Loving Retirement

Nov 30 - Mission San Jose

2011-12-11T16:02:00.001-07:00

Mission San Jose

A closer view

I love photographing this area.

Last year they worked on the upper half of the door. This year - the lower half.

The mortar was crumbling so it was removed and is in the process of being replaced.

There is some interesting hardware in the mission.

The famous Rose Window

This is the first time I've seen the updated altar area, which is a bit much for my taste, but it sure makes for an interesting photo. The San Jose church is a working church that fills up every Sunday.

Nov 30 - Mission Concepcion

2011-12-11T15:41:00.001-07:00

Some don't know that there are four other missions besides the Alamo in San Antonio and my friend, Andrea, and I visited two of them on a lovely day. This is Mission Concepcion - not as fancy as the much larger Mission San Jose, but I like it better.

A close up of the door

This is on the ceiling in one of the rooms.

The inside of the church looking toward the back of the church.

This light hangs at the front of the church.

Nov 23 - Botanical Gardens

2011-11-28T19:07:00.001-07:00

Andrea and I went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens on a beautiful day and shot photos galore. I just bought the Topaz Adjust plug in for Photoshop so had a great time Topaz Adjusting my photos.

This is actually three photos made into one.

The cabin is one of our favorite places in the Botanical Gardens

One of the many very cool effects in Topaz Adjust

More help from Topaz Adjust

One of the sculptures

Another sculpture and another Topaz Adjust effect

Even more help from Topaz Adjust. Can you tell I like my new "toy"?

Nov 18 - Downtown SA

2011-11-20T15:57:00.001-07:00

One of our favorite things to do while in San Antonio is go walking downtown. We usually get off the bus near the Alamo and walk to the library. This time we stopped in front of the Alamo and had our photo taken with the Toulon, IL newspaper to send back to Galen's home town. The paper likes to post photos of where their newspapers have traveled.

They were busy putting up the tree in front of the Alamo today. The tree and the Riverwalk lights will be lit the day after Thanksgiving. The Riverwalk got new lights this year - 1.75 million brilliant LED lights. We'll get photos and post them.

We missed our bus by 29 seconds so went into the historic San Fernando Cathedral. We hadn't been in there for a long time. The altar is new, just dedicated this week.

Some of the heroes of the Alamo are buried inside San Fernando Cathedral.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Nov 7 - Central Market

2011-11-20T15:46:00.001-07:00

One of the nicest things about being back in San Antonio is Central Market, an upscale grocery store set up like a European Market. We bring all of our visitors here. They roll their eyes when we tell them we are going to a grocery store, but we haven't had a single ho hum response from one person after we get them there. These photos are for Mary Jane, whom we are trying to lure to San Antonio.

Breads

I am told Central Market has 50 pastry chefs.

More beautiful bakery goodies.

We didn't count how many kinds of mustards there were. You can't count them either because they wouldn't all fit in the photo.

Central Market has 450 kinds of cheese. This guy is making mozzarella cheese.

Not pictured is the deli, the soups, the sushi bar, the coffee shop, etc. One large section of the store has tables and chairs and a microwave so you can go and spend the day and not get hungry. The very coolest part of the store is produce - half a dozen long aisles of it.

Nov 1 - Corsicana, TX

2011-11-20T15:27:00.001-07:00

We stopped for the night in Corsicana but instead of staying in the Walmart parking lot for the night, we got permission to stay in the parking lot of this beautiful historic Methodist Church.

The church was close to downtown so we could walk to the famous Collin Street Bakery. They made fabulous fruitcakes - not those kind with the icky fruit in them. I couldn't resist having just one small slice of the pineapple and pecan and it was delicious! Cost for a whole cake? $34.00. As you can see, they have all sorts of other tempting goodies.

After supper we took a walk to the courthouse.

The church secretary unlocked the sanctuary so I could take a few photos. I'm afraid my photo can't begin to do this beautiful sanctuary justice. I wish we'd able to attend a Sunday service, but we can't be taking up such a huge chunk of the parking lot on a Sunday morning. Our next stop: San Antonio.

Oct 28 - Autumn Leaves

2011-11-20T15:20:00.001-07:00

Galen jammin' downtown. He did a lot more of that this year than he has in the past and really enjoyed it. They are on the porch of the music store.

The leaves weren't the prettiest we have ever seen in the Mountain View area, but they were pretty nice. We left Mountain View on Oct 31 so may have missed them at their best.

Oct 29 - Beanfest!

2011-11-20T14:59:00.001-07:00

Beanfest is a big deal in Mountain View, Arkansas. The weather was cool this year, but sunny and bright and the sky was a beautiful clear blue, just like it always is. This is what the downtown street looked like on Friday afternoon, the day before the huge event. See all the pots? Many teams would get here early, early on Saturday morning to cook the beans in these pots that would be served for free at noon.

The big day. Look at all the people lined up for beans!

Ozark RV park was well represented by a team this year. Bill, on the right, used to be a fireman and cooked the meals for a firehouse. I've been to Beanfest quite a few times but never ate the beans until this year. I've tasted Bill's gumbo so knew his beans would be good and they were! Becky, on the left, is serving up cornbread.

After we had beans, we headed over to watch a little bit of the outhouse races and get a few photos, something we haven't done in several years.

All the outhouse vehicles have to meet certain criteria to be included.

We really like this guitar shaped outhouse.

Mellon's Country store is a very cool place to visit if you are in Mountain View. Don Mellon, pictured, is the sponsor of this outhouse racer. Don is a member of the Outside the Box band that Galen is part of, and does an excellent job of playing a fiddle made from a gourd.

The outhouses are pushed uphill but a couple of strong young guys in heats of two. Uphill is a lot safer for the audience than downhill.

Galen played music downtown and on the main stage at the Ozark Folk Center with the leader of Ozark Traditions, fiddle player, and a walking encyclopedia of the traditional music of this area.

Oct 22 - Paws for the Cause

2011-11-20T14:46:00.001-07:00

Paws for the Cause is an annual fund raiser for the Humane Society in Mountain View, AR. In addition to the very popular silent auction, the group sells donuts and this year Galen and I helped with the donut sales. We didn't eat any of them. Just sold them. A truck was sent to pick up the donuts in Little Rock the night before the big event and the truck was stopped by the police - not because the police wanted a donut but because 15 boxes got loose and fell out of the truck. An amazing number of people who ordered and paid for donuts didn't pick them up and all those boxes were re-sold so things turned out okay.

The best thing about going to Paws for the Cause is seeing all the dogs dressed up for the parade.

Hot dog!

Music, of course, is part of the event. Emily Phillips, who is the granddaughter of one of our friends and made her first recording on our CD, was one of the performers. She is an excellent musician!

Diane and Gator, friends from the RV park came over. Galen's nickname is also Gator so we have fun with that.

