Dinosaur National Monument

With the help of freecampsites.net, we found a spot to boondock off Harper’s Corner Road (GPS coord.40.282358, -108.983808) near Dinosaur, CO. The dirt road is very rough but we managed to get our 35 ft fifth wheel back there. If you come here, you will want to pull off at the first left turn or camp in the flat area next to it as the road gets worse the further down you go. Amongst the sage brush, there is an amazing view of sandstone formations and vast high land desert. We have AT&T and Verizon data/voice service here too which is always a plus. For a free, HOT, shower, drive to the park with dinosaur statues across the street from the Colorado visitor center in Dinosaur.

On day one we hiked to Ruble’s point, a 9.5 mile hike to an awesome view of Split Mountain Canyon. It is really easy until the last mile where the ground is more rocky and steep. Within the first mile of the hike we saw prairie dogs and horny toads.

On the second day we drove to the Quarry visitor center to see some real dinosaur fossils. It is really cool how they built a warehouse type building to protect the sandstone wall that still has dinosaur bones in them, to show people what the excavation process looks like. You can touch most of the bones, they are real! The first skeleton was found in 1909 and they have found numerous types of dinosaurs in the area. We hiked two trails that linked together, the sound of silence and desert voices. Even though these trails were only a mile from the visitor center, there were no people on the trail except us. It is one of my favorite trails I’ve done, probably because of the extreme change in scenery (been in the mountains for a long time now). I learned that the semi-arid desert in which we were hiking is quieter than a recording studio, less than 20 decibels, hence the name “the sound of silence”. It was really neat to be in an area so quiet that you could hear the wind coming before you felt it. We saw a prairie dog, a fox, horny toads (some were little babies) and many, many rabbits.

Due to inclement weather we decided to leave the next day, even though we had already obtained our free permit to kayak the Green River through the park (only two given out per day). We dumped and loaded the RV for free at the CO visitor center in Frutia (awesome, thanks sanidumps.com for the tip!) Within the past month we have only stayed at a campground one night. The solar panels gives us electricity and we need to fill our water tanks once a week. We go ahead and dump our grey and black water tanks when we fill the fresh water tanks even though we could probably go longer without dumping. To dump and load (as I have coined the process) from our experience out west costs any where between $0 to 10. So at the most we spend $40 a month on utilities while boondocking. Nice huh? Next stop is one I have been looking forward to since we started this trip, Arches National Park.

Wind River Range, Wyoming

After we left the Tetons I really wanted to go check out the Wind River Range. I had planned a backpacking trip to the Cirque of Towers(Google some pictures!) years before and it didn’t end up happening. So this was my chance to get a look. We stopped at Rim Station for a night on the way to dump, shower, and refill our water and propane (The only night we’ve paid for in over a month now!). It was a nice park right on the border of the national forest. From there we drove into Pinedale to stock up on groceries again.

From there it was back to the boondocks 🙂 We stayed at a spot about half way up Skyline Dr(740) and the road lives up to it’s name with some pretty spectacular views. Our spot was at the Nordic Ski area, during the summer there are 5 to 7 spots there all very well spread out and several of them would fit almost anything. I found the spot indirectly through FreeCampsites.net. The road was mentioned as having nicer spots than down by the lake. We confirmed this with the ranger whose station is actually on the way up(convenient or what?). Even better it’s a paved road all the way up to the nordic ski area (and beyond to Trails End), then it’s a good dirt road. Unfortunately there was construction along Skyline Dr but the delay wasn’t more then 10 minutes and you couldn’t hear it from the spot.

After getting situated we decided to ride our bikes up to Trails End. It was a long uphill ride but the views were spectacular. It took us about two hours to ride up and about 15 minutes down. I forgot to start my GPS but I’m pretty sure we hit 35-40 mph, it was amazing. The next day we went back up to Trails End to do some hiking. Again the views were stunning, much like the Tetons but with a lot fewer people. The forest can be difficult to access so it’s mostly backpackers in the area and even then the trail-heads are usually down long gravel roads. Luckily not the case on Skyline Dr.

