On the Road Again

This 'n That

2011-02-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Have pretty much been busy with all the usual stuff here in Oregon since Christmas.

Un-decorated the house of Christmas
Back to work (aka school) on January 3rd
Youngest son turned 29 years old on January 4th (how did I get so old??)
School district made final decision to cut 15 days (11 teaching days) from the school calendar for budget reduction
Went to a Christian Women's Conference in San Jose, CA with a dear friend. She is our Pastor's wife and she was the speaker at the conference. She roped me into doing a skit! Then she and I spent a day in San Francisco exploring and having fun.
February 17th - went to Tinseltown in Medford and saw "RISE", the movie. Excellent. If you love figure skating, you'd love this movie. Find out more at: www.rise1961.com
February 18th - 22nd were some of our budget reduction days so I went to Portland to play with grandchildren!
Snow day on February 24th - no school in our district
And now we are looking forward to:

Un-winterizing the 5th wheel and heading to the Oregon Coast for a few days in late March
Alaska cruise and land trip in June

Here's a few pictures for you.

Women's Conference

Stacy and me doing our skit

Bonnie, Conference Speaker

Rode the cable car from Fisherman's Wharf to Market Street, San Francisco

Ate dinner at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39

Some of the many sea lions that live at Pier 39

Granddaughter Claire, older twin (by 1 minute!) The twins will be 5 in June.

Granddaughter Julia, younger twin

Grandson Eli, almost 2 years old

Eli is going to be a singer/songwriter/musician!

Granddaughter Jocelyn who just turned 1 year old

Jocelyn busy at playing

Playroom at daughter's home with her three plus Jocelyn

Christmas behind us, New Year ahead of us

2010-12-26T17:28:00.000-08:00

We trust you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Our Christmas was....different. But it was delightful.

Both of us got busy in the kitchen with more baking. Gordon wanted mince pie so he made one. He pointed out to me that he had never made a lattice crust before. I think he did an excellent job. (And the pie was delicious!)

I decided that we needed cookies and baked up some Russian Teacake cookies.

Christmas morning we slept in (the advantage of not having little children in the house! LOL). Then Gordon fixed breakfast for us: fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs benedict (one of my favorites!) and hot English Breakfast tea. YUM.

After breakfast we had our devotions and then opened Christmas presents. A bit later our doorbell rang. Gordon went to the door to see who could possibly be at our door on Christmas morning. There was Peter & Heidi and their kids, standing on our lawn, singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"!!! That was a total surprise and so fun. The camera was handy and I got a quick snapshot of them. :)

They came inside and visited for a while. The girls were so excited to tell us all about their presents. It was fun listening to them. And all the girls had on their brand new 'jammies from Auntie Crystal and Uncle Gary. Then they all headed off to fun times with Heidi's family.

In the evening Gordon and I watched "Amahl and the Night Visitors." That is a Sletmoe tradition. We've watched that every Christmas for a number of years. And before we had the video, we would listen to the record. All our kids grew up on "Amahl". When that was over, we watched "It's a Wonderful Life." Christmas isn't Christmas without George Bailey and Clarence!

Here are a few of our Christmas decorations for your viewing pleasure. :)

Candy canes and snowflakes

Our new front door

I started a collection of Christmas bears in 1998. I add a new one each Christmas. An additional two were given to me so I now have 15 bears to sit around the Christmas tree.

My mom crocheted these bells for me many years ago

This Nativity was given to me by our older daughter, Yvonne, over 12 years ago

Now we are looking forward to a new year. New adventures. New surprises. New hills and valleys. We go into this new year with our hands held tightly in God's hands, knowing that He will be with us every step of the way.

May God bless us all in 2011.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2010-12-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

It is almost Christmas 2010. The year has flown by. Like everyone else, there were the usual “vicissitudes of life”; but really, it has been a wonderful year. God has been so good to us.

We celebrated our 49^th wedding anniversary in October. Our kids and grandkids surprised us with the announcement of an Alaska cruise for our 50^th wedding anniversary next year, which we will be taking in June. We are quite excited about this! On our honeymoon we took a 4-night, 3-day cruise along the inside passage by Vancouver Island. So this coming cruise is somewhat an extension of that cruise. J

We both have been very busy. Gordon is still working for First Student as a bus driver trainer and student behavior manager. He teaches first aid and CPR to the bus drivers and staff as well. Barb is working at Fort Vannoy Elementary School as an Education Assistant. She loves working with the 1^st graders. She comes home with funny and interesting stories quite often.

We so enjoyed having most of our family here with us for Thanksgiving. There were 27 of us packed into our little home. We all had a good time. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having our other two kids and their families with us. With a family as large as ours, it is pretty hard to get everyone together.

We are so proud of our 15 grandchildren. The oldest just turned 21 and the youngest is 10 months old. We had the opportunity to see 7 of the younger ones in Sunday school Christmas programs and saw our beautiful Amalia in her final Nutcracker ballet. She has done this for 12 years and now that she is a Senior will not be able to take part in it as she heads off to college next year.

The past seven years we have gone to Arizona for two weeks at Christmas so that we could spend Christmas with our son, Steve, his wife Shawna and son Jonathan; and to visit Barb’s sister, Pattie and her husband Gary. But this year circumstances were such that a trip to Arizona just wasn’t possible. So, we put up more Christmas decorations than we usually do, including a Christmas tree, and are enjoying the Christmas season at home.

Both of us have been busy in the kitchen this December making Christmas gifts. Gordon made a lot of bread and Barb made cookies and candy. These were fun projects.

At this Christmas time we are very thankful for family and friends. And we are most especially thankful that God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be our Savior.

Merry Christmas to you! God bless you extra special at this Christmas time.

And may 2011 be a wonderful year for you.

Gordon & Barb

PS - some pictures for your enjoyment

Some of Gordon's yummy homemade bread

These snowflakes were made by our son Eric when he was in 10th grade - a long time ago

Sisters Amalia and Jannicke

Amalia & Jannicke

Amalia in Nutcracker

Oldest 5 grands with a friend, watching a movie

Cousins Hilary & Amalia

Grandson Eli, 20 months old

Granddaughter Claire, the "older" twin (by 1 minute!)

Granddaughter Julia, the "younger" twin

Claire & Julia - angels in Sunday school program

Annual tradition of setting up the Christmas village and making Christmas cookies at Grandma's with McKenzie, Jordyn, Sierra and Shelby

McKenzie working on cookie decorating

Jordyn - singing a solo in the Sunday school Christmas program

Shelby and Sierra - angels in Christmas program

Tony was a little lamb in the program

Foster grandson was a little lamb in the Christmas program

Daughter-in-law Crystal and Jocelyn who is 10 months old

Jocelyn in the pumpkin patch

Rabbit Ears and Hershberger Lookout

2010-09-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Hershberger Lookout. This is a fire lookout that sits on top of Hershberger Peak at 6,200 feet elevation. This particular lookout has been closed down by the Forest Service.

It is a long way down a steep hill from the lookout to the outhouse!

It was a beautiful day for a drive. We packed a picnic lunch and stopped by the Rogue River and sat there in the sunshine to eat our lunch.

On the way toward Hershberger, you go past Rabbit Ears. Rabbit Ears is a unique twin-shaped geologic formation created by a massive volcanic event long, long ago. It is very distinctive and can be seen from miles away. There was a geocache at the base of one of the ears which we hiked up to and found.

Then it was on to the lookout over a very rough, bumpy, rocky road. Another geocache was located near the lookout.

The view from the lookout is spectacular! You can see all the way into California to Mt. Shasta. Then toward the north you can see Mt. Thielsen. And you can see the mountains that rim Crater Lake. It was pretty awesome.

Once the caches had been found, the views ooohhhed and aaaahhhed over, and photographed, it was time to head home. What a fun day!

Here's a few other pictures from the day trip:

I thought this looked about like lace when looking up through the branches.

Moss hanging from an old fir tree.

Labor Day

2010-09-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, once again I am late with my blog. :) But........ at least I am trying to post more often.

A year ago for Labor Day our son, Gordie, suggested that the Southern Oregon Sletmoe's get together to Tou Velle State Park for a picnic/barbecue. It was such a great success (and no one had to clean house in anticipation of company!!!!) that we decided to do it again this year.

A few days before Labor Day, Gordie called me, while riding his bicycle (don't think the new cell phone laws in Oregon covers that - LOL). He wanted to know if the kids could bring some friends and if a family we all know could also come. Of course I said "the more, the merrier" (well, might not have said those exact words but that was the drift).

So, on Labor Day at noon we all gathered at Tou Velle State Park in beautiful sunny, warm (but not too hot) weather. The menu plan was that each family would bring something to barbecue and then whatever side dishes they wanted to bring. So we had pulled pork, barbecued hot dogs, barbecued chicken tenders and barbecued chicken thighs. Side dishes ranged from salads to breads to cookies to brownies and watermelon. We all had more to eat than we should have eaten!

A couple of the teenage boys joined another picnic group for a rousing game of volleyball. The little kids roamed around and played with things they'd brought along. The two dogs stayed close to where the food was in hopes of handouts.

After eating our fill, a game of Apples to Apples came out among some of the kids. Then a group of the adults started playing Bananagrams. Gordon and two granddaughters decided to go geocaching in the area. So Jeff and his son tagged along. Sadly, they did not find any caches but they did walk over 2 1/2 miles! I was quite impressed with the little girls doing that much walking on a sunny, warm afternoon. I think the whole group that went did enjoy the time, even though no caches were found. The three kids on the trek did each get a "souvenir" out of Gordon's trade items since they didn't find any caches with trade toys.

Finally, about 4 p.m., we all started packing up and headed home - tired and full and very happy that we had spent a part of our last day of summer vacation together.

Here's a few pictures.

A Day at the Oregon Coast is …

2010-08-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Flying kites

Sailing

Dredging

Fishing

Playing in the sand

Watching seagulls

Shiny, wet rocks

Foamy surf

Pelicans on a rock

Waves

Reading a good book

Walking a dog

Seaweed

Sunsets

Bits and Pieces of This and That at the Beach

2010-08-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today started out much differently than the past three days. We woke up to fog, clouds and chilly weather. But at least it wasn’t raining! And fishermen were out there adrift in the fog, trying to catch that elusive fish.

About noon we could see some blue sky over the ocean and it was like a hint or a promise of better weather to come. And sure enough, we saw more and more blue sky until finally all the fog and clouds were gone.

In the meantime, a dear friend stopped by our trailer (she and her husband live nearby) and gave us from fresh produce from their garden. I am especially intrigued with the purple string beans. She told me that once they are cooked, they will be green.

Voila!!! (And they are really, really delicious!)

Today the COE dredge ship was working in the mouth of the jetty for a number of hours. The ship dredges up sand from the bottom of the channel to be sure the channel is a certain depth for the boats that come and go. Then it goes out a ways to sea and dumps the sand. Then comes back and dredges some more. It is slow work. I think it has to be a boring job!

Another interesting thing we saw today was one Coast Guard cutter towing another Coast Guard cutter. Were they just practicing or did one break down out there at sea some place?

This big stump is on the beach at McVay State Park. We assume it is a redwood tree stump since it is so huge. Must have washed up here in a big storm at some point. There are redwood forests not far from here.

