Washington - Oregon July 2025

July 22, 2025: Travel Day

Bill and I set our alarms for 5:30am, but for some reason we woke up over an hour earlier. At 6am, we awakened our 1.5 year old Max to put her in the car, which made her very unhappy. Our flight from Honolulu to Seattle left on time at 8am and was a smooth flight. We had treated ourselves to first class tickets for the very first time, and I was thankful for all the extra room we had for our restless lap toddler. Max’s attention span is very short and she is always on the move. I was grateful that she didn't have any long breakdowns, but she skipped her nap and required constant entertainment and attention throughout the 6 hour flight.

Spotting the airplanes

Due to the time zone difference, it was already evening by the time we landed. We were picked up by my family from Texas, who had also just arrived: my Dad, my sister Lan, her husband George, and their kids Drakeson and Milli. They pulled up in a large van they rented from Turo. George was our driver throughout the trip, and Milli was Max’s entertainment. We headed for my friends Jenn and Joe’s home in Olympia, picking up Indian take out from Curry Corner on the way. 

Jenn had set up tables for us to eat in her backyard and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for our feast. Drakeson and Milli picked some wild blackberries from the backyard for everyone, and Jenn shared mulberries which my family had never tried before. Mulberries are the sweetest berries I’ve ever eaten.

Max patting Drakeson's back

We met Jenn and Joe's 11 week old Gailyn, the sweetest squishiest smiliest little baby!  Jenn and Joe's older daughter Gwenyth greeted us with enthusiastic hugs and an adorable drawing she had made in celebration of our arrival.

Welcome drawing of Gwenyth, Max, Milli, and Drakeson - by Gwenyth

Max was very excited to run around in the room Lan’s family was staying in, and she immediately took to playing with her cousin Milli. I would have let Max sleep with Milli, but Max couldn’t settle down. When we told her it was time to brush her teeth, she started calling out for our dog Ocean because usually we brush his teeth first.  

I had thought since Max had woken up early and skipped her nap, she’d fall asleep early.  She's usually such a good sleeper, so it was a surprise when she stayed up screaming on and off until 2am. Bill and I struggled through staying awake for 19 hours straight. Fortunately, the rest of the household were able to sleep through most of Max's cries.

Gift my Mom bought in Ireland for Max

Sleepy hugs

July 23, 2025: Blueberry Picking in Olympia

Jenn and Joe picked up croissants and bagels for breakfast from a local bakery.  Lan made cookie dough in preparation for the following day's breakfast.

So many cookies!

Our morning event was one of the highlights of the whole trip: picking blueberries at Spooner’s Farms!  Between Jenn’s family and mine, we ended up with 38.17 lbs of blueberries, which came to $124.

One of Dad's first jobs was as a blueberry picker

Drakeson

George

Lan

Joe

Jenn & Gailyn

Gwenyth

Bill & Max

38 lbs of blueberries!

A dozen happy berry lovers

Fistfuls of blueberries

We stopped for lunch at Van’s burgers and ate outside. The kids played with a tetherball and climbed on a vintage McDonald's hamburger jail. 

Hamburger jail

Milli

Tetherball

Following lunch, we visited Jenn’s dad Darcy at his house on Tempo Lake. We took boats out onto the lake and a handful of us went swimming: Joe, Gwenyth, Milli, Max, Lan, and myself. My family hadn’t come prepared with swimsuits, but we made do.

Rowing

Swimming

George & Gailyn staying dry

After drying off, we took a walk along the Deschutes River where the kids (Drakeson, Milli, Gwenyth, and Max) immediately jumped in the water and got wet all over again. Dad, Bill, and Joe skipped rocks, and Max imitated them by throwing rocks into the water. We picked wild thimbleberries and blackberries on the trail. Several times, Drakeson gave up all his berries for Max.  Every time she ate them, she looked at him unappreciatively and said “more.” 

Max & Gwenyth

Deschutes River

On our way home, we stopped at Vics Pizzeria to eat unique pizzas (one with clams & garlic, one with sun-dried tomatoes & goat cheese, and one with salami & balsamic), beer, cider, and freshly made gelato. Max played with Milli in the small indoor playground. 