However the next day we drove about an hour from 191 to 352 and finally to 650 to get to another trailhead where you can hike some of the CDT(Continental Divide Trail). 650 is a 10 mile gravel road that runs along the Green River all the way to green river lakes. There are boondocking spots all along both 650 and 600 also, with many on the river. From there you can hike the CDT to views of Flat Top a stunning mountain with a…… flat top. The view across the lake and on to Flat Top is on the cover of the map for this ranger district if that tells you anything. Speaking of maps, whatever you do, do not buy the official map for this ranger district. It was next to useless Benchmark Wyoming book had much(much!) more detail. None of the trails in the wilderness area were on the map?? Also be aware that the maps at the trailhead list the trail numbers but on the trail they have names?? Anyways we were able to find our way despite all of that.

I will definitely be coming back to the Wind River Range, I still haven’t done the hike to the Cirque de Towers. It was too cold to go without getting a new sleeping bag for Victoria (I ended up buying a used Western Mountaineering bag in Moab for $150!). If you like to hike or backpack this has to be one of the premier areas in the country. Plus since it’s a National Forest we can take our dog with us. Yes she can hike 10-15 miles a day in the mountains no problem.

Up next Dinosaur National Monument.

Grand Teton National Park

After Yellowstone we continued south into Grand Teton National Park. The easiest way from West Yellowstone was actually driving through the park again. The roads are easily navigated by even the largest rig thankfully. We had originally planned to stay in a campground for a night near Jackson since we had already been boondocking the past five days and needed to dump, fill up, and shower. However the first park we called charged $110 a night! We checked several other and the cheapest was $80 a night. Even the National Park was $40 a night for no hookups and $70 with water. I don’t care where your campground is, we’re not paying that. We ended up paying $4 each to shower in Yellowstone and paid $10 to dump and fill up on water at a campground in town.

Luckily someone on the Boondocking & Free Camping USA Facebook group had a spot they recommended that was down Antelope Flats Rd just across the border of the National Park into Bridger-Teton National Forest. I also spoke with the district ranger and there are spots along Gros Ventre Rd, both dispersed and a large boondocking National Forest Campground. Both spots were listed in The Days End Directory and it mentioned that the view from antelope flats was an amazing, clear view of the Tetons. That clinched it for us.

They were right, the view was simply amazing. By far the best view of any campground we’ve stayed at. There were around seven sites, half of them would fit large units. There were also several dispersed spots if you continued past the campground. Unfortunately we didn’t see those until after we’d already setup camp and it wasn’t worth it to me to move for a slightly better spot. It was very easy to get to, the road is paved for the first four miles or so and then a well maintained gravel road for the last mile. Just be sure to stay on Antelope Flats Rd as you have to turn to stay on it. We were there for labor day weekend and even then there were spots available every night. We were literally feet from the National Park and 15 miles north of Jackson, which has a real grocery store.

After we got setup we went for a walk past the dispersed spots and then up a trail to a peak for a fantastic sunset. The next day we went for a hike to Taggart Lake which was also simply amazing and then went and stocked up on groceries($200+++!). The next day we hiked into Cascade Canyon which was so beautiful I would put it right up there with the hike into the Grand Canyon. What makes the Tetons so scenic is that there are no foothills to block your view. These huge 13,000 ft + tall mountains rise straight up from the Jackson Valley floor at 7,000 ft. They are famous for their steepness but none of the trails we were on were actually that steep, but then we weren’t trying to summit either, lol, just walk into the valley between these monsters.

The last day we decided to go for a kayak trip down the Snake River to take in the beautiful Tetons from another perspective. We were able to do the same as before and left our bikes at the takeout and then road back to the truck so we didn’t need a shuttle. However it still cost us $25 as the permit to boat in the National Park was $10 and they required a $15 AIS sticker which you could purchase online. They checked for all of this as you come through the gate and they will check your boat for invasive species. It was still well worth it if you consider what going with a raft company would cost. Although there are no real rapids within the Park the river can still be quite tricky as it will split into multiple channels and only one will be deep enough for even a kayak. This has the potential to be pretty dangerous as even with the water being very low we had about a 6 mph.

