Wild Rivers and Big Sky, Pt. 2

Eastward we head, through the wheat fields of Idaho. (Yes I know there should have been potatoes, but we didn't see that many, just miles of wheat and barns.)

I thought Dr. Pierce's General Tonic might be a cure for our new "improved" health system, when served with a bit of gin.

We arrived in West Yellowstone and were greeted by a herd of life-sized painted buffalo. I had seen the painted cows of Chicago but the town of West Yellowstone choose buffalo to decorate and auction off. Some of them were beautifully done.
I love this red one below with petroglyphs of buffalo

And sure enough, just after we entered the park we saw this guy for real.
But I came for geysers and mudpots and I wasn't disappointed when I saw these plumes in the distance.
From Yellowstone it is possible to drive through the Grand Tetons National Park

to the town of Jackson Hole. WY, where the old west is still alive, according to the city planners . I did spy this lovely old neon sign, however and I'm always happy to see them preserved.

Also, we can recommend highly the Snake River Brew Pub in Jackson.

From Wyoming, we moseyed west to Craters of the Moon National Park. This was one of our stopovers on a trip across the US in the summer of 1970. The park consists of mostly inaccessible lava beds with one corner set aside for camping. That night's Park Ranger's presentation was on the Oregon Trail which passed through as Goodale's Cutoff at the north end of the park. The lecture was fascinating and from then on I kept an eye out for remnants of the trail. Here we are parked on a portion of the Cutoff visible and still used (for reenactments)
The next day we followed the amazing Snake River along it's route to eastern Oregon.
We spent the night in Joseph, checked out Wallowa Lake, and lunched at the supremely excellent Terminal Gravity Brew Pub in Enterprise. If you detect a theme here, it might be called "Destination Brew Pubs Tour of the West."

I 'll leave you with another lovely neon sign.

Wild Rivers and Big Sky

What started as a two-night Peace Corps campout turned into an excellent 2200 mile road trip.

We began with two nights in Seattle visiting college friend, Barbara and her husband Daryl, first stopping in Tacoma, Washington, to see the Chihuly glass bridge. Covering the ceiling of the bridge is an assemblage of glass sculptures, back-lit by natural light. I suffered serious neck-crick staring up at the amazing effect.

The nearby city hall, formerly a train station, had a complicated Chihuly chandelier hanging inside the 2-story atrium and circular sculpture on the 2nd floor balcony.

Next stop was a group camp area outside of Levenworth WA on the aptly named Icicle River. We were able to pitch our tent on a secluded bank overlooking the river below us.

The river also came in handy for dishwashing since it was a dry camp.

This annual campout is arranged by the Oregon, Washington and Idaho Returned Peace Corps Volunteers which gave everyone the opportunity to visit with friends and to tell/retell their Peace Corps adventures.

The next stop was a night in the town of Levenworth, which it turns out is an attempt to recreate an Alpine village: think Disneyland meets scenic river valley. I wasn't inspired to take photos there but we did have good German sausage. Happy 39th Anniversary to us.

Next stop was Coeur d'Alene Idaho. We loved that there was a large natural headland right in the city where you can hike, sun in secluded coves or dive from the rocks right in town.
Tomorrow --- Yellowstone. Stay tuned.

After the Wedding

Yes, there is life back in San Miguel after the wedding of the year. (It must have been, considering it took place only 3 days into 2009.) I've had a request for a photo of the mother and father of the bride so here it is. Of course there are plenty of photos on Melissa's own blog.

We had a seamless trip home, this time returning our rental car at the San Diegio airport, then taking the Volaris airline bus from the Santa Fe station downtown across the border to the Tijuana airport. Our three-hour fight to San Miguel was right on time to the second and our Super Shuttle was waiting at the gate.



The next day was Three Kings Day, eagerly awaited by the children who get gifts from the Kings that day rather than from Santa Claus on Christmas day. This year we saw almost no Santa Claus' except at the big mall up the hill where you can choose to sit on the lap of Santa or a King. We ran into the Kings doing their business in the Jardin (main square). The children got sweets and they were handing out the colorful balls you see in the pickup trucks. I think that is the mayor with the crown.





