Our Grand Alasakan Adventure

The glacier pictures were stunning.  Some of our trees in town are turning. With the cooler and rainy summer I'm wondering what fall and winter will be like. I'm glad you have seen the sun some.  Be safe.  Love you

Boy, did this bring back memories. Same thing happened to DW and me at Fish Creek. Everyone else was on the end of the walkway pushing and shoving so we went back down the walkway and sat down. Just a few minutes later a bear came out right under us and caught a fish. I got a good movie of it catching the fish. Then the ranger announced that there was a bear and then the pushing began. We also drove up the road to the Salmon Glacier. There was no fog that day so we were able to get so great pictures. We drove the Classair from the north and saw several black bears on the lower 75 miles of the trip. Your blog makes me want to go again.

August 30, 2014 Day- 102
As we were getting ready to head out this AM Jim pulled WeBe up on the road and I followed in the car.  He directs me into position for us to hitch up.  There was a couple in a tent sitting at the picnic table drinking their coffee and watching.  I preceded to get out of the car and look at them and say ?we hook up together every day?.  Another driving day again today about 240 miles to Prince George.  We know we are going south because we began to see farms with horses, cows and hay stacks.  We also didn?t go over one frost heave today but we did keep our friend Mr. Rain with us.  We even had a pretty good thunderstorm and a very bright rainbow where I could even see the purple in it.  As we past the community of Houston we were on the lookout for the world?s largest fly fishing rod.  It is 60 foot long anodized aluminum fly rod, it has a 21 inch fly that is fluorescent ?Skykomish Sunrise?.  This is a really big area for fly fishing for steelhead trout.  Continued to follow the Yellowhead Highway East till we hit Prince George and headed south on BC Highway 97 or know in this area as the Cariboo Highway where we set up camp at Bee Lazee Campground.  It is a little old but good rate of $30 for full hookups.  As we started to get set up the thunder started and it just poured.  We watched from the inside of WeBe, once it stop we finished setting up.  Then what I had been waiting for more than a week, I went to get my nails done.  I had been so afraid I?d break one and that was going to hurt.  While we were in town we walked around the mall and found a little gift for Chantal for Christmas and then had dinner at Boston Pizza.  We ate at one in Dawson Creek, they are pretty good pizza but way overpriced. On our way back to camper we found PG, the city?s mascot, created out of wood in the likeness of Prince George for a parade.  As it weathered it was remade out of metal to look like wood and sits at the intersection of Highways 16 & 97.  Went back to WeBe and I made Jim some cookies while doing some research on what we wanted to do in Vancouver. Thought a walk might be good, so out we went and about half way through out of nowhere came a deluge of rain, by the time we ran back to WeBe we were soaked clear through.  That one caught us off guard.  We read for a while and called it good for the day.
TTFN

August 31, 2014 ? Day 103
A day of driving but not too far, about 139 miles to Williams Lake, BC.  We had some good hills today and a couple of times they were a bit scary, not because they were hills but because there was a Subaru Forester towing a trailer.  The trailer would start to weave around the highway several times and the Subaru would seem to get it back under control and continue driving.  A few times he stopped to check the trailer and then drove like a bat at of ?. and caught back up to us.  We weren?t sure whether it was better to be in front of him or way behind him.  Finally he turned off but it kept us wide eyed.  Followed the Fraser River for a good part of the drive, kind of cool to see it from down low and then up high on a bluff.  Since it was a short drive we pulled in Williams Lake Stampede Campground a little after 1 PM.  Found our campsite #50 and pulled right in and we were level, I love when that happens.  And the day started out partly cloudy and when the sun shone through it felt nice.  There was activity at the Stampede arena so we thought we would check it out.  They were finishing up a couple of days of barrel racing.  No entrance fee so we walked in and sat down and watched some barrel racing.  There were some beautiful horse and around the arena was a lot of money invested in horses, trailers, trucks and so on.
That over with we went to the Visitor Centre to see if we could get an idea where Pioneer Log Homes was.  They are on Discovery Channel and they build these multi-million dollar log homes.  Well their Visitor Centre was partially built by them and another log builder in the area.  A really nice Centre.  Pioneer is known for their ?hearth logs?, these are usually in the center as a main support of the log home but it still has some of the roots.  On TV they are the Timbre Kings. We drove a few miles out of town and found one of their work sites (they have 3 in town).  Sat and looked at the 3 log houses they have in the works.  Several cranes there to help lift some of those logs.  They build the homes at one of their sites, number all the logs, dismantle it, haul it to the location and reassemble.  Our campground host knows them and told us they just finished a house in Moscow.  We have seen the home they built in Steamboat Springs, CO.  We did see a couple of the hearth logs in the yard.  The Visitor Centre also had a pretty cool display of a car with all kinds of outdoor gear stacked on top of it with an opened tent at the very top.  Also lots of hanging baskets with flowers.  Everyone up north has lots and lots of flowers, some hanging in baskets and some in planter boxes.  I wish people in my neighborhood would put in more flowers.
Several saw mills here in town which could have made driving troublesome with logging trucks but since it is a holiday weekend for Canada, they are all off.  After dinner we headed over to Scout Island on Williams Lake to walk a trail or two.  Had a nice walk, a few too many gnats but beautiful lake and we even came across a couple of deer on the trail.  Down by the water I saw my first muskrat (I wasn?t thrilled by this).  Back to WeBe to play some dominoes and Jim beat me.  The sky has clouded up and a brief little shower went through.  I guess it is time to head for bed.
TTFN
pics-Hearth log in Visitor Centre- a support log of a bear and fish and one of the hanging baskets of flowers- sorry the one of the car stacked with outdoor gear was too large to post, I guess you'll just have to come over some night to see it.

