Helen's Journal from Seaside, OR to Sequoia National Park

     September 6, 2011 to September 16, 2011

          We arrived at Seaside, OR September 16 and stayed ten days. There are several awesome places to visit here since this was the end of the Lewis & Clark expedition. We visited Lewis & Clark National Park where they built a fort and spent the winter. They also crossed the Columbia River which separates Washington and Oregon now of course there were no such states then. Across the river is Cape Disappointment, so named because they were stranded there several days because of the storms in that area. They named it that because it was a disappointment. There is also some historic light houses in that area. Here is a few pictures of that area.

        
     Moved to South Beach, OR the 16th and stayed until  the 24th. This is a very historic area with lots of things to see. We really enjoyed the beach here, we walked almost every day no the beach for almost five miles. In this area is the Yaquina Head National Area Light House & Bridge. The Historic Light House and an area where the waves of the ocean crash on the shore. An awesome sight to see in person. Hope the pictures show just a little of what we saw.

 

      Left South Beach the 24th and headed to Grants Pass, OR where we were going to Crater Lake National Park & The Red Wood National Park in Northern CA. We didn't make it that day. We had truck trouble out on Interstate 5 and had to be towed. It was on Saturday so we couldn't get the truck repaired until Monday. Had to have the truck towed to Seven Feathers RV Resort where we stayed for two days. I had a young man named David Wood come to the RV Park to check out the truck and he decided it was too big of a job for him. He called the Dodge dealer and made sure they had the part so we had to have the truck towed Monday to Lithia Dodge in Roseburg, OR. They did a great job on the truck and took less than four hours and almost $1200. Our total extra cost because of the break-down was $1500. Praise the Lord it happened where it did instead of later going up the hill to Yosemite National Park or on a narrow, hilly road between South Beach and Interstate 5. And praise the Lord that we had the available money to get the truck repaired. We were back on the road by 6:00 PM Monday the and arrived at Grants Pass, OR about 7:00 PM ready to go see those National Parks the next day. Here are some pictures taken at Red wood National Park and Crater Lake National Park.

 

          The Redwood National Park wasn't as impressive as we had expected. I suppose its so long up and down the coast we didn't see any of the big trees. This is one picture but there are lots of trees.

                                     WHAT??????????????????
     There were two ladies by the overlook and they would put these brass bowls on their head and lightly bang it with a rubber mallet. The vibrations were supposed to go through your body. I did feel something although I wouldn't call them vibrations. Maybe you could say I felt stupid but Helen and I had a good laugh and it was worth it to see Helen laugh.
                                                      

     Crater Lake National Park is one of the most awesome sights you could ever see. These pictures only show a small part of what you see with your eye and spirit. This water is 500 feet deep. The reflections you see of the mountains on the lake show up way better in person.

     We had an overnight stop at Jack's Landing RV Park in Red Bluff, CA. When we left the next morning I laid my water hose in the sun to dry and that's where I left it. When we got to Yosemite Lakes Thousand Trails Park I discovered that my hose was missing. Then I remembered where it was.
                             WILL I EVER LEARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????

     We moved the next morning, September 30, 2011, to Yosemite Lakes Thousand Trails just five miles out side of the National Park. The hill just before you get to Groveland, CA is about seven miles long and very curvy and very steep, about a 7% grade. We made it fine going up but freted about going back down for the whole time we were there. Even considered going out the north side then down CA395 but it's steep also.
We had a wonderful thirteen day at Yosemite Lakes although we had no TV signal or cell phone signal. We could go up to the club house and get on their WIFI but it was slower than old dial-up. We were at Yosemite National Park in 1986 on a whirlwind two week vacation from Armstrong Ceiling where I worked. We didn't remember as much as we thought we did about the Park. Here are a few pictures.

      This is a picture that Helen's sister Sylvia sent to us in a email. She and her husband Rick were out to California for a wedding and stopped by Yosemite for a few days.

                                      El Capatian                                                      

                                   Half Dome

                               Scenes from Glacier Point

                           Scenes from Tiago Pass

                               
                           Scenes from Tiago Pass

                         Michael at Vernal Falls

                                  Vernal Falls

                          Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

                        Bridal Vail Falls

                                  Mariposa Grove

                           Mariposa Grove

                  
       Wopama Falls in Hetch Hetchy Valley Yosemite National Park

                 Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite  National Park

                               General Sherman at Sequoia National Park

                               General Grant at Kings Canyon National Park

                                Helen in front of General Grant

October 14, 2011

     We left Yosemite Lakes Thousand Trails on October 14 dreading the seven mile descent on CA120. We had some very serious prayer for safety for us and the truck. We left the truck in 1st gear and made sure that we never got over 25 mph going down. The Lord kept us safe and we moved on to Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails near Palmdale, CA. We spent eleven day there then moved here to Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails in Menifee, CA. The last night we were at Soledad Canyon Sylvester was in a fight with a stray campground cat and he is very sick and has some infection. I took him to a veterinarian for some antibiotics. He is doing better.

