Jada, Ally, Ali and Claire. Our neighbors at the Sol Duc campground, A loop.

The girls are 21 years old, in college and traveling the USA. Rick and I were so impressed with them. They are from Wisconsin and Minnesota and are loving the Pacific NW. They borrowed one of their dads car, slapped a car top carrier on top and left their hometown to head west.

What we didn’t know until the following day is they are carrying a Ruth Bader Ginsburg doll with them and taking random photos with her. They’re using a hash tag of #rbginthepnw but I haven’t found a tag yet…

Two are studying to be elementary school teachers, one political science and the last speech therapy. They all have bright futures.

Here’s the story about how we met and shared time, beverage and s’mores…

It started to rain and they all headed for their tent and one of the girls made a mad dash to the car for a bottle of wine. We headed into our camper and waited for the rain to stop.

An hour after the rain stopped, we each circled our campfires. Since we figured they were at least 21 years old…

Rick, always willing to share, thought they might enjoy some of our apple pie moonshine. He walked over to their camp with the moonshine and they poured maybe half of it into a large mug.

Between the four of them, the cup was emptied. One of the girls tried a piece of the fermented apple slices and said it tasted like apples on steroids and was disgusting. I would have to agree! They loved the moonshine and were so surprised and happy to have shared it. They said they don’t think they’ll forget the experience!

They were making s’mores and invited us to join them. A s’more sounds better than moonshine, so I said yes. Rick declined as apparently he was happy with the moonshine!

We said our goodbyes in the morning and off we hiked towards Sol Duc Falls, while they pulled out of the campground to park their car and hike in the same direction. We wondered if we would see them on the trail. That’s when they mentioned the RBG doll.

We were on the Lovers Lane trail and didn’t realize they were carrying a Ruth Bader Ginsberg doll with them for random photo shots. I asked if they had a hashtag they used to post online and they gave me #rbginthepnw, so I hope I got that right and they can find my blog posts, and I can find theirs.

I didn’t get a pic of the doll but it’s a really cool thing they are doing. These young women are smart, curious about the world and taking the time to travel and see what is beyond their own neighborhood. This behavior to go beyond what is comfortable will make them stand out in the world.

Anyway, their journey will take them down I-5 to Mt Rainier and on to to Portland and beyond. I gave them a few coffee and hiking suggestions while visiting our city. Who knows… we may bump into them along the streets of Portland in a few days!

People we meet on vacation can hold lasting memories. Treasure those memories and go out and make some new ones!

#rbginthepnw

#campandhikeinthepnw