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valvecovergasket
Samba Member
Joined: October 10, 2018
Posts: 1492
Location: pnw
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 Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:49 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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what an epic trip!
thanks for taking the time to post and take all the pics
as a bellingham resident, and wwu alumni ill put in a plug for the area/school 
growing up here i took it for granted, but leaving for a while and coming back really made me appreciate the area more.
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gone, but not forgotten: '83 tdi westy - swap thread |
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Jake de Villiers
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 5911
Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:32 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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Man, what a great trip. Thanks so much for sharing it with us! And yeah, great parents make great kids. Way to go, dad. 
Our van recently spent three months at the body shop and is still a long way from being the terrific camping vehicle she was and will be again...not to mention the border closure that's keeping us away from Bellingham and Lopez and Whidbey Island. 
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'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
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SCM
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011
Posts: 3119
Location: Bozeman MT
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:39 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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I'd like to reserve Samuel for my wife and my wedding anniversary camping trip July 9-11!
FWIW, my coworker's daughter is enrolled in U of M's music program. It sounds pretty good. I went to grad school at MSU 20 years ago. Bozeman has changed A LOT since then, especially now with COVID refugees, but it's a pretty great place to be in college. Off campus housing is tough though.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine |
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thatbaldwinlife
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2011
Posts: 777
Location: Out exploring
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:05 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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Great job in story telling and the pics are great. Glad you got to see a little of the PNW while you were out.
Portland is at a crossroads but I think we are on our way back. My oldest just graduated from Portland State and has nothing but great things to say about it.
nate
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Insta: @Thatbaldwinlife
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veloandy
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2010
Posts: 356
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:38 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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Thanks for the awesome comments everyone! Sometimes I forget how great y'all are here. Liza was amazed at how literate and thoughtful all your comments are! Thank you!
| pnwkayaker wrote: |
There're 3 other National Parks around Seattle besides the Olympic Natl Park: North Cascades, Mt Rainier and Mt Saint Helens, but it's imposible to fit them all in a single trip - you still managed to visit a great number of places while here.
As a father of 2 boys younger than yours, it was almost like taking a glimpse to future trips to check colleges, I hope we end up having as much fun as your family. |
I was amazed at how many great places there are to see up there, and we wanted to spend more time at almost every place we visited. If I was going to ever live somewhere besides CO, it would definitely be the PNW!
| mikemtnbike wrote: |
| I learned more camping with my dad as a young man than I ever did as a child. |
That's a profound statement. Thank you.
It goes both ways -- now that my kids are older they teach me so much about how to interface with the modern world. They have such ease with all the social change we're seeing in the world (anti-racisim, acceptance of non-binary folks, etc.). Sharing their perspectives as young men in this world helps me wrap my head around things I'd honestly struggle with if I didn't have their help.
It's also cool to go on adventures with them now that they're older. We went on a 3-night family canoe trip down Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River in July 2019, and I was shocked that Alex was suddenly a full-fledged man taking care of everyone, leading the charge of hauling canoes and coolers and stuff with me out of the water...It was a fundamental shift from him being a kiddo to care for and made me very proud and happy to note.
| dobryan wrote: |
| Awesome trip! |
Thanks man! Your driver's windshield wiper is still clearing my windshield! (thanks again) Are you headed to Syncro Solstice in Sept? It would be great to catch up again and make you another green chile omelet!
| brickster wrote: |
| Thanks for sharing an awesome travel log from your epic journey! |
Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed!
| jimf909 wrote: |
It sounds like "Nurse Log!" is going to play well for years to come.
Bringing your kid to Aberdeen seems like a remarkably good choice. The song under the bridge video was exceptional.
Minor nit, Jimi Hendrix spelled his name with one m. |
It sounds like your family has a similar sense of humor to mine! You're totally right..."Nurse Log" will become a joke staple in our household for sure!
Thanks for the support on Aberdeen and the props on Samuel's guitar...I think it definitely added a ton of meaning to the trip for Samuel. He's the only musical person in my household and he just blows me away!
Thanks for the tip on Mr. Hendrix's name. I fixed it. The more times I read the trip report, the more typos I see. I'm a terrible proofreader, and I wrote it on my iphone using Notes on the road, and autocorrect hoses everything (including "Jimi")
| valvecovergasket wrote: |
as a bellingham resident, and wwu alumni ill put in a plug for the area/school Smile
growing up here i took it for granted, but leaving for a while and coming back really made me appreciate the area more. |
WWU has a very strong draw on all of us. I wouldn't be surprised at least Samuel ended up there.
