NOTE: I have uploaded 63 more picture from the last 10 days. Be sure to click on the link on the right to view them.
Friday, September 28
We awoke to the pitter-patter of raindrops in the RV…… and Bailey screaming that her stomach hurt. For some odd reason Bailey’s stomach was upset throughout the night but she was feeling much better at 11 am after a morning nap. This was a real blessing because her health was going to determine if Sheri or I would stay back and miss the guided tours of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. The park is nothing like the other parks. It has a historical feature because of the cliff dwellings which were built 800 years ago. It is amazing how well preserved the dwellings are. In fact, they have wooden logs imbedded in the walls which are still entirely intact after 800 years. The boys really enjoyed the tours because access to the dwellings requires climbing some long ladders and crawling through tunnels. Sheri, on the other hand, was more scared today than I have ever seen her. One particular exit requires climbing on a near vertical wall with foot notches cut out of it. Sheri has gained a fear for heights as she has had children and she was trembling up there. The height and dangerousness of the climb was scary, but the three children just casually climbing up the rock and the 4th child hanging off of my back made the fear unbearable. The ancient Pueblo people used little notches they cut out of the rock to rockclimb in and out of their dwellings. We had a small scare today in the RV. The temperature rose fairly rapidly so I pulled over to check out the situation. The coolant was low so we added some water and traveled to Durango, which is about 35 miles from Mesa Verde. Another blessing from above….the RV didn’t have any temperature problems after that. Something really neat happened today. As we exited one of our tours we saw a car that had Virginia plates "BORN X2". Sheri and I know we had seen this plate before and suspected we had seen it at our church in Winchester, Virginia. Sure enough, the city decal on the windshield was Winchester. We wrote them a note and waited for about 45 minutes, but didn’t see them. What a small world to see someone familiar about 2500 miles from home.
Thursday, September 27
This morning the kids gave us a problem so we sent each one to their own state. That’s right, one in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. We didn’t have their rooms to send them to, but we did have 4 states to send them to. Casting the joke aside, the kids didn’t give us a problem today (other than the standard problems), but we were able to have each one of our kids in four states. Have you ever wanted to be in two places at once. Today, we were in four places at once. However, I must say that if you are ever in the Grand Canyon, don’t think you need to go to four corners. It’s really only worth the visit if you are in the area. The reason that four corners exists is because there is desert wasteland for miles. I don’t think anyone wanted to fight for the land. Actually, they had given all of this land over for Indian Reservations. It’s not good for cattle grazing, crop farming or anything else. It’s a real shame they forced the Native Americans into land that is useless. It makes you appreciate why folks like Crazy Horse refused to go and died for their stance against the US government. I think that is why states like Colorado allow casinos on the reservations. It’s a good source of income for the reservations and it provides jobs.
After 4 corners we traveled to Wal-Mart in Cortez, Colorado and then onto Mesa Verde National Park. The kids are really looking forward to the tours of the cliff dwellings tomorrow. In order to tour them you have to climb up a 32 foot ladder and then crawl through a tunnel. We are staying the night in the park at the campground. It sure is nice to be close to everything. All of you non-campers are in luck, they have a lodge here too. Don’t let camping be the reason you don’t visit the national parks, most of the good ones have lodges, many of which have fantastic views.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Grand Canyon
Wednesday, September 26
Today we viewed the east side viewpoints on our way out of the park. Each viewpoint has some new feature that makes it worth the trip. They are all accessible by their free bus shuttle or by driving. We didn’t lose anyone kids over the cliffs, so we considered it a successful day. Once we exited the park I had set my sights on the only RV park between the Grand Canyon and Colorado (a 4 hour stretch of road). However, for the first time, the RV park was full (prior to our reservations). We had been at full RV parks, but we had always grabbed a spot a few days or hours in advance of the park filling up. The next closest park in our direction was about 3 hours away, so we didn’t arrive tonight until 8 pm (we had stayed at the canyon until mid afternoon). The neatest experience we had was on our drive at sunset. Just as the sun was setting in the west, the full moon was rising in the east. It made for magnificent views in all directions. We happened to be driving through a vast empty area, so there were no city lights or any other distractions just a flat landscape with a few buttes to add to the scenery. We entered Colorado at mile 10,776 after a brief 1 mile passage through New Mexico. Tomorrow we will back track to see four corners (Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado) and then go to Mesa Verde National Park. For those of you who haven’t heard of Mesa Verde, it has some of the best preserved cliff dwellings of Pueblos from 600 AD to 1400 AD.
Tuesday, September 25
Today we entered the Grand Canyon and we actually spent the night at the RV park right in the Grand Canyon village. The canyon is indescribable. You can see documentaries on it and other films, but there is something missing until you stand at the rim and peer down 5,000 feet to the floor. It is simply a phenomenal geological creation. We really wanted to take the mule ride down to the canyon, but the kids have to be a minimum height for that, so in about 8 years we will do that. For those of you who may not know, you can ride a mule down into the canyon, stay the night at a ranch down there and then ride the mule back up. It’s an all inclusive trip. If you ever consider it, be sure to reserve your trip about 23 months in advance, that is when they fill up! Or if you want to go in 8 years, you can join us!
We attended two ranger programs today, one on the california condor and another on the mountain lion. The california condor is an interesting story, there were 22 left in 1982 and they brought them all into captivity to increase the population. They are up to about 306 now and most are in captivity because very few chicks are surviving in the wild. There are about 60 that frequent the Grand Canyon. We think we saw one, but only for a moment.
The funny story of the day had to do with the mountain lion ranger talk. One of the bus drivers was really talking up the program and said that the ranger was fantastic and a real firecracker. She only presents once a month and he really wanted us to make sure we didn’t miss it. As an aside, it was a fantastic program because the ranger was practically a stand up comedian. Anyway, later that afternoon Brandon asked me if we were going to the firecracker show in the evening. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out why he thought there was a firecracker show. In Brandon’s mind, the bus driver had talked him into a fireworks show!
Monday, September 24
Day 86. Before I forget, I must update the mileage report. We entered Nevada at mile 10,226 and we entered Arizona at mile 10,299. California gets the most mileage award at 1,589 miles and the most days at 15. We have averaged about 121 miles a day, which is about 2 hours per day in the car. However, when we actually do drive we typically average 3-4 hours in the car, so we are driving about every other day if you round things out.
Today we left Vegas early so we could tour Hoover Dam. The dam is quite an engineering marvel, particularly since it was constructed in the1930s. It has many firsts for dam construction such as cooling pipes inserted into the concrete to help the concrete harden. There were several other firsts that I can’t remember. The real reason for construction was to manage water flow because the Colorado would flood parts of California each year as the snow melted and then have very low flow during fall and winter. Lake Mead, which is the largest man-made lake in the US acts as enormous reservoir. Its level is actually quite low this year and the area is in a drought condition. Lake Mead still has plenty of water, but they would prefer higher lake levels. The drought was emphasized even more when we arrived at our campground in Williams, Arizona. We learned that they have to truck all of their water in because their wells are dry. In fact, the campground showers have a button you push that gives you about 5 seconds of water for each push. You can’t just let the water flow unending, you are forced to conserve. This part of Arizona and Nevada is just miles of nothingness. The drive from Las Vegas to Williams was mile after mile of desert wasteland. It’s a real shame when you realize that this is the kind of land the US government dedicated for Indian Reservations.
