We're back (at 9PM last night.) If you missed any of our ambitious nineteen day, nine state, 3,900 mile road trip from Seattle, Washington to Phoenix, Arizona and back again, click on any of the photos above to learn more about where we were. Our entire epic excursion is here and tomorrow get the story and pictures of the last leg of our monumental journey.
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Phoenix To Seattle Road Trip With 3 Dogs & A Cockatoo Day 4: Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder5/17/2014 Typist: Bethany Nineteen days ago when driving into Yakima, Washington, I was reminded of how much I love volcanoes. During our pet friendly road trip to the Southwest, I didn't think I had forgotten about my passion for the Cascade mountain range. Yet when I got my first glimpse of Mount Shasta, the Cascades southern most peak, it took my breath away. I guess it is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. But I am not the only one who missed the mountains. I know three traveling dogs and a cockatoo who were quite pleased to be back in Cascadia as well. The only dog friendly hike near downtown Mt Shasta is Gray Butte. However, the road to the trail head was closed due to snow. Yes. Snow. It is almost 7,000 feet up after all. So we parked at the Bunny Flat trail head and walked up the road until the snow became too deep to safely pass. The dogs were thrilled to see snow. Leo was surprised to see snow. And we all had a wonderful time.
We stopped amid the green in Wolf Creek, Oregon. The sign on the interstate said there was a historical site and a park. That seemed the perfect pet friendly road trip stop. And it was! Except for the ticks. Taking the good with the bad, though, before we even got out of the van we saw a healthy and happy wild turkey. Leo was very impressed. I wish it had eaten more ticks. Despite the extensive tick check I had to do before we left Wolf Creek Park, we couldn't leave town without a visit to the Wolf Creek Inn. This 1883 tavern is the state of Oregon's oldest continuous use hotel and Jack London stayed there in 1911. Since after this photo shoot we drove on the state capitol, I have a feeling our Oregon history lessons are just beginning. Hopefully this was the end of the ticks, though. While spending almost three weeks away from Cascadia made the Cascadian Nomads canines, psittacine and human miss our home, absence does not make the heart grow fonder when it comes to blood sucking parasites. Please forgive any & all rough spots in this post as it has been done on mobile from the road! We will be reading and enjoying your comments but, due to being on the road, it will be difficult for us to respond right away. Thanks for understanding and for coming along on our adventure. Phoenix To Seattle Road Trip With 3 Dogs & A Cockatoo Day 3: A Sparkling River, Beach & Volcano5/16/2014 Typist: Bethany We started our visit to South Lake Tahoe, California with a hike along the Upper Truckee River. Huxley's cracked paw is healed but I still chose an easy, leashed dog friendly hike. The Hawley Grade Trail had everything we forest starved Cascadian Nomads needed from river wading to meadow wrestling. We all enjoyed the cool breeze, tree filtered sunlight and gorgeous views. Of course, our first day in California wouldn't be complete without some time at the beach. There are only a few beaches in South Lake Tahoe that allow dogs. We walked down to leashed dog friendly Kavi Beach (though Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley were the only dogs on leashes- and likely the only dogs traveling almost 800 miles from home.) The beach was fabulous fun and the panorama views were stunning. And our visit to a lovely, sandy California beach seemed the perfect time to add the last state of this epic journey to the dogs "States I've Visited" shirts. Day three of driving back to Seattle from the Southwest made me a little bit sad to plan. It had so far been an exciting road trip full of highways I had never driven before. But on this day, once we got to Reno, we would be on roads I have driven many, many times the rest of the way home. All of that sadness was erased though, once I smelled the sage covered hills just past Bordertown. When we entered Lassen National Forest and the warm, large pine stands, meadows and marshes whizzed past us, I wondered why I don't drive through here more often. This short and splendid drive ended in one of my favorite places in the whole world: Mt Shasta, California. We arrived in time for a pleasant walk, sunset and full moonrise all with the extraordinary volcanic peaks of Mount Shasta and Shastina in view. I can tell that the pets are growing weary of being on the road but I think my excitement about being back in Cascadia as well as in this spectacular place reinvigorated them a little. While we are still over 500 miles from our house, technically we are home. Please forgive any & all rough spots in this post as it has been done on mobile from the road! We will be reading and enjoying your comments but, due to being on the road, it will be difficult for us to respond right away. Thanks for understanding and for coming along on our adventure. Typist: Bethany Tent camping at Lake Mead National Recreation Area was an adventure in itself. The campsites at the campground we stayed at the first night, Las Vegas Bay, all have massive asphalt pads with very little room for a tent let alone one that will fit three dogs and a cockatoo. After hours of plotting, the only place I could fit my tent without having it on the asphalt was, according to the camp host and a ranger the following morning "out of bounds." The invisible boundary they both saw was unclear to me but I am all for vegetation and land restoration so I followed the rangers advice and moved to another campground. The ranger indicated the Bolder Beach campsites tended to be larger. Most of the campsites there were larger and, thankfully, the boundaries of each site were clearly defined by rocks, tent pads and even surveyors flags. However, completely dismantling, packing and resetting up camp all in one day was exhausting, to say the least. Fortunately my amazing traveling companions were just that, amazing. Plus the pets kept my spirits high. Then came the wind storm. As I reflect on some of the great conversations I had with locals and regular campers at Lake Mead, the one that stands out the most was the couple who told me that the only problem they have ever had camping there is the wind. Such foreshadowing! Long story short, the dogs crates held the tent up until I moved the van to tie guy lines to it. We slept in the van. Well, the pets did. Wilhelm locked me out of the van so I slept in the tent until the locksmith arrived at 2:30AM. Needless to say that was our last night of camping on this trip. As soon as the wind died down I packed up and we spent our last night in Nevada in a motel. We first enjoyed one last romp on the beach and a final, spectacular Lake Mead sunset.
We took our only drive break of the day at Walker Lake. However, we didn't stay long. The first reason being that I chose a closed state park fr our stop. The second reason being the massive amount of bugs. I don't think the bugs were the reason that the park was closed but either way, getting out of there quickly seemed wise. Had it not been for a closed road, we might have made it to South Lake Tahoe in time to enjoy the sunset. I did get a glimpse of the lovely blue lake in the twilight driving down towards town from the mountain pass. After the day (and weeks) of desert driving, the biggest thrill of this drive was seeing trees. Not bushes, shrubs, cacti or landscape but real, native, forest. I almost jumped from the car to hug the first conifer I saw. And if I hadn't been toting bags of poop when walking the dogs around our South Lake Tahoe motel that evening, I would have collected a mass of giant pine cones. Obviously, our time in South Lake Tahoe is going to be fantastic! Please forgive any & all rough spots in this post as it has been done on mobile from the road! We will be reading and enjoying your comments but, due to being on the road, it will be difficult for us to respond right away. Thanks for understanding and for coming along on our adventure. |
Cascadian Nomads
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