journey

Concert of Wishes in the West

Planning this trip quickly turns into a concert of wishes. We have already visited all five of the major cities on this tour, but some of them were more than 15 years ago. Mount Rainier is a matter of our hearts and therefore set, while Lassen and Great Basin National Parks are on our bucket list for many years. Of course, we want to enjoy as much nature as possible in addition to the cities, so there is no way getting around the Pacific coast of Oregon.

The two films about the “Loneliest Road in America” and the “Extraterrestrial Highway”, both in Nevada, have piqued our curiosity. And in the desert near Las Vegas are “Seven Magic Mountains”, a masterpiece of modern art. The result is a journey that takes us from the Southwest of Canada across the three American states on the Pacific and through the deserts of Nevada to the gambling capital of Las Vegas.

We start our journey in Vancouver, British Columbia. We have three days to explore the city and region on foot, by bike and by car, including a trip to the Sea to Sky Gondola and to Canada’s most famous winter sports resort, Whistler. We then cross the border directly into Washington and continue on to Seattle. The main destination this time is the Olympic Sculpture Park, a very special art park with a view of Puget Sound. Of course, we also spend some time at the Space Needle and at Pike Place Market.

The next day, we visit Mount Rainier National Park in glorious weather. A hike at Sunrise, a trip to Box Canyon and finally an overnight stay in the historic Paradise Inn right at the foot of the majestic mountain bring back memories of our very first trip to North America. We have also visited our next destination, the volcano of Mount St. Helens, before. It’s fascinating to see how nature recovers after the devastating volcanic eruption in 1980. We follow the Columbia River upstream and cross it at the windsurfers’ paradise of Hood River; in the afternoon we visit some of the numerous waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge.

Welcome to Oregon

On our second visit, we experience Portland, Oregon’s large city on the Willamette River, in a completely different way. We stroll through the streets of a city which describes itself as “weird”, visit the smallest park in the world, eat doughnuts at the iconic Voodoo Doughnut and enjoy the hustle and bustle of Pioneer Courthouse Square while having a coffee. Once again, we follow the course of the Columbia River, now to its mouth, where we look forward to the huge Astoria-Megler Bridge and the Astoria Column high above the city.

We spend the next few hours driving on US 101 along the Pacific coast. In the beach resort of Seaside, we just want to see the Lewis and Clark statue, which marks the end of their trail, but end up in the middle of a parade of vintage cars. Famous Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach is hidden in mist this time, and in Tillamook there is a new visitor center for the well-known cheese factory. A short side trip takes us to Oregon’s capital, Salem, where we particularly like the beautifully designed Riverfront Park. Back on the coast, we enjoy a whole day in Newport with lighthouses, bizarre coastal sections, towering Pacific waves, the impressive Yaquina Bay Bridge and a colony of sea lions. We even see whales, although not within photo range.

We continue further south. We pass numerous lighthouses and bridges, hike through a huge field of carnivorous plants in the Darlingtonia State Natural Site, have a coffee in the best coffee shop in Florence and drive for quite a while through the sandy landscape of the Oregon Dunes. At the Arch Rock Picnic Area we see plate-sized starfish for the first time, and in the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor we more than once stop to admire the magnificent rock formations and the tree trunks lying on the beach and looking like the remnants of a giant’s game of Mikado.

In the State of the Golden Gate Bridge

Nevada, lonely and surprising

The Journey in Pictures