Every trip turns up something that is not planned, or unusual, or just plain weird.  Well our summer vacation trip this year include...

After two weeks on the road we are finally home and can relax in our own bed. 

Gas was back up to $3.199 here in Jerome last night.  Oh they do have lower priced gas, but it is only 85 octane instead of the 87 offere...

Not a whole lot of miles today, but several places to see.  Our first stop for the day was supposed to be Atomic City.  We had chosen thi...

The Shoshone Indian Ice Caves were out next stop of the day.  We were ready for some coolness.  The temperature outside in mid afternoon ...

Out in the middle of nowhere in a barren area of Idaho about 45 minutes west of the Craters of the Moon National Reserve and 45 minutes north of Tw...

We had asked at our hotel for a good place to eat where the locals eat. Two people there suggested this restaurant. This great little Mexican ...

Our next stop was the “Craters of the Moon National Monument”.  This entire southern part of the state is covered with lava from the volca...

Located about seven miles from Idaho Falls, this fairly new facility was very clean and well equipped. It is a two story facility with inside corr...

EBR-1 stands for Experimental Breeder Reactor number 1. It is the first nuclear power plant that produced its own fuel. At 1:50pm on December 20,...

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is operated by the National Park Service. Camping sites are available, a Visitor Center and a 7...

This three-story fairly new hotel type facility is rated three stars by AAA. It is fairly large with 93 guest rooms. There are an indoor 24 hour ...

With now more than 260 locations covering 43 states, this fast growing steakhouse must be doing something right. They began back in 1993 in Clarks...

We kinda slept in today.  Knowing that we just had a driving day with nothing on the schedule to stop and spend time seeing, we didn’t feel ...

Tonight we are in Hamilton, Montana at a Best Western Motel again.   Can you believe that once we left Glacier National Park we had no other...

This is one of the smallest Best Westerns I have seen, having only 36 rooms in its older two-story motel style facility. It was rated by AAA as a t...

Glacier National Park, Montana, is loaded with rugged mountains, spectacular lakes, alpine meadows and nearly untouched forests. To visit this par...

In the mood for Chinese food we found this small casual restaurant located in a small mall style location. We found it to be quite casual and unpr...

Up early today.  We were both anxious to see Glacier National Park.  The plan was to drive through from west to east and then return back...

Tonight we are in Whitefish, just about 25 miles west of Glacier National Park.   Dinner was at the local Pizza Hut.  The waitress ther...

Although we got up as early as other days we seemed to be slower in getting started today.  We had a pretty good breakfast at the hotel, consi...

Pizza Hut is a well-known and long established pizza place all over the world. And most of the places where I have eaten the food is good, the ser...

This three story hotel with elevators is rated three stars by AAA. Not one of the largest facilities with only 79 rooms, 12 of which are suites. Th...

I’m not sure what I expected to see when I saw information on the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge. Based on the name I think it was different ...

Manito Park, one of the oldest and largest parks in the northwest covering a total of 90 acres from 17th to 25th Avenues in Spokane, is a beautiful...

We made our way to Spokane where we found the downtown area and looked for the Riverfront Park.  This large and growing city has managed to sq...

This fairly new three-story hotel in the eastern boundary of Spokane about ten minutes away from the downtown area is perched high on a hilltop jus...

This is part of a large buffet chain, over 600 buffet locations across the entire U.S. and Puerto Rico. There are several names associated with th...

Up fairly early and on towards Spokane.  It’s about 300 miles today up over Snoqualmie Pass and then down and across the state to the easter...

Manito Gardens in southern Spokane was our next stop.  This is a super large city park and is divided up into several sections.  Japanese...

Barely 25 miles east of Seattle is the small community of Snoqualmie. And the highlight of this area is Snoqualmie Falls, which was just downstream...

As part of the Washington Park Arboretum in downtown Seattle this three and one-half acre formal garden presents a beautiful Japanese Garden. It w...

Monday was a day of total relaxation.  Tuesday, Steve was able to take the day off work and so both he and his wife joined us in our sites-s...

Just east of Portland in the Columbia River Gorge are some of the best waterfalls you will find in the United States. Multnomah Falls is the larges...

A slightly later start today but still on the road before 9 a.m..  Breakfast at the hotel was less than we had gotten previously, and in my ca...

Our next stop was at the McClellan Viewpoint of Mount Saint Helens.  This is the south eastern view, which is nearly opposite of the usual vie...

Then back over the pass and on towards Mount Rainier National Park.  This park is absolutely loaded with waterfalls, being situated on the sou...

Finally, we drive towards Seattle where we will spend a couple of days relaxing and taking it easy before moving on.  My wife has a cousin who...

When traveling through the State of Washington looking for waterfalls, the Mount Rainier National Park is a must to add to your itinerary. Establi...