Cousins

We were excited to pile up into Jenn and Joe's hot tub before bedtime. Max had skipped another nap so she was starting to fall pretty far behind on her sleep. Bill and I were relieved that Max fell asleep at 8pm and only woke up once briefly.

Hot tub time machine

July 24, 2025: Berries and Road Trip

For breakfast, we ate the rest of the bagels as well as Lan's fresh baked cookies.  Max played with Jenn and Joe’s pets: their dog Manfred (who she calls “Manny”) and their bunny Bouncer (who she calls “Bunny”).  We managed to gather 10 people plus Manfred together to record a video of Max’s current favorite song “Row Row Row Your Boat:” (Youtube link of our song here!)

Max & Bunny

Max & Manny

Max & Milli

Row Row Row Your Boat

Star Wars Throne Room Theme

Milli, Gwenyth, Lan, & Gailyn

The kids ran out some of their energy at the Hands On Children’s Museum and then we went to the Olympia Farmer’s Market for lunch.  We devoured an assortment of amazing berries: marionberries, mulberries, raspberries, golden raspberries, black raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries!  Somehow we still had room to split an assortment of seafood dishes from Dingey’s Cuisine.

Children's Museum

Swarming the marionberries

Golden Raspberries, Blackberries, Boysenberries, Raspberries

Happy Max

Black Raspberries

Marionberry, Mulberry, Raspberry, Golden Raspberry, Boysenberry, Columbia Blackberry

Farmer's Market!

My family loaded up in our giant van and said goodbye to Jenn and her family. It was time for the big family road trip!  We drove down to Government Camp, Oregon, stopping a few times along the way to gas up the van, pick up a pack n play, and buy some groceries (including red cherries, to continue the berry craze!).  Max must have made Milli sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "The ABC Song" about 100 times each.  

Gas station

We checked in at The Lodge, where we all shared one giant apartment.  Milli and Drakeson got into an argument so Milli didn't want to come downstairs for dinner initially.  I brought Max up to see Milli.  Max patted Milli's pillow and told her to "sleep," and then gave her kisses and patted her back.  Milli eventually came down to eat with everyone.  We had a couple frozen lasagnas, and then split off into smaller groups to walk around the area.  Drakeson brought back some salmonberries and huckleberries he found on a nearby trail.

The Lodge

Walking around Government Camp

July 25, 2025: Skiing in July

George made everyone eggs for breakfast and then we headed out to Timberline Lodge.  Bill has never been skiing before, nor has he ever shown any interest in it, so he was in charge of Max.  The rest of my family all decided to go skiing (except for George who was going snowboarding), so they all bought ski passes and started renting equipment.  I hadn’t skied in a long time so I was initially planning to stay with Bill and Max, but Milli insisted I join her.  Before purchasing my ski pass, I asked the front desk how advanced you needed to be to ski.  I was told only black slopes were open and the snow was firm, so you needed to be an expert.  I relayed this to my family who all panicked and returned their ski passes, except for George who decided he was going to brave the slopes on his own.

Max ready for the snow

Timberline Lodge

Everyone bought passes for the Magic Mile chairlift, which climbs 1050 feet, starting at 5950 feet and ending at 7000 feet.  It was both Max's and Bill’s first times taking a chairlift.  In retrospect, I’m not sure how good of an idea it was to have Max on a chairlift because she intermittently started saying “no no, all done” and wiggling.  I held onto her tight. At the top of the chairlift, Max saw snow for the first time.  She wasn’t too impressed.

Bill's & Max's first chairlift

Max's first snow

George took another chairlift that ascended even higher up to the slopes, and we all waited for him to snowboard down and give us a full report.  He ensured us that the slopes were easy enough for us to handle, and that they felt more like a blue (intermediate) slopes than black (expert) slopes.  Feeling various levels of convinced, the rest of us took the chairlift back down and bought ski passes.  We were glad George hadn't listened to the front desk lady because he was right; the slopes weren't too difficult and we all had a ton of fun.  Bill and Max stayed behind and were joined by our Portland friend Jamie for a hike.  We regrouped in a gigantic hot tub at Timberline Lodge.

