Washington State, Day 7

We are in Washington, on a peninsula on the west coast.  We don't have cell phone service and we don't have our Jeep internet.  So we bought some for the night thru World Mark, our condo owner.  Anyway, we are well, interested, learning, and pooped!  Who ever knew that driving and riding would wear a person out?

Tomorrow night, we found out about an hour ago, that our resort is on an island and we will have to take a ferry.  For goodness sakes, it was a good thing we got around and was digging out information.  What if we had gotten there tomorrow after the last ferry of the day?  We'd been out the money for that condo and we'd have been sleeping in the Jeep.

By the way, I came prepared to sleep in the back of the Jeep if need be.  I've been telling Himself that we might have to, before we get back home.

Anyway, photos from today!

 

We met Doug for lunch and would loved to have met Chris too but that wasn't to be.  We had a good visit.  Mary Pat wasn't able to come as she was having to drive son Mike to some friend get together.

 

I love the Oregon and Washington coasts. 

 

This is the lovely bridge over the Columbia River at Astoria.  It is so very high above the water. 

 

This is another view of the bridge.  In addition to being high, it is also very long.

But not as long as the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge

 that we took our children through, way back when. 

 

 

 

I have so many more photographs but it is late, I'm tired and I'm still learning windows 8.1 on this laptop.  I have not figured out how to transfer photos so I am copying them one at a time.  

Oregon, Day 6

We finished up the last 20 miles of California today and plunged into Oregon.  We are driving Oregon 101 highway and I am enjoying every minute of it.  The wind howled inland today, 40 miles per hour (I'm guessing).  We heard that at Newport Oregon, the wind peaked at 57 mph or thereabouts. 

I think I have finally lined up some photos to put in here so I will do that and call it a day.

The Oregon Coast. 
It was overcast at times and perhaps even smoky at other times.
We also had beautiful sunshine but always the wind blew today. 

We had many beach stops and lots of exploring.

Cape Blanco, a working lighthouse but since it is electrified, there is no lighthouse keeper anymore.
 

A redwood stump but not a big redwood stump.
 

The wind was so strong and cool that I wore a winter coat on the beach.
 

In this area, Newport and south, we saw a half dozen of these 1920s Art Deco bridges with cement and metal ornamentation.  I love this one.  It looks like a gothic church.

Tomorrow we will meet Doug, finish up the shoreline of Oregon and stay at a World Mark condo in Washington State. 

Day 5. California, here we come!

 

 

holy mackerel we are in California.  In five days we have traveled six states, more than 2000 miles and Himself has added two new states to his list of 'been theres'  Today we have found the Pacific Ocean and the redwood trees. We had a picnic under the trees, hiked the trails at Trinidad ocean park, toured the Trees of Mysteries and rode a sky lift between the tall trees -- then collapsed in our little cabin just outside Oregon. 

I have been practicing selfies . . . but I have got to learn to smile.  I have probably taken six and this is the best . . . and it is not good.  If I look 'so so', then Himself looks grumpy.  At least this is good of Lanny.  Once again, I am having trouble getting photos in here.  When I am home again, I will need tutoring by Maddie.  We got a new laptop and it has Windows 8 (looking to update to 10) and I can't manage my photos.  Help me, Maddie!  Help me Maddie! 

   

Day 4, California

Himself was up at 5 am today as usual and was going to let me sleep in but I rolled out and we were fed, watered, packed and on the road at 9 am.  We had mountain passes, pine trees, S curves and switchbacks from Reno to Redding.  We checked into a small private lodge mid afternoon.  We are in a drought area.  The grass is dead, trees look distressed and the lakes are drying up. 

We found some small town Mexican food for supper, and basically have just lounged and caught up on our rest and relaxation today. Tomorrow, we are headed for the pacific coast then north to the Redwoods at Crescent City, Ca. 

I simply cannot get the photos to upload in here tonight.  We are finding internet connection challenges and thought we had it figured out with Wi-Fi in the Jeep -- but that only works if there is satellite or tower connection.  So, maybe some photos tomorrow!  

Westward Ho Day 3

We got around and out the door right at 8 am this morning. Without too much difficulty we found our road to take us to Pine Canyon Road from Midway over to Salt Lake City. We have mainly been on the Interstates  this trip and will be again most of today so we want to steal an hour to take a scenic route to get us back to our roots and back onto I80. Himself drove and i was glad of that as the road started out pretty narrow and really curvey and wind ie with switchbacks and hairpin turns. It climbed right up to 8600' altitude. Even though it rained and the temperature dropped to 58 degrees at the top it was a perfect way to start the day. 100 miles from Salt Lake City, past the Great Salt Lake to Nevada later, we ate a picnic lunch and then climbed into the Jeep to hit it hard to Reno. Nevada was interstate all the way except for a 40 mile wild goose chase looking for bulldozed ghost towns. Nevada marks ghost towns on the map so we took off cross country hoping to find old foundations and artifacts from the Gold Rush era but it was not to be. They are all gone now we think. What I will remember about Nevada is . . . Trucks hauling goods from one end of this great country to the other. So many big rigs!! Also buttes and rocks and mountain passes. Other than ghost towns there was nothing to lure us off the interstate. But maybe we just had a bad map? Tonight. We are worn out!  We have had two time changes in two days and have driven a couple of thousand miles. Tomorrow . . . California or bust!!

