Back and Forth Across the Columbia River

Or the blog also known as: Lives ruled by rivers, mountains, guitar chords and dogs.

Tuesday: Whole family left Boise on Tuesday night to drive to Richland, WA just north of the Columbia river for a head start on our journey. The evening was fine and we loved meeting our new host, Jeff who was a great person we hope to spend more time with in the future.
I always drive first

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Southern Washington

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Wednesday: Drove from Richland to Bellingham via Seattle. Beautiful vinyards and orchards everywhere. Driving along the Columbia river, little boats out fishing. Stopped at Pike Place Market in Seattle, wandered around then went by Amber's work to get a hug from the darling momma to be. So wonderful to see her but sad that we didn't have time to hang out. On the road again headed north. Stopped to take a short hike off hwy 11 just south of our destination. Walked along the railroad tracks and ate late season blackberries on the walk to beachcomb along the Samish Bay. Arrived at Barb and Mikes in the afternoon. After a short rest and settling in we had a wonderful dinner that Barb prepared. Such gracious and wonderful people are too short in supply. We were reluctant to leave the conversation and great fun but had a show to see. The show was at WWU in a small rehearsal hall. Bo opened like usual, Greg coming on afterward. The show was a good one and we were so thrilled and energized to be traveling, meeting such great folks and seeing such good music. We stayed up after the show with Barb and Mike talking and having some wine then finally went to bed.
Jordan with the King at Pike Place

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Not enough time in Seattle, we'll have to go back

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Stopped to do some beachcombing and rest

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Samish Bay

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Cobi at Samish Bay

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Thursday: Woke early and went on a walk by the waterside with B&M. Gorgeous area Fairhaven is. I made breakfast for us all and then after some very sad goodbyes and promises to see each other soon, we were back on the road. Met up with an old high school friend and his wife for a short tea break on our way down hwy 20 toward Winthrop. It was fun to reminisce and Jordan loved knowing I was a teenager once. The drive along hwy 20 was spectacular. The northern Cascade mountains are so majestic and the turquoise water of the Skagit river is simply magical. We stopped a few times to take pictures or short walks and then realized we better get to Winthrop. Pulled in late afternoon and checked into our hotel only to find Greg and Bo out back near the river. Greg had lost a boot heel while down fishing and they were looking about for it. After a quick dinner in our room we headed down to the Winthrop barn for the show. This show was in a small venue with great sound quality. Bo opened again-with the wonderful sound his performance was truly moving and Greg had a great energy even improvising a song about his lost boot heel. After the show we had some wine and chatted with Greg and Bo for quite a bit. Back at the hotel, we all chatted some more and finally made it to bed.
Out on our morning walk with Mike and Barb along the Bellingham Bay

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Jordan, Cobi and Kyme with Dan, the founder of Fairhaven

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Majestic North Cascades

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More mountains

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There were deer everywhere in Winthrop, we must have seen almost 100 all over the west edge of town as we got in, walked around and went to the show

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View out our back patio of our room. This is the Methow river. Greg was fishing just to the left of this picture

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Local fiddle player John joined Bo and Greg onstage for a few songs

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Our Winthrop hotel, The River Run Inn. Our room at the top of the stairs, Greg's just below

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Friday: After a late night, we got up slowly but knew we had a long day of driving so showered and hit the road just after the sun came up. There are tons of deer in this area and we saw many, many deer on our way in to town as well as our way in. Still awed by the scenery, we couldn't stop but drove and drove. Took a short break in Olympia to eat and walked the trail around Tumwater falls, near the old Oly brewery. The salmon were spawning in the lower pools and it was truly something to behold.
Back on the road again we crossed the Columbia river and pulled into Portland later than expected after wading through a bunch of traffic. Dropped Jordan off at Mom's house and made it to the venue just in time to get in line. We were lucky to chat and meet up with many other Greg Brown fans at this show. Good show this night with ok sound quality but the set was very nice. We made it back to mom's tired and weary and ready to sleep.
Morning in the north Cascades

From Washington - Oregon 1009

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Diablo Lake, one of the many reservoirs along the Skagit river, they are turquoise in color due to the water coming directly from glacial melt

From Washington - Oregon 1009

mmmhh

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Jordan and Kyme at Tumwater falls in Olympia

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Returning chinook salmon, we couldn't believe how many there were

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Amazing to see wild salmon in the river spawning!

