2 Gone RVing

California, here we come....

2009-09-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

The main thing we came to California for was to go to Yosemite National Park. However, we just couldn't pass up visitng Lake Tahoe also. Before my kids call me and ask if Alzheimer's has already begun, I do realize that Lake Tahoe is also in Nevada. I did not realize until I saw a map of the lake that most of the lake and most of the resorts are on the California side (west side) but there is a lot to see on the eastern Nevada side as well. We actually stayed at a campground in Nevada, but when we went to the town of South Lake Tahoe, we were in California.

LAKE TAHOE

With 71 miles of shoreline you can spend hours driving around the lake, but we spent most of our time on the southern end, east and west side. Here is a picture taken at Emerald Bay.

The average depth of Lake Tahoe is almost 1000 feet. It never freezes over due to the constant movement of water from the lake bottom to the top.

Of course, we had to take a hike to a "vista point".

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

If you like to look at big granite rocks (BIG, HUGE rocks) and sheer drop off cliffs, this is the place. Of course, there are meadows, waterfalls, lakes and wilderness areas to boot. We enjoyed our 2 1/2 days in the park, even though it was unseasonably warm for September.

What everyone comes is to see is the two most famous granite rocks; El Capitan and Half Dome.

El Capitan stands 3,593 feet from base to summit. Climbers come from all over the world to scale it.

Half Dome rises to an elevation of 8,842 feet!

One scenic drive in the park is along Tioga Road. One vista we especially liked was Olmsted Point.

Doug just had to go out to the very edge. I was too scared to go!

Here is a lake called Tenaya Lake. We fell in love with this lake. One day we had a picnic there. It even has a beach! The water is so clear you can see to the bottom of the lake until it gets too deep.

Unfortunately Yosemite Falls and BridalVeil Falls were almost dry by this time of the year. I'm sure they are spectuacular in the spring.

We are in Arizona now and will soon be posting pictures of the Grand Canyon. Wish you were here to enjoy it with us!

Okay, so we're not beach people....

2009-09-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Anyone that knows us very well knows that we don't go to the beach. That's really not hard to accomplish when you live in Arkansas anyway. We have always vacationed in the mountains, mostly Colorado. But we are leaving Washington and headed into Oregon and we decided to drive along the Oregon coast; the Pacific coast is much different than the Atlantic coast where Vicki grew up. We weren't able to get to some of the places that we wanted to go, but we still really enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy the pictures too!

SEAL ROCKS

It's hard to realize how big these rocks actually are until you see the people on the beach!

In some of these places at high tide there is no "beach" left.

This day was quite cool and misty (fairly typical for the Oregon coast I think); no sunshine. Also, what the locals call the "winter waves" have begun. They are actually bigger than the waves in summer and look "angry". This is no day for swimming for sure!

CRATER LAKE

We left the coast and headed to Crater Lake and had a really nice day there. We took sooo.. many pictures, but here are some of my favorites. By the way, the water really is as blue as it looks; and yes, the lake really is in a crater. Did you know that this is the deepest lake in the United States (1,943 ft.) and it is only fed by rain and snow (no rivers or streams)? Neither did I. I also didn't know that it is considered the cleanest large body of water in the world. Wow! Driving all the way around the lake is only 33 miles, but it takes awhile because there are 30 (at least) pull outs to stop in. Yes, we stopped at all of them! Enjoy!

Just to prove we were really there!!

Today (Thursday, 9/17) we left Oregon and headed into California. We are on our way to Lake Tahoe and then on to Yosemite National Park. It's hard to believe that our 4 1/2 month trip will soon come to an end; only 6 weeks left now. I'll share more thoughts about spending this length of time in a motorhome with only one other person later.

Last, but not least on our Washington state tour

2009-09-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

We are actually in Oregon now, but I wanted to show you how we finished our tour of Washington state - by visiting Mt. Rainier. Some days are so cloudy that the mountain can barely be seen. We were truly blessed to have had one day that was completely clear for a few hours! One woman who was there on this day said that she had been there 40 times and had never seen it so clear.

