Where to live?

The other day Mo' asked me where I would like to live after we retire and had a chance to volunteer for a summer at or around a national park. Initially I said Freeport. I guess I am missing home a little and do look forward to being back in Maine and to be reunited with our dog. But really I'm discovering that home has everything we really want and need as well as the lifestyle we like.

We have been to some amazing places, seen sights that none of our pictures really capture the beauty or splendor that we have experienced. I want to come back to many of the places to explore them more througholy. Mo said this trip is like a survey, or 100 level college class. We are just getting introduced. We, more importantly our kids are being introduced to these places.

To live in a place is a tougher choice, although now that we are in Washington, I think I could stay here for a much longer sojurn. I say this as we are in our first hotel on the trip. We feel a little wimpy about giving into our first bad weather of the trip by heading to a hotel last night instead of seeking out a camping spot somewhere near Olympic National Park.

After we headed out of Portland, Oregon we headed for the coast before crossing the border. It was Goonie day. A favorite movie of mine growing up and I have fully indoctrinated the kids into fans as well. Mo has been a tougher sell, but she kindly went along with our joy for this movie by visiting some sites were the movie was filmed back in the eighties.

Our first stop was on the coast for some of the dramatic landscape scenes for the movie. I did have to explain to the kids what little I know about movie making and that some things they saw were only built for the movie. Mostly the cave that the Goonies explored was only a set back in Hollywood.

What was real was the house the main character lived in up in Astoria. Kind of a sad town really as we drove in and could see the bridge that would lead us out of Oregon and into Washington. We followed directions toward the house and after a turn off the main road it was very easy to find as signs lead to a parking place just off the neighborhood and there were plenty of people walking toward the house. I was amazed that thirty years after the film was released that there would be that many people visiting on a random Wednesday afternoon.

We took photos from a respectful distance, as people do live in the house. And after I did the Truffle Shuffle on my own, I noticed people chuckling. So I invited anyone who wanted to join in to do so, and a couple other guys and I did a little more extended version. I think the video had since gone viral on facebook.

There was another spot in town to visit before we headed out of town, and out of state. We weren't sure where to stay for the night and although we had some GPS coordinates we were finding there was absouletly nothing in that part of Washington. We came upon a free spot, right on the edge of South Bend, no golden domes in sight though. This was right beside the road at a boat launch area. Since it was before five, we moved on. We couldn't imagine hanging out there for hours before it got dark.

Farther up the coast there was more civilaztion and we got a cheap tent site at a fully booked RV park. Super clean facilities but we were anxious to get moving in the morning to get to Olympic. Mo saw a sign at a conveince store that had shrimp and she thought it might be good to get some to go with our pasta for dinner. Unfortunately the shrimp they were selling was only for bait.

We got to Ruby Beach at low tide for the kids to explore some tidal pools. It was fun to find sea stars, hermit crabs and other living creatures. But the real fun was skipping stones. Quinn has already mastered the technique and Maggie finally got the hang of it after some work.

Camping looked like is was going to be a challenge, so we grabbed a spot early in the day at the Hoh River. A good spot from where we could head out on a hike through the rain forest later in the day. We followed the Hoh through an amazing forest and to a waterfall. The kids cranked it out and we were back to our site in plenty of time to make a relaxing dinner.

Of course the kids had to work on junior ranger badges and needed to attend a ranger lecture. Fortunately a talk took place within walking distance after dinner. The ranger was pretty corny but the kids loved it and learned a lot about moss, lichen and bugs. Maggie especially loved it as there were many Harry Potter references and she got to be a part of the show a couple times.

Rain was forecasted for the next day and did start to fall while I was out on a morning run following the same path as the day before, plus a little extra by going on the Hall of Mosses trail. Mo made pancakes for all of us later on as the rain was light but kept us mostly in the bus all morning.

We made a choice outside of the park when we got better internet service to be a little wimpy that day. The rain had also picked up and we were also in the town where the Twilight book/movies are set. I'm sure we weren't going to see any vampires or werewolves but why risk it! We booked a hotel on the other side of Pugent Sound and drove west to catch a ferry.

There was a beautiful lake on the way and the rain was on and off so we also decided to drive up to Hurricane Ridge where we might get in a small hike. By the time we reached the ridge, about fifteen miles out of our way, we could barely see the lines in the parking lot. We agreed it was the only decision we've made on this trip that we actually regret.

Our ferry left out of Port Townsend, and although we saw very little of the town, we thought that this would be the place to move to if we had our choice. Mist covered mountains were in full view overlooking the inlets and outlets of the sound. It had seemingly everything we needed as well as enough civilization so as not to be isolated without the masses making commuting deplorable.

It took about half an hour to cross and it was like arriving back on the coast of Maine. Granted now we are staying in a more urbanized area here in Oak Harbor, but that's a little of what we were looking for, for the night.

Off to the Cascades after some more pool and tv time today for our most northern part of this journey before we start turning back east. I don't think in a couple more weeks we'll find someplace to replace Freeport, but that is not the purpose of this journey. It's to see and feel America. It's to catch up with old friends and hopefully make some new ones along the way. It's to get our children to look back at this trip and have them decide their future. If they decided to live in any of these places we've been, then we will be very happy to come and visit, for much more than a night.

I want to give out a added thank you to our most recent hosts. You've all been excellent hosts and we were really glad to spend time with you. Thanks!

Erin and two of her boys

Tripod, aka Chris