I’ll try to keep this short, with a knitting update tomorrow. I actually didn’t get a whole lot of knitting done on the trip… I guess vacation knitting isn’t really my thing.

Favorite country visited: Canada! The highlight of our trip was spending a day in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I could have spent a whole week there.

Number of overpriced not-very-nice-actually-kinda-yucky motels we ended up staying at: 2 - one in Gold Beach, OR, and one in Castle Rock, WA. And one of those was after I had turned down an even more scary room in a nearby motel. Yikes.

Worst time to take a drive up the Oregon coast without hotel reservations: Labor day weekend. Hotel rooms are sparse (at least rooms that I’d want to stay in), and the weather was so foggy that we didn’t see one bit of scenic coastline on our drive.

Favorite new-to-me yarn store: The Web-sters, in Ashland, OR. A big thanks to Ms. CG for leaving a comment recommending the store… I would never have known about it otherwise. They have a huge selection of gorgeous yarn and very friendly service too. I got some Diakeito yarn for myself (enough for a hat, and either socks or gloves), and Todd picked out some sock yarn for me to knit him socks.

Places I loved: The beaches of Olympic National Park. I have never seen such a flat, wide beach. Even with the fog, it was amazingly gorgeous.

Victoria.

Seattle - the water, but not the traffic.

Place I hated: The Tillamook Cheese Factory. It might have been better if we hadn’t stopped on a Sunday that was also on a holiday weekend. All the machines were offline, and there were hordes of people in line for cheese samples and ice cream. Very disappointing. We skipped the line for ice cream and headed to the Dairy Queen down the street. Also, didn’t care for Pike’s Place Market. Way too many people, and lots of people selling touristy crap. The fish tossing was amusing, and the flowers sold at the market were gorgeous, but since we were staying at a nearby hotel, we had no need for fish or flowers. Again, disappointing.

Things I enjoyed doing the most: Watching boats and sea planes on Lake Union in Seattle. Visiting friends and family, some of whom I had not yet met. Climbing the sand dunes at Oregon Dunes National Park.

Wandering around downtown Portland, guidebook in hand.

Craziest place we ate: A bowling alley in South Bend, WA - it was surprisingly good food, but slooooow.

Best boutique clothing store: Alley Cat Boutique, in Port Angeles, WA. The best find of the trip was from here… my new Silver jeans. They fit like they are made for me, and cost just slightly more than Gap jeans. These jeans are perfect for curvy figures (large hips/small waist). (not really travel related, but I know how much of a struggle it is to find great jeans when you’re not shaped like a supermodel - hopefully this info is useful to someone.)

Most amazing geologic feature: Mt. St. Helens. Wow.

Things we missed on this trip that give us an excuse to take another vacation sometime soon: The entire Oregon coast, due to fog. Crater Lake. The Ashland Shakespeare festival.

Where I am glad to be right now: Home! As much fun as the trip was, two weeks is a long time to be away.