September 1, 2014 ? Day 104
Can you believe it is already September?  How time flies when one is having fun.  Sorry we have been a little boring lately with all of our drive days, but we have to get south somehow.  Drove to Cache Creek today, 126 miles and what a difference a few miles makes.  We started in heavily forested with lots of hills, aspen, cottonwood and pine trees.  We ended up today in hills but few trees, lots of sage brush and lush farm valleys.  Cache Creek reminded us of areas of Colorado and Wyoming.  Lots of hay being produced up here and they cover their bales of hay with a white plastic so the green valley is dotted with what looks like little white marshmallows, when the grass dies off and turns brown it will look like s?mores.
Camped at Brookside RV, it was an okay for one night, quite a few residents and it saddens me to see kids living in these small trailers but I guess they have a roof over their heads.  School was supposed to start for the kids here in BC today but the teacher strike that ended their school year by 2 weeks is still going on and the radio reports very little progress in negotiations.  The only real losers in this are the children. 
After we were set up a did a load of laundry, way back in May before we left on our journey, I thought I would do laundry only once every 2 weeks, but that is not how it worked out.  I hate to have very many dirty clothes around and I love clean sheets.  So I am doing laundry more frequently.  It didn?t take very long and we were ready to go explore.  The campground owners told us about a farmers market over in Ashcroft about 6 miles away, so away we went.  Beautiful little community down in a valley with the main drag right at the river?s bend.  We wandered and wandered and didn?t have any luck finding it, so we finally asked and wandered a little more and as we past some fields that had some type of melons growing in them we were there.  They were winding down for the day but we picked out some corn, watermelon, peaches and a nectarine.  Took a gander at some of the farm animals they had and some antique farm equipment and wagons.  But there was some awesome flower baskets.  But this was a big deal because everyone in the town had beautiful gardens, flowers everywhere.
Back at WeBe we became very lazy and just read till I fixed dinner.  After dinner we walked the nature trail that went behind the campground.  Nice walk, then back to play some cards.  It was a partly cloudy day all day, the nicest day we have had in 3 weeks and so we sat outside to play cards, what a treat.  Gave up when it got too cool and finally decided it was time to go to bed.  Tomorrow we head down to Vancouver area.
TTFN

September 2, 2014 ? Day 105
The fickle finger of fate got us again today. We had such a gorgeous day yesterday and today we woke to rain.  We got ready to go in the rain and we drove 190 miles in rain, at times it was raining fairly hard.  We drove through what they call the Thompson River Canyon, not to be confused with the Colorado one.  But this did remind us of driving through parts of Colorado and Wyoming.  The Thompson River was cooking and with huge old lava rocks smack in the middle it left you with wild rapids all around. 
What a drive today, we started off the day in the high desert country- the hills/mountains are made up of lava rocks.  Driving through the canyons with the river below-sparse vegetation but in the distant you could see the heavily forested hillsides.  There were curves you had to slow to 30 miles per hour which forces you to slow down and then you had the rain component and the logging trucks are back up and running.  Jim had to be on his game today. Up and down passes we went and we did go over Jackass Summit at 1,200 feet and this also meant we were looking straight down 1,200 feet at the river.  I told Jim to take his half out of the middle whenever possible.  And part of that drive the road was in need of repair.
We made our way to Fort Langley which is called Fort Camping.  It is run by the town of Fort Langley, a large gated campground, we are in site #25.  We set up in the rain and decided to see if we could find the local AAA to get a couple of maps.  For some reason our Washington State map has disappeared.  We thought we might need one.  So off to the town of Langley in search of what they call BCAA.  If we didn?t get help I might still be wandering around looking for it.  But we were successful and now had all the maps we could ever want or need for the next few weeks.  We also asked if there was a movie theatre around and given directions.  By this time we feel like the country folks have come to the big city, we haven?t been in a town large enough to have movie theatres, except Anchorage and Fairbanks and we were too busy being tourist.  But today it was plain gloom and doom with the rain and a movie sounded good even though we had no idea what was showing.  Found the Cineplex and checked out the movies and decided on The Giver.  It is based on a book for middle schoolers.  It has been a long time since I have read it but I thought the movie was well done.  Headed back to WeBe and read till it was time to fix dinner, still raining.  Played some SkipBo and called it a night, still raining.  Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow.
TTFN

