A (slightly) better sense of where we're going

As usual, our first stop is at the nearest Wal*Mart to provision up for the road ahead. If we pack our cooler with some cold cuts, bread, and a few other essentials it greatly reduces our food costs. Coupled with $10-$15 a night campsites and we travel pretty inexpensively.

The short version of our itnerary has us landing in Portland, OR, driving to the Tillamook State Forest for our first night out, spending a day or two meandering down the Oregon coast (along the All America Road: Pacific Coast) to the border of CA where we'll turn east. We'll make our way to Crater Lake (along the All America Road: Volcanic Legacy), cross Oregon into Idaho where we'll throw ourselves on the mercy of whoever is fortunate enough to be behind the desk of the Visitor Information Center to figure out the "must do" sites on our way to the Tetons and up to Hell's Canyon (the deepest river gorge in North America). After Hell's Canyon we'll cross into Washington (possibly spending the night at a B&B in Walla Walla . . . that's fun to say . . . B&B in Walla Walla) and make our way to Mount Ranier National Park, North Cascades National Park, explore Seattle a little and Olympic National Park. Then we'll turn back south and return to Portland for our trip home, possibly swinging by Mt. St. Helens along the way (provided Scott can convince Amy it'll be worth it). As usual, it's not enough time, but June 16 - July 3 is all we've got.