West...

Out of the 50 states, we had visited 46...the final four being Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and Alaska.  This road trip would take us to two of those...Washington and Oregon...bringing our total visited to 48!  Woohoo!  I love the traveling lifestyle :)...

I mentioned before that we were headed for the Pacific Coast...Brookings, Oregon, to be exact.  We had formed a rough plan to start at the bottom of the state and head north(ish) to the top then into Washington.  But first, we had to get there...from North Dakota, across Montana with a peek into Glacier NP, through Idaho...first north to within shouting distance of the Canadian border...then back south, cutting across the corner of Washington, following the Columbia River west through Oregon...then the Willamette Valley south...before finally turning west again, towards the ocean.  My favorite.

To get from Grants Pass, Oregon, to Brookings, Oregon, you have to dip down into California.  There is no straight west road.  We have visited California numerous times, but never have we seen a state welcome sign quite like this one...

HAHA!  I think it's my favorite of all :)!  Funny.  Anyway, we stopped to get a picture of the sign and while I was doing that, my husband heard some turkeys chattering in the trees.  He chattered back at them to see if they'd come out and THEY DID!...

I am SO glad that I wasn't standing outside the car when these things came up.  Turkeys can be mean! 

Well, they strutted right up to our car...then circled around and around.  Chattering and looking for their turkey friend that had called to them ;).  I have never seen anything like that! 

I took a few more pictures of the sign, the turkeys had walked away from the car, and it was time to go.  Uh oh...

super blurry, but that EXPRESSION!  HA!

Hahahahaaaaa!  A wild turkey chase ensued!  Welcome to California, ya'll ;)...

and yes, I am easily amused...just in case you hadn't already figured that out.

Ok, so crazy birds behind us (we hope!) we continued on our way towards the ocean.  We were following the Redwood Highway and it proved true to its name.  Redwoods, indeed...

There is something so completely magical about a Redwood forest...

the Smith River

It doesn't matter how many times I find myself among these giants, each and every time I am stopped in my tracks.  Head thrown back, mouth agape in awe...and I'm not the only one :)...

We slooooowly made our way through the beautiful woods and on towards our destination:  the ocean.

Grants Pass, Oregon and the Siskiyous

The drive from Portland to Grants Pass was long(ish) but pretty.  The farther south we traveled, the prettier the scenery.  Somehow I have no photographic proof of this, but trust me...it was lovely ;).  Anyway, from the top of the state to nearly the bottom we drove until we reached Grants Pass...time to get out and stretch those legs a bit!

We checked the map, found a park that looked nice, and all piled out for a little walk alongside the Rogue River...

a beautiful little park...

But wait!  There was something blocking our path!  What could it possibly be?  Oh you know, just a crazy herd of pigeons(?) that WOULD NOT GO AWAY.  And NO, we did NOT feed them nor were we eating anything.  They were just loco...

...the weirdo birds, though!  heeeere they come...

ack!

go away birds!...

...yes, YOU!

The boys had headed straight for the water and managed to get away before the pigeons found them, so the girls and I headed that way hoping the birds would stay up by the car...

ahh...looks so nice and peaceful, doesn't it?

Nope!  The herd followed us...weird birds...

i mean SERIOUSLY birds?  we could hardly take a step for fear of tromping on one...

We walked a little bit, but finally escaped back to the car and got back on the road.  The birds could have the park, I had an ocean to get to!  haha!

Leaving Grants Pass, we headed off into the Siskiyou Mountains.  We had wanted to visit the Oregon Caves, but a quick check online told us that they had already closed for the season.  Oh well, there's always next time ;).

We kept driving and soon the road led us deep into the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.  Old growth forests full of giant Redwoods and swaths of velvety green moss...yes, please, and thank you...

Those magnificent old trees take my breath away every single time <3.  More to come later, ya'll :)... 

Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah Falls, Oregon

I wanted to see the coast (when do I not?), so with the weather being inhospitable in the far northern mountains we decided to make tracks south and west.  We left Idaho behind, darted through the corner of Washington, and headed for the southern coast of Oregon as fast as we could (legally) go.

We drove until late, late...following the interstates (which is something we rarely do), just trying to put some distance between us and the stormy weather.  When we crossed from Washington into Oregon, we traversed a rather large river and then followed alongside this river for the remainder of our drive that night.  We finally stopped to grab some hotel rooms in The Dalles and called it a night.

While we were sleeping, the storm was creeping up on us and the heavy clouds were back.  There would be no Mt. Hood sightings on this day...however, we DID get a surprise when we got our first glimpse of that river we had been following in the dark.  The Columbia River is not only huge, it is beautiful!...

In this case, I think the clouds only added to the beauty of our soggy drive through the pass...

Another thing that the rain makes even better?  Waterfalls!  The Columbia River Gorge is full of waterfalls.  We decided to stop and visit the tallest one in the state of Oregon, Multnomah Falls...

When we got there, the rain was coming down pretty good.  Like, wear a poncho and keep your head down or get soaked, good.  So...we just enjoyed the view from afar...

...we had no ponchos, not even any umbrellas, and no desire to hike in the cold rain to be honest...

We took a slow drive around the area, popping out of the dry car just long enough to take a few pictures of the scenery...

that moss <3!

Pictures from inside the car?  No bueno...

Back on the road and into Portland...

We had planned to stop at a famous donut place in Portland (you probably know the one), but then we got to thinking about the name of their store...what that name actually IS...and decided that it isn't something that we wanted to support.  Not even for a donut. 

Next stop, Grants Pass!

Northern Idaho

When we left Williston, ND, heading west, we started out on Hwy 2...seven hundred and some odd miles later and we were still on Hwy 2 crossing into Idaho.  We didn't plan it, it just happened that way :)...

Like many roads through the mountains, this one follows along the path cut by a waterway.  Our trail blazer from Western Montana into Northern Idaho was the Kootenai River.  It led us up farther and farther until we were only about 30 miles from the Canadian border.  Still heading west, but definitely north, too...

We stopped to stretch our legs at the Moyie River Canyon Bridge...

...then we got back on Hwy 2.  Following its winding path as it veered south towards Bonners Ferry and then on to Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille. 

Ya'll, we were really excited to be in this particular part of the country.  It's somewhere that we have only seen online (Dan has been there, kids and I haven't) and thought that maybe one day we just might want to settle down and call home.  Maybe ;).

Well, the weather was not on our side this time.  Anyone that has spent time in the mountains knows how fast the weather can change.  And change it did...the clouds dropped down from the sky and completely surrounded us.  We saw absolutely NOTHING.  Not town, not lake, not nothing.  Hmph. 

It started to snow so we decided to high tail it out of there before we ended up stranded.  Idaho, we'll be back for a redo for sure!