September 2019 – TooBusyForWork

Ainsworth State Park and the Columbia River gorge

This is being written on a rainy Thursday afternoon, and I am way behind. Be prepared for a long post and lots of pictures.

Sunday we drove to Ainsworth State Park. Going through Portland was a piece of cake on an early Sunday morning, as expected. I wasn’t thrilled with the campground though. While the sites are long enough for a motorhome, the roads have low vegetation and I scuffed up the sides and top of the coach. No real scratches, but you can tell where the bushes and tree limbs were. I can’t blame the park since all the reviews said the park was this way. Guess I will just have to blame the person who made the reservation – Kevin! We got to our site and the coach absolutely would not level, no matter how many blocks we had under the back tires and the levelers. Yup, the reviews said that too. The nice park ranger put us in an overflow site that worked with only minor leveling so it was ok in the end. We wanted a full hookup site so we could do laundry, and this is nice for that.

Monday we decided to just do a drive up and back the Columbia Gorge. First we went across the toll bridge at Cascade Locks, a cool little town where there used to be big rapids. The rapids are now washed out by the Bonneville Dam, but some of the old locks are still visible.

The Bridge of the Gods is an interesting view

The old locks are mostly washed out. Note they are made of stone.

Interesting history of the bridge and it’s name: When Lewis and Clark came through here, the natives had a legend about an earthen bridge that cross the Columbia here many years ago. They called it the Bridge of the Gods. Geologists say a massive landslide happened in the mid 15th century that dammed the river for some period of time. Eventually the river eroded through the dam leaving the rapids there. Lewis and Clark wrote they were the worst of all they encountered, and they were smart enough to portage around them. The locks were key to navigating the river until the Bonneville Dam was built. The bridge was named after the land bridge the natives described.

We crossed the river to the Washington side and drove east on Washington 14 which mostly hugs the shore next to the rail road. We did get a nice view of Mt. Hood. Quite impressive!

We drove up the road past lots of interesting sites, and we crossed the river in The Dalles to go back downriver. We saw a sign to the Gorge Discovery Center and Museum, and we decided to take a look. My, oh my, oh my! It was a wonderful place with outstanding interpretation of pre-historic native life, Lewis and Clark history, non-native settlers, and best of all, a great section on the geology of the gorge. We were fortunate that we saw this early in our trip since it made the rest of our sightseeing so much more meaningful. I highly recommend a stop if anyone is in the area.

We kept going and took part of the old Highway 30, one of the first roads in America specifically designed for beauty. Lots of nice pictures were taken, but I will spare you.

Late Monday I bent wrong and got a dreadful back spasm. I was in a lot of pain when I moved, so we took drove the Mt. Hood scenic byway. Lots of waterfalls on the way, but it was raining so we only took pictures of two.

Multnomah Falls, the second highest permanent falls in the US

Luckily the weather cleared as we got closer to Mt.Hood. The area was crowded, even on a rainy Tuesday in late September. I can’t imagine it would be enjoyable on a summer weekend! We had trouble finding any place to park which is why both pictures were taken from the car.

I was feeling a bit better by Wednesday which was the day we booked a 5 hour tour on the stern wheeler “Columbia Gorge.”

Isn’t she pretty? We had a great seat at a table next to a entry way. They opened up the entry doors just before we got underway. It was totally chance, but we had an almost unobstructed view from the starboard side.

Just a cargo net between is and the river

Mount Hood again, this time from the river

Lots of trains on the main line to the northwest

Yes, it was hazy, but the Cascades are lovely

A passenger ship that was supposed to spend a week on the river between Lewiston and Astoria. Stuck because the Bonneville Lock is closed due to emergency repairs.

In the last picture you can see native fishermen pulling salmon from their gill nets. They held up a few as we passed. Those were big fish! Only natives can use gill nets, and only a certain number of days a year. It is from the old treaty rights, and it provides a reasonable amount of cash.

Today I am still recovering from my back injury. I can now move fairly well, but I have a hard time getting out of a chair. We had planned on going back to the waterfalls, but it has been raining all day. Instead we went to lunch at the Multnomah Lodge. Nice place. My salmon was delicious as was the Creme Brûlée. Kevin said his fish and chips plus cheesecake was also good. Looks like no cooking tonight!