Today we viewed the east side viewpoints on our way out of the park. Each viewpoint has some new feature that makes it worth the trip. They are all accessible by their free bus shuttle or by driving. We didn’t lose anyone kids over the cliffs, so we considered it a successful day. Once we exited the park I had set my sights on the only RV park between the Grand Canyon and Colorado (a 4 hour stretch of road). However, for the first time, the RV park was full (prior to our reservations). We had been at full RV parks, but we had always grabbed a spot a few days or hours in advance of the park filling up. The next closest park in our direction was about 3 hours away, so we didn’t arrive tonight until 8 pm (we had stayed at the canyon until mid afternoon). The neatest experience we had was on our drive at sunset. Just as the sun was setting in the west, the full moon was rising in the east. It made for magnificent views in all directions. We happened to be driving through a vast empty area, so there were no city lights or any other distractions just a flat landscape with a few buttes to add to the scenery. We entered Colorado at mile 10,776 after a brief 1 mile passage through New Mexico. Tomorrow we will back track to see four corners (Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado) and then go to Mesa Verde National Park. For those of you who haven’t heard of Mesa Verde, it has some of the best preserved cliff dwellings of Pueblos from 600 AD to 1400 AD.
Tuesday, September 25
Today we entered the Grand Canyon and we actually spent the night at the RV park right in the Grand Canyon village. The canyon is indescribable. You can see documentaries on it and other films, but there is something missing until you stand at the rim and peer down 5,000 feet to the floor. It is simply a phenomenal geological creation. We really wanted to take the mule ride down to the canyon, but the kids have to be a minimum height for that, so in about 8 years we will do that. For those of you who may not know, you can ride a mule down into the canyon, stay the night at a ranch down there and then ride the mule back up. It’s an all inclusive trip. If you ever consider it, be sure to reserve your trip about 23 months in advance, that is when they fill up! Or if you want to go in 8 years, you can join us!
We attended two ranger programs today, one on the california condor and another on the mountain lion. The california condor is an interesting story, there were 22 left in 1982 and they brought them all into captivity to increase the population. They are up to about 306 now and most are in captivity because very few chicks are surviving in the wild. There are about 60 that frequent the Grand Canyon. We think we saw one, but only for a moment.
The funny story of the day had to do with the mountain lion ranger talk. One of the bus drivers was really talking up the program and said that the ranger was fantastic and a real firecracker. She only presents once a month and he really wanted us to make sure we didn’t miss it. As an aside, it was a fantastic program because the ranger was practically a stand up comedian. Anyway, later that afternoon Brandon asked me if we were going to the firecracker show in the evening. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out why he thought there was a firecracker show. In Brandon’s mind, the bus driver had talked him into a fireworks show!
Monday, September 24
Day 86. Before I forget, I must update the mileage report. We entered Nevada at mile 10,226 and we entered Arizona at mile 10,299. California gets the most mileage award at 1,589 miles and the most days at 15. We have averaged about 121 miles a day, which is about 2 hours per day in the car. However, when we actually do drive we typically average 3-4 hours in the car, so we are driving about every other day if you round things out.
Today we left Vegas early so we could tour Hoover Dam. The dam is quite an engineering marvel, particularly since it was constructed in the1930s. It has many firsts for dam construction such as cooling pipes inserted into the concrete to help the concrete harden. There were several other firsts that I can’t remember. The real reason for construction was to manage water flow because the Colorado would flood parts of California each year as the snow melted and then have very low flow during fall and winter. Lake Mead, which is the largest man-made lake in the US acts as enormous reservoir. Its level is actually quite low this year and the area is in a drought condition. Lake Mead still has plenty of water, but they would prefer higher lake levels. The drought was emphasized even more when we arrived at our campground in Williams, Arizona. We learned that they have to truck all of their water in because their wells are dry. In fact, the campground showers have a button you push that gives you about 5 seconds of water for each push. You can’t just let the water flow unending, you are forced to conserve. This part of Arizona and Nevada is just miles of nothingness. The drive from Las Vegas to Williams was mile after mile of desert wasteland. It’s a real shame when you realize that this is the kind of land the US government dedicated for Indian Reservations.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Las Vegas
Sunday, September 23
We went to the Vegas strip again today and ended the day with a surprise dinner show for the kids. The one dinner show that is probably suitable for families is the Knights Tournament, which is a medieval tournament. The kids really enjoyed the show with the exception of Bailey, who was scared out of her wits at the beginning and then calmed down shortly into the show. Tomorrow we drive to Hoover dam and then on to the Grand Canyon.
Saturday, September 22
We got an early start today so we arrived at Las Vegas about 1:30. We chose to stay in a hotel to allow for easy access to the main highlights. Thankfully, there are several non-casino hotels just off the strip. This afternoon we walked to the strip and saw some of the sights. Unfortunately, the casino hotels force you to walk through the casinos to get anywhere. The kids were pretty exhausted after walking 3 miles.
We went to the Vegas strip again today and ended the day with a surprise dinner show for the kids. The one dinner show that is probably suitable for families is the Knights Tournament, which is a medieval tournament. The kids really enjoyed the show with the exception of Bailey, who was scared out of her wits at the beginning and then calmed down shortly into the show. Tomorrow we drive to Hoover dam and then on to the Grand Canyon.
Saturday, September 22
We got an early start today so we arrived at Las Vegas about 1:30. We chose to stay in a hotel to allow for easy access to the main highlights. Thankfully, there are several non-casino hotels just off the strip. This afternoon we walked to the strip and saw some of the sights. Unfortunately, the casino hotels force you to walk through the casinos to get anywhere. The kids were pretty exhausted after walking 3 miles.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
San Diego Attractions
Friday, September 21
Today we went to the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which is an extension of the zoo. I have to say that if you do both, you’ll find a lot of redundancy. I’d recommend the zoo over the wild animal park. However, both are very good and we still enjoyed the park. The most interesting sight to see was a baby elephant only 2 days old. Even though he was 2 days old, he was about 220 lbs. They have 2 of only 8 northern white rhinos left in the world. They expect to become extinct in the next couple of decades because only one is able to reproduce. The Southern White Rhino was down to 100 left, but they bred them back up to 14,000 over the last 35 years. We drive to Las Vegas tomorrow.
Thursday, September 20
Today we went to Legoland. The park is quite unique as it is designed for kids between the ages of 5 and 10, which is exactly in our age range. Bailey was just a tad too short for many of the rides, but the three boys really enjoyed the park. Legoland really only had one ride that was an adult ride. It was something I had never seen before. It looked like a robotic arm with two seats attached at the end. The robot arm would swing all over the place and spin around. They had 5 different programs you could chose from. 1 (the easiest) was good for Brandon. 5 (the most difficult) gave me a severe headache as I was spun and around probably 15 times or more. Seth was brave enough to try number 5, so I got the lucky privilege of getting a headache twice. Brandon is sitting with me at the computer as I write, and his favorite ride was a roller coaster that was a green dragon. He went on that ride twice, once with Dad and once with Mom. His second favorite ride was another roller coaster that had quite a big hill. He is really getting brave at riding roller coasters. They had an area called miniland that had replicas of cities like Washington DC, New York, and Las Vegas. The park had a total of 40 million lego pieces used to make tons of models throughout the parks. Seth’s favorite was the ventriloquist, which kept him laughing pretty good. Levi’s favorite was a computer lab they had set up for programming a lego robot.
Today we went to the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, which is an extension of the zoo. I have to say that if you do both, you’ll find a lot of redundancy. I’d recommend the zoo over the wild animal park. However, both are very good and we still enjoyed the park. The most interesting sight to see was a baby elephant only 2 days old. Even though he was 2 days old, he was about 220 lbs. They have 2 of only 8 northern white rhinos left in the world. They expect to become extinct in the next couple of decades because only one is able to reproduce. The Southern White Rhino was down to 100 left, but they bred them back up to 14,000 over the last 35 years. We drive to Las Vegas tomorrow.