The one above and this one were taken on the way to the Paradise area of Rainier.

Here is a picture we took on the way to a different area in the park (the Sunrise area). The day was not as clear as the first, but was still amazing to see.

We went on a hike and were able to see the glaciers closer. I can't imagine climbing this 14,000+ foot peak; this was close enough!

There is so much more we would like to do here, but alas, we just couldn't do it all. That means we will have to return to this area. We spent a month in Idaho and a month in Washington and barely scratched the surface of all there is to see. Washington and Idaho are two really beautiful states (and cool summer weather to boot). God willing, we will be able to return again soon.

2009-08-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

If you are anywhere near this wonderful park, please make plans to see it. There is so much to see and do here. We spent several different days going to different parts of the park but there is still so much that we did not have time to do. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Hurricane Ridge, probably the most popular viewing spot in the park.

Somehow, Doug talked me into taking a one lane (with two way traffic) road from Hurricane Ridge up the side of the mountain to a place called Obstruction Pass, elevation 6100 ft. I do not have Doug's confidence about driving roads with sheer drop offs and no guard rails!! I don't have any pictures of the sheer drop offs because I had to close my eyes and pray!

This is the pass, but we did not hike to the summit. Wow, you can sure see a lot from up here!

Next, we went to the Lake Crescent area of the park and hiked through an old growth forest to Marymere Falls. Below is a picture of the trail. As you can see some of the trees are just HUGE. Yes, that is us standing at the base of the tree. You couldn't tilt your head back enough to see the top of the tree. You would have had to lie down on the ground and look up (we didn't try this but I think it would work).

This is the root ball of a tree that had toppled over in the forest. Doug estimated that the diameter was around 15 ft. WOW!

Marymere Falls

The falls drop 90 ft. from the top into a gorgeous pool

Sol Duc Region and falls

The drop on these falls is not nearly as great as Marymere, but they are unique because there are 3 falls coming from the same water source above. You can see the depth of the canyon if you look at the bridge at the top of the photo. We have a 4 (almost 5) year old granddaughter who loves waterfalls; we took this one just for her.

This is Salmon Cascade, where the mature Salmon come in their quest to return to where they were born. We could see them swimming in the water below the falls and occasionally they would jump out of the water. It is just an accident if you get a picture of them jumping because they are up and down before you can snap a shot. Doug saw one jump from the pool up into the swirling water around the rocks, but we never saw one get all the way to the top. I am told that they will jump until they either make it or fatally injure themselves while trying.

Well, I hate to end on that note about the Salmon fatally injuring themselves, so I found another picture you may enjoy of the fabulous Olympic mountain range. This is a close up from Hurricane Ridge.

Mt. Baker and Shuksan

2009-08-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

It was not a perfectly clear day, but at least we could see the mountains. The first picture is of the road we drove to get there, very twisty.

This is Mt. Shuksan from across Picture Lake in the Cascade mountain range

This is called Artist Point - lots of pictures taken here

Not much to say about these except WOW!!

This is Mt. Baker

Our Week in Anacortes, WA

2009-08-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

We are over in the Olympic Peninsula now but I wanted to share what a wonderful week we had last week. First of all, after camping in the national forests for a week we enjoyed our stay in a commercial campground in Anacortes with cable TV (the first time we had seen the news since mid June). It was also nice to have full hook-ups (no need to ration water) and had easy access to stores, etc. We also went out to eat a few times, something we have done very little of in the past 2 months. I guess we'll have to scratch this weeks "weigh day"!

Anacortes has a population of about 17,000, so it's not too big or too small. It has access to beaches, mountains and nearby islands as well as Canada. There are ferry boats that take you to the San Juan Islands and to Victoria Island in Canada. You can actually see snow capped Mt. Baker from the marina in downtown Anacortes!

Here are some of the highlights of our week

This was taken at Mr. Erie Park's 1,270 peak. When it is not a hazy day you can see much farther. This is Doug at Mt. Erie. You may not have seen him since he had a buzz cut. He also looks different because he has lost 18 lbs. since he had the stent put in his heart in June. The doctor told him to lose 30 lbs. so he is trying. Good job, Doug!