Tomorrow we head back to the coast to Newport, OR. We will spend a few nights in a campground at the marina and then see what to do. We have reservations at South Beach State Park after the marina.

Another visit to a rain forest

A friend recommended we visit the Quinault Lodge, an old private resort just outside Olympic National Park. We did that Friday, and yes, the Lodge was nice.

But wow, the surrounding rainforest was tremendous! I can not use words to describe the luxurious foliage that is everywhere, and my pictures only capture part of the beauty.

Every piece of bark was an entire colony of various mosses

The mosses grew on pretty much everything including concrete and the roof of this little information sign.

There were waterfalls. Can you see Kevin center left?

Kevin describes this as going through a canyon of green

Did I say luxuriant everywhere? Ferns were all over the hillsides.

The forest was mixed deciduous and conifers with both young and old trees.

I think I liked the Quinault rainforest even better than the Hoh rainforest!

We also visited the largest spruce tree in the world. The sign says 191’ tall and about 1000 years old. Amazingly impressive.

We topped the day off with another trip to the beach. Sitting watching the waves, kids playing in the sand, and the surf anglers was very relaxing.

Today we just hung around the coach except when we went out to brunch and bought groceries. We had that odd kind of coastal rain where the drops aren’t really big enough to call it a rain, but the quantity was too much to call it just a mist. It dripped off the awning pretty much all day, so I just streamed old Inspector Morse shows. Not a bad way to spend the day after all the running around we have been doing. Tomorrow we leave the Casino and head to Ainsworth State Park in Oregon. I have to drive through Portland, so we want to out pretty early. I find Sunday mornings a great time to drive through big cities.

Lewis and Clark history plus modern forts too

We have tried to stop by all the Lewis and Clark sites we have been near. Wednesday we decided to go to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park near Astoria, Oregon. Fort Clatsop, named after the helpful nearby Indians, was where the Corps spent their second winter. They started out at the mouth of he Columbia, but it is dreadfully rough in winter, so they retreated up the river to a more sheltered tributary to settle. The NPH was a bit of a disappointment in the amount of interpretation and historical accuracy they demonstrated. Fort Mandan in North Dakota, where they spent their first winter, was much better presented and historically accurate. Still, we made it to the end of the Corps journey, and it was interesting.

Outside of the recreated fort. Natives thought it odd they locked themselves in at night. Historical inaccuracy: absolutely perfectly placed caulking and uniform logs. Really?

Bunk room for the crew. There were also bunks on the other side – 8 to a room.

We ended up having a light lunch in Astoria then dinner in the casino’s non-smoking restaurant. Food was really quite good, service was lovely, and it was correspondingly expensive. Worth it for a really nice meal though.

Thursday we continued our historical trips, but we moved forward in time to Fort Steven State Park in Oregon. It was built in 1862 because President Lincoln was worried the British would try to take back the Pacific Northwest. A series of 3 forts were established, and we had already visited Fort Canby. Fort Columbia had most of its area closed for the year, but we did get to see it across the river. We luckily got to the visitor center 5 minutes before they were starting a guided tour using an old military transport. Great fun! We got a guided tour that included areas otherwise off-limits. The fort closed not long after WWII.

The newest of the artillery types came just at the end of WWII.

Older guns were in one of three bunkers of this type

I think this was a protected command center

The piles supported rails used to move the rock for the jetty. They were they repurposed to bring artillery, shells, and mines to the fort.

The second set of bunkers after the earliest earthen works from the 1860s.

We came home by way of the beaches in Ocean Shores, the nearest town. I have always wanted to drive on the beach, and we did! Being September and mid-weeks, there were only a few people around. The original plan was to pull out the lawn chairs and read, but we decided to stay in the warmer comfort of the car with the windows open.

Mostly we hung out with the gulls who were quite unhappy we didn’t provide food

Bucket list item – the temperate rain forest and more

I have been fascinated for years at the idea of the temperate rain forests in the northwest. Maybe it was growing up in dry Oklahoma, but the thought of huge moss-draped trees was a big deal to me. I just had to go to the Hoh rain forest in Olympic National Park. We went on Friday, not wanting to deal with the inevitable crowds that come on weekends. And yes, I am late with the post since today is Tuesday. Oops.

Yes, the trees are big! These are just a couple of moderate sized ones at the trailhead. You might guess from the rain gear that it was raining when we went.