Thursday, September 20
Today we went to Legoland. The park is quite unique as it is designed for kids between the ages of 5 and 10, which is exactly in our age range. Bailey was just a tad too short for many of the rides, but the three boys really enjoyed the park. Legoland really only had one ride that was an adult ride. It was something I had never seen before. It looked like a robotic arm with two seats attached at the end. The robot arm would swing all over the place and spin around. They had 5 different programs you could chose from. 1 (the easiest) was good for Brandon. 5 (the most difficult) gave me a severe headache as I was spun and around probably 15 times or more. Seth was brave enough to try number 5, so I got the lucky privilege of getting a headache twice. Brandon is sitting with me at the computer as I write, and his favorite ride was a roller coaster that was a green dragon. He went on that ride twice, once with Dad and once with Mom. His second favorite ride was another roller coaster that had quite a big hill. He is really getting brave at riding roller coasters. They had an area called miniland that had replicas of cities like Washington DC, New York, and Las Vegas. The park had a total of 40 million lego pieces used to make tons of models throughout the parks. Seth’s favorite was the ventriloquist, which kept him laughing pretty good. Levi’s favorite was a computer lab they had set up for programming a lego robot.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Days 80 & 81 -San Diego
Wednesday, September 19
San Diego is home to one of the most highly rated zoos in the world. Today we found out why. They do a fantastic job keeping the exhibits well maintained and they have a very wide variety of animals. I saw several animals I had never heard of and some of which the San Diego Zoo is the only western hemisphere zoo to house them. They have the largest Koala group outside of Australia and they lay claim to 4 of the 6 US panda births that have survived. The zoo was fantastic, you really need 2 days to take it all in. We saw just about every animal, but we cruised through many of the exhibits to cover ground quickly. The two most impressive sightings of the day were seeing two polar bears wrestling in the water right next to the viewing glass and seeing two hippos walking under water. Hippos have so much fat that when they walk on the bottom of the water they look like they float between steps. We also got a kick out of watching a baby monkey try to play with his mother who didn’t want to play at all. Tomorrow we will go to Legoland and then on Friday we will see the outdoor wildlife park, which is set like a safari.
Tuesday, September 18
We began the day with another trip to the beach. We figured that we ought to take advantage of the ocean as it was within walking distance. The sky was overcast, so the air temperature was fairly cold for swimming, but that didn’t seem to phase Levi and Seth. They both got pretty good at body surfing and experienced the reason that most people don’t do it for very long. Those of you who have bodysurfed probably know that you can get slammed into the sand if the right conditions occur. Both boys experienced that and decided that body surfing was not something to continue. We headed south from Huntington Beach to San Diego. We got to the campground pretty early so I took care of an oil change while the kids played at the playground. They rented a four person bike-like vehicle, which provided a good wearing out for the kids and Sheri.
San Diego is home to one of the most highly rated zoos in the world. Today we found out why. They do a fantastic job keeping the exhibits well maintained and they have a very wide variety of animals. I saw several animals I had never heard of and some of which the San Diego Zoo is the only western hemisphere zoo to house them. They have the largest Koala group outside of Australia and they lay claim to 4 of the 6 US panda births that have survived. The zoo was fantastic, you really need 2 days to take it all in. We saw just about every animal, but we cruised through many of the exhibits to cover ground quickly. The two most impressive sightings of the day were seeing two polar bears wrestling in the water right next to the viewing glass and seeing two hippos walking under water. Hippos have so much fat that when they walk on the bottom of the water they look like they float between steps. We also got a kick out of watching a baby monkey try to play with his mother who didn’t want to play at all. Tomorrow we will go to Legoland and then on Friday we will see the outdoor wildlife park, which is set like a safari.
Tuesday, September 18
We began the day with another trip to the beach. We figured that we ought to take advantage of the ocean as it was within walking distance. The sky was overcast, so the air temperature was fairly cold for swimming, but that didn’t seem to phase Levi and Seth. They both got pretty good at body surfing and experienced the reason that most people don’t do it for very long. Those of you who have bodysurfed probably know that you can get slammed into the sand if the right conditions occur. Both boys experienced that and decided that body surfing was not something to continue. We headed south from Huntington Beach to San Diego. We got to the campground pretty early so I took care of an oil change while the kids played at the playground. They rented a four person bike-like vehicle, which provided a good wearing out for the kids and Sheri.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Visalia to Los Angeles
Monday, September 17
The day started with a beard trimming. After 79 days of facial hair growth, the beard just had to be trimmed. My original mountain man philosophy was getting annoying as food was finding its way into the hairy nest around my mouth. No worries, I’ve kept the facial hair, just gave it a trim.
We made our way to Los Angeles today. The trip was a success and mild failure. A failure because we didn’t pick the right road to see the Hollywood sign on the mountain, but a success because we avoided most of the LA traffic and the RV park we picked was within walking distance of a nice stretch of beach in the Huntington Beach area. The laugh of the day was brought about by my misfortune. The pacific water happens to be somewhat cold so I thought I would sit it out. However, the boys insisted that I go in with them. After coaxing and Levi chasing me around in the sand, I decided to make a bee line for the water. I thought it would be appropriate to run in to waist high level. However, at about shin high depth, I stepped into a divot and went falling face first into the water. So much for keeping the top half of me dry!
I’ve finally uploaded 60 pictures of the last 10 days (click on link to the right). I was disappointed with our Redwood and Sequoia pictures. We have some pictures that show the diameter of the trunks in perspective, but no pictures that show just how unique the entire forest looks as you walk through it.
The day started with a beard trimming. After 79 days of facial hair growth, the beard just had to be trimmed. My original mountain man philosophy was getting annoying as food was finding its way into the hairy nest around my mouth. No worries, I’ve kept the facial hair, just gave it a trim.
We made our way to Los Angeles today. The trip was a success and mild failure. A failure because we didn’t pick the right road to see the Hollywood sign on the mountain, but a success because we avoided most of the LA traffic and the RV park we picked was within walking distance of a nice stretch of beach in the Huntington Beach area. The laugh of the day was brought about by my misfortune. The pacific water happens to be somewhat cold so I thought I would sit it out. However, the boys insisted that I go in with them. After coaxing and Levi chasing me around in the sand, I decided to make a bee line for the water. I thought it would be appropriate to run in to waist high level. However, at about shin high depth, I stepped into a divot and went falling face first into the water. So much for keeping the top half of me dry!
I’ve finally uploaded 60 pictures of the last 10 days (click on link to the right). I was disappointed with our Redwood and Sequoia pictures. We have some pictures that show the diameter of the trunks in perspective, but no pictures that show just how unique the entire forest looks as you walk through it.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Days 77 & 78 - Kings Canyon National Park
Sunday, September 16
In life, sometimes you really need to go with your gut (or initial) instinct. I had looked at the map on my computer last night and decided that the best way to get to Visalia, California was to take a certain highway and then take a rural route. However, there was an alternative route that took a rural route first prior to a highway, which looked okay on the map, but I wasn’t sure how much elevation change would occur on the rural route. The GPS routed me on the second route and today for some strange reason I figured I’d take the second option – a bad choice. Instead of dropping 3000 feet on a highway with shoulders, we dropped 3000 feet on a narrow road with no shoulders. I’ve never in my life driven on such a twisty road. It took us well over an hour to go 30 miles. Sheri, of course, tried to remind me that the rural route didn’t look like the best option as I was making the turn, but I assured here that the rural route would be okay. After less than 10 miles I was apologizing to all of the passengers and handing out Dramamine. Prior to the roller coaster road, we did have fun in Kings Canyon park today hiking to a waterfall and hiking in a Sequoia grove. We saw the 3rd largest tree in the world (by volume), which happens to have the largest base circumference of 107 feet. Seth had the worst day today after an ankle twisting on a bike this morning he then re-injured the same ankle trying to jump from one rock to another at the waterfall. I personally wouldn’t have tried the leap he tried. He later agreed that he is sometimes too gutsy. Because of it, he stayed back in the RV when we went hiking in the Sequoia grove. Hopefully, he will be walking well by the time we get to San Diego. Tomorrow we travel to Los Angeles, but not into the city proper. We’re just passing through a suburb on our way to San Diego.
