Day 10 - Vancouver, BC

June 30, 2015. 

Today we woke up around 7am and were headed to Vancouver by 9am. We first went to Stanley Park. There we went to the aquarium and the sea wall. 

After that we went to Gastown and ate at The Flying Pig. 

We walked by the gas clock. 

Next we went to Ikea. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cody was not a fan of this part of the day. Lastly we headed back to the campground and spent the night in Ferndale, Washington again. 

Cody built a storage cabinet for the inside of the closet. I sat on the recliner and worked on this blog post while he did that. After building the cabinet we went swimming at the pool at the campground. Cody made brats that we got from the Seattle market for dinner. Then we ended the night by watching the Fast and Furious 7. 

Day 9 - Olympia, Washington to Ferndale, Washington

June 29, 2015

Today we got on the road late because I was incredibly sick this morning. Cody went out of his way to take care of me.  He is so good to me. I got lucky with him. 

We only had a few hours to drive but we didn't leave until after noon. The campground in Ferndale is cute. We relaxed all day and for dinner Cody cooked the fresh seafood on the grill that we got at the market in Seattle yesterday.  He made lobster, oyster rockafeller, and shrimp. He's such a good cook. It was a simple day and I loved it. 

Day 8 - Sea-Tac, Washington

June 28, 2015

What a day!  Cody and I started the day by going to Tacoma to my buddy Erik's house. Then we all drove up to Seattle and went to Pike Place Market. The market is such a neat place. Tons of shops and fresh food. Very cool. We saw the Space Needle. Then we went back to  Tacoma and had lunch at a seafood restaurant. After that we met up with one of Erik's friends and went to the Tacoma Comedy Club. Afterwards we went to a Mexican restaurant for drinks and food. It was just an amazing day with amazing people. 

Erik with our baby seal Gunner. 

Erik and Cody with Gunner. 

Cody and Erik at the comedy club. 

Erik and April. 

Me and Cody at the comedy club. 

Day 7 - Rockaway, Oregon to Olympia, Washington

June 27, 2015

It was so amazing to wake up and walk right out to the beach this morning. There were hardly any people out there because it was a private beach and the water was cold!

We left a little before 11am. We drove to Astoria, Oregon. Astoria is a cute little town on the bay with shops and restaurants. It is most notably known for the location where much of the movie The Goonies was filmed. The picture below is me in front of the Goonies house. The pic below that is from the movie. 

We ate at an incredible restaurant called the Salmon Grill. It was phenomenal. The oysters were the best. 

We walked along the main road downtown passed all the little shops. To my surprise I saw a pay phone. I didn't realize pay phones still exist. So weird. 

We left a little after 3pm and headed to Washington Land Yacht Harbor in Olympia, Washington. 

After setting up camp we met up with my buddy Erik in the Tacoma area. We stopped by his place then went to all you can eat sushi. It was so delicious. Then we went to a marina for a few drinks. We went to bed around midnight. 

Day 6 - Fruitland, Idaho to Rockaway Beach, Oregon

June 26, 2015

This morning was not the best morning for Cody. We woke up early to my phone ringing, which was news that my son has an ear infection. Poor little guy. Cody got up and noticed water in the storage compartment under the RV due to a hose leaking. Of course he fixed it. Then when he went to dump the black tank (which is the tank that holds sewage waste) there was "mess". He had quite an ordeal with that and was pretty grossed out. But of course he just dealt with it. Thank you baby for doing all the hard (and gross) work on this trip.

We left the campground around 9am. We stopped a couple times for gas. The scenery was nice on the drive. 

We stopped at Camping World just east of Portland. I've been wanting to go to one for years but never had the chance. We bought a few things there and at the checkout we got a free ice cream cone. 

Above is Portland. The rush hour traffic was crazy however Cody is such a good driver. He never gets overwhelmed or stressed out while driving. I love that he is a great driver. 

After setting up camp we went to Lakeside Grill in Rockaway. The clam chowder was amazing!

Afterwards we went to the beach and drank wine. Cody went into the Pacific Ocean for the first time. 

Cody was fortunate enough to find a baby seal. We took it back to the RV. He named it Gunner. 

We stayed at Shorewood RV Park right on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. It was a fantastic day!

Day 5 - Riverton, Wyoming to Fruitland, Idaho

June 25, 2015

We left Riverton a little after 8am. Before leaving we bought a small 4-wheeler for my son. It's a perfect size for him and he is going to just love it. Cody's friends were selling it for a great price and it fit in the back of the truck so we figured we would buy it and just haul it until we get home. 