Gorgeous Oregon Coast

2010-08-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

One of my very favorite places to be is at the Oregon Coast. There is something so relaxing about the sound of the surf, the smell of the salty sea, and the mesmerizing effect of watching the waves coming and going over and over and over again. God did a very wonderful thing when He created the oceans and the beaches. He knew that some day I would find it so relaxing and refreshing to take a "time out" at the coast. :)

Here are some photos from the past few days. I'm sure there will be more in another blog posting!

Haze is smoke from Oak Flat fire

Commercial fishing boat headed out to sea at sunset

Full moon rising over the hills

Summer Vacation Trip 2010

2010-08-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Our four-week summer trip this year started with us spending two weeks in Portland. Our church has a camp meeting/convention every summer. They have a wonderful campground with cabins and a beautiful RV park. It was a great time of meeting up with friends we see just once a year plus we got to spend a lot of time with family. And the Bible studies and other services were such a lift to our spirits.

It was great fun to spend a lot of time with our kids and grandkids. Jocelyn, our youngest grandchild, was dedicated the first day we got there. We had a family barbecue at our daughter’s home. Our pastor and his wife attended and after we enjoyed all the delicious food, our pastor read Scripture and prayed a prayer of dedication. It was a wonderful time. And the weather was perfect for a backyard barbecue.

Another fun thing we did in Portland was to take our 4 year old twin granddaughters to the Children’s Museum. We rode Max (light rail train) to get there. Lots of hands on activities that the girls enjoyed. This will probably be a “tradition” now every summer until the girls are too old to enjoy it.

On Monday, July 12th, we headed north on a two week road trip, stopping in Spokane, Washington, to visit Gordon’s brother and his wife. Then it was on to Priest Lake, Idaho, where we camped for two nights.

From there we headed through the corner of Montana and then up into British Columbia, Canada. We spent two nights near Fort Steele. The origin of Fort Steele can be traced to the small settlement of Galbraith’s Ferry, which was born during the 1864 Kootenay gold rush. In 1888 the settlement’s name was changed to Fort Steele to honor Superintendent Samuel Steele of the North West Mounted Police, who peacefully settled tensions between white settlers and the Ktunaxa people. Major mineral discoveries in the East Kootenay brought a new boom in 1897. Fort Steele became the commercial, social and administrative centre of the region while property values soared. However, in 1898, when the B.C. Southern Railway bypassed Fort Steele in favor of Cranbrook, the boom sputtered to a halt and the town soon declined into obscurity. The Province of British Columbia acquired the site in 1961, and later began the good work of preserving and reconstructing the historic town.

We camped for three nights at Illecillewaet campground in Glacier National Park of Canada which is in the Selkirk Mountains. It was gorgeous there. We got in some good hikes and geocaching. It was very restful.

We also went to the town of Revelstoke and visited the train museum. We drove the Meadows in the Sky Parkway in Mount Revelstoke National Park. It was beautiful.

Then it was on to Kelowna, BC where we spent one night and then back into the USA.

We took the Lady of the Lake II round trip boat trip on Lake Chelan from the town of Chelan to the other end of the lake at Stehekin where we had a 90 minute layover before heading back to Chelan. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and the scenery was gorgeous.

Then it was on home through Central Washington and Oregon. Two wonderful weeks of summer travel.

Mt. Thielsen near Crater Lake and Diamond Lake

Catching up - sort of.....

2010-08-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

WOW!! It has been almost a year since I posted anything to my blog. Part of the reason is that when we travel I often don't have time to write at the same time that we have internet access! Also, I find this blog site to be tedious to work with. Adding in photos takes forever to get them in place!

Anyway, a brief update since last August as to our wanderings and ramblings "on the road again." Summer vacation will be in a separate entry.

October 9 - 11, 2009 we spent at Diamond Lake. It was beautiful. Very few people there at the campground so it was quiet and restful.

One day we went to Crater Lake.

Then in December we went to Arizona to spend Christmas with our son and his family. While there we did some geocaching. Also went to a "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" restaurant and had two excellent meals there. Then we swung through Tucson for a couple days and on to visit my sis and her husband in Yuma before heading home.

Memorial Day weekend we camped out along the Willamette River up in the foothills of the Cascade mountains and had a restful weekend.

Kites, sun and other things you see at the Beach

2009-08-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from Tuesday. It was gorgeous all day. I sat outside basking in the sunshine and enjoying watching the ocean. In the evening I built a campfire and sat out by it for several hours. Once the sun is gone, it gets chilly very quickly. I admire the people who build campfires on the beach and are still at there at 10:30 at night! I cannot stay out that long!

Yesterday it was foggy all day long. We had about a half hour of sun. :( I spent the entire day inside the 5th wheel. It was warm and relaxing and I got a lot of reading done! :) I did go out, briefly, and chatted with our new "next door neighbors." They are from Arizona and live fairly close to where our son lives. We had a nice chat about Arizona. Also they've been camping in the same areas of Eastern California where we were this summer. Small world.

Today, Thursday, has been mixed - fog in the morning then sunny but more fog lingering out at sea. At least it isn't raining! Now I'm going outside to sit in the sun for a while. :)

Fog

2009-08-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started out beautiful but about 10 AM the fog rolled in.

It is still wonderful at the Coast even on a foggy day.

You can hear the foghorn. You can hear the surf. You can see someone walking on the beach. You snuggle down into your comfy chair inside your 5th wheel with a good book and relax the day away.

Today has started out beautiful again.

The view out our window.

But there is fog on the horizon. Hopefully it will stay out to sea!

I'm sure this surfer was wishing for bigger surf!

Pulling in their crab pots.

Coast-Beach-Seaside

2009-08-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

It is very interesting that on the East Coast people go to the "seaside." In California, you go to the "beach." And in Oregon/Washington one goes to the "coast." Same place - different names! LOL

Anyway, I am at the Oregon Coast! We drove down on Saturday. Gordon drove the pickup and pulled the 5th wheel. I followed along in the car.

The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS when we arrived at the Coast. Our camp spot at Beachfront RV has an unobstructed view of the beach and ocean. http://www.port-brookings-harbor.org/?nav=rv_park Once we set up and had a light lunch, we sat outside the rest of the afternoon, reading.

We went to our favorite small restaurant for a dinner of the most delicious clam chowder along with fish and chips. Then back to the RV park and built a campfire. Once the sun goes down, it cools off quickly so we called it a day (or night!) and came in about 9:15.

A jogger on the beach at sunset

Yesterday (Sunday) was also a gorgeous day. We walked on the beach in the morning,

See the starfish on the rock??

watched the webcast of our Portland church's morning service, then sat outside and ate our lunch. We spent all afternoon sitting outside, reading.

Soon after dinner Gordon headed for home as he has to work this week. I built my very own campfire and sat outside watching the sunset.

Today is another beautiful, beautiful day! I am going to walk on the beach and sit outside and read. And I'm going to block out any worry about our refrigerator at home that decided to quit working over the weekend. I'll let Gordon handle that!

Followers!

2009-08-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've added the gadget "Followers" (upper left side). Would love to have you all become a follower of my blog. I realize I do not post daily - I use this just as a trip journal when we are actually on the road again. So there may be weeks or even months when I do not post but I hope you'll follow our wanderings.

We'll be at the Oregon Coast for a week before the month is out so there will be posts and pictures coming! :)

WILDFLOWERS AND OTHER VEGETATION

2009-07-29T13:48:00.001-07:00

I love to take photos of wildflowers and plants. So here are some that we saw on our vacation. Enjoy!

VACATION WINDING DOWN

2009-07-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

The Crags at sunset as seen from our camping spot

Friday, July 24th, we just stayed in camp all day and relaxed. That was very enjoyable. There are a lot of deer that wander through the campground. One came right up to our door, hoping for a hand-out (which we did not give her!).

Saturday we had to head toward home. We traveled as far as Hat Creek Hereford Ranch RV Park in Hat Creek, CA (not far from Burney). http://hatcreekrv.com/ It was a very nice campground.

Mt. Lassen
Sunday we came on home. Sad to see our vacation over. We had a great time. It was relaxing. We saw interesting places and things. We found a lot of geocaches - that is always fun!

Mt. Shasta
The weather throughout the two weeks was hot – very hot in the valleys around Lone Pine, Big Pine, Lee Vining, Bishop. And it was mid 80’s at the higher elevations where the campgrounds are.

GEOCACHING, MINER’S CABIN, AND LAKES

2009-07-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday, the 23rd, our plan was to spend most of the day geocaching and exploring some lakes.

Our fist geocaching location

was near an old miner’s cabin. It was pretty cool to be driving on a dirt road in the mountains and come upon this cabin!

Loved the outhouse!

Then we headed off toward a mine (these mountains are filled with old mines). We encountered a brief thunderstorm while there.

Thunderstorm over Mono Lake

Gordon headed off to try to find the cache and came upon a snake – probably a rattlesnake. So we decided to not try for that cache after all!

In all we found 12 geocaches that day plus explored around Lundy Lake

Beaver dam in a pond next to Lundy Lake

and June Lake.

We also managed to get our pickup stuck in some sand so that took a while to dig out and get us back on a dirt road again. That was hot, hard work for Gordon.

On our way back to camp, we drove over to Buckeye National Forest Campground to see what it was like. Decided the 3 mile dirt road is not something we would want to travel when pulling our 5th wheel.

MOVING ON TO CRAGS CAMPGROUND

2009-07-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 19th we left Upper Sage Flat campground for Crags Campground (another National Forest Service campground) about 150 miles north. Crags is where we camped twice last summer (before and after we spent a few days in Yosemite). We loved it so much at Crags that we wanted to spend 6 nights here again.

There were thunderstorms in the mountains but never where we were. We did see smoke from a rather large wildfire that had started the day before. We also saw a number of Forest Service fire trucks and equipment and fire fighters.

We stopped and found one geocache on Highway 6.

After setting up camp, we just relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular mountain views all around us, especially the Crags to the West. And in the evening we had a nice campfire and did some star gazing.

Monday was a morning for doing chores like laundry and cleaning the awning. Then the rest of the day was spent in total relaxation – reading, crossword puzzles, Suduko. As we are sitting outside in the shade Gordon said, “It’s tough, this vacation stuff.” :)

Tuesday (yesterday) the plan included some geocaching by the upper end of Twin Lakes (found one of two)

and ate our lunch sitting in the shade by the Upper Twin Lake. We then headed to the Virginia Lakes area to scope out campgrounds for future reference.

Trumbull Lake Campground was very nice and looks like a potential spot for some future vacation. Of course we went geocaching and found six of six caches – several on very bumpy dirt/rocky roads.

In one remote location we found a cache near where a couple was camped in their RV. Gordon chatted with the man and turns out they camp there regularly and he was the one who had placed that particular cache.

On our way back to camp we stopped at Casa Michaela Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was wonderful and we highly recommend stopping there if you are traveling on US 395 through Bridgeport (it is on the south end of Bridgeport). The “soup of the day” was chili relleno soup and it was very delicious!