Saturday, September 15
We drove across the dry desert of Eastern California’s Sierra Nevada today to get from Yosemite down to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks. As usual, it takes longer to drive the distance than you think because of the elevation changes so the drive was about 3 hours instead of 2. We made a decision to stay inside the park at a campground and forgo the modern luxuries of water and electric hook-ups. This allows us to be right where we want to be tomorrow morning and it allowed us the ability to attend an 8 pm ranger program within walking distance. Kings Canyon is somewhat like Yosemite with respect to the glacier valley they are preserving, but it is still unique in its own way. After talking to the ranger about Sequoia National Park and discovering that we couldn’t traverse some of the roads due to our size, we decided to skip that park. It’s known for its Sequoia groves, but there are also comparable groves in Kings Canyon and Yosemite.
In life, sometimes you really need to go with your gut (or initial) instinct. I had looked at the map on my computer last night and decided that the best way to get to Visalia, California was to take a certain highway and then take a rural route. However, there was an alternative route that took a rural route first prior to a highway, which looked okay on the map, but I wasn’t sure how much elevation change would occur on the rural route. The GPS routed me on the second route and today for some strange reason I figured I’d take the second option – a bad choice. Instead of dropping 3000 feet on a highway with shoulders, we dropped 3000 feet on a narrow road with no shoulders. I’ve never in my life driven on such a twisty road. It took us well over an hour to go 30 miles. Sheri, of course, tried to remind me that the rural route didn’t look like the best option as I was making the turn, but I assured here that the rural route would be okay. After less than 10 miles I was apologizing to all of the passengers and handing out Dramamine. Prior to the roller coaster road, we did have fun in Kings Canyon park today hiking to a waterfall and hiking in a Sequoia grove. We saw the 3rd largest tree in the world (by volume), which happens to have the largest base circumference of 107 feet. Seth had the worst day today after an ankle twisting on a bike this morning he then re-injured the same ankle trying to jump from one rock to another at the waterfall. I personally wouldn’t have tried the leap he tried. He later agreed that he is sometimes too gutsy. Because of it, he stayed back in the RV when we went hiking in the Sequoia grove. Hopefully, he will be walking well by the time we get to San Diego. Tomorrow we travel to Los Angeles, but not into the city proper. We’re just passing through a suburb on our way to San Diego.
Saturday, September 15
We drove across the dry desert of Eastern California’s Sierra Nevada today to get from Yosemite down to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks. As usual, it takes longer to drive the distance than you think because of the elevation changes so the drive was about 3 hours instead of 2. We made a decision to stay inside the park at a campground and forgo the modern luxuries of water and electric hook-ups. This allows us to be right where we want to be tomorrow morning and it allowed us the ability to attend an 8 pm ranger program within walking distance. Kings Canyon is somewhat like Yosemite with respect to the glacier valley they are preserving, but it is still unique in its own way. After talking to the ranger about Sequoia National Park and discovering that we couldn’t traverse some of the roads due to our size, we decided to skip that park. It’s known for its Sequoia groves, but there are also comparable groves in Kings Canyon and Yosemite.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Yosemite National Park
Friday, September 14
We started today with some excitement, a mother bear had run across the main road and the cub got stuck on the wrong side having not made it across. The cub was scared because of the traffic and actually cried out to its mother, who had climbed a tree on the opposite side. We left the scene and went to an Indian museum that informed us of the Ahawanee/Miyok Indians and their living customs. Then we went on an open-air tram tour led by a ranger. This was quite informative. Wouldn’t you know, that when the tram tour passed the spot where we saw the bears, now two hours later, they were still there. This time they were both in the tree – a neat sight to see. We completed the day with a visit to a Sequoia grove, where they have trees about 1,000 years old. The sequoias are impressive but in a different way than the redwoods. They aren’t as tall as the redwoods but they have a larger circumference, sometimes as much as 100 feet in circumference. I personally liked the redwood groves better because you were surrounded by huge trees, whereas the sequoias are spotty with other tree varieties mixed in. I understand why George Lucas chose the redwood forests for the Ewok planet because it feels like a foreign place. The sequoia groves feel like a regular forest with huge trees implanted in certain spots. Nonetheless, both are majestic and unbelievable. I can't post pictures because this connection is about as fast as dial-up. Hopefully, I'll be able to post in a couple of days.
Thursday, September 13
It turns out that the RV park we stayed at was sitting on top of the site of a town 150 years ago. The town was constructed to support a gold mine, which was within walking distance of the RV park. We decided that we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go inside a gold mine so we took it upon ourselves to go digging for gold. The experience was nice, but we didn’t find any gold. The RV workers said that you can still find gold in the dried up creek bed that runs through the RV park and the gold panning is for real gold. The boys tried both locations but again no gold. I guess I’ll still have to work for a living. After our gold adventure we traveled to Yosemite National Park. All the national parks have something unique, Yosemite has the 2nd highest waterfall in the world (Yosemite Falls) and the highest in the US. It is also home to Yosemite valley, which is like driving into a canyon about 1-3 miles wide that is surrounded by majestic cliffs. It’s home to El Capitan (a completely granite rock), which is a climbers paradise, requiring 3-7 days to climb the 3000 foot face. We had hoped to take the short hike to the base of Yosemite Falls, but when we found out that the waterfall has dried up for the fall, we changed our minds. Yosemite had only 40% of their typical snowfall this winter, so many of the waterfalls and lakes are dried up, but that is typical for low moisture years. We stayed at a campground in Yosemite, which allowed us to attend a ranger program in the campground. Once again, the program was fantastic. We had one wildlife sighting today with two large bucks.
We started today with some excitement, a mother bear had run across the main road and the cub got stuck on the wrong side having not made it across. The cub was scared because of the traffic and actually cried out to its mother, who had climbed a tree on the opposite side. We left the scene and went to an Indian museum that informed us of the Ahawanee/Miyok Indians and their living customs. Then we went on an open-air tram tour led by a ranger. This was quite informative. Wouldn’t you know, that when the tram tour passed the spot where we saw the bears, now two hours later, they were still there. This time they were both in the tree – a neat sight to see. We completed the day with a visit to a Sequoia grove, where they have trees about 1,000 years old. The sequoias are impressive but in a different way than the redwoods. They aren’t as tall as the redwoods but they have a larger circumference, sometimes as much as 100 feet in circumference. I personally liked the redwood groves better because you were surrounded by huge trees, whereas the sequoias are spotty with other tree varieties mixed in. I understand why George Lucas chose the redwood forests for the Ewok planet because it feels like a foreign place. The sequoia groves feel like a regular forest with huge trees implanted in certain spots. Nonetheless, both are majestic and unbelievable. I can't post pictures because this connection is about as fast as dial-up. Hopefully, I'll be able to post in a couple of days.
