4th Annual Food Network Tour
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when I head south of the border with my Mum, in search of good food and new adventures. To date, we have visited 28 Food Network Restaurants and I plan on us visiting at least 18 on this trip, although 4 of them are repeat visits. Last year I said that I was planning less “windshield” time and more time for poking around – I didn’t succeed as well as planned, but I hope to do better this year. I do have a few days that are over 500 km, but I have organized them at the beginning of the trip this time…I found that long driving days at the end of a vacation are a bad idea.
We will be leaving Saturday afternoon (13th) from Peace Arch Park and travelling as far south as Everett before stopping for the night. The next day we will head east, stopping for the night in Spokane, WA and Bozeman, MT. We then will be heading south through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, stopping for the night in Jackson, WY. This will also take two states off my “to-do” list (Montana & Wyoming).
We head back west from Jackson, stopping for the night in Twin Falls, ID; Burns, OR; Bend, OR; and finally Eugene, OR where we end our westward trek. We then head up to Salem, OR for the night and then on to Portland, OR where we will be staying for three nights. After Portland we again head north, stopping for the night in Olympia, WA and finally for two nights in Vancouver, BC before we return to the Island.
As always, we will be visiting at least one Garden; Mum does love her seed hunting. We are also visiting several “volcanic” sites, including Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Crater Lake and Newberry Volcanic Monuments in Oregon, and, fingers-crossed, Mount St. Helens. Mount St. Helens has been on my to-do list since I read the National Geographic article about the 1980 eruption when I was a kid. It has also been on the to-do list for each of our trips, but we have been rained out each year. I did manage to catch a glimpse of it from US-26 on our first trip, but was too far away for a photo. Yellowstone is also “technically” volcanic, so I guess it would qualify as well.
Like last year, I will be posting our upcoming day’s travels in the morning, followed by a recap (with pictures, hopefully) at the end of each day. I have learned several things over the last three Food Network trips and also on our Cross-Canada adventure. I now know what to pack and what not to pack – and have downsized to a 25″ suitcase, 21″ electronics bag and my camera backpack (of course). I still have a few sundries that I throw in the trunk such as my coats, extra shoes and tripod, but overall, I’m doing quite well. This year, I have also found an app that allows my Dad to locate us (well, my iPhone) at all times, which will make him happy and less annoyed if we check-in with him later than normal on a particular day. I also gave him a complete itinerary for the trip which shows him our approximate arrival time as well. I am also setting up my day overviews to auto-post for me each morning – it’s one less thing to worry about on what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation. 🙂
All in all, it should be another fun- and food-filled adventure, that my Mum and I will remember for years. I hope you enjoy following along with my Food Network adventure.
Talk to you soon.
L