Motorcycle Ride to Carson, Washington

For my birthday week, we planned a motorcycle trip from Spanaway, Washington to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Redwood National Park in California, riding south through Central Oregon and north along the Oregon Coast for our return loop home. It's the longest bike trip I've done to date at 1,500 miles! Our first partial travel …

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Places to Eat and Drink in Vancouver, Washington

We recently enjoyed visiting the super walkable city of Vancouver, Washington, and exploring the waterfront, parks, and Fort Vancouver. We also loved checking out a variety of local eateries and breweries. I didn't realize how much I've missed having these foodie experiences during COVID - I'm so happy we can start safely returning to some …

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Things to Do in Vancouver, Washington

The weather was gorgeous but hot for our Memorial Day weekend bike trip to explore a new city - Vancouver, Washington. It seemed odd we had never been to Vancouver given how many times we've been near it traveling to Portland. However, when I shared our plans with colleagues at work, it turned out many …

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Exploring Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park

Now that we live in the South Sound, we've been building lists of things to do in Tacoma and beyond that we simply didn't prioritize when we lived north of Seattle. I used to roll my eyes at Clevelanders who stuck to their east side or west side - as if it was such a …

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Washington Hikes: Ginkgo Petrified Forest Interpretive Trail

A couple weekends ago we headed for the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains to check out the Ginkgo Petrified Forest - one of only six petrified forests in the United States - and some nearby hikes along the Columbia River Gorge. After a snowy journey across Snoqualmie Pass, our first stop was the Ginkgo …

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Washington Hikes: Mildred Point

Last weekend we decided to check out a longer hike in Mt. Rainier National Park. Now that we live in the South Sound, the west entrance is less than an hour from our house so we're looking forward to spending more time in the park. We arrived around 7 a.m., breezed through the gate thanks …

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Washington Hikes: Little Mashel Falls

The last month has been a little crazy. We finally ripped the band-aid off and listed our house, which went into contract two weeks later, and in the midst of prepping it to sell we found a new place to rent in the South Sound and moved most of our things and ourselves in. After …

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