We also drove to Granite Creek which was an hour and a half ride from where we were camping. It was worth it though. It’s a natural hot spring high up in the mountains. They actually built a pool on the hot spring with a deck and everything. It was $3 a person to get in but man did the water feel good. It’s in the 90’s in the summer and varies a bit with the snow melt. People also come out here on their snowmobiles in the winter and since there is no runoff in the winter it gets up 112! There were a ton of boondocking spots all along the 10 mile gravel road to the hot spring. I would recommend simply pulling up for a day or three rather than drive like we did.

Yellowstone may have the more unique environment with all of it’s volcanic features but Grand Teton beats it on shear beauty. Especially if you can stay in the same campground we did. The hiking and kayaking is fantastic, if a bit crowded. We were there for Labor Day so that certainly doesn’t help. Even with the crowds it was well worth it and we will certainly be back. Enjoy the pictures!

Yellowstone National Park

We found a nice large spot to boondock near Hebgen Lake right before Cherry Hill campground off Denny Creek Road also known as FR 167. There are multiple designated dispersed campgrounds off this road. I was able to have AT&T coverage in this area but no Verizon. We were also told we could find dispersed camping along FR 1700 which would have been our plan B. From our spot, it takes about 25 minutes to get to the west entrance of Yellowstone NP.

Since it was Saturday, we decided to wait on Yellowstone and attempted to reach the Gallatin Petrified Forest from the Tepee Creek trail off highway 191, in the Gallatin NF which boarders the park. We never made it to the forest because we had to take a detour when we reached the boarder of Yellowstone NP. From our map it looked like there was a trail along the boarder but either it disappeared or was never there. The grass was really tall, and I ended up getting a rash from the grass touching my legs the whole time, I lost one of my hiking poles when we were trying to find the trail along the boarder and I never even got a piece of petrified wood. It was a bummer, but we ended up seeing moose and some really spectacular views from the peaks.

The next two days, we tackled the north and south loop respectively. There are multiple geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles along both loops (considering the park is right above a super volcano that is overdue to erupt at any moment). Be prepared as the thermal areas do reek heavily of sulfur. The highlight of the northern loop is Mammoth Hot Springs. There is a long board walk that takes you to all the major thermal activity sites. This area of the park is a mad house, almost like going to Disney. However it is worth visiting as it is unlike any natural wonder I’ve ever seen. The bacteria that live in the thermal areas produce beautiful colors of the entire spectrum. Boiling hot water flows down travertine steps white as snow.

The highlights of the south loop are Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone where you can see the Upper and Lower waterfalls. Old Faithful can take anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hrs to erupt. We were VERY lucky since we only had to wait 10 sec lol. As we were walking up I saw it spatter and I said “OH she’s about to BLOW!” Tim didn’t believe me but a few moments later she started up. The Falls is where Yellowstone gets it’s name, I think (the walls of the canyon are yellow). The lower falls has an awesome trail called the Tom Miner trail. It is about 300 something iron stairs that takes you almost all the way down to the river and is very steep. There are plenty of places to stop and rest and the views are breath-taking (or maybe it is from all the steps). We saw more bison along the southern loop, hanging around the thermal areas the way families gather around campfires. Other areas in the southern loop worth visiting are Grand Prismatic Spring, Wet Thumb Geyser Basin, and the Sulphur Caldron/Mud Volcano.

We had a great time visiting Yellowstone, it truly is an extraordinary place. A place where the ground steams and boils, rivers and lakes flourish between the mountains, and wildlife freely roam. Next we plan to boondock outside of Grand Teton NP. We most certainly will not be paying to stay in an RV park since they charge between $80-120 a night!!

St. Joe’s National Forest, Idaho

With the help of the rangers at the Avery ranger district in the St. Joe’s National Forest, we found an awesome boondocking spot off FR 456. It is only 4 miles up 456 after you turn left onto it from Avery. We had no problem getting to it in our 35 foot fifth wheel, even going through the one lane tunnels. This road used to be a portion of the Milwaukee Railroad.