Today we hitched up and took the 5th wheel up to Mono Village at the upper end of Twin Lakes to dump and get fresh water. The rest of the day is for relaxing! :)

MAMMOTH LAKES AND DEVILS POST PILE

2009-07-22T16:11:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning, July 18th, we went into Big Pine to search for a new tire. We were very thankful that the Shell station had a service bay and had some tires – one of which fit our pickup. Being Saturday, most services were closed. Plus Big Pine and Bishop are both very small towns and don’t have a lot of tire places.

It was already hot in Big Pine by 10:30 a.m. when we were finally on the road headed toward Mammoth Lakes and Devil’s Post Pile. We stopped at Minaret Viewpoint and ate our picnic lunch looking at a most gorgeous view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

During the summer months the only way to get to Devil’s Post Pile is on a shuttle bus that leaves the Mammoth Lakes Adventure Center (right where all the ski lifts and gondola are).

The bus ride was about 40 minutes each way. Devil’s Post Pile is an amazing geological rock formation of lava.

As we headed back toward the campground, we could see that there were thunderstorms around. We got a few rain drops as we drove between Mammoth and Bishop but the storms were over the mountains. Sadly, we could see smoke in several places up in the mountains and assumed there were lightning-caused wildfires.

In the evening, we had our first campfire and thoroughly enjoyed sitting out under the stars. Now that is camping!! :)

BRISTLECONE PINE FOREST

2009-07-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

Friday morning, July 17th was our big adventure to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest – the main reason we camped in the area. The road to the Forest leaves the town of Big Pine and travels 24 miles to the visitor center. Sadly, about a year ago someone with a gripe against the US government burned down the visitor center but they have a temporary building while a new visitor center is being built.

But first we stopped near Grandview campground to eat our picnic lunch. And what a grand view it was! There were beautiful mountains in every direction. We were at 10,000’ elevation. We also found a geocache right by the campground. We also placed one Travel Bug there that we had brought with us from Oregon.

From there it was a 12 mile dirt road to the Patriarch Grove which is 11,200’ elevation, where one finds the oldest bristlecone pine trees – some of them nearly 5,000 years old. These are the oldest living vegetation in the world.

Biggest Bristlecone Pine tree

On our way to the Patriarch Grove we had a flat tire! Apparently when we moved over to the side to let a vehicle pass us going the other direction, a rock sliced our tire – just like a knife! So that was an experience, changing a tire on a narrow rocky, dirt road. Thankfully we had a good spare. We prayed that we wouldn’t get another flat (and we did not). There is a ¼ mile nature interpretive trail through the Patriarch Grove. It was a pleasant 73 degrees with a light breeze. It was awesome to see these ancient trees and to know that some of them were standing when Jesus was on earth.

All together we found three geocaches this day. One of the caches had a Travel Bug which we took and will take to Oregon to place.

CALIFORNIA – HERE WE COME

2009-07-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

We left home on Monday, July 13th and made it as far as McCloud, CA. Tuesday we traveled on to Carson City, NV. The weather in Carson City was sizzling!

We waited until evening, when it was a bit cooler, and went geocaching. There’s always a cache some place that is just waiting to be found. Loved the title of one cache: “Diamonds next to Jesus” (a jewelry store and Christian book store). We found 6 of 6 caches.

Wednesday morning we headed out for Big Pine, CA and a wonderful campground up in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains called Upper Sage Flat Campground (National Forest Service campground).

The campground was around 7100’ elevation. The road from Big Pine to the campground is exceedingly steep. The temperature was about 15 - 20 degrees cooler up in the mountains but it was still quite warm – in the upper 80’s. Down in Owens Valley (Big Pine and Bishop) it was hovering around 100 to 105 degrees the entire four days we were there. I guess you could say this is real vacation weather. :)

Thursday morning, before it got too hot, we headed out to find a couple geocaches not too far from our campground. Found both and had a nice hike along Big Pine Creek.

Then in the afternoon we decided to explore and see areas we had not seen before. We headed south toward Lone Pine. We wanted to stop at the Fort Independence Indian Reservation to place a Travel Bug we had brought from Oregon. The owner of the TB wanted it to be placed in caches on reservations (it was a small keychain-type moccasin). Next we stopped at the Manzanar Interment Camp where 10,000 Japanese-Americans were interred during WWII.

What a desolate place – out in the middle of the desert where it is blazing hot during the summer and freezing cold during the winter. They had a whole government there with administration, hospital, doctors’ & nurses’ quarters, pet cemetery, churches, ball fields, and a cemetery. At the end of the war all but six of the remains were removed from the cemetery and moved elsewhere. Six lonely graves remain.

The entire camp area was all a rather somber place and a reminder of a not-so-great time in US history.

We loved the scenery in the area, however. On one side are the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains and on the other side are the Inyo Mountains and White Mountains. And we did some geocaching and learned more history of the area. In all we hunted for and found 8 geocaches with no “couldn’t finds”. :)

It was blazing hot in Lone Pine. Notice temperature is 109 degrees at 5 PM.

We took a few pictures of Mt. Whitney (hazy!!!). Then we stopped at Pizza Factory in Lone Pine and had dinner and then headed back to camp.

HOME

2009-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived home Sunday evening, July 12. We are just home for overnight. Just long enough to get the mail, pay some bills, mow the lawn, do the laundry and restock the trailer.

Happy Birthday, USA!!!

2009-07-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, United States of America!!

Today, being Saturday and a free day at camp meeting, Gordon and I headed out first thing this morning. We went to Zell’s restaurant for breakfast, which was very yummy – I had Eggs Benedict and Gordon had an omelet with bacon, tomato and avocado in it. Then we headed out toward McIver Park out near Estacada to the site of the very first ever geocache.

On May 3, 2000, a five-gallon bucket was placed right at that very spot by Dave Ulmer. The coordinates were then listed on the Internet and modern-day Geocaching was born. Although the original bucket was severely damaged by an Oregon Road Crew mower and is no longer around, many concerned geocachers recognized the importance of that event which happened there and dedicated the ORIGINAL STASH TRIBUTE PLAQUE on behalf of cachers everywhere. Now, 9 years later there are over 850,000 caches world-wide and thousands of cachers. Thanks, Dave!!!

It was pretty neat to find the plaque! There is a small cache nearby with a log book so we signed it. We then continued on and hunted for and found 7 other caches out in the country around that area, plus we placed one Travel Bug and picked up two other Travel Bugs.

Our caching took us to a pioneer cemetery,

a tree farm,

an old one-room schoolhouse.

So it was a good geocaching day!!!

The weather was HOT today (as it has been the last several days with temperatures getting into the 90’s). As we scrambled up and down hills, over rocks, around stumps, over dead and decaying tree “refuse” from logging in one area, it was hot, hard work but we did have fun! And any day when one finds all the caches they hunt for, and finds a Travel Bug or two, is a good day. :)

We arrived back at the RV park in mid afternoon. Gordon went up to the camp office to use the internet and log our finds. I took a nap!

This evening the young people of our church organization (high school through about 30 years old) presented a wonderful patriotic concert. It was well done and beautiful patriotic music. Made us PROUD that we are Americans! That we live in, and are citizens of the greatest nation in the world is a wonderful thing. It made us thankful for our military men and women who have served through the years and those who are now serving. God bless and protect these men and women who are in war areas today.

After the concert we were ready to sit back in our air conditioned 5th wheel trailer and relax!

Portland and camp meeting

2009-06-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

We are now in Portland, Oregon. We arrived Saturday afternoon.

Once we got parked in the RV park, we went over to daughter's home to visit. Eli, who is now almost 3 months old, has sure grown a lot in the past four weeks since I last saw him! :)

It was great to spend some time with him and the twins.

After that we headed back to the camp ground and had a relaxing evening. It had been a very warm day and we were both tired and ready to just "veg."

Sunday was a busy day with the opening day of our church's annual camp meeting/convention. It was wonderful to see all our friends, many of whom we see just once a year at the camp meeting/convention. Of course the church services were awesome and we felt refreshed by being here.

Gordon had to head back home in the late afternoon as he is working this week but will be back here at the camp on Thursday evening.

Today I went to daughter's home and played with the twins. We read books, played house with their dolls and stuffed animals and then went outside and played in the yard. The weather is gorgeous today - not too hot but sunny with a slight breeze and mid 70's.

Tonight is the annual summer concert that our Portland church presents. It is always a wonderful musical experience.

Tomorrow I will be working in the camp office in the afternoon. That is always enjoyable as I get to visit with folks who stop by, chat with friends, and hopefully be a good helper.

Lake Selmac Weekend

2009-06-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

We took off from home on Thursday afternoon, June 11, and headed to Lake Selmac

which is less than an hour away.

The campground was almost empty so lots of good camping sites available. There were a number of people fishing in the lake but must have been "locals" as not many were camping. It was so quiet and peaceful in the woods.

"Sign" by the lake

We set up camp and then just spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing.

Well, we did drive a couple miles to a store to buy mosquito repellant spray since the mosquitos were out in hoardes! Once we had liberally covered ourselves with repellant, we did a loop walk down to the lake and back. After dinner we did watch a movie.

After a good night's sleep, on Friday morning we just hung out at the rig. After lunch, Gordon went and did some geocaching but I opted to stay at the trailer to read and nap. Soon after he returned, a thunderstorm came through. Lots of thunder and quite a bit of rain. So no campfire. But we did enjoyed just taking it easy.

Saturday morning was sunny and we just hung out at camp. After lunch we headed home.

It was a very fun, relaxing, quick mini-vacation.

The Majestic Redwoods

2009-06-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since we've traveled and/or camped that I totally forgot to blog about our recent (Memorial Day weekend) camping at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413

We left home about 1 PM on Friday, May 22nd and arrived at the SP several hours later. An uneventful trip. It didn't take us long to get set up in our campsite and settle in for a quiet evening in the woods.

Wild Rhododendron

Saturday morning we had a campfire breakfast. Any of you who know me, know that is one of my favorite things about camping - campfires and campfire breakfast. Gordon cooked eggs, bacon and English muffins over the campfire while I made coffee in the rig. None of this boiled "cowboy" coffee for us. We've become coffee "snobs" and prefer our French press coffee! LOL

After a relaxing morning at camp, we headed off to do some geocaching around Crescent City. We also wanted to stop by the National Park headquarters in Crescent City to get a stamp in our passport book. Geocaching was a mixed bag - some were super easy to find and then there were some that were so difficult we never did find them!

Gordon depositing a Travel Bug in a cache

Ice Plant flower

Battery Point Lighthouse at Crescent City

Back to the campground for dinner and an evening campfire.

Sunday we headed off to do some more geocaching and also went to Stout Grove and took the loop hike. It is so beautiful! http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Jed%20Smith/Stout%20Grove.html We continued on to Crescent City by way of Howland Hill Road which is a dirt/gravel, bumpy road but it is so pretty in amongst the redwood trees.

We did some more geocaching up along the coast north of Crescent City up to Pt. St. George. We drove out as far as possible on the Point. Then it was back to the campground. We walked around the campground on the Nature Trail and then it was back to our camp to enjoy dinner and campfire and roast some marshmallows.

Before we hardly had time to think about it, it was Monday, May 25th, and time to head home. I could have spent several more days there. It was so relaxing and so beautiful. The weather was nice. The camp spot was perfect. We'll be back again!!

