A great description copied from Cindi Marrinan’s facebook post, our host in Camas WA. Our additions are in italics:
My cousin, Steven Galecki and his wife, Vicki Bowler Shelton Galecki came for a quick visit from Cleveland, Ohio. They are out on the West Coast to visit Steven’s sons in Tacoma and Seattle. We squeezed in a lot of activities in their two day stay. They arrived from Tacoma to Vancouver, WA via the new Amtrak train #503 that launched on October 1.
Since we were in downtown Vancouver, we showed the the new waterfront and tried ice cream at the iconic Salt & Straw. They are famous for strange flavor combinations. Steve and Vicki bravely tried the ice cream called Creepy Crawlers that had dried crickets and meal worms in it. (sorry, no pix of the faces we made after tasting it.)
Next we showed them the Portland Yacht club for a few pictures (The yacht club is huge and has land up and down the river. And I can understand why Erin and Paul’s reception was here.)
Then we made our way to the Oregon side of the Bonneville Dam Fishery and Locks. We got to see the 10 foot Herman the Sturgeon that is about 80 Years old.
We built up an appetite and drove to Hood River and had lunch and a local beer at Full Sail Brewery. It was fun to see all the kite surfers on the river.
Bonneville Dam on the Washington side was our next stop. The salmon were not as plentiful in the underwater viewing station but we were able to see a sturgeon swimming thru the fish ladders. (We also got a National Parks Passport Stamp since this was part of the Lewis and Clark trail.)
The afternoon drive took us along the Columbia River, a huge, wide river that had rapids in several places.
Our evening ended at the Camas Sushi Joint. Great food and conversation with the owner, Paul.
The next day was just as full. We went to Fort Vancouver to learn about the history of that area (another national park stamp. The fort was established originally as a trading post for the local Indians as well as for fur trappers, so its defensive nature was minimal. It was an outpust for the Hudson Bay Trading Company).
then we went to the Pendleton Wool factory to tour the facility. (Reservations were made the day before and we were lucky to get in.)
and ended our day with a very early dinner at Willamette Winery Restaurant in downtown Vancouver.
After dinner, we dropped them back at the train station for their journey back to Tacoma. (The train back to Tacoma was much older and very worn compared to the train we took coming south. I understand now why everyone was excited about the new trains.)
It was a great visit and we learned even more about the Pacific Northwest
VG: Cindi and Steve were fantastic hosts/tour guides. We loved our time with them. They were preparing to host more cousins in a couple of days and all of this right after their recent arrival home after a two-week trip to Ireland and Scotland.