I read the latest Karen Kingsbury book, which I loved. (But then, what Karen Kingsbury book don't I love?) We then ventured out to another coffee place--Wild Joe's. It was good, though not quite as good as The Leaf & Bean. Then we drove around Bozeman, seeing the sights.

On our way back to Sarah's house, her sister called to invite us to watch as she and her kids shot off fireworks. Nate & Steph stayed back to that Steph could work on her college class and Nate could work on his Rubik's cube. We watched some great fireworks and ate some great (local!) ice cream sandwiches. Then Sarah, Kristin, and the four of us sat around in the living room talking and laughing for a long time--I think we were very tired, because everything seemed funny :-)

on the oregon trail: day 3

We left our motel in Cooke City at 10 a.m. After filling up with exorbitantly costly gas, we headed back into Yellowstone. (While I think Nate and Steph were just fine with going back--and perhaps even wanted to see some stuff, Val and I would have been more than happy to kiss Yellowstone goodbye for good. However, only one road goes through Cooke City, and our options were Yellowstone or a long, windy road that would have added a few hours to our trip.)

Yellowstone in the day is certainly a lot better than Yellowstone at night! We decided to skip Old Faithful as it was four hours away from Cooke City, but we thought about going to Norris Geyser, which was sort of but not quite on our way. However, it started absolutely pouring, and we decided the sooner we were off the crazy windy mountain roads, the better.

We had planned to meet college friend Sarah at Chico Hot Springs, but because of the rain, we just headed to Bozeman. We stopped for lunch in Livingston, at the Rib & Chop House, at Sarah's recommendation. Once again, it was great food.

And now Steph will take over to tell you about the rest of our day . . .

Once we arrived at Bozeman we met the lovely Sarah Sporleder who as I remembered was quite tall. We unloaded the car and were reminded of how Becky (probably for the first time ever) over packed even Val. It's true people. Becky packed 4 bags including her purse. 4! I made it with 3 including my purse but I had to pack my college class stuff so I don't think that a backpack should count. Anyway we then sat and chatted for a little bit and Nate decided to take a nap. I believe he had a food enduced coma since he ate enough food for 3 people at breakfast and then had a decent sized lunch. The rest of us went on an adventure through Bozeman to find me a hoodie. We were unsuccessful but I did get to see an Old Navy, Target, and a sporting goods store. Then we picked Nate up and headed to a movie.

We saw The Proposal. It was the second time for Becky, Val, & me, but it was Sarah's first time & I think her sister's as well. And in case you were wondering ...yes Nathan Mark Ritta saw the chick flick with us. I about died as I watched him ask for a ticket and again when we sat down. It truely was the highlight of my yesterday.

After the movie we went to MacKenzie River Pizza Co. to have two very delicious pizzas. We got the Rancher and the Cottonwood. I had to pick off a couple of things like peppers and tomatoes but Nate gladly took them. We almost finished the pizzas but still had to take some home.

Then we had to find some coffee for Val & Becky. We went to the Leaf & Bean which was Becky's favorite so far and Val's as well (I think). Nate said his was good but it wasn't his favorite. Upon receiving the cups of coffee we walked a little ways down Main. There were so many cute shops- I really hope we can go in some. We reached our cars and came back to Sarah's.

I worked on my class a little bit and Nate went for a run. We called mom and then Sarah and Becky went for a walk. Then ever so slowly people droppped off to bed. The last ones up were Sarah, Nate, & me. We were watching Stardust. Sadly, Sarah left as well a little before half way through. Nate & I finished it and went to bed...or should i say couch.

And that, dear readers, was our day. Peace OUT.

on the oregon trail: day 2

No internet access last night--we stayed in the middle of nowhere, so here's the update on yesterday's activities:

We decided to sleep in a bit, since our trip the day before took 13 hours. After a quick trip to Walmart and a drive through Starbucks, we headed out toward the Grand Tetons. The drive to the Grand Tetons was spectacular. The drive up Highway 191 from Rock Springs to the Grand Tetons was one of the prettiest drives I've ever been on.

We stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole at Jedediah's House of Sourdough (I think--the picture we took just says "Jedediah's.") We girls had breakfast food, and Nate had a massive burger that he forced himself to finish. (Nate said that burger was giving the best burger he ever ate--at a restaurant in Cannon Beach--a run for its money.) We ate out on the patio--it was a beautiful afternoon and a beautiful setting. Of course, we got coffee on our way out of town. (And I could have spent a lot more time in Jackson. Very touristy, but very cute.)

