Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Oregon to Washington

Today we set our from Madras and drove on highway 97/197 towards Castle Rock, WA where we are staying in a beautiful resort this evening.  This route is longer but due to snow in higher passes we chose to take this route which is about an hour longer.  It was also absolutely beautiful!
Pretty much as soon as we left Madras we could see Mount Hood.  What an amazing high glacier covered mountain.
The highway I suppose is typical mountain roads but to us prairie folks it was very windy and in many spots there are 90 or even 180 degree turns.
When you see a speed sign you do not ignore it that's for sure.  The road was smooth and there was a shoulder so that was super nice. There was a lot of smooth mesa type areas like in the picture above.  They had a layer of lava rocks along the top and there were lots of smaller lava rocks which I have never seen before, usually the ones I have seen are big black chunky rocks.


The scenery the whole was was fantastic.   The pictures, of course do not do it justice as most of them are "drive by shootings" 

There were beautiful bridges along the Columbia River near the Dalles which was a beautiful area.  We stopped at a rest stop near there and I was sure wishing we could stay in one of the state parks in that area.
                                     A lot of fruit orchards and vineyards in this area too!

                                         We saw a lot of alpaca farms as well as a lot of cattle.
                                                                 More orchards





               It was fun to watch the boats and huge barges along the Columbia River as well
The following pictures are from the Toutle River RV resort in Castle Rock WA   This is not a cheap place but very pretty and well looked after.  There are a few of the "tiny houses" in the resort so I assume some people live here full time.  It was nice to walk around the park and enjoy the scenery and also not be shivering.  My sweat shirt and windbreaker were actually even too hot!

                                                  This pretty thing is an Oregon Grape
                                                        Likely a crab or mock orange??

A lot of the trees here flower in the spring.  We noticed that all through Nevada and Oregon.


                        This bush looked like it should be a raspberry but I have no idea??



That's it for today - tomorrow we stay in Anacortes so we can catch the ferry to Sydney, BC in the morning.

Monday, 10 April 2017

2017 Trip Home

We left Mesa on April 1, 2017.  About 400 units pulled out of the park that morning and it was looking kind of lonely there!  We travelled to Lake Havasu with Ruth and Wayne and then on to Vegas for two nights.  We parted ways in Vegas, they were heading to border to import their new motorhome and we were off to explore Oregon before heading to Vancouver Island.
We had decided to stay in the Reno area at Sparks, Nevada as we wanted to see Lake Tahoe and a few other attractions in the area.  As it turned out there was a huge storm that blew in from the coast and we pretty much did not go outside unless we had to.  The winds were high and there was a lot of rain and it was COLD!  We met up with people we know from Val Vista and they took us to a cute local restaurant for breakfast one morning.  Thanks Bob and Patti!  They are sort of celebrities there as they eat there once a week and entered a contest and won gift certificates to eat there for free.  Their picture is even on the wall in the restaurant.

The restaurant is called squeeze in and it has a cute history if you care to google it.  See all that writing on the wall behind us?
Finally, on Sunday the wind, snow and rain warnings were off and we headed out to Klameth Falls, Oregon.  The drive was going fairly well and then we got to Susanville, California!
We took the 139 California North.  Within minutes we knew it was going to be a long drive to Oregon with no option to bail out.  Immediately, I got my blankie, camera, snack and ditched my bra (sorry if that's TMI) and settled in to see a nature show.  Don, on the other hand, white knuckled the steering wheel and put foot close to brake pedal and prepared for a horror show.  Now, California is not known for its smooth highways, but I have to say it wasn't as bumpy as I expected.  The first 65 miles were with zero, and I mean zero shoulder and it was a very windy high up mountain road.

Speed was not an option and I saw so many pretty things which I had to describe to Don as he had to focus!  We could definitely see where the storm had hit this area in the previous few days.  There was water everywhere and snow in the higher elevations.  We travelled at 5000 feet for quite a while.  There was a pretty little creek/river that raced us for miles and miles.  Huge jack pines, cedar and another pine tree with red bark and long needles????lined the highway.  The trees were so close that the snow plopped down off the branches onto the highway in front of us.  They dropped giant pine cones beside the road.  I watched raptors, turkey vultures and even a blue bird out enjoying the sunny day.  Small rodents played chicken with our vehicle.
The highway improved a slight bit after about 70 miles and would have been way better not in a RV.  Of course, all these things amuse me so I quite enjoyed it but Don was happy to get to Klamath Falls last nite.
Next time we will heed this warning!   LOL   After getting settled in for the night we decided to cut our losses and get to Vancouver Island as soon as possible and leave exploring Oregon for another time.   So, today we drove to Madras, Oregon.  We will cross over on the ferry to the island on Thursday to join our friends Rick and Janet at Campbell River. 
Today's drive was very beautiful and scenic.  I saw a lot of bald eagles, and I think even some gold eagles, as well as egrets, ducks, geese and grebes. I watched a bald eagle drop his lunch and what I believe to be a gold eagle catch it in mid air.  How freakin cool is that??


As you can see there was a lot of snow! But the sun was shining and the sky was beautiful




 I think that might be a gold finch as it sure was yellow but it would not let me see its back!   It had a different call than I remember but hey, it's mating season and anything goes.  These pictures are from our campground that we are at tonight.  The air is so clean and fresh!  It's amazing how you notice clean air after breathing in pollution all winter.  HA   Tomorrow we have to take the long route in Washington as the passes are snow chain only.  I am looking forward to that ferry ride!!!!