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.

Helen's Journal from Spokane to North Cascades National Park

This is August 18, 2011. Our computer has been down a few days so I got behind again. I will catch up from August 9, 2011

     We went for our morning walk then relaxed until 12:00  noon when Jerry and Janice took us out for lunch at Shakey's Pizza. It was buffet style lunch and very good food. There was a large salad bar, a food bar, and pizza. As usual we stuffed ourselves. This evening we went into Wal mart for water and cat food and also filled the truck with diesel. We went ahead and paid the $4.29 for it although we could have drove 15 miles and got it for $4.08. We got back to the RV and spent the rest of the evening getting ready for our move tomorrow. We have enjoyed our stay at the Ponderosa Falls RV park just west of Spokane, WA.

August 10, 2011

     We moved to Crescent Bar RV Resort just west of Quincy, WA today. On our trip here we drove across plains through the middle of Washington. There were the biggest wheat fields I have ever seen. W drove for over a 100 miles through these and on both sides of the interstate you could see wheat as for as your eye could see. There was corn and alfalfa hay fields also. I was amazed because I certainly had a different idea of what Washington was like.When we got to Quincy there were apple, cherry, and grape orchards. Washington is known for it's apple production. As we passed Quincy we started down a very steep hill into the Columbia River Gorge, what a beautiful spot for a campground. We were really surprised to find a Thousand Trails Resort in such a grand location. We will only be here five days and will enjoy them all but sort of dread the pull back up the steep incline to I-90. Above is a picture of the Columbia River there from our campground.

August 11, 2011

     Here is another picture of the Columbia River Gorge.

     We went for our morning walk then just sort of kicked back the rest of the day. It was such a lovely day we sat outside and read the day away. Temperature in the day get up in the upper 70s and in the low 50s at night. It always gets windy when the sun sets here in the gorge and one of our neighbors got his awning blown off. I felt bad for him because it is an expensive lesson to learn to leave your awning out. Helen called Jeff. He was doing fair.

August 12, 2011

     Today we went for our walk then I sat outside to read and enjoy the nice weather and beautiful scenery. Michael or rather we decided to shorten our stay here and move on to Fall City, WA to see some water fall that I found in a book I use to help us decide where we want to go. We really love this place but Michael has made reservation for RV Parks all the way up to December so in order to go to these fall I want to see we have to adjust out stay somewhere. It's easier to leave a park early than to change reservations ahead.  We will move on to Tall Chief RV Resort in Fall City, WA tomorrow so we can see the Snoqualmie Falls. We drove into Quincy for diesel fuel and had a late lunch at Casa Jalisco Mexican restaurant. Diesel was cheaper here than in Spokane. It was $3.95

August 13, 2011

                                   Clouds over the Cascade Mountains

     We left Crescent Bar RV Resort in Quincy, WA today and moved to Tall Chief RV Park in Fall City, WA. Tall Chief is an RPI park in our campground membership. We crossed the Columbia River and the Cascade Mountain Range on our way to this RV park. What a change when we crossed the mountains. It is cloudy and cool here and this resort is in a forest mostly of western cedar. Lots of trees and undergrowth.
The clouds hover on the mountain then drift down into the valleys. What an awesome sight, they move like something alive. Our computer quit working Thursday, probably because Michael was working on it, so we took it into Best Buy for one of their Geeks to fix it. We bought another computer because the other one was five years old and we we needed to be sure that we had one that worked. Michael sure hopes that none of our important files are lost. He worked so hard on his maps and other stuff. We had dinner at Fatburger, not as good as it sounds, then went back to the resort. 

August 14, 2011

                                  Snoqualmie Falls at Snoqualmie, WA

     This has been a very good day. We went for our morning walk then packed some snacks and drove to the Snoqualmie Falls. It was a breathtaking view. The water drops 268 feet and mist rises up from the crash of the water when it hits the bottom of the canyon. One view we stopped at there was a beautiful rainbow just begging for someone to take its picture, so we did. But the picture doesn't do the rainbow justice so we'll not post it.

                              Michael and Helen at Snoqualmie Falls

                                      This is a video of the falls.

     After viewing the falls we drove on to the town of  Snoqualmie

August 15, 2011

     Extended our stay here one more night because our computer is not ready to pick up. We went for our morning walk then I called Barbara but did not reach her. I called Rondal and he said that Barbara was doing good, feeling better and getting her strength back. She is able to get out and shop a little.
     Michael called Best Buy to see if the computer was ready. It was so we drove into Bellvue, WA to get it. We stopped for Chinese food then back to the resort. We worked setting up the new computer and backing up the files Michael was afraid he had lost.

August 16, 2011

     Left Tall Chief RV Park in Falls City, WA and moved on to Grandy Creek Thousand Trails/KOA in Concrete, WA about 30 miles from the west entrance to North Cascades National Park. This is a beautiful RV Resort nestled among some very tall pine & cedar trees. I think we will enjoy our four days here.

                Here are two pictures of North Cascades National Park

                   Helen sitting on a stump of a tree in the park.