These mosses are just using the bark for support. They feed off blown in nutrients and are watered by rain.

That long snake like thing running down the trunk is the root of another tree that started life above.

Did I say lush? It was like this everywhere.

The maple trees are just festooned with life.

Yup, definitely a bucket list item checked off.

Saturday we just hung around the motorhome, did a bit of shopping, some cleaning – all kinds of exciting things. I did finish a little cloth wallet I can take with me easily. It is the Wonder Wallet pattern from Lazy Girl Designs, and I have made if four or five times before. Lovely little thing, and very practical to slip in a pocket with a driver’s license, credit card, and some cash. I should have put some interfacing in it, but it will work ok.

Sunday we moved from Sequim to the Quinault Casino at the beach. It allows free dry camping (no facilities at all) for up to 14 days. This is the view out the front window.

Ok, so it isn’t real obvious, but the flat horizon is the ocean. Between the ocean and us are stabilized sand dunes and some bushes. The sound is lovely, and the temperatures are mild enough I can leave the windows open to hear it.

Since we are at a casino, we tried to have breakfast here on Monday, but it was more adequate than good. The best deals were in the lounge, but that was where the smokers were – ugh. We decided to just drive down the shore to Cape Disappointment State Park at the mouth of the Columbia. Lovely place. I didn’t get out much since my knee just randomly decided to give me fits, but I got a few pictures.

Today it has rained most of the day, and we just planned on staying put. I did get my application for Medicare completed, and I found out the steps to get my retiree supplement enrollment done. BTW, that one line statement took over an hour to complete, mostly waiting on the retiree stuff. We even got some banking straightened out! We have discovered it is best if we take a complete down day every 5 days or so, and today was it.

I have also practiced using my convection/microwave more. Today was a puffed (German style) pancake again. Add blueberries and a dash of powdered sugar and yum! Kevin is off to the store for something for dinner now too.

Whale watching

Yup, we went whale watching yesterday. It was a long day – out of the motorhome at 7:00 am and back home by 6:30 pm. We took a full day cruise with Puget Sound Express out of Port Townsend. This was one of the smaller boats with only 70 seats. Some have 200 plus!

We started out being quite successful! We saw a humpback whale only about 45 minutes into the cruise. It was obviously feeding along a ridge, and it hung around a long while.

We then didn’t see much else for quite a while. We did catch some stellar sea lions sunning themselves on a rocky outcropping. There were probably 50 or more. We stayed well off-shore so we didn’t bother them which made it hard to get a picture with my point and shoot camera.

We then went to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Nice place for lunch, and we really enjoyed seeing all the variety of watercraft moored there.

The big ferry has two decks of cars. Interesting to see them change from one deck to another.

This picture is mostly small boats, but there were some really big ones moored there too

We did get a visit from a harbor seal while in Friday Harbor.

Significantly smaller than the stellar sea lion with cute spots

We also saw a Minke whale on the way back, but they are shyer and I couldn’t get a picture. Kevin got a good one, but his camera doesn’t have Bluetooth transfer! You will just have to imagine it.

The Fort Worden lighthouse from Puget Sound.

The trip was informative and remarkably comfortable though it was a long day. The captain was very apologetic that we didn’t see any Orcas, but they just weren’t surfacing in the area. It was cold and rainy with a storm front coming in, so that was probably why. We did learn a lot about the wildlife and history of the area. I would definitely recommend this company to others. Since we had a huge lunch, we just picked up ice cream on the way home! Not nutritious, but easy.

Port Townsend and then back to Olympic National Park

We definitely took it easier after the long day in the previous post. We decided to visit Fort Townsend, arrange for a whale watching trip, and see Ft. Worden State Park, a state Historic Site.

Ft. Townsend was quite fun. We wandered around the waterfront, but I didn’t take any pictures. We did eat lunch at the Kokopelli Grill. Kevin enjoyed his halibut fish and chips, and I enjoyed the crab cake I had.

Fort Worden was the highlight through. It was an old artillery fort that was given to the state as a unit when they closed it in the mid 20th century. It has barracks and officer housing available for short term rentals. In addition there are a number of private organizations that rent facilities – two colleges, a spa, etc.

A lovely building used as a wellness center.

Umm. Wonder why this building is called “The Castle.”

