RING OF FIRE

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imageWorst welcome sign ever, but what a state!  We camped in a classic KOA nestled between the freeway and a train track.  The whistles blew day and night but, oh well!

imageThirty four years ago we were in Portland for a surprise baby shower friends had for us.  On Sunday, May 18th we got up and looked out the window of our friend’s house and saw an incredible mushroom cloud over Mt. t. Helens.  We saw first hand here the power and scariness of Mother Nature.  The mountain was shortened by about a third and the ash river which ran down the Toutle River from the summit destroyed everything in it’s path.  This was BIG news on TV and radio for weeks, especially the next weekend when she erupted again and they shoveled the ash off the streets with snow plows.  Way on the left side you can see imageMt. Adams which is only about 35 miles from St. Helens.

imageNext up was Mt. Rainier.  Here is another perfect jewel in the infamous Ring of Fire which surrounds the Pacific Rim.  From the talks and movies we have watched in all these parks any of these volcanoes has the potential to erupt any time and soon.  But til they do we will enjoy seeing them in all their splendor and rugged beauty.

imageAs in all these parks, Mr. Rainier has an old lodge which has been preserved from the time it was built.  Here at the Mt. Rainier Lodge we find the first purpose built building to turn the tourist eye toward scenes of beauty.  All the inside is done with local logs and is hand crafted.  There are dozens of lampshades in the rafter each having a different native flower found on the park.  Here is The Piano Man entertaining us at lunchtime.

imageBack to fantasy land.  Mark loves flying and has always wanted to be a pilot.  Here he got a sort of chance at the Forest Learning Center back at Mt. St. Helens!

imageMaybe because they have so much native material near to hand, the people of the Northwest are avid woodcarvers.  We were walking through our campground on the Cowlitz River and discovered this fox hiding in a hollow tree!  We have seen bears, eagles, and other animals hiding here and there where we’ve gone.

 

The new picture at the side of the blog is of  us in the middle of the Cowlitz River.  The empty bed shows how huge the river gets during runoff in the spring.  Stay tuned!  All the poor wifi will not keep me from continuing to post our adventures!

ON THE TRAIL OF LEWIS AND CLARK AND THE GOONIES

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imageThe Oregon beaches are the most beautiful we’ve ever visited.  So, we packed up and went to Cannon Beach with Jeff and Betsy and Bill and Eileen.  Above you may recognize Haystack Rock which featured in the opening scenes of The GOONIES, one of our favorite movies from when the girls were small.

imageNot  what we had for lunch exactly, but we did see some sea creatures.  To those of you intent upon picking these things up, remember SEA creatures.  They don’t do well out of water, as we learned from years volunteering at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

imageAlso at the Oregon coast in 1806, Lewis and Clark spent their final westward winter.  They chose this area because of the plentiful game and source of firewood and salt with which to cure the meat they hunted.  They were stocking up for the long return journey so didn’t enjoy the beach as much as we did.

imageHere is Mark with an old friend from Mandan.  For years we have had this conversation about how her name is pronounced.  In ND they say Sakakawea but we all learned Sakajawea.  The ranger tried to tell us  that even her original tribe of Shoshone didn’t have a “J” sound in their language.  I think it was actually a “G” sound because how could anything we learned in the third grade be wrong!

image And our final stop was at the Maritime and River Museum in Astoria.  This is a fantastic place which chronicles what it takes to get ships in and out of the Columbia River over “the bar” where the river meets the ocean.   Imagine a huge river meeting the turbulent ocean and you kind of have a picture of what the river pilots must deal with.  This display was a diarama  of  a rescue in this area.  It was an actual Coast Guard boat suspended inside the museum.  My bad pictures do not even give you the perspective needed to see how incredible it is.

So, the reason these posts have been sporadic is because of bad wifi.  We’ve been in the mountains for a long time.  Don’t leave me hanging, please continue to join us on our amazing voyage!

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WHY WE LOVE OREGON

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imageAfter leaving Bend, we traveled to John Day Fossil Beds which is the site of the largest mammalian collection of fossils in the world.  It is special because of the stratification and the relative ease  scientists can date the land and the fossils.  Sure wish I’d paid more attention in geology and anthropology.

 

imageNext we went to one of our all-time favs, Mt Hood.  Again we ran into snow which is good for skiers.  Had a wonderful dinner at the Cascade dining room in Timberline Lodge.  Such good memories!

then down the mountain we went to Portland which has A great tag line now, “Keep Portlland Weird.”   Works for me.  Spent quality time with my brother, Jeff, SIL, Betsy, and Nephews Gabe and Zach.

imageFrom Portland we visited the spectacular Columbia Gorge and saw Hood River, my old friend Dawn, and Multnomah Falls.

imageWe also looked at real estate because we do think we will return to Portland when our travels are over.  So remember!

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WELCOME TO OREGON

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imageAhhh!  Back in beautiful Oregon!  Clean, clear air, cool weather, and absolutely beautiful scenery.

imageCrater Lake.  1943 feet deep and the purest water on earth.  The ranger told us that this year they only had 22 feet of snow when the average is 44′.  The Rim Road was still closed so we enjoyed lunch at the lodge and a stroll along the south rim.

imageAfter Crater Lake we went to Bend.  The drive there is through high desert plateaus and lava fields.  I was tut-tutted for disliking the Mojave and Death Valley, so I will say I can appreciate the vast desolateness of those two places but as far as deserts are concerned, I prefer these  high deserts or the Southwestern red deserts.  Anyway.  We lived in Bend from 1979-1981 and although it has exploded in population, it is still one of our favorite places.  The pic above is of the Three Sisters as seen from the Lava Lands park.  Eileen is severely slowed down so we missed a lot of great things to see, but we still had fun.

