The Giant Redwood trees

So.... we are at the last stop on our month long journey down the west coast.

The giant redwoods are not to be missed when in Northern California. You can see from the sign just how big these giants are and how the girls look beside them. They are truly amazing.

The forest is dense with a "on the ground" biomass that is the largest in the world. Even larger than the tropical rain forests. The dense growth and colors give the forest a magical look and the smell of the trees makes you want to just sit and take it all in.

I just couldn't resist this picture just to show that we have survived the trip!

This is the end of a great month. Jack and Gail have been wonderful and fed us Minnesota steak, roast and hamburger all the way. The melons and vegetables from Ginny and Arnie were marvelous and the seafood along the way was fantastic.

I sit here wondering why I want to go home..... and the answer is: Out of money..... need to go home.

So..... that's it for this trip. Thanks to all along the way who made it great.

See ya next trip.

The Coast continued

From Westport we headed to Newport Oregon for three days.

The beach was cold and wet but that didn't stop us from taking a walk and looking for treasures. Newport has a great walking and running beach with solid sand and a flat surface.

The lighthouse at Bandon is still there but the restoration in now complete. It looks great on the outside as well as inside.

I found these two sitting on some driftwood near the lighthouse. After over a month they are still cuddling.

We continued our coast journey with a stop in Gold Beach. We took the jet boats up the Rogue River for 32 miles.

The day was sunny and warm and we had great views up the river. We had lunch at Lucas Lodge in Agnes 32 miles up river from Gold Beach. Family Style was the fare with more good food than we could eat and then back down the river where we ran out of gas and had to be rescued. All in all a great adventure on a spectacular river.

From Gold Beach we headed South again for some spectacular scenery along the coast. Destination: Fortuna, Ca and some time in the giant redwood trees.

On the Coast

It's time to update the old blog.... we haven't been in Internet contact for over a week so I need to catch up.

We started the trip down the coast with a drive from Forks to Westport. The day was pretty and we stopped to take a look at the Pacific.

The lighthouse at Westport was still there and the day was clear so a picture was in order.

The Westport harbor was busy with Tuna and Salmon fishermen. It's a great little waterfront with lots of fish to buy and just enough shops to keep the ladies happy.

Since the golden frog kissing episode at Butchart gardens in Vancouver Gail has been hoping for gold or at least a few dollars. So...... the girls went beach combing and found about 80 sand dollars.

Here they are cleaning the "treasures" and sorting them. Gail finally got her dollars!

Cape Flatery

Sunday the weather was a little wet but we headed to Cape Flatery near Neah Bay anyway.

The drive was wet but pretty and at the end of the road was a 3/4 mile hike down a trail to the point.








The trail was wet and slippery in places but we pressed on and were rewarded with interesting trees and lots of green ferns and moss.


































Near the point we looked down over the coast. Even the weather was wet the view was still spectacular.

Finally at the point we had no choice but stop or swim. Do we look wet? Hope so because we were.
It proved to be well worth the hike and we had a really nice, wet day.
Off to Grayland beach this morning.

Hoh Rain Forest

On the west slope of the Olympic mountians is an area like no other in the world. The Hoh rain forest is not a tropical rain forest but gets an average of 142 inches of rain a year. That's about 12 feet of rain.

There are miles of trails but the two closest to the visitor center offered views of the new and old growth. This is typical of the scenery along the trail. Here the Taft creek parallels the trail with vegetation along both banks.

Moss hangs from the trees everywhere. We learned that the trees are not damaged by the moss as it's not a parasite but rather gets food and water from the air.

Gail just couldn't resist the temptation to join the trees.

She didn't stay there too long ..... she was afraid moss would start to grow on her.

Off to the beach tomorrow.

Hurricane Ridge

Thursday we set off to explore downtown Port Angles and then headed up the Olympic National Park to visit Hurricane Ridge.

The journey begins at sea level and in 17 miles you see this view. The top of the ridge is 5200 feet above sea level and looking west, as in this picture, you have a great view of Mt Olympus. It was cloudy and misting as we departed Port Angles and this is what we saw at the top.

You recall that Gail kissed a golden frog at Butchart Gardens hoping for some gold. Well, she got a bear instead. All was not lost...... she was pretty happy with the bear!

Who is that old couple on Hurricane Ridge?

Friday we made the 50 mile trip to Forks on the West side of the Olympic peninsula. We found a great black sand beach and took a stroll. The kids are always cuddling.

More later.

Vancouver Island

Wednesday was a awesome day to visit Vancouver Island. The day was warm and sunny and started with a 90 minute ferry ride from Port Angles.

Butchart Gardens was the first stop on the visit. It's situated just a few miles North of Victoria and sports 55 acres of fantastic gardens.

This is just a sample of the wonderful scenes found in the garden. It's in a area called the sunken garden which was a former gravel pit.

The Dahlia garden was by far the favorite. The flowers were as big as dinner plates with spectacular colors.



















Gail found a golden frog in the garden and since she already has her "prince charming" she decided the kiss would get her some gold.
So.... she gave it a try....... no gold yet.... we're still waiting and hoping.



















After a afternoon of touring and walking downtown Victoria we headed home and were presented with a great sunset view of Victoria.


So long to Canada after a great day.

