There were lots and lots of wooden barracks like this.

We particularly enjoyed the beaches and the lighthouse.

No longer operational, but still in Coast Guard hands

The next day, we saw the clouds were lifting, so after an incredible breakfast at The Oak Table in Sequim, we headed back too Hurricane Ridge in Olympic. We were luckier this time, and the mountains were at least peeking out.

Clouds kept spilling over the mountains some

A ranger told us the ONP is full of deer. We had seen some, but this one strolling through the parking lot seemed quite used to humans. Interestingly no one else seemed to even notice her!

On the way back down we were treated to a view of the coast. That pale line showing across the water is Canada.

Pretty obvious where the park boundary is

Thursday we took the whale watching trip, but I will put that in tomorrow after I get the pictures downloaded. Yes, we saw whales!

Olympic National Park

We spent Saturday night in a lovely Cabela’s parking lot in Lacey, WA, near Olympia. The trip there was a mess – lots of construction and miles long backups. However the parking lot was amazing. It was quiet and surrounded by lovely trees, flowers, and shrubs. We took a while getting ready because the trip to the campground was less than 120 miles, so we didn’t want to ge there too early. I have a ridiculous fear of heights, and I really, really, really did not want to drive across shipping channels so we drove up Highway 101 on the west side of the Tacoma Sound. The drive was beautiful, but it was slow. Much of the time the speed limit was 30-35 mph, so it took us almost four hours including some scenic view pullouts and a nice lunch break.

The campground itself (Rainbow’s End) is very tight. Our slide is less than a foot away from the slide next door! However the place is very clean, well landscaped, and they have a lovely duck pond right outside my front window so it isn’t all bad. As with most of the RV parks we have been by, it seems like most of the residents are long term rentals. We had problems finding a spot, so I won’t complain too much.

Today we drove to Olympic National Park, but it was very cloudy and foggy so I didn’t get many pictures. We went to Hurricane Ridge, but there were no mountains to see. We will try again later for the mountains. Until then, here are some pictures.

There were three tunnels on the way to Hurricane Ridge

We did drive from Port Angeles along the Juan de Fuca scenic byway all the way to the Makah tribal museum. What a wonderful drive and museum! The clouds still made the light flat, but the scenery was lovely.

Tried to get a little son on Crescent Lake

We found three old WWII bunkers in a state recreation area

It was a really long day, over 11 hours. I think we will take it easier tomorrow.

North side of Mt.Rainier

Today we went to the Sunrise section of Mt. Rainier National Park. It is on the north east side of the park, so we also took a different drive, the Chinook Scenic Byway. It was very overcast, and it started to rain a bit as we went up in elevation.

Our first surprise was only 10 miles or so from the campground.

A bit blurry because I didn’t get out of the car so as to not spook them. Maybe after road salt?

We continued up the road. As you can see, the view was quite different today.

It did gradually get clearer. Look at all the glaciers on the north side! I thought I saw a lot of glaciers yesterday, but nothing like today.

The mountain’s top never came out of the clouds

The visitor center was impressive. Obviously built by the CCC.

There really wasn’t much else. The visitor services were pretty primitive, just a small store and a grill. The rain kept going on and off, so no pictures were very good. We got back in time for Kevin to cook some lovely Zupp’s sausages (bought in Ely, MN and carefully vacuum packed and frozen) in the sous vide. He finished them on the grill with some corn grilled in the husk. Yummy for sure. Tomorrow we head out to get closer to the Seattle area. We have reservations in Sequim for Sunday which seems a good day for arriving in a major city. We are going to clean the motorhome inside and out too, or at least that’s the plan. It really needs it!

Yakima, Mount Rainer, and living on Pacific time

We tried to get a nice dinner in Missoula, but places either were closed Labor Day or had long waits. We ended up at Famous Dave’s BBQ, and it was its normal decent food. Tuesday we headed west again, and we spent the night in the Cabela’s parking lot in Post Falls, ID. It is located one miles from Washington, and on Pacific time. We decided to go out to dinner, and we had an absolutely fantastic experience at The Oval Office Martini Bar and Bistro, a small casual restaurant with a great chef and lots of local sourcing. I had leg of lamb and Kevin had a steak, and both were outstanding! This is absolutely some of the best food I have had in ages. If you are ever nearby, you should stop by.

