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.