Tonopah to Home

2009-01-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

Well, the snow of Friday evening didn't amount to much. Saturday morning it was icy out. The cars were all frosty and icy and it was very cold but no new snow on the ground, for which we were thankful.

We headed out of Tonopah, NV on a beautiful, very cold Saturday morning. The desert was lovely in the morning light.

Walker Lake, near the town of Hawthorne, NV was so very blue.

We saw more "painted" hills as we traveled across the Nevada desert.

Then we entered California and the mountains. We saw Mt. Lassen (which we had visited this past summer when it was bare of snow).

At one point there was an elk standing in the road but he turned and ran. Turns out he must have been the road checker for a herd of about 6 elk who were waiting by the side of the road for the "all clear" to cross (it wasn't, so they didn't!).

Our original goal was to stop overnight in Burney, California. But by the time we got into California we were thinking that we could make it clear home and that it would be wonderful to sleep in our own bed after 15 nights in hotels/motels. So Gordon kept the "pedal to the metal" and we kept going.

Mt. Shasta was "out" this time. When we headed south, it was covered in clouds. You can see our road - a ribbon of black between the white snow banks.

And then there was a gorgeous sunset. Photos taken in a moving car just cannot do justice to the gorgeous colors.

We have taken photos of this candy cane snow marker in the middle of summer when it was warm and no snow anywhere around. As you can see, there was about 3 feet of snow at this spot.

We stopped in Medford to eat dinner and arrived home about 9:30 PM.

Another fun trip has drawn to a close. Next trip out will hopefully be with our 5th wheel trailer! But that probably won't happen until late Spring.

Geocaching

2009-01-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Gordon and I spent the morning geocaching in the Tonopah, Nevada area. There are so many geocaches around here that we'd need to stay a week to find them all! LOL We found 5 of 5 this morning and one of them had a Travel Bug.

We had to go through a wire gate, down a very rutted dirt road to get to a couple of the caches. As you can see, there was still some snow patches from the recent storms that came through here around Christmas. But the sky was blue and although it was chilly out, there wasn't a wind.

One cache was near an old, abandoned railroad station.

We came back to the Hi-Desert Inn and made ourselves some lunch then Gordon headed out to do some more geocaching while I downloaded photos, caught up on e-mails, and spent some time relaxing and reading. He found 3 of 3 geocaches this afternoon. By then it was getting chilly and heading toward sunset so he quit. He logged his finds and then we took off to El Marques Mexican Restaurant for dinner. We ate there the last time we were in Tonopah and remembered that they had excellent Mexican food. We confirmed that tonight. It was delicious.

Imagine our surprise when we went outdoors to go to the restaurant and it was snowing!! Be interesting to see what it is like tomorrow morning as we head north!

This evening we are watching football, reading, doing crossword puzzles and just relaxing.

Death Valley

2009-01-01T20:47:00.001-08:00

It was very quiet last night. No loud revelers! :)

We left Pahrump, Nevada fairly early this morning and headed back into California to Death Valley. We drove almost the entire length of the valley. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. The sky was such a bright, clear blue! The weather was cool in the morning but it did get up into the middle 60's in the afternoon. If you've never been to Death Valley, I highly recommend it as a fascinating place to go. However, do NOT go in the summer when the temperature is well in excess of 100 degrees F.

Salt Crystals:

Our first stop was at Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. It is 282 feet below sea level (the lowest point in the world is at the Dead Sea which is 1,378 feet below sea level).

See the white mark about 3/4 of the way from the bottom in the below photo? That is a sign that says "Sea Level." Notice the car at the very bottom left in the photo. That helps put it all into perspective. This was taken at Badwater Basin.

From there we took the Artist's Loop where we saw brilliant and beautiful colors in the rocks and ground.

Also, while at Artist's Palette overlook, we were amused at this family who had their pet duck along with them! I've seen folks traveling with cats and dogs, but never a pet duck. :)

And here's a couple "critters" we saw in our time in Death Valley.

CoyoteRaven

Another very interesting place is Scotty's Castle at the northern end of Death Valley. You can read about it (and a very interesting story it is!) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty

As we were heading from Death Valley back into Nevada to Tonopah, we saw a most beautiful sunset.

We are now in Tonapah, Nevada for two nights.

Travel Day

2008-12-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today was a travel day. We left Yuma with its beautiful blue sky and many green fields of produce and headed northward.

Into the desert.

In the mountains west of Las Vegas there was a trace of snow.

Tonight we are in Pahrump, Nevada.

From Wikipedia:

Pahrump was originally inhabited by the Shoshone. It was discovered and slowly inhabited by American settlers in the late 19th century. They reportedly chose the name for the valley which Pahrump is named after from the original indigenous name Pah-Rimpi, or "Water Rock," so named because of the abundant artesian wells in the valley. Because of these artesian wells, the new inhabitants of Pahrump Valley began a number of large ranch-style holdings, mostly over 1000 acres (4 km²) in size. On these ranches, alfalfa, cotton, and livestock were raised.

Until the 1960s, Pahrump had no telephone service and there were no paved roads in or out of the Pahrump Valley. However, as Las Vegas grew, real estate speculation became more popular in the area, which led to increased interest in Pahrump. This led to the introduction of telephone service and the construction of a paved highway, from Las Vegas to Pahrump, during the late 1960s. Later, this road was extended from Pahrump northward to US 95, near Amargosa Valley. A second paved road was introduced that went from Pahrump to neighboring Shoshone, California, which provided a link to the Death Valley area, as well as a shorter route to those wishing to travel to Los Angeles or other areas in California. In 1974, Pahrump's first high school was constructed.

So there you have it! :)

The weather was gorgeous all day, although the smog layer over Las Vegas was horrific!! Sure glad we do not live there.

I've been wanting a good Mexican meal the past few days. While in Mexico I actually ate seafood since Puerto Penasco has such wonderful, fresh fish so I did not really eat any "typical" Mexican food. Tonight we found a great Mexican restaurant here in Pahrump and I got to eat excellently prepared Mexican food.

We aren't partyers or stay-up-late folks, so we'll be in bed long before midnight (and hope that the fireworks and neighbors aren't too loud). :)

As a friend mentioned on her blog, we've spent the last "page" of 2008 and tomorrow morning we'll be issued 365 new "pages" to spend for 2009. My prayer is that we use each day wisely in just the way God would have us use them. We have no idea what the future holds but we know that God holds the future.

The past year has been a good one. We've done some wonderful, fun things; gone some great places; we've both been in basically good health all year; we've been able to spend time with our kids and their kids; and we look back in thankfulness, as we look forward in hope and anticipation.

Happy New Year to each of you who read this. May 2009 be a blessed year for you and those you hold dear.

Touring Yuma and Geocaching

2008-12-30T21:03:00.000-08:00

Bougainvillea in Pattie & Gary's yard

Today we decided to hunt for some geocaches here in Yuma. So Gordon & I along with my sister, Pattie, and her husband Gary set off. First order of business was to find this certain Ironwood tree so that we would know what an Ironwood tree looks like. Well, didn't find it. Either it has been cut down, or died, or we weren't in the right place, or something has been built next to it. So...... We gave that up. (We should have just looked on the Internet to see a picture of one! LOL) Then we headed out to geocache. Definitely NOT a good geocaching day. Gordon finally found one. We did see a lot of Yuma's residential area on the east side! ;)

Next we decided it was lunch time....... That was an adventure in and of itself! We went to one restaurant - too busy, too crowded, too much waiting. Then to another - same story. Then to another - same story (do you get the feeling that everyone in Yuma was heading to the same few restaurants today?? LOL). Finally!!! Stopped at DQ and got lunch.

Back to Pattie & Gary's place for a relaxing afternoon sitting outside on their patio, in the warm, pleasant sunshine. And once again we enjoyed a delicious dinner in their RV.

Gordon on the patio. Notice all the cool artwork Gary & Pattie have picked up in Mexico!

Gary

Pattie

So today could be chalked up to one of those days when you do more searching for things, than finding them, but it was all fun anyway. It's fun to "hang out" with family, no matter what is happening. :)

Yuma

2008-12-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

Today we took the fairly short trip from Gila Bend to Yuma. The desert and the mountains are pretty barren in this area.

This is the "spy in the sky" that the government uses to watch the border between Arizona and Mexico. "The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar system. The primary aerostat mission is to provide low level radar surveillance data in support of federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program."

Coming into Yuma.

Once we arrived in Yuma, we checked into the newly opened Comfort Inn & Suites and got the car unloaded. We soon headed over to my sister and brother-in-law's place, about a mile from the Comfort Inn. It was wonderful to see them again! Our brother-in-law smoked a pork loin which we had for dinner. Was it ever delicious!

We're both pretty tired tonight so along about 9 p.m. we left their place and headed back here to our room. The sky is so clear and the stars and moon are bright.

Tomorrow we'll head out on some adventures with Gary and Pattie and see what the day holds. At least the weather is starting to warm up a bit! It's suppose to be in the low 70's tomorrow.

Mexico!

2008-12-28T19:12:00.001-08:00

We left Mesa, Arizona the day after Christmas, heading south.

We entered Mexico about 1:45 PM

We really enjoyed translating all the road signs as we went along. Some we did not ever totally translate so will ask our daughter or daughter-in-law, both of whom understand Spanish. We arrived in Puerto Penasco (aka Rocky Point) in the state of Sonora, in the country of Mexico, in mid afternoon. The sun was shining brightly but the wind was whipping around making it seem quite chilly out.

Our room at Penasco del Sol Hotel was wonderful! http://www.hotelrockypoint.com/ We were on the third floor and our room/deck overlooked the pool area with the beach and ocean right there beyond.

For dinner that evening we went to the Friendly Dolphin restaurant.

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals. We started with tortilla soup. Gordon had shrimp and fillet of fish cooked in an orange flavored sauce. I had shrimp with cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. Interestingly, you got both rice and French fries with the meal. Guess they don't worry about carbs! :)

I even got serenaded!! :)

Yesterday we did some sightseeing, some geocaching (found 3 of 4, one of which had a Travel Bug)

and then down to Old Port to browse the shops. I haggled for a small ironwood turtle (we bought a larger one last year in Ensenada) but they wouldn't come down to what I felt was a reasonable price so we walked away.

The sunset last evening was quite beautiful!

We went to The Lighthouse for dinner. Another delicious meal. The view from the top of Whale Hill was beautiful!

Today we stopped at Coffee Haus in Puerto Penasco for breakfast, http://coffeeshaus.com/. Interestingly, the restaurant is owned by a German couple. We had Apple Strudel and Mochas. Both were wonderful. Then we headed north for the USA.

We spent several hours at Organ Pipe National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/orpi/

Tonight we are in Gila Bend, Arizona in a Best Western motel called "Space Age." Their decor is sort of based on space and space travel. The two pictures in our room are of space shuttles. The outside of the place has some features that makes one think of satellites. :) The room is nice and we are comfortable.

It is good to be back in the USA. Mexico is interesting. However, the huge amount of poverty is depressing. The hovels and shacks that are the homes of so many people,

the multitudes of dogs wandering the streets, the main roads that are dirt, and the numbers of people, including small children (this little girl was selling bubble gum)

trying to sell "junk" to earn a few Pesos causes mixed emotions. One part says "Thank the good Lord that I don't live here." and the other part feels guilty that we in the US have so much while so many have so little.

