You’d be surprised how many Americans confuse “Ohio” and “Idaho” (and “Iowa,” too, for that matter). I guess it’s the vowel sounds. And perhaps the stereotype we’re all in some sense backwater. But the regions are very distinct: in climate, … Continue reading
Olympic National Park has been within range of our base of operations in the Pacific Northwest. But just barely. The southernmost portions of the park can be reached with about two hours of driving. Some of the more interesting sites, … Continue reading
I was excited to experience the coffee culture of the Pacific Northwest. I figured it would be most-accessible in the cities. Like in Seattle, the birthplace of the Starbucks coffee empire (though I was more excited to try Starbucks’ competitors, … Continue reading
We visited Seattle today. Our family defaulted to the role of “tourist” in almost every way — dutifully parking near the famous Pike Place Market and spending the better part of the afternoon wandering from there to the Space Needle. … Continue reading
We went to the beach in Oregon today. It felt like a spectacular, sunny, Spring day. You’d think “Summer,” right? But the wind coming off the Pacific Ocean was pretty chilly. Sweatshirts were comfortable. And none of us wanted to … Continue reading
Take a left in Streetsboro, go about 2,500 miles west, and you can’t miss it. Getting to Washington State and the Pacific Northwest is that simple, with the United States’ Interstate highway system. But our family took the long way. … Continue reading
Temperatures topped out near 100° Fahrenheit. Bug guts covered about half of the windshield on our mini-van. And a thin film of dust covered everything else. We felt cut off from the rest of the world, with mobile data and … Continue reading
We’ve been on the road for several days now. This has amounted to hours and hours of together time. Which was kind of the goal, of course. Still, it’s a lot of hours. About 40 hours of dedicated drive time, … Continue reading
We’re on vacation! A trans-continental road trip, in fact, from Ohio to the Pacific Northwest. We’re hoping to do plenty of site-seeing out there and along the way. But oddly, some of the first sites that we’ve stopped to see … Continue reading
I love to listen to music while I drive. I try to match the tone of my music to my setting (and, at times, to set the tone for my setting through my music!). It feels like the music just … Continue reading