Visit to the Park

2011-10-18T11:34:00.002-06:00

Shep and I went for a ride on the bike trail (no photos) and then went over to the park. Shep scrambled right up to the top of a World War II tank in the park while Galen and I looked, again, for a geocache hidden somewhere on the tank. We have read it has taken people looking as many as ten times before they found it. This was only our second try.

What a great tree for a photograph and a great photo of Shep. Well done, Galen! He took the tank photos, too.

Little Cowboy

2011-10-18T11:27:00.002-06:00

Shep modeled his Halloween costume for us. He already has the strong, silent cowboy look down.

Cowboy and horse both wearing their hats the same way. I hope they don't run into anything. :-)

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

These cute little guys were on our wristbands at the...

...Kansas City Pumpkin Patch

We drove to Kansas to visit Val, Shep and Jason and they took us to the Pumpkin Patch. We had heard about it before but had never been there and it was a great thing to do on a fall day. The first thing we did was wander around through a corn maze, but I couldn't fit the photos in. Galen and I had never been in a corn maze before and it was fun. We didn't get a bit lost but we heard a few days later about some folks calling 911 because they were lost in one. Turns out they were only 25' from the entrance.

Galen (and his infamous bunny ears), Shep, and Karen wearing her new Mountain View stick people shirt. Note the dulcimer player on the left. It's the reason she bought the shirt. :-)

There were all kinds of fun things for kids to do at the Pumpkin Patch.

Wiping out was not one of them.

Time out for a bandage and we were ready for more fun.

Isn't Shep cute?

Shep playing in a corn box instead of a sand box. We later found pieces of corn under that bandage.

Jason and Shep on the pumpkin slide.

We took a little ride on this train to the Land of Oz. We were, after all, in Kansas.

These bouncy horses were pretty cute but hard to control for someone whose arms aren't long enough to reach around the horse's neck.

Jason trying out a larger horse.

Shep is in the caboose.

Boing Boing Boing! They would let only kids under a certain height on this huge bouncy thing for a while and then would switch to only kids over a certain height. It was fun watching the really small kids bounce around.

Another small kid. :-)

Jason, Val and Shep each picked out a pumpkin to take home. Shep liked this one.

The end of a great day at the Pumpkin Patch.

Wrapping up the Gathering

2011-10-18T10:27:00.000-06:00

The day before The Gathering ended, we met in the Pickin' Shed to talk about next year.

Mary and Jack led the discussion. It was decided that The Gathering was a huge success but you can get too much of a good thing so next year The Gathering will last for one week instead of two and will be held the last week of September so it doesn't interfere with all the people who come to Ozark RV Park in October. There will be fewer concerts and probably no open mic. Classes will be scheduled to give everyone a longer lunch hour that can include time for a much needed nap!

This is a list of the songs that were taught during The Gathering. There were over 50 free workshops! No wonder everyone was so worn out.

Downtown Mountain View

2011-10-18T10:20:00.000-06:00

Be sure and stop in Mountain View!

Weather has been beautiful and I couldn't resist a shot of this clear blue sky.

Sep 26 - The Gathering - Day One

2011-10-02T12:45:00.001-06:00

One of the first workshops of the week.

This is one of the second workshops and the gnats are now wide awake so out come the Bounce sheets.

Gail didn't want her photo taken so of course I took it.

Judy, Mary, and Jack giving a mini concert.

Judy

Mary

Jack

It was these three who came up with the idea of The Gathering.

We started the week with a tentative schedule but the schedule was subject to change so we would check the board each morning to see what was happening.

There is a place on the back of the board to post info about a class you would like to teach or a song you would like to learn.

One of the more creative Bounce fashions.

Sep 27 - The Gathering - Day Two

2011-10-02T12:14:00.001-06:00

Misty plays dulcimer with an open tuning she learned from a man who started playing in 1916 and he learned from the blacks who worked on the boats that went up and down the river in the days before dams and bridges. Her stories were so interesting and once again, I didn't take notes so will try to talk with her again sometime and pin down more information.

It was pretty hot out on the sunny stage so we just pulled out chairs up close and enjoyed Misty's mini-concert in the shade.

Another Bounce sheet fashion statement made by Judy.

And one by Colleen.

The gnats don't bother Little but all the activity and people wear her out.

The Long Ago String Band giving a mini-concert.

Sep 29 - The Gathering - Day Four

2011-10-02T08:09:00.001-06:00

We looked forward to this panel discussion all week and were not disappointed. The two men on the left talked about what Mountain View was like when there were no roads in the area - they didn't get paved roads until the 1960s! And they told us how they would get together once a week in one of the courtrooms to play music because it was the only place big enough for an audience. A bunch of the musicians from Mountain View went to Washington DC to perform and lobby for opening the Folk Center and that must have been quite an eventful trip because their memories of it were still so bright and clear and fun to listen to. The discussion was videotaped and I'll come back with more information after I watch it and think to take notes.


As you can see, Pam is not an old timer but the man in the photo above is her Dad so she grew up with all the old timers and is an excellent musician herself. Stay tuned for updates to day four.

Sep 30 - The Gathering - Day 5

2011-10-01T21:17:00.000-06:00

Today was the last day of the first week of The Gathering and the day the drawing was held for a McSpadden dulcimer. Enough money was collected from the raffles held all week long to pay off the expenses and donate some money to three local charities. Jack turned the drum and Thomas Ahern drew the winning tickets. That's Mary in the background and her numbers were drawn three times this week. Wilma, who had arrived only that day, won two prizes. Thomas Ahern performed a mini-concert just before the drawing. He uses unusual tunings on his dulcimers and plays Beatles music! Very cool! He said he ordinarily only plays for the possum that lives beneath his trailer and it was a treat to play at The Gathering.

Frances Mack - the lucky winner!

After the raffle everyone but the instructors left and we sat and talked about what worked and what didn't work during the week and we shared comments we heard from the students. Except for the annoying gnats, the week was wildly successful, and there were very few negative comments.

Meeting over. Pizza time! We take a break for the weekend and start again on Monday.

September 18 - Studio Tour

2011-09-18T19:06:00.000-06:00

The Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour has gone on in and around Mountain View for ten years and though we always talk about it, we have never taken it until this year. I don't believe we'll make that mistake again. We only visited three of the studios, but thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them. We visited David and Becki Dahlstedt's Stoneware Pottery. David works with the clay and Becki comes up with incredible glazes. Mugs are her favorite thing to make and they are so unique and it was difficult not to buy several of them. Dana Shaeffer's Tapestry and Weaving Studio was our next stop. Dana's designs come from photos and Photoshop and end up as original and beautiful tapestries made on a loom imported in pieces from Sweden with directions all in Swedish. Our third and last stop was Common Threads where the process goes from "sheep to shawl".

I grabbed this quick shot before they noticed me.

