Interestingly, three of us were out west, even to the coast at/near the same time, Paul, cl94, and me. My photos are over on Facebook.
Day one, 8/10:
Left at 5:30 am and went up I-55 to I-355. ISTHA has I-355 all ripped up for a massive repaving job. Of course, everyone blatantly ignores the 45 mph speed limit. Then to I-90 up to I-94 and thence to Eau Claire. Unlike Paul, I didn't run across any crashes on I-90, but the FIBs were out in force. From Eau Claire, US-53 up to Duluth and lunch at Canal Park. Then it was across US-2 to the Mississippi River headwaters. Then back on US-2 to Grand Forks.
Day two, 8/11:
I-29 south to Fargo, and then I-94 west. About 30 north of Fargo, through Fargo, and about 50 miles west of Fargo, there was a very dense fog. A quick stop at Theodore Roosevelt NP (South Unit) at the rest area along I-94, and then into Montana. Across Montana along I-94 and I-90 to Missoula with some rain around Butte.
Day three, 8/12:
Back on I-90 through Idaho into Washington with a stop in Spokane at Spokane River Falls. Then again on I-90 to Seattle. The ramp to I-5 north was closed, so WSDOT sent us onto a detour through a traffic jam. I drove the other way, took some Seattle side streets, and still came out ahead to downtown Seattle. Parked the car and took the monorail to the Seattle Center. Interesting note, pedestrians in Seattle wait until the walk signal to cross. What a change from Chicago. Went around the Seattle Center where I found the Space Needle cost $37 plus a two-hour wait. Took the monorail back downtown and went to Pikes Place Market. That's an awesome place. Then I left downtown and went to Point Defiance Park in Tacoma where there's a great view of the Tacoma Narrows Bridges. Went down I-5 to the hotel in DuPont.
Day four, 8/13:
I-5 south to US-101 north (south?) to WA-3. Then across the Hood Canal Floating Bridge into the Olympic Peninsula. Back on US-101 north/west/south around the peninsula. Once in Aberdeen, I took US-12 east to I-5 to WA-504. WA-504 up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory to see Mount Saint Helens. Back down to Kelso for the hotel.
Day five, 8/14:
Across the Lewis & Clark Bridge to Oregon. The west on US-30 to the Puget Island Ferry. Across the ferry to Puget Island and then back to WA-4. West to WA-401 and down to US-101 and back to Oregon across the Astoria Bridge. Visited the Astoria Column while there, then back south on US-101 with many, many stops (including a trip to the top of Cape Perpetua) to Bandon for the night.
Day six, 8/15:
Continuing south on US-101 to Crescent City, California. Back north on US-199 (a clinch at that) to Grants Pass via the redwoods. I-5 south to Medford, then OR-62 north to Crater Lake NP. Through Crater Lake NP to OR-138, then east to US-97. North to Bend for the night.
Day seven, 8/16:
US-20 out of Bend (after trying to find US-97 from the motel - signs in Bend are near non-existent) and through the Cascades to OR-34. OR-34 to Corvallis and north on OR-99W to OR-22 and thence to Salem. A stop at the Salem Center downtown. Got back to I-5 and took to north to I-405 and exited into downtown Portland. Stopped there at Powell's City of Books and walked around downtown. Then out I-84 to my motel off NE 122nd Avenue.
Day eight, 8/17:
Start of the way home. I-84 east with stops at Multnomah Falls and Shoshone Falls (Twin Falls, ID). Boise drivers are nuts, IMHO. They made it a relief to get to Utah. Took I-84 down to Odgen for the evening.
Day nine, 8/18:
Back up I-15/84 to US-91 in Brigham City. Followed US-89/91 to Logan and then US-89 up through Logan Canyon to Bear Lake. Then U-30 east to Wyoming where it became Wyo-89. Then east on US-30 to Kemmerer where one can find the JCPenney Mother Store. Neat place and neat little town. North on US-189 to Wyo-372. East to Wyo-28 and through South Pass. This is about as close to the Oregon Trail through Wyoming as one can get via paved road. US-287 into Lander for fuel (there's not much out there for fuel), then back south on US-287 to Wyo-200. Stops along the way at Split Rock, Devil's Gate, and Independence Rock. At Casper, took Wyo-257 to US-20. Then US-20 east (along I-25 south) to Orin. At Orin, US-18/20 leaves the freeway. East on US-20, past Lusk where US-18 leaves, and into Nebraska. The last five miles or so of US-20 in Wyoming were unpaved gravel for some sort of paving project. East on US-20 to Chadron for the night.
Day ten, 8/19:
East along US-20 through the Sand Hills to Iowa. IowaDOT is busy making US-20 divided between the current divided stretch in western Iowa (starting at Early) and Sioux City. Once complete, US-20 will be divided highway between Sioux City and Dubuque. US-20 east to Waterloo where I got on I-380 south to I-80 west to home. Got back finally at half past midnight.
It's a crime against the Northwest to call it "Pike's Place".
