We continued north from Astoria, over the bridge spanning the mighty Columbia, and into the beautiful state of Washington.  But before we left Astoria, we watched our Superbowl-bound Patriots kick some ass against the hapless NY Jets whilst parked in the harbor.  Not exactly a glamorous living room, but we seem to like it.  We had big plans for Washington, including a bunch of exploration along the Olympic Peninsula, a visit back to the great city of Seattle, some unbelievable steelheading, and some additional exploration along the Canadian border and onto Vancouver Island.   But Mother Nature had other plans for us, and as much as we didn’t want to comply, she ultimately prevailed, as She always does.  It was a disappointing end to our west coast swing, but everything happens for a reason.

As it turned out, we spent a paltry three nights in Washington.  I should also point out that it rained our last several days in Oregon, so the weather was beginning to wear on us.  After all, one can only go to so many breweries, right?  To that end, we visited North Jetty Brewing on the south coast in the city of Long Beach to drown our sorrows and to prepare for the heavier rains that were predicted.  We camped at Cape Disappointment that night, and boy, did it live up to its name.  For the record, the park and its location are awesome…right on the beach and very rustic.  And although it really hadn’t stopped raining for the past week, the real rain came that night on Cape Disappointment.  The news stations from Seattle said it all the next day.  Even the Seattle meteorologists were impressed.  Apparently, somewhere between 6 to 8 inches of rain fell overnight, co-mingled with 40 MPH winds.  Did I mention we were on the coast?  We actually thought that the Tall Boy was going over a few times, and we thought for sure we’d at least be washed out into the ocean.  It was quite the night, but we survived without incident.  However, the next morning, it was clear to the both of us..it was time to make our way back to Park City, particularly since even more rain was on the way.  We are disappointed that we didn’t make our way to the northern Olympic Peninsula, and eventually to Vancouver Island, but we will have plenty of time to return at a later date.

We basically did a giant u-turn after leaving the Washington coast and headed south-southeast along Route 84 and the mighty Columbia River.  The rains continued, and the driving basically sucked, but it was better than working.  We desperately wanted to explore the Hood River area, but camping options were limited and the monsoons continued to make things difficult.  Nonetheless, we decided to cross the river and head back north into the southern Washington wine country, a decision that we now are glad we made.  We visited Prosser, WA and managed to do a wine tasting at Bennett Vineyards, which turned out to be excellent.  We also spun through Walla Walla, simply because it’s fun to say, and also because we enjoy their onions quite a bit.  We struggled again to find a good camping spot, and for the second time in as many nights, we stayed at an RV park.  Not exactly private in terms of camping, but a reasonable place to catch a few winks.  By the way, we really enjoyed the city of Walla Walla.  Not only is it fun to say, but its people are very friendly, if not hip.  Yes, I said “hip” and Walla Walla in the same thought process.  It was a pleasant surprise, and we were glad we persevered and gave Washington another chance.  We even had a chance to hang out and watch Walla Walla’s Christmas Parade along Main Street.  It was totally fun, and unexpected.

We left Walla Walla and headed into the hills toward Joseph, OR.  Jennifer and Mike Chesney say this is a cool place to visit, so with their accredited endorsement, it was a no-brainer.  But once again, Mother Nature had other plans for us.  About halfway there, we ran into colder temperatures, and eventually, quite a bit of snow.  Actually, it was the first real snow we had seen in the rig, and Tall Boy wasn’t all that pleased hauling Half Pint around on the snowy and icy roads.  So, we “simply” turned around and aborted our trip to Joseph.  Another day, Joe, another day.  We reconnected to I-84 east and drove until Maryjo insisted that we pull off the highway so that I could have another try at a west coast steelhead.  The destination was the John Day River and Cottonwood Canyon State Park.  What a remarkable campground located right on the John Day, and the facilities were just recently updated.  Brand new bathrooms and showers that still had that new building kind of smell.  As good as the facilities were, here’s a shocker, the fishing was not, but MJ’s turkey chowder was awesome! And in case any of you were keeping track (thanks, John Anthony), that made it an official skunking for the steelhead capital of North America.  It’s time to go home, wherever that is these days.   I will get you, Mr. Day, you’ll see.

We pushed hard along I-84 East, trying to outrun the storm and the snow.  We did an obligatory overnight stay in Boise and the mandatory visit to see our favorite beer friends, Bre and James, at Barbarian Brewing.  We hung around with Bre, James, Christy, and Keaton and had a blast catching up and restocking our supplies.  We also spent a night with our good friend, Dr. Mark Spelich at his new shack in the hills.  A few months back, Maryjo mistakenly called him “Dr. Spelichick”, after the greatest coach of all time, Bill Belichick.  Obviously, Mark’s new name has completely stuck, at least with us.  When we told him, Mark was only moderately amused, as one would expect.  Don’t worry Mark, you will get used to it.  After all, my nickname is Schmedly (thanks, Murr).  We had a few beers with Mark at Barbarian and a nice dinner out on the town.  Thanks again for everything, Spelichick.  We had a blast.  Oh, I almost forgot.  We hit snow in Boise, but it was of the wet variety, so no harm, no foul.   We hauled ass back to PC immediately thereafter.  The west coast swing is officially over.  Or is it?  Things happen for a reason…