Deadwood, SD

Headed east through the rolling hills of Wyoming, into South Dakota. Drove through Sturgis, which was getting the t-shirt vendors set up for the big motorcycle rally. Drove to Deadwood, rode the trolley through town (it's not very big), lots of casinos, saw a staged shoot-out. Another cute touristy town with a lot of history. Took a day and drove to Rapid City and Keystone where we rode a tram up on a mountain and rode an alpine slide down. That was fun and we could also see Mount Rushmore from the top. Well, we have traveler burn out and are heading home. After Denver we hit I-70 east through the long boring plains of Kansas, then I-35 through Oklahoma. And we are now home. It was a great trip and thanks for following.

Lewis & Clark S.P., MT

We headed east through miles and miles of orchards along the Wenatchee River valley, then the Columbia River Basin with corn, wheat, alfalfa. Through Spokane, into Idaho, through Couer d' Alene, now mountains and forest. Into Montana, very beautiful country but not much out here, just wide open fields. Stayed a few nights at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park where we toured the cavern.

Leavenworth, WA

Leavenworth, Washington is east of Seattle and on the Wenatchee River. It is a very, very cute bavarian style town. We rented scooters and drove around, Patti did a white water rafting adventure. Went to town of Cashmere and toured the aplet and cotlet (candy) factory. Listened to accordian music at the town gazebo. It was fun.

Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, WA

We attended the International Beerfest which was right under the Space Needle.

Seattle is a huge city with a lot of traffic and major parking problems. Kind of reminds me of Austin with it's little hip enclaves. We spotted this troll under a bridge while driving around. It has a volkswagon in left hand.

We went to all the tourist attractions in Seattle; waterfront, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square. Instead of the Space Needle we went up in the Columbia Tower which is twice as tall and 1/3 the price. This is a pic from there. On the 4th of July we sat under a bridge in the truck and watched fireworks from a few blocks away.

July 1st. We headed straight up to Seattle, Washington. Found an RV park right in the middle of Bellevue, which is just across the lake from Seattle, and has lots of huge Microsoft buildings. Big money in this town. Water, water everywhere here. We have been here a week. The pic above is a ship made out of legos at the Center for Wooded Boats where we attended a wooded boat festival. Went to Tacoma one day and walked around.

Fort Stevens SP, OR

One of the pics from Astoria Column of the bridge that goes across the river to Washington.

We next headed north to Ft. Stevens SP, a defensive outpost from the Civil War through World War II that sits at the mouth of the Columbia River. It still has a bunch of old gun batteries to explore. While there, we visited the town of Astoria, a few miles east. A very cute town sitting on the Columbia River. We rode the trolley through town and went to this Astoria Column. Climbed the stairs and took pics.

Tillimook, OR

We drove a scenic loop from Tillamook through some pretty coastal towns. Saw Cape Meares lighthouse and this octopus tree.

June 26, we went back west to the coast, to Tillamook, Oregon. It was marshy and green and there were cows everywhere. It smelled like cow crap, but kind of sweet milk cow type. Have you heard of Tillamook cheese? We toured the big cheese factory. Stayed at Blimp Base park, a small air park where the building that is recorded as the largest wooden building in the world used to house blimps.

Columbia River Gorge, OR

We drove further east to Hood River, the wind surfing capital of the world. Went to a vista point there and took this pic of Mt. Hood, at 11,245 feet, Oregon's tallest mountain.

We visited Bonneville Lock and Dam on the Columbia River, a huge hydroelectric power system that supplies more than half of the regions energy. It also had a huge fish hatchery and fish ladder for the salmon to swim up. There was an underwater viewing room below this ladder. Also saw Herman the sturgeon, a 9 foot fish.

Picture of the Columbia River Gorge from a vista point.

We headed east from Portland on Hwy 84. It runs right along the Columbia River and the huge gorge that it has carved. We stayed in a state park and drove along a waterfall trail. This is Multnomah Falls, the 4th highest waterfall in the U.S.

Portland, OR

This is the Portland Building and the second largest hammered copper statue in the world, second only to the Statue of Liberty. It is known as Portlandia. Note Robert on his bicycle.
We were really impressed with Portland. It is a beautiful city. We got our bikes out and rode all over the city. This is a bike riding city, and very green conscious. There were people everywhere, and on a Saturday and Sunday. We went to a large outdoor market that was all artsy craftsy. There is a China town, we went into Powell's City of Books, the world's largest independent book store, and we didn't even make a dent in the breweries. Portland (Beervana) has more microbreweries and brewpubs per capita than any other city in the US. Portland is also known as the City of Roses, and the City of Bridges. There were seven bridges just in the downtown area we rode in, all across the big Willamette River. There are over 200 parks, a Japanese garden, a rose test garden, and a classical Chinese garden.


While at Champoeg State Park we did a bike and hike to the Willamette River dock. In 1996 there was a flood and the water was up to the little sign on top of the pole on the right. So now all the docks are floating and leave a lot of room to rise. Any houses are built up off the river and have little dolly lifting systems to bring stuff up from the water.

McMinnville, OR

We stayed at Champoeg SP just south of Portland. We took a side trip to the town of McMinnville where the "Spruce Goose" is housed in a museum. This is the plane that Howard Hughes built in WWII of wood to transport stuff. By the time it was done the war was over and it could hardly get off the water. It flew once. It was a pet project he got the government to pay for like most of his other pojects. It was so big I coundn't back out enough to get the whole plane in one shot.

Salem, OR

On 6-14 we headed inland to Eugene, Oregon. A cute and hip town. Got the bikes out and biked a very nice paved trail around the Willamette River. Here I am by a huge rose garden.

