Miles and Miles of Smiles- 2,300 to be exact

That itching feeling to get away came back so we went on a road trip to Washington! It was a beautiful drive, very green! I love the feel of Oregon and Washington. I can picture us there someday with a colorful little old beach house, a dog, and cute little tots running around. 

We spent many hours driving, so to keep Drew alert and me busy I made several hemp things and even crocheted a little.

We stopped to see Portland and discovered an awesome band! They're called All the Apparatus, kind of a lame name but they were good and sounded a lot like Beirut.

 We slept at a rest stop that night and woke up early the next day and headed to the coast. We got real lucky this trip with weather, so we took a drive on the beach!

 Drew is happiest with a few things: the ocean, soccer, and me of course. 

It wasn't Hawaii, but it was still beautiful.

Drew is not afraid of the cold! He skimboarded and was having the time of his life.

Uh oh....

Yep, he brought his Speedo.

The beaches in Washington are grassy. I'm trying to be artistic with my photos, and practice the focus blur thing I haven't seemed to perfect yet. (my sis Ky is my inspiration)

New tradition, cart wheels?

So we found this town called Oysterville. I loved the sound of it, but not the smell of it.

Lots....

and Lots....

of OYSTERS!

Did you know Long Beach is the longest beach in the world? I didn't. I just thought it was a name. From here on we decided to try to see as many as the "world's biggest" things.

Starting with a big ol' fat tree.

I'm very little on the bottom left next to this monster tree.

This part of the coastline (around where Twilight was filmed) was just like the movie.

It wasn't grassy like the other coastlines, reminded me more of Oregon. Too bad I didn't see any beached whales or seals!

This is a BIG CEDAR. Indians made diapers out of it.

We stopped in Forks before our coastal hike. I took pictures for Kylie, my avid twilight fan. This town was absolutely ridiculous! Everything was twilight! I guess it's a good way for them to make money and have people visit there or else nobody would stop probably, haha.

Our coastal hike on Rialto Beach was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I loved it. Not too long, not too cold, and super fun. 

This beach wasn't all sand it had lots of these pretty stones. They were so colorful and smooth. 

Drew finally found the perfect camp spot. It even had firewood for us and a bench. When he was looking for it I waited on the other side of this rock we had to climb. After he was gone a while I began to get worried. I psyched myself out and was convinced he got hurt and fell or something awful. So I ran with my huge pack and hiked up the rocky mountain thing so fast huffing and puffing crying my eyes out screaming his name. Funny thing is he heard me and thought I was hurt. When we finally found each other again we laughed and vowed to not separate again. Now that's true love.

It's not easy to start a fire with damp wood, but we managed to keep our toes warm!

We even watched the sun set. Finally somewhere in Washington we were allowed to camp on the beach, and camp at all for that matter! It is not enough anymore to plan on camping because everywhere we went they were closed or cost about as much as a hotel room. Real let down. Someday we want to buy some land in the middle of nowhere and call it a free camp ground for weary travelers that is available even after 10 pm. Wouldn't that be nice?

We visited Poulsbo where Drew went to high school. It was so beautiful there and special seeing all the spots where he had funny memories. For some reason it made me love him so much more by putting a picture to his past. I'm so glad we went.

We did end up spending one night at some of Drew's family friends house, and one night in a hotel. Thank goodness for the rain because I was dying for a bed and not a rest stop again! We even got to enjoy a private hot tub.

I love ferries! It's hard to get pictures of us together on trips so I'm glad a nice person offered to take one of both of us.

YAY SEATTLE! 

 Pikes Place Market is so cool. I could have been there all day exploring. I had no idea there was so much going on in there I loved it!

I'm not a huge fan of sea food or anything fishy, but I did get to sample a chocolate noodle! They're noodles made for dessert that you can put ice-cream and stuff on. Yum!

Oh, the endless fruit so fresh and green. You just don't see this in Idaho!

The space needle was real neat. Just to look at, then we moved on.

I remember going here in high school on a band trip. The EMP Center is a cool musical place. It's real pretty on the outside too.

We made our way to China town. It wasn't near as Chinesey as I had hoped for nor was it as cool as the one in California. But still, we had our Chinese food and were very satisfied.

You can always count on seeing cool fish in China town.

The night lights in Seattle were absolutely beautiful! This is one thing I love about big cities.

Bye bye Seattle! 

On the way home we stopped by anything we thought might be interesting. So we found the oldest building in Idaho!

Skipped some rocks and threw some things. Drew loves to do that.

Almost home, we stopped in Montana to take a nap. Why not by the river? It was sunny and Drew was pooped so we cuddled up and snoozed. I can't forget to mention the part where we ran out of gas in Melrose, Montana. The gas station is also the local diner, casino, bar, and store dark and unlocked with several elk heads on the walls, unfinished beers on the counter with abandoned tips, and nobody there to flip the old school gas pump on. Finally a drunken man stumbled upon us and saved us or else we would have had to sleep next to the cows.

It was the perfect road trip. It's fun to be adventurous with no plans, and stop and stay where you please. Thank you Drew for showing me your neck of the woods! Perhaps someday we will have a bright colorful beach house with no silly earth tone neighborhood rules. So us. Now... back to school tomorrow for the last time!