(See even more photos in our FaceBook album.)

Current Location: Bremerton, Washington

No, no! The adventures first. Explanations take such a dreadful time.
~ Lewis Carroll

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This week’s dose of adventure found us in eastern Washington, floating down Icicle Creek into the Wenatchee River. Plans changed last minute, as they always do, so that we could avoid the 8,000+ college students who decided to swarm the original river we planned to float, the Yakima. Despite that, eight of us, plus a dog, had a great day tubing Icicle and Wenatchee, staying cool in the water and warm in the sun (at the same time!). The views were incredible as we leisurely floated down the river, the towering Cascades surrounding us. The river is located near Leavenworth, a super cute Bavarian style town, and we were able to do a quick drive through to see it as well. Definitely would be a fun little town to come back to and explore a bit more.

Sunday we sat down with our atlas and highlighted the short trips we’ve taken while here in Washington (this is something we do in every state). Seeing all of the places we’ve been was surprising – we’ve seen a good bit of the area!

Since we’ll be heading out Saturday for Glacier National Park in Montana, we’ve switched into prep mode. The to do lists can’t be ignored any longer. Shopping for food for the trail and the road. Maintenance on all of our wheeled transportations. All of the fun things that go with… well, life in the modern world and any kind of traveling.

Lessons Learned (or relearned):

• To-do lists will never be finished.
• Nor will to-hike lists!
• We have to come back to Washington and hike every trail they have (that’s right, every of the trails 🙂

Leaving Bremerton is bitter-sweet. We’ve loved our time here, visiting family, making new friends, and feeling like part of a community again. But we are also itching to return to our nomadic, adventuring ways and get to seeing the rest of our amazing country. We have a quest to fulfill after all! Bremerton has been the first place since hitting the road that truly felt like home. We can’t even begin to thank everyone for being so warm and welcoming, from Jackie letting us live in her backyard for almost two months, to Randy letting us use his truck while we were here, to Marit for giving us jobs, introducing us to the community, and becoming our friend. Bremerton will hold a place in our hearts forever. And for those who are wondering, Washington has made it to the top of our list should we ever decide to choose a “forever home”.

We’ve been busy making plans for the next few months… As always, these are apt to change, but as of right now here’s the penciled schedule:

Along with Jackie, we’re going to explore Glacier National Park in Montana for the first week of August. Then we’re going to head out of Washington and east (picking up a few new states along the way!) until we’re back in Kentucky at the beginning of September. During a short visit we’re going to change up everything and move into our car for a new kind of adventuring…

In the car we’re heading back up to Michigan to backpack in Isle Royale National Park, which we skipped at the start of our adventure when we were in Michigan because we were stubborn and thought it was too expensive to get there. “We’ll just come back and make it our finale park” we thought. Stupid. We should have visited while we were so close. This is the closest we’ll be again because of Lisa and Tim’s wedding in Kalamazoo on the 17th that Ashley will be a bridesmaid in. So, we’re taking advantage of proximity and hitting it while we have the chance. Once they’re hitched we’re going to do a tour of the north east (that should be prime leaf color season) and will be back in Kentucky, reunited with our beloved RV by November. We’ll then be heading about three hours east where Ashley has a job lined up from November till December. We’ll get to spend Christmas with family this year, and then it should be cold enough that we’ll be heading south again, trying to avoid the worst of winter and exploring further!

Why are we trading for the car you may ask? Well, Lady Galapagos has a big caboose, and though we love her, her bulk can be incredibly frustrating in tight, populated areas…like all of the northeast. So for ease of travelling, we’ve decided to pick up the car for this short portion of the trip until we head south in the winter, toward more open spaces. Just FYI, everything you hate about road travel and crowds is magnified x 10 when you’re on a cramped road in an RV.

Whew! After being relatively stationary since mid-May, this sounds like a lot. But we’re looking forward to a slew of new experiences and locations to explore!

Adventuring away,

Matthew & Ashley