Thursday, September 13
It turns out that the RV park we stayed at was sitting on top of the site of a town 150 years ago. The town was constructed to support a gold mine, which was within walking distance of the RV park. We decided that we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go inside a gold mine so we took it upon ourselves to go digging for gold. The experience was nice, but we didn’t find any gold. The RV workers said that you can still find gold in the dried up creek bed that runs through the RV park and the gold panning is for real gold. The boys tried both locations but again no gold. I guess I’ll still have to work for a living. After our gold adventure we traveled to Yosemite National Park. All the national parks have something unique, Yosemite has the 2nd highest waterfall in the world (Yosemite Falls) and the highest in the US. It is also home to Yosemite valley, which is like driving into a canyon about 1-3 miles wide that is surrounded by majestic cliffs. It’s home to El Capitan (a completely granite rock), which is a climbers paradise, requiring 3-7 days to climb the 3000 foot face. We had hoped to take the short hike to the base of Yosemite Falls, but when we found out that the waterfall has dried up for the fall, we changed our minds. Yosemite had only 40% of their typical snowfall this winter, so many of the waterfalls and lakes are dried up, but that is typical for low moisture years. We stayed at a campground in Yosemite, which allowed us to attend a ranger program in the campground. Once again, the program was fantastic. We had one wildlife sighting today with two large bucks.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
San Francisco - Days 72 and 73
Wednesday, September 12
We began today by driving into San Francisco so we could claim that we drove across the famous Golden Gate Bridge. Our other two days we had taken a ferry into the city and only seen the bridge from a distance. After the Bridge (which included a brief stop to walk a portion of the Bridge), we drove through the city and then across the bay bridge to Oakland and onto an RV park just outside of Yosemite National Park. Driving in San Francisco reminded me why we had taken subways and public transportation into other major cities. City driving with an RV is just a little more than my heart can handle. After leaving the bay area, you get into a desert. Temperatures are much hotter during the day and there is lots of wind, which is why they have a huge wind mill power generation field in the hills west of the bay area. I found it odd that there were tons of fruit crops in this area. Obviously irrigation makes it possible. I have noticed back in Virginia that some of the produce we buy is from Califronia, after today I understand why. The RV place here outside of Yosemite is on the site of an abandoned gold mine. They have a trough where kids can pan for gold. Levi and Seth were mighty disappointed they didn’t find any after 40 minutes of panning. Seth wanted to hike to the gold mine but the combination of a large sign at the RV park entrance stating that this was mountain lion area and the setting sun made me hesitate. I’ve heard one too many mountain lion attacks on this trip. The kids set a record for showers today needing three. The standard morning shower, one after playing in the sand pit before dinner and a third after playing in the sand pit after dinner. I keep forgetting to mention our evening entertainment during dinner. We have found that each time we eat outside, we are greeted with yellowjackets. I get a kick out of trying to trap them in tupperware that has food we have finished. I leave the lid off and shut them in once they go inside. Then I shake the tupperware like crazy and the bee dies. This provides dinner entertainment. Well, tonight I almost paid the price. I was using a box we had received from one of the meals in San Francisco. The box didn’t quite have a tight seal. I shook that box as hard as I could, but in shaking it, I flung a bee right on my upper lip. Thankfully, I’ve got plenty of hair there since I haven’t shaved in 70 days. I’m also thankful I didn’t have my mouth wide open or I’d have a stinger in my tongue. The bee quickly flew off and we all promptly went inside for the rest of dinner. Oh well, I’m signing off for the night. We will be out of internet coverage for a few days so check back in about 4 days for more updates.
Tuesday, September 11
Today was our second day in San Francisco. We began by touring the Boudin bakery. They had some pretty high-tech machines that did a lot of the tasks we used to do by hand in my high school days when I worked at the Bagel Bakery making dough and baking bagels. We finished the day by touring Alcatraz, which is a highly recommended tour if you are in San Francisco. They give you an audio tour which plays for about 45 minutes and tells you stories of escapes and other interesting facts about the prison. There were several escape attempts, but only one worked. 3 guys actually escaped during the night. No one ever figured out what happened to them. Some (fellow prisoners) believe they fled to South America, others (the government) think they drowned in the frigid bay waters.
We began today by driving into San Francisco so we could claim that we drove across the famous Golden Gate Bridge. Our other two days we had taken a ferry into the city and only seen the bridge from a distance. After the Bridge (which included a brief stop to walk a portion of the Bridge), we drove through the city and then across the bay bridge to Oakland and onto an RV park just outside of Yosemite National Park. Driving in San Francisco reminded me why we had taken subways and public transportation into other major cities. City driving with an RV is just a little more than my heart can handle. After leaving the bay area, you get into a desert. Temperatures are much hotter during the day and there is lots of wind, which is why they have a huge wind mill power generation field in the hills west of the bay area. I found it odd that there were tons of fruit crops in this area. Obviously irrigation makes it possible. I have noticed back in Virginia that some of the produce we buy is from Califronia, after today I understand why. The RV place here outside of Yosemite is on the site of an abandoned gold mine. They have a trough where kids can pan for gold. Levi and Seth were mighty disappointed they didn’t find any after 40 minutes of panning. Seth wanted to hike to the gold mine but the combination of a large sign at the RV park entrance stating that this was mountain lion area and the setting sun made me hesitate. I’ve heard one too many mountain lion attacks on this trip. The kids set a record for showers today needing three. The standard morning shower, one after playing in the sand pit before dinner and a third after playing in the sand pit after dinner. I keep forgetting to mention our evening entertainment during dinner. We have found that each time we eat outside, we are greeted with yellowjackets. I get a kick out of trying to trap them in tupperware that has food we have finished. I leave the lid off and shut them in once they go inside. Then I shake the tupperware like crazy and the bee dies. This provides dinner entertainment. Well, tonight I almost paid the price. I was using a box we had received from one of the meals in San Francisco. The box didn’t quite have a tight seal. I shook that box as hard as I could, but in shaking it, I flung a bee right on my upper lip. Thankfully, I’ve got plenty of hair there since I haven’t shaved in 70 days. I’m also thankful I didn’t have my mouth wide open or I’d have a stinger in my tongue. The bee quickly flew off and we all promptly went inside for the rest of dinner. Oh well, I’m signing off for the night. We will be out of internet coverage for a few days so check back in about 4 days for more updates.
Tuesday, September 11
Today was our second day in San Francisco. We began by touring the Boudin bakery. They had some pretty high-tech machines that did a lot of the tasks we used to do by hand in my high school days when I worked at the Bagel Bakery making dough and baking bagels. We finished the day by touring Alcatraz, which is a highly recommended tour if you are in San Francisco. They give you an audio tour which plays for about 45 minutes and tells you stories of escapes and other interesting facts about the prison. There were several escape attempts, but only one worked. 3 guys actually escaped during the night. No one ever figured out what happened to them. Some (fellow prisoners) believe they fled to South America, others (the government) think they drowned in the frigid bay waters.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Redwoods and San Francisco
Monday, September 10
We started the day with a trip to Muir Woods, which is a redwood forest near San Francisco. They had a great scavenger hunt for the kids that we all enjoyed together. We were fortunate to find an RV park within walking distance to a high speed catamaran ferry that took us right to downtown San Francisco (Pier 1). It’s a perfect system for RVers. We walked up to pier 39 and saw the sea lions. That is definitely a sight to see. There were about 200-300 sea lions sunning themselves and fighting over sunning spots. We also toured an old submarine. Did you know that the world war 2 submarines ran off batteries when submerged. They had to surface every night and run their diesel engines to recharge their batteries. Today’s nuclear submarines can stay submerged for months I think. We wrapped up the day having dinner with Talitha Green, Sheri’s childhood friend. We had a good first day in San Francisco and plan on spending tomorrow touring more of the city and Alcatraz.