As soon as they noticed me, they took off. Not pictured is a lama and some angora goats. The fleeces are kept in large plastic bags with cedar chips to keep the bugs out.

Shawn makes crochet hooks that are little works of art.

Another crochet hook in the making.

Three of Jeanette's beautiful shawls.

Shawls are made on a triangle loom and the stick that pulls the thread through is like a large crochet hook. She uses commercial yarns for some of her shawls for people who are allergic to animal fleeces.

A few of the fleece rugs Jeanette has made. She first washes them in the bathtub and then washes them in a large front loader five or six times before they are ready to be sold so there is no worry about them shrinking after you get them home.

It takes 16 hours to get all the warp threads onto the loom, longer if you should miss a loop and have to take half of them off. Jeanette was 12 when her aunt bought this loom, but her aunt was only 5' tall and the loom was too big for her Jeannette has used this loom to make her beautiful rugs for 20 years.

September 16 - The Gathering

2011-09-16T10:35:00.001-06:00

We've been in Mountain View for a month now and we have played a lot of music but not taken many photos. Right now we are involved in helping plan the Ozark Dulcimer Gathering that begins on the 25th. We'll be playing in a couple of mini concerts, teaching, managing the stage, and working in registration during the two week event. I have put together the logo, name tags for the hosts, and an informational brochure to give people when they arrive. All the concerts and workshops are free and the whole event will be very relaxed, not too rigidly planned, and lots of opportunities to learn, teach, and just have fun. We have no idea how many people will show up since registration is free and no one will register until they get here. About 20 of us are involved and we'll have a good time even if no one shows up.

A Gathering meeting in the pickin' shed taken from both ends of the table so you can see everyone.

August 13-14: Missouri to Arkansas

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We stayed in Pontiac Park on the Missouri/Arkansas border for a couple of nights before heading to our second home, Mountain View, Arkansas. We had a really nice site up on the hill and by itself. Another plus is that it has electricity and water. Not all sites had water.

Home again in Mountain View. Fred and Kathy (yellow and pink shirts in the background) came to visit for a few days. That's Galen playing his washtub bass in the foreground. After six weeks of moving around quite a lot, we are happy to be settled again until the first of November.

August 11: Amazing Omelets

2011-08-22T15:18:00.000-06:00

We took the Amazing Omelets recipe, the one we got from Sonny and Crys, and introduced them to Ron and Donna and their grandson. The recipe: Two eggs smooshed in a ZipLock back. Add bacon, cheese, veggies, whatever you like. Put into a pan of boiling water and boil for 13 minutes.

The finished product.

August 10: Columbia, MO: Ron and Donna

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This is a view from the door of our RV.

We are parked right behind our host's RV.

Our hosts: Ron and Donna. This photo was taken at Bandana's, a yummy place for barbeque.

This is a home in their neighborhood. We liked the creative flower gardens.

But even better was the barbed wire fence covered with stuff!

August 6: Parade, Cemetery Walk, Reunion

2011-08-22T15:04:00.000-06:00

There was a lot going on in Toulon besides the reunion because it was also Old Settlers Days. The Class of 1961 had a float in the parade.

We went to an interesting talk in Toulon Cemetery before the parade. This woman told a fascinating story about a terrible train wreck and is holding a piece of the train in her hands.

The reunion dinner was held in the evening and Galen and I provided a bit of the entertainment.

The songs Galen sang were a huge hit and several people told me how surprised they were that he would be such a good showman because he was so quiet and shy in high school. I didn't graduate from Toulon High School, but really enjoy Galen's class. They are a great group of folks.

August 5: Toulon, IL

2011-08-22T14:50:00.000-06:00

We stayed at a private RV park, thanks to Larry, Galen's high school classmate.

Our site. There are four or five lakes in the park and you can spot one of them in the background. This whole area is a reclaimed mining area.

The reason we are in Toulon: Galen's 50th high school reunion.

We had lunch at Connie's Restaurant in Toulon and this basketball photo was part of a collage of high school photos. Galen is #30, second from the right.

Connie's Restaurant.

The Toulon Methodist Church

Toulon had a population of about 1200 when Galen was growing up there and the farming community is still about that same size today.

August 4: Normal, IL

2011-08-22T14:35:00.000-06:00

After some serious tree trimming, we parked in front of Vanita's house in Normal, IL. Vanita is Galen's younger sister.

Galen and Vanita. We spent a couple of nights here and had a nice visit with Vanita and her two little dogs.

Miss Daisy - A very sweet little dog.

Miss Molly - More reserved but a sweetie, too.

August 1-2: Sheldon, IL

2011-08-22T14:27:00.000-06:00

Crys trying out my trike.

Sonny's turn.

We parked our RV in Sonny and Crystal's front yard for the night and the next morning we had our first but not our last experience with amazing omelets. They were amazing and delicious.

After polishing off our omelets we went and found a few geocaches, including one at a seriously haunted house! It was hot out so we stopped for ice cream and then went back and had a fish fry! We didn't think we could eat again so soon, but it turns out we were way wrong. Everything was so good: Onion rings, home made potato chips, zucchini, and fish caught and cleaned by Sonny. In addition to all this, they sent us home with luscious blackberry jam and veggies from Sonny's garden. I didn't get any photos but we had 1.5 games of Mexican train so I we'll have to go back one day and finish up that half a game.

July 25 - Indiana Dulcimer Festival

2011-07-26T15:37:00.000-06:00

This two day festival took place in Woodburn, IN, not far from Fort Wayne and was such a well organized, relaxed, and friendly festival that included some of the best instructors in the dulcimer world. There was some neat technology going on, too. Instructors would sit facing the class but a camera hung over them and the projected image was flipped so to us it looked like we were looking over his shoulder instead of at a mirror image of what we were trying to do. They also had a computer and camera set up that would automatically send a copy of the photo to you via email. We opted for this group shot. Left to right: Jerry and Sandy (We met them at Sleeping Bear Dunes in 2007.), Mary Jane (We met her in Mountain View two years ago.) and Nancy (We met her in Mountain View last year.).

Jerry and Sandy

Nancy checking out my trike.

Sandy enjoying a ride, too.

A while back, Jen sent us a link of Bing Futch playing the dulcimer and told us how much she liked him so of course I had to have my photo taken with him so I could send it to her. Bing is an amazing player, singer, and performer and such an upbeat and kind person.

July 21 - Jackson, MI

2011-07-26T15:18:00.000-06:00

We met this lovely family while we were hosting at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Glen Arbor, MI, in 2007 and have stayed in touch on and off since then. Since we were going to be within 35 miles of Jackson we contacted them to see if we could get together for dinner. Beth couldn't make it but we saw her after dinner when we went to their house to play cards. The kids have grown up so much in the last few years, but they are still great kids and we had the nicest visit with this exceptionally warm and wonderful family. Dinner was excellent, too. We ate at a little hole in the wall place called the Oaktree Cafe in downtown Jackson.

