After 3 weeks of travel, we have arrived at Blaine, Washington — the start of our Alaska Caravan! We are now getting acquainted with the folks who we will be traveling with for the next 52 days and also preparing to cross into Canada.
But, before I tell you more about the caravan, here is what we’ve been up to this past week.
RVing is about exploring new places, meeting new people and engaging in new experiences. In Oregon, we stayed at a wonderful State Park along the Oregon Trail, Emigrant Springs State Park, and our site was surrounded by towering, dense pine trees accented with a relaxing pine aroma.
As we settled in, a small, 17 ft.teardrop camper pulled in next to us and we quickly discovered that our new neighbors were very experienced RVers — and were a youthful 84 yrs old! Our hour-long conversation covered many travel and RVing topics and it was such a delight to see the RVing spirit still going strong at 84. A truly inspirational moment……
On to Washington, we journeyed into the Columbia River Gorge to not only experience this famed scenic drive but, to visit Mt. Hood National Forest. Cruising westward along curvy I-84, we were flanked by the powerful Columbia River on one side and the towering gorge walls on the other — every curve revealed spectacular views. And then, after 1 1/2 hrs, Mt. Hood towers in the distant………
I did attempt to drive up to Timberline Lodge, which has been a ski lodge since 1937; however, as I ascended, I found myself in a white-out blizzard, icy narrow roads and fast accumulating snow. So, I decided to turn around and virtually experience this historic lodge on the website. Disappointing……but, the safe thing to do.
Next on the agenda, was to head north towards Seattle and enjoy the majesty of volcanic Mt. Rainier. The land between and east of Portland and Seattle is home to 4 incredible mountains – Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Ranier. You could spend a whole summer exploring all 4 of them; but, given our limited time, we chose to see what this 14,000 ft active volcano was all about.
Once you enter Mt. Rainier National Park, you still have a 30 min. drive up a steep, 2-lane, windy road with numerous switchbacks to reach the visitor center and Paradise Inn. But, the white-knuckle drive is worth the effort and the vistas up and down are breathtaking. We had planned to do a short hike from the visitor center, but unfortunately, most of the hikes from there were still covered with 5-10 ft of snow and would probably not be clear until July. But, we did enjoy the historical displays at the visitor center, had lunch in the Paradise Inn and just taking in the views.
So, here we are in rainy, windy and cold Blaine, Washington (welcome to the Pacific Northwest), about to finally embark on the Alaska Caravan! As we pulled into the campground to meet our fellow caravaners, we quickly discovered that Annie Rose was going to be the dwarf among giants! We are surrounded by very large Class A Motorhomes and I think there are only 6 of us with campers less than 40 ft. long and 13+ ft tall. The good news: we can always go wherever they go…….but, the reverse is not true!
We added Washington State to our travel map, experienced a new National Park and National Forest, drove in a blizzard, navigated white-knuckled roads with incredible vistas, were inspired by life-long octegenarian RVers and are now getting ready for the start of the caravan. It has been a great week…..the Meandering continues…….