Back in Big Sky

We slacked and we know it. When we got to Glacier in mid-October, the weather was cold, windy, and rainy. Needless to say, any pictures we might have taken would have turned out like crap anyway. We spent almost a week just outside of the park visiting with Zach's awesome sister Anna and then headed back to Big Sky. We totaled 26 days on the road, $771 in fuel, and visited four states, two national parks, and lots of state parks. We covered a lot of ground, traversed many different bioregions, and had a wonderful time! We hope that you enjoyed our pictures and will continue to update through the upcoming winter.

Since we've been back in town, we've had a little weather shock ... it snowed four out of seven days in the first week! We experienced some frigid night temperatures (19-20F might be the coldest so far with the worst-try negative 30!-on its way!) and realized that we were seriously unprepared. So on that note, we bought some insulating fabic that is NOT messing around (Warm Window is what it's called) and made curtains for all the uninsulated windows, got some firewood from some of our friends, and busted out the fleece pants. A 40,000 BTU Atwood RV propane furnace was quickly ordered, insulated piping and floor registers quickly bought, and Zach installed the whole shebang in two days. And guess what? IT WAS 50-SOMETHING DREGREES TODAY! We were in T-SHIRTS! Haha. It turned out for the best, though, because we could then open the windows and let the furnace get it's new&funky smells out. So it's "Mud Season" here in our little mountain world ... and we are anxiously awaiting it all to freeze over and SNOW so we can go SKIING!

Here are a few random shots since we've been in town ...

Four inches of snow in the canyon! More on the mountain!

Taking care of business

BD has to wear booties outside when there's powder or mud

Moose!

CENTRAL HEAT! The only way we're going to make it through a MT winter in the bus!

Ducting under the bus ... super insulated piping, ya know?

Sunny afternoon ...

... which means no more clean cars ...

... and DEFINITELY no more clean boots.

Can we go skiiiiiiiiiiiing yet?!?!?!?!

Kelly and Zach

Olympic National Park ...

More pictures to share ... if we don't keep up with posting them as we go, then we'll drown under all of them! We drove up the west side of Olympic NP and hit up the coast and the Hoh Rainforest, then around to the north side of the park and hiked up to some natural hot springs and Hurricane Hill. We then putted around Seattle to meet up with our friends Elisa and Jake (so glad you guys came out!!!) and now we're just east of the Cascades. We'll probably be in Spokane tomorrow or Friday ...

Coastal rainforest campground

Mmmm ... old growth and moss

Washington produce stand! All this and a fillet of wild-caught pink salmon for $25!

 

  Hiking in the Hoh Rainforest

Hoh River

More Hoh

There was a nice waterfall up the creek but the picture didn't turn out

We have never seen more wild mushrooms in our lives!

Primate in a Pro-tec: A Raft Guide in its Truest Form

Salmon Falls on the Sol Duc River

The colors of the rock reminds me of the Chattooga

See any salmon? (Me either)

Happy to be here!

I love this man!

Sittin' on a stump

Lake Crescent from Hwy 101

On top of Hurricane Hill looking east ...

... looking north at Canada and the Strait ...

... looking south at Mount Olympus, who was shy that morning...

(Me too! Me too!)

Inverter issues

 

Lazy lookout

Free campsite!

We stayed three nights here: the price was right and the view stunning!

It's been getting colder every night ... we got a little snow two days ago!

Olympic was incredibly beautiful and all the leaves were changing when we left. I love the fall! The only negative thing we can say about it was that Black Dog couldn't go hiking with us (no dogs allowed on trails in National Parks), but we understand and made sure to take her on walks around the campgrounds when we came home.

The next set of pictures will come after we've explored Glacier National Park, so be on the lookout in another week or so! We'll eat a fresh, crisp, sweet Washington apple for you while we're here!

Kelly and Zach

Fun 101

Today concludes the end of week one on our glorious month-long road trip! We are writing from Olympia, WA before we head west to the Olympic Peninsula! So far, so good ... we're having a blast and seeing lots of amazing places. We've taken a few pictures to share .. enjoy!

First tunnel with the bus!

Jade loves the ocean!

Doh!

BD says hello!

View from a top the bus at our second campsite in Tillicum State Park, OR

Rabbit in upper right corner ...

Picked around our campsite and served in pancakes!

Waiting for the tsunami ...

...

Jade smelled like "a lobster", as Zach said, so he gave her a bath ...

and she was NOT happy about it ...

Mountains meet the sea at Cape Lookout State Park

Sheer cliffs hiking out to Cape Lookout

Zach observing from a safe distance!

I think this is a Sitka Spruce ...

Love that coastal rainforest!

Triple rocks! Triple rocks! 100 paces to the old restaurant and the treasure!

(Cannon Beach, OR)

OH NO! THE FRATELLI'S ARE COMING!

There's no such thing as a straight face when Zach is in the picture

The Peter Iredale got stuck on this sand bar at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1909 ...

we got to see it in Fort Stevens State Park

And what trip to Northwest Oregon would be complete without a stop in Astoria to see Mikey and Brand's house? We didn't take a picture of the house 'cause we thought that might be rude ... so we took a picture of this sign to prove we were there!

We also met up with Zach's cousin Nate and his fiance Val yesterday for dinner and beer. It was great to meet them on my part and we enjoyed hanging out with them. It's not every day you see family so far from home! Come visit us in MT, guys!

We've met lots of good folks along the way, stopped in neat towns, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly thus far. We're excited about Olympic National Park and will be sure to post pictures when we work our way back to internet service!

Kelly and Zach

Added 10/07/09 -- I forgot to mention that we went to the Rogue Brewery (most expensive brewery we've ever been too!) and the Tillamook Cheese Factory (good cheese, amazing ice cream!). Sorry Brian, we didn't go to Dooger's ... fuel is expensive :(