At the visitor's center at the entrance of the Grand Tetons, we heard about the Hidden Falls. Using our handy map, Nate determined that it would take us 15 minutes to hike to the falls. Nate's 30-minute round trip hike turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes! So perhaps Nate isn't so good at judging distances . . . Nevertheless, the hike was beautiful, and the falls were stunningly gorgeous! I will definitely post pictures of them later.

We got back on the road at 5:50. At that point, we thought we might go to Old Faithful before going to our hotel. A couple hours later, after going through lots of road construction, we decided just to head for the hotel. Finally, at 11 p.m., after hours of scary mountain driving (which Val handled masterfully!), we pulled in to the Super 8 at Cooke City. I was mistakenly under the impression that if a town was big enough to have a Super 8, it must also have fast food. Not so. Cooke City was TINY. It mainly consisted of motels and bars. So, we had granola bars and crackers for supper at 11:30.

Of the two parks (Grand Tetons and Yellowstone), the Grand Tetons was definitely my favorite. There's not much to do in Yellowstone other than drive and take pictures of wildlife. We did have a herd of bison cross the road right in front of us--that was pretty cool.

coffee across the country: day 1

Val and I love coffee, and we both agree that Barista's (where she works) serves some of the best coffee we've ever tasted. One of our goals on this trip is to find truly great coffee. All the coffee we taste will be compared to Barista's--is it better, just as good, or worse?

Rating system: (devised by Val, in terms an ice cream lover can understand. Why not coffee terms? Good question!)
*****--freshly baked fudgy brownie covered in Breyer's vanilla ice cream and my great-grandma's amazing homemade fudge sauce
****--a ColdStone Creamery favorite
***--your favorite DQ Blizzard
**--an ice cream bar
*--sugar free, fat free, freezer-burned vanilla ice cream

Our first coffee stop was at Barista's, and the coffee was, of course, excellent.
Overall rating: **** (only because we can have it all the time--and we need to leave room in case something better comes along!)

Our second coffee stop was in Laramie, Wyoming, at Turtle Rock Coffee, Etc. The atmosphere was great--we loved the decor--but the coffee wasn't in the same bracket as Barista's. My Irish Cream Latte was comparable to what I can get in Central City--which is to say it's good, not great. Steph's smoothie was "pretty good," and Nate really enjoyed his Cappuccino/Espresso Bean gelato. They also have an extensive sandwich menu (and, as you can see from the picture, pasta!). It's located just off the interstate on the west side of Laramie, and while the coffee itself wasn't anything to brag about, I'd still say it's worth a stop.Overall Rating:
** (Val: "The atmosphere was cute, but the flavor was not good.")
*** (Becky: see comments above)
*** (Steph: "My smoothie was good.")
??? (Nate: he went to sleep while we were discussing this)

on the oregon trail: day 1

This morning, my two sisters, cousin Nate, and I embarked on our great cross-country adventure. We'll be traveling to the Oregon coast to visit Nate's sister Beth.

Before we could leave, though, my car needed to be fixed. On Sunday, the cable that allows my driver's side window to roll up and down broke . . . with the window completely down! My dad took my car to a body shop on Monday, and Gary (whom I would recommend!) had it fixed by 7:30 last night.

I'd told Nate that we would meet at my parents' house at 7:15 a.m. I knew that we wouldn't actually leave by 7:15, but I had no idea we wouldn't make it until 8:15!

In our quest for great coffee, we made our first stop at Barista's in Grand Island. We knew the coffee would be great, so I guess we weren't really searching for great coffee at that point!

We met up with recently married friend Sydney for lunch in Ogallala. This was hopefully one of our only fast food stops on the trip--we want to eat at local places as much as possible.

I had no idea how beautiful Wyoming is! The topography changed practically the instant we crossed the border. I won't post all the pictures here, but I'll put some up on facebook. I said, "Look at how beautiful that is!" about 25 times today.

We had supper in Rawlins, and I'll do a separate post about that later. It was amazing.

Now we're at our hotel, and I'm pretty impressed. Definitely one of the better Super 8s I've stayed in, and the front desk people are really nice. Val was thrilled to discover there's a Starbucks next door.

Tomorrow we'll head to Yellowstone!