Our travel “bucket list” is very, very full — overflowing, really. But near the tippy-top of the list was Crater Lake National Park. Superlatives cannot adequately describe this geologic marvel. Cooler than cool! Bigger than big! Bluer than blue! (Isn’t that a country song?) Brace yourself, because this post is gonna be a...
Nestled in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, the 9,000-Silver Falls State Park is the largest and most popular of all Oregon state parks. One of the main draws is its spectacular hiking on The Trail of Ten Falls. Where else can you walk behind, around, over, under and (if you’re adventurous, through) TEN breathtaking falls in a 7 mile hike? Not just...
The Olympic Peninsula Loop is a distance of 329 miles that can easily be done in a day (with back-to-back espresso’s and a lead foot), but we took a week to do it. And who wouldn’t want to take their time, with jaw-dropping views like these! The loop encircles Olympic National Park. The red road “101”, including 73 miles of wild...
Our next stop in Washingtonpalooza was the tallest volcano and the 5th highest peak (14,410 feet elevation) in the contiguous United States: Mount Rainier National Park! Over 10,000 hikers attempt to summit Mt. Rainier each year, and only half succeed. We figured we’d save ourselves the trouble of failing and just not even try...
The “Chainsaw Carving Capitol of the Pacific Northwest” sounded just weird enough to catch our attention. Grown men flexing their muscles while creating delicate works of art? The perfect dichotomy! We motored on over to that was Sedro-Woolley and their Logger Rodeo, the oldest continuously running 4th of July celebration in Washington State. We...
The Lucky Charm next journeyed westward to North Cascades National Park, along a route from Winthrop to Marblemount that is the northernmost east-west road in Washington, and not terribly far from Canada, mate. These amazing turquoise waters are unretouched in these photos — they really are that shade! Gasp-inducing, to say the least! Many...
A 15-mile bike ride, downhill all the way, through gorgeous forests with incredible scenery, along the path of a historic abandoned railway route, through 10 train tunnels and over 7 sky-high trestles, with a shuttle to take you back to the top when you’re done? Yes, please! We drove 100+ miles out of our way just to experience the Route of the Hiawatha...
We’d heard McCall, Idaho was a great place, but did not expect it to be one of our FAVORITE places we’ve visited yet in the Lucky Charm. With an abundance of fabulous outdoor recreation and an adorable lakeside town, we were charmed! Also, it was here that I spotted and photographed only the second fox I’ve ever seen in my life (I...
June, 2017: The Lucky Charm’s 2017 Summer Adventure has arrived! With 4,251 miles tooling around Idaho, Washington and Oregon (route map at the end of this post), we are super excited to explore the Upper Northwest! Snow-capped mountains ringing Idaho’s Sun Valley area welcomed us, where it is well-known for winter skiing but equally...