September 3, 2014 ? Day 106
Woke up to no rain, cloudy but no rain, this had to be a good day.  Today we explore Vancouver.  First up, we were driving to Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver.  In winter it is a ski resort and in the summer they have a gondola ride up the mountain, a bear sanctuary, a lumberjack show, ziplines, helicopter tours, parasailing and raptor center.  They even have the world?s first and only wind turbine that allows you to stand in a clear glass view pod at the top of the tower.  You are about 10 feet from its massive, rotating blades and you get a 360 degree view. Well, we did go to the bear sanctuary but after all the wild bears we?ve seen it just didn?t hold the same fascination for us.  We did enjoy the lumberjack show.  The two guys sawed through logs, chopped logs, climbed up and down a 60 foot pole and did some logrolling for us.  We then had some lunch and rode the gondola back down.  I thought the wind turbine sounded like fun but Jim didn?t like the idea so we skipped that. The skies were still very overcast and for most of our time up at the top of the mountain we were shrouded in clouds.  There was once a couple of deer eating some grass and they faded in and out depending on the clouds coming through.  We did get some good views of Vancouver as we neared the bottom but it was hard to see as the gondola car had 60 to 70 people in it.
On the drive back into Vancouver we went through some pretty nice neighborhoods.  It was pretty ritzy.  We then went to Stanley Park, which was just voted the best urban park in the world by TripAdvisor.  We had trouble getting our American credit cards to work in the parking lot meter, since most American cards do not have the latest embedded-chip technology and that was the only type of credit card that the machine was set up to use.  A very nice local guy paid the fee for us.  We told him we would pay it forward.  We took an hour long ride on a horse drawn wagon, whose driver told us interesting facts about the park and its surroundings.  We could see why the park is so popular.  As a matter of fact, that was the only problem we noticed, both in the park and in Vancouver itself.  It was very crowded; people were everywhere.  Part of this feeling may have been due to our having spent so much time in the wilds of Alaska and British Columbia lately, but we both felt like there were too many people.  Our guide did mention that the part of Vancouver we were in is one of the most densely populated parts of Canada, with almost 45,000 people per square mile. 
After our horse ride, we got the bikes off the Trailblazer and did a 5.5 mile ride around the entire park.  It is bounded on one side by the ocean.  The park boasts an aquarium, a rose garden, 2 lakes, a beach and several restaurants within its 1000 acres. 
Tired from our ride, we decided to go to the Gastown area of Vancouver to look for some dinner.  Of course, we timed this so we were driving through Vancouver during rush hour.  After threading our way through most of those 45,000 people, we found the area we were looking for, only to realize that there was no parking and most of the area appeared to be very rundown with lots of street people, lying about or standing on the corners, yelling at the cars going by.  So with Jim?s expert navigation we found our way out of the city.  Went back to Langley and had dinner at the Olive Garden.  As we drove back to WeBe the sky was almost dark at 8 PM, kind of makes one sad to see the summer end.  Now it is off to bed for us, we re-enter the lower 48 in the morning.   
TTFN 
pics- Vancouver cruise port- skyline of Vancouver- in Standley Park- a person from Vancouver fell in love with the mermaid statue in Denmark and asked if he could copy and they said "NO", so he commissioned his own work and it is a girl with swim goggles and swim fins on.

September 4, 2014 ? Day 107
Woke to a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and warm.  We packed and stopped in town to get a bag of chips for Jim?s old boss because these are made with ketchup and Kim loves his ketchup.  Then we headed for the border to go into the US.  Very crowded, almost a 30 minute wait but we think most of that was due to construction at the crossing.  No problems getting through and I?ll have you know my tomato and basil made it through yet again.  Thank goodness because I picked 5 ripe tomatoes, they aren?t very big but they will be yummy.  Drove a whopping 53 miles today to Burlington, WA, it is about 50-60 miles north of Seattle.  This will be home base for the next several days.  We are camping at the KOA which is pretty nice, even though it is off of I-5 it isn?t too noisy.
After we set up we drove into Antacortes to check out where the ferry is so we aren?t trying to find the ferry tomorrow. Then we drove another 30 miles in search of Ebey?s Landing National Historic Reserve.  This area is the first National Historic Reserve.  It is about 17,000+ acres of farms, seaside town, native and pioneer land.  In the 1970?s a group of citizen?s organized to stop a housing development.  This became a balancing act to preserve and protect a rural community.  Well, we drove and looked and drove and looked some more for a visitor center when finally we stopped in the Visitor Center for Coupeville.  The volunteer told us we were in the Reserve and they had the National Park stamp there.  We wandered around town which is a preserved seaside community, they had one of the funniest shop we had seen on this trip, it was old memorabilia, and some things were really funny.  We enjoyed browsing through there.  Made our way back into Burlington and stopped at the local grocery store.  Talked with some campers from Abbotsford, BC for a while and then we tried to get the satellite to work.  Even after talking to Direct TV it was a no go on the satellite working.  I am so glad we hauled that thing with us for this trip.  Need to get to bed so we can get up early for the ferry to San Juan Island.
TTFN
pic- Coupeville, the seaside community in Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve

September 5, 2014 ? Day 107

Happy Birthday to Nicholas Scott ? we hope your day was filled with happy memories.

Up early today to ride the Washington State Ferry system from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  The ferry is first come first serve, so knowing the 9 AM was the busiest sailing of the day, we arrived at Anacortes by 7:30 AM.  Watched what was happening there at the port since there were other ferries coming and going.  We were loaded onto the ferry about 8:40 and underway by 9 AM.  Jim spent most of the hour ride looking for Orca whales but didn?t see any.  The day was sunny and cool to start with but turned out to warm up to mid-70?s, which is a heat wave for us.  Took the Trailblazer on the ferry since it was reasonably priced.  Our goal for today on San Juan Island was to get my National Parks stamp.  As we sailed there were lots of rocky tree covered islands, some with homes built on them and some still without dwellings, but very pretty.  Friday Harbor was a cute little town with the usual touristy shops but we did find a shaved ice place for later in the day. 
We drove out to the American Camp of San Juan National Historic Park.  As the story goes, ?when the 1846 Treaty of Oregon left ownership of this island unclear, the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war here over a pig shot by an American farmer.  Fortunately, officials on both sides quickly restores calm and the nations agreed to a joint occupation of the island. ? (National Park Service)
We walked out to the parade grounds where there is still the laundry house and Officers? quarters.  We then walked the South Beach Trail (prairie grass and pretty flat) and part way through we saw some people with professional cameras so we stopped and watch a filming crew for the show American Freedom Ride (a biker telling the history of this National Park).  Not what we would have expected to see but interesting.  We then drove to the other end of the island to the English Camp.  The drive was pretty with views of the ocean dotty with islands.  As we rounded a curve we began seeing plumes of thick black smoke and as we approached the next hill we could see a house or barn on fire.  This is the second time we have seen something like this in the past week.  The last time was coming from Cache Creek into Fort Langley.  We saw on the side of the road the charred remains of a couple of cars and a house with just the chimney left and still smoldering.
Made it to the English Camp and very different scenery, their camp was hilly and heavily forested.  We walked to the Parade ground where an old barracks was still standing.  We also saw the formal English garden that the captain planted for his wife.  We then climbed this monster of a hill to where the Captain and Officers had their homes looking out over a quiet bay area. While finishing the drive around the rest of the island we stopped because of Mona, the camel.  This is not the first camel we have seen on this trip but the first one we could get a picture of.  Strange things going on here on San Juan Island. Headed back into Friday Harbor to wander around the shops and to get our shaved ice, yummy, it tasted really good because we were hot by then, we didn?t exactly dress for this warm of weather since Weather Bug said it was only supposed to get to 55 degrees today.  Got back in the queue to ride the ferry back to Anacortes.  While waiting we did some searches online for our day in Seattle. Still no Orca?s for Jim, but he had been warned that their numbers are really down and not likely to see one. Back to WeBe to prepare for tomorrow, a drive out to Cascades National Park.  Fading fast so
TTFN
pics- filming crew at the American Camp at San Juan National Park and the port of Friday Harbor as we are sailing away on the Washington State Ferry