July 20 - Lake Michigan Ferry

2011-07-26T15:11:00.000-06:00

The Badger ready to board vehicles for the four hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan. The other options to get to the other side of the Lake include a very long drive north across the UP of Michigan or going south and driving through Chicago. The ferry was expensive - $343 for us and our RV - but worth it. It was no Sapphire Princess but they had fountain drinks and good popcorn and we had our Kindles so we were happy.

Cost is determined by measuring from the back bumper of the truck to the back bumper of the 5th wheel - 28' for us. Workers drive all the vehicles onto the ferry. The guy who backed our RV in knew what he was doing.

Our RV was the last vehicle boarded and the first vehicle off the ferry. Workers also drive all vehicles off the ferry and into the parking lot

Roger and Marie

Farewell to Manitowoc. We wish we'd had more time to hang out with Roger and Marie and bike the Maritime Trail.

July 19 - Manitowoc, WI

2011-07-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

Next stop was the home of Mountain View "family", Roger and Marie. In addition to giving us a lovely place to stay complete with water and electricity, they took us on not one, not two, but three tours of downtown. Inside joke. What happened was that Galen hurt his back and needed a chiropractor. There are three in town and on opposite sides of town and we drove back and forth three times trying to get in to see one of them. We were eventually successful and Galen felt much better and we had fun joking about the tours of downtown for the rest of our visit. :-)

One of the other places, besides downtown, Roger and Marie took us was so drive by and see these where they make these humungous Manitowoc cranes. The photos don't do them justice. I think the largest crane can lift 5 tons over 700'. One of these cranes is currently being used to build a dam in an extremely remote area in Africa. I wonder how much it costs one to rent one of these babies for over two years.

We ended our day with delicious Cedar Creek ice cream cones. Galen and I shared one.

Maria, Roger, and Cedar Creek Cow.

Mooooo!

July 18 - Polar, WI

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Doesn't this look like a pleasant place to park an RV for a few days? It was! This is Liz and Norm's place and we had such a nice visit. Liz spoiled us rotten by feeding us every day - a treat we didn't expect. The weather wasn't bad at first, but miserable heat and humidity caught up to us.

A close-up of the barn and a snowball bush.

This is the lovely country church that Liz and Norm go to. We played music with Liz on Sunday morning and on Saturday afternoon found a geocache in the church cemetery.

July 15 - Friendship, Wisconsin

2011-07-26T14:37:00.000-06:00

We have been staying at a variety of places as we've travel east across the country. The 21 &13 Cafe (at the junction of routes 21 & 13 in Friendship) was a good place because we could walk to supper and breakfast. We met an older couple at supper who had trikes just like mine. Why is it called the 21 &13 Cafe?

July 12- Ouch!

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This break (circled) in the door of our refrigerator is about the length of the end of my index finger but the only way to get the door functional again is to totally replace the entire door at a cost of $214 plus shipping. The glue in the photo ended up not working for more than a couple of days so the door is now being held together with three layers of Gorilla tape. The door won't open all the way, but that is better than falling off like it did before. We haven't ordered a new door yet because we need to know where we are going to be 10-14 days after it is ordered and we don't know yet where that will be. So we'll wait and order it the end of July and get it in Mountain View in mid August.

July 10 - Rapid City, SD

2011-07-13T17:07:00.000-06:00

We stayed two night in Rapid City to catch our breath before hitting the road again. The weather has been cooperative so we've been mixing Walmart parking lots with RV parks.

We went to First UMC in Rapid City and afterward found a geocache right at the church we didn't know was there until after the service. We weren't finding it until the minister got us within six feet of it and I spotted it.

We ate here the last time we were in Rapid City, way back in 2002 or 2003, and it is still here so we walked to it for lunch after church and shared a buffalo patty melt.

The building really was an old fire station so is decorated with firefighter patches, ladders, and such. Nice ambiance and good food, too.

Did you know there is a piece of the Berlin Wall in Rapid City? We didn't. This is a virtual cache so Galen has the GPS in hand.

One of the cool things about Rapid City is the statues of presidents on most of the street corners in town that appear to be life-sized.

July 7 - Garryowen, MT

2011-07-13T16:54:00.000-06:00

Seventh Ranch Camp RV park is also a working ranch and we realized we had stayed here years ago when we pulled in. It is located near the Custer Battlefield. No sightseeing this time. We just stopped for the night, but it isn't night yet in this photo. I saw this out the window when I got up to make supper. Galen took photos and I pulled the living area slide in. The wind tried to help and rocked it once on the way in, but not much else happened.

The storm pretty much just blew over us. You can see in this photo it is already clearing.

July 6 - Wallace, ID

2011-07-13T16:43:00.000-06:00

This train station was moved to make room for the Interstate. So glad they did. It is a pretty building that houses a nice little gift shop and museum.

Downtown Wallace, ID. No matter what direction you look in this town, you'll see mountains.

While Galen did the laundry, Lu, Larry and I went geocaching in town. We didn't find the cache here.

We did find the one hidden here.

Eagle eye Larry spotted this one in a park at the edge of town. It is the teeniest geocache I've ever seen.

After a pizza lunch, we took a tour of one of the silver mines.

Galen, Lu and Larry

Galen, Karen, Lu and Larry in their hard hats.

At the mine.

In the mine.

Ceiling reinforcement. The "pins" holding this stuff into the ceiling go several feet into the rock.

An example of the set up for blasting. It sounds like one blast, but is really three. The last blast clears the mess out of the way from the first two.

Women are from Mars....

They sold coffee and ice cream at this funky place with a flying saucer outside. I'm the only one who drinks coffee, but we all like ice cream. It was a warm day so we had ice cream after the tour.

We didn't sit on this though.

July 5 - Route of the Hiawatha

2011-07-13T16:22:00.000-06:00

The Route of the Hiawatha is a 17 mile bike trail through the mountains. The Hiawatha was a train so the trail is full of trestles and tunnels. A friend of mine shattered her shoulder in the very first tunnel and never got to ride the rest of the trail so I dedicate these photos to JaeDee!


Larry and Galen and my trike at the beginning of the trail.

This is the tunnel where JaeDee got hurt so badly. The tunnel is 1.7 miles long, drippy, slippery, uneven, and dark. I learned quickly to take my sunglasses off before I went in the tunnels.

A photo taken by Larry of Galen and I riding across one of the trestles.

I think this may be the one-way tunnel where we met the bus. Not to worry. There are barriers inside the tunnel to get behind until the bus passes. Deer and moose get behind them, too. We saw a deer.

The inside of the tunnel collapsed and is no longer used.

Larry riding over one of the trestles.

The grave of one of the men who worked on the railroad.

The view of a trestle from above.

Yay! We made it to the end with four minutes to spare but we had to hustle the last half of the 17 miles just like we did the first time we rode this trail.