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Saturday: Woke up as early as we could manage while being so road weary. Chatted a little with mom and went to breakfast and the flea market before heading out of town again. We realized that we hadn't expected the bummer of not having enough time to spend with those people we were meeting and the family we loved along the way. This is a great lesson we learned on this trip and won't make that mistake again!
Drove to the coast and stopped at Seaside where we fed seals at the aquarium and walked along the beach. Then drove the coast north to Astoria and crossed the Columbia river yet again. Turned inland and made it to Olympia with just barely enough time to stop by Jed's and drop Jordan off then run to the show. This venue was weird, strange energy, rude people and a bad sound system. We were tired and to have all this was a bummer. The show was super short due to some sound issues that really pissed Greg off. We were sad about this but super hungry and tired so we stopped for food on our way back to Jed's then slept very well.
Stopped in Seaside to feed Seals

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Kyme and Jordan on beach in Seaside

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Crossing the Columbia at Astoria

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Kyme and Bo after the Olympia show

From Washington - Oregon 1009

Sunday: Up early watched some Jimmy Newtron with the girls then out to breakfast before hitting the road for the very long drive home. Crossing the Columbia one last time as we left Washington, we said goodbye to our silent companion. Stopped at Multnomah falls for a short rest then back on the road. We drove and drove and drove and made it home late Sunday evening to happy dogs and a welcome bed.
Multnomah falls and two very tired girls

From Washington - Oregon 1009

This was our last major trip for this year and we are so thankful to everyone who hosted us, housesat for us, fed our dogs and cheered us on along the way. If you would like to see the whole picture album you can do so here. Thanks everyone!
Kyme, Cobi and Jordan.

Driggs and Yellowstone

Well, road trip number two of the month was a great success-the Greg Brown show, Driggs visit and camping with Eric & Emily then Yellowstone plan.

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We had a great drive across Idaho and pulled into Driggs late on Wednesday night. Called our host who was not at home but whose roommates Bill and Bob kindly took us in.
On Thursday, after running into Eric & Emily in town while setting our blanket out at the concert venue, we went on a drive to a trailhead our hosts gave us direction to. Along the road we came upon a deserted house that was set in a picturesque wheat field.

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The trail was quite beautiful, in the Jedediah Wilderness area at the base of the tetons, Darby Creek Trail.
Resting point:

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The trail is only 2.6 miles long each way but the elevation gain is (gulp) 1,800 feet. So we were a bit worn out by the time we reached the waterfall and wind cave at the top but it was so amazing, it was worth it. We weren't exactly prepared for this hike (not realizing the extent of it) and can never thank the gentleman with the water filter at the falls enough~ THANK YOU water filter stranger.

Wind hole at back of first part of cave. This goes through the mountain into a larger ice cave...which we did NOT go into. The air coming out of this hole was freezing (!) cold.

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Heading out of the cave:

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After hiking out and a quick shower at our hosts house we headed down into Driggs for the show. It was held at an outdoor parklike area and the weather was perfect. Met up with E&E and ate a quick dinner prior to the show then settled in. The crowd was a bit much but I stood right in front of the stage to get a good view.

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The set was long, Greg was having a good time playing to the raucous crowd but ended the whole show with a direct gaze and hat tip at....yours truly!! I about fainted and all the women around me sighed and looked at me briskly, it was awesome! Ok, so he's my version of a rock star. After the concert the three of us went up to the lookout near Grand Targhee Resort and watched the stars, they were amazing!
We had a restful night and packed up in the early am. Met up again with E&E to head to Island Springs with a couple of cool stops along the way.
Mesa Falls:

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After arriving at our camping spot along the Buffalo river, we decided to go for a swim to cool off. The river was beautiful.

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Camp was set and E&E took us to the headwaters of the Henry's Fork river, Big Springs. It was truly a magical place where this entire river just bubbles out of the ground, crystal clear water.

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We spent some time relaxing and had a late night around the fire. Then it poured rain very early in the morning with tons of very close lightening and thunder, it was truly extraordinary.
The next morning we woke early to a clear sky and herons calling and were on our way to Yellowstone. We saw many buffalo:

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elk and stopped at the geysers and hot pools.

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Pulled into Old Faithful area ten minutes before the show so we lucked out to see that and went on our way farther up. We spent time at West Thumb and drove all the way up to the waterfall and canyon area.
Artists lookout was the most extraordinary view of the day and our last big stop in the park.

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Back at camp we relaxed with E&E and all shared the adventures we had during the day. After a nice sleep we were awoken early in the morning by moose calling back and forth to each other.
We finally got up and ate a nice breakfast, broke camp and began the long drive home. Not willing to end our vacation just yet, we stopped at Craters of the Moon park.