When we finished setting up camp, we went on a bike ride up FR 456. There are multiple tunnels along this road that go through the mountains. They are really creepy to drive through, but even more so on foot or on bike. When you begin to go through, the tunnel is so short you can see the light from the other side. But as you get more in the middle, the pitch black darkness consumes you. Even though you can still see a little bit of light from the other side, it can be disorienting. The walls of the tunnel disappear along with everything physical about you. All you can do is focus ahead and quickly follow the light…While riding we found trail head 196 at the Telipah campground (called North Fork campground in the atlas). The next day we explored this trail that hiked to Big Dick Point (not kidding on the name). It was a difficult 11 mile hike with a 3,000 foot elevation gain and max grades of 34% and -32%. Bring your hiking poles, or find a good stick.

After boondocking a few days we went to a little town in Idaho called Wallace to do laundry, re-up on supplies and take a much needed hot shower (not that we can’t shower in the RV, just better to save water when boondocking). We stayed at the Wallace RV park for $25 a night, full hookups. There is a nice restaurant/brewery on the property. After a hot shower and a flight of beers with fish and chips, I was one happy camper.

One of the things to do around here in the summer time is biking the Hiawatha trail. This 15 mile path used to be part of the Milwaukee Railroad. It’s in St. Joe’s NF and northeast of where Tim and I rode bikes a couple days earlier. The trail is pretty fun, there are multiple trestles and tunnels to go through. In fact, the start of the trail is a dark, wet and coooold 2 mile tunnel! It was really creepy to go this seemingly endless tunnel. The price to ride the trail is 10 dollars a person and if you don’t have a helmet and light you have to rent them. You are supposed to wear this equipment at all times. However, at the halfway point I took my helmet off since I HATE helmets. My philosophy is if I ride off the cliff I’m dead anyways so I might as well feel the breeze…I digress…For the most part, the entire trail is at a 1.7% downhill grade, meaning you don’t have to pedal hardly at all. Then you can take the shuttle back (for an extra fee $9/pp). We opted to ride the bikes back since we were already annoyed they charged us to ride on a bike path in the first place lol. I will say- it is a really awesome bike path.

Soon we will be heading to West Yellowstone and hope to find a boondocking spot outside the park. Thanks for reading. 🙂

Hell’s Gate State Park

After Washington’s wine country we continued our trip east and our next stop was Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, Idaho. It is located on the Snake River at the entrance the Snake River Gorge, the deepest gorge in the US. The parking spots for the RVs were very large as were the sites themselves, you never felt crowded. Although it was a very dry area the park was very green with many trees from the constant watering. It felt like an oasis. Depending on your spot they had full hookups and an obstructed view of the river and surrounding hills.

Surprisingly it also was the most technologically up to date park we’ve stayed at. It had wifi internet that actually worked(There is no router in loop A so stay in B if you need access). It was provided by an outside company and cost $3 a day, or less the more days you purchased. They even had a yearly pass you could buy that was good for any Idaho State Park that provided internet for $20. I wish more parks would charge a couple bucks for internet and actually provide something useful rather than offer it free and be so slow you can’t even load a web page much less upload photos or watch a video. Another cool feature was the signs at the start of their trails had a Q code that would download a copy of the trail map to your phone. What a fantastic idea!

The trails within the park lead you up to the top of the surrounding hills and then down along the river for a total loop of about 5 miles. It was quite scenic but it was so hazy that we couldn’t see for much distance. Apparently the entire Northwest is currently on fire and the smoke from those fires is what was causing the haze. The fires also caused us to divert up north to get around them for our next stop.

We also had to go kayaking on the Snake River, of course. I didn’t want to have to use a shuttle service so I came up with the plan to chain our bikes down river at the pull out. That way we could just ride the bikes back to the truck and then go pick up the kayak. This was a great option because there is a bike path all along the river, it’s a great area for a bike ride. The water was surprisingly warm, a balmy 75 or so. It was refreshing to jump in but not so cold that you couldn’t breathe. Although I chained the kayak up, Victoria was afraid that someone would steal it(We had someone steal both our kayaks a few years ago). This turned out to be a great motivator for her, I’ve never seen her keep up such a great pace, lol.

