We drove toward our next stop Olympic National Park waving to Seattle as we went by. We stayed at a KOA instead of in the park, sometimes you need to hook up and run 6 loads of laundry before heading back out to “rough it” again. Our site had an amazing Mountain View and we enjoyed as much time on our patio as possible.

Olympic is a huge park with multiple diverse areas. We decided to do the park in stages. First was the north east rain shadow area. This included the Olympic Visitor Center as well as the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. Both had some interesting information mostly on the plants and animals, although we hoped for more history of the park and people. Maybe the next visitor center.

We took a couple walks around the area. There was still quite a bit of snow in some areas and our Ridge Trail hike was more of a hunt for the correct path under the snow. The adventure made it even more fun and we even got to slide down a small hill. The views were amazing in all areas even though it was a bit chilly.

On our drive back down the road we spotted a black bear enjoying the meadow. We enjoyed one more dinner with Mountain View’s and some time around the fire.

We were happy when we reached North Cascades National Park and the weather was a bit warmer and drier. We enjoyed another evening around the campfire while the little kids rode scooters and found new friends. By dusk it was sprinkling and the rain put out our campfire. We listened to the rain most of the night, but luckily by morning the skies were dry and we were ready to explore.

We hiked from our campsite at Newhalem Creek to the visitor center. The kids worked on their Jr. Ranger books while we explored the little museum and watched a couple of films. We then hiked back and jumped in the RV for a ride through the North Cascades Highway. We stoped at Gorge Creek Falls and Diablo Lake Overlook. Both had amazing views of the blue green water that flows through the area. We saw tons of waterfalls and some of the over 300 glaciers in the park.

We enjoyed lunch at Diablo Lake and then headed back to camp to spend the afternoon hiking. We did the Rock Shelter hike, saw the Newhalem Creek Powerhouse, and the Trail of Cedars. Then we walked the small town of Newhalem to the Gorge Powerhouse. As it was Sunday late afternoon nothing was open but we enjoyed the hike and town. The kids had a blast climbing the locomotive by the park. Crossing the suspension bridges was fun as well. The old growth forests were beautiful and the rivers unique color was gorgeous.

By the time we got back to camp we had hiked many miles and were ready for a campfire meal and s’mores before collapsing into bed for the night.

We continued north to another volcanic mountain. Mount Rainer National Park is 95% wild and surrounding an active volcano. Kind of like our kids mostly wild and can erupt at any time.

We were lucky to arrive with mostly clear skies. We picked out a campsite at Cougar Rock, which was still running on first come first pick. The very short season here had not started yet so there were no crowds. We drove up to Paradise since the weather was clear. The roads were still closed passes Paradise and there were no hiking trails since everything was still under 11 feet of snow! So much snow for June it felt like February to us.

Unfortunately although online they stated everything was open this actually meant the Ranger station was open, but none of the museums or informational areas. This was pretty disappointing to us as the learning aspect is a huge reason we visit the National Parks. The kids still earned their badges and we were able to do some snow hiking. so it was not a total loss but we wish we would have known so we could have planned differently.

We enjoyed the views and watched as clouds rolled in and covered the mountain. Apparently it is covered 50% of the time and we were lucky to have seen it during our visit. We headed back down toward camp stoping at the Narada Falls and enjoyed the views of the Nisqually River. The Falls required some more snow hiking and the mist off the falls was like a cold shower. It was still a great stop.

We enjoyed a nice evening in camp. Both of our neighbors were from our town, two states away and hundreds of miles. such a small world. It was a beautiful day even if it was a bit chilly.

Our second day was not a nice. It was dark and cold, so much so that we all slept in till 9:30 that never happens in our family. With our late start we quickly ate and headed out hoping to get in some hiking before the rains. We made it 1.5 miles before it started raining. We still had to hike back and we got soaked! It was fun and memorable though totally a hike we won’t forget.

We spent the rest of the day at camp playing games and even watched a Friday night movie. we left early the next morning again hoping for drier skies at our next stop. Although we are loving the visit, we are thinking the north west is not on our list of future places we want to live.

After our rainy day at Lake Detroit we were ready to move on to what would hopefully be drier skies. We headed out of Oregon and into Washington. As we entered Washington our RV entered it’s 48th state!! Our family visited back in 2015 without our good old second home. We were able to put the last sticker on our RV state sticker chart and celebrate a pretty cool accomplishment. The kids definitely don’t appreciate how amazing it is that they have seen so much of our country. We have another amazing dinner and settled in our bunks for our last first night in a new state in our second home.

Our next stop was Mount St. Helens. The latest volcanic eruption on the west coast and the only eruption to happen on Momma’s birthday. It is the littlest connections that sometimes make things seem pretty cool.

We were able to get two Jr. Ranger badges during our visit by first stoping at the Mount St. Helens visitor center and getting the geology badge they have there. Then we headed up the mountain to the Johnston Observatory and received our Mount St. Helens badge. Both places had some nice exhibits and the kids learned a lot about Seismographs, earthquakes, rock layers, volcanoes, and how it all ties together. The views were absolutely amazing. A commented that it looked surreal, like a giant painting. We made the same comments at the Grand Canyon. After a hike around the trails and taking lots of pictures we headed back down to our campsite for dinner.