Sunday, September 9
Today was started with a trip to the grocery store to restock. While we were doing that Sheri’s cousin went in to the hospital to be induced for labor. By the time we got to the hospital, she was only about 30 minutes away from having the baby. So Sheri hung out in the hospital awaiting the arrival of the baby, while the boys and I played card games in the RV. After seeing the newborn babe, we drove 4 hours to Petaluma, which is only one hour north of San Francisco. On our drive to Petaluma we saw more grapes than we could probably eat in a lifetime. Napa Valley is surprisingly dry. I guess grapes don’t need much water, or maybe they rely on irrigation.
Saturday, September 8
We had a nice visit through Redwood National/State Park today. The Redwoods are simply amazing. If you have ever watched Return of the Jedi, the Ewok scenes are filmed in Jedidiah Smith State Park, which is part of the Redwood park system. These parks look just like the movie. You feel like you are in the land of dinosaurs with ferns and massive trees. Although to really experience the redwoods your best bet is to see it in the Redwood National Park. Muir Woods National Park, which boasts the closest "old growth" redwood grove to San Francisco has some redwoods, but nothing near the diameter of the trees 4 hours north. After visiting the park we went to Eureka and saw two of Sheri’s cousins, one of whom was due to have a baby anyday. Couple of noteworthy things in California, there are a lot hitchhikers along 101. Sheri’s cousin says it is because there is quite a gathering of hippies in that area. Let’s just say we saw more peace symbols on stores and cars than an average drive in the east. We also observed our first wild harbor seal while we were on the beach seeing the pacific for the first time. The harbor seal was right near fishermen who were using nets to catch little surf fish. We actually took two home (given to us by one of the fisherman), but accidentally left them at Sheri’s cousin’s house.
We started the day with a trip to Muir Woods, which is a redwood forest near San Francisco. They had a great scavenger hunt for the kids that we all enjoyed together. We were fortunate to find an RV park within walking distance to a high speed catamaran ferry that took us right to downtown San Francisco (Pier 1). It’s a perfect system for RVers. We walked up to pier 39 and saw the sea lions. That is definitely a sight to see. There were about 200-300 sea lions sunning themselves and fighting over sunning spots. We also toured an old submarine. Did you know that the world war 2 submarines ran off batteries when submerged. They had to surface every night and run their diesel engines to recharge their batteries. Today’s nuclear submarines can stay submerged for months I think. We wrapped up the day having dinner with Talitha Green, Sheri’s childhood friend. We had a good first day in San Francisco and plan on spending tomorrow touring more of the city and Alcatraz.
Sunday, September 9
Today was started with a trip to the grocery store to restock. While we were doing that Sheri’s cousin went in to the hospital to be induced for labor. By the time we got to the hospital, she was only about 30 minutes away from having the baby. So Sheri hung out in the hospital awaiting the arrival of the baby, while the boys and I played card games in the RV. After seeing the newborn babe, we drove 4 hours to Petaluma, which is only one hour north of San Francisco. On our drive to Petaluma we saw more grapes than we could probably eat in a lifetime. Napa Valley is surprisingly dry. I guess grapes don’t need much water, or maybe they rely on irrigation.
Saturday, September 8
We had a nice visit through Redwood National/State Park today. The Redwoods are simply amazing. If you have ever watched Return of the Jedi, the Ewok scenes are filmed in Jedidiah Smith State Park, which is part of the Redwood park system. These parks look just like the movie. You feel like you are in the land of dinosaurs with ferns and massive trees. Although to really experience the redwoods your best bet is to see it in the Redwood National Park. Muir Woods National Park, which boasts the closest "old growth" redwood grove to San Francisco has some redwoods, but nothing near the diameter of the trees 4 hours north. After visiting the park we went to Eureka and saw two of Sheri’s cousins, one of whom was due to have a baby anyday. Couple of noteworthy things in California, there are a lot hitchhikers along 101. Sheri’s cousin says it is because there is quite a gathering of hippies in that area. Let’s just say we saw more peace symbols on stores and cars than an average drive in the east. We also observed our first wild harbor seal while we were on the beach seeing the pacific for the first time. The harbor seal was right near fishermen who were using nets to catch little surf fish. We actually took two home (given to us by one of the fisherman), but accidentally left them at Sheri’s cousin’s house.
Friday, September 7, 2007
September 7 - Crater Lake to Redwood Forests
Friday, September 7
Sheri got the raw end of the deal this morning…. She got the 4 loads of laundry, while I got to take the kids on a bike ride around part of Diamond Lake. From there we drove to a cheese factory near Medford, Oregon. The pamphlet made it sound like a great place to visit, but it wasn’t as impressive as advertised. They still had fantastic cheese to sample and a viewing window into the cheese factory, but that was about the extent of it. So after a brief visit we trotted over to Crescent City which is the north end of the Redwood forest in California. We reached California today at mile 8636 and were greeted with an agricultural inspector who went didn’t make us throw away our Oregon produce. I’ve finally uploaded some pictures from Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula so be sure to click the picture link to the right. Tomorrow is a visit to Redwood National Park.
Sheri got the raw end of the deal this morning…. She got the 4 loads of laundry, while I got to take the kids on a bike ride around part of Diamond Lake. From there we drove to a cheese factory near Medford, Oregon. The pamphlet made it sound like a great place to visit, but it wasn’t as impressive as advertised. They still had fantastic cheese to sample and a viewing window into the cheese factory, but that was about the extent of it. So after a brief visit we trotted over to Crescent City which is the north end of the Redwood forest in California. We reached California today at mile 8636 and were greeted with an agricultural inspector who went didn’t make us throw away our Oregon produce. I’ve finally uploaded some pictures from Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula so be sure to click the picture link to the right. Tomorrow is a visit to Redwood National Park.
September 5 & 6 - Crater Lake National Park
Thursday, September 6
Today started with some exciting outdoorsmanship. After putting the fire out with water last night, the boys were able to dig up some embers this morning and blow some life into the fire. I was surprised they could do it given the amount of water we used to put it out the night before. Before I knew it, they had a blazing fire going. This was pure excitement for the older boys, almost like being an Indian. After a relaxing morning we headed to Crater Lake National Park. The lake is by far the most pristine lake I have ever seen. The water clarity is better than any lake in the world – meaning that you can see down to a depth of 140 feet when the sun is at the right angle. No other lake can achieve that level of clarity. In fact moss has been observed to grow at depths of 500 feet. The total depth is 1,950 feet making it the 7th deepest lake in the world (the deepest in the US). They say that the lake water is very pure. It is only fed by rainwater and snow melt. There are no rivers running into it and no rivers that drain it. It is literally a deep bowl full of water at a very high elevation. Thanks to a volcano that caved in, the lake is isolated from everything else. It wasn’t even discovered until 1853 by the white man. The Indians had avoided telling us about it and kept it a secret. Indians used to come to the lake to drink the water and they claimed it had some special healing properties. Probably because it was cleaner than their normal drinking water. After taking in the views from some of the overlooks we went to listen to a ranger talk. The boys completed their Junior Ranger books and received their badges. We closed the evening by taking a short 2 mile bike ride to some rock formations caused by the volcano. They literally looked like pillars of ash-something I hadn’t seen before. The only thing we didn’t do is hike down to the lake surface. Because the lake is in a bowl, the only access to the water is by hiking down about 1 mile worth of trails. The elevation change is pretty tough so the mile hike back would have been more than the kids could have done. I’m certainly glad we didn’t leave this park out, it is well worth the visit. For those of you seeking comforts, they have a lodge here inside the park and other lodges here at Diamond lake. A vacation of these parts could include a visit to Olympic National Park, Crater Lake NP, Mt. Rainer NP, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and various other state parks that capture the beauty of the northwest.