Larry in line waiting for a ride back up.

The 17 mile trail is mostly downhill and a bus shuttles you to the mouth of that first long tunnel and you get to ride through it in the opposite direction. I guess it is too dangerous for a bus to drive through. :-)

July 4 - Coeur d'Alene

2011-07-13T15:57:00.000-06:00

Galen and Larry went to the 4th of July parade.

The night of the 4th, we had a cookout and then went and found a quiet place on the lake to watch fireworks. We couldn't see the main ones but saw some very nice ones and didn't have to deal with the crowds. Finding a place to stay over the 4th if you don't have reservations way in advance, which we didn't, was a problem but we lucked out. We made a reservation at the fairgrounds and they let us, which they shouldn't have done unless we were with a group. So we became "beaders" and the fairgrounds folks couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. Our rigs were parked off by themselves so it was quiet and peaceful - most welcome after two noisy nights in Coulee City.

July 3 - Coeur d'Alene, ID

2011-07-13T15:39:00.000-06:00

We walked out to the beach/park from downtown Coeur d'Alene on the world's longest floating boardwalk.

Do you think the guy on the left is wondering what in the heck is the matter with those people? LOL! Those people are Lu, Larry, and Galen. We overheard someone say that the boardwalk is about one foot underwater during 4th of July fireworks because so many people are on it! We found a dryer and quieter place to watch fireworks.

Karen and Mudgy and Millie in downtown Coeur d'Alene, ID. You can see Milly the Mouse better in the next photo.

See Millie on Mudgy's antler? There is a Mudgy and Millie trail that winds through downtown but we just made it as far as this one. Mudgy and Milly are from a book illustrated by Charles Reasoner. Now I want to get the book!

July 1 - Coulee Dam

2011-07-13T15:26:00.000-06:00

I may have to backtrack and pick up some photos from June, but for today I'm just going to get caught up with July. It's been a mixed bag so far this month - some really cool places and some long days on the road. We don't like traveling 200-300 miles a day for five days out of seven (so far) but sometimes we have to.

Okay - Here's July 1:

The Coulee Dam

Larry, Lu, Galen and I took a tour of the dam and part of the tour was going across the top of the dam.

Pretty, isn't it?

Galen and Karen

We went geocaching after the tour and one of the caches was at this viewpoint.

We also had a nice view of Coulee City.

Galen is holding our GPS at a virtual cache. There is no cache to find, but we had to answer a question and take a photo with GPS in hand.

This is the Windmill Park and all these wild and windmills were made by one creative man just using scraps of stuff.

Cruise - Random Shots

2011-07-04T14:23:00.000-06:00

Fred and Kathy, the newlyweds.

Larry and Lu celebrating their 40th anniversary. No photo, but Galen and I are celebrating our 45th anniversary. In addition to the yummy dessert and being serenaded by the waiters, we had balloons stuck outside our door and a sign on the door wishing us a happy anniversary. Larry and Lu and Galen and I had rooms next door to each other and our balloons would drift between the two rooms so sometimes we had the usual two balloons and sometimes it was three or four. Galen started it. :-)

Larry, Lu and their walking tour guide in Ketchikan. We hear the tour was excellent.

Pat and Yvette near the falls in downtown Ketchikan.

Upstairs in the Red Onion.

Margaret's favorite dessert. It was small but rich and tasty. I had it twice.

This is Steve Moris who played with the Beach Boys for 20 years. He is an excellent musician and funny, funny comedian who is about to open his own show in Las Vegas. We saw him in one of the lounges one evening when the focus was mostly on comedy and then saw him in the Princess theater the following afternoon to listen to him play music. He has bought a house near Galena, IL, our old stomping grounds, so we talked with him a bit after the show. Nice fellow.

Larry, Lu, Karen and Galen on the waterfront in Victoria, BC. The Empress, where they serve high tea, is in the background. We heard high tea costs about $60.

Margaret and Bill on the train out of Skagway. We took this trip when we were in Alaska in 2005 and enjoyed it as much as Bill and Margaret did.

Lacey Knickers telling us about a woman who wasn't all that attractive but could still get men to fill up her skirt with gold nuggets.

Cruise - Victoria, British Columbia

2011-07-03T22:31:00.002-06:00

This is the Parliament Building and they turn these lights on every night at dusk. It is really pretty if you can take the photo a little bit later than I did, but we didn't have very much time in Victoria so couldn't dawdle. This is too bad because Victoria is a lovely place and a couple of weeks instead of a few hours wouldn't be too much.

This looks like a toy taxi, but it is real and can hold a couple of people.

There is a way cool totem pole park in Victoria.

This is a bear holding onto a man.

We were in Victoria years ago, before we started RVing, and took a photo like this.

Back to the ship for one last time.

Victoria is full of flowers and gorgeous plants and bushes and gorgeous Butchart Gardens was nearby, but there wasn't time to visit.

Cruise - Leaving Skagway

2011-07-03T22:19:00.002-06:00

This unique rock formation was named for Soapy Smith, the most well known con man of the old west. Soapy was born in Georgia, ran his cons in several places before going to Skagway, and was shot and killed in Skagway on July 8, 1890. He is buried outside of town, too far out to have time to go see his grave. We passed by this skull in the cliffs when we left and returned to the ship.

The Sapphire Princess docked in Skagway. We are on our way back to the ship after our tour and some shopping for a Skagway collector's pin for me (I have over 100 pins now.). If you look closely, you can find Lu and Galen. Larry went kayaking today so isn't in any of today's photos.

Cruise - Skagway, Alaska

2011-07-03T22:14:00.004-06:00

Yvette, Pat, Galen, Karen, and Lu in downtown Skagway.

The historic building is made of driftwood. It was built in 1899 as the headquarters for Arctic Brotherhood Camp Skagway #1, a fraternal organization. There were 30 of these camps established throughout Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia.

From left to right: An employee from the ship who is from Russia, Lacey Knickers, our tour guide, Galen, Karen, and Lu. We met near the ship for our ghost/brothel tour of downtown Skagway.

Lacey Knickers and Pat giving her a tip for a job well done. Lacey is an actor from New York and gave an interesting and fun tour. She would holler out to people on the street and tell them her streetwalkers, meaning us, were available at 8pm. She also tried to hire a few tourists on the street to work in the Red Onion.

The ghost/brothel tour turned out to be more brothel than ghost. The building above was called a "crib" back in the 1800s and was shared by two ladies of the evening. The girls in the cribs were a step above the girls who walked around with mattresses strapped to their backs but a step below the girls who worked upstairs in the Red Onion Saloon.

Two haunted buildings in downtown Skagway. The woman who haunted the yellow building is a kind ghost who was kind in real life, too, and tried to help prostitutes find a better way of life.

Our tour ended inside the Red Onion Saloon.

