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Madeleine

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Planning a 2 week trek from Vegas to Seattle. Looking for ideas of things to see and do. We were going to go to Crater Lake but the roads are apparently not plowed until late April (we'll be there early April). Who knew some trails don't open until JULY! Yowza that's some deep snow! 44 FEET. Amazing!
So, what should we see? DH will be getting his vet pass to the National Parks so we'll want to see a lot of those. Looks like we'll take I 395 until we hit OR. Then we may head to the coast. I'd like to veer east and go to Glacier Nat'l Park but we don't even know what state roads are open in the mountains!
Off the wall ideas? Things we would only see out there but that aren't well known?
One place we are going is to the Manzanar Internment Camp. To get there we'll go thru Death Valley. Yosemite.
What else?
 
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular.
 
Bryce National Park was amazing. Zion was good, but we were more impressed with Bryce. Las Vegas has a beautiful park, Spring Mountain and Red Spring, out near Red Rock. The Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam are about a day drive back and forth, but better if you leave more time. I'm not sure if the North Rim is open at that time of year. If you are a big Bonnie and Clyde fan, they have their car at the Primm resort on the border with California. It's full of holes from the last gun fight.
 
Living history programs at Fort Clatsop are good, (natl park), Oregon Coast always spectacular, we're not far from Diva, would love it if you stopped in. Let us know as the time gets closer. We'll watch for good events. You'll have well-deserved your time off.
 
There's a zipline 1/2 day adventure where they pick you up from a couple spots in Vegas and take you to a canyon to do zip lining. That would be cool!
 
Madeleine on a zipline? I just can't picture that!
So Maddie, if you do it, be sure to post a picture!
 
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular..
Breakfast Diva said:
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular.
I was looking at doing that. ;-) If we can't get in to see Crater Lake we'll head for the coast instead.
 
Madeleine on a zipline? I just can't picture that!
So Maddie, if you do it, be sure to post a picture!.
I'm not seeing Maddie doing this, either... ;-) Feet on the ground kinda girl!
Altho, if the Skywalk over the Grand Canyon is open we might have to do that.
 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
 
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular..
Breakfast Diva said:
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular.
I was looking at doing that. ;-) If we can't get in to see Crater Lake we'll head for the coast instead.
.
Madeleine said:
Breakfast Diva said:
COME AND VISIT US! We're 4 1/2 hours from Seattle and the Oregon coast is spectacular.
I was looking at doing that. ;-) If we can't get in to see Crater Lake we'll head for the coast instead.
regular_smile.gif

 
What month are you planning this for?.
April. We're doing the birthday tour. 2/3 of our kids were born in April. I told the August one there was no way in Hell I was going to Vegas for HIS birthday. He said he'd share a b'day visit with his sis.
 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too..
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too..
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
.
Half of my family is buried on Fox Island, including my dad and grandparents. I have another cousin who lives on the island and runs a physical therapy practice in Gig Harbor. My grandmother had a cabin on the island and stayed there half the year, every year until she got too old... My grandpa used to swim in the sound every day! I went up there several times as a kid, for the summer. My grandma used to send us out with a Folgers coffee can and have us fill it up with blackberries. When we brought them back, she would make cobbler in the old wood stove....HEAVEN. Buried my dad up there last summer...He is mentioned in this book, one summer he helped the author tear down the Miller homestead, when they were teens:
http://www.amazon.com/An-Island-In-Time-II/dp/1434314170
My great-grandfather, Thomas Torgesen, was captain of the Rhonda and several other tugs and ferries. When my grandma was a kid he ran the prison ferry from Tacoma to McNeil Island at the turn of the century. He is mentioned here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Passage_and_Wollochet_Bay_Navigation_Company and here: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/feb/27/mosquito-fleet-dedication-remembered-through-ships/#axzz2b1lhBFSk
regular_smile.gif

