Payette National Forest/Snoqualmie/Getting to the PNW

Monday: I flew into Salt Lake City today and am making my decision about Glacier National Park. I am so bummed, but I made the choice to skip it because of the wildfires up there. I want to see Glacier when it's healthy and happy (because I want to be healthy and happy), so I made a different plan to head towards Seattle-ish. Tomorrow, I'll leave for the middle of Idaho in the Payette National Forest near McCall, Idaho. I've heard that it's just beautiful over there, so I want to see it before heading west. After that, I should head towards Snoqualmie, Washington to see the falls...AKA where Twin Peaks is based from! Haha. I am hoping to find the White Lodge and maybe Agent Cooper. We'll see! After Snoqualmie, I'll make my way northwest towards the San Juan islands for the rest of the week. I am so excited!!
Tuesday: I woke up in SLC and drove north towards the Payette National Forest outside of Boise. It was about 7 1/2 hours and felt so good to be driving again. I had really missed the road tripping aspect of the trip since I headed towards Bozeman, so it was a treat to slip back into my audiobooks and get back into my atlas. I arrived in Boise National Forest at a place called Lucky Peak Lake and decided to just hang out there for the night! I swam in the lake and made dinner at the public access. When the sun set, I got into my car and drove down the road to a turn out so that I wouldn't disturb anyone. I've been getting really good at sleeping in my car and rearranging my things so that we all fit inside the car. It's pretty comfortable, actually. I had a great night's sleep!

Wednesday: I'm in the habit of waking up pretty early, around sunrise. I knew it was another long-ish day of driving, so it was good to get on the road with some coffee and fresh air. I drove towards Washington and it was BEAUTIFUL! There were some fantastic canyons in western Oregon that I drove through that were just stunning.
The further I got into Oregon, though, the smokier and smokier it got. I thought Asheville was bad last fall, but this was horrible. The visibility on the road was bad and I couldn't figure out how to keep from breathing it in. I have no idea how people are living in Oregon right now and just feel heartbroken for the state. The major highway I was traveling on was closed ahead (after I got off) as it was too near the fires. It's a major highway going into Portland!
I arrived in North Bend, Washington for a later lunch at Twede's Diner a.k.a. the R & R diner from Twin Peaks. It was SO cool to be at the diner, they actually just renovated everything there for the new season. There was even an Agent Cooper look-alike doing Twin Peaks tours. I enjoyed a delicious burger (their burger menu was huge!!), a cup of coffee, and a slice of cherry pie. I headed towards Snoqualmie Falls right up the road. It was such a beautiful waterfall, one of the best I've seen on the trip. It was up there with Niagara, actually!
After leaving Snoqualmie, I knew I was going to find some free camping in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. So, I drove up the road and checked out some forest roads for good sites. There are actually a TON of car camping sites in National Forests that are free, you just have to get onto a forest road and check out their rules on camping. All of the ones I've been in were free for camping outside of campgrounds, which was cool. However, I got pretty freaked out at the Twin Peaks forests....! I was surrounded by the woods and it started getting a bit creeeeepy! There were owls out there! Like in Twin Peaks! Needless to say, I didn't get stuck in the Black Lodge. But, I've never seen dark like it was in those woods. I would open my eyes in the middle of the night and still not be able to see anything. It was like being in a cave. I didn't sleep very well out there, can you tell? I'm still scared!

Thursday:: After a not-so-restful night's sleep, I drove towards Seattle for some MUCH needed coffee and wifi. I wasn't exactly sure of my next move, so I needed to do some homework and call some

parks before I got too far out of cell service. I got a recommendation to go to Zoka's coffee shop in Seattle which was perfect. I called a few places and got a general plan down, then did some of my grad school homework too.
After Zoka's, I drove north towards Bellingham to Whidbey Island to stay. I stopped in the most fantastic used book store I have ever been in. I have been voraciously reading books, I have a pile of books in my car that need to go to a new home. I google mapped to the closest used book store and got the best one ever! It was floor to ceiling books, old books, first edition books, etc. I spent a lot of time choosing new books and ultimately landed on a Laura Ingalls Wilder book that I hadn't read before, Little Women, and an Anne Lamott book. After checking out, I kept driving. I got a great campsite in Deception Pass State Park (site 190) where I had my own path to the beach. I spent a lot of my time at the beach, reading my book and watching the ocean. I saw a seal out there! I made a few friends on the beach, just as I was feeling a bit lonely and missing home. I have just been getting such a kick out of that feeling in life. What you need always shows up when you least expect it.