TRAVEL BLOG :: Northwest is the BEST!

Hey Steemit Fam!

We finally made it to the Pacific Northwest and we’re in heaven - the weather, the people, the views. Ah, it’s all just so damn magical 🙏 And for the cherry on top, we got to spend a few days exploring around Portland and Southern Washington with our family and we're sharing some of that trip with you in today's travel blog!

Current Location 📍

(@gangjafarmer took us to his secret spot by the river - the dogs have an absolute blast here! This is me doing my best to give you Mulan "I'll make a man out of you" vibes 😂)

Right now, we’re boondocking in Washington at a location I’m going to withhold since it was given to us by our new Steemian friend @ganjafarmer! Huge thanks to @ganjafarmer for hooking us up with a sweet spot for a few days! So far on this trip, we’ve managed to boondock the entire time and have not had to pay to park anywhere. It’s one thing to stealth camp in a van, but it’s a completely different ball game when your vintage RV sticks out like a sore thumb. I’ll share more about that soon in another post!!

Until then, here's some of our favorite photos & stories from our most recent adventures in Oregon & Washington! Enjoy!

Texans Take On Washington 🤠

My mom, dad, and two of my sisters flew from Texas to visit us in Portland. Sticking to our theme of leaving last minute, @richardcrill and I drove 8+ hours overnight from our cozy, month long spot we had in Mt. Shasta to an Airbnb my family booked in Washougal, WA - just right across the river from Portland. We got there at 2 am in the morning, took our first REAL shower we’d had in over a month, and stayed up until 4 am just catching up with our fam that was still awake.

Day 1 - Rock Stacking + Old Growth Forests

With a few hours of sleep under our belt, we set out the next day to explore the area around our Airbnb. The Airbnb was on top of a hill and had its own old growth forest to explore!

(@richardcrill lookin' all smug with his winning rock stack 😜)

We drove down to the river and spent a ridiculous amount of time stone balancing. Of course, Ike won, but I think my little sister gave him a run for his money ;)

We took it easy on this day since we were all pretty tired from our travels. Our Airbnb was located on a farm with it’s own little set of trails to explore. We found this really cool fungi growing on one of the trees - it looked like it’s own planet! Mother Nature is quite the artist.

(How GORGEOUS is this tree shroom?! Anybody know what this is?!)

(This beautiful, old growth forest was right behind our Airbnb - I felt like I was in a fairytale!)

Day 2 - Cannon Beach

(Switched from RV to vanlife for a few days - still can't believe we all fit!)

We decided to check out the coast on our first day! We piled 6 humans and 3 dogs into the van rental my parents got for this trip - thank goodness, because we used every bit of that space, ha! We set off towards the Oregon coast to see Cannon Beach!

(My little sister is taking up photography and she got this beautiful shot of Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach!)

We didn’t time this trip very well considering it happened to fall on Labor Day - the beach was packed! We were able to find short stretches of beach with fewer people and fewer dogs, so we let the pups run around in the waves. It’s probably one of my favorite things to watch - the pups have fallen in love with the beach on this trip.

(I'm so in love with this photo my little sis got of me and my crazy Turbo dog. He loves the beach almost as much as his frisbees)

After exploring the beach for a bit, we grabbed some grub on the main street in town (also packed) and started our 2 hour drive back to the Airbnb. We were all pretty pooped after driving and playing on the beach, so I think we all hit the sack pretty early this night.

Day 3 - Beacon Rock + Chasing Waterfalls

(The view from the top of Beacon Rock! So proud of my momma for making this short, but intense mile up to the top!)

Ah, this was hands down my favorite day. We had some plans to explore the waterfalls around the area, but what we found was even better. On the drive to the first waterfall, we saw this massive rock jutting straight up from the side of the road. Thankfully we pulled over to check it out, because after hiking a short mile up (it felt way longer at the time) we were met with the most stunning views.

(Gah, I had no idea how gorgeous this view was going to be once we got to the top! 💚)

After climbing Beacon Rock, we drove to our first waterfall for the day - Multnomah Falls. Since that area was recently hit with wildfires, parts of the trail that you could normally hike were closed off to the public, so we just walked a short distance to see this one. It was still a gorgeous sight to see!

(Multnomah Falls!)

Next, we drove around the Columbia Gorge where we found another smaller waterfall. I can’t remember the name of this one for the life of me - I tend to retain a significant amount less when I’m not the one planning/driving on the trip. We tried scaling the side of the hill to get to the top of the waterfall, but only made it halfway before my dad was yelling at us to get down. Turns out you’re never too old for my dad to play safety police - gotta love him.

(My sweet baby sis and the second waterfall we found! I gotta say, it was such a treat to have help walking the dogs!)

After a full day of hiking and exploring, we were ready to retreat back to our Airbnb. My mom whipped us up some food, we had some wine, and watched a good ol’ family movie - The Shining. My family has a weird thing about scary movies - we love watching them together. I have no idea why, but it’s always just been our thing we do together. Probably because we’re all too chicken to watch them by ourselves. We mostly laugh & play commentary the whole way through.

Day 4 - Exploring Portland + Saying Goodbye!

(Obligatory stuffing my face with a donut pic - thanks, babe @richardcrill 🤦‍♀️)

This was my family’s last day in Portland before they had to fly back home. We spent most of this day in Portland checking out the botanical gardens, and of course, VooDoo Donuts. We were all still pretty tired from all our adventures from the last few days so we parted ways that evening so they could catch a nap in the airport before they’re overnight flight home.

Eternally Grateful ✨

It was so much fun getting to see my family and explore new places together - we made memories I’ll cherish forever. My heart is so full and I’m already missing them. Thankfully, we’ll be back for the holidays, so I know I’ll see them again soon. Ike’s mom & niece are coming to visit us next in a couple of weeks! We plan on spending some time on the Washington coast with them, so we’ll definitely share that experience with you guys too!

I have SO much to catch up on with Steemit - I’ve been creating the curation reports for Freedom Tribe, but other than that, I haven’t posted on my personal @lindseylambz, or this travel account as regularly as I’d like. Not sure I’ll ever get the hang of balancing everything, but I’m just going to do my best to share as we go - even if it’s a couple months late 😜. It feels good to get all of the adventures out of my head and onto “paper” - I love looking back at the end of the year and remembering these moments of joy that I feel so grateful to be able to write about 🙏

Thank you for reading & stay tuned for more adventures on the road!

Steem On!

The Dodge Mahal Crew
Co-Pilots - @lindseylambz & @richardcrill
🐶Turbo
🐶Sookie
🐶Grayson