 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too..
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
.
Half of my family is buried on Fox Island, including my dad and grandparents. I have another cousin who lives on the island and runs a physical therapy practice in Gig Harbor. My grandmother had a cabin on the island and stayed there half the year, every year until she got too old... My grandpa used to swim in the sound every day! I went up there several times as a kid, for the summer. My grandma used to send us out with a Folgers coffee can and have us fill it up with blackberries. When we brought them back, she would make cobbler in the old wood stove....HEAVEN. Buried my dad up there last summer...He is mentioned in this book, one summer he helped the author tear down the Miller homestead, when they were teens:
http://www.amazon.com/An-Island-In-Time-II/dp/1434314170
My great-grandfather, Thomas Torgesen, was captain of the Rhonda and several other tugs and ferries. When my grandma was a kid he ran the prison ferry from Tacoma to McNeil Island at the turn of the century. He is mentioned here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Passage_and_Wollochet_Bay_Navigation_Company and here: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/feb/27/mosquito-fleet-dedication-remembered-through-ships/#axzz2b1lhBFSk
regular_smile.gif

.
This is another innkeeper here who is in rural Kitsap County on the Key Peninsula. Not sure how often she is here.
Thanks for those links, very interesting! I had a guest here this week whose brother lives in that area as well. He retired Navy there.
Speaking of that, DH's Royal Australian Navy FFG HMAS Adelaide was built in the Todd Shipyards in Seattle. We met of course many years later, and ended up living in the PacNorthWet.
 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too..
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
.
Joey Bloggs said:
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
YES! AND if you have time... from Seattle, cross over the Cascade Mountains and go to Leavenworth. The Beautiful Bavarian Village that made me fall in love with Bed & Breakfasts! OR go north on the Olympic Peninsula to beautiful Sequim or Pt. Angeles and the rain forest! So many beautiful places to see!
 
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too..
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
.
Joey Bloggs said:
Willowpondgj said:
Gig Harbor is a cute little town on the sound, just across the bridge from Tacoma. Lots of shops and wonderful art galleries, antique's. There is a great place, the Tides Tavern, for brews and local fare, great fish and chips. Also a terrific Italian place, Il Lucano, the owners are from Italy and Japan, the night we went the wife was there and chatted up my brother (who is fluent in Japanese) for hours, like old friends, it was great and so was the food! You can cross the Fox Island Bridge and visit the Fox Island Museum. My cousin is the historian there, my family is from there. Go on a ferry excursion around the sound. Beautiful country, I would love to retire up there someday...Oregon coast is spectacular too.
YOU!
The owner of the Tides is an heir to the Stanley Tools fortune. The first place I ever had a bleu cheese burger, now they are everywhere. That in itself makes it a great place.
My old stomping grounds, lived in Gig Harbor, worked in Gig Harbor, and my aunt is the Town Clerk there. My grandmother turns 90 in Sept in Gig Harbor.
I thought we only had San Diego in common WP! Sunshine is from Bremerton, fyi. The very same "Sunshine the Breakfast Queen" on this forum. We used to scuba dive off Fox Island. Paddled all around in a canoe as well. We built our home in Port Orchard and from there moved to Virginia.
FYI Maddie, Gig Harbor will remind you of The Cape.
YES! AND if you have time... from Seattle, cross over the Cascade Mountains and go to Leavenworth. The Beautiful Bavarian Village that made me fall in love with Bed & Breakfasts! OR go north on the Olympic Peninsula to beautiful Sequim or Pt. Angeles and the rain forest! So many beautiful places to see!
 
One of the first stops we're planning... http://www.grandcanyonwest.com/skywalktour.php
Open year round! Yippee!
 
One of the first stops we're planning... http://www.grandcanyonwest.com/skywalktour.php
Open year round! Yippee!.
Madeleine said:
One of the first stops we're planning... http://www.grandcanyonwest.com/skywalktour.php
Open year round! Yippee!
The see-through floor of that thing is the same stuff I got for the floor over my cistern. Most people are afraid to stand on it, but I always do and assure them it's stronger than the bridge they drove across coming into town!
 
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