                Another picture I though you would enjoy

August 17, 2011

     What a great day this has been!!!! We left the RV around 9:30 this morning and drove to North Cascades National Park. Our first stop was at Newhalem Visitor Center where we received some information on where to go and what to see. We watched a nice video about the park them walked the 1.8 mile river loop trail through the big red cedar and fir trees. A very pleasant walk. We rested at a picnic table and enjoyed our snack. Then we drove up the mountain to Gorge Creek Falls and walked a one mile overlook trail that overlooked the falls and Baker Lake. On up the Cascade Mountains to Diablo Lake and overlook which was very picturesque so I took several pictures.

                                    Diablo Lake

     Then on to Ross Lake Overlook. There was not a good place to pull off to view the lake so we walked the Happy Creek Forest Trail. Probably about a mile loop trail with a small creek running along the trail and some very large trees. It was very enjoyable. Then on to Washington Pass Overlook, another one mile walk but well worth the climb. What an awesome view, the highest point along highway 20 over the Cascade Mountains here in the National Park. Here is a video of that view.

                         Washington Pass


                            

                             Washington Pass

                                Washington Pass

    After Washington Pass we began to spiral down the east side of the mountain and drove on as far as Winthrop, WA. a little town with an "Old West" look. We drove around some then headed back over the Cascades through the park. When we got back to Concrete there was a huge herd of elk in a meadow just east of our RV park. We took pictures but they were too far away. They look close with Michael's binoculars. We are both tired but truly enjoyed the day in the Cascade National Park.

    

Helen's Journal from Glacier NP to Spokane

July 31, 2011

     Yesterday we drove over to Kalispell, Montana to look around and eat at a Mexican restaurant. We came back did laundry and I washed the truck and RV.
     We left Columbia Falls this morning headed for Spokane, Washington. We drive down Hwy 2, a very scenic drive, if you enjoy mountains, lakes, tall Ponderosa pine and beautiful, wild rivers. We drove through Libby and Troy Montana where the Kootenai river runs along the road. Lovely !!!!. We drove across the panhandle of Idaho which is a very beautiful part of this country God created. We arrived at Ponderosa Falls RV Park and will be here ten days.

August 1, 2011

     Today we drove into Spokane to find a Walgreen drug store to refill two of my prescriptions, also had to fill the truck with diesel. Diesel was $4.29 a gallon. Ouch !!!!!!!!
     We had a late lunch at Golden Corral then drove over to Riverside State Park (see the pictures posted)
We walked the swinging bridge across the Spokane River and up a trail to a huge rock that over-looked the bridge and river. We drove several miles to Nine-Mile Falls which was a disappointment. We expected a natural waterfall but it was only a damn spillway. We drove back to the RV for a relaxing evening.

August 2, 2011

     Just a quite day here at Ponderosa Falls Resort. We did our morning walk then I got out my embroidery work and Michael is cleaning bug splatters off the front of the RV. Talked with Jerry Shaffer yesterday and he and Janice will be at this resort Thursday. We always look forward to meeting up with these friends that we met four years ago in California.

August 3, 2011

     Nothing special going on today. We went for our morning walk then I did some more embroidery and Michael cleaned on the RV. Sandra called today, it was good to hear from her.

August 4, 2011

     This has been a lazy day. We walked, then went to Walmart to restock groceries and supplies. I finished my pillow case I was doing embroidery pattern on. Now I need to do the other on so I will have a pair to use or give to someone.

August 5, 2011

     We had a quite morning today. We went for our walk then I did some embroidery and Michael did some route planning on the computer. He plans our journey, finding RV parks for us that are in our camping system.
This afternoon we meet up with Jerry and Janice at the Golden Carrol in Spokane for early dinner. They will be here at Ponderosa Falls RV Resort Sunday. Looking forward to spending a few days with them.
     I called Troy and Jeff to see how they were doing.

August 6, 2011

     Went for our walk around the RV park this morning. This afternoon we drove over to Riverfront Park in Spokane. We parked and walked to the Spokane Falls, saw some beautiful scenes there on the Spokane River Waterfalls and Cascades. Stopped at Walmart on the way back to the RV and dinner. Sandra called to see how we were and where we were. She and Lytle were in this area several years ago.

August 7, 2011

     Went for our walk then watched Charles Stanley on TV. This resort doesn't have a worship service and we did not find a suitable church close.
     Jerry and Janice arrived here at the resort around 11:00 A.M.  They got set up then came down to visit. We ha a good cook out about five o'clock, Jerry is an excellent stake griller. Janice fixed baked potatoes and corn-on-the-cob and I made a salad. We had a very good meal and caught up on all the news of each others travels since the last time we met.
     Jerry and Janice will be here two weeks but we will  be leaving Wednesday, August 10. Comparing each others itinerary we will meet each other again at Pio Pico Thousand Trails Resort south of San Diego for a few days around Thanksgiving.

August 8, 2011

     This morning we went for our walk after which I did laundry. We met up with Jerry and Janice and went to Spokane to Rancho Chico Mexican Restaurant for diner. It was a very good meal and we really enjoy spending time with these good friends.

Spokane, Washington Area

Ju

These pictures are Spokane River and River Side State Park, and River Front Park in down town Spokane.

Glacier National Park

These are some of the pictures Helen took at Glacier National Park in Montana.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Here are some pictures Helen took when we were at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.