Here's to a New Year full of promise and change. We wish you all the best.

The Wedding

Well, it happened and it went, in Melissa's own words, blissfully perfect. The day started with rain showers. The officiant, Kirsten, a yoga instructor and friend of Melissa's from college, started the morning with meditation and stretching for the bridal party women, focusing on the Sun Salutation to encourage the sun to shine. It worked and by evening the sky was a mass of changing clouds over the ocean off the cliffs of Pt. Loma. Since the wedding was at sunset Melissa and Tim decided to do formal portraits before the ceremony. This photo, taken by Scott Hatelstad of San Diego, is my first peek at some of the wonderful shots captured by the 18 professional photographers in attendance.

In the next couple of days more photos will be available. Until then you can read a review of the wedding at I Do Monday Morning, a blog by a woman who covers the San Diego wedding scene.

Congratulations to Melissa and Tim Selenak!

Seattle, Victoria and Home Again

1,200 miles later we are back home and glad to see gas prices are dropping. We actually found a $3.99/gallon near our house! The Prius did well averaging 52.6 mpg since we returned from the California trip.

Seattle provided several beautiful shirt-sleeve days for walking downtown. One day we left the car behind and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island with our friend Barbara where we enjoyed refreshment overlooking the marina. Bainbridge is a lovely town with easy ferry access to Seattle.





Victora BC was a late addition to this road trip so we headed back north from Seattle and took the 3-hour ferry from Anacortes to Sydney BC and drove down Vancouver Island to Victoria. Our hotel room gave us a great view of the water, a houseboat marina and the seaplanes taking off and landing. A walking trail took us along the water into the Inner Harbor and the stately Empress Hotel. Bryan took this photo because all the taxis here (and in Vancouver) are Prius. Smart decision by them.








One day we took a ferry to Salt Creek Island. It was supposed to be a hippie hangout but it looked like the hippies of the 60s were pretty well established and comfortable in their oceanfront homes and shops. This gate and a lot of guys with big beards were the only hangover of the 60s we found.

One more ferry ride back to Port Angeles and we headed home, heeding the the call of raspberries and blueberries waiting for us to pick them.

Rainforest Hike

Saturday we hiked to see petroglyphs on Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous United States. Here is Bryan standing, we think, on that point.
















The hike took us 3 miles through Olympic National Park rainforest, mostly on a boardwalk, and emerged onto the beach where we found the rock carvings a mile down the beach. The boardwalk was ok but the beach presented a challenge with fallen trees, driftwood. really large rocks and incoming tide.





















Fortunately our room had a really large soaking tub to recover from the adventure.

Olympic Majesty

Our July road trip started in Portland on Tuesday and took us north to Long Beach Washington for one night. The next day we took our time, stopping to explore historic towns, including the clamming/crabbing town of Tokeland. (If you want to go pick up that boat, I'll tell you where it is.)

We continued around the Olympic Peninsula to Discovery Bay where we have 4 nights in a super-comfortable condo right on the bay with plenty of time to explore the area around Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

The highlight so far has been a hike along Hurricane Ridge; the wildflowers were so plentiful and the Olympic range still has plenty of snow. It felt like we were in a Sound of Music video.






























We replenished our supply of U-Pick raspberries and took a look around a lavender festival in Sequim, We have one more full day before we head back south to Seattle for two nights. Once we booked the Worldmark resorts for this trip we decided to add Victoria BC so we will head up to Canada after the weekend.
















More as this trip continues.

Joyce and Bob's House Concert

All around South West City, Missouri, acoustic music fans mark their calendars for the second Saturday in June at my sister Joyce and her husband Bob's house concert on the grounds of their 120 year old home. About 150 people show up, some arriving Friday night for choice camping spots around their ponds. By mid-day Saturday the kids are swinging on ropes into the pond or canoeing or generally running around while their parents pick and strum and enjoy good food.

This year the entertainment featured Shannon Wurst and 3 Penny Acre , with Ernie Hill opening.

After the formal part is over, the picking, strumming and singing goes until the wee hours followed by a hearty breakfast in the morning. I'm glad I got to be there there this year. And in answer to the obvious question, no, I don't play...but I listen real good.