Do we look tired? Nope.... the 90 minute ferry ride home was great..... rain, an awesome sunset, lightening, more rain and finally US soil again.
What a day. Bed felt really really good.

Hi there from up North. About time I did this again since we covered a lot of miles since the last one.

We headed to Issaquah to visit Kris and one of my "other kids" Andi.

Andi and Eric live near the University in Seattle. We got the whole tour and what a great house and garden. They even have hops for Eric's beer growing in the backyard. Sure was nice to give Andi a hug and see her again. Sorry we missed Eric.... next time.

We headed to Snoqualmie falls East of Issaquah for a great morning. Here's my two best girls.

From Issaquah we drove to the farm to visit Ginny and Arnie. Seems we do this every year and love it every time. Here Arnie is talking to his watermelon. He has a great melon patch with both watermelon and cantaloupe. As long as he keeps raising them we'll keep visiting and eating.

Part of Thursday was spent at Rick"s (son in law)

spraying business. Rick was kind and gracious as I pumped him with about a million questions. This is Rick's Ag Tractor aircraft. Needless to say it was a super interesting morning.

Arnies' acres RV park is still in business..... spaces have doubled and Wi Fi has been added.

Jack and Gail joined us on Friday....... Here they are hard at work on the farm.

We had to take the mandatory group photo. Steve was good enough to do the photography and we all looked as good as we could.

Thanks for a great visit Ginny and Arnie!!
See you next year!

Tonight we are near Port Angles with three days to look around here. More later.

On the road again up North

Greetings from the North land!

We hit the road again last Monday and ended up in Sisters, Oregon. Central Oregon is a beautiful area with lots of pine trees and mountains with winding rivers and streams.

Lots of forest fires this time and we entertained ourselves at the campground watching the water tankers ferry back and forth from Bend to the fire some 15 miles away.

The smoke was not too bad but it did obscure the mountains a little and the smell was pretty strong at times.

The town of Sisters was named for the mountains just to the west. The three sisters, Faith, Hope and Charity, are some 20 miles away and their brother, Bachelor, is just to the South. The town of Sisters is a quaint little town that's a little touristy but not too bad.

We headed to the little town of Camp Sherman just west of Sisters to do a some hiking. We found a trail along the Metolius river and hiked about 4 miles on a nice dirt trail. What a beautiful area even with the smoke.

Here's a happy hiker and also a happy camper. Thank goodness for new knees!

We're now in Issaquah, Wa visiting Kris. We're here for 5 days and then on to George, Wa to spend some time on the farm again and see some special Cousins. We'll meet up with Minnesota friends there and continue the road trip to the Olympic peninsula.

More from down the road later.

London Town

Greetings from the last day in London. We had a great day with a little of everything.

We hopped the underground and headed for Kennsington Palace near Hyde Park. This is the front of the Palace and a statue of Queen Victoria. We walked the Palace rooms and the gardens then hopped the underground again toward Westminster station.

Flat Ella just loved to see Big Ben. She just wouldn't have been to London without taking a look

There was a boat trip on the Thames that was available so..... off we went. This is the Tower bridge as I have never seen it before. The hour ride took us down river from Westminster to the Tower Bridge and back. It gave us a unusual perspective on London.

We rode past the Tower of London which has been a Royal residence, a prison and, most recently , home of the Crown Jewels.

One last view of Big Ben and the houses of Parliament and then off to a little shopping and back to the B&B.

Well, as Bugs Bunny says "That's all folks"

Hope this hasn't been too boring for you all. We've has a great time but I'm out of money and out of energy so it's time to head home. If all goes well we'll be home tomorrow evening and this will be a marvelous memory. So long from the British Isles.

The Chelsea flower show

I survived!!!! 8 hours of the Chelsea flower show.

The flower show was amazing..... and for a guy that's not into flowers that's saying a lot. The main pavilion took about two and a half hours to visit with the displays like you see here everywhere.

The grounds consist of 11 acres on the grounds of the royal veterans hospital. For most of the year it's a soccer field but is transformed for the flower show each year. The crowds in the afternoon were almost unbearable but we saw a lot in the morning before it got too busy. It's well worth the effort to see it.

As usual Flat Ella came along. I'm glad she didn't need a ticket as it was $75 just to get in. She was most impressed with the colors and variety of flowers she saw. This was one of her favorites.

Tomorrow we just bum around London town and then it's home again. I'll do one more post tomorrow night to finish the trip. Till then......time for a pint!

The last day inScotland

The Great hall in Stirling Castle was huge and Ella found a spot she liked.

Flat Ella is sitting in the Queen's chair in the great hall pretending she is attending a huge banquet. She is imagining herself ruling over all the guests as they eat, drink and dance.

Flat Ella is getting homesick for school so she found this elementary school in Linlithgow. What a great spot to go to school

To finish the day Flat Ella took a boat ride on the Union Canal which runs from Glasgow to Edinburgh. She rode for 2 and a half hours along the peaceful canal and traveled over a long aqueduct that was 80 feet in the air.

She was so tired from the days events that she went home and took a nap.

I had to include this picture of the canal. The bridges shown here are from the 1800s when the canal was built. The entire canal was built with pick and shovel in 4 years!

Well that's all from Scotland. 14 days, 1200 miles on the "correct" side of the road, 14 Castles, 6 churches, 8 boat rides, one steam train ride and numerous pints of ale. I need some Rest....off to London town!