The Deception Pass Bridge connects Fidalgo Island (where Anacortes is) and Whidbey Island (where the Naval Air Station is). The bridge and pass are very scenic and very popular.
We took a hike around this area. Doug is sitting on a tree on the hiking trail that has been bent over. You can see a lot of trees that are bent like this, primarily due to the weight of the snow in the winter, and yet they still survive and thrive. It kind of reminded me of the weight of trials in our lives sometimes, yet Jesus carries us through them and we become stronger.

Looking toward the San Juan Islands from a hiking trail at Deception Pass.

Views from the Deception Pass bridge

This is only about half of what we did while in Anacortes. Some of the prettiest pictures are yet to come, but I'll have to work on that tomorrow. Thanks for keeping up with what we are doing. I hope you're having a very blessed summer!

Hello, Northern Washington

2009-08-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

We finished the Selkirk Loop and have driven all the way across northern Washington state on state highway 20. We are now in Anacortes, Washington which is about 2 hr. north of Seattle. We took about 5 days to drive here from Idaho and stayed at National Forest campgrounds during that time. One of the campgrounds was in a canyon with no cell or internet. Even the camp hosts only had a two-way radio for emergencies. It felt pretty strange not to have cell or internet service at all, but it was quite a scenic drive and very little traffic.

Here is a picture of Doug at one of the Forest Service campsites in the North Cascades.

One of the mountain passes we went through was Washington Pass (elevation 5500 ft). Believe it or not, the road was really pretty good and we had no problems. At the summit there is an overlook and even the trail out to it was gorgeous. The overlook is where we took the pictures.

All the lakes here are pretty, but it is hard to beat a lake called Diablo Lake. It is on a stretch of Hwy. 20 in North Cascades National Park that is closed in the winter. As you can see, the color of the water is almost emerald green. That is because as glaciers in the high country slowly wear down the mountains, the grinding of rock against rock produces a fine silt that is carried into the lake below. This “rock flour” suspended in the water reacts with light to give the lake its blue-green color. The bottom picture shows it best, although it is even more vibrant when you see it in person. The variety of scenery that God placed on this earth is just amazing! That we would be blessed enough to travel and see it this summer is also amazing. God is so good to us!

Goodbye, Idaho…

2009-08-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

After having so much fun in Idaho in July, we have moved on to the Canadian portion of the Selkirk Loop and then into Washington state. We made a couple of side trips before we left Idaho and one was to a large lake near Sandpoint, Idaho. The name of the lake is Priest Lake. We ate lunch at a nice resort there and then took a hike to Cedar Falls at Roosevelt Point. The falls were nice, but the most amazing thing was the HUGE cedar trees.

One of the last things we did before we left Sandpoint, Idaho was to attend the annual Huckleberry Festival at Mt. Schweitzer. This included all things huckleberry, and I mean all things; nothing is too much for a berry that is the state fruit (do all states have a state fruit?). They had jam, huckleberry honey, pancakes, syrup, cakes and pies just to mention a few. Then if you wanted to you could tie die a t-shirt using huckleberry juice and other colors (that was a popular activities with the kids). Last, but not least, guess what they had! Yep, you were right; huckleberry ice cream! Vicki surely was glad to get one more chance to eat her new favorite dessert (other than chocolate, of course).

Mt. Schweitzer is a small but quaint ski resort. The pictures are a bit hazy. Actually we have been told there is a forest fire somewhere in British Columbia that is blowing smoke down this

way, so things are hazy almost everywhere

right now.

The day after the festival we left for Canada. We only spent 2 days there on the Selkirk Loop but really enjoyed ourselves. In case you aren’t familiar with the Loop, it is a 280 mile loop that includes northern Idaho, British Columbia and Washington. It is well worth visiting. At the very top of the loop in BC, you must take a ferry across Kootenay Lake. People drive their cars or motorhomes onto the ferry and in about 45 minutes you are at the other side of the lake.

Right now we are on our way toward northwestern Washington. We will make a few stops along the way and then spend 7-10 days in Olympic National Park. There is plenty of pretty scenery along the way, especially as we travel through North Cascades National Park.