Tomorrow we head to Yuma to visit my sister and her husband. They are full-time RVers. They have a lovely MH. They own a lot in Yuma and spend about 6 months of the year there. Then in the summer they travel to Oregon and Washington.

Christmas - Family, Food, Fun, and Festivities

2008-12-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas tree at son and daughter-in-law's place

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at our son's home where we had way more food to eat than is good for any one! LOL We just hung out at their house, visiting. I spent quite a bit of time playing games with our grandson.

In the evening we went to the Phoenix Zoo for ZooLights. What fun. Great light displays. It was cool but not cold and thankfully, not raining!

After the zoo, we went over to the Mormon Temple grounds where they have a fantastic light display every Christmas.

By the time we were done walking at the zoo and the Temple grounds, we were all exhausted and ready to say "good night" and head for our beds.

This morning we woke up to drizzle. :( However, it stopped for a while, only to start up again along about 11 a.m.

Headed over to our son's and then we, our son & his wife plus her mom and step-dad went to JB's for the breakfast buffet. Very good food. Lots of people!

Son and his wife joined Gordon and me for some geocaching.

Our daughter-in-law loves to geocache. I have a hunch we'll hear that she has a GPS and is out looking for caches in the near future! Anyway, we found 5 out of 6 (our daughter-in-law found the very first one and she was so thrilled!).

By the time we got to the sixth one, it was past the drizzle stage and was pouring rain and windy so we decided to call it quits and go back to get some dry clothes.

We spent the rest of the day at our son's home. They fixed a wonderful Christmas dinner. We had Honey Baked Ham, honey glazed turkey breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob, broccoli with cheese sauce, dinner rolls and Marie Callender's Razzleberry pie.

After dinner we played a rousing game of Sceneit? (which son and daughter-in-law won). Then we headed back to the hotel as we were both pretty tired and ready to call it a day.

Tomorrow morning we head for Puerto Penasco, Mexico.

We hope you've all had a glorious, happy Christmas!

Snow!

2008-12-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

I didn't get here last night to tell about our day.

Yesterday morning we woke up with 8 to 12 inches of snow on the ground.

Thankfully, the road crew had the roads all cleared and we had a safe trip through the White Mountains (aptly named!)

and on through the Salt River Canyon.

Beautiful country.

Then down to the valley where we saw beautiful mountains, hills and cacti.

We arrived in Mesa, Arizona about 1 PM. We love how artistic the walls and bridges are along the freeways in Arizona.

We checked into our room at the Days Inn and since we're going to be in one spot for several days, we totally unloaded the car. While Gordon went to find a laundromat and do laundry, I reorganized the ice chest and food box. We have a small refrigerator here in the room so I took everything out of the ice chest and got it all cleaned out. Checked out our breakfast and lunch supplies (we're good for quite a few more days). Once Gordon got back with clean laundry, I reorganized our duffle bags. It feels good to have everything neat and know where to find things!

About 5 p.m. we went over to our son's home. It was wonderful to see Steve, Shawna and Jonathan. Jonathan has grown taller this year and now has some new permanent teeth. He is growing up way too fast! He has an X-Box game so he and I read the booklet that tells about the different characters, weapons and vehicles. (Totally out of my realm of knowledge! LOL)

After visiting a while at their house, we all took off to Golden Corral for dinner. Shawna's Mom and Step-Dad met us there (they are visiting here from Texas). Had a good dinner (and way too much food!) then went to the church Steve and Shawna attend for their Christmas service (they repeat the same services 4 times today). http://www.cccev.com/Arena/cccev_content/splash/splash.html Their Christmas service always includes a candlelighting ceremony at the end. It was a good time to stop and think about the true meaning of Christmas. Jonathan was really looking forward to the candlelight part but the poor kid fell asleep part way through the service and missed it!

By the time we got back to our room, it was closing on 11 p.m. and time to fall into bed.

We're having a quiet morning today and then going over to Steve's place this afternoon. We'll probably head out to look at Christmas lights this evening.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

2008-12-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

When we left Flagstaff this morning, it was exceedingly cold and the weather report was for more snow in the area.

Thankfully, the weather was dry all the way east to Holbrook. The wind was blowing quite hard and the wind chill factor made it extremely cold outdoors.

This was a map of Route 66 on the side of a building in Holbrook. I hopped out of the car long enough for Gordon to snap a picture!

Our first stop was at the Crystal Forest Museum and Gift Shop (thanks to Howard & Linda for talking about that shop and the great free camping on their blog). We did buy a piece of petrified wood and had a nice chat with the woman in the shop.

Because it was so cold and windy, we didn't spend very much time outdoors in the Petrified Forest or Painted Desert. We really wanted to take all the nature trails and hikes in the area but this was not the weather to do that.

We did walk the Giant Logs loop.

Also stopped at Jasper Forest and Agate Bridge. In both of those spots we got out long enough to take a look and take some photos and get back into the car as quickly as possible.

Newspaper Rock was so fascinating with all the petroglyphs and we braved the cold to spend some time studying those petroglyphs.

The next stop was at Puerco Pueblo. We walked all around the remains of the village that was occupied by the Puebloan people between A.D. 1250 and 1400.

We stopped at the Route 66 marker. As a girl, I went with our family from Southern California to Illinois along parts of Route 66 so it is kind of nostalgic for me.

These old telephone poles are along Route 66. This section of the route is no longer usable.

Then it was on to the Painted Desert. Sadly, because it was overcast (and we could see that it was raining and/or snowing off in the north and west), the colors did not show up as gorgeous as they would be on a sunny day. However, we still stopped and "Ooohed" and "Ahhhed" over the beauty. I marvel how God created such a diversity for us to enjoy!

We then headed back to Holbrook and then south on Highway 77 through Snowflake (nary a snowflake to be seen except the fake ones on the light poles! LOL) and on to Show Low. Just about the time we were arriving in Show Low, it began to snow (and I'm sure it was snowing in Snowflake as well). Even though it was still fairly early, we decided to call it a day and found a nice Days Inn. We're glad we stopped. It gave us a chance to just kick back and rest and not drive in nasty weather. (Four and one-half hours later it is still snowing. Our car is covered!)

We ventured out to Pizza Factory (http://www.pizzafactory.com/index2.html) for dinner and back to our room to spend a relaxing evening.

Now.... You may be wondering about the names of Snowflake and Show Low. Here are the stories (from Wikipedia):

Many people believe that Snowflake obtained its name because it snows a lot. The name comes not from snowflakes, though it does snow, but is a portmanteau of the names of its founders: Erastus Snow, the Latter-day Saint [Mormon] apostle in charge of the colonization of Arizona, and William J. Flake (whose great-grandson, Jeff Flake, would later serve in Congress). Keeping with its history, most of the residents of Snowflake belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Show Low is a city in Navajo County, Arizona. It lies on the on the Mogollon Rim in east central Arizona, at an elevation of 6,400 feet (1,951 m). The city was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1953. According to 2007 Census Bureau estimates, the population was 11,763.

According to the legend, the city was named after a marathon poker game between C.E. Cooley and Marion Clark, they decided there was not enough room for both of them in their settlement. The two men agreed to let a game of cards decide who was to move. According to the story, Clark said, "If you can show low, you win." Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, "Show low it is." The stakes were a 100,000 acre (400 km²) ranch. Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance.

Tomorrow it is on to Mesa for Christmas! YAY!!!

Flagstaff

2008-12-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

We left Bakersfield, California about 8 a.m. and headed east toward Arizona. The drive was smooth and uneventful. We drove 500 miles today.

We started out driving around and around in Bakersfield looking for a Starbucks to get some good coffee. Finally gave that up and stopped at a 7-11 and got very good cappacinos! :) (We miss Dutch Bros. that we have in our home town!)

We saw quite a bit of snow around Tehachapi (a town not too far east of Bakersfield). It is pretty "weird" with the snow and all the wind generators on the hills. (We've seen the wind generators a number of times before but not with this much snow on the ground.)

We saw a lot of freight trains with many engines and lots of train cars, most of which were containers. This train was headed east and at one point in the mountains near Tehachapi it went through 4 or 5 tunnels in a row. Gordon pulled off the side of the highway so I could get this photos of the train as it came out of one of the tunnels. I believe this train had 5 engines.

We crossed the Colorado River into Arizona by Needles. We lost an hour of time since we are now in Mountain rather than Pacific time zone.

This photo is taken from the Arizona side looking across the Colorado River into California.

One of the first exits after you get in Arizona is to a dirt road that takes you to some areas close to the "needles" which gave the town its name. Mostly this area is used by ATVs but we took our trusty AWD Subaru a ways so we could get some closer photos of the needles.

And a distant shot:

Kingman, Arizona had snow on the ground and as we climbed higher toward Flagstaff, we saw more snow. There is a lot of snow on the ground here at Flagstaff but the roads are clear and easy traveling. They've had several winter storms this past week that dumped about a foot of snow on Flagstaff. Apparently another storm is expected to come in tomorrow. It really is beautiful. And seeing the Christmas decorations around town with the snow, makes it seem very Christmas-y!

The sunset was spectacular as we traveled. It was "interesting" to take photos out the window as the car was heading east and I was shooting pictures behind us!! I kept a firm grip on the camera!

These are some of the mountains that were to the east of us that were reflecting the sunset colors.

We are staying at a Quality Inn tonight here in Flagstaff.

Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of sightseeing in Flagstaff (weather permitting!) and then head over to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.

Down the length of California (almost!)

2008-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

We left Weed, California about 8:15 a.m. after a lovely FREE breakfast at the motor inn. It was sunny and very cold. We drove through snowy territory for quite a while as we headed south.

We stopped to take photos of the Castle Crags:

One of the best places to take photos of the Castle Crags is near the RV park and motel where we stayed for one night this past July at the beginning of our 4-week summer RVing vacation. It is a railroad RV park. In the summer they rent out the rail cars as motel rooms.

The icicles were on one of the buildings in the motel area:

Here's the granddaddy icicle!!! :)
By the time we got to Redding the snow had vanished and we enjoyed sunny, pleasant driving all the way south on I-5. We stopped in Woodland at a Wal-Mart (like all good RVers do, even though we aren't RVing this time! LOL) to buy some sunglasses for Gordon and a couple other items we needed. While parked in their parking lot we made a picnic lunch (we brought along an ice chest of lunch items as well as a box of groceries).

Just at sunset I was driving in the San Joaquin (pronounced wah-keen') Valley and Gordon took this photo of the sunset over the California Coastal Range mountains:

We continued on south until we reached Highway 58 where we headed east for about 20 miles to Bakersfield, CA, where we are staying tonight at a very nice Days Inn. We picked up some steak sandwiches at a Carl's Jr. that is right across the road from the inn and brought them back to our room to eat and watch the last of the BYU/Arizona bowl game.

We drove about 514 miles today (the actual mileage record is in the car and I'm not heading out to get it at this point).

I haven't heard from the chief navigator what our route is for tomorrow but he did say something about "Flagstaff" so we'll see...... Stay tuned!

