Sequim Washington May 2012 Part 2

 Here is part 2 for the month of May. If you haven't read part 1, you should scroll down and
 do that first. Now on with the tour. We have covered a lot of the Olympic Peninsula, part of which is Hurricane Ridge. This is part of the national park and is a 16 mile drive to the top. When we were there the snow was still 10 feet deep. At the time I am writing this there is still 8 feet of snow. It was a beautiful drive and not too cold. It turns out that even though we thought we made it to the top, we were still a mile short due to the snow.

 


 Not too far from where we are "working" there is a house called the troll house.  You can see from the pictures where the name came from. The house and the grounds are very well maintained and all of the figures around are beautifully carved. These two fellows are only two of the four  that are corner post for a shed covering old buggies and farm equipment. I'm going to have to go back and get some pictures of the fence post which are also carved trolls...very cool stuff.

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That fellow to the right was guarding the drive to the orchards. There were also two beautiful iron gates with dragons on them at the orchard entrance.  This was a nice trip; very quiet and serene area, interesting and close. Right now gas is $4.35 a gallon. I'm told that Washington state has the highest gas taxes in the states. This area is sort of like New Mexico. It is a long way to anywhere. There are no roads across the peninsula. Highway US 101 runs all the way around it with several roads into the interior but none all the way across it. We drove all the way around it the other day and it was 335 miles. We had gone to Pacific Beach which is a town on the south western part of the peninsula. When it was time to head back home it was about the same distance so, we just kept going.

One of our latest trips was to the HOH Rain Forest. This is up on the western part of the Olympic Mountains. There are several trails thru the forest and a nice camp ground. Holly read the sign for one of the trails and said it was 1/2 mile long so I figured that was easy enough. Turns out it was a mile and a half (I'm really going to have to learn to read) but it was easy walking thru the forest and along the HOH river.

I still can not get over how large the trees are. Some of these things are big enough to hide the Jeep behind and are over 200 feet tall. When you're walking thru the rain forest you notice that there is hardly any area on the ground that isn't covered by some sort of plant. Even the tree limbs are covered by different kinds of mosses and lichens. They look like they are wearing sweaters made by some crazy old aunt that is always knitting things for people.

We tried to find a four leaf clover in all of this mess but could only find three's. Holly said she needed Adam along in order to find a four leaf (who's Adam?).  Notice the dime in the picture. I know these weren't clover but when you don't know what they are you just guess, unless it is poison ivy or oak. Sometimes it is good to know some stuff.

The trail we walked ran right between these two trees. Still haven't figured out how they knew those trees were going to fall right there. At least it gives you an idea the size of these things. Now you can see why I am just amazed at the size of them.

This is the HOH River. It's fed from the snows in the Olympic Mountains and it is very cold. The picture of me checking the temperature of the water was not one of the smartest things I've done. The bank was loose stones, the water was very fast, very deep and very cold. I'll have to work on that along with the reading.

No, that's not a spot on my camera lens. Look real close and see if you can tell what it is. OK I'll tell you, it's a quarter. Now you're wondering why I would take a picture of a quarter on the ground. I didn't. I took a picture of a quarter from a bridge looking down through a stream six inches deep. The water was so clear it was like it wasn't there. 

These two pictures were taken on our trip to Pacific Beach. This is on a beach that we could drive right down on. The tide was going out and we had to stay above the high tide mark with the Jeep but we took the dogs out and walked down to the water. The picture of the Jeep is taken from the water and it was still going out. The other picture is of a live sand dollar waiting for the tide to come back in before the birds find it. If you've never been to the ocean and haven't seen how the tides move, it's amazing.

 

That's it for now. I know what you are thinking,,,what are they going to do for the next five months? That's easy to answer,,,REST. No, not really.  There's still a lot of this state to see. In the next couple of weeks we'll take the ferry over to Seattle and spend a few days there. Our friends Jackie and Larry from New Mexico called and are in the state so hopefully we will be able to meet up with them. That's all for now. Look out June, you're next!

Sequim Washington May 2012 Part 1

Well as usual, I am running a little behind on the blog. After a short drive of 2500 miles we arrived in Sequim on May 1st. That's pronounced Squim...just drop the E. As you will find out, there are a lot of strange names for the towns around here. The park here is small with 42 sites. As you can see our site is a little cramped compared to what we had in New Mexico, but our view of the mountains is spectacular. Holly works in the office and I work outside cutting grass and doing minor repairs and odd jobs. We work two days then have four days off to wander and explore, which we've already done a lot of.

Sequim is located on the Olympic Peninsula. Basically the center of the peninsula is the Olympic National Park.  There are so many areas around the coast line that are part of the park. One of the first places we went was to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. This area combines the rainforest and shoreline of the Straits of Juan De Fuca.                                                                            

After walking thru the rain forest you walk down to the shoreline where there is a spit of land that sticks out in the straits with a light house on the end called the Dungeness Spit Lighthouse.  You can volunteer at this one for $375.00 per week per person. The only way to get there if you want to tour it is to walk along the waters edge, but only at low tide. It is a 5 mile walk one way and you have to go out and back before the tide comes back in. That is one of our goals...to take that walk.  The rain forest is amazing. It is so green and lush and the trees are enormous. It is such a change from the desert.