A special town...McCall, Idaho

2009-08-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

After we left the Sawtooth region of Idaho around Stanley and Challis, we decided to head north toward the Coeur d’Alene area. We decided to stay in an Idaho state park and picked a town called McCall that is on Payette Lake. We were only going to stay 2 nights and then head further north. On the way into McCall, our brakes began to have a grinding sound. We had had them checked before we left AR so we didn’t think too much about it. We called our roadside assistance program and they located a place in McCall for us to have them checked. As it turned out, we had to have some repairs done that required parts to be ordered and they couldn’t schedule the work to be done until they had the parts there (you know how these stories go, right?). So, we ended up staying 6 days; not what we had planned but we ended up loving the town of McCall and the park there. The park is the Ponderosa State Park and is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed. There were hiking and biking trails, overlooks and miles of roads within the park to wall.

While we were there we also went over to the Hell’s Canyon Scenic Byway since we had never been there. The view of the Canyon with the mighty Snake River was impressive as you can see.
McCall is a fairly small resort town. In the summer it has much cooler temperatures that Boise, which is 2 hours to the south, so the weekends especially are busy there. In winter they have a ski resort, not large but nice. We were able to drive to the top of the mountain one day and you can see the valley below – very nice.

We also had some time to take care of some routine chores (yes, there are still plenty of chores to do even though we are not at home – fun things like going to a laundromat, cleaning the motorhome and buying groceries). Another thing we discovered is huckleberry picking. Late July and August is the time for huckleberries in Idaho (by the way, they are the state fruit). They grow wild and were everywhere is the park, so everyone just gets a container and picks away. I didn’t know what a huckleberry was, but they look a lot like a blueberry, but are smaller and sweeter. They make huckleberries into everything – ice cream (very yummy), pancakes, milkshakes and pies (also yummy). Believe it or not they sell for $25-40 per gallon on the side of the road, which is the only way you can get them. I have really grown to love the huckleberry ice cream, but it has not helped me lose any weight (imagine that!).

If you ever have a chance to go to Idaho, we highly recommend McCall and Ponderosa State Park. Now, our travels are taking us to the Idaho Panhandle where we will take the Selkirk Loop and then head into Washington. More pictures to come.

Finally, the granddaddy of them all...Yellowstone

2009-07-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

When I say that Yellowstone is the largest of all the national parks, I mean BIG. There just is no way to do it justice in a day or two. We were not camped really close to the park, but even if we had been we couldn't have seen it all. Our favorites were the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Yellowstone Lake.

Of special interest for me was to find the spot where I had taken a picture of Jason (youngest son) when we were there in 1981. Jason was 4 years old and I told him to sit on a rock with the canyon falls in the background so I could take a picture. He sat down, put his elbow on his leg and rested his chin on the back of his hand and smiled. I just snapped the picture quickly and it is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Well, we found almost the exact spot, though the picture of me with the falls in the background doesn't quite measure up to the one in 1981. Still, it is a beautiful place to take pictures. It is called Artist Point. If you go to Yellowstone, please go here because it just takes your breath away to see the beauty that God designed for us to enjoy. It is a great illustration of His immense love for us!

Our second favorite place was Yellowstone Lake. It is a big lake, but so beautiful. You can't drive all the way around, but where you can drive is well worth it as you can see in these pictures.

When you think of Yellowstone, you always think of wildlife, and it doesn't disappoint. Every road you drive down has people stopped by the side of the road looking at something. We got several good shots of the bison. The first one is a bison calf being fed by mom. The calves are apparently light brown color and don't look anything like the adults. The second one is a bison that was almost in the road and just looked at us as we drove by.

Hiking is Fun...right?

2009-07-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed for Teton National Park. There are some things that are great about being a "senior"; they just looked at our Senior Passes and said "have a nice day". Otherwise, they are $25 for a 7 day pass (it does cover Teton and Yellowstone parks). One of the places Vicki wanted to go was Jenny Lake. She had been there in 1981 and remembered it was beautiful.