George and the 5 of us he dragged along with him

Lan & her kids

Lan & George

The Kratzke Sisters

Gotta love a good costume on stilts

Hiking crew

Jamie joined us for the rest of the evening which basically involved eating several times.  We had sandwiches and blueberries for dinner, grabbed red cherries from a fruit stand, walked on the nearby Collins Lake trail where we foraged more salmonberries and huckleberries, and ended the night with ice cream.

Max walking with Bill and Dad

Milli stream crossing

Collins Lake

Collins Lake without the people

Salmonberries

Huckleberries

Reading... and also not reading

Lien & Jamie loving on Max

July 26, 2025: Columbia River Gorge

George treated us to another breakfast by using up our remaining eggs, cheese, lunchmeat, and bread.  We drove to Hood River, stopping first at the Farmer’s Market where we bought Rainier cherries, strawberries, peaches, cherry tomatoes, spring mix, and basil.  I met a dog of my dreams: part Alaskan Malamute and part golden retriever.  I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of that marvelous fluffy creature.

Strawberries!

In case you’re like me and you’ve lost track of how many different types of berries we ate on this trip, the answer is 14 (I think): 

1. Blackberries
2. Black raspberries
3. Blueberries
4. Boysenberries
5. Cherries (red)
6. Golden raspberries
7. Huckleberries
8. Marionberries
9. Mulberries
10. Rainier (yellow) cherries
11. Raspberries
12. Salmonberries
13. Strawberries
14. Thimbleberries

Jamie joined us at Safeway, where we bought makings for a picnic lunch of egg salad sandwiches.  Then we picked blackberries and watched windsurfers at Hood River Waterfront Park.  

Max pushing Milli

Bill, me, Max, & Jamie

Drakeson & Milli

My favorite part of the day was hiking in the Columbia River Gorge to the beautiful Wahclellah Falls.  Max napped in my backpack for about an hour.  Hiking left us all with a good appetite for our picnic lunch right afterwards.

Me & Max

Napping

Milli & George

Jamie & Me & a sleeping toddler

The whole group

Our next stop was Bonneville Locke and Dam, where we observed fish ladders of salmon and steelhead.  We also spotted some lampreys, though we didn’t get to see their creepy teeth.  

Drakeson & Milli

Me & Jamie

Max & Jamie

Watching fish swim upstream

Bill and Jamie saw this lamprey!

Jamie headed home while the rest of us went to the nearby Bonneville Hatchery.  We got to see Herman the Sturgeon, an ~80 year old, 10 foot, 500 lb white sturgeon.  I'm pretty sure this day was both my first time seeing a lamprey as well as my first time seeing a white sturgeon.

Herman the Sturgeon

Big fountain with continuously flowing drinking water

Milli, Drakeson, Dad, and... Bigfoot?

Feeding trout with fish food that dumped out of a machine for a quarter (we were happy Dad carries change)

Lan & her littles

Me, Max, & Dad

Sturgeon art

Flowers

We picked up Mediterranean take out from Nicholas Restaurant and brought it to Jamie’s house in Portland.  Jamie introduced us to her tiny energetic new puppy Murmur, and we gave her cat Jello some love too.  Jamie and Lan played music together on cello and piano, respectively.  It was getting late by the time we settled in for the night at the Hilton hotel by Portland Airport.

Getting spoiled with Jamie's popsicle

What the heck is that?!

Maybe the puppy's not so bad

Nevermind nevermind, it's scary

Maybe I'm interested again

Hey, come back

At least this one's not ever scary

Music time

July 27, 2025: Homeward Bound

Bill and I woke up early and said our goodbyes before taking a shuttle to the airport.  The rest of my family stayed in Oregon to continue onward with their road trip.  Bill, Max, and I flew from Portland to Sacramento and then on to Honolulu.  Our second leg of the journey was the first time I’d ever been in a lie flat seat.  Max snuggled up next to me and fell asleep for a full 90 minutes.  It was the best nap she took on the whole trip.  

The mid-day July weather in Honolulu was in the 80s and hit us in the face when we returned.  I'm usually so excited to return to Hawaii weather, but for once I found myself missing the crisp 60-70 degree weather of the Northwest... as well as my family... and all those berries.

Helping push the luggage

Last flight

Max's best nap

Play area

Window view

Getting close!

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