Heading South

2008-12-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ashland, Oregon

Oregon has been having some nasty pre-winter weather. (Winter actually begins on Sunday, December 21st.) We've had snow and icy roads. We were concerned about the mountain passes. We debated when to leave and whether to take the pickup truck and 5th wheel or to just go in the AWD Subaru. Since Gordon only had to work a few hours today, we made the decision to get out of town as soon as possible and take the Subaru. After much scurrying around and stressful moments, we pulled out of the driveway about 3:30 PM. We had checked the road conditions and chains were not required over the pass. Other than one trucker almost running us into the concrete median barrier, we had a safe an uneventful trip of 113 miles.

The mountains were beautiful with all the white, pristine snow. Here's a couple photos I took as we drove along.

We made a short trip today as we really were just interested in getting out of Oregon and into California, away from the snowy mountains.

We're in a very nice Comfort Inn tonight. Our dinner was a take-out from McD's which we enjoyed in the comfort of our room. Then we relaxed, watched a bit of TV and now Gordon is working on a crossword puzzle as I work on the computer.

Off to bed early so we can be up and "on the road again" at a reasonably early time tomorrow.
I am sad we do not have our "home on wheels" with us but because of the iffy weather, it just seemed the prudent thing to leave it behind this trip.

Diamond Lake

2008-10-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Diamond Lake and Mt. Bailey

For our final outing before needing to winterize the 5th wheel, we decided to take a weekend at Diamond Lake in the mountains of Southern Oregon.

We left home right around noon on Friday, October 10th and arrived at the Forest Service campground about 3 p.m. Because it is getting colder, and the main camping season is over, the campground was very empty. Only a few fishermen/women were camping. We got a wonderful spot right on the edge of the lake.

The view from our windows

On our way to the lake, we saw a few snow flurries but knew that the weather was suppose to improve and be sunny over the weekend so we didn’t worry too much about the snow. It was fun to sit in the RV and see the lake and watch the snow come down.

It was 21 degrees outside when we got up on Saturday morning, but as the weather people predicted, it was clear and sunny. How thankful we are for a furnace that works well and keeps the rig nice and toasty!

Even though it was really, really cold, there were still people out in boats on the lake fishing. Those are dedicated fishermen/women!!

Once it “warmed” up a bit, we went for a short hike, hunting for a geocache. We discovered we were on the wrong trail because we were on the wrong side of a creek and there was no way we were wading a creek in 35 degree weather! :) So we backtracked and decided to go after a couple other caches and leave that one for the next day.

Here's Gordon at a cache.

We had some awesome views of Mt. Thielsen – the “lightning rod” of the Cascades.

Sunday morning wasn’t quite as chilly when we got up – it was about 30 degrees! :) So after breakfast we bundled up and headed off to find the geocache that we missed the day before. This time we were on the right side of the creek and found the cache. Then headed off in an opposite direction to find another cache. It was clear and crisp and perfect hiking weather.

Gordon taking a GPS reading by Teal Lake.

Found one!

On a bridge crossing Silent Creek (and the creek really was silent!).
All told, we found 5 caches between Saturday and Sunday.

Saw about 4 or 5 Gray Jays on our hike Sunday.

Sunday afternoon along about 3:30 p.m. we decided we better head for home.

It was a fun, relaxing weekend, saw beautiful scenery and got in some gentle hiking.

Now it is time to winterize the 5th wheel for the upcoming winter weather.

Labor Day Weekend at the Oregon Coast

2008-09-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

As they say, “better late than never”!! Finally getting around to blogging our Labor Day weekend at the Oregon Coast.

We left home about 5 p.m. Friday night, August 29th and arrived at Beachfront RV Park in Brookings-Harbor, OR (http://www.port-brookings-harbor.org/?nav=rv_park) a couple hours later. Because of the holiday weekend, and the last weekend before school starts, the RV park was very packed full. Of course we had made reservations for the weekend about a month or 5 weeks earlier. However, when we arrived they could find no record of our reservation! Fortunately they found a spot in the back where we could back in for overnight with the semi-promise that the next day we could move to the front where there is an awesome ocean/beach view.

So we semi-settled in for the night – didn’t put out the sewer hoses, didn’t connect cable TV - just water and electricity to get us through the night. And kept our fingers crossed (and prayed) that we could have a front row spot the next day!

The weather was very lovely and once the stress of wondering if we could stay or not (I do wonder what happened to our reservation as I talked to someone in the office at least twice after we made our reservation and no mention was made that we didn’t have one), we relaxed and watched a movie and headed to bed for a good sleep with the sound of the ocean coming through our open windows.

Saturday morning, August 30th, after breakfast Gordon headed to the office and found out that yes, they did have a spot for us in the front row so we could move at any time. We were thrilled and quickly brought in hose and electric cord and put the slide in so we could move. Once in our new, perfect spot, we got out the camp chairs and sat out in the sun and read for a while.

We decided to go up to the library uptown and read some high school football scores from the night before. We were curious how the hometown teams did and we really wanted to see how the team our son coaches faired in their first game of the season, and his first head coaching gig. Nice to have a library with a couple computers that are first-come, first-serve but can only be used for 15 minutes max as we could get in and out without a long wait.

We then headed over to Harbor’s Saturday Market, partly to see if any artisan had a large coffee mug as mine fell over while we were traveling and the rim broke. But we didn’t find one that was big enough and/or pretty enough. We did buy fresh tomatoes and corn.

Next stop was at Chetco Seafood Co. to have lunch. Chetco Seafood Co. is a local, independently owned seafood store that started out as a place to bring your fish to be processed or to buy fish. A few tables were added so people could actually walk up to the counter and order fish ‘n chips and chowder. Now it is mostly a restaurant but they do still sell fresh fish to go. We always eat there at least once while in Brookings as they have absolutely the best clam chowder and awesome fish ‘n chips. The place is small and not fancy but do they have good food!

After lunch we stopped by Beachfront Gifts – the little shop that has wonderful cranberry fudge. Another “must stop” when we go to Brookings. Then it was back to sit outside and relax in the warm afternoon sun.

There were a number of kites flying as it was breezy. This has to be the most unusual kite I've ever seen. It was getting a lot of attention from people along the beach. I saw a number of cameras pointed skyward! :)

In the evening we built a campfire and sat outside watching the sun set and enjoying the campfire. Once it got dark, it cooled off quickly so we didn’t linger outdoors very late.

Sunday, August 31st, was another gorgeous sunny, warm day. We mostly just sat around relaxing, reading, doing crossword and Suduko puzzles. I think we both just needed some down time and it was the perfect place and perfect weather to do so.

I noticed these dogs sitting on the beach (their people were sitting on a log right by them). The dogs were staying behind the log so they had a wind-break of sorts.

We saw so many pelicans this time! Usually the pelicans are along the river but this time they flew overhead and were spending a lot of time out in the ocean. It was great fun to watch them and also to try to get some good photos as they flew overhead.

Sunday evening we again had a campfire. If you know me, you know I absolutely love campfires. Knowing that this was probably our last trip until Christmas time, I had to squeeze in a couple campfires. :)

Monday came much too quickly. I told Gordon that we needed to stay at least three more days. But alas, school started the very next day and Gordon needed to be at work to help dispatch the school busses, handle student behavior things, and continue on with training new drivers. So, with a big sigh I did a thorough cleaning inside while Gordon did the “blue” jobs outside. We headed home along about 10 a.m.

On the way home we stopped in a small town that had a DIY carwash that had a tall bay for bigger rigs so we used a lot of quarters and scrubbed down the outside of our 5th wheel.

And now we have lots of fond memories and literally hundreds of photos of our wonderful 7-week summer trip and our long-weekend at the Oregon Coast. And I’m counting the days until we can be “On the Road Again.”

Home Again

2008-08-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our vacation has reached the end. After spending 3 nights at Lewiston Lake, we headed through the mountains to Yreka, CA to spend our final night in a full-service RV park so we could get the rig cleaned up, the sewer lines thoroughly cleaned out, etc. before heading home.

As we drove through Yreka last evening, doing some geocaching (5 out of 5 found!), we saw these awesome bucks on a church lawn.

It has been a wonderful vacation. The weather was great the entire time. We’ve only had two nights where smoke from fires was a factor – all other days and nights have been beautifully clear. We haven’t encountered any rain. The campgrounds have been really good. We’ve seen a lot of interesting places and beautiful scenery.

I haven’t mentioned our traveling companion, Maggie! Maggie has traveled the entire trip with us, lying in “her spot” on the back of the sofa. We used to have a real Westie whose name was Maggie and she was a love. Now we are pet-less so we took this Maggie along – who was a wonderful, no-fuss travel companion! LOL

We spent 3 weeks in Portland, Oregon at a full-service RV Park at our church's campground, then came home for one day. On July 15 we headed into California for nearly 4 weeks. We traveled a total of 3,251 miles. The California portion of the trip was a total of 2,217 miles. During the California portion, we stayed at 13 campground/RV parks. Of those 13 places, 7 nights of them were in privately owned, full-service RV parks. The other 19 nights were dry camping in National Forests, State Parks or National Parks campgrounds.

Since our travels for the summer are over, I won’t be adding to this blog very often. We’ll be heading to the Oregon Coast for Labor Day weekend so I’ll probably blog that and add photos. After that it will be our annual Christmas trip before I blog again.

Redding, Lewiston & Trinity

2008-08-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

We decided we needed one night in a city in an RV park with full hookups! So we headed to Redding, CA and found a very nice RV park. Now we could use all the water we wanted, we went to a restaurant for dinner, and we did a load of laundry.

On our way to Redding we drove through the Feather River Canyon.

It brought back very special memories.

Gordon and I drove through the canyon on our honeymoon – almost 47 years ago.

There have recently been forest fires in the canyon and we saw much burned.

Thankfully the fire fighters seem to have these fires pretty well contained and about to the “mop up” stage.

One night was enough in “civilization” (and the intense heat of Redding!) and we headed into the mountains in Trinity National Forest, northwest of Redding.

First stop was at Shasta, pretty much a ghost town now.

The remaining brick walls are being reinforced so they won’t tumble down on tourists’ heads!

Driving through the mountains we could see where fires had burned in this area recently. So sad to see the beautiful forests destroyed. These fires all appear to be lightning caused so at least it isn’t careless hunters, campers, or arsonists!

We found a campground right on the edge of Lewiston Lake (just below the dam at the end of Trinity Lake).

Interestingly, this huge campground was totally empty except for the camp host! I guess the number of wild fires still burning in the region is keeping people away. The air is clear here and we love the solitude! (Later in the evening one other trailer pulled in but parked far down from us and we weren’t even able to see their trailer or lights.)

As we sat outside enjoying a light evening breeze (after a very hot day), a young black-tailed deer walked right up to us. In fact, I thought he was going to come right to me!

In a while he was joined by a friend and then they wandered off toward the lake.

A bit of excitement! A police officer pulled into the campground and stopped at our rig. He wanted to let us know that one of the inmates of a local correctional facility who was working on a fire line had walked away and they were hunting him! The police officer assured us that the young man was not really dangerous. He was serving time for DUI and also some INS issues (was possibly getting sent back to Mexico). The police officer left one of those flyers like you see in the post office with us so we’d know what the guy looked like if we saw him! Two other patrol cars came through even later and stopped to check that we knew about this young man. (The next morning we saw about 6 law enforcement men, some in camouflage, gearing up to continue hunting in this area. And, no, we haven’t heard if they ever found him or not.)

