I’m at a loss to know how to start today’s report.  These last few days have been pure adventure for me. It all began with the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington.  We had a boring 2 ½ hour wait to board, then it took them a long time to figure out how to get the trucks, RV, cars and tractor trailers (or trains as the crew called them) loaded on the ship so we late leaving.  Even so, the trip itself was awesome.  I was on deck from the moment we climbed up from the “parking garage” below.  Leaving Victoria Harbour was very interesting.  We passed by cruise ships, navel vessels, the marina and RV park that we stayed in, fishing boats, lighthouses, etc. It was lovely

Once away from shore I was in the bow, watching for whales and such.  No whales, but salmon put on an impressive show jumping in front of the boat.  The most awesome aspect was the low cloud hanging over the Olympic Mountains and Port Angeles in Washington.  It created a wonderful misty almost ethereal atmosphere as we crossed.  Boats, birds, mountains all kept vanishing into the mist and reappearing.  Cool stuff.

Carol and Russ got pulled over going through US Customs, but just delayed a few minutes and then we were on our way.  South on Hwy 101 

OK, so the mist, low cloud, rain and such continued to be part of our lives as we madly drove towards Long Beach.  A commitment to meet John at Long Beach meant we didn’t spend any time on the coast, or in Olympic National Park - which was fine because it was raining and so foggy we never really saw much in the way of mountains.

It was beautiful going past lakes, and once we got to the coastal area it was awesome.  If the weather had been better it would have been wonderful.  As it was it was hard driving.  And a long day.  We finally arrived in Long Beach about 7 pm and found our campground. I had booked ahead and that always makes me a little nervous - you can’t believe everything they say on web sites folks!

This place turned out to be great.  A short walk through the sand dunes to a big broad beach.  I made a quick foray to the beach and was enchanted to find a huge flock of pelicans down on the sand.  I hadn’t taken my camera, because it was nearly dark and very overcast.  Of course we had a wonderful sunset which sort of came out of nowhere.  And me with no camera.  John arrived about 9:30, exhausted but very happy because he had such a good time at the Didje Festival he went to.

We had a great day with John the next day.  Got Dungeness Crab for lunch which was fresh-from-the-sea delicious.  Barbecue for lunch.  John and I plotted some projects we are working on.  He and his dad had a batchee (?sp) ball competition.  He and I went to the beach for sunset and took photos.  Sunset fizzled but we had fun snapping the pelicans, the misty beach, each other, the dunes - whatever.

Highlight for him was having a camp fire.  So picture this folks.  Its raining, not hard, but raining or heavy misting all evening.  John is not only determined to have a fire, he is determined not to use paper to start the darn fire.  He did it, but it was a struggle.  Jack pooped out and went in to watch a movie in the dry.  He’s been feeling a bit punky for days now and just didn’t want to be out in the cold rain.

John and I perservered, burnt his $8 worth of wood.  He slept in the RV both nights because it was raining so we gabbed too long.  Anyway next morning packed up and he headed north and we all headed south into Oregon.

If we loved what we could see of the coast of Washington, we were bowled over in Oregon.  The coast road is an adventure to drive. Up down turn around seems to be the order of the day.  The turning around is to see the view.  The highway runs beside the Pacific Ocean.  So do the mountains. The road twists and turns and at each curve you find your self wondering what the scenery will be.  This is like rain forest; thick, lush growth.  Huge trees with thick, thick undergrowth that ranged from blackberry brambles, to wonderful ferns, to hardwood trees and shrubs of all kinds.

The seascape ranges from 700 ft high cliffs, to huge monolith rocks; from sandy dunes to isolated little coves and sea caves.  We saw sea lions in a sea cave, whales spouting, pelicans soaring (love those pelicans), seals, it was all wonderful.  So wonderful that we only traveled 84 miles on Wednesday and 170 on Thursday.  Since we still had 370 to go to the Redwoods in Northern California, we had to take a reality check.

Truth is Julie finds out too many neat places to stop to see.  I kind of got into trouble for slowing us down between adding John’s visit into our mix, and then saying, “Turn here” too often.Add in the fact that the weather has been poor - foggy, wet, cool with just enough periods of blue sky to whet our appetites and make it even more noticeable when we lost it again.

  So last night we sat down with the maps and figured out mileages against our time.  Verdict was simple if we went to Northern California, we would not get to Yellowstone in time for things we have already paid for - wildlife tours, chuckwagon dinner, that sort of thing.

So this morning, we drove through the fog to Florence, then turned east.  We are heading home.  Granted we have a continent to cross, but I must admit I felt pretty depressed to be leaving the Pacific coast.  I love it.

We followed the MacKenzie River Valley through the coastal mountains, to Eugene, then meandered through the Cascade Mountains.  The trees just seemed to get bigger and more magnificent as we went.  Huge big pines.  We passed through little villages where carvings and sculptures were everywhere.  One metal working genius had all sorts of creations outside - the most spectacular a Cinderella Coach - full-size.   

We passed Christmas farms with huge holly trees, orchards with huge nut trees, fisher folks on the river and funny buildings of all shapes and descriptions.   When we entered the National Forest and Park areas it was kind of mind boggling.  These huge pines or cedars with lacy boughs, often right to the ground lined both sides of the road, quite close to the pavement creating canopies that the sun shone through (yes the sun did come out).  In some areas ferns grew right to the pavement edge and with the trees gave the effect of driving down the most wonderful tunnels.  

One area had acres and acres of what was obviously lava flow.  Its broken up now the trees and a lot of growth - I would guess the lava flowed 2-400 years ago based on the size of trees there.  Then we went through a huge area that had been burned in a forest fire.  Pretty recent as the only new growth was small plants, wildflowers and such.  That was near Mount Washington.  The forest changed as we came out of the Cascades and into the area known as Sisters and Bend.  Trees were still huge, but with very little undergrowth and lots of space between them.  You could see through them for a long way.  Made one want to get on a horse and go exploring.

A few miles down the road, east of Bend the landscape totally changed.  Trees became shorter, stunted.  Pines had the bark and needles seen before, and the thick trunk, but the trees were really short. Sagebrush and some yellow weedy thing gradually took over the land which is now rolling hills, called buttes, linked my miles of sandy soil covered with stunted sage brush.  It turned into country called high dessert.   We saw a few cattle but not many. Too arid.  Eventually even the stunted trees disappeared.  The road would go out front as straight as a pin, the vast dessert on either side and the only shadows you could see came from the clouds passing over.

Some of the very old buildings from the days of pioneers, stage coaches and wagon trains are still to be seen.  We saw two soddies -cabins built with sod.  A weathered sign hanging from cross bars declaring “Hatfields - High Dessert Ranch”.  A place that claimed to be a stage coach depot. Even a rest stop (picnic area) that had a special place for exercising and watering your horse.

Anyway with the road as good as this last part was (130 miles of weird beautiful dessert) and none of Julie’s side trips we managed to travel 320 miles today. 

So now I have to head for bed so that I can successfully navigate us in the right direction to find Yellow Stone .  

More next time

Julie

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