Next we headed north to Salem, the Capitol of Oregon. Here is their weird looking building.

Oregon Dunes Nat Rec Area, OR

June 10, we stayed at Sunset Bay SP and visited a trio of little port cities, Coos Bay, North Bend, and Charleston. All of these ports are built on logging and fishing. Charleston was a tiny place but had commercial fishing and canning operations. We saw huge piles of oyster shells at the oyster farm. Coos Bay had huge piles of wood chips and logs. Myrtlewood is real big here. It grows only along a short section of the Pacific coast, so it is a big tourist attraction. There are myrtlewood factories everywhere. Anyway, we continued on north. North from Coos Bay is the start of the Oregon National Dunes Recreation area. It runs 40 miles north along the coast and is the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America. These dunes can be 500 feet high. We stopped for a couple of nights in Florence, Oregon and went to an ATV rental place and rode around on the dunes. Really fun.

Bandon, OR

Coquille River lighthouse


Bandon was a very cute little port town. We strolled around, ate a great smoked salmon sandwich at this place. It was on ciabatta bread with cranberry sauce and cream cheese. Yum. Bandon is known as the cranberry capital of Oregon. Saw a bunch of cranberry bogs but they don't ripen til about September. Bought a big cranberry muffin for next day, and some fudge.

Cape Blanco, OR

There are light houses all along the coast and we have stopped at most of them. This is the Cape Blanco lighthouse just north of Port Orford.

Port Orford, OR

Next little port town was Port Orford. It was a little different in that it is the only open-water port on the Oregon coast and one of six "dolly" ports in the world where recreational and commercial fishing boats are hoisted into and out of the water. We sat and watched that for a while. Also ate some good seafood. Port Orford is the northern gateway to America's wild river coast, with the Sixes river and the Elk river, then all the way down into California to the Klamath river.

Gold Beach, OR

June 7, we arrived in Gold Beach, Or. Another cute port town. This one is on the Rogue River, one of eight original federally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers. It is very protected for scenery and wildlife. Top pic is the Rogue River as Patti went 104 miles up the river on a jet boat tour. I saw eagles, osprey, deer. It was beautiful. Second pic is the bridge over Rogue River. Last pic is town of Gold Beach.

Oregon Coast, OR

The Oregon coast is beautiful. As we make our way north, we stop at scenic viewpoints and take short hikes which lead to the coast. There is a whole coastal trail that goes for miles and miles along the coast. There are a lot of bicyclers on the road. The coast is rocky. Some places have seal coves.

Brookings, OR

California state parks are expensive (over $20) and with no electric or water hook-ups. Gas is also more expensive. So, we headed north on Hwy 101 through the Redwood National Forest winding along the cliffs hanging over the ocean, into Oregon. Top picture is Brookings, a cute little port town. Bottom pic is Harris State Park beach. Oregon state parks are cheaper and have electric and water. All along the coast the temp has been 48 to 50 night and high 50 to mid 60 day, very humid, breezy, clouds roll in and out, and fog rolls in usually in the afternoon. I think it stays this way all year. In Brookings we went to a small brandy distillery. There are a ton of wild blackberries, loganberries, and marionberries growing all over this area.

North California, CA

This is what the scenery looked like as we head north along the coast of California. This is the Emerald coast, and is also known as the Emerald triangle, it runs all the way down past Ft. Bragg. Famous as the number one marijuana growing spot in the U.S., also home to Big Foot, Paul Bunyon and Babe. Big trees, lush growth, lots of cows by the ocean, hippie and vintage shops, artist, organic and co-op groceries.

Arcata, CA

On our trip northward, we stopped at the Loleta cheese factory, then the cute town of Eureka. Toured the bay, the North Coast Brewery, a natural food store, and of course we check out all the different grocery stores. We left there and visited a little city just around the bay from Eureka. Arcata is a college town. This is a picture of the square. We went to the organic food co-op and then the Humbolt brewery. There were a lot of scruffy, long haired, old hippie looking types in town.

Ferndale, CA

Driving north again, we stopped in Ferndale, a very cute Victorian village, and stayed at the Humbolt County fairground. We drove to the Lost Coast Headlands and wanted to hike down this steep hillside to the beach but it was a little late to start that (bottom pic) so we just went to the Centerville beach county park and watched the waves crash on shore and gathered some cool rocks. The sand looks like salt and pepper.

Avenue of the Giants, CA

June 1 we headed up Hwy 1, then jumped over to 101, which is off the coast, and drove through a 30 mile stretch known as Avenue of the Giants. It was a beautiful drive. Redwood trees here can be 2000 years old, 380 ft tall, and over 50 ft circumference.

Mendocino, CA

After several nights at Ft Bragg we went back south a few miles to Van Damme State Park for a night. We drove through Little River and Mendocino, some very cute towns, that started as lumber towns. Mendocino is on Nat'l Register of Historic Places. We stopped to see several lighthouses. There are sea caves all over the coastline here that you can kayak to but it's been kind of cool and windy. We sat on the beach and watched the gulls.


We also went to the Pygmy Forest which is a forest of trees that are less than 10 feet tall and less than an inch thick, although they can be a hundred years old. All due to soil conditions, and so close to the giant redwoods and Douglas firs.

Fort Bragg, CA

This is Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. It was really amazing. Used to be a public dump in 1949. Then, in 1967 it was cleaned up except for all the glass. Over the years the glass was busted up and tumbled around till it was smooth.
Glass Beach. There were a bunch of people out there picking up souvenirs.
So, this is a typical beach (?) in northern California. Big rocky, jagged cliffs
Me going for a new tattoo at Triangle Tattoo and Museum.

What do you think, I got my money back.