One of the rooms upstairs. The girls were allowed to decorate their rooms any way they liked and one of the rooms had 17 layers of wallpaper on it! It sure is a skinny little bed.

Cruise - Juneau, Alaska

2011-07-03T22:02:00.000-06:00

Juneau, AK. I went into town by myself the first time on what I thought was a free shuttle. It wasn't, but I didn't know that until after I got back to the ship. Galen and I went to town together later and ran into a couple of Spurs fans from San Antonio. Juneau is small, very pretty, and there are only two ways to get there - by plane and by boat. There is no problem with grand theft auto in Juneau. One of our guides said she went to her prom in a plane and the other guide told us that from 6th grade on his team went to all out of town games on a plane. Juneau is the Capitol of Alaska, but a lot of folks think Anchorage would be a better choice.

Cruise - Tracy Arm

2011-07-03T21:44:00.002-06:00

This highlight of our cruise was this side trip up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glacier. We left our big ship at 9am, boarded a catamaran, and didn't return to the ship until it was docked in Juneau.

Getting from the ship to the boat was easy. This door opened on the ship and we just walked onto the catamaran. Later in the season the catamaran might have as many as 150 people on it, but we only had 60 making it a lot easier to get photos.

The Sapphire Princess went as far up Tracy Arm as she safely could and then turned back.

A pretty piece of ice floating in the water. The more compressed the ice is, the more blue it gets.

Galen and Karen about 1/4 mile from Sawyer Glacier. The glacier calved half a dozen times while we stood there so it wasn't safe to go any closer. We've seen glaciers before but never saw and heard one calve. The glacier makes a very loud cracking sound called white thunder by Native Americans.

Sawyer Glacier

I believe this is South Sawyer Glacier. There was so much ice we couldn't get any closer than this.

The Sapphire Princess leaving us behind.

One of several waterfalls we saw. The catamaran pulled in so close to this waterfall, that we could stick our hands in the water.

We saw a lot of seals sunning on the floating ice.

A close up of Sawyer Glacier.

More seals.

Eagle

It is extremely rare to see a bear on this trip but we got to see one!


This is a humpback whale, one of a half a dozen of them that swam around the catamaran for a little while. The best sighting we had of a whale was from the ship. A juvenile whale was showing off and brought his tail up and slapped it on the water over an over again: Nine times in a row one time but usually four or five times at a time. Of course, I didn't have a camera handy.

Cruise - Ketchikan, AK

2011-07-03T21:14:00.001-06:00

Ketchikan gets a LOT of rain and it was raining fairly hard when we got off the ship, but it let up and we even got a bit of sun by afternoon.

We liked this Liquid Sunshine Gauge.

You can see the Sapphire Princess in the background.

There are three historic totem poles in town. This is part of one of them.

It would be fun to know how many thousands of times this bear has been photographed with a tourist. :-)

Karen, Larry, Lu, Fred, and Kathy standing on Deck 7 as we pull away from Ketchikan.

Alaska Cruise - The ship

2011-07-03T21:06:00.002-06:00

The Vivaldi Dining Room

We ate in the Vivaldi dining room on the fifth floor at 5:30 each night of the cruise. Left to right: Galen, Karen, Dimitar (our wonderful waiter), Margaret, Bill, Fred and Kathy. Yvette, Pat, Larry and Lu are at the table behind us and to the right. Each two tables had a waiter (red shirt) and an assistant waiter (green shirt). They wore these shirts on Italian night but were more dressed up the other nights.

Yvette, Pat, Larry and Lu. Yvette is the travel agent who set up the cruise and she is also Lu's sister.

Our home sweet home on the ship. Some might think it is small but it is larger than what we are used to in our RV.

Another one of the pools.

The Horizon Room was on the 14th floor and was open 24/7. We usually ate breakfast and lunch here and there was no specified time. There were other little places where you could grab waffles in the morning and ice cream the rest of the day or omelets in the morning and pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers the rest of the day.

The center of the ship. There was shopping, live music, and a mini-bar/coffee shop.

One of the seven galleys on the ship. Each day 16 tons of food and beverages were served. We came on board as passengers and left as cargo!

This is the hallway to our room, C234. The C stands for Caribe which is the 10th floor. Actually this is only half the hallway and it is about that long looking in the opposite direction. Maybe all the walking up and down the hall is why I didn't gain any weight on the cruise.

One of the things that has been on my bucket list for years is to sit on the deck of a ship and read. It was every bit as pleasant as I imagined it would be.

There were a number of pools and hot tubs on the ship. This one is near the front of the ship.

June 9 - Olympic National Park

2011-06-10T16:30:00.000-06:00

We went to Olympic National Park and Larry and Lu's cute little car. Snow in the morning up on Hurricane Ridge.

And a waterfall and rain forest in the afternoon in the same park.

Near the Port Townsend Visitor Center and ferries. I had to add a couple of faces to it. :-)

Larry and Lu in the rain forest.

This bridge is made from a cut log.

Another view of the bridge.


I love this photo of Larry and Lu being the ones to give bunny ears for a change. Galen is totally oblivious of what is going on behind him.

June 8 - Port Townsend, WA

2011-06-10T16:22:00.000-06:00

This lighthouse is said to be haunted by the wife of the first light keeper.

Port Townsend is a Victorian seaport town with lots of history and wonderful architecture. I think I could live here when we got off the road, but Galen doesn't like it as well. Fort Worden is in Port Townsend and the lighthouse is right next to the Fort. The Fort is a wonderful place to explore. We found a couple of geocaches there.

Larry, Lu, Galen and Karen enjoying lunch at Siren's. We walked down the street to Elevated Ice Cream for dessert.

San story. A man built this castle for his bride-to-be but when he went back to Scotland to get her, she had already married someone else so he lived alone in his little castle until Fort Worden bought the property from him four years later.

June 4 and 5 - Mt. St. Helen's

2011-06-10T16:15:00.000-06:00


Larry, Lu, Galen and I went to Mt. St. Helen's on June 4. This is a panorama shot I took that turned out well.

We hiked in a lava tube (Ape Cave) on the other side of Mt. St. Helen's on June 5, but it is totally dark in there and none of my photos turned out. We took a walk through a lava field after going into Ape Cave and if we'd wanted to (we didn't!) we could have gone down these stairs and crawled through a much smaller and shorter lava tube. The round hole is formed by what is left after lava surrounds a tree and the tree is burned away. Holes like this were all over the lava field.

Larry looks like he just came out of the lava tube, but he was just taking photos. The two guys in the background are standing at the ladder where the lava tube begins.

Jun 3 - Fav Trail

2011-06-10T16:06:00.000-06:00

My favorite bike trail at Fort Stevens is the one going over to the Historical Area and we took a last ride on it today. Found a couple of geocaches, too. Getting up and over this bridge is not my favorite part of the trail, but the rest of it is beautiful and quiet - far from any road.

