Cross-Country Vacation 2023

  The web address for our blog is called "travelingvtjs", which refers to Traveling Vermonters Julie and John. The purpose for this blog is to share all the wonderful places that we visited along our journey. In early 2023, we started planning for a cross-country trip to visit family. Our plan was to leave in mid-April and use  Airbnb  and  Hipcamp  to find places to stay along the way. Experience using  TripAdvisor ,  AAA TripTiK , and  Google Maps  for planning vacations and places to visit helped. Purchasing  Wanderlog  and  DayOne  were also useful to plan and record. Because National Parks and camping were on the list, we used  Recreation.gov  for reference and planning too. Being a veteran I was able to purchase a lifetime pass to National Parks for $10 (processing fee & handling charges); it allows us in to all National Parks where a fee is charged. We are both in our mid-sixties so we knew that we did...

On the road again after a 2 week hiatus. The plan is to drive 222 miles in 6 hours. We started the day at Randy's Main Street Coffee , said good-bye to family, then drove from Brownsville, OR to Newport, OR, where we headed south on Rte 101. (Click on any photo or video to enlarge) Our first stop was Lost Creek State Park ; it was our first opportunity to stop and see the Pacific Ocean. Julie & John at Lost Creek State Park 20 miles down the road we stopped at Cook's Chasm: Thor's Well and The Spouting Horn . Oregon Coast The Spouting Horn Continuing on, Julie used TripAdvisor to find interesting places to eat. Today we stopped at Mari's Kitchen for lunch. Another 45 minutes of driving brought us to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park . We took a quick break here and visited the Lighthouse Museum & Gift Shop . A lady was selling flavored popcorn in the parking lot and we bought a big bag of the spicy popcorn; it was really good! Another...

We awoke at our AirBnb at Floras Lake Guest Cottage . Today is Mother's Day. Floras Lake The plan today is to drive 189 miles in 6 hours. We headed south for about 20 minutes to Portside Cafe in Port Orford, OR. It was a nice little place, serving good food.(Click on any photo to enlarge) 45 minutes later we stopped at Battle Rock Wayside Park for an educational break. Battle Rock Sign Broadleaf Lupine Hottentot Fig Battle Rock We made a couple quick stops, first at Ophir Wayside State Park, then in Gold Beach, Oregon for some souvenvirs, finally an unplanned stop at Ariya's Beach for some amazing rocks in the water. Ariya's Beach Ariya's Beach We drove through the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor . It was a beautiful drive on winding roads. I wanted to look, but also had to keep a close eye on the road. This was definitely a place where we could have spent more time, with 18 miles of hiking trails and lots to see. Using Alltrails we...

Our morning started admiring the gardens and some birding at Eureka Garden Bungalow Airbnb . Today's plan is to drive 311 miles in 7 hours. Clematis Clematis Columbine Common Camilla Common Camilla Flame Azelea Mexican Snow Ball Eurasian Collared-Dove Female House Finch Male House Finch Eureka, CA is a beautiful city with lot of old architecture. Julie and I enjoyed driving the streets and looking at the Victorian Houses. We ate breakfast downtown at Ramone's Bakery & Cafe . Eric Hollenbeck restores Victorian Homes; he has a show called " The Craftsman " on Magnolia Network that we watch. We wanted to visit Blue Ox Millwork his place of business and check it out. Though this photo doesn't show it, Julie was downright giddy to meet Eric. We spent an hour here and could have easily spent more time. This is another special place and deserves a separate page. https://travelingvtjs.blogspot.com/p/blue-ox-millworks-and-his...