Such a fine sight to see . . .

 

November 13th - our 41st wedding anniversary and we celebrated by going on an excellent field trip in northern Arizona with our friends Ruth and Wayne.   In case you were wondering  - yes, I was 10 years old when we got married. :)
 The first stop was the Petrified Forest National Park. It is a huge park which includes desert shrub as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands.  This park is about 26 miles east of Holbrook.  It parallels historic U.S. Route 66 so we saw a lot of old buildings and items from a previous era along the way.
It is hard to believe that dinosaurs and huge trees were once alive on what is now desert.  It was odd to see the huge petrified  trees everywhere.

Close up of the pretty rock that was once a giant tree.  My dad took us kids out rock hunting on many an occasion and instilled in us all a real interest in rocks.  I remember finding a small piece of petrified wood being a big deal.  These were literally a "big" deal.
The northern part of this park extends into the Painted Desert.

These are called the Tepees.   Unfortunately the day was overcast and the pictures not nearly as amazing as they could have been.

The desert here is composed of stratified layers of erodible siltstone, mudstone and shale.   The layers of rock contain iron and manganese which provide the various colors.

 On top of the front ridge you will see  huge petrified log pieces. The smaller pieces of petrified wood have fallen down the sides of the sandstone.

 Much of the area is protected but there are hiking trails available, we were able to drive along the rim and stop off at many of the look outs along the way.  It was very well set up.

                                               some of the old stuff along Route 66  (ha)

 Winslow Arizona is a pretty tired little town but we did enjoy lunch and of course" Standing on the corner"

 It was getting late afternoon by the time we left Winslow so we drove about an hour to our hotel which was close to  Flagstaff.  It was a beautiful hotel with huge room and a bathroom nearly as big as my whole house! 
The next morning we headed to the Meteor Crater   This roadrunner was busy admiring himself in the reflection of the window at the visitor center there.

 The meteor crater, they say, is the best preserved and first proven meteorite impact site on earth.  We stopped and watched the short video showing how they feel the meteor ended its 500 million year long race through space headed toward earth.  It travelled approximately 26,000 miles per hour.  The crater is nearly a mile across and more than 550 feet deep.  The terrain resembles that of the moon so it is a training site for the Apollo astronauts.

I could not get far enough away to get a shot of the whole crater but it is mind boggling.  They said 20 football fields could fit on the floor of the crater

              This is a piece of the meteorite they had on display.  It looks like a giant chunk of metal.

After our tour of the Meteor Crater we headed north of Flagstaff to the Sunset Crater Volcano
As soon as we got a little higher in elevation and saw the trees I realized how much I miss the forest.  So beautiful to see the huge pine trees as well as stellars jays and some juncos.

               We were able to walk right on the lava field and it was black as far as the eye could see.

 The volcano erupted in 1085 which of course changed the landscape and its inhabitants.  There are interesting plants and trees that have learned to grow in the new environment that are not seen other places in Arizona.  There were a lot of beautiful Two Needle  Pinyon Pines and cedar trees.

                                                                      even some Aspen

      I think you can see the actual crater from the other side of the volcano.  Even the sand was black.

The next stop was Wapatki National Monument where we looked at the remains of the many settlement sites throughout the monument.  They were build by the ancient Pueblo peoples and have been standing for more than 900 years

 The dwelling's walls were constructed from thin, flat blocks of the sandstone and held together with mortar. The largest settlement in the monument is the Wapatki Ruin. With over 100 rooms, this is the tallest and largest of the time period. 

The ruins in all of these photos is called the Wukoki complex.  It is believed to be built by the ancestors of today's Hopi Tribe.  2 or 3 families lived in this complex.

We were able to climb up and into the rooms and go through doorways and look out the windows.

It was a jam packed 2 days and a really good way to see a lot of interesting things in a relatively short time. 
 

                    Vancouver Island to Banff, Alberta

The day after our Tofino trip was a warm and sunny one so Don and I took a drive north of Campbell River.  We stopped at a pretty little town called Sayward.The industry there is mostly logging, but I wish we would have done a little research before going as there are forestry tours and an estuary we could have visited as well.

                                              The breakwater is made of old rusty ships

These tug boat drivers are quite talented and also - for lack of a better word - fearless.  They push the log booms and it looks like they are going to tip over.  We watched them sort the logs, stack them in a holder to bind them together, then drop them down a log ramp into the ocean.  From there they are put in huge log booms and hooked together until a huge tug comes and takes them in the ocean to wherever they need to go.