Thursday, August 7, we went exploring and geocaching. We took a picnic lunch with us which we ate at the park next to the museum at Weaverville. Weaverville is an old mining town.

The town has done a good job of putting up plaques telling about the different buildings, times, etc.

The most interesting feature is the three buildings that have outside spiral staircases.

It was a very hot day. We found 13 out of 13 geocaches in the region! And we explored a lot of area and learned a lot about the history of this area. Geocaching is a wonderful way to get out there and learn about an area!

When we returned to camp, I was sitting outside and a very inquisitive squirrel came around. He peered in the trailer door,

he checked out the barbecue,

and he even climbed on my lap! I was trying to take his picture and he stuck his face right on the camera lens! I shooed him away

but he stayed close by eating tender green weeds.

Three more campers arrived but the one who had been here was gone. So now there are a total of 4 campsites occupied. (Sadly, one family camped in the spot right next to us and had to run 3 bright propane lanterns late into the night!) But this is still a wonderful spot!

Tahoe, Truckee and Donner Pass

2008-08-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

We left Crags Campground on Sunday morning, August 3, heading north. We decided to drive up the west side of Lake Tahoe as we had gone down the east side earlier in the trip. What a traffic jam that turned out to be! Lake Tahoe was gorgeous on a sunny, very warm day but everyone in California had come to spend the day on the west side. Well, it almost seemed that way. We had thought we might camp some place along the lake but there were just too many people and obviously most of the campgrounds were jammed full. Plus we weren’t sure we wanted to be jammed into any campground that crowded.

Of course we drove right past Squaw Valley – home of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games.
Four miles north of Truckee we found a wonderful campground in the Tahoe National Forest at the edge of Prosser Reservoir. And it is quiet and not many campers around. A beautiful spot!
Monday morning we set out to sightsee. We went to a historical spot on Alder Creek where the Donner Party camped that awful winter of 1846. I have read various accounts about that winter. Interestingly, I just started a book called “Toward the Setting Sun” by Mary Barmeyer O’Brien. It has ten short stories about 10 pioneer girls. The very first story in the book is about Virginia Reed, a 13-year-old girl who was with her family in the Donner Party. The Reed Family and the Breen Family are the only two families who did not lose anyone that awful winter.

We visited the Donner Memorial State Park and saw a well-done movie about that winter. This statue is outside the museum. The tower of the monument is as tall as the snow was deep that winter – nearly 20 feet deep! The Reeds, Breens and others were camped here where this state park now is. (The two Donner families, their servants and teamsters camped some distance away at Alder Creek. I believe they had stopped because of equipment problems while the rest pushed on hoping to cross the Sierras, which they were unable to do because of the great amount of snow.)

At the State Park we also went on a Nature Walk and saw a lot of wild flowers. Here’s just a small sampling.
We drove the old Donner Pass Road to the summit. We stood in the very spot, looking down on Donner Lake, where Gordon and I had stood some 48 years ago when we were dating and we took a day trip from the SF Bay Area to Donner Pass and back.

We came back to Truckee on the Interstate 80 highway (which did not exist 48 years ago) and browsed around in historic Downtown Truckee.
Then we were ready for a campfire and later, after dark, some star gazing!

Back at Crags Campground

2008-07-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

The views coming down Tioga Pass were wonderful. And we were rewarded with getting to see a Golden Eagle.
We camped near the base of Tioga Pass on the eastern side on Tuesday night at an Inyo National Forest campground. The area was lovely. Lots and lots of aspen trees and watching the leaves “dance” in the breeze was awesome.

However, the mosquitoes were horrid! We were camped beside Lee Vining Creek.
And we couldn’t have campfires there (not sure we would have wanted to sit outside with the mosquitoes anyway!) so we spent just one night there.

Now we are back at Crags Campground in Toiyabe National Forest. Last time we were in the Sawtooth Loop. This time we are in the Matterhorn Loop. We love it here. We will stay until either Saturday or Sunday.

Of course we did my favorite thing last evening – a campfire (and a good book)! Then we sat out in the dark and watch the stars.

Here is the sun coming up over the mountain this morning.

Gordon and I went geocaching this morning at the upper end of Upper Twin Lake. One cache was up the side of a mountain so I stayed down below and took pictures while he scrambled up to the cache. (If you look closely, you'll see him about halfway up the hill in the center of the photo. I labeled it but in this smaller size you might not be able to see the label.) The other cache was right by the trail. We had to cross a really rickety log bridge on the trail. The creek wasn’t deep but I really did not want to fall in and get wet, and possibly hurt so I was very careful of my footing going across. A couple young guys fishing were probably laughing at this “old lady”. Anyway, we found 2 out of 2 caches and one had a Travel Bug. We have two more caches to hunt for tomorrow at the upper end of Lower Twin Lake.

Yosemite National Park

2008-07-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

The trip from our campsite in the Toiyabe National Forest to Yosemite via Tioga Pass Road was great. The views along Tioga Pass were spectacular. And the truck had no problem pulling the 5th wheel trailer over the 9,945 foot elevation pass.

We’ve had a wonderful time at Yosemite. The weather has been great – sunny and very warm. We spent two nights at a Thousand Trails RV park just outside of Yosemite on the western side. Then we moved to Tuolumne Meadows Campground on the Tioga Pass Road where we spent two nights.

There are forest fires not too far from Yosemite on the western side. The second day we were here, by 3 p.m. the sky was getting filled with smoke (we were on the valley floor) and by the time we got back to the RV park at 4:30, it was so dark out we had to use lights in the trailer! Ash was raining down and in the morning our pickup had a lot of ash on it. Thankfully, we were moving that morning to the higher elevation where we again had beautiful blue skies and no smoke.

While at the first RV park, we toured the valley floor and also drove to Glacier Point. Years ago we camped in Yosemite with a church group and one young man took his trombone and climbed out on this overhanging rock at Glacier Point and played “How Great Thou Art.” It was a very wonderful moment. Now when I look at that overhanging rock,

I shudder to think that someone would stand out there! Thankfully, the sightseeing area is fenced off from that point and there are enough Park Rangers around that no one would ever be able to do something that risky these days. (In below photo, the point is that part that is sticking out to the left of the trees.) On the valley floor we saw Bridal Veil Falls, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls and the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. Because it is mid-summer, the amount of water coming down the various falls is greatly reduced. Some of the falls actually dry up by summer’s end, but thankfully there was still water falling right now.

We wandered around Yosemite Village and stopped in the Ansel Adams Gallery. We rode the shuttle bus all around the valley (so many cars, so hard to find parking – the bus is a wonderful thing!). We got off the shuttle bus near the Upper Pines campground and walked along the Merced River and then back on a shuttle bus at different stop.

Of course we took lots of photos of Half Dome. Gordon with Half Dome in distance, taken from Olmstead Point.
El Capitan and various other points of interest.
Tuolumne Meadows is beautiful. Filled with wildflowers and butterflies.The Tuolumne Meadows campground is a great place.
It is in the High Sierras at about 8,000 foot elevation. Lots of big trees, the Tuolumne River runs along the edge of the campground and you can have campfires. We hiked a ways along the river in the morning, then we packed a picnic lunch and went to Tenaya Lake and sat in the sun by the lake for several hours. It has been very relaxing!

You see lots of backpackers who are headed out into the wilds to High Sierra Camps. You also see a lot of rock climbers climbing up these granite formations. Neither of those things are things I would want to do! :)

A bear walked through our campsite early in the morning. Sadly, the camera was not right next to me so I couldn’t get a picture of it. It was a beautiful golden brown color.

Now we are heading back over Tioga Pass and plan to camp for a few days on the back side of the Sierras again, hopefully at the same Crags Campground in Toiyabe National Forest. Then we’ll be heading west toward the California Coast.

Toiyabe National Forest, Bodie and Mono Lake

2008-07-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Crags Campground in the Toiyabe National Forest, California, on Tuesday about noon. What a fantastic spot! One of the most beautiful campgrounds we’ve ever stayed at. From our campsite we are looking directly at the Crags in the Sierra Nevada Mountains which are the mountains that make up the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park. Also, we are near the bottom end of Twin Lakes.
We drove to the lakes on Tuesday afternoon. A gorgeous setting! There are a lot of people fishing on the lakes.
The weather has been gorgeous the entire time we’ve been here – sunny, light breeze and in the middle 80’s.

Yesterday we went to Bodie, California, which is a ghost town of the mining days of the 1880’s. We actually visited Bodie forty years ago when our three oldest kids were young children. It is a fascinating town. What remains of the town has been well preserved and we wandered all around the town for several hours. You can almost feel the “ghosts” of those mining days as you look at the homes and businesses. Many places look like the people got up one morning and left, never to return. Dishes, beds, sofas, bathtubs, tools, carts, wagons, etc. are sitting right where they were left. It is almost eerie!

On the way to Bodie we did some geocaching (total for the day was 5 for 5!). Anyway, one geocache was near a real “fixer upper” of a travel trailer. If you know anyone looking for an inexpensive trailer, I’m sure this one is at rock bottom price! LOL
One geocache we hunted for was down a dirt/rock road that was so steep we almost couldn’t get back up the road, even in 4 wheel drive!
From Bodie we headed on down to Mono Lake to view the Tufas. At the south end of the lake there is a loop trail that wanders through the tufa. That was very interesting. Tufas are mineral deposits that form big columns and “rock” formations. Many of these used to be under water but as water was drained from the lake for human and irrigation use, the lake has shrunk in size so that many tufas are now high and dry. About 90% of all California seagulls migrate to Mono Lake to nest and raise their young every spring. There is an abundance of brine shrimp and algae flies for them to feed on. We wondered why we were seeing so many seagulls around Twin Lakes and Mono Lake – so far from the ocean!

Because this is such a wonderful camping area, we decided to stay an extra day. Today we went to the closest town, Bridgeport, to buy groceries. We also did some geocaching (found 2 out of 3).

Every morning a deer comes poking around the campsites, looking for handouts I think! And last evening it came right up to where we were sitting by the camp fire. We had a bag of marshmallows on the picnic table and it headed there. I clapped my hands and it wandered off. No way was I sharing the marshmallows with it! LOL

Each evening we’ve had a camp fire. I love camp fires! Then as the fire dies down we look at the stars. Because the moon is rising so late, the sky is very dark and we can see thousands of stars. The Milky Way is very clear also. We’ve seen satellites, planets, commercial airplanes blinking their way across the sky, some fighter jets roar across the night sky and last night a meteorite.

Tomorrow we are heading for Tioga Pass and into Yosemite National Park where we hope to camp in the back country for several days.

Because we are dry camping and do not have wi-fi service available (and no phone service to speak of either!), I’ll probably not post again until after we leave Yosemite National Park area and get back to “civilization.” I’m posting this from a privately owned RV park that is fairly close to the National Forest campground where we are camping.

Nevada

2008-07-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed off to Virginia City which is about 15 miles from Carson City. Virginia City is the nation's largest National Historic Monument with 2 million visitors a year! There were a lot of people there, for sure. But really, it was an enjoyable day.