September 6, 2014 ? Day 109
After some breakfast we loaded up the car and started driving on Washington State Highway 20 East.  Our destination today was North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area to get my National Parks stamps.  They all kind of run together and you drive the North Cascades Highway all the way to Winthrop.  All toll we drove about 300 miles and my muscles are screaming.  I will need to walk for 4 hours a day for the next year to make up for sitting on my butt doing all this sightseeing.  We drove through forest, mountains with jagged peaks, saw waterfalls, rivers, lakes and glaciers.  Their glaciers are on a smaller scale than Alaska and Canada.  We did the Trail of the Cedars which was pretty neat.  There were some trees that they estimated to have been saplings during the time of the Civil War and now they are 100?s of feet high and hanging with moss.  There was mostly Western Red Cedar trees and some Douglas firs and lots of moss and ferns, at times it was so thick the sun couldn?t shine through.  And yes it was another beautiful day, the temperature got into the 80?s in town.  We were up higher in elevation and didn?t notice till later this afternoon and the sun was beating down on us and we actually used this new-fangled contraption in our car called air conditioning.  There were some pretty spectacular scenery all through the day.  As we entered the Visitor Center for North Cascade NP there is a one lane bridge with a stop light to let you know when it is safe to cross, as we finished crossing a loud siren went off, and went for about a minute or more.  We thought we had maybe done something wrong but couldn?t think of what it was so once in the Visitor Center we asked a Ranger and she had no idea why it sounded.  Enjoyed the exhibits there and continued on our way. Stopped at the Diablo Lake Lookout, the water in the lake was this blue-green, unlike we had seen before, and this was caused from the glacial flour that grinds away from the rock.  Also while looking up at the mountain there was a cylinder shape that looked like rocks had clogged it or maybe it was a vent in a volcano and too big of rocks clogged it, who knows but it was different.  A stop at Washington Pass reminded me of why I don?t like heights, it almost made you dizzy you were up so high above the highway.  And I want to know who paved the walkway out there to scare you so much. Saw a license plate from Colorado and said hi to them and ended up talking with them for a while.  They had just retired and were making a trip to the Northwest to see if they liked being gone for several weeks.  They wanted to know all about crossing the border and was it as bad as they had heard.  We tried to calm their fears about border crossings.
As we made our way over to Winthrop, and the only reason we chose there was because the Park Ranger had mentioned they had a forest fire a few months back and lost numerous homes and the town could use the business.  So we thought to give them some of our business.  As we entered town we noticed that if there was 1 motorcycle there were 100?s, parking was ?-1/2 mile away from town and part of the town was blocked off for some special event and the boardwalk was so thick with people it would have been hard to move.  We decided they were busy enough without us and we didn?t want to get caught up in the traffic when the event was over, so we headed back to WeBe.  It was beautiful scenery but reminded me of Colorado and made me a little homesick.  Back at WeBe and our temperature inside was 84 degrees, so it did get pretty warm here today.  Time to get ready for tomorrow, we are driving into Seattle and seeing some sites.  We have decided we don?t like these big cities right now.  But I have never been a fan of downtown areas.
TTFN
pic- Jim at lookout on Washington Pass in North Cascades National Park.  Sorry there are more pics from today but even resizing they were still too big. You will just have to take my word it was beautiful.

