#3 Fall Adventure 2022 - Washington

We are moving quickly north and entered Washington State. This trip has lots of bridges to cross, many are "historic".

 The "view" of Mount Saint Helens - yes, the one that didn't exist. They assured us that it is out there. I think next time we need to schedule the time to get closer to the actual volcano. Great memories of waiting for it to erupt. There was a trail/boardwalk into the marsh area. I'll add the plant photos at the end of the post.

Our next "campsite" was a Harvest Host at Honeysuckle Meadery,  Down a dirt road, past some school bus residences-Dean wasn't sure where I was taking him or if he wanted to go there. It was wonderful! Our campsite was nice, more blackberries to pick and the mead tasting was yummy and fun.

Yes, we brought a few of those bottles home with us. Dean, the mead maker was fun and entertaining.

Onto the Olympic Peninsula . . . Our first camp was at Fort Wardon. 

We visited the Point Wilson Lighthouse. . . . 

Explored a few of the batteries.

Walked on the beach and down to the wharf. . . . 

Vanlife

Watson loves having our undivided attention. He has one of us (and prefers both of us) within 6' almost 100% of the time. Only on his own (in the van) when we go brush our teeth. Not at all spoiled.

Connection: Our phones work well most/some of the time so we have access to phone, text, email and facebook. I'm pretty bad at the typing on a small scale. 

I bring my computer but it is about the only thing that needs an electrical connection (everything else is solar) so I don't use it much. Discovered I didn't have enough memory to download all my photos! Whoops! Got an extra card but managed to lose a few days of photos so thank goodness for the cell phone camera.

We managed to go to church one Sunday. Amazing what technology allows us to do. Small screen and minimal audio but we were there!

Our next stop was Fort Flagler. So many old forts to explore. I don't like the need for forts but they are sure a lot of fun to explore. I think it is the architecture and the decaying building aspect that appeals to me. It was interesting to see the graffiti or lack of graffiti (quite a variety) Fort Flagler was fairly clean.

Fort Worden, Fort Flagler and Fort Casey (later in the trip) formed a triangle to protect the entry to Seattle.

Our first ferry trip, from Port Angeles to Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada. Watson is now a world traveler!

Lots of waiting for the ferry. We needed to be in line an hour ahead of time. You can see the van in the 3rd line back. Very friendly group waiting for the ferry-sort of like a block party.

Watson and I walked onto the ferry while Dean drove the van. This ferry had no elevators and Watson has been known to refuse to go up stairs. This was probably my biggest stressor for the trip-how to get Watson on and off the ferries. He was a champ though.

#2 Fall Adventure 2022 - Oregon

 We were close enough to Crater Lake that we just had to go take a peek. It was a glorious day and view. 28 years ago when we were there, I saw the lake for a few seconds and then it was GONE (into the fog). The lake is so beautiful but the view behind us was also quite wonderful. This spot of a good reminder to look all around, not just at the view they tell us to look at.

This was our day to visit people. We had coffee in Sisters, Oregon with Janet and Rich MacConnell, longtime friends. Sisters is a really cute town. We need to get back there for a longer visit.

The route through the mountains was, sadly, an area that had been affected by a fire a few years ago. We see burned areas on most of our trips. There were fires to the south of us and air quality was impacted. Luckily for us it cleared up a bit by the time we got there.

We met Bill and Cindy Golden at Silver Falls for lunch and a hike to one of the falls. Need to go back there! Beautiful!

The trail goes behind the waterfall.

The greeting committee at Gathering Acres! 10 - 8 week old puppies! Puppy Heaven! One of them wanted Watson to stay! A sweet and friendly cat also greeted us. The daughter was quite pleased and excited to take Watson for a walk. She was so good with him (and vice versa).

Gathering Acres is a Harvest Host. They are an event venue. They have an enchilada dinner available-so YUMMY! (They also have breakfast). We got a CSA box of vegetables from them also. 

We got on the road early and had breakfast in McMinnville. McMinnville is a fun, quirky town. Aliens did not serve us but we did see one at the theater. 

A few shots of Watson in the van. He loves having our undivided attention and takes over the seating and the floor. The van is just the right size for 2 adults and a large dog.

Fall Adventure to Points North (First Post)

Sept. 10 we took off for points north. Our plan is to be on the road for a month travelling up to Vancouver Island, Canada and then the San Juan Islands in Washington. There are a few fires going now and we will be watching the road closures and air quality. As we left there was a fire closing the road near Weed.

Lake Shasta (above) was really low. I think lower than last year. Since we got home they announced that they found a sunken boat from WWII era.

Our first camp was at Sims Flat (NFS)--This is our "go to" choice when we head north on 5. Timing is right, nice campground and it is not very busy (haven't been during bust season though).

Watson and I took a walk to explore. The CCC had a camp here and there are several remaining sites.

Blackberries were ripe! Yum! We had hot cereal with fresh berries for breakfast! Yum! Yum! Yum!

After leaving Sims Flat we were able to continue on the route we had planned. Weed, proper was in good shape. We saw signs for the "Local Assistance Center" though (there were evacuations). When we left town, we did see how close the fire had come to town and it was right there!

After leaving Weed we stopped at the Memorial Sculpture Garden for All Veterans. It was very moving.

Honoring the Medics

Honoring the POW's. Took me back to see the POW/MIA bracelets.

This one was called "Homecoming"

Our next stop was the Tulelake Internment Camp. This was as close as we could get-it is only open for guided tours on the weekends. Similar to Manzanar, this is a very stark, harsh landscape. It can be beautiful in its own way but hard living here.

We camped at Lava Beds National Monument. We had some visitors across from our campsite.

The deer came by a few times while we were there.

The landscape at Lava Beds is very other worldly. Vast fields of almost black lava. Lots of lava tubes to be explored. Only one of the caves has lighting so they recommend bringing multiple flashlights (they said 3). The tubes are fairly short. We both explored the Mushpot tube (with lighting) and each went in one other. Having Watson with us meant that we were going in alone so we took it easy and didn't take risks.

Watson was disappointed to see that pesky "no dogs" sign. He wouldn't have gone down the ladder anyway.

There are always interesting things to see while we are waiting. The Mushpot cave was surrounding by a nature trail with a wide variety of native plants.

Down the steep stairs.......(and those metal railings get really, really cold)

Watch your head. Some of the clearances are pretty low.

Vast areas of lava. There had been a fire a few years ago so many of the trees were burnt, giving an even more desolate feel to the area.

There have been people living here for a long time. Petroglyphs give evidence of many years.

Moving on to Oregon

We decided to move on to Oregon a day early. Found Jackson F. Kimball State Park, on the way to Crater Lake. Small, out of the way, pretty state park. We pretty much had the park to ourselves. (one other car, arrived late and left early). Really beautiful river next to it. It was cool enough to get out the wool hats but we were warm and toasty in the van at night.

The traditional "morning coffee" portrait.