Virginia City was a booming mining town back in the mid 1800's when hundreds of prospectors rushed to the "Comstock Lode" to seek their fortunes. The Comstock Lode made so many millionaires, it was called the richest place on earth. You can see a lot of remnants and relics of those mining days.

We started out by taking the 2 1/2 mile Virginia & Truckee Steam train trip between Virginia City and Gold Hill (and back to Virginia City). It took about 40 minutes, round trip. We sat out in the open car so we would have the best views. Gordon was loving every second of the time. He has a "thing" about steam locomotives. I really enjoyed it. The weather was quite warm, but not unbearable.

After the train ride we wandered up one side and down the other side of the main street of town, poking into shops, reading historical markers on buildings, etc. We ate lunch at a small sandwich/ice cream place. We each bought a t-shirt as a "souvenir" of our time in Virginia City.

This morning we headed out to explore Carson City.

Kit Carson statue on Capitol grounds

There is a "Blue Line" walking tour through town. We did about 1 hour of the walk. We saw some beautiful old homes. The Krebs-Peterson home, built in 1914 was featured in John Wayne's last film, "The Shootist."

The Governor's Mansion is absolutely gorgeous! I would love to see inside!

We walked around the State Capitol and the grounds. The Capitol was built in 1871.

The high point of our "tour" of Carson City was a visit to the Nevada State Museum at the old US Mint building. Originally it was build as a US Mint that operated from 1870 to 1895. The museum was fantastic! We watched 3 short videos about the mint, the area and mining. Then we walked through a replica mine. That was so interesting! I am so glad that I, nor none of my family are miners! I cannot imagine working 3,000 feet underground with the possibility of cave-ins, flooding or other disasters. To say nothing of hard, hard work in hot, muddy conditions.

Then we headed south to Genoa which is Nevada's oldest permanent settlement. Genoa is in Carson Valley about 15 miles south of Carson City. Now there are huge, very expensive homes in that area and a lot of cattle ranching. We visited Mormon Station State Park. A trading post was established there during the California Gold Rush where travelers rested and purchased supplies before tackling the Sierra Nevada mountains. There is a stockade and a gorgeous park at Mormon Station. Genoa was also a major Pony Express stop and "home base" for Pony Express Riders.

Of course we have done some geocaching both days. Today we were 3 for 3. (Yesterday afternoon I stayed at the RV park to rest and I think Gordon found 6 geocaches.)

The weather has been hot with low humidity. One thing we have discovered is that every afternoon about 3 p.m. the wind starts to blow and it blows into the evening. Also, we've seen some magnificent thunderhead clouds but no thunderstorms - yet.

Tomorrow morning we are heading back into California to the area around Mono Lake. One of our goals is to visit Bodie, a ghost town we visted many years ago (probably in the 1970's). We'll also visit the lake.

Mt. Lassen, Plumas-Eureka State Park and Lake Tahoe

2008-07-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

We now have wi-fi! (More about where we are later.)

Backing up to yesterday, we again had a “Campfire Breakfast”, this time we had “Eggs in a Frame” – a favorite of our family from way back.

Headed off from McArthur-Burney State Park to Plumas-Eureka State Park

by way of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Mt. Lassen was devoid of snow and it was quite warm in the park. And there was a lot of road construction. A couple places we had to wait quite a while for a pilot car to guide us through. We did have a nice chat with one of the flaggers while waiting our turn.

We stopped at one point so I could take some photos of wild flowers (this is only two of many photos).

Along about Lake Almador the air was filled with smoke and we were concerned what it would be like at Plumas-Eureka SP, but thankfully the air cleared before we got there and the weather, although very warm (bordering on hot!) was clear and delightful.

It was a challenge to get our rig parked and leveled as this park is really geared toward tent camping and popups. But we did it.

After dinner we went “exploring” and found 4 geocaches. Plus we discovered a ghost town

and an old cemetery.

Another campfire under a beautiful clear sky in a beautiful mountain area.

This morning we went back to the Johnsville Cemetery to explore and take photos of old headstones. Sadly, so many have deteriorated and some are totally gone now.

And we had one more geocache to find as it got too dark last night to continue geocaching.

Close to 11 a.m. we left Plumas-Eureka State Park and headed for Carson City, Nevada. We drove along the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Being a Saturday and a very warm day, the number of cars and people at the lake was incredible!! Too many people for me!

We arrived at Comstock Country RV Resort about 2:30 p.m. this afternoon. While camping out in state parks is great, it is equally great to have electricity (air conditioning!!!) and wi-fi! We plan to spend a couple days here. We’ll do some geocaching, visit Virginia City, do laundry, and who knows what else (no, we won’t be going to casinos as we do not gamble at all). :)

McArthur-Burney Falls State Park

2008-07-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

Whew! I do so hate being without wi-fi! I love being out in the woods camping, though. (I am writing these a few days after the fact but trying to keep everything in chronological order.)

Yesterday morning we left Dunsmuir for a fairly short drive to McArthur-Burney Falls State Park.

It is so lovely here. We feel like we are really camping now – we ate dinner outside at the table and had a campfire in the evening!

Today we had what we call “Campfire Breakfast.” Gordon builds a campfire, then he cooks bacon, eggs, and English muffins over the fire. I made coffee inside the 5th wheel with our marvelous French Press.

After our wonderful breakfast we hiked to the Pioneer Cemetery. We then hiked along the rim above Burney Falls. Because of my injured toe, I couldn’t hike to the bottom of the falls. A reason to go back again another time! :)

We hunted for, and found, two geocaches near the falls. Then in the afternoon we went geocaching in the area near the state park (wandering back and forth on dirt logging and ranch roads!) and found 3 more caches. This evening we had another campfire.

The weather is HOT and clear. Thankfully we left the smoke behind.

Railroad Park RV

2008-07-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

Gordon by a train engine at the RV park

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We have arrived at Railroad Park RV Resort near Dunsmuir, California. It is a beautiful, wooded area. The campsites are secluded and you really feel like you are out in the woods.

You get a great view of Castle Crags from the road just before the campground.

Backing up to last evening, there was a lot of smoke in the air near home due to a number of wildfires burning in Northern California. Gordon got a terrific shot of the sun, just before sunset.

Today as we drove south, there was a lot of smoke in the air and views were very hazy. Mt. Shasta was a mere shadow off in the haze. At one point I rolled down the truck window to take a photo and the smell of smoke was very, very strong. Below photo shows mountain range not far from Mt. Shasta.

Thankfully, by the time we got to Dunsmuir there wasn’t as much smoke so the views were better, although not crystal clear.

Once we arrived at the RV Park and got set up, we took off to do some geocaching. We found 4 out of 4!! And Gordon was able to place two Travel Bugs he had picked up in caches in Portland. So we got them deposited in new territory.

At the first geocache, we were hunting around for quite a while in an area where the GPS seemed to think we should be. A man, whom we had not noticed, hollered over to us “It isn’t up there!”. Turns out, he had it in his hand. At first he thought we were caretakers so he hesitated putting the cache back because a geocacher has to be careful of “mugglers” (non-geocachers who might mess with the cache). Then he realized we were looking for the cache. He and another gentleman were geocaching together. The man we talked to was from Portland, Oregon. I believe the other man lives in Washington State. Anyway, he gave us the cache to log in and then we put it back in its hiding place!

I did not hike down by a small waterfall where a cache was hidden. Since I hurt my toe when hiking in June, I’ve had to be careful about hiking. Going downhill is hard on it. I also did not scramble over HUGE boulders at another cache.

We came back to the campground about 5:30, fixed dinner and now are spending a relaxing evening. Oh yes! There is a motel attached to this RV park and you can sleep in cabooses!! Such a fun place to stay, I'm thinking!

The weather has been sunny (but hazy with smoke) and hot (mid to upper 90’s) today.
We are loving being out in the woods! Relaxing.

Home - temporarily

2008-07-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

The moon on Thursday, July 10th:

Wednesday, July 9, and Friday, July 11, we babysat the twins in the afternoon. Here's Claire on their trike:

And here is Julia, after Mommy came home. Julia got the giggles about something!

Flowers we saw in daughter's neighbor's yard. She had a whole fence line of these:

And this flower was in daughter's yard. She is quite the gardener. Her yard is beautiful with flowers and plants and her veggie garden is a thing of pride!

(She did not get her gardening genes from me!! LOL)

Saturday evening we went out for pizza with youngest son & his wife, daughter & her husband and the twins.

Julia getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders outside of the restaurant:

Claire and me in the restaurant:

We came home yesterday. Arrived home about 8 PM.

It was a good day yesterday, although a bit sad to say "good-bye" to family and friends. Here are the twins at the fish pond/fountain before church yesterday morning. They love to look at the fishies and splash their hands in the water!

Well, yesterday was mostly a good day. The lock on our 5th wheel door quit working - again! We tried a number of ways to get the door open so we could get inside. We even took our 7 year old granddaughter and had her go up through the laundry shoot and try to unlock the door from inside. Didn't work. She also couldn't get a window open so someone bigger could climb in. Finally Gordon drilled out the lock! (Today he took the trailer to the locksmith who replaced the lock. Hopefully it is fixed for good!)

Today is a busy day as we plan to leave again tomorrow. We'll be gone 4 weeks. Hopefully I'll have wi-fi often and can keep this blog updated.

Anyway, I had a much-needed hair trim appointment this morning. Then grocery shopping, pick up three-week's worth of mail (much of it junk!), doing laundry, gathering things we want to take on this leg of our trip, etc. Soon I'll be heading out for a doctor appointment for my injured toe. Gordon is out running other errands right now and he needs to replace the refrigerator vent cap on top of the rig (that got broken when he drove under some low-hanging branches in a parking lot).

It is fairly hot out but I did get outside to trim the rose bushes and Gordon got the lawn mowed.

Tomorrow morning we head for Dunsmuir, California where we plan to camp for one night. Then on to McArthur-Burney Falls SP for two nights.

Tram and Youth Concert

2008-07-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we headed off to ride the tram from near the Willamette River, up to OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) Hospital.

This is me when we got off the tram at the top.

We were taking the tram just for "fun" (not to go to the hospital!) and to get good views of Portland and surrounds. The weather was sunny and warm - just right for a tram ride. However, there is a lot of smoke in the area from the wildfires in California so the photos of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens aren't real great.

Mt. Hood

Mt. St. Helens

The tram takes about 3 minutes to go up to the top.

After we had made the round trip, we then rode the Portland Streetcar on a full loop from the base of the tram through downtown, out to northwest and back to the tram. We were on the streetcar for over an hour. It was fun to view town from the streetcar. Since we used lived in Portland for many years (until 8 years ago when we moved to Southern Oregon), it is all familiar territory.

Last evening there was a Youth Concert at our church convention. A brass group played several pieces, then a young men's quartet, a young women's quartet,

sometimes with guitar and string bass accompaniment,

and a young women's trio all performed. The concert lasted about 1 1/2 hours. As the next to last piece, a young man (probably about 14??) played an accordian solo. It was fantastic!!! He has won awards for his performance with the accordian. His fingers flew. The very last piece was an octet comprised of the two quartets.

Our youngest son, Gary, was the percussionist for all the groups.

A very enjoyable day and evening!