Our last stops of the roadtrip were Olympia, WA and Corvallis and Ashland in Oregan.  We are heading home tomorrow and we are ending the trip on a high note.  We had a great time in Olympia, hosted by the Witkowski clan and in Corvallis where our hosts were Paul and Janet Hochfeld.  We visited the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, the delta where the freshwater of the Nisqually River meets the saltwater of the Puget Sound, and were lucky enough to spot a Bald Eagle and a few other birds we had not seen in our travels to date.  The Fourth of July was an adventure - the Olympians do love their fire works and we spent the evening doing our best to calm four very upset Witkowski dogs - we were not successful. 

Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge home to almost 300 hundred species of migratory birds.

Rick and Penny Witkowski with 4 of their 6 children, George Michael, Taco Miguel, Cali Marie and Owen Michael

Post Fourth of July bonfire

BJ and Marty with the Cali,Taco, George and Owen--we have gone to the dogs

What a great trip it has been.  Thank you hosts and friends who made room in your schedules and homes for us.  Please come visit California!!

We've been on the road for the past few days, mostly driving but have managed to see some beautiful country along the way.  We visited the Grand Coulee Dam and took Route 20 through the North Cascades National Park to Seattle where we met up with an old friends and had our first home cooked meal in weeks.  Before he was famous, Jack Keroac spent months in the North Cascades working as a fire-lookout and wrote about it with a great deal of well deserved reverence.  The Cascades have it all -- snow covered peaks, alpine lakes, rushing rivers, pristine waterfalls, etc. - we'll be back.

As we were driving to Butte, we read in Wikipedia that it was famous for its pork chop sandwiches.  BJ spotted this sign as we were driving along and proved that her Camry could do a hard right into a busy parking lot while going 50 mph!

Grand Coulee Dam was very full

North Cascades National Park

Another view of North Cascades National Park

Wildflowers along Route 20 through North Cascades National Park.

Our dear friend Bret Dodson who treated us to a great lunch at Cuoco in Seattle -two thumbs up for both Bret and Cuaco.