Wednesday, September 5
After looking at our calendar and our new desire to get back home by October 20, we streamlined our trip a bit and cut out a short trek into Colorado to see Mesa Verde and a trek to see Big Bend National Park in Texas. This meant that we needed to stay in Portland only 1 night and get moving. So today we drove 4.5 hours to Diamond Lake, just outside of Crater Lake. We decided to break up the trip in two legs and took a 1 hour break at a park in Eugene. Of course I tried to let the GPS pick the closest park but they were doing road work which prevented our ability to get to that park. However, the second closest park was easy to get to and perfect for the kids. Tonight the kids enjoyed making a fire and seeing a movie. Every two or three weeks we splurge and rent a kids movie from the RV park
Today started with some exciting outdoorsmanship. After putting the fire out with water last night, the boys were able to dig up some embers this morning and blow some life into the fire. I was surprised they could do it given the amount of water we used to put it out the night before. Before I knew it, they had a blazing fire going. This was pure excitement for the older boys, almost like being an Indian. After a relaxing morning we headed to Crater Lake National Park. The lake is by far the most pristine lake I have ever seen. The water clarity is better than any lake in the world – meaning that you can see down to a depth of 140 feet when the sun is at the right angle. No other lake can achieve that level of clarity. In fact moss has been observed to grow at depths of 500 feet. The total depth is 1,950 feet making it the 7th deepest lake in the world (the deepest in the US). They say that the lake water is very pure. It is only fed by rainwater and snow melt. There are no rivers running into it and no rivers that drain it. It is literally a deep bowl full of water at a very high elevation. Thanks to a volcano that caved in, the lake is isolated from everything else. It wasn’t even discovered until 1853 by the white man. The Indians had avoided telling us about it and kept it a secret. Indians used to come to the lake to drink the water and they claimed it had some special healing properties. Probably because it was cleaner than their normal drinking water. After taking in the views from some of the overlooks we went to listen to a ranger talk. The boys completed their Junior Ranger books and received their badges. We closed the evening by taking a short 2 mile bike ride to some rock formations caused by the volcano. They literally looked like pillars of ash-something I hadn’t seen before. The only thing we didn’t do is hike down to the lake surface. Because the lake is in a bowl, the only access to the water is by hiking down about 1 mile worth of trails. The elevation change is pretty tough so the mile hike back would have been more than the kids could have done. I’m certainly glad we didn’t leave this park out, it is well worth the visit. For those of you seeking comforts, they have a lodge here inside the park and other lodges here at Diamond lake. A vacation of these parts could include a visit to Olympic National Park, Crater Lake NP, Mt. Rainer NP, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and various other state parks that capture the beauty of the northwest.
Wednesday, September 5
After looking at our calendar and our new desire to get back home by October 20, we streamlined our trip a bit and cut out a short trek into Colorado to see Mesa Verde and a trek to see Big Bend National Park in Texas. This meant that we needed to stay in Portland only 1 night and get moving. So today we drove 4.5 hours to Diamond Lake, just outside of Crater Lake. We decided to break up the trip in two legs and took a 1 hour break at a park in Eugene. Of course I tried to let the GPS pick the closest park but they were doing road work which prevented our ability to get to that park. However, the second closest park was easy to get to and perfect for the kids. Tonight the kids enjoyed making a fire and seeing a movie. Every two or three weeks we splurge and rent a kids movie from the RV park
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
September 4 and 5 - Olympic Pennisula to Portland
Tuesday, September 4
Today we drove to Portland, which took about 4 hours. We met up Laura Mayo (my brother’s wife) and went to an outdoor park that had biking trails. We let the older kids bike with Laura and we let Bailey run around on foot. My brother is on a temporary assignment to Singapore so we missed seeing him. Tomorrow we will drive to Crater Lake National Park and spend a couple of days there. We reached Oregon today at mile 8142.
Monday, September 3
I had told the kids that it would be really fun if we found a place that rented kayaks we could kayak on puget sound. Unfortunately, Port Angeles does not have as many attractions as some of the other coastal citites on the pennisula. However, there was a place that rented row boats on Lake Crescent. The only problem was that they would only allow 5 people in the boat. Bailey wasn’t really excited about getting in a boat so Sheri and Bailey sat out and watched. The kids did fairly well at rowing, but Brandon was bored with it after 15 minutes. After the row boat experience we decided to go on a hike to a waterfall. Somehow Levi got an upset stomach so he and Sheri stayed in the car while I took the other 3 to the falls. On the hike I saw a gentleman approaching the large trees and wrapping his arms around them. I thought this was some exercise to measure the circumference of the tree. However, his wife commented that he likes to hug "his" trees because they don’t get enough attention. I had heard of "treehuggers" as slang for environmentalists, but this guy was a real tree hugger.
Today we drove to Portland, which took about 4 hours. We met up Laura Mayo (my brother’s wife) and went to an outdoor park that had biking trails. We let the older kids bike with Laura and we let Bailey run around on foot. My brother is on a temporary assignment to Singapore so we missed seeing him. Tomorrow we will drive to Crater Lake National Park and spend a couple of days there. We reached Oregon today at mile 8142.
Monday, September 3
I had told the kids that it would be really fun if we found a place that rented kayaks we could kayak on puget sound. Unfortunately, Port Angeles does not have as many attractions as some of the other coastal citites on the pennisula. However, there was a place that rented row boats on Lake Crescent. The only problem was that they would only allow 5 people in the boat. Bailey wasn’t really excited about getting in a boat so Sheri and Bailey sat out and watched. The kids did fairly well at rowing, but Brandon was bored with it after 15 minutes. After the row boat experience we decided to go on a hike to a waterfall. Somehow Levi got an upset stomach so he and Sheri stayed in the car while I took the other 3 to the falls. On the hike I saw a gentleman approaching the large trees and wrapping his arms around them. I thought this was some exercise to measure the circumference of the tree. However, his wife commented that he likes to hug "his" trees because they don’t get enough attention. I had heard of "treehuggers" as slang for environmentalists, but this guy was a real tree hugger.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Olympic National Park - Days 63 and 64
Sunday, September 2
Olympic National Park has several different ecosystems, perhaps the most diverse of any park in the US. It has mountain terrain, glaciers, sea coast, lakes, and it is home to the only rainforest in the 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii each have one too). To be called a rainforest, there must be more than 200 inches of rain per year and the western side of the mountain range qualifies. This kind of precipitation creates some fantastic phenomenon: moss like you’ve never seen, trees that grow on top of downed trees because the forest floor is too covered to grow there, and creeks with green plants growing in the bottom. The 2.5 hour drive (one way) from our campground was worth the trip. We saw 200 foot tall trees where the base of the tree was on a tree that had fallen 100 years ago. The roots wrap around the fallen tree and when it finally rots it leaves a gap between the base of the tree and the ground. Some were so large you could crawl through the gap. If you are ever in Seattle, the rainforest is something to see, but it’s a 5 hour drive from the Seattle area. On our drive back we stopped at a lodge area to attend a ranger talk(one of the national parks with a lodge inside it for all you non-campers) . Once again, we were impressed with the ranger’s speaking skills and the facts. This talk was on birds and he had stuffed specimens for us to hold included the great horned owl and a red-tailed hawk. Two funny things happened today. As we were pulling up to the ranger check point at the rainforest there was a very long line of cars and the checkpoint was barely visible in the distance. Seth asked, "what are all the cars stopped for". I said "check-in". He said, "why are people stopping for a chicken, they have all seen that before". Then I restated that the line was for check-in not chicken, but it was worth a good laugh. The second came this evening. We picked up Bailey’s baby doll and noticed the mouth had food shoved in it. We asked Bailey if she had fed the baby doll and she stated she had fed her a banana. Then we said, "you can’t feed the baby bananas". Her reply was priceless, "I didn’t know bananas had milk in them". You see, Bailey is allergic to milk so we can’t give her anything with milk in it. Apparently, Bailey keeps the baby doll on a milk free diet also.