I’d also like to give shout out to Commercial Tire in Lewiston. The brakes on the trailer were squeaking so I brought it there to get checked out before we headed into the real mountain roads. They jacked it up, took a look, said they were in great shape, greased the bearings, and then didn’t charge us for any of it.

Next up, bookdocking in the wilds of Idaho 🙂

 

Washington Wine Country

Our first trip on our way to Yellowstone was wine country in Washington. We stayed in Prosser at the Wine Country RV resort. We hoped to boondock but was having electrical issues with the batteries that had to be fixed. I got the idea to come here from talking with some co-workers in Seattle about wine country. The latitude here along the Yakima River makes the land super fertile for grapes as well as other produce. The RV park is right off I-82 but is walking distance to nine wineries annnddd here is a swimming pool! Perhaps our electrical issues were a blessing in disguise since it ended up being 100 degrees here!…The pool came in quite handy. The management was spectacular. Each morning there was coffee and fresh homemade pastries. The only thing I didn’t like was how you had to pay to utilize the showers.

The RV park hosts wine tastings on the weekends. However, I definitely recommend going to the wineries because they tend to pour more for you to taste ;). We really enjoyed Bill’s and Bacchus for the tastings. We went to Hinzerling’s but his wines are all really sweet. We also went to McKiney’s Springs which has spectacular wines (except for the Malbec and Syrah…they were like slap in the face heavy red). If you venture to McKiney’s Springs, make sure you hold your nose high. Indeed.

I really enjoyed wine country. There isn’t really anything else to do but drink wine and maybe go pick some berries or grapes. It would make for a really fun girl’s trip since there are soooo many wineries to choose from. Tim doesn’t care too much for wine but he was a good sport and suffered through each tasting for me. 🙂 In no time we will be in the woods and mountains so it was nice to enjoy some of the finer things in life for a while. Check out the pics below and our itinerary to Yellowstone!

Took that midnight flight to Georgia!

After finishing my 9 week assignment in Seattle, Tim and I embarked in the ol’ fifth wheel to the Olympic National Forest. We found a nice, big open space to boondock off Forest Road 2270. We explored a couple trails and found a few waterfalls. It was nice to get out into nature again after being cramped in the RV park in Lynnwood. We had to cut the trip short unfortunately since we were having electrical issues with the batteries not charging. We moved to the KOA in Seattle for the night so Tim could work on the batteries. (If interested please ask, I won’t bore with the details.)

The very next day we all flew to Atlanta (Marilyn too) on the red eye 0050 am flight. I didn’t get more than 10 min of sleep when we arrived in Atlanta at 8 am eastern time. We rented a car and stayed with my good friend, Shadee, for one night. She is 8 months pregnant, and we were also tired, so we ordered a bunch of pizzas and watched the movie Alive. Good thing we watched this movie AFTER flying lol.

After a much needed good night’s sleep at Shadee’s, we drove our rental to Tim’s old stomping grounds, Athens Georgia. Tim’s good buddy Justin was getting married in a little Baptist church outside of Athens. Tim and I will use any excuse to visit Athens. We started our relationship here. In my last semester in college I would drive up to visit him and ended up living with him for a couple months after I graduated nursing school. Athens nightlife is very fun and alive. The campus is always open and makes for a romantic stroll at night…despite having to dodge huge roaches every other step (this is the only thing I DO NOT miss about home lol).

After the weekend in Athens we drove to see Tim’s family and my brother for a little vacation on Lake Murrary in South Carolina. It has been a family tradition for Tim’s family to visit Lake Murrary every year. Tim’s dad rented a pontoon boat and we had a great time swimming every day in the lake. My Seattle white body finally got some much needed vitamin D.

Three nights came and went by at the cabin before it was time to leave for our ultimate destination…home. Savannah, Georgia is where we call home. It was so good to see my mom and dad again. My nieces and nephew are growing so fast. Full time traveling sounds fun, and it is, but you sacrifice one big thing- family. I hope they know how much I love them but that I am happy. Maybe I will soil my roots again one day but for now I am a free bird.