September 7, 2014 ? Day 110
Had and awesome day.  Got up and drove into Seattle.  First stop was the Space Needle and inquire if we could get a reservation for brunch.  And the good news was they could seat us immediately.  So up the elevator for 41 seconds to above 500 feet to the Sky City Restaurant. I immediately notice the dining area revolves very slowly, it takes 27 minutes to make a full rotation.  With the day being bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky we had great views of the city, bay, Mt Baker and Rainier.  There were a few cruise ships in port and lots of activity at the base of the Space Needle.  The area known as the Seattle Center was originally built for 1962 World?s Fair.  The Space Needle is 605 feet tall, 138 feet wide and weighs 9,550 tons and took less than a year to build at a cost of $4.5 million.  It was built to withstand 200 MPH winds and an earthquake of 9.1 on the Richter scale and has 25 lightning rods.  Our brunch was a 3 course meal and I had the Belgium Waffle with berries sauce, ?the Benny? which was crab topped eggs Benedict and cobbler with ice cream.  Jim had clam & corn chowder, salmon and the cobbler.  It was all very yummy and we took our time eating so we could enjoy the views.  After brunch we went up to the Observation Deck and took a stroll around, clicking a few pictures and trying to avoid being trampled by all the people.  One of the buildings on the Seattle Center had these giant spiders on the roof which was fun to see. Spent close to 2 hours between eating and observing.  So down the elevator we went and retrieve our car from Valet parking.  They must have shook their heads parking that filthy car.
Our next stop was the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, it was down by the baseball and football stadiums but luckily there were no home games today.  But we had to keep driving around because the building looks just like an older city building made out of bricks and we didn?t expect that.  Very nice exhibits there and of course I got my stamp. The history we knew about and we kind of did this backwards since most people leaving for the gold rush left from Seattle. 
Next on our stop was Pike Market Place.  What a wild and wonder place.  Vendors and more vendors selling any and everything you want.  I think we looked like the country mouse who came to town.  I fell in love with all the flower vendors and all the bouquets they had to sell for $5-10-15.  And then the fish vendors, Pike Fish Market is well known.  People stand by the area with cameras at the ready to snap or tape when someone goes to purchase their fish.  All the workers shout back the order and fish goes flying from one worker to another.  I almost had a king salmon on my head, it went right over with the shout to ?steak it?.  We also went into Lowell?s Bar and Restaurant for a drink.  Tina, the bartender, made up a drink for me with berries, pineapple vodka, cranberry juice and sweet & sour mix, it was delicious and Jim had a berry lemonade.
Well it is starting to get late and we still had to drive back to WeBe but we had had a wonderful adventure today.  On to another adventure tomorrow.
TTFN
pics- looking down at a funky building at the Seattle Center- looking up at the Space Needle- flowers at Pike Market Place

September 8, 2014 ? Day 111
Today was a travel day and we drove 133 miles + ferry to Port Angeles, WA.  Last night while driving back from Seattle I had a brain fart, maybe there was a ferry to Port Angeles so we didn?t have to drive all through Seattle, Tacoma, etc.  While shopping at the local Fred Meyer the cashier asked us where we were going next and after we told her she said she was going this weekend to visit her sister, and she rides the ferry.  So back to WeBe we went to do our research and yes there is a ferry from Edmunds to Kingston and it would cost less than the gas we would have used and saved us over 3 hours of driving time.  I liked that a lot.  So we are staying in Elwha Dam RV Park in site #13.  Once we settled in we headed to Olympic National Park.  We drove to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center and watched the movie and listen to a Ranger talk.  The drive basically took you from sea level to 5,238 feet above sea level in 17 miles.  At times we could see blue sky above the treed mountains with heavy clouds in the middle.  It was really pretty cool.  Saw some black tail deer.  We will explore more of the park in a couple of days.  But what is neat about Olympic NP is there are coastal, forests and mountains all in one park. Mount Olympus is the tallest mountain peak in the park at 7,980 feet.  Made a great dinner with the shrimp we bought at Pike Place Market.  Played some Yathzee after a short walk and will call it an early night so we can get up early for our trip over to Victoria, BC.  This will be the last time in Canada for this trip.
TTFN