Our next trip was along the northern shore of the peninsula to all of the little towns such as Joyce, Piller Point, Clallam Bay, Sekiu, Neah Bay and on to Cape Flattery. This is the point where the Pacific Ocean and the Straits of  Juan De Fuca meet. The walk out to the cape is thru the forest and then all of a sudden there you are looking out over the ocean and the view is spectacular. There's an island just off shore that is called Tatoosh Island, named after an Indian chief. There's a lighthouse on the island that is no longer in use.
It has been replaced by a light on a tower that is automated. The island is going to be given back to the Indian tribe that it belonged to before so the fate of the lighthouse and buildings are unknown. It's a hard place to get out to so I think tours are sort of out of the question. There are some great pictures of the lighthouse from early years if you look up Cape Flattery Lighthouse on your computer.

We were on a little road trip when we saw the sign for Duckabush Rec Area. It was up Duckabush Road. Remember what I said in the beginning about strange names. When we got to the end there was a parking area for a water fall so we got out with the dogs and were going to make the hike until we saw the trail. It was narrow, muddy with tree roots and steep. Changed our minds and went to leave when I saw a two track off the end of the parking area. Off we went.  It got narrower and steeper and then around a curve was a large boulder. That ended that fun...now all we had to do was turn around and go back down.

For all of you Twilight fans,  we went to Forks and LaPush. We stopped by this sign and Holly took a picture of me standing by it for the grand kids. We drove around the town of Forks and visited the town of La Push. Very interesting to see all of the "Twilight" related businesses in Forks. The visitor center had maps of all of the Twilight buildings shown on it. The town of LaPush, which is on the Quilleute Reservation (where Jacob is from) is on the ocean and we went and walked on the beach by the bay. It is amazing to see all of the trees that were washed up on shore from the storms over the years. Some of them were larger then a car.

We found a rec area by LaPush that was right on the Pacific Ocean. The dogs loved running on the beach and chasing the waves and investigating all of the new smells. There was also some great places to take pictures.

We toured a Navy destroyer and went to a Navy Museum by the shipyard in Bremerton. We also went to the Navy Underwater Warfare Museum. It was an interesting place, dealing with the evolution of submarines and underwater diving. While we were there they had the change of command for the submarine USS Alabama and we were able to go. There are two complete crews for each sub so that it can spend more time at sea. The command change was for the Blue crew and it was very interesting. Well, I knew this was going to happen. I have run out of room so there will be a part "2" coming up for May. Told you we have been busy. Stay tuned...we have some great troll and rain forest pictures to come ( that's right I said troll).

April 2012-On the road again

 Okay, I know it's already May and I still have to get around to the blog for April. I've been just a touch busy, but things have finally slowed down. We left Elephant Butte the end of March. With a list in hand and a heavy heart we said goodbye to our New Mexico friends and headed home. After 3 1/2 days and 1700 miles we were able to see our family and friends in Michigan. It was so nice to see everyone again and sit and catch up. The trip home went well until we got to Oklahoma. That's where we ran into this funny looking green stuff all over the ground. The dogs were scared to walk on it and when they did, it was like they were walking on needles.

Mikayla as Iago

Brianna and Chloe with G-Pa

 It turns out that it was grass, something we hadn't seen in 6 months. The poor dogs were so used to walking on sand that they didn't know what to do when we stopped at rest stops for breaks. I didn't know that dogs could walk on their tippy toes.  It took some time but they finally got used to walking on it again. After arriving home we parked in the driveway and mooched off Krista for about 3 weeks. I was able to make a few repairs to the motor home and change the oil and filter. I was also able to fix a few things around the house.

Krista, Chloe,Mikayla and Brianna

 We had the privilege to see our granddaughter Mikayla as Iago in the play Aladdin. We also had the chance to see her play soccer. Holly had time to have lunches/dinners with her friends and go with Beckie to find out we are going to have a new grandson in August.We had a family get together with everyone and had a chance to say good bye before we left again. Time passed quickly and then it was time to leave home and head to Sequim Washington.

John, Beckie and Cameron

Krista and John

 We had a good trip for the most part. We ran into a little warm weather in Nebraska (102), rain in Utah, but we did get to visit with Holly's sister Kim in Ogden, whom I haven't seen in many years. We went through  wind, rain. snow and fog in the Blue Mountains of Oregon.

Wendy, Mike, Heidi and Graysen

 After a long 5 days and 2500 miles we arrived in Washington and stayed with Holly's sister Debbie.  We spent a couple of days in her driveway and had a chance to visit with her and Holly's Aunt Lorrie. I haven't seen Debbie since 1987 and this is the first time I've met Lorrie. While there we went to Kent and visited with my sister Debby and her husband David and son Ryan. We left Lake Stevens on Sunday and arrived at Rainbow's End RV Park in Sequim after a short 3 hour drive. It's a pretty park; small with only 42 spaces. We've met the other volunteers, some of the campers and have done some training in the office.  I'm really happy that I'll be doing mostly outside work. We're set up and ready for what we hope will be a great 6 months of exploring.  We've gone a few places already... it's a beautiful area with gorgeous mountains and water so we can't wait to see more. We'll see you all next month!