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We enjoyed all the caves in the park, even the really cold ones with ice (ICE in the middle of August) in them.

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Finally on our way home we rolled in late to unpack, love on the dogs and hit the hay before returning to reality and the work week.
Another amazing adventure under our belt, we're thankful for our awesome truck who keeps us safe and moving forward to our next adventure.
We hope you enjoyed yet another Idaho Graziano adventure. If you'd like to see ALL our pictures, feel free to check out them out here.

Wyoming, Colorado and a whole bunch of Greg Brown!

I knew that this trip was going to be pretty amazing so I wrote during the trip in order to transcribe it here with little anecdotes from my current vantage point. Enjoy:

August 5: Left Boise just after 4pm, me (kyme) driving, listening to some blues.

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hit a big lightening storm just after twin falls and put in some ani difranco to go with the light show. the desert was expansive, allowing a great vantage point as we drove through eastern idaho. on into utah, saw a deer. put in beastie boys and smacked into a huge dust storm just before ogden. gassed up in ogden after driving for 3.5 hours and 300 miles straight. checked in with our couchsurfing host and we're on our way again. utah has some beautiful mountains. some canned heat and we're through the pass- breaking out the strawberry twizlers and darkness falls, the full moon rises. lots of wyoming and it's too dark to write.

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August 6: cooked breakfast for our great host Jason and his sweet german shepard, kimber! then grabbed a wyoming cache, gassed up and on the road again...in a light rain. we outrun the storm pretty quickly. more bboys, sublime and operation ivy got us through most of wy. then some bob marley to glide into laramie for a quick break,

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lunch and back on the road.
saw a bunch of antelope, interesting rock formations. van morrison and strawberry twizlers and we're almost to cheyenne. left wy and into:

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in boulder after a short rest. greg on the radio now, getting excited for the show tonight. we're headed to replace a tire after checking in with our cs host in boulder and taking a quick nap, then we'll check out boulder before the show. woke up from napping by the very loud thunder of a huge storm sitting right over town. it rained a bit while getting the tires replaced but only enough to cool things down a bit.

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Cheers!

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what is there to write? we wandered around boulder prior to the show. neat town, lots of great little shops and interesting areas. picked up some vinyl at a cool record store on pearl street. ate a nice dinner of burritos out of the back of the truck and shared a peach lambic beer. we went to the theatre just prior to the show and met some great folks. i was able to hook up with and hug a woman i had chatted with on yahoo group forum, as well as forge friendships with those sitting around us. the show was awesome of course- greg and bo are remarkable musicians.

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directly afterwards we went around to the back of the boulder theatre. greg was sitting on a half wall in the alley signing cds. so after the crowd cleared, i sat down next to him.

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we chatted a bit, he recognized us from the bend show last year. i argued with him about fishing in the snake river and had him sign a book of his poems. he wrote "I love ya kyme"- yeah, made my night!

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it's midnight now and we're headed for a map of colorado then bed. tomorrow- crested butte.
August 7: woke this morning thinking my arm was around greg brown last night, was that a dream? the cool boulder breeze floated in through the open window welcoming the sunshine. all blue skies. after bidding farewell to our gracious host shonu and the pups sasha and ben, we're making our way through boulder on the road to crested butte.
Boulder flatirons:

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lunch break at fairplay, a tiny town. last night we made friends with the gentleman sitting next to us, chad. he owns a gold mining spot (outfit, rig, location? what do you call a gold mining operation?) along the river in fairplay. so we stopped to learn how to pan for gold and chat some more with our new friend.

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we had a great time in the sun by the river, found a few flakes but not enough to live comfortably yet. i sucked at gold panning pretty bad, cobi was pretty good at it. back on the road again. we're so grateful for the blessing of our new friend. thanks chad! lots of beautiful scenery as we drove across the southern end of the sawatch mountains. the rockies are gorgeous and we're in love with colorado.

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rolled into crested butte so named for the beautiful butte soaring above town.

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we met the director of the arts center who told us where to wander to in town-elk ave. so we headed down to the historic district (which is really only a couple blocks from, well, anything in town is within about a 5block radius!). stopped at the eldo for a cheeseburger on the sunny outdoor patio, good regae playing, mmmmh.

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crested butte is an amazing place. greg's concert was above and beyond.