Wednesday found us in Yakima, WA at SunTides RV park. Nice enough place with lots of grass and a small shade tree. We had hoped Yakima had some historic sites to visit, but it seems quite happy to be a major produce production town and not much else. We did pick up some wonderful peaches from a local stand, and I made a peach cobbler. Yum.

Of course the reason we are here is Mount Ranger National Park, we we took our first tour today. The first view of the namesake mountain was well outside the park at a scenic overview in the National Forest.

It looks almost like a painting, but I did no post processing on the picture. We kept getting closer and closer. Sadly some haze/clouds crept in, but not too bad.

There are more glaciers on Mt. Rainier than I have ever seen at Glacier National Park. They are mostly still good sized, though they are shrinking like all the glaciers. The surrounding forest was nice too.

Still quite a few wildflowers in the Paradise area

The hillsides were just starting to change colors

Wish I knew what plant was providing the early color

Louise Lake was next door to Reflecting Lakes, but much more reflective!

Huge basalt palisades were most impressive

Even this time of year there were some waterfalls fed by glaciers that were decent. On this one, I took a picture of Kevin about halfway down the 168’ waterfall while he was taking pictures of the bottom half.

See that little tiny person at the corner of the fences?

From Kevin’s view part way down the big drop

The park also has some fabulous trees. These pictures were taken in a grove they called Hall of the Patriarchs. Fitting name.

Wish I had thought to put something against this for scale

We were surprised at how little wildlife we saw. We visited the Longmire area first, had lunch at the National Park Inn, then drove to the Paradise section which was newer and much more crowded. As we were leaving the Paradise area, there was a rental motorhome pretty much parked in the middle of the road. Guess they had a good reason, because we saw this.

What’s that black dot in the meadow (on a bit of a zoom already)?

Other than the bear, the only wildlife we saw was a couple of ground squirrels and a few birds. Climax forests just don’t have a lot of wildlife I guess.

Tomorrow we visit the northern part of the park.

Logo Pass, Lola Motorway, and Garnet Ghost Town

We are definitely playing tourist here in Missoula. Saturday we went up Lolo Pass (Highway 12). It is a gorgeous road, and there is an informative Visitor Center at the border between Montana and Idaho. It was the wrong time of the day for a good picture, but you get the idea.

We were lucky to see a special guest they had talking about the fur trade. He was dressed in traditional Voyageur gear, and had some good skins with him. We talked a bit about how our trip had really started at Grand Portage.

We then drove part of the CCC road known as the “Lolo Motorway”, an old term for road. Of course we wouldn’t call it a road today! It is basically a rough rocky one lane track dug with a bull dozer and willing hands that follows closely the track Lewis and Clark took through the Bigroot Mountains westward in 1805 and eastwards in 1806. It was fascinating to know we were driving on the same rocks that the Corps of Discovery had ridden their horses across! It was slow going though; we probably averaged only 10 mph. We drove about an hour and a half, then turned around since it was getting late.

These mountains are rough! The journals talked about how disappointed the Corps of Discovery members were when they encountered ridge after ridge of mountains when they had been hoping for an easy path down from the Missouri headwaters to the Pacific. It took them 9 days to cross the mountains heading west, but only five days coming east. They were intelligent enough to use Indian guides, or they would never had found their way across before starving. As it was, they had major malnutrition when they encountered friendly Nez Perce on the westward journey. The skies were filled with a haze from forest fires somewhere, so the pictures really don’t do it justice. It was amazing.

Old fires are providing a bed for new growth

It is hard to see the rows of mountains, but look carefully by the two tall trees

The shaggy bark shows just how old this tree is

Today we went to the Garnet ghost town. It is advertised as the most complete ghost town in Montana, and I believe it. The town was part of the gold rush in 1898, and it participated in some of the waves of mining off and on until the 1940s.

An ice room was attached to the back of the store. See the chute for the ice?

Fun facts about the hotel: The first floor had a ladies parlor, office, and very fancy dining room. Second floor had guest rooms, and the third floor rented floor space to the miners! There were lines marked on the floor, and a miner could layout his bedroll there. Rather a different view of housing.

We have our anniversary tomorrow, and we have reservations for a boat tour on Flathead Reservoir followed by dinner. Tuesday we head west again. No posts until then.

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