When we fly back to Seattle we are going to embark in the RV to Yellowstone, WY. I will post the itinerary soon.  Enjoy the pics, I hope you all continue to follow us!

 

Portlandia

This past week Victoria had a couple days off in a row so we decided we’d go see something in the area. I needed to go to Portland because I had eye surgery before we left and I needed to go to my last check up. In Jacksonville they told me they had an office in Seattle but when we were almost here I called them and lo and behold the closest office was in Portland! That was alright since on the way up here we were only able to spend one night in Portland after a long day of driving (truck problems in Coos Bay, it’ll be my next article probably). Even having only been there one night I could tell it was a town I’d like. The neighborhood we went to have dinner off Mississippi Ave. was full of old homes, young people, and good cheap restaurants you could walk to. In short it reminded me of my neighborhood, Riverside/Avondale, in Jacksonville. The park we stayed at was also only 5 miles from downtown and apparently only a mile or so from their excellent train system.

We decided not to bring the RV this time however because after the cost of diesel, campground fees, and just the hassle of setting up and breaking down everything we thought it best to just rent something. Doing so would also allow us to stay even closer into town. We ended up using AirBNB for the first time. For those of you who aren’t aware this is a vacation rental service. Where it differs from most other services, such as VBRO.com, that I have used is that you don’t have to rent by the week for most places. They also offer places where you can just rent a room in a house with other people or even just a couch. Not our thing but if you were traveling alone it would be a good way to meet others. Really not too much different from shared rooms in hostels but probably a lot nicer.

We ended up renting a one bedroom apartment in the basement of a nice older home. It was actually very similar to the apartments I rent in the basement of my historic home, lol. The process in general was similar to other vacation rental services but AirBNB seems to be a more in your business. I had to give them my social security number and they cross referenced that info against my Facebook page somehow. Then after paying the owner wanted an introduction. It all seemed like a bit much just to rent an apartment for two nights. I mean, I’ve rented 500k+ homes with a lot less hassle.

The apartment was called Pied-a-Terre; PDX and was very nicely decorated and stocked with everything from shampoo to coffee. It was immaculately clean, I thought, clearly the owners must be anal retentive. They confirmed this and their passive aggressive nature after we had left by accusing Marilyn(Marilyn!!!!!!) of scratching up their window sill. When I explained that although she is a dog, she is only a four pound chihuahua they cut off contact. I guess they realized that it would be physically impossible for her to even reach the 4 foot high window sill much less scratch it, lol. Not to mention Marilyn has never scratched up anything, she prefers to sleep :). Anyways, it was well worth the hassle and was cheaper and much much nicer than a decent hotel room. We were also only 2 blocks away from a train station that would have you downtown in 10 minutes or so. All in all I highly recommend it.

The first night we got in a bit late because the traffic in Seattle is outrageous, all day, everyday. Their rush hour apparently runs from about 7am to 7pm. So we decided to take the train a couple stops up and get some food and beer at one of the many micro-breweries in Portland. We got sausage and bread with fondue cheese and pickled onions and a pretzel. All of it was excellent. I’m not much of a beer drinker but Victoria gave it the thumbs up. Then we took the train up a stop and walked around the neighborhood a bit and got some pizza.

The next day we wanted to head downtown to check out the food trucks(of which there are hundreds) and just walk around. We went and had some excellent Hawaiian food and a gyro. The selection of trucks was amazing, Thai, Indian, Georgian(the country, not the state, lol), Polish, hot dogs, grilled cheese, Chinese, Mexican, etc. So much to try, not enough stomach to fit it into. I love when you get good, unique food for a reasonable price. We also had to go over to Voodoo Donuts to try out their famous and outrageous offerings. I had a bacon maple doughnut with a literal slice of bacon on it. Victoria had a pretty tame creme filled doughnut, both were excellent. Take a look at their website to get an idea of the crazy donuts they have. Besides the bacon there were pretzels, cereal, and much more as toppings.