September 9, 2014 ? Day 112
Up and out of WeBe early this morning we needed to be in Port Angeles at the Black Ball Ferry by 7:45 AM for 90 minute ride over to Vancouver Island and to be more specific to Victoria.  Our goal for today was to visit the Butchart Gardens about a 45 minute drive north of Victoria.  It was a very pretty ride over, sun was shining and only a few white clouds and the predicted high for today is low 70?s.  Victoria is the capital of British Columbia but that was only after they had been asked to join the rest of BC a few times and always declining but when the rest of BC sweeten the pot by saying if Victoria and the Vancouver Island joined BC then Victoria could be the capital and so the rest is history. When we purchased our tickets for the ferry we bought a package deal including the transportation and entry in the Gardens.  So once we reach Victoria we waited maybe 10 minutes with about 15 others for our transportation.  Our driver was hilarious and with us still laughing he got us to Butchart Gardens about 11 AM. 
Butchart Gardens was started by Jennie the wife of Robert Butchart who was a concrete manufacturer.  Jenny wanted a way to hide the quarry her husband had dug for the limestone back in the early 1900?s.  But they also like to travel and had a home in Victoria and Florence, Italy in addition to the house Robert built for Jennie at the Gardens.  The house was ?modest? to say the least, it currently is the building used for Dining Room Restaurant and included a bowling alley, an indoor salt water pool heated by coal and a rather large game room.  Jenny enjoyed gardening and where ever they traveled she was always looking at gardens to put on their 130 total acres which the gardens make up 55 acres.  So she started with the quarry area which later became the Sunken Garden which you can still see the tall kiln stack that is all that remains of the cement plant.  There are winding walk ways through beds of annuals, flowering trees and shrubs.  There is Quarry Lake and the Ross Fountain which was created and installed by the Butchart?s grandson, Ian Ross.  In this area is also the Children?s Pavilion and the Rose Carousel.  Behind the Sunken Garden is the Firework?s field and on Saturday nights in July and August they shoot off fireworks.  Too bad we weren?t here a few weeks earlier, I love fireworks.
The next garden we went to was the Rose Garden, this area smelled really good.  There were 100?s of rose bushes with their names, country of origin and the year it was registered with the American Rose Society. I think I have some work for Jim to do when we get home, I want a rose garden.  There were a couple of fountains, one of frogs and the bronze Sturgeon Fountain.  This whole garden was surrounded by perennials.  This was the only area where the flowers were labeled.
On to the Japanese Garden which was beautiful but in a different way.  There was much less color here mostly shades of green but it was very tranquil and many little private areas with benches to rest on and relax.  We did take a few moments by a pond and just took in our surroundings.
As we stepped out of the Japanese Garden we entered the Star Pond.  This was originally designed for Robert Butchart?s collection of ornamental ducks.  There were red begonia?s and some purple flower, I think it was Angelonia, but who knows.  When you enter the Gardens they give you a ?Flower & Plant Guide?.  And if you can?t find it in the guide you can go to the Information area and just waiting for you questions is the ?Plant Identification Counter? with a horticulturalist and his trusty computer to help you figure out what you have seen.  We did avail ourselves to him and he patiently answered all our questions.
There is a little story we were told about Mr. Butchart?s ornamental ducks.  He had a pair of mating wood ducks but while he and Jennie were staying at the home in Florence, Italy he received a telegram informing him of the ducks being eaten by some wild animal.  He was very upset and told Jennie they were canceling the rest of their trip and going to France to get a new pair of ducks.  Jennie wasn?t ready to leave because she had more gardens to look at but Robert put his foot down and so they cancelled their reservation for the Titanic and went to France.
The last garden we went through before our reservation at the Dining Room Restaurant was the Italian Garden which before 1926 this area was the Butchart?s concrete tennis courts.  Lots of hydrangea?s and what we learned to be Snow Princess Dahlia?s. Lots of trellises with flowers growing all through them and a gelato place (but we went right past that one, we had reservations for High Tea).
Then onto High Tea, we had never done this before and so it was adventure.  It we each picked a tea from a list with about 8 different teas and the rest was preset. Our first course was a berry trifle, I always like to start with dessert first.  It was very good.  Then our server brought out a 3 tier tray, bottom tier were little sandwiches of salmon, cucumber, ham with cheddar biscuit, egg salad, little quiche and pastry wrap German sausage.  The middle tier had truffles, meringue cookies, Neapolitan, poppy seed bread and chocolate cake.  The top tier were scones with clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam.  All in all we made pigs of ourselves but we did with our pinkie?s up.  We were seated in what would have been their conservatory, a room with almost all windows and a glass ceiling over part of it.  We looked out into a private garden.
The Gardens are still in the Butchart family which employs about 200 year round and 500 in the summer month with about 75 of them being gardeners.  In 2004 Butchart Gardens was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
Being totally stuffed we wandered around looking for the last garden which is the Mediterranean Garden which was off by itself.  Just a small area with palm trees and shrubs.
We did have to stop in the Seed & Gift shop because I still Canadian money and this would be the last chance for me to spend it.  So we bought a few seeds.  Let?s see if I will remember I have them to plant next year.  It was a wonderful day and now we were going to head back into Victoria to wander the streets and see if there are any other goodies I must have. Bruce told a couple of stories as we headed for town, first was about all the hanging baskets around Victoria, there are more than 1,700 hanging baskets and at night college students go around in a water truck and water them.  Also there is a similar architecture to San Francisco since many of the buildings were created by the same architect. And as we drove through Chinatown we went under the Gates of Harmonious Interest which means the gates of good luck.  We also passed the smallest alleyway which was a whole 39 inches wide and you barely seaw stores down in there.  The last story told was Victoria is the City of Newlyweds, nearly dead, flower beds and pot heads.  We rode a double decker bus back into town and Bruce dropped us off at the grand Empress Hotel. What a beautiful place, stone with greenery covering a lot of the stone, bronze plating over the turrets and this place is massive.  It faces the harbor with all sorts of boats and these cute little water taxis and pontoon planes. Meandered in and out of shops and bought a little something for Mason.  Two cruise ships were in port so we were with the masses. Had dinner at Pigg?s BBQ, which has been featured on Food Network. With a little time to kill we had a drink at the Steamship Bar and Grill next door to Black Ball Ferry.  We boarded up at 7:15 PM for our 90 minute ride back to Port Angeles.  As we left the harbor I had seen some lights on a tower but there was this orange glow and finally realized it was the full moon rising.  What a beautiful harvest moon.
We are finally back in Port Angeles and drive back to the campground thoroughly exhausted which is a good way to be after a long and wonderful day.  I am married to the best guy in the world who indulges me way too much but don?t tell him that.
TTFN

September 10, 2014 ? Day 113
Took our time this morning and even got in some laundry before we head to Olympic National Park and Sol Duc is our final destination today.  Drove 37 miles but due to all the winding, narrow roads it took almost 90 minutes.  I will say it was a beautiful drive.  We drove along the edge of Crescent Lake which turned out to be quite large before turning more inland to the park.  Lots of Douglas Fir, birch, spruce, big leaf maples, and Sitka spruce tree. Did see a couple of black tale deer.
After setting up we made our way to the Sole Duck Trail (yes I know they are spelled differently but I don?t know why), we wanted to hike to the falls.  Nice trail with just enough ups and downs that it wasn?t ever too overwhelming.  Took a power nap, revisited some of our trip by looking at pictures and had some dinner before making our way to the hot springs.  They have 4 pools- one is for toddlers at 97 degrees, 2 bigger round pools about 102 degrees and a big L shaped pool that was at 72 degrees.  We enjoyed the pools at 102 degrees but near the end I got brave and tried out the cold pool, burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  Back to WeBe and made some brownies, worked on blog and finally decided it was time for bed.
TTFN 

