Hey Friends and Family,
11 days until we leave for Guinea! We are preparing and hopefully we won't forget anything important. I wanted to finish up our adventures on our road trip before we leave for Guinea so this post will be a bit long but most of it is pictures!
After Utah we headed to Ellensburg, Washington to visit Daniel's mom. We camped by the Columbia River and did some paddle boarding and kayaking. Our campsite was right along the river. I also found out that there are sharks in the river but they are much closer to the Pacific Ocean than where we were since there are multiple dams they have to go through. We also went to Lake Chelan which was beautiful. The water was so clear and the mountains in the background where magnificent.
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| Campsite by Columbia River |
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| It was so peaceful by the lake |
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| Me, Daniel and Deanna |
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| Deanna and Daniel |
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| Almost got eaten by a shark buoy! |
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| Daniel facing his fear of sharks head on |
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Paddle boarding at Lake Chelan
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After Washington we started down the pacific coast through Oregon to get to the Redwood Forest in California. The views along the highway were amazing. We found a really cool campsite in Oregon which had covered wagons. We found it by mistake and we were in luck because that was the first night they were open. They had regular campsites as well for tents but we decided the wagon sounded like a fun idea. They sleep 4, with 2 queen size mattresses in them and have a fire pit outside.
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| In Oregon along the Pacific Ocean |
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| Covered wagon campground |
We got to the Redwood Forest on May 16 and left on May 20. It was absolutely beautiful. I have never seen trees so big before. We camped at a KOA campground which turned out to be a great option. Our tent was surrounded by redwoods. We went to the Trees of Mystery park where they have Redwoods but also have a lot of other kinds of trees as well. We walked across a swinging bridge with the trees high in the air which was a little scary. We took a gondola ride to the top but we couldn't see much at the overlook because it was cloudy. The next couple days we drove along the coast where the redwoods were and stopped and went hiking and the beach. It was pretty cold so definitely no swimming.
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| KOA campsite |
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| Almost 300 foot tree |
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| Someone is a little scared of heights |
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| It's so big! |
On our way out of California we had an idea to camp on top of Ship Mountain which was about an hour away from where we were. On the way there we saw a road sign with an upside down cow falling from the cliff. We got a good laugh about it. Turns out it is telling you to be aware of cows that may possibly fall on the road from falling off of a cliff. No worries, we didn't have any issues with falling cows. However, the road we took up to the mountain, there was definitely only room for one car and looking over the other side gave me goosebumps. Daniel was driving but I think being the passenger was worse in this case. Once we climbed to the top, we decided there really wasn't a good place to camp so we decided to start our journey back east. It felt like we were up at the level with the clouds.
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| Watch for falling cows! |
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| Not to sure about this idea anymore. |
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| View from the lookout |
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| Walking up to the lookout |
This was the end of road trip and we went back to Maryland June 7 and we were welcomed with the heat, humidity and cicadas. I am guessing this will be my last blog post before we leave unless there is a last minute update. Please pray for our preparation in going and also our health and safety while we are there. I will send an update as soon as I am able. Thank you for your prayers and support. We are excited to see what plans God has for us there.
God Bless,
Amy and Daniel
