After I found out TravelingMom.com donated a patch of trees to Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Oregon in my mom's honor, I knew exactly what I had to do. When I was growing up, my family drove across America from Pennsylvania to the Rocky Mountains not once, but twice! The first trip was focused on Yellowstone National Park. I told my mom, "I am going to bring my family here one day!" That comment struck her, she was so happy, and I remember that moment clearly. So, needless to say, a road trip was the perfect way for me to feel connected with her, and grieve her loss at the same time. I had never been to the Pacific North West.
Just like my mom, I was not about to let a hard punch from life slow me down.
Don't know what I mean? Check out this post: The Inspiration.
The route for Wallowa with Yvonne was pretty easy to decide.
At the time I lived on the South Shore in Massachusettes with my partner, Conner Ellsworth, and my dog, Hazey McNuggets. We took off work, and booked the flights!
I could feel that this would be a perfect trip because the return flight was exactly 7 days from the moment we landed. It's just nice when things work out like that.
We landed at 8 PM in Portland, Oregon, and got our Turo car, which again, was perfect. I rented a Toyota 4Runner (which is my dream car) to take on this adventure.
The coolest part? The owner gave us two kayaks on the roof! Wallowa-Whitman National Forest is basically in Idaho, and Portland is on the coast, so we had a road trip on our hands, but first, we wanted to gather our bearings, so we booked an Airbnb near Portland for two nights.
I cannot forget to mention that this tiny house was literally on a cliff, not near a cliff, on it. Despite that fact, it was a serene and calmingly quiet spot where we just couldn't help but feel relaxed because we were surrounded by nature and it felt like we were floating in the trees, but we didn't know any of that at first because we arrived at night.
When we woke up the next morning, we couldn't believe it! Floating in the trees without a care in the world, we had a whole week of freedom and adventures ahead of us.
Waking up that morning was the exact moment when I got the idea for The Morning Haze,
Everything came together and made perfect sense, I would carry on my mom's legacy by creating my own brand, in her honor, and have it be something she would be proud of. Then the fact that my dog's name is Hazey, and we take her (almost) everywhere with us, inspired the dog-friendly focus, and I spent the whole trip brain-storming the idea of taking on the endeavor of making this a reality. Dog-friendly adventures in the spirit of life.
Beyond that fence, is about 100 yards drop to the forest floor and a river. After this cup of coffee, we had one full day to spend in Portland, and since we had never been there before, we did some research on dog-friendly activities, and just went exploring!
Great idea Daniel! Thank you for carrying memories of Yvonne with you and sharing with us. Can’t wait for the next chapter. Dora (plus 2 rescued hounds 🐾❤️🐾)