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afterwards we headed around the back of the arts center, and met up with greg again. we were able to gift him some idaho wine-and I requested a particular song. the sprinklers came on and got us all wet, it was hilarious. afterwards we met a local friend, scott who took us to his house for a drink. turns out he's a local musician so we were treated to some more music. so we hung out listening to scott play some kind guitar. then went for a walk downtown. had so much fun hanging out with scott. said our goodbyes at the eldo then headed to our couchsurfing hosts' house, a condo on the hill. we arrived to more awesome guitar music-wow-this town is amazing when it comes to arts. everyone here has a dog and a bike, we felt so at home. we were told you could borrow just about anyone's bike, they don't lock them up, or lock their doors for that matter- dogs seemed negotiable too. our hosts are awesome and terribly talented, troy and steve. this day has been extraordinary, blessed, "excited and free". (thanks steve, you sang this right as i was writing and i just had to borrow the expression it fit so perfectly.) Steve played guitar and sang us to sleep. He is a remarkable musician and we hope to hear him again in the future.

August 8: woke to beautiful scenery while having a nice breaky. then headed up into the hills prior to heading out of town. the hills here are so beautiful but...we got a flat tire- not a good tire trip! we were up in the hills and a hiker stopped to help. we gave him a ride into crested butte, spent a couple of hours finding a temporary fix until we get to gunnison. on the road for now. very sad to be leaving crested butte, we felt though that if we stayed any longer, it might turn into years. Nothing could really top yesterday but hey, we're on our way and almost to Grand Junction. Talked to Jana, our next CS host. She sounds sweet and even offered to come get us if we couldn't fix the tire. She's going with us to the show tonight, so I'm looking forward to having time to chill with her. Cobi and I have driven the length of WY and CO in the past couple of days-wow. We've gone from desert to grassy plains, through mountain towns and mountain paradise, now in the rolling hills of western colorado we're so glad to have embarked on this journey which has been nothing short of purely amazing!
August 9: Mmmmhh. morning, coffee! So- we met up with Jana yesterday afternoon. Her home is so warm and inviting we felt comfortable and welcome immediately.
Jana's kitty Helios:

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After some downtime and dinner we made our way to the concert venue. The theatre was really like an old, dark bar but very open inside making it odd and somewhat uncomfortable- like being inside a big black box that smelled of stale cigarettes. The stage was up pretty high as well, so much less intimate than the other two venues. The set started with Bo as usual and he had a good time playing- bit more energy from him than previous nights. Greg came out and played a few songs without any commentary which is not like him. His versions were more automatic- perhaps he was tired? Then...near the end of the set...he sang the song I asked him to sing. It's a song that wasn't on his set list for this tour and he was leary to play it since Bo wasn't familiar. But I asked for it the two previous nights and here it was- a beautiful version of All of those things, sung by Greg Brown, for me! Two more songs and the show was done. Greg got up and said thank you, then looked directly at Cobi and I in the front row and tipped his hat! Afterwards we went out back to visit and say thank you. Bo and Greg both smiled and were so sweet to chat awhile with us. I asked Bo if he had just learned All of those things today. He said 'no'- Greg had mentioned to him he was going to play it for me prior to the set but he hadn't learned it, just improvised. I was so thankful to him! Then the people milling all moved on and I was alone talking with Greg in an alleyway. It was so sweet to just be there hanging out with him. -Cobi had gone back to the club to find Jana. So I said goodnight and Greg said "have a great drive home- I'll see you in Driggs" and gave me a big hug. Greg gave me a big hug-one of those "my life is complete moments"!!
So after yet another flat repair (the third tire issue of the trip for those counting) now we're leaving Grand Junction on a beautiful morning.

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Sad to be heading out of our trip but happy to be heading home. It's now 5pm on Sunday. We're still a 3hr drive from home. Both of us are a bit road weary but some flogging molly and jellybellys and we'll make it home just fine. We have driven almost 2 thousand miles along this trip and what a journey it has been. We just crossed the state line back into Idaho. Cobs and I were talking about all of the extraordinary people we've met and regret not getting pictures of them all for our blog and memory. We will just have to go back when we can.

My journaling left off there. We arrived home sleepy but ate and chatted with Dad before crashing. Our trip was extraordinary, we will never forget it. we covered over 1840 miles, visited fun towns, met great new friends and gathered 35 states in the license plate game!! We can never thank the people we met along our way, our couchsurfing hosts and the strangers who quickly became friends. We truly were blessed and will never forget them. Thank you!

hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures, now to plan the next one-leaving for Driggs next week!