September 11, 2014 ? Day 114 
Happy Birthday to our daughter, Megan (aka Squeak).  We hope your day will be filled with wonderful memories.
Pretty mellow day, got up at 6:16 AM so we could find a place down the road that had a cell signal because we had to call Megan at the time of her birth to wish her Happy Birthday.  Am I ever glad I did not have a child at 2 in the morning.  Lucky for me they were all born in daylight hours.  After a successful call we came back to WeBe and went back to sleep.  It is so nice to have that option. Once up and functioning we drove down to a place called Ancient Groves Nature Trail.  Not a long trail but beautiful. Douglas fir and western Hemlock trees dominate this particular forest.  They say some trees have been here as saplings when Christopher Columbus discovered America. Lots of nursery trees, these are dead fallen trees that that have sprouted new life from the nutrients.  Ever wonder why forest have trees in a fairly straight line, they most likely grew up on a nursery tree.  So we walked among these trees, ferns growing at ground level and just bits of sunlight filter through.  We walked along the edge of the Sol Duc River which was straight down, a little scary.  And what surprised us the most was how small the pinecones are for trees a couple of hundred feet tall.
After this short walk we drove down to the Salmon Cascades.  This is a section of river easier to walk to and it is reported to have coho salmon which usually spawn up above the cascades and some steelhead.  We didn?t see any fish but did run into a Ranger and she told us because of commercial fishing nowadays the salmon are not returning to the stream.  We asked the Ranger about the North Fork of the Sol Duc River Trail.  She didn?t really like it and recommended some others closer to Lake Crescent.  Since we have a long drive tomorrow we really didn?t want to spend a lot of time driving today, so we headed over to the trail and decided if it is too hard, we will turn around.  It was not particularly difficult, we did spend about the first 45 minutes going uphill and only stopped a handful of times.  But we felt as if we were all by ourselves.  It was not a well-used trail but very pretty and quiet.  We didn?t walk long enough to find the river.  But turned around and came back down when we?d had enough. 
Once back at WeBe we played some Skipbo to kill a little time before we headed to the hot springs restaurant.  I had eyed the menu last night and they had crab mac & cheese.  As we ate we people watched in the pools.  Some people need to look at themselves before they put on swimsuits.  Those people are not attractive when their suits are 3 sizes too small. Or the young ladies who insist they can pull off a suit that V-necks to their navels and covers an inch of butt cheek. Enough, we had a nice dinner then headed back to our cell phone area to send a text to a good friend, Deborah, who was also celebrating her birthday.  Had a sister text if we were caught up in the snow, but since we had clear skies and around 70 degrees, I?d say no, but I did call Zoe, another sister, to ask her the weather because she is always watching the weather. For once we were having really nice weather and I didn?t want a mean old cold front to come through and ruin it.  I think we are safe for now.  Back to the hot springs to soak out the tired muscle and people watch.  We wondered what was up with 3 women, one man and a preschooler.  They didn?t speak English but they were there last night too.  All the women looked to be my age and the man was maybe a few years younger than me but he was massaging one woman?s shoulders tonight but massaged the other 2 women?s shoulders last night.  And they all took turns playing with the preschooler in the wading pool.  Who knows it takes all kinds to make up this world. Back to WeBe to get ready to head out early tomorrow morning.  We?d like to make it to Mount Rainier.
TTFN
Pic- Sol Duc Hot Springs pool

September 12, 2014 ? Day 115
Up early to drive 276 miles to Mount Rainier today. Drove through the forest and back into Port Angeles under beautiful blue sky, we have had some really lucky weather days, but then I think we were due a few. Slow drive on Highway 101, lots of curves, drove along the Hood Canal and caught several glimpses of Mt Rainier and Mt St Helen?s as we made our way on route 12 East bound.  Tried to find a site in Ohanapecosh Campground in Mt Rainier but what was available was too small for us so we back tracked a few miles to La Wis Wis campground which is in the National Forest, $10 (no hookups, but it?s okay).  Once we were set up we hopped in the Blazer to make our way to the Paradise Visitor Center about 25-30 miles away before they closed (I needed my stamp).  The drive was through mostly old growth forest, which means big trees.  I said to Jim that I was over big trees and about 5 minutes or less we rounded a corner and I about ran off the road.  There was Mt Rainier in all her glory of 14,000+ snowcapped feet. We pulled over where there was lots of parking and sat in awe for a few moments. This was spectacular and we learned at the Visitor Center that seeing the peak is not a common occurrence.  According to the movie Mt Rainier makes its own weather, usually cloudy and very windy. It is a dormant volcano with lots of glaciers on all sides.  Only 14,410 feet in height but being this close to the coast it catches lots of moisture. We looked at the exhibits but I?ll have to say for this big of a park the exhibits were not very good. We did stop at Box Canyon area to have a look see, it was such a narrow canyon and a lot of water was going down it.  The road was very steep and winding.
Went back to WeBe to have a late dinner and took a stroll through campground in the dark.  A loop was pretty full but not the other loops.  Played some SkipBo and called it a night.
TTFN
Pics- first one of our moment of awe of Mt Rainier and then just another shot of the mountain.

