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Road Trip Blog, August 2005

I went on a 3800-mile, 24-day road trip with my family this summer.  While I was on the trip, I wrote a small blog about the trip.  Here's an archive of that blog.  Eventually, I'll post a section with a bunch of pictures.

Friday Aug 12th - Sunday Aug 14th

Friday, we drove from Twisp, WA to Oak Harbor, WA, which is on Whidbey Island. We stopped at Deception Pass, which was amazing. We met up with Andy & Kristen again in Oak Harbor. That evening, we went to a potluck dinner with about 40 other people. Saturday morning early, Dad and Mom left for Portland airport, for a quick side trip to Phil and Arliva's 50th Anniversary party in Orange County. Andy and Kristen stayed in the Seattle area, and David, Lisa, their kids, and I headed to Beaverton to see our cousin Steve, Julie Anne, and their kids. We spent the night there, in Beaverton with them. Sunday, we all went to church, then went to Gresham to Ron & Kathy's house for a little family get together. More cousins and kids came, and my parents and Andy & Kristen arrived from Tacoma, so we had 29 people there for dinner. Monday morning, we'll start heading south. We plan to go by Crater National Park on Monday, then I will probably split off, and drive straight back to L.A. while they take their time, visiting Yosemite.

Tuesday Aug 9 - Thursday Aug 11

Tuesday, we spent the day in Newport, WA. We went on a short late evening hike near Blanchard, to hike to a confluence point (North 48, West 117). There was a nice little lake nearby, but the last part of the hike was pretty steep. Here's a picture of some of the kids, holding GPS units: At N48.0000, W117.0000 Wednesday, some of the parents took some of the kids to Diamond Lake to go swimming. I stayed home and scanned some old family slides and photos. Diamond Lake Wednesday evening, we all got together and had sort of an informal closing ceremonies for our reunion and later that night, Dad, Aunt Jan, and I stayed up late organizing digital pictures, old slides and photos to scan later. Thursday, we all said goodbye. We started driving back towards Seattle. We're spending tonight in Twisp, WA. We stopped by the little town park, and let the kids play in the water at the confluence of two rivers. We ate dinner at the Twisp River Pub, right next to the river. Friday, we'll continue on to Oak Harbor, in the Seattle area. Twisp River

Saturday, Aug 6 - Monday, Aug 8

This was the weekend of the family reunion, the main reason for this big road trip. It was held at Bear Paw Camp, near Newport, Washington. We had a great time. All the surviving children and spouses of Gene Weathers and Ken Weathers (my grandfather) were there, plus some of their descendants. We ate, swam in the pool, went canoeing in the river, looked at old pictures, updated family trees, etc. It was a great weekend. We also took family photos; here are two of them: Group Photo. Mark Weathers Family. Monday morning, we packed up, cleaned the camp, and headed back to Uncle Dale & Aunt Sue's and Aunt Jan's places. The little kids had a campout in Jan's back yard in tents. Most of my generation of cousins went out to eat for dinner. We discussed a location and place for the next reunion, since Aunt Jan said it's up to our generation to plan next time. We decided sometime in 2010 would be good, maybe near Oklahoma.

Wednesday Aug 3rd - Friday Aug 5th
	We spent the week in Idaho, and now this morning, Friday, we're packing up, cleaning up, and heading to Newport, Washington, north of Spokane, to Uncle Dale's house, then later in the afternoon, we'll head to Bear Paw Camp for the weekend for the Family Reunion. Wednesday, we went bowling. And Thursday, we just stayed around the house, relaxing.

Tuesday, Aug 2
	Tuesday was David & Lisa's anniversary, so they were gone for the day, and the rest of us took their kids to the city beach in Coeur d'Alene. We rented a paddle boat for an hour, went swimming, then stopped by a Carl's Jr. with a kids' playground for lunch.

Weekend, July 30-Aug 1
	We've started our week in Hayden, Idaho. Saturday, several of us went to downtown Spokane on the way to the airport, we stopped by a Corvette show. Sunday, we went to a local church then went to a lake for a picnic lunch. Monday, we went for a hike up in the local mountains. BBQ in the back yard.

Friday July 29
	Today, we're leaving Bremerton on the ferry to Seattle, then we'll drive Interstate 95 through Seattle towards Spokane, on to Idaho, and we're going to spend the week near Hayden, Idaho. We're going to meet up with Andy & Kristen & Javan there. On the ferry to Seattle

July 27, 28 Wednesday, Thursday - Olympic National Park

We made a two-day round trip around the Olympic National Park from Bremerton. Wednesday morning, all 8 of us piled into Dad & Mom's Durango, and drove south, around to Forks, where we spent the night. On the way, we saw a rain forest near Lake Quinault, and Ruby Beach. Ruby Beach Thursday, we drove around the north side of the park, and stopped in Port Angeles, and had a picnic lunch up at Hurricane Ridge. Later, we saw Crescent Lake, then headed back to Bremerton, where we had a big salmon dinner at Mary Beth's. The Olympic Mountains Olypmic Mountains Crescent Lake

July 25, 26 - Monday, Tuesday

Sunday night, we stayed in Sacramento. The next morning, we got up and toured the State Capitol building briefly. We decided to eat breakfast in the employee cafeteria on the 6th floor. "Where Arnold eats every day," I told myself, but it's probably not true. We spent a hot Monday driving from there to Portland. Gresham, actually, where we spent the night with my Uncle and Aunt. Tuesday, we're driving up to Bremerton to meet my sister and her family. I ate lunch with a friend in Hillsboro, and will be meeting my parents up in Bremerton in a few hours... Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathy's house Update: Made it to Bremerton. We had a big dinner with friends. Tomorrow, we start a two-day tour of the Olympic National Park.

July 24th - Sunday Afternoon

This is day 1 on a trip that will last 24 days.  I'll be back August 17th.  Yesterday, I had dinner with Dad & Mom, Andy, Kristen & Javan, at Gail's house.  A&K aren't leaving until Monday morning.  Dad, Mom, and I are caravanning in two cars: my Nissan, their Durango, up to Seattle.  We don't have specific plans of where to stay, we'll see how far we get tonight. Also, we're caravanning without cell phones. We'll see how that goes. Driving by Mount Shasta

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Created and maintained by Matthew Weathers. Last updated Apr 20, 2006.