May 31 - Last day of work

2011-06-10T16:01:00.000-06:00

This is our last official day of work. Galen is sitting in "our" wood cart. The sign on the left was made by me and is on the other wood cart and all the wood sheds. I made new signs for our shed because the others didn't look so great any more and everyone liked mine better so I made signs for all!

May 31 - Happy 40th

2011-06-10T15:59:00.000-06:00

Happy 40th Anniversary to Larry and Lu! We celebrated by going to the South Jetty for the best crab cakes we've ever had - our second visit to this restaurant for crab cakes.

May 23 - Astoria Column

2011-06-03T08:05:00.000-06:00

The Astoria Column sits high on a hill in Astoria. The artwork shows the history of the area.

You can climb stairs to the top of the column. That's Larry waving at us.

We got this view without climbing the stairs. Warrenton and Hammond are on the other side of the rivers.


Some stats: Height-125'; Steps-164; Length of artwork unwound-500'.

May 23 - Fort Clatsop

2011-06-03T07:53:00.000-06:00

Lewis and Clark wintered here and the fort is a replica of their fort. A previous replica burned to the ground in 2005 and was rebuilt.

May 23 - Maritime Museum

2011-06-03T07:48:00.000-06:00

You have heard of lighthouses. This is a lightship that was stationed at the very dangerous junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River. Men would work on this ship two weeks at a time - lots of boring time except during the horrific storms.

The lightship kitchen.

Four men to a room.

Locations of some of the shipwrecks. This is one of the most dangerous places in the world for a ship.

The Maritime Museum in Astoria, OR is a wonderful museum. The background and and people in this photo aren't real, but the ship is an actual coast guard ship.

I don't know if this is a temporary or permanent exhibit, but it kind of creeped me out so I didn't spend much time in this part of the museum.

There were once a number of canneries in Astoria and they canned a LOT of salmon. All the salmon was the same, but there was a wide variety of labels stuck on the cans.

From the Art Exhibit section of the museum.

Bells and Whistles.

May 24 - Cape Disappointment State Park

2011-05-28T13:02:00.003-06:00

Dead Man's Cove

A cruise ship on the way to Astoria. The South Jetty is in the background on the far right and looks misty because of the waves crashing against it.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse - one of two lighthouses in the park

North Head Lighthouse. Didn't Galen take a great photo of Larry and Lu? They are about to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Galen. The Cape Disappointment lighthouse is barely visible in the background.

Another photo of the North Head Lighthouse. We didn't get many photos with blue skies the past months.

May 22 - Astoria

2011-05-28T12:54:00.000-06:00

We returned to Astoria the next day and while Larry and Galen were getting our fish and chips from the Bowpicker, I got a photo of the tall ship with billowing sails. The ship to the right is a Coast Guard ship.

Karen and Lu standing by a large buoy on the grounds of the Maritime Museum.

The four of us rode the trolley that runs along the Columbia River. The trolley was being leased for $1 a year from the San Antonio Museum of Art when we were here in 2003. Since that time, Astoria purchased the trolley for $50,000.00 and restored it. Riding the trolley is really cheap entertainment. For a mere $1.00 each we got about an hour ride on the trolley and learned about Astoria history on the way.

May 21 - Tall Ships

2011-05-28T12:45:00.000-06:00

Astoria is celebrating their 200th year of being a city this year and has something fun going on most weekends. This weekend two tall ships did battle maneuvers and traded like they did long ago.

We didn't see the "battles" but here is a photo of the trading.

May 20 - Jammin'

2011-05-28T12:41:00.001-06:00

We jammed outside "our" woodshed on the few nice days we had and a few hosts and campers came to listen. That cute little dog is named Coco and he belongs to our co-hosts across the road.

The players left to right: Galen, Karen, Lu, Larry, and Bill.

May 18 - Local scenery

2011-05-28T12:38:00.000-06:00

A buoy tree in Warrenton, OR

On the Columbia River in Astoria, OR

May 17 - Seaside, OR

2011-05-28T12:36:00.000-06:00

We were mostly silly in Seaside today. Isn't Galen cute in a Gator hat?

May 15 - South Jetty

2011-05-28T12:34:00.000-06:00

One of the most dangerous places in the world for ships is where the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River meet. The South Jetty, near Fort Stevens, and the North Jetty, in Washington, help calm things down, but it is still a very dangerous place. The South Jetty is also a lovely place to get sunset photos.

May 13 - Long Beach, WA

2011-05-28T12:31:00.000-06:00

We were going to take our friends Bill and Margaret to Seaside but on the way changed our minds and went to Long Beach instead. We had a fun day exploring and taking tourist photos.

Our friends Margaret and Bill. The real background behind this frying pan was ugly so I deleted a background and Photoshopped a fire under the pan just for fun.

May 10 - Astoria

2011-05-28T12:25:00.000-06:00

This is a view from the bridge taken on the way to Astoria.

I hung around a coffee shop while Galen ran errands in Astoria. Isn't this a pretty latte?

May 9 - Longview, WA

2011-05-28T12:20:00.000-06:00

We took a trip to Longview, WA today and it is not unusual to for us to check out libraries when we go sightseeing. This was quite a nice library that was donated by one of the early founders of Longview.

A sculpture outside the library.

Inside the library.

This squirrel (the one on the right - the one on the left is just squirrely) is on the library grounds and is a memorial to the man who came up with the Nutty Narrows.

The Nutty Narrows is a bridge for squirrels that goes over a busy street in Longview to make street crossings safer for squirrels. The bridge has been so successful (I'm not sure if it has been more successful for squirrels or for drawing tourists into town) that the city has ordered more squirrel bridges.

May 8 - Bowpicker

2011-05-28T12:10:00.000-06:00

The best place around to get fish and chips is from this little boat parked in a parking lot across from the Maritime Museum in Astoria. We frequented this spot in 2002 and 2003 and where pleased to see it is still going strong. In fact, they now have three coolers under the tree where you pick up your drinks instead of the one cooler we remember.

The fish is fresh tuna and the fries are excellent, too. All they sell at the Bowpicker is fish and chips. You can get a full order or a half order. We get a full order and share it.

May 6 - Peter Iredale

2011-05-28T12:06:00.000-06:00

Fort Stevens has its very own shipwreck on the beach. The ship is the Peter Iredale, a ship from England that sank in 1906. All those aboard were rescued, but if they had waited until low tide, they could have walked to shore.

May 1 - Orientation

2011-05-28T12:03:00.000-06:00

There are 27 host couples at Fort Stevens and here we are at the May orientation.

We actually started working before orientation since we arrived at Fort Stevens a week early. Our job was manning the entry gate on the south side of the park and turning away all those without a pass. The south half of the park was open only for the weekend because of the wine and crab festival (way more wine than crab) in Astoria the last weekend of April.

