The day we left Seattle, the heavens opened. It rained and rained, and rained and rained. Not the best time to do a hike up Mt St Helens. Or even see it through the clouds. So we headed straight on to Portland - the most liveable city in the US apparently. Very cool place actually. Everyone seems to be either clad in Gore Tex going for after work runs and cycles or driving around in a Subaru Outback full of REI camping gear and fishing rods with a dog hanging its wet tongue out the window. Felt a bit guilty in a world of outdoorsy people as we headed for a cinema where a burger and a beer is delivered to your seat. I'm sure we had more fun though.

But after a bit of city indulgence, we felt it was time to join the outdoor ranks and ventured along the Colombia River Highway jumping out the car in our rain gear every time we came across a waterfall or amazing view. Oregon is so beautiful - just mountains and lakes and semi-desert. We made the very bright decision to spend our first night camping up in the mountains - mountains where there is all year round skiing. Now, when we bought our camping gear, we had visions of camping in the desert under the stars with a light breeze flapping through the tent... We didn't really consider the start of the trip where there would still be snow on the ground... Not the best night's sleep shivering uncontrollably in and out of dreamy consciousness. When we spoke to the park ranger the next day, he laughed and just said 'well you are in the mountains kids'. Stupid tourists.