Giant Redwoods, Ocean Views - 5 November 2010

Friday....no doubt about it, we are at the coast! Woke to a heavy fog that had rolled in over night, however the fisherman on the dock didn't seem to mind....nor did the sea lions that periodically popped up to see "wassup".

We drove to Crescent City to look at the Harbor and their lighthouse....which due to high tide we couldn't get to....however, it is out in the harbor, a 2 story house with a beacon on the roof. Designed originally for the Coast Guard to watch the coastline during the war, it was designed to look like a farmhouse...and it does.  Along the way we had quick glimpses of the Pacific....it was rough water today. No surfers or beachcombers.

rough water today, nobody in sight, AND yet we
really appreciated that fact.








Wood Carving - no ID



We stopped at the tourist trap, aka - Trees of Mystery - while they have an extensive and impressive Native American Museum hidden behind the chotckeys...this is a kid focused stop. The only mystery I discovered

 was that this statue, which appears to be carved out of a

massive redwood and is at the entrance to the parking lot....

not one piece of information was located on it, near it or

close by. We were on our way out so I didn't ask, wish I had now.

 

Kid focal point - these massive statues of Paul Bunyan and the blue ox - BABE....just freakin' huge.

Moving on to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, home of old-growth Redwoods, the loop is narrow, winding around and through 300' trees. It was beautiful on this overcast day...few cars or people to hamper our trip. No trailers or motor homes allowed, although the volunteer at the Information Center did tell us that Class C drivers do venture in....venture out with damage to their vehicles...missing air conditioners, any awnings, etc. Rentals ususally lose their deposits....no turnarounds on this loop.


Entrance to Jedediah Smith Redwoods



narrow



  

 

 

 

 



still narrow

  

This inside.....and they just cut the middle out for the roadway.     |   (above) the left side inside view.

I've always wanted to be 'inside' a tree....check this off the bucket list :



One must look UP




Mike next to a fallen tree



Always looking for faces in things....found one in the Redwoods. Cool don't you think? I did take a moment to consider how it would look on my "wall of masks"....

 

this charmer is a 'banana slug'....eats everything but redwood seeds and seedlings....grateful that this beauty wasn't one of the critters that we've discovered.

But we did see three-leaf clover everywhere....the forest floor was covered with it...pretty, sweet and magical.  I kept thinking about "Lucky Charms"...

Hope you enjoyed another day of travel with us.....

Happy trails.....sleep well.

.

The Great Escape....3 November 2010

Lucy

Lola

Hello friends....my name is Lola Morgan and this is my sister >
Lucy Madeline, in one of two normal poses....(she is either on a lap or in a basket sleeping)
....NOT a big help in the 'rescue me' department.

HOME

 

My humans have deposited us inside a big long box, and have fled the large comfy space known as 'home'. It has taken them days of packing and stowing our cat box, litter, food and toys. The worst part was being dragged out from under the dark confines of the bed where I was hidden, almost invisible, behind a large container, once I was alerted by Lucy and her mewed warnings of impending doom. The last time this rude event occurred we were escorted to a noisy, other animal smelling building ---- poked, prodded, impaled with sharp pointy objects and implanted with microscopic chips .....supposedly for our "protection".... but I know I can hear mooing from the moon now.

Although we are familiar with this particular space, it is not home, but the view from our windows is pretty awesome. We saw a hawk guarding a field from a fence post, and a young doe trying to cross I-5 from the median....sure hope she made it across.



RV Theatre Screen



 

Our first night out....Sutherlin, OR - roughly 30 miles from Roseburg. Our RV lot turned out to be an old drive-in theatre....with free movies on Saturdays - and they throw in the popcorn. November schedule: Star Wars, Episode V, Episode VI and the Santa Claus for 3 of the 4 Saturdays.

Thursday morning it was a race to see who could get ready to go first...Coats groomed, breakfast and morning rituals completed Lucy and I assumed our normal sitting positions to watch the activities of "lets get the heck out of Dodge" in record time.


Azalea Exit 88 and Fog




Sunny Valley  Exit 71 and  Fog

  Much of the day was in and out of sun and fog....as the ocean gets nearer


OR Caves sign @ Cave Junction



We will come back to visit the caves at some point in the future...there is oh, so much beauty in Oregon to discover.



Welcome to California




Redwood National State Park North Entrance





Gorgeous trees



 

View of the beach from US Hwy 101 - AWESOME! 





Pacific Ocean

  Surfer  dude

     In and out of sun and fog all day

We are parked now for the next few days....time to sleep in peace  while our humans explore the California Redwoods, Crescent City and Klamath.

  



  out the back window of our RV in Klamath, CA

outside our kitchen window/door

the Klamath River - near the headwaters of the Pacific Ocean (about 50 feet from us)     


It's been a long day and both Lucy and I are completely tuckered out....hope you enjoyed our Great Escape....we believe the humans have regained control and will be checking in with you all in the coming days.
 