Now for the bad. Portland is absolutely infested with homeless people. I don’t think it is any exaggeration to say that there was well more than a 1000. Now Victoria has never been to the west coast so she used to think Jacksonville had a lot of homeless people. I however have been to San Francisco so I know what the situation can be like out here. I think the people and cities are so overly generous and hospitable to the homeless that they attract them from all over the country. Portland is certainly right up there with San Francisco and it puts Seattle’s homeless population to shame. I don’t think they actually have more homeless people than Seattle, I just think Seattle does a better job of setting up homeless ghettos and keeping them out of the main tourist areas, in large numbers at least. Portland is the opposite of this. On every corner there is a band of ten homeless people smoking and begging.

What I find even more sad is that compared to the homeless out east the majority of the ones out here are young, under the age of 30, in good shape health-wise, and seemingly not bat shit crazy. Maybe the proper term isn’t homeless but vagabond? It seems they just do not want to work. In the nice several mile long river front park there were at least 200 homeless people sleeping. On top of all that, these were the most entitled, aggressive, and just plain rude homeless people I have ever seen, their attitude even put the ones in San Francisco to shame. While eating our doughnuts no less then three healthy but dirty twenty something homeless people came up, asked for us to buy them doughnuts, and then were indignant when I refused. It’s one thing to ask for change politely on the street or hold up a sign and another to come into a place of business and demand something(Either way they won’t get anything from me as I don’t think it actually helps them). Unfortunately someone sitting across from us got up and gave them one of her doughnuts, and that was after he had been rude and aggressive. That’s just causes more of that behavior. A bit later several others came and dug through the garbage feet from paying customers in the middle of the day.

Portland is a truly a very cool, urban, and artistic city but the severe homeless problem is going to scare off a lot of people, both tourists and potential residents. The sheer number and audacity of them compares to nothing I have seen before. There were much less homeless people in the downtowns of third world countries I have visited. However, I have to say that if Victoria and I had a choice we both would pick Portland over Seattle. The main reason for that is the traffic situation in Seattle and the amazing public transit system in Portland. It also helps that Portland has an RV park only five miles from the city center whereas in Seattle we are 20 miles out, through heavy traffic. Seattle seems like a great town but the suburbs of Seattle are just like suburbs everywhere else (Only with more asian stores) 🙁

Voodoo Doughnuts 

TriMet – Portland Public Transit

AirBNB

Road Trippin Doggie

Hello! I’m a doggie named Marilyn, aka Maribell. Dis is my first blog I’ve ever typed. I heard some of you wanted to know how I fealt about dis trip. Momma said that people always ask about me and how I’m doin. It took some getting used to, but I’m happy and content now.

When I first left home in Jacksonville, I was kinda sad. I was upset about leavin my big pillow, my couch and all the familiar schmells outside. I even miss da mailman, even though I barked at him everyday. Momma only let me bring two of my friends – lion and boyfriend. It took me almost 2 months before I “danced” with boyfriend, dats how sad I was. It took me a few weeks to get over leaving home. I tried to bite people I didnt know and would bark a lot at every noise outside the RV.

Ridin in the truck is fine. Momma velcrowed a small pillow on the center console of the truck so I could sit comfortably in between momma and papi like I always do. I never get sick ridin in the car, Papi always takes me everywhere wif him so I’m used to it.

Every time we stop, I get out of the truck and start sniffin around. I get so confused because a lot of times we are always going to a new place and I can’t schmell the same schmells. It gets really frustratin. One thing I worry about is the grass. Lots of times the grass has stickers and they hurt my feets. Papi has to dig them out of my foot fur and den I’m afraid to walk in the grass. Some grass is nice and some isn’t.

After a while I started to feel better. As long as I’m wif my momma and papi I am happy. My favorite place in the RV is on top of the couch. I like to look outside da window, to see what all is happenin. I also like the carpet in the RV it is nice and sof. As usual, when people see me dey always compliment me on how purty I am, dat perks me up. I already know I’m bootiful since momma tells me all the time. I heard momma saying that we were going to go to Canada soon, I caint wait to see what the grass is like there! I never been outside the country before! Whelp, thats all I have to say about livin in the RV. Let me know if you have any questions or advice for doggies on the road. Buh Bye!

Maribel