I felt the same way growing up in NM. I didn't appreciate how exceptionally cool it is there until I moved to CO. Maybe it's impossible to appreciate an area you're from until it's no longer your constant environment.
| Jake de Villiers wrote: |
| Our van recently spent three months at the body shop and is still a long way from being the terrific camping vehicle she was and will be again...not to mention the border closure that's keeping us away from Bellingham and Lopez and Whidbey Islan |
I guess the best time to have the van out of commission is when travel is restricted/prohibited. Hopefully both are temporary! When I was planning the trip I looked into popping over to Canada...people gush about how amazing B.C. is. The total seriousness of the border shutdown scuttled that...maybe when we come back that way we can turn it into an international Westy trip.
| SCM wrote: |
I'd like to reserve Samuel for my wife and my wedding anniversary camping trip July 9-11!
FWIW, my coworker's daughter is enrolled in U of M's music program. It sounds pretty good. I went to grad school at MSU 20 years ago. Bozeman has changed A LOT since then, especially now with COVID refugees, but it's a pretty great place to be in college. Off campus housing is tough though. |
Consider him reserved! Just tell us the campsite and he'll be there! 
That's great intel on U of M. We really enjoyed it there. The professors did a great job explaining about how the music and the studies at the department could be a significant part of a student's life, even if they didn't major in music (a single music major definitely isn't off the table, but Samuel is also thinking about a major that might make for a more lucrative side gig to music). What is your coworker's daughter focusing on in music?
| goldtooth wrote: |
Portland is at a crossroads but I think we are on our way back. My oldest just graduated from Portland State and has nothing but great things to say about it.
nate |
That's great to know. Portland State was top of our list for a while. It's hard to discern fact from misinformation in all the crazy events that are happening in Portland right now. I was initially unconcerned, but talking with my wife's cool friend who grew up in Portland and LOVES it, street scene YouTube videos from nice-seeming a-political people, and the destruction of the iconic Elk statue made us decide to skip visiting and staying in Portland and we hit Seaside instead.
That said, I really did enjoy the tiny glimpse of Portland, and Portland state probably deserves another look.
| Sodo wrote: |
| The map synopsis in the first post is really great too! |
Thanks! I struggled for a while getting the scale of the long parts with the detail of the PNW. 2 Google Maps screen captures pasted to PPT, and then exported as .jpegs did the job!  |
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Zeitgeist 13
Samba Member
Joined: March 05, 2009
Posts: 12115
Location: Port Manteau
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| Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:55 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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A couple of my favorite WA references; Lopez Island and Mark Lanegan. Nice trip log. I swear Aberdeen is cursed. It reminds me of some of the depressing scenes in Ken Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion.
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'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
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dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16505
Location: Brookeville, MD
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| Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:46 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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| veloandy wrote: |
| dobryan wrote: |
| Awesome trip! |
Thanks man! Your driver's windshield wiper is still clearing my windshield! (thanks again) Are you headed to Syncro Solstice in Sept? It would be great to catch up again and make you another green chile omelet!
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Sure!
I am planning on making it. Going to bring my mother again. She was there in 2017. Still going strong at 84.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD
"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson
MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646
Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371
The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794 |
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joetiger 
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2005
Posts: 5078
Location: denver
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| Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:55 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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What a great report, Andy! Trip Report Hall of Fame inductee. Wonderful pictures and narrative. I felt like I was right along with y'all.
We've been to the PNW twice and I feel like I could go back there a hundred more times and not catch all of it. I love the Rocky Mountains but the PNW mountains are so dense with trees and mist, plus the coast, it's just a different level.
Time to start planning the next one!
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Joe T.
'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32
"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron
"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond
Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present
www.josephtrussell.com |
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dabaron
Samba Member
Joined: June 21, 2018
Posts: 2561
Location: Philly, mang
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| Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:38 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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i think i need to ramp up the epic on my trips. well done, great adventure.
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i had no idea i wanted to be a mechanic
"burnin oil and cookin coils" -- Destructo
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veloandy
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2010
Posts: 356
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report: Colorado -> Yellowstone -> Pacific NW |
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| Zeitgeist 13 wrote: |
| A couple of my favorite WA references; Lopez Island and Mark Lanegan. Nice trip log. I swear Aberdeen is cursed. It reminds me of some of the depressing scenes in Ken Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion. |
My kiddo (Samuel) gets 100% of the credit for finding Mark Lanegan and his book (but we all enjoyed seeing him on the Seattle episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown!).
Thank you for the reference to Sometimes a Great Notion -- I needed a new book! I hadn't ever heard of that one, downloaded a sample to my Kindle, and am fully sucked in!
| joetiger wrote: |
| Wonderful pictures and narrative. I felt like I was right along with y'all. |
You're 100% an inspiration, Joe! Your trip reports always make me want to jump in my van, have some adventures, take a ton of pictures, and write it down!
| dabaron wrote: |
| I think i need to ramp up the epic on my trips. well done, great adventure. |
haha! Thanks! One of the cool things about owning a Vanagon is even driving to the grocery store makes it feel like you could just keep driving and find yourself on an epic trip/adventure! |
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sanchius
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Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1455
Location: IN
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