We got to the visitor center and the hike at Jenny Lake up to Canyon Falls was highly recommended. We were told it was 2 miles. We've been walking about 1.5 miles daily for the past several weeks, so we felt we could do that. We could hike 2 miles and eat lunch at the falls and then hike back down. The 4 miles would be a stretch but we thought we could do it. Otherwise you have to take a boat ride across the lake and then the hike to the falls is only 1/2 mile, but the boat ride was $10 each. Since we're on a budget and need exercise, we elected to walk. We had 2 bottles of water and 2 PB&J's with us. After we're on the trail we see another sign that tells us that the falls is additional 1/2 mile each way; now we're up to 5 miles! Long story short, the rise in elevation had been somewhat misrepresented and we knew when we got to the top that we had bitten off more than we could chew, so we discussed taking the boat ride back. After all that hard work we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money, so we ate lunch and hiked down. Needless to say we were wiped out the rest of the day, but the view was worth it (at least TODAY we think it was!). Enjoy the pictures.

Up, up into the mountains

2009-07-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

You know you are getting closer to the mountains
when you see scenes like we saw today driving
from Gillette toward the Tetons.

We crossed over Powder River Pass at 9,666 ft. elevation and were pleased that we had no problem with the motorhome.

We also drove through the Wind River Canyon in central Wyoming. The Wind River looks to be at flood stage and so the waters are rushing down the mountain. We saw some brave rafters on the river. Now that we're at a higher elevation the weather is more to our liking ; 50's at night and 70's in the daytime. Tomorrow we will begin an 11 day stay in the Teton/Yellowstone area, so I'm sure there will be some great pictures to be taken there.

A Brief History....sort of

2009-06-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

I need to give you a little background on how Doug and I got to this point in our lives. I will try to be brief, but I can't guarantee anything! We both camped out while we were growing up. Of course, people camped in tents and even slept out under the stars in those days. We have also camped in a pop-up camper with four teenagers; believe it or not, it was a blast! Of course, as the kids got older and busier we couldn't seem to find time to go anywhere so we got rid of the camper.

As we got older, we talked about getting something more "suitable for our age" and looked at travel trailers and 5th wheels. Then we became interested in possibly getting a Class A motorhome. We didn't think we would ever be able to afford it but we dreamed about it and looked around at some. When Vicki's mom died in 2006 we felt we could get a used motorhome if we could find a very good deal and praise God, we did. We bought a 2000 Fleetwood Southwind that we felt would be a great starter motorhome for us. The only down side was that we still had 3 years left to work, so we used it on long weekends and week long vacations. We began to look into RV and camping clubs and read RV magazines, etc. About a year before we retired in May 2009 we began to pick out where we wanted to go first - a very hard thing to decide when we wanted to go so many places. Alaska was at the top of our list, but due to various things, we felt that trip would need more planning than we could get ready for this year, so we decided on Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. On our way back to Arkansas for the winter, we will return through Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. We would like to share our adventures and our pictures of the trip with our family and friends and felt this would be the easiest way.

Here is the short version of what we have done so far: we attended an Escapade (an annual rally held by the Escapees RV club we belong to), drove to Maryland and back in Vicki's car (to save on gas) to see Doug's niece and family who serve as Wycliffe missionaries and our precious 5 grandchildren who live in Maryland (and their parents, of course). We had 3 days after the Maryland trip to finish packing the RV for our 5 month trek and left for Wyoming, visiting another son and his wife in Columbia, MO on the way. They will be giving us grandchild # 11 in December, so we are anxiously waiting to find out the sex and name of this new life God is blessing our family with. Sorry, but I forgot to mention that after the Escapade and before the Maryland trip, Doug had a heart cath and had to have a stent put into the main artery supplying blood to his heart, which was 80-90% blocked. We still left 3 days later with the doctor's permission and Doug is feeling fine.
Boy, are we tired. We had no idea retirement could be so exhausting! Now, we are going to slow down and enjoy the rest of the summer.
Very soon we will be posting pictures of Wyoming. We are currently in Gillette and this week will be heading to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.