     We will be here until the 14th of November then move on south. Will post more later.

Helen's Journal from North Cascades National Park to Seaside, OR

     We arrived here at Seaside, OR the September 6, 2011. We are just one mile from the beach. Haven't done much yet so will post later on Seaside. Let me take you backward for a few days since I got lazy about our blog.

September 4, 2011
  

                Mothnomon Falls an the Columbia River Gorge

                            Horsetail Falls on Columbia River Gorge

  
                              Video of Mothnomon Falls and Helen

     We drove down to Bonneville Lock & Dam on the Columbia River Gorge to visit Chuck & Jane Taylor, friends of our from Woodbury, TN. More than friends really, more like family. I was their pastor at Open Bible Baptist Church for a while and I also married them. They are volunteers there at the Corp Park and Visitor Center. Church took us on a tour of the Lock and Dam while there was a hugh tug pushing a couple of barges through. We went to brunch with them at Mothnomon Falls Restaurant. Michael and I walked to the falls and made some pictures then we drove to Horsetail Falls. We had a wonderful time visiting these wonderful friends.

September 3, 2011

     We drove to the West entrance to Mount St. Helen National Park today and stopped at several of the Visitor Centers. There were several short movies to watch showing how the earthquake and volcano took place. You would have to actually see the movies to appreciate the destructive power that was released that day. The East side showes more of the dead trees and Spirit Lake that was almost filled with dead trees. The National Park is not replacing the trees so that the forest can restore it's self naturally, but the state and the private lumber companies are replanting trees since 1981. Here are some pictures Helen took. They are good but they just don't really show the totality of what you see when you are there.

     This is one of the tree stumps left from the blast. When the earthquake slid the top of the mountain down in the valley the active core of the volcano was exposed. The slide was moving about 150 miles per hour and then the blast occured that sent hot gases and hot rocks hurling past the slid at somewhere between 300 and 700 miles per hour. This stump was a tree about four ft across that was just snapped off like you see. It is only one of thousands. You have to see the park or go to a web site that shows more detail to really believe it.

         This picture was taken after the earthquake and volcano

           This picture was taken before the earthquake and volcano

August 31 and September 1, 2011

     We went up to Mount Rainier National Park on the 31st of August. We went to Paradise Visitor Center where Helen got her Pass Port book stamped. The name is well suited because the mountain meadows are in full bloom and the water falls are too awesome. We left Paradise and drove through Stephens Canyon and Box Canyon. What awesome views. We arrived at Sunrise Point, the highest point you can drive up the mountain (6,400 ft) also the closest view of the mountain. We could see the glacier but because of the low clouds we could not see the peaks. We will return tomorrow.

     These are pictures taken the second day. You can get some idea of how God out did Himself on this Mountain. This was the first glacier we had ever seen up this close where you could tell that it was a glacier.

     It was 39 degrees at the visitors Center that morning. The top of the Mountain is another 8,000 ft.

August 27 - 29, 2011

     We were three days at Dow Creek RV Park in Hoodsport, Washington just south of Mount Olympia National Park. The only Visitor Center was at the very top of the Park and we were at the very South. We made a 429 mile loop around the park which took twelve hours.We stopped at one of the rain forest and two places where you could walk on the beach. It was a long tiring day but very enjoyable. We stopped at a KFC on the way back to the RV and discovered that we were very hungry. Here are a few pictures.

August 20 - August 26, 2011

     We left Grandy Creek Thousand Trails Park in Concrete, WA August 20th and drove up to Blaine, WA to Birch Bay Thousand Trails Park. There was not much to do right there at the park but we drove over to Mount Baker on the 26th and hiked some and had a picnic. There on the top of our drive because we couldn't get all the way up to Mount Baker we found a place called Heather Meadows. There was lots of snow and plenty of opportunity for great pictures. Michael through a snowball at me and almost made me fall. There were lots of young people sliding on the snow slopes. We stopped at Nooksack Falls on the way up and took pictures. Here are a few pictures.

     On the 25th of August we went down to Anacortes Harbor and took the Washington Ferry over to San Juan Island. The hugh ferry can haul over 140 vechicles and 1000 people. We got off the ferry at San Juan Island and just walked around awhile. We each got an ice cream and then got back on the ferry to come back. Things were very expensive on the Island.

           This is just like the boat we road to San Juan Island on.