Portland boasts a really awesome elk sculpture:

David P. Thompson drove sheep to Portland over the Oregon Trail. From 1879-1882 he served as Portland’s Mayor. In 1900, Thompson’s gift of this bronze elk sculpture was intended to commemorate elk that once grazed nearby. Roland Hinton Perry sculpted the elk.

Nicely done, Portland.

Portland also boasts a really, really cute food trailer!

They serve grilled cheese sandwiches (several ways) and tomato soup, and you can eat on a converted school bus with tables in it. FYI, if it’s been a long time since you’ve been on a school bus, chances are you are now taller and that will be weird. But still really fun!

Portland also boasts Mt. Hood.

We got to wave goodbye to Mt. Hood from the air as we left. Thanks, Oregon!

We also ran into this random lovely spot on our way to look at Bigfoot statues:

And we took a brief detour up to Mt. Rainier National Park. After all, we have just a couple of months left on our national parks pass, so we’re trying to make the most of it!

We had perfect weather every single day of our trip except this day. Our park day was really, really cloudy and drizzly.  So, this made for a different experience than what we had expected, but it was still gorgeous and lovely in its own special way! We loved the moss hanging off these trees:

And we saw some other fun and interesting plants:

Here’s a photo from Narada Falls:

Because of some roadwork, we were “stuck” at Christine Falls for a while.

They were so amazing that we could have stayed all day, but we forged ahead to the visitor’s center at Paradise. We saw some incredible wildflowers and clouds in the Paradise area:

Because we were so short on time, we elected not to hike to the viewpoint to see one of the glaciers. We thought we probably wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway through the cloud. But we did see some glacier pieces around!

And a trip to a national park is never complete until you see some wildlife.

For example, here in the town of Maltby, Washington, we found an espresso stand shaped like a coffee cup:

The Colonel Sanders weathervane out front is just a bonus. Speaking of chicken, we paid a visit to the World’s Largest Egg in Winlock, Washington — formerly a major egg producer, apparently.

By the way, when we were taking photos of the egg, the locals looked at us like we were straight c-r-a-z-y. As if no one comes to Winlock just to check out the World’s Largest Egg. Come on!

We also went to Chehalis, Washington, to see Yard Birds:

I actually don’t really know why these guys are here. They seem to be part of a large shopping complex involving a tire store and a tattoo parlor? I’m not sure. There wasn’t anyone around, so it was mostly just us, these birds (or this single bird with a mutant second bird coming out of his side..?), and our rental car in a huge parking lot.

Moving on, we saw these metal cow sculptures outside of Olympia, Washington:

In addition, the Pacific Northwest is really, really into sasquatches:

They even leave out food for them:

We also saw a film location from Harry and the Hendersons:

While Bigfoot didn’t choose to reveal himself to us directly, we know he’s out there.

We also went to Kid Valley, Washington, to see the buried A-frame, a house that was partially completed when Mt. St. Helens decided it had had enough already and might as well blow up. The A-frame was covered in ash:

I actually don’t know much about the Mt. St. Helens eruption. I was only a couple of months old when it happened, and my parents never mentioned it to me that I can recall. I’m assuming they were preoccupied at that point with not sleeping and changing diapers and whatnot and possibly didn’t even know about it (just kidding!). But Brian is old enough to remember it being a big deal, so being in this area was especially exciting for him!

…so we could get crumpets.

They’re very important to us.

And we visited Beecher’s to observe cheesemaking with a keen, educated eye.

That’s a lot of curd, y’all!

We also visited the Fremont Troll!

And we saw a sparkly penguin!

And another rocket!!

And in case all that isn’t enough awesome for you, we also happened upon a giant statue of Lenin holding a sandwich:

(He stands in front of Royal Grinders, a sandwich and gelato place… so I guess it’s pretty convenient for him to get his lunch there.)

But we figured, what better way to spend your time in Canada… than to drive to the USA?

Actually, we wanted to check out this little place called Point Roberts, Washington. It’s a geographic anomaly:

As you can see, in order to get to Point Roberts, you have to go through Canada. We thought we better find out whether being there felt like being in the US or being in Canada. Plus, we heard there was a really good chance we’d see an orca. And it’s only half an hour from Vancouver. Oh, and we really wanted Brian to get to use his hard-earned passport. So we were off!

As it turns out, Point Roberts is kind of a USA-Canada hybrid, and also it’s pretty deserted. Check out the beach!

Nice, right? Alas, we didn’t see any whales. We did see this marina, though:

The marina has a very distinctive shape, as you can see from this satellite photo:

That’s just an FYI for later.

We returned to Vancouver in time to check out this large drill bit before turning in:

The next day, we went to the airport to catch a plane to Seattle, and I seriously thought Brian (who is no fan of flying even on a regular jet plane) was going to kill me when it turned out our plane was this:

However, he forgave me when we saw both Point Roberts (easy to find via its distinctive marina) and orcas from the air.

Also, I haven’t traveled internationally in a couple of years, and good lord, getting through customs took for-freaking-ever! Did I forget, or has it gotten worse? Discuss.

That’s the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It’s a 230-foot drop down! And! It’s held up by cables, people!!! IT SWAYS! AND!!! Once you walk across… you have to walk back across to get out. I was so scared!!!!!

I made it, though. Somehow.

But that wasn’t all!

Once you’re across the bridge, you can do this thing called Treetops Adventure.

It’s actually pretty interesting (not to mention beautiful). They’ve put in these mini-suspension bridges between platforms around trees in the (temperate) rainforest. The platforms are engineered so they won’t interfere with the trees’ growth and development. It’s an eco-friendly, educational, beautiful, terrifying attraction!

Plus, check out this pretty hydrangea!

After enjoying the Capilano Bridge Park, we ventured over to Stanley Park to visit the Vancouver Aquarium.

Guess what? THEY HAVE A BABY BELUGA WHALE! She’s only a month old!!

She is so adorable! That’s her with her mom!

Here she is about to spray water on a bunch of unsuspecting children!!!!

After the aquarium, we checked out some more of the park. We met this guy on our way to dinner:

And we went to Third Beach:

Ahhhh, Vancouver. So pretty! Also, I should mention that it was a breezy 85 or 90 degrees. We were freezing, of course, since we’re now adjusted to Austin’s 115 degree summer days!

We began our journey in Vancouver, BC!

Actually, Brian almost couldn’t come on this trip because we had some issues getting his passport issued in time. He had to drive to Houston and back the day before we left to pay a visit to the passport office. But it all worked out!

Vancouver is one of my favorite all-time cities. There’s just something about the combo of a large, very urban area nestled into this gorgeous natural beauty everywhere — river here, mountains there, beach here, etc.

Also, I heart Canada.