The Best Western Hotel in Gresham, Oregon is a fairly new hotel style facility with inside corridors and elevators. There are two stories and an ou...

We had a fully handicapped room right behind the lobby in Oakridge, Oregon.  Larger room with wider doors and even a no step in shower, which ...

Our hotel for the might is the Best Western Pony Soldier.  They got our reservation messed up and tried to put us in a smoking room.  I q...

This is a family owned and operated restaurant located just across the parking lot from the Best Western Hotel in Gresham. It has been there since...

Out next stop would be another couple of hours so we stopped for lunch at around noon filled the car with gas again.  Today it was only $2.959...

The historic Oregon City Municipal Elevator is one of only four municipal elevators in the entire world. Because of the steep cliff above the lower...

In Oregon City we wanted to see two places, the first, is one of only three Municipal Elevators in the World.  The second was the forty foot f...

For people who are looking for waterfalls, this is a wonderful place to visit. It is also the states’ largest State Park. You can enjoy a day o...

Then on to Silver Falls State Park, where the day really turned bad.  I had done all my homework before this trip and used Microsoft Streets a...

About fifteen miles west of Bend, Oregon, this very nice waterfall is an easy access. This is one of a very few waterfalls that is nearly the same...

Our last falls of the day was Salt Creek Falls, which is about 22 miles east of Oakridge.  This one is really easy to get to, and nearly no hi...

Located 23 miles east of the small community of Oakridge at the 4,000 foot level in southern Oregon this magnificent waterfall is the second larges...

Next, in order, we stopped at Clearwater Falls, Whitehorse Falls, Watson Falls (which also required a very steep up-hill climb for a quarter mile)....

Oakridge is a small community of about 4,000 population at about the 1,500 foot level on the western slope of the Cascade Mountains. 45 minutes we...

"Real Food for Real Appetites" is what the internet site says about this wonderful little café in Oakridge, Oregon. I was totally surprised to fi...

A much better nights sleep with our room being so far back at the back of the complex and little traffic driving by.  And we were tired too, s...

Done for the day we headed on to Oakridge, Oregon for the night and a stay again at a Best Western.   Gas today was down to $2.959,  ...

Next was Crater Lake.  Formed from a volcano, in case you can’t tell by the name, this huge deep lake is such a royal blue color and the roc...

Crater Lake National Park was established as the fifth National Park back on May 22, 1902. This inspiring place combines a deep lake, at approxima...

We didn’t take in all that Redwood National and State Parks has to offer. However, Highway 101 flows through the park and gives a good clue as t...

We ended the day in Medford, Oregon.  Dinner at Hometown Buffet, which was only about a half mile from our motel.  Then time to write som...

The Best Western Motel in Medford is quite large at 122 rooms, spread out in a large U-shape, two story facility. The rooms are clean and good siz...

Another of the coastal redwoods. Not much to write here.  We just enjoyed a wonderful drive through very pretty forests on our way north.

Leggett is a very small town about 175 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 101. Just south of town is a 250 acre park where the main draw is t...

Talk about being up early.  The traffic noise kept us both from a decent nights sleep, so we were up and dressed and down to breakfast by 7a.m...

The park covers an area of over 53,000 acres along this northern stretch of California. Old growth Coastal Redwood trees cover more than 17,000 acr...

This is the largest facility I have seen in the many locations Hometown Buffet has. This location offers the same large numbers of items to choose ...

We were up and on the road earlier than expected this morning.  All our planning, and then pre-packing, except for last minutes items made it ...

Several TravBuddy members have already done blogs and reviews on this very nice Japanese Gardens. We just happened to be there on a record setting...

Located just a dozen miles north of San Francisco, California, this is one of the last remaining stands of California Coastal Redwoods that used to...

Completed back in 1937, the Golden Gate bridge is currently the second longest and largest suspension bridge in the United States. It is also one ...

Located above the highway in Willits, this three story facility sits on the steep hill on the east side of the road, highway 101, the main street t...

Then on to Muir Woods, the close grove of Costal Redwoods just north of San Francisco.  From even a few miles away you can’t even see the gr...

It looked at this point that we would still pull into our hotel around 6p.m.  With only 120 miles to drive it seemed easy.  Little did we...

Hakone gardens is the planned first stop. oochmpgnoo did a review on this site and so we feel it's well worth seeing. After leaving Casa de Fruit...

One of these days I will get a shot of the bridge without the fog covering the top. I swear I will. :) After leaving Hakone Gardens we headed on n...

I’ve done a review of the Perko’s Café in Visalia, and was surprised to find one here in Willits. I didn’t realize that this is a growing f...

If you know me at all you also know that I have already been in the planning stage for a good long while. But things are beginning to fall into pla...