Holly and Kim

Elephant Butte State Park March 2012

 Well, as usual I am late with the blog for the month of March, but I had a technical difficulty. On with the show! The end of March has come and gone and so have we. We left Elephant Butte on March 24 and went to Albuquerque to meet our friends Jack and Lynn. After spending a day with them we headed home to Michigan. After spending 6 months in New Mexico we had to say good bye to all of our new friends. We had a wonderful time there. All of the volunteers and park staff were great. I think they spoiled us for anyplace else we may go.

 Last month I mentioned that we had bought a new Jeep. Well this is it. Cute isn't it?  It's a Wrangler Unlimited Sport. Not real fancy but it rides nice, has a sun roof (just remove the panels) and lots of leg room. It was getting hard for this old man to get in and out of the Saturn so we went and looked at Jeeps. The first dealer we went to was ok until they brought out "slick". He was part of the reason we drove to Albuquerque to buy it instead of Las Cruces where we first looked. I had to install the base plate and lights to tow it but that was fairly easy. It tows really well and it's fun to drive on the trails.

We took it up into a box canyon when our friends Jack and Lynn stopped by on their way to Arizona. We had a great day to wander and look at some pictographs that we were told were about five miles up in the canyon. We didn't get into any real hard core 4-wheeling but we did get into 4-wheel drive and crossed the same stream about a dozen times. Holly and I had taken the Saturn down a lot of roads (that's what the maps called them) but this is one place I would not have taken the car.        

Entrance to Ted Turner's Ranch.

                                      On  another trip we went by one of Ted Turner's ranches. It turns out he owns a lot of property in New Mexico. We were following a county road which was all gravel. We took of the top front panels (sunroof) and headed for the mountains. It turns out this road goes on and on and turns into a drive way for someone's ranch. Well we turned around and found a two track on the way back. That's right, you guessed it. Dropped the Jeep into four wheel drive and off we went. That was a dead end also so we turned around and went back and headed  home. A little bouncy but we had a ball.

 We were going to go on a little four wheeling trip with two other couples from the park who also own Jeeps. It rained the day before and you don't go into box canyons after it rains. Something about flash floods. The following week Holly and I headed for Caballo Mountain. You can see the top of the mountain from I-25 and it has a lot of tiny antennas on top. Well we found the road up to the top and started up. We started out at about 4500 feet and when we got to the top we were almost at 8000 feet and guess what? Those tiny antennas that you can see from the highway are not so tiny when you get to the top. 

 It was a little climb to get to the top but the view was well worth the trip, even for someone who has a little problem with heights (me). As you can see, the day was beautiful. The road was dusty and steep in the last little bit right at the top. The trip down was not as bad as the trip up (yeah right).

The view from the top is worth the trip up.

 While in Albuquerque on the way home we met Jack and Lynn who were now in Santa Fe and took the train into Albuquerque.  We picked them up at the train station and toured the town together. We visited Old Town and Jack and I had plenty of time to sit and talk while Holly and Lynn shopped (plenty of time). We went to breakfast at Weck's Restaurant. They make a great meal and boy, do they know how to use green chiles. For lunch we went to Church Street Cafe. Great Mexican food...one of my favorite places to go to eat in Old Town.

 We took the tram up to to top of Sandia Peak. It is one of the longest trams around and takes about 15 minutes to get to the peak which is just over 10,000 feet (this is where the height thing comes in again for me). There was a ski resort on top and their web site said they still had a 30 inch base. It was chilly but not cold. Holly and I went in shirt sleeves, Jack and Lynn were wearing coats (they are from Florida you know). While we were there some guy jumped off a cliff face. Good thing he was para sailing or he might have gotten hurt.

 It was so nice to spend more time with them. They have been friends for years and it has been a long time since we were able to spend time together. Hopefully they will get their motor home on the road more often and we'll be able to get together again. After the trip down the mountain (it's the height thing again) we dropped them at the train station and said our goodbyes. We then headed back to the RV park after stopping for ice cream. I still needed to decide what route we were going to take home and hopefully avoid all of the bad weather that was going on in the mid west. I really don't like fighting the weather. 

Lee and Gloria

Mary Lou, George, Us, Manny, JoAnn &Frances, Betty&Frank, Bob&Wilma

Holly and Marv

George (the raging Cajun)

                                                                                                                     After all of our time away we were ready to go home and face the kids (I mean see the kids). Holly has been getting a little excited to get home and I guess I was too. We made good friends, saw a lot of New Mexico, ate a lot of Mexican food, and had a wonderful time during our stay. These are some of the great people that helped make our stay so nice. The only ones we didn't get a picture of are Joe and Rae.We are going to miss them all and we hope to return to Elephant Butte at a later time but for now there are way to many places to visit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     So we say goodbye for now to our friends and wish them all safe travels as many of them, like us, are moving on to other places. We hope to meet again down the road on this amazing journey.

JoAnn and Frances

THE END (of this adventure)