April 25 - Fort Stevens State Park

2011-04-28T15:34:00.000-06:00

"Our" home and woodshed in the M Loop for the next five weeks where we'll be selling firewood five nights a week. Loops L, M, N, and O have been closed to the public but opened up today, April 28, for the weekend because of a big festival in Astoria. This side of the park will close up again on Monday and open for the season on May 15. Our friends, Larry and Lu, arrive on the 15th to host the N Loop for a couple of weeks.

April 24 - Tillamook, OR

2011-04-28T15:22:00.000-06:00

We stopped in Tillamood for lunch and cheese curds on our way from Beverly Beach S.P. to Fort Stevens S.P. on the Oregon coast.

Looking toward the back of the store. The cheese curds are in coolers on the back wall.

Looking toward the front of the store. The cafe is at the end of this aisle. I had a grilled cheese sandwich that had chicken, buffalo sauce, and blue cheese on it. YUMMY!

We wondered why there were so many working in the ice cream section.

It wasn't long till we saw why. We recommend the black walnut ice cream.

Speak Squeeeek! Eat cheese curds! Because cheese curds don't keep very long they are hard to find except at cheese factories so we always grab a couple bags of them when we come through Tillamook. What is the squeak all about? Fresh curds squeak on your teeth as you chew them.

April 22 - Newport's Historic Bayfront

2011-04-26T14:42:00.000-06:00

Sea Lions hang around the bay front. There were just a few swimming around today, but in the past we have seen a bunches of them sunning on a floating dock.

I wonder if they only swam over to see if we had anything to feed them. We didn't and they didn't stay long.

We'd been to Mo's before but never the original one in the bayfront. Note the garage door in the background. A woman backed into Mo's and felt so badly about the damage she'd done that the owner said he's just put in a garage door and then she could drive in whenever she wanted to. Mo's is known for their clam chowder, but their warm marionberry cobbler topped with a scoop of Tillamook ice cream isn't too bad either.

April 21 - Busy Day

2011-04-26T14:34:00.000-06:00

We only had two full days in Newport so after naps we went back out again. First stop was back to the Punchbowl to get an after photo.

Before at minus tide

After at not quite high tide.

Looking north from the punchbowl - the tide pools underwater.

This photo was taken in Depoe Bay and when the waves come in to this narrow little strip just right the water spouts out and you can hear a moaning sound - This is what is called a spouting horn.

This shows more of the area of the spouting horn. We've been there to see the waves splash up over the sea wall and onto the sidewalk and even a bit into the street and we have heard the "horn", but not today. :-(

This photo was taken at Boiler Bay, another place a mile north of Depoe Bay that can get pretty wild. There are tide pools here, too, but these are the most dangerous of the tide pools to visit and a number of people have been killed here. Migrating whales come through here.

Cape Foulweather. We took a wrong turn and ended up on the Otter Crest Loop which turned out to be quite a nice serendipity. Somehow when we were here in 2002 and 2003 we missed Cape Foulweather. There is a nice gift shop here and an even nicer view. The piece of land that juts out into the middle of the photo is the area of the Devil's Punchbowl.

April 14 - TerraTrike Smiles

2011-04-26T13:55:00.000-06:00

Frank riding my TerraTrike and sporting a TerraTrike smile.

Joyce fell off a bicycle last year and as a result now has 13 pins in her shoulder and no desire to ever get on a bicycle again, but she and Frank seemed to enjoy riding on my trike.

April 14 - Salt Lake City

2011-04-26T11:50:00.000-06:00

I am backtracking a bit here. Because of all of our moving around, it took me a while to get the computer and photos in the same place because Joyce and Frank took some of the photos.

We weren't actually in Salt Lake City, but were in one of the suburbs and visited some of the beautiful surrounding area.

See what I mean?

Gorgeous!

It was snowing on us here.

Legend has it that Native Americans rode their horses down this chute to prove their bravery.

Joyce and Frank. Our wonderful hosts and tour guides.

Galen and Karen

This was a really neat place!

A cooperative pronghorn stood still for a long time and let Joyce get this photo.

April 21 - Yaquina Head Lighthouse

2011-04-24T17:13:00.001-06:00

I took this photo of Yaquina Head Lighthouse after the skies had cleared up.

The sky was still looking a bit ominous, but it made for a dramatic photo.

You go down and back up all those steps to get out to the tide pools, but it was worth it.

Murre's and cormorants near the lighthouse.

A view of the beach and tide pools. The beach is made of black cobblestones and walking on them in not unlike walking on marbles. When the tide is higher the wave action causes the stones to roll and make a way cool clicking sound.

One more view of the lighthouse.

April 21 - Newport, OR

2011-04-24T17:04:00.002-06:00

We are finally back in Beverly Beach State Park on the Oregon Coast near Newport and all excited about going out to look at tide pools. The sun had been shining earlier, but we weren't in the truck for more than a few minutes when the sleet started. YUK! But we kept going and the sun came out!

We went first to the Devil's Punchbowl to explore the tide pools. There is a minus tide today so we could have actually walked into the punchbowl if the path down to the beach hadn't been closed to protect seal pups. This photo was taken looking north from the punchbowl.

Another nice view looking south from the Punchbowl area.

This is the Devil's Punchbowl and at times it is filled with sea water and even spouts out the top during rougher weather.

We left the Punchbowl and headed for Yaquina Head lighthouse to explore the tide pools there. We were not disappointed with the variety of critters we spotted.

This not so pretty looking creature is a chiton.

There were seal pups in several places around the lighthouse.

April 18 - 20: Boise to Newport, OR

2011-04-21T16:28:00.001-06:00

Rt 20 on the way to Sisters, OR

There was quite a bit of flooding along the road, but this was the only flooding we encountered on the road.

Pretty in a stark kind of way.

These are the mountains that surround Sisters, OR taken from miles away. The town of Sisters is named for mountains called The Three Sisters. The "sisters" are named Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Home sweet home in Sisters, OR. We have stayed at this RV park just south of Sisters before but it was smaller when we stayed there and wasn't paved. The sites are level, long, and large. There is a pond out behind our truck that doesn't show up well in the photo. The name of this lovely RV park is Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort.

Going over the Cascade Mountains Rt 20W on our way to Newport, Oregon.

See the long pole in the lower right corner? It is there so snow plows know where the edge of the road is. There was snow in the Cascades a few days before we drove them and more snow predicated in the next day or two, but it was clear and dry when we drove over them.

We arrived at Beverly Beach State Park in the middle of the afternoon and this is my first photo of the Pacific Ocean this trip, but it won't be the last.

April 17 - Boise, ID

2011-04-21T16:15:00.001-06:00

First United Methodist Church in Boise...

... Also known at The Cathedral of the Rockies

I was fascinated by this lovely fountain in the Narthex of the church.

The state capitol of Idaho

Taken in front of the Capitol. I was laughing so much I was afraid I'd blurred the photo but it turned out pretty well.