Meg and I have always loved long drives together. It started with our epic cross-country camping roadtrip when we were just “kids” and she was moving out to Seattle after graduating from university. We packed up everything she owned in a rented SUV, and made our way from Newport to Seattle, staying mostly at campsites and national parks along the way (with a few luxury stops to clean up). We talked, listened to music and planned the rest of our life together.

Fast forward many years, and we still love jumping in the car and heading out for some adventure. I remember when our 2016 Targa arrived, we took a five hour roundtrip drive to get lunch in Leavenworth. That’s a long way to go for a hotdog….even a great hotdog.

One of my favorite ways to participate in the PCA PNWR club is to go on tours. Tours are usually one day drives, although we do have a few multi-day tours each year, where 40 to 60 cars come together and go on a beautiful drive. Plenty of stops, usually good places to eat, and always beautiful back roads with a lot of twists and turns to keep it fun. Most of our tours are in the summer, the peak sports car season, but we run winter tours as well.

Meg recently joined me for an all day ”Winter Waters” tour. It was 12 hours door-to-door and we covered over 300 miles. About half of that was highway getting there and back and the other half was some of the most beautiful back roads our area has to offer. The plan was to meet up in Snohomish, right by the downtown riverfront. Meg and I got there a bit early and went to Jake’s Cafe, a local diner, for some breakfast and coffee. We then went northwest along the Snohomish River and then to Lake Stevens. Lots of fun roads, farmlands, and typical northwest scenery. We drove the east side of Lake Samish and then we completed the trip on one of my favorite roads, Chuckanut Drive on the way to end the tour in Edison. Meg and I have done Chuckanut and Edison before as a solo trip and were excited to get back for more tacos at Mariposa. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Edison it was more early dinner than lunch and Mariposa was closed. We grabbed some food in the Longhorn, took a few sunset photos and then started our trip home.

Some photos from the journey:

Before we took off, we just had to grab a few car photos with the stunning sunset:

Meg is the best co-pilot anyone could ask for, and our drives together are a constant reminder that life is about the journey and not the destination. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Maybe we’ll bring the kids along this time…but likely not 🙂