             Hopefully this little video works, I have never tried putting one in a blog before.
On our way back to Campbell River we stopped at the trailhead for the ripple rock trail.  We only walked to the first look out.  The tide was out and the beach is always interesting.  I had forgotten the card to my camera which was annoying to me.  But Don thought it was great hiking along without stopping every 10 steps to get a picture of something.  

 I did shoot this one with my phone.  These pretty little wild bleeding hearts and coral bells were everywhere. The different types of flowers and flowering trees on the island is amazing.

One day we went to Campbell River and picked up some delicious crabs at a place called Crabby Bobs.  They did not have fresh shrimp or much else fresh as the fishing season has not quite started yet.  She said they would be putting the prawn traps out the next day.  That is one thing we would have liked to have seen but didn't was the commercial fishing.

All along the ocean there is so much to see.  Someone has a great talent and has made a few driftwood sculptures.  There are places to stop and buy eggs, plants etc.  I stopped and bought some beautiful peppers and tomatoes at a little wooden stand at the end of the person's drive.  Honor system, just drop your money in the box.   Love it!

             We got a kick out of this sign, there was another for organic firewood as well.

 I called this one the coolest seafood restaurant ever.  This stump was loaded with all kinds of shells.

 I was not the only one watching this eagle.  The crows and sea gulls were pretty interested in the catch, but none of them dared approach until he was out of sight.

 this is a juvenile eagle coming in for a landing.  I spent as much time on the beach as I could the last couple of days.  It is truly amazing how different the beach can be every single day.  The tide is always different and there are always eagles and herons and of course sea gulls to watch.  Mother nature sure knows how to put on a great reality show!

The sound and smell of the water is hard to explain.  I love the gentle lapping of the waves and a huge deep breath of  the sea air is like nothing else.

A woman who lives in the resort told me that they had seen whales in the evening so I went down every night but no luck.  We did see seals and sea lions tho.


We reluctantly packed up our RV and headed to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to Vancouver.  We had originally thought we would do some visiting along the way but with the flooding in the Okanagan and the logistics of who to visit and when was a little overwhelming, so we decided to head for home. Besides, it is time to see our family!!

 That is our ferry coming in to get us!
The day was sunny but very cold.  It was hard to stay outside on the sun deck for long and even harder to stay upright at the front of the moving ferry.  Again, I had hoped to see some whales, but nope!!

                                                  That is Vancouver off in the distance.

                    There was lots of action on the ocean.  All kinds of barges and container ships etc.

          No blog is complete without a picture of these beautiful smooth barked trees.  Right??

The drive from Vancouver to Hope B.C was beautiful.  We saw so many waterfalls spilling down from the mountains.

   We went through Abbotsford which apparently is the raspberry capital of Canada.  Who Knew??
After we got parked for the night we walked along the highway to a trail head for the Flood Falls.

It was about an hour hike in total and was a nice way to end the day.  It was a little late by the time we got back and a little dark in the forest.  Luckily for us Boo Boo and Yogi were down the road.

 The next day we headed out to Revelstoke.  We went on the Coquihalla highway and the views were amazing.  More waterfalls everywhere.

We stopped at this rest sight along the way, it is the site of the driving of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, signifying the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885.

Where's waldo?

 Today's drive from Revelstoke to Banff was fantastic.  We went over the Rogers Pass, and passed through three national parks, Revelstoke, Glacier and Yoho.  There is a lot of snow on those mountains and we saw a lot of parks Canada workers out checking the area, I suppose in preparation for parks opening.  Spring is a beautiful time to see the water running down from mountains and in the nearby rivers as the leaves haven't blocked the view yet.  
We saw a number of areas where they were cleaning up from mudslides as well as avalanches. 
There were a few flaky rain drops along the way - if you get my drift??  But no major precipitation.  We walked around by the Banff springs hotel and then into town for dinner and walk along the streets.  Its amazing how many people are here and even tour buses.  There was a wind and both of us felt quite chilled.  

Vancouver Island was a wonderful experience.  Although the weather could have been better, we saw so many things that you would not see in other seasons or conditions.  I enjoyed the spring flowers and blooming trees so much.  We were super lucky to have Rick and Janet to give us pointers and take us to so many interesting places.  Don got to go out fishing 3 times and although they didn't get many fish, we did eat it one night and it was amazing.
Janet introduced me to some really fun ladies and we had a few coffee dates after water aerobics and a couple of card nights with a lot of laughs.
We have tons of pine needles stuck to the RV and to the floor inside for that matter - and they make me smile. It was a losing battle trying to vacuum those up.  Walking on the grass in the resort is like walking on a thick carpet of moss and there are pine needles and cones and bark chunks everywhere.  
Everyone should go to Vancouver Island at least once.  It is truly a place like no other. 
 

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