The drive today was just beautiful. The mountains in Wyoming were gorgeous.  

All the pics above are from Wyoming. We drove almost all the way through Idaho. We stayed at Neat Retreat RV Park on the border of Idaho and Oregon. It was in Fruitland, Idaho. 

Day 4 - Riverton, Wyoming

June 24, 2015

Today we stayed in Riverton, Wyoming. No driving. Just relaxing. Cody helped his friends sort bulls for breeding and then worked on a baler. It's some sort of farm equipment for bailing hay. In the evening we were given a wonderful tour of Sinks Canyon. It was beautiful. We drove passed the Northern Arapaho Sundance. It was really cool to see that many teepees.

These are the worst pictures of the canyon but it was dark and Cody's phone doesn't take the best pictures. 

The stay in Riverton was just wonderful. We enjoyed the hospitality of Cody's good friends and the scenery was beautiful.

During the course of our day I got an offer on my house that was for sale. We negotiated for a few hours and we came to an agreed price. God is good!

On a negative note, I cracked the screen on my iPhone. I have dropped it countless times and never broke it. In fact I have never broken the screen on any iPhone and I have had one for many years. Looks like I will need to stop somewhere and get my screen fixed. 

Overall it was a great day. I look forward to visiting Riverton again. 

Day 3 - North Platte, Nebraska to Riverton, Wyoming

June 23, 2015

Today was a day of just driving. Nothing too exciting. We got on the road a little after 9am. We drove through Nebraska until about noon then we stopped in Torrington, Wyoming for lunch. We stopped at a place called Torrington Travel Terminal. Cody kept talking about the chili being the best chili he ever had. Although I will not publicly claim it's the best chili it was pretty darn delicious!  Cody had the green chili which was chicken and I had the red chili. Both were yummy but mine was best. 

Cody's phone all of a sudden did a weird countdown to the pic being taken so he had a confused face in this pic. 

Not the best Wyoming landscape pic but I just rolled the window down and took a pic. 

I was napping for a bit today. We got to Riverton, Wyoming around 5:30pm. We had a great time visiting with Cody's friends. Their farm is nice and their hospitality was great after being on the road. I look forward to spending the day at their farm tomorrow with no driving. 

Day 2 - Lincoln, Nebraska to North Platte, Nebraska

June 22, 2015

Well I set my alarm for 7am and didn't get up until after 9am. Oh well. We were on the road by 10:30am. We didn't really have a particular place to stop but we have to be in Riverton, Wyoming in two days for Cody to visit with his friends. So getting up late wasn't that big of a deal. 

We decided to stop at an RV dealership to explore the idea of buying a fifth wheel. Well, we walked away 5 hours later with a new fifth wheel. 

The fifth wheel is smaller than the travel trailer we traded in but it fits our needs a bit more. There isn't a second bedroom which gives us more living space. The bathroom is bigger. Most importantly it's a fifth wheel rather than a travel trailer which makes it so much easier to drive with. 

It seemed like we were at the dealership for a long time, because we were, but that's because they had to install a fifth wheel hitch in the bed of our truck and we had to transfer everything from one RV to the next. You don't realize how much stuff is in there until you have to move it all. At one point I was just sitting in the new RV in the recliner and I could just envision all the good times we will have in the new RV. I could picture Cody and I sitting in the recliners holding hands and drinking wine while just talking about the day.  I pictured laying on the big couch with the kids watching a movie. Then I went into the old RV and sat for a minute just thinking about all the memories I made in that RV. In fact Cody and I had our second "date" in the old RV. It's funny how something as minor as buying an RV envokes so many emotions by making you think about different memories you have made. I am blessed beyond words. I have no idea why God feels the need to be so good to me but he is. 

A little after 5pm we got on the road without a particular destination in mind. We just jumped on I-80W and figured we would drive until we felt like we wanted to be done for the day. We knew that when we got to a campground that we would have several hours of unpacking and organizing. 

We ended up stopping at Holiday RV Park in North Platte for the evening. So overall we drove a little less than 4 hours today. No big deal because we only have 7 hours left to drive tomorrow until we get where we wanted to be by Tuesday evening. 

After setting up camp we went to Fort Cody and Whiskey Creek Restaurant. Fort Cody is a little trading post and the restaurant was a BBQ place.