Westward Ho Day 2

After a rough night where Himself said he didnt sleep all night (but I know he did ; ) and I said I was awake most of the night (but he swears I was asleep most of the night, we are on the road again. We had noisy neighbors and 1 queen bed. This is not our usual mode of travel but we have been burning up the pavement on Interstate 80. Through most of Nebraska, Wyoming and soon right on through to St Lake City, Utah we are using this road has a means to an end. We spent an hour or more exploring an old frontier fort in western Wyoming, Fort Bridger. Then we pressed on to Midway, Utah where we found an opening in a Worldmark condo. Yes! 2 bedrooms and no neighbors! We drove into Salt Lake City this evening and had a short tour by two very young Morman Missionaries. We were totally impressed with their poise and composure and knowledge of The Morman Church.  Up and attem in the morning,  breakfast at the condo then off we will go to see The Great Salt Lake then over the 'hills' to Reno.  Stay tuned : )

Westward Ho, page 1

We headed out about 8 am this morning. We are not wasting anytime. Well not much anyway. The co-pilot thought he didn't need the iowa map to get us across the Missouri River at Plattsmouth so we ended up south at Nebraska City which was only a bit south of Lincoln - our intended destination. We drove straight on until noon when we had a pit stop and a picnic lunch at an I80 rest area. We didn't stop again until about 2 pm when we got gas. A small bite of chocolate and we are again putting medal to the pedal. Our intent now is to take a short detour off the interstate and through the Sand Hills. We aim to get as far as Cheyenne, Wy yet today. And we made it! We stopped about 5 CDT for supper at Dennys. Dennys was our 3rd try using the GPS for guidance. The food was good and the caffeine revived us enough to drive another 2 and a half hours to Cheyenne.  Now PaPa is sleeping and i am unwinding. We are looking forward to Day 2!

road tripping

 

 

 

Sister Beth came to the cabin for a couple of days. She and I are well matched. We honor the other's photo eye. We like cemeteries, churches, back roads, rust and peeling paint. Friday after lunch we meandered back roads to Trenton. We stopped for cemeteries, cows, photo ops. We drove back 1-1/4 mile to an Amish home to buy huge, fresh black berries. This was sort of serendipitous as Beth had told me that grandson, Jake likes blackberry pie for his August birthday. We limped home and helped Lanny make supper of pork, corn on the cob, cucumbers and garden tomatoes.  Next morning we gathered up neighbor Bill and took off out the other direction, hitting the plank bridge, one lane roads, two other private lake communities - one even smaller than Twin Lake.  We were going to eat in Jamesport but could only find one restaurant serving $12.00 lunch buffets and we all knew we couldn't do that justice so we high tailed it over to Trenton and ate $7.00 Chinese buffet and we all got enough to eat including Himself who still isnt sure he likes Chinese food. After lunch we turned the horses toward home and wandered our way to the Amish store where we bought a little produce and PaPa asked the crew of good looking Amish young men where were they headed (to pick up hay) and they answered politely and were courteous and respectful. Beth stayed over again Saturday night, got up and hit the road by 8 am. She was headed home to get to church. I deemed her the winner of the photographs this trip and we planned another weekend in October.

Instincts

This time of the year when the cucumbers are setting on and the tomatoes are ripening, deeply enngrained habits and intutitions take hold of me.  When my grandparents were young there was no electricity to cool or cook. There were no refrigeratored train cars or trucks to bring produce or staples to the midland. These folks knew if they weren't going to starve in December or January, they better preserve every bit of food they could get their hands on.   They picked wild strawberries, plums and berries. The  even used windfall apples, peaches and pears. They picked them from the ground and from the tree. They made them into sauce, butter and pies and cobblers if they couldn't get them saved or preserved. They buried whole fruits, carrots, potatoes, turnips underground so they wouldn't freeze or they would lay them by in a root celler if they were fortunate to have one.   Meat was harder to preserve.  You could salt down fish or beef. You could dry deer or pork and beef. You could wait until it was cold enough to hang the carcass and let it freeze  but would be in trouble if there was a warm spell.   By my great-grandparents time there were methods and equipment available to can meat, beans, tomatoes and fruit if you had the food stuffs or the means to buy them.  Living was more complicated in the old days.  Old folks worked at farming, gardening and such as long as they were physically able because that was their way of life . . . and the means to their survival.  Now in garden and harvest time my survival instincts kick in. Innate behaviors urge me to grow, reap, pick and scavage. I want to can and freeze and make jelly and pickles.  I pick the neighbor's wild plums. I harvest rhubarb, I freeze the leftover sweet corn so it won't go to waste and know it will taste good come winter.   My survival does not,  of course,  depend on me canning, freezing or drying food products but I am happy that I do these things and I am rewarded and gratified when I see the jars and bottles stacking up on the shelf. And I breathe easier about the approaching winter.