I accidentally use that name far more often than I should.
What (overpriced) lunch did you have in Canal Park?
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on September 05, 2018, 03:20:48 AM
What (overpriced) lunch did you have in Canal Park?
Just a pulled pork at the Grandma's caboose. It actually wasn't too out of line, cost-wise, well under $10 for that and a pop.
I made a map comparing the routes of our two trips, because I was amazed at how similar they were.
Brandon is shown in red, Paul is shown in blue.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zVMRULBSGxzJ0nbseNDOgTvj4-Onddrv&usp=sharing
Quote from: Brandon on September 05, 2018, 05:57:16 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on September 05, 2018, 03:20:48 AM
What (overpriced) lunch did you have in Canal Park?
Just a pulled pork at the Grandma's caboose. It actually wasn't too out of line, cost-wise, well under $10 for that and a pop.
Grandma's still has a monopoly on the restaurants in Canal Park? They owned all of them when I lived in Superior.
Quote from: Brandon on September 05, 2018, 05:57:16 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on September 05, 2018, 03:20:48 AM
What (overpriced) lunch did you have in Canal Park?
Just a pulled pork at the Grandma's caboose. It actually wasn't too out of line, cost-wise, well under $10 for that and a pop.
Canal Park Brewing Company also seemed reasonable when we stopped there last year.
Depends. Some of the Grandma's brick-and-mortar properties can be a little ridiculous, although I'll aim for the tetrazzini lunch special at the Saloon & Grill if I'm in the neighborhood for lunch.
Thanks for sharing this report, Brandon! It was interesting to read it and compare it with the places that my husband and I just went to on our trip from Aug. 25 through Sept. 8.
I have a few notes to share:
- On Sunday, Aug. 26 we went to the Portland Women's Forum overlook and Vista House which were both along historic U.S. 30. Later that day we had lunch over in Hood River and then came back to visit Multnomah Falls. We would have stopped at Multnomah Falls earlier in the day but the parking lot in the median of I-84 was full so we had to wait. Unfortunately the weather was mostly cool and cloudy that day (temperatures that didn't exceed the mid 60s or so).
- You mentioned Powell's City of Books in Portland. On the previous day (Monday, Aug. 27), we had the opportunity to check out that store. Very impressive!
- I had the opportunity to be alone with the rental car in Portland for a few hours the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 28. During that time, I clinched all of I-205 and I-405. In order to clinch I-205, I took I-5 north into Washington before turning around and heading south on 205. Unfortunately, 205 was slow for its entire stretch because I was driving at the peak of morning rush hour. Oh well. It was fun, however, driving across some of the bridges over the Willamette River.
- The route we took from Portland on Aug. 28 was south on I-5 down to Albany and then U.S. 20 west to U.S. 101, so we also passed through the town of Corvallis. From there we took 101 south to Brookings for the night. I thought of you as we passed through Bandon. LOL
- I don't know how many people on this forum know Eric Nyman, but he's a roadgeek originally from Michigan who moved out to Oregon in 2011. We met up with Eric and his wife in Gold Beach for dinner which was nice.
- Crescent City CA was where we had breakfast the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 29 after our night in Brookings.
- We enjoyed seeing some redwoods!
I may or may not post a full trip report from our drive from Portland to L.A., but I at least wanted to comment on a few of the places where our trip overlapped with yours. :)
Quote from: paulthemapguy on September 07, 2018, 02:14:09 PM
I made a map comparing the routes of our two trips, because I was amazed at how similar they were.
Brandon is shown in red, Paul is shown in blue.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zVMRULBSGxzJ0nbseNDOgTvj4-Onddrv&usp=sharing
I love this. This is fricking awesome.
Quote from: A.J. Bertin on September 11, 2018, 09:47:35 PM
I may or may not post a full trip report from our drive from Portland to L.A., but I at least wanted to comment on a few of the places where our trip overlapped with yours. :)
You should just so I can spam you with comments on it lol. I am already curious where you ate breakfast in Crescent City...
Quote from: paulthemapguy on September 12, 2018, 03:47:20 PM
Quote from: A.J. Bertin on September 11, 2018, 09:47:35 PM
I may or may not post a full trip report from our drive from Portland to L.A., but I at least wanted to comment on a few of the places where our trip overlapped with yours. :)
You should just so I can spam you with comments on it lol. I am already curious where you ate breakfast in Crescent City...
Haha... I will make a note of that.
Quote from: paulthemapguy on September 12, 2018, 03:47:20 PM
Quote from: A.J. Bertin on September 11, 2018, 09:47:35 PM
I may or may not post a full trip report from our drive from Portland to L.A., but I at least wanted to comment on a few of the places where our trip overlapped with yours. :)
You should just so I can spam you with comments on it lol. I am already curious where you ate breakfast in Crescent City...
Haha... why not... I'll add writing a trip report here to my to-do list. I'd love to see your comments!
As far as our breakfast in Crescent City was concerned, nothing special... just McDonald's. LOL