 
 
 
 

Ciao!

Same River, Different State - September 12, 2010

Deals In Heyburn, ID

today we are in Huntington, Oregon...just 7 miles from Weiser ID. We drove in from Heyburn yesterday and much to our delight, discovered that we were going to be parked along the same Snake River - just 238 miles southwest from our last night in ID.  (Picture above taken on the bridge next to our RV Park - so basically we are standing on the Snake and the one below is our view from the bridge towards where we are parked. If not for the trees, we could see our site.)

Boat ramp just beyond where we are parked

This is what much of our driving on the interstate in Idaho looked like....no traffic other than a few autos and some really big semi-tracker trailer rigs as we traveled towards Oregon from Twin Falls...a person could get use to this, for sure.

  Welcome to Oregon - this is on I-84, that's a covered wagon (not a cow)....yippee!

Today, Monday, was a down day...we slept late, meditated, did our exercises outside on the green grass, read a while, took a walk up the road to visit a pack of horses that were grazing in a field not far from our site, read some more...the cats appear to have adapted well...no more freak outs when the slides move in or out...frankly, I was getting concerned about the decision to include them (even knowing I had no choice but to bring them along - they are family)

Kindle ,Cat and  Needlepoint...life on the road is good

caught reading!

Ciao friends....be safe where ever you might be on your journey.

Just outside our windshield

We drove south from Dillon, MT today -  on I-15 which developed into a very open 2 lane freeway with few automobiles for miles on end .  Mike noted that we noticed how little traffic there was on the road -  was only an indicator of how much congestion we have at home...big difference. The weather was definitely better today, we are currently in Heyburn, ID (about 40 miles east of Twin Falls) and will be here until Sunday. Temperatures 76 hi/40 lo - still a burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Mike says we bumped into Fall, frankly I believe we drove right into it.

Snow in Rockies

Empty I-15, snow in Rockies beyond

Clark Canyon Reservoir

Leaving Montana

Crossing over the Continental Divide

Woohoo, Idaho we are so happy to see you.....................yippee, sunshine and an still an open highway and it's pass noon on a Friday.

Idaho Welcomes us....

Welcome to Burley ID...Mike fashion - by aircraft

Out our back window

The RV park we are using here is next to the Snake River, a city park is across the road and across the river on the Burley side is a public golf course. Tomorrow the park will, no doubt, be swarming with the participants of the Viking Man Triathlon which is currently being laid out in the park behind our back window. Mike is going to participate once he gets the waivers...you know, the one that lets him swim the 2.5 mi in the river because he can and doesn't need to show them. Then that "you do need a bike" for the cycling portion of the triathlon and since he doesn't have one of those, heck they will waive that requirement too....and the fact that he doesn't have the proper shoes to run a marathon, why of course they'll waive that one too....you are good to go Mike. I'll wait at the Finish line for you sweetie.

Staging Area - Viking Man Triathlon

Dinner in Heyburn

  We are settled for the night...Ciao!

Ghost town - our visit to Virginia City, MT

Today we braved the adverse weather to visit Virginia City, MT - about an hour's drive east of Dillon, where we are currently parked. We learned a lot about the historical makings of the area along the way too.

The weather looks a bit daunting, but we persevere and continue, stopping along the way to read the historic placards that mark the highway, some of which is the Lewis & Clark Expedition route.

Along the way we drove through Laurin, a town about 2 blocks long and which has a beautiful Catholic Church dating 1901 and on the National Historic Registry...but not much else, well they do have a steakhouse that serves dinner Friday through Sunday tho. Then Alder  and  what was once a creek/gulch, but is now a road-side filled with the remains of gold dredging -  row after row of the tailings. (Alder Gulch was known for the 10,000 souls in the mining camps...with a string of camps along the Road Agent Trail that connected Bannack and Virginia City along the Montana Road)

Mount Vernon Dredge

Tailings (basically the creek bed) left behind

Mike is never happy when he sees this evidence of corporate greed, no matter when it occurs. This particular
area financed the building of  Harvard University with the gold that was dredged here.

Virginia City:

Main Street

Virginia City is a National Historic Landmark District, one of the nations' largest. Store fronts have been preserved where possible, with some of the original goods, furnishings and tools, with tours by stagecoach each day, with commentary on the history provided, weekend re-enactments taking place during daylight hours. Trail rides are also available for hire, and there is a nightly "Ghost Walk" tour to enjoy as well.

Local villain and bandit-hung for murder

Mercantile store goods

Mercantile Tea and Herb bins

Clothing/shoe store

Buggy in blacksmith shop

Parts of town - off Main Street

Deals in Virginia City, MT 2010

After a long afternoon we returned to our RV, dinner, bonding times with Lola and Lucy and arrived just in time to beat the downpour of rain .... are we really that close to home?

Mike and Lucy decided to spend some quality time together.