 

imageSunday we went to Sisters and I was totally enchanted by finding Cinderella’s coach there!  Sisters is a fun little cowboy town and sadly we missed both the rodeo and quilt show.  A reason to come back!

imageContinuing Sunday we went to spectacular Smith Rocks and watched climbers crawl up the face of the vertical lava tubes  and also a group doing yoga on the summit as an homage to the Summer Solstice.

imageAnd finally, Mark has been on a beer binge since his heart surgery so we went to Deschutes Brewery for dinner and a few drinks.  The picture is a clever way of pointing us tourists to the restrooms!  Don’t you just love it?  More Oregon to come!!

 

 

CALIFORNIA

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imageWe are sitting Oceanside in Pacifica, California where about ten feet of the cliff fell off into the ocean.  Thrilling!  We have driven to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and Capitola where we had a delicious meal at the Stanford Bridge Grille.  Yum.  We also went into ‘ The City’ to Golden Gate Park and then to Union Square and Chinatown.  Boy, did my feet hurt!  But I did get in my 10,000 steps.  Best of all, I saw my buddy of 66 years, Suzan.  When we get together it’s like we’ve been apart for a day.  Good friends last forever!  Also met Bill and Eileen’s daughter Jenny, her husband Magnus, and their kids Sebastian and Sophia.  What fun!  And we ate at another great spot, the Top Notch in Alameda.  Tomorrow we shove off again for an intermediate stop in Redding before getting to Crater Lake, one of my favs!  After that to Bend for a few,days.  Oh!  Eileen fell at Yosemite  and broke her foot so we will also find an orthopaedist there who can make sure she is doing okay.  What fun is it if nothing ever happens?

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BIG TREES, BIG MOUNTAINS, BIG CANYONS

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Sequoias.  The largest trees in the world.  In a national park that also has Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48.  Kings Canyon National Park.  The largest wilderness area in the lower 48.  Theses words do not express the majesty of the area nor the beauty we encountered.   No mere words can do these parks justice.

imageThe giant sequoia called The Sentinal.  See Mark in the shadow?  Compare the tree to the flagpole!

imageParker’s Grove of seven huge trees.

imageHe Sierra Nevada in the background.  Mt. Whitney doesn’t show up here.

imageOverlook into King’s Canyon.

so, two national parks in one area, of course, too much to see entirely in one day, but we made a good effort.  Stay tuned for more adventure!

 

DEATH VALLEY

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imageI get my finger into lots of pics!image Still trying to figure out what Cat House souvenirs are.

imageYes it was damn hot!imageimageUbehebe Crater.  Not the lowest place, but the most interesting place we managed to see.  Must say I never want to come back here.

NEVADA (‘NUF SAID)

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imageOn to Nevada.  Two nights in Las Vegas and rejoined by Bill and Eileen.  Went to Red Rocks Canyon and The Strip.  What else can I say.

imageOn the way, in Arizona we hit something and creamed the dust catcher on the back of the bus.  Yeesh!

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UTAH. LIFE ELEVATED.

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That is the slogan on the license plate and boy!  Have we been there!  Literally and figuratively.

imageThis is Capitol Reef National Park which, at first, I thought was going to be a bust but as we turned corner after corner, it just wowed us.  We are struggling without good internet service but this place is worth the time it takes to download pictures for you to see.

image Here the rocks are so twisted, tortured, convoluted, crushed, and contorted it is unbelievable.  The vistas are enormous or crowded with formations in a rainbow of colors.  This valley was settled by Mormons in 1880 and the last family left in 1969.  Their homestead is still used as a museum and snack shop.  Here’ what we had!  I told mark that eating these great Utah pastries is what gave me such shapely hips!

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We watched a storm cross over the cliffs hitting the ground with lightening, we saw petroglyphs, smelled a dead deer, and marveled at the wonder of Mother Nature.  Eileen is suffering from altitude sickness as we are at 7000 feet.  The name derives from the fact at many of the formations are domed to mimic the Capitol dome and the bottoms are like an ocean reef which inhibits travel.

 

Our next location took us  Bryce Canyon.  What an awesome place this is!  We hiked the hoodoos and enjoyed going to all the scenic overlooks.  Bill and Eileen had to leave two days early to go to St. George to get their refrigerator fixed.  It was like withdrawal when they left, but we managed on our own.

imageWe hiked more hoodoos and marveled at the beauty of this place.  But, I forgot the most stirring event!  Here is the road we drove on from Capitol Reef to Bryce.  Hang on, the ride was terrifying!!

image imageHard to tell, but this was a ridgeback which dropped off into a mountain valley thousands of feet below.  What a ride!  Hang on.

UTAH, WHERE WE’VE MET NATURE

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imageHome at last!  We made it to Moab, Utah in southern Utah and spent our first day exploring Arches National Park.  This fantastic place has 2000 natural arches which have fascinated people for decades.  I call my favorites Elephant Arches and you can see why.  image

Next, we took a jet boat ride on the Colorado River, which, by the way, is approaching flood stage, and saw what the cliffs, spires, mesas, arches and walls look like from the water.  It was so amazing and was followed by an excellent “Cowboy dinner.”image

Today we discovered Canyonlands National Park.  This is another incredible place which is best viewed from above.  It is the largest park in Utah and hasn’t really all been explored.  It features three sections defined by the Colorado River, the Green River and their confluence.  We visited Island in the Sky and were amazed by the vast beauty of the place.  The scale is so huge and my paltry pictures do the magnificent place no justice.

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Tomorrow we will relocate so that we can see Capital Reef National Park.  The last time I was there I was opening the car door and caught my brother, Jeff’s finger in the hinged part of the door so instead of seeing the park we rushed the many miles back to Cedar City to the hospital.  It was an accident, Jeff!  Really!!