Pacific Northwest Mega Road Trip, Day 6 - 9

Route on our Pacific Northwest road trip - Seattle to Lava Beds Monument (day 6 - 9)

Today we spent the majority of the day in Seattle, which you can read about here. We visited the EMP Museum and had a tour with Ride the Ducks of Seattle. After we had finished visiting Seattle we were satisfied with what we had done and decided not to stay an extra night.

We headed out of Seattle about 6pm after having dinner at Pike Place Markets. We made a quick stop at Big 5 Sporting Goods, finally having located those 8-ounce gas canisters. Buy them from Jucy before you go, save yourself the time. They are hard to find and it took us 5 stores before we gave in and rang Jucy to find out where to buy them.

Days Inn reception was so friendly and lovely. We were in our room within minutes, putting the kids to bed and enjoying Wi-Fi and showers.  

We had a leisurely morning at Days Inn. Mia and I even managed to sleep until 9am before Josh woke us for the breakfast that closed at 9:30am.

Once we hit the road we noticed the tyre that we had previously pumped was looking worse so Josh located a tyre shop an we pulled off in some tiny town to have it fixed.

Since it was lunchtime we were recommended the Cars Diner while the tyre was being fixed. This place was so gorgeous all decorated with car paraphernalia.  The service was not great, but the food was delicious and the serving size was huge, well my taco salad was bigger than my head – it was crazy! I had it for lunch and then Josh and I had it for dinner as well.

Once the tyre was all fixed we drove a little way. We were ahead of schedule so we decided to pull in at an award winning campsite Pheasant Ridge. She only had one spot left and it had no wifi or power points so she recommended Woodburn RV Park. It wasn’t too much further and was a wonderful park. They had Wi-Fi and domestic power points at the site. There was a pool and communal kitchen with a microwave for making dinner that much easier to cook.

We spent the afternoon in the pool with the kids, giving the nearby discount brand outlets a wide berth. I am a firm believer in being out of temptations range, hehe.

Dinner, work and bed. 

It was another relaxing morning swimming in the pool and enjoying the Wi-Fi before taking off for Roseburg. We spent the majority of the day driving and pulled over in a little town, which foursquare said Roger’s Rock ‘n Diner was the highlight.

And it was. The burgers were lovely and the sweet potato fries were super yummy. All servings were massive and we were totally glad we shared their mammoth burger.

Soon after we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express. The staff were so lovely and directed us to our room. I believe every room here has a balcony view and what a view. Rolling hills and a river, a lone tube floating down it.

The room was a normal size with 2 queen beds and a large bathroom. We never got around to using the pool and the hot tub, but we could see them from our room and both looked very welcoming. The location was fabulous just outside of downtown. The beds were so soft and I loved that they had firm and soft pillows on each bed since my preference is firm and Josh’s is soft. It was a grand night’s sleep.

The Roseburg Visitors Bureau had informed us of movies in the park that night so we were quite excited to be part of the local Oregon community that Friday night. First we headed for Thai food at Bangkok West, which was probably some of the yummiest Thai we’ve had since Bangkok.

After that we found our way to Stewart Park where the cars were already lining the streets. This is a gorgeous local park with a big playground. At the bottom of a hill was a river and in front of the river was a half-dome tent set up. They had live music going and people were already comfy on their blankets and chairs. We found a great spot in the middle and I watched our things while Josh went to watch the kids play on the playground. It was 8pm. The sun doesn’t go down till after 9pm here in Oregon in June so it was a late night for the kids.

A local church was selling $1 popcorn, $1 sodas and lollies. We grabbed some and settled down just after 9pm to wait for the 9:30pm start of Hotel Translyvania. Mia was not a fan and spent the entire time with her fingers in her ears. Caius was tired and just fidgeted the entire time, however Josh and I loved it.

I loved being part of that community and crowd watching and relaxing under the stars to watch a cute movie. It was almost like back home.

Both kids fell asleep in the car and we all returned back to our beautiful hotel room to sleep very happily in our soft beds and dark room. 

This was one of my most favourite days of our trip. It was also one of the best drives of my entire life. A little bit of risk makes life that much more exciting and the drive to Crater Lake is exhilarating. The danger element makes it all that more interesting. One blink too many and your driving down a slippery slope never to return.

Sheer cliff drops, wet roads from melting snow that is piled a several feet high on each side and then a turn off with a swarm of people. We pulled our car into a small parking lot and headed to the top of a hill. The kids were sidetracked with the snow. It was a warm summer day and playing in cold snow was a greater novelty than the wet cold stuff in New York the kids experienced over Christmas.

After a few thrown snowballs we finally got to the top to discover Crater Lake.

Oh my gosh!

Entry to Crater Lake is $10 and is valid for 7 days. How I would of loved to camp there somewhere and stay longer, I could have looked at it all day.

My son even enjoyed one of nature's finest moments at one of nature's finest displays.

I could go on and on, but I will do so in it's own post (it's on my list of things to do).

As it was we decided to speed things along and skip camping here for the night. We drove right through to the Lava Beds National Monument. This was also $10 entry and in complete contrast to Crater Lake. It was dry and barren. A few trees, lots of volcanic rocks and open space.

It took while to drive through to the campsite Josh had picked out. We spent a relaxing evening making dinner and stargazing. This site was unpowered. We were off the grid – literally. The toilet block had sensor lights and otherwise the whole place was electricity-free, Wi-Fi-free, electronics-free (thanks to my laptop battery dying). When you looked to the sky it was amazing. Thousands of tiny stars lighting the heavens like a giant welcoming firework parade.

My daughter woke briefly in the night for the toilet and I had to make her look at the sky, she was amazed.

It took me a while to get to sleep with that display going on.

Day 6 to 9 Seattle to Lava Beds National Monument, via I-5

That’s 528 miles (850 km)

Read the rest of our journey here:

Next: Day 10 – Day 14: Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Silicon Valley

Previous: Day 1 – Day 5:  San Francisco, Trinidad, Coos Bay, Portland, Multnomah Falls, Mount Saint Helens, Seattle

All photos can be found in our Photo Journal here. 

Check out our Jucy Campervan.