Saturday, September 1
After a brief morning swim at the hotel to work out some energy, we drove from Seattle to Port Angeles today – about 3 hours. Port Angeles is on the Olympic Peninsula which is very different than the city life of Seattle. Upon arrival we went to the Olympic National Park visitor center and they recommended we make the 17 mile drive up to the 5400 foot peak at Hurricane Ridge. Weather for the rest of the weekend was supposed to cloud the view. We made the drive and took a hike at the top. The views were pretty neat and we got close to a buck who didn’t seem to mind if we approached him.
Olympic National Park has several different ecosystems, perhaps the most diverse of any park in the US. It has mountain terrain, glaciers, sea coast, lakes, and it is home to the only rainforest in the 48 states (Alaska and Hawaii each have one too). To be called a rainforest, there must be more than 200 inches of rain per year and the western side of the mountain range qualifies. This kind of precipitation creates some fantastic phenomenon: moss like you’ve never seen, trees that grow on top of downed trees because the forest floor is too covered to grow there, and creeks with green plants growing in the bottom. The 2.5 hour drive (one way) from our campground was worth the trip. We saw 200 foot tall trees where the base of the tree was on a tree that had fallen 100 years ago. The roots wrap around the fallen tree and when it finally rots it leaves a gap between the base of the tree and the ground. Some were so large you could crawl through the gap. If you are ever in Seattle, the rainforest is something to see, but it’s a 5 hour drive from the Seattle area. On our drive back we stopped at a lodge area to attend a ranger talk(one of the national parks with a lodge inside it for all you non-campers) . Once again, we were impressed with the ranger’s speaking skills and the facts. This talk was on birds and he had stuffed specimens for us to hold included the great horned owl and a red-tailed hawk. Two funny things happened today. As we were pulling up to the ranger check point at the rainforest there was a very long line of cars and the checkpoint was barely visible in the distance. Seth asked, "what are all the cars stopped for". I said "check-in". He said, "why are people stopping for a chicken, they have all seen that before". Then I restated that the line was for check-in not chicken, but it was worth a good laugh. The second came this evening. We picked up Bailey’s baby doll and noticed the mouth had food shoved in it. We asked Bailey if she had fed the baby doll and she stated she had fed her a banana. Then we said, "you can’t feed the baby bananas". Her reply was priceless, "I didn’t know bananas had milk in them". You see, Bailey is allergic to milk so we can’t give her anything with milk in it. Apparently, Bailey keeps the baby doll on a milk free diet also.
Saturday, September 1
After a brief morning swim at the hotel to work out some energy, we drove from Seattle to Port Angeles today – about 3 hours. Port Angeles is on the Olympic Peninsula which is very different than the city life of Seattle. Upon arrival we went to the Olympic National Park visitor center and they recommended we make the 17 mile drive up to the 5400 foot peak at Hurricane Ridge. Weather for the rest of the weekend was supposed to cloud the view. We made the drive and took a hike at the top. The views were pretty neat and we got close to a buck who didn’t seem to mind if we approached him.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
August 30-31 - More Seattle Highlights
Friday, August 31
We took it easy today by spending the morning relaxing in the pool. Then Sheri, Levi, Seth, and I went up to the Boeing plant for a factory tour. It is amazing what Boeing manages to do with airplane assembly in the world’s largest building (by volume). Boeing is kind enough to let you see the 777 line, but it’s hard to really see the details because the viewing balcony is so far away from most of the action. Nonetheless, the tour is well worth the trip. Boeing is turning out an airplane every 3 days, and the 787 assembly will be even more impressive when it gets up and running next year. Tomorrow we leave Seattle and go to Port Angeles, which allows access to Olympic National Park. We had a funny GPS experience tonight. After deciding to do Mexican, we used the GPS to locate the closest Mexican restaurant. We turned left onto the designated street and the GPS proudly announced "arriving at destination on right". The only thing on the right (or left) were single family homes. Unless somebody was running El Charro Mexican Restaurant in their basement, the address in the GPS was totally wrong. So we promptly selected the next closest Mexican restaurant. This time, there were stores at the address, but again no Mexican Restaurant. Lucky for us, there was a Chilis in the same strip mall, so we could eat. The good old GPS seems to be best suited for directions, you can’t always trust its imbedded list of restaurants.
Thursday, August 30
If you didn’t know your history, you may not know that Seattle was put on the map in 1897 when 70,000 people came through the city to buy supplies for the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory. Of the 100,000 people that rushed up to find gold, only about 300 made it rich. Bad news for many gold rushers, but great news for the Seattle economy. Without the Klondike Gold rush, Seattle might not be the same city it is today. This was all news to me, but we learned it all at the Klondike Gold Rush National Park in Seattle, which is well worth the visit. And of course, the kids completed another junior ranger program there. After our visit to the museum, we rode the Seattle monorail (built in 1962 for the world’s fair) back up to the Pacific Science Center, which is a nice museum. They had all sorts of great exhibits for the kids including a Virtual Reality soccer goalie game that the kids loved.
We took it easy today by spending the morning relaxing in the pool. Then Sheri, Levi, Seth, and I went up to the Boeing plant for a factory tour. It is amazing what Boeing manages to do with airplane assembly in the world’s largest building (by volume). Boeing is kind enough to let you see the 777 line, but it’s hard to really see the details because the viewing balcony is so far away from most of the action. Nonetheless, the tour is well worth the trip. Boeing is turning out an airplane every 3 days, and the 787 assembly will be even more impressive when it gets up and running next year. Tomorrow we leave Seattle and go to Port Angeles, which allows access to Olympic National Park. We had a funny GPS experience tonight. After deciding to do Mexican, we used the GPS to locate the closest Mexican restaurant. We turned left onto the designated street and the GPS proudly announced "arriving at destination on right". The only thing on the right (or left) were single family homes. Unless somebody was running El Charro Mexican Restaurant in their basement, the address in the GPS was totally wrong. So we promptly selected the next closest Mexican restaurant. This time, there were stores at the address, but again no Mexican Restaurant. Lucky for us, there was a Chilis in the same strip mall, so we could eat. The good old GPS seems to be best suited for directions, you can’t always trust its imbedded list of restaurants.
Thursday, August 30
If you didn’t know your history, you may not know that Seattle was put on the map in 1897 when 70,000 people came through the city to buy supplies for the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory. Of the 100,000 people that rushed up to find gold, only about 300 made it rich. Bad news for many gold rushers, but great news for the Seattle economy. Without the Klondike Gold rush, Seattle might not be the same city it is today. This was all news to me, but we learned it all at the Klondike Gold Rush National Park in Seattle, which is well worth the visit. And of course, the kids completed another junior ranger program there. After our visit to the museum, we rode the Seattle monorail (built in 1962 for the world’s fair) back up to the Pacific Science Center, which is a nice museum. They had all sorts of great exhibits for the kids including a Virtual Reality soccer goalie game that the kids loved.
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