September 13, 2014 ? Day 116
Today was a day of contrast for us.  Tucked in our site at La Wis Wis with heavy forest all around to our campsite for tonight being in Pascoe, WA which is high desert. Started today with a long steep drive up and over White Pass which is 4,500 feet but it seemed like a lot more.  At the summit there is a ski area.  If Colorado tried to have a ski area at that elevation it wouldn?t fly.  Lots of winding curves and heavy forest. We are still going east bound on Highway 12.  As we come out of the forested area there are still some hills but the trees thin.  Then out of the clear blue is a hill with a wanna be forest on top.  It was pathetic looking, the trees were stunted and scraggily. We passed several areas of heavy deep lava flows forming fortress like protrusions on both sides of the valley as we drove into Naches and Yakima (Jim said this).  Very striking.  Then on to the plains, hot, dry and windy. This area is often referred to as the Palm Springs of Washington.  It reminded us of Palisades in Colorado.  Lots of growers and packing companies here, mostly apples.  But at times for as far as the eyes to could see were rows and rows of fruit trees and grapes.  Made our way to the KOA in Pascoe which is part of the Tri-Cities of Pascoe, Richland and Kennewich.  Big KOA with lots of permanent residents.  Our drive today was 146 miles.  Once we were set up in site #41 we again jumped in the Blazer and made our way out to Walla Walla to the Whitman Mission National Historic Site. This was another bit of our history I would like to have changed.  Marcus and Narcissa Whitman came out to Washington as missionaries.  Marcus was also a doctor after his 16 week course of schooling and a couple of year?s apprenticeship as a town doctor. They worked with the Cayuse Indians, when 1846 a wagon train came through and brought measles with them.  Marcus seemed to have helped the whites but almost half of the tribe died.  The Cayuse?s thought Marcus was poisoning them and after working with the mission for 9 years, a few of the Cayuse came and killed Marcus and his wife along with 9 other men.  Then they held the others at the mission hostage for a month until the Hudson Bay Company paid the ransom.  Of course then the whites had to hang 5 of the Cayuse for the murders. All of this blood shed caused a petition to Congress to make the ?Oregon? area a territory. We watched the movie and looked at the exhibits then we walked the trail of the Mission.  We even walked on part of the Oregon Trail complete with covered wagon.
Back into town to do a little restocking of WeBe, TP, paper towels, fresh fruit, etc.  Back at WeBe we made some dinner and tried again to get the stupid satellite to work, a no go again.  Someone at Camping World is going to have some explaining to do.
TTFN
pic of Oregon trail

Hey Mick  can you make it to Bunco  Thurs?  It's suppose to be 85-90. FYI your next door neighbors have green grass!! See you soon. Love you

Sorry Sissy I won't be there for Bunco this month but I will make it next month.

September 14, 2014 ? Day 117
Well today didn?t turn out how we thought.  Got up and out fairly early for us and our goal today was to camp outside Lowell, Idaho which was supposed to be about 200 miles.  As it turned out we drove 355 miles and ended up in Missoula, Montana.  A short drive out of Lewiston, ID we turned south to the Nez Perce National Historic Park, the Spalding Visitor Center. The park is made up of places important to the Nez Perce also known as NiiMiiPuu today.  We watched the movie and went through the exhibits.  Lots of bloodshed. The Nez Perce had signed a treaty with the US giving the Nez Perce a large area for them to live in but then gold was discovered and the wagon trains came and the tension built. Revenge then fueled the battle that took the tribe on 1,100 miles with numerous battles, and what was left of the tribe either escaped to Canada or forced onto a Reservation with little resources.  It was another chapter in American history I wish I could change.
Shortly after leaving the Visitor Center we came upon an accident, a pickup truck was towing a camping trailer and not sure how but they both ended up on their sides.  We didn?t see the accident but we did see passerby?s helping people out of the truck.  We called 911 but they had just gotten a call and help was on the way.  We were told no serious injuries, thank goodness. Since we were on a fairly narrow 2 lane road we sat for quite a while before State Troopers could get traffic sorted and we were able to pass.
Followed the Clearwater River up into the Bitterroot Mountains. The sky was starting to get hazy and smelled like smoke.  We assumed there was a fire and probably not more than 20 miles down the road we saw numerous fire emergency trucks pass.  The smoke got pretty thick and both Jim and I had burning eyes and started to cough a little. All this helped to make our decision to press on to Missoula since the planned campground was shrouded in smoke.  We were very happy when the smoke thinned but still had a haze in the sky all the way to Missoula. 
While still driving on our winding narrow road up to LoLo pass we came up behind a Class A motorhome towing a trailer with what we assumed was a car beneath a tarp.  This guy was weaving across the center stripe and driving about 30-35 MPH (speed limit was 55).  We were just about to call 911 to report him when Jim came up to a long enough straight away and laid on the horn as we passed.  Hope to never see him again.  Then about 15 miles up the road Jim came around a curve and some guy in a pickup truck decides to pull out into our lane and again Jim lays on the horn and the pickup gets out of our way.  There wouldn?t have been anyway for Jim to slow down enough for this guy.  Jim is a great cautious driver but we needed to get to Missoula and park WeBe for a day or two.
We finally made it to the KOA in Missoula set up and it was so late we just vegged out. Tomorrow is another day.
TTFN

September 15, 2014 ?Day 118
Today was another driving day but not in WeBe.  We drove down to the Big Hole National Battlefield about 120 miles from Missoula.  Nice drive down but once again this Battlefield was about the Nez Perce and the US Army.  At dawn on Aug 8, 1877 the army attacked the sleeping Nez Perce and killed men, women and children.  According to the movie we saw today, the army also set the tipis on fire and burned people alive.  We walked the trail to the siege overlook where there are tipi poles where they would have stood on that day. We wonder if no one ever learns from the violence.  Had some lunch in the park and then headed over to the Bitterroot River for Jim to try and catch some fish.  He was successful, he caught 6 fish and he said one was a really good size.  He tried fishing a couple of different stretches.  I sat in the car and watched a movie on the computer.  I would say that we both had an enjoyable afternoon. Back to Missoula and fixed some dinner and worked on getting some of the bugs off of vehicles.  I am not sure the dirt and bugs will ever come off.  Thank goodness we had plenty of rain because the bugs aren?t out or we would have more bugs than vehicle. Now we will slowly make our way across Montana before the last stretch of southbound driving to home.
TTFN