June 2 - Transition

Sad to see Warren off at Seattle airport this morning.  We had a great 9 days.  Covered a lot of ground; really hit some great spots and had a lot of laughs.  For me - a special week.  The week provided a nice opportunity to really get to know each other.  Cottage opening/closings are becoming rarer and Duffy Christmas doesn't provide enough time to really spend quality time together.  I will always have good memories of this past week.

So, I am in transition.  Dave will arrive tomorrow (Monday) and will bring a couple of old Ottawa friends along from Vancouver.  I go back with Mike Delaney and Mike Gormley to high school days. We are planning a couple of days in Seattle and Dave and I will be heading into the mountains Wednesday (June 5) morning. We will cross the Northern US, initially on old HWY #2, playing some golf each day.  Plan a dip down for some sights, once we hit Montana with plans to cross through Yellowstone National Park, visit Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn and then on to Mount Rushmore.  Hope to play golf all the way, but will have to see if we can keep the pace. Should be a hoot.
Turned the corner now.  As the old Beatles song says - On my Way Home!

June 1 - Mount St. Helens

I guess that most of you know that the top of Mount St. Helens  blew off about 33 years ago.  Thirteen hundred feet of the mountain was gone.  The devastation was immense.  The blast zone was 16 miles (virtually total destruction). The debris from the volcano moved down the mountain at 150 miles per hour.  Fifty seven people died and at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, you can read heroic stories of survivors who barely managed to get out of the way of the incredible deluge. One surprise for us was the incredible re-growth, both natural and man made.  

Many of us recall the National Geographic photos with the the tens of thousands of downed trees.  Much of that is now gone and only the immediate area at the base of the mountain is barren. Virtually all of the affected areas have now grown back in.

Here are a few of our pics : MSH

From Mount St. Helens we headed north for Seattle and Warren's departure Sunday.  Will say farewell to Warren tomorrow on the blog.

May 31 - Columbia Gorge

We drove north up through Oregon to Hood River.  Found a great pub (micro brewery) for lunch and then headed across the Columbia River to Washington state.  From there we headed west and followed the Columbia Gorge, crossing back to Oregon half way.  We traced the gorge for about 30 miles, ending up back in Washington state.  We then headed north to position ourselves for Mount St. Helens.  Here are our pics for today:  Gorge

May 30 - Crater Lake

Bet you never heard of Crater Lake.  We never did until today.  As the web page says "Like No Place Else On Earth".  We first heard about Crater Lake at the  information kiosk as we crossed into Oregon.  We met a very enthusiastic lady who said that people come from all over the world to see Crater Lake.  Only problem was that we would only be able to view the lake from one spot, since they had just received 8 inches of snow and the road north around the lake was closed. We decided to go in any event and are we glad that we did.   The road re-opened just before our arrival, but it was apparent that they had received a lot of snow. What a magnificent site. For us a real bonus as we were not expecting so much.  Take a minute to read the link above.  Incredible!

We have attached some photos (another photographer's dream)
Crater Lake, Oregon 

Here is our travel map the last couple of days: 
Northern Cal. to Oregon

May 28 - Yosemite

We're back!   After a couple of days of driving and locations without internet connections, I  guess you all thought we were lost.


We decided that telling the story of our day in Yosemite would just not cut it, so,  if a picture is worth a thousand words, then here are our pictures on video. This is for you, Erin. 

(Turn up your speakers and double click for full screen.)

May 27 - Death Valley

We loaded up our cooler with ice and water, filled up with gas and we were off to Death Valley early this morning. Death Valley is straight east of Lone Pine.  You need to cross two mountain ranges before you go down to the valley. Both mountain ranges were around 5000 foot climbs and descents.  On the way up you have to kill your air conditioner and as you get closer to Death Valley, it does get warmer - a lot warmer.  Drive over from Lone Pine was about 100 miles with about 60 of it in the mountains.  Death valley is absolutely worth going to. 

It would be hard to find too many places where conditions change so dramatically over the course of an hour or two of driving.  We explored about a quarter of Death Valley and went to about half of the recommended sites.  Among  a few of the spots we stopped at were:  The Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (hottest beach I've ever been on), Badwater Basin (The lowest point in North America at -282 feet), Zabriskie

Point (Death Valley's most spectacular views) and Artist's Drive a single road, one way drive of 15 Km, great for photography.  We found a great spot for lunch and began our return trip across the salt flats, over the two mountain ranges and down into our little valley at Lone Pine.  You do worry about your car a bit on a trip like this.  Outside temps are around 100F at this time of year and reach 116F in July. We didn't see a lot of service vehicles and our neat little 4G Hotspot stopped working for the first time (ie - no internet/no phones)  In any event, we made it and sure glad we went. A few pics: Death Valley

Here is a a long over due map update: Phoenix to LA to Death Valley

Tomorrow - Yosemite!

May 26 - My Turn

With LA in the rear-view mirror we took off for Lone Pine, about a 200 mile trek. Bob at the wheel and me navigating. And there it is - the 395 sign, our main highway to Seattle. I wish I had taken better notes if I had known I'd be writing this post!

 Along the way we saw some engineering feats - the LA Aqueduct (a 675km water delivery system) and the largest wind farm in America (which generates enough electricity for 600,000 homes). We keep the AC blasting to keep our gadgets from overheating but in return you can look up these types of facts when we need them!

 With the wind farm at our back we arrive in Lone Pine. LA was fast-paced and happening - Lone Pine is exactly the opposite. However, it happens to be perfect place for us to be for 2 nights as it is a junction for two contradictory sights - the highest mountain in the US (Mt Whitney - more below) AND the lowest point in North America (Death Valley).

 Driving up Mount Whitney was a thrill and over a span of 20 min we ascended 4000 feet to the highest drivable point - 8500 feet. When we couldn't go any further we got out at base camp where many hikers/campers were stationed.
We're drivers though (gas is our granola), so we took some scenic pics, jumped back in the car and rode down in 2nd gear. . . 

 Packing our supplies tonight and heading for Death Valley tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Here's our pics for today: My Turn