Lac le Juene

The old saying “you can never go back” was surely true when we got to Lac le Jeune!  The grassy area with tall pine trees by the lake where you could sit and watch the boats with fishermen and hear the call of the loons was replaced by a parking lot, very few trees and no boats on the lake!  There has been a terrible outbreak of the pine bark beetle in the trees up here and the British Columbia government chose the opposite solution as they have in Montana and cut down all the infected trees.  The trees of other species are left but it is a very different look than the thick forest I remember from when we were here with the Guymon family 42 years ago- the summer we got married.  The lake is still beautiful and the call of the loons still one of the true sounds of the wild - like elk bugling in the fall.

The weather was VERY COLD and mostly cloudy while we were there but we still enjoyed ourselves.  The first evening we were walking back to our trailer from viewing the lake and some folks from Kamloops invited us to join them at their campfire.  He reminded us of Bob Strawn!  He had worked for BC power all over central and northern British Columbia.  We shared stories about lots of topics including the difference between what the U.S. and Canadian governments did for retired people.  It was very enjoyable but we finally had to excuse ourselves about 2 hours later at almost 10 pm to return to our trailer.  It was still light but I was about an icicle and we had not even eaten dinner before our walk around the campground.  They were super nice and gave us lots of brochures and maps about the places we were headed.  Jasper is his favorite park so he had local knowledge of all the best spots not to miss.

During the day we dove into Kamloops but did not end up going to a wild life center because when we checked it out it was more of a zoo that what we had expected. We spent the cold dreary afternoon at McDonalds using their wi-fi and updating the blogs and e-mails.  Everything along the food line seems more expensive here and very high taxes.  I guess that would be expected with subsidized medicine for all like they have. Canada has a dull gold colored $1 coin they call a “loony” because they have a loon on them.  They also have $2 coin that has circle of the dull gold around a nickel looking   center called a “twony”.  It always seems like they don’t give you enough change when you look at the paper but then you remember some of the coins in your hand are dollars.  Half a gallon of milk was $3.25 with an additional 25 cent refundable deposit if you take the plastic bottle back to some bottle drop off – not the store where you bought it AND another added 7 cents for conservation fee.  So we ration our milk to cereal in the morning.  Some of your families might have to consider switching to powdered at these prices.  Diesel is $1.22 per litre (Canadian for liter) or about $4.88 for a little more than a gallon.  But one place we only paid $1.05 per litre so that was cheaper than home that time.  The interesting thing is not all stations have diesel so we have to make sure we keep the tank topped off so we do not have to have Good Sam come & rescue us.

The second evening we were at Lac le Juene we followed the advice of a local guy Dad schmoozed into telling us where to look to photograph wildlife and went mudding up some logging roads.  Actually the roads were 10 times better than any of the forest service roads in Cache County but then they take those big trucks up in there to haul the logs out. We only saw a couple of groups of deer but we saw some clear cut logging operations that just might turn you into a conservationist tree hugger after seeing the mess and waste they leave. 

The truck got so dirty with mud everywhere even inside where you open the doors Dad had to take it to a coin (good use for all those loonies) operated car wash the next day so we did not look like red necks.

We are having an amazingly wonderful time but when we see grandmas & grandpas traveling with their kids and grandkids we miss you all.  Hope everyone is doing well and answer your phones if we call in the next day or two. I bought a phone card that I can use at a pay phone – which seem to be eveywhere and it only costs 4 cents a minute to talk.

San Juan Summary

Sunday was our last day for the island portion of our trip. We tried to find a church but the only one listed was back at Friday Harbor on the other island and the ferry schedule just did not fit.  We decided to take advantage of SUNSHINE and go to the top of Mt. Constitution and take some panoramic pictures of the surrounding islands and ocean.

The mountain peak was part of Moran State Park which requires an interesting story to explain. In 1909 a successful ship builder and fromer mayor of Seattle Robert Moran had been told by his Dr he was very ill and would likely die soon.  Robert moved his family to Orcas Island and proceeded to build a huge mansion and other buildings on 7,000 acres he bought thinking he would spend his last days surrounded by the beauty there.  He had some of his ship wrights moved out to the island to do the work.  It was an amazing undertaking and the building still stands today as part of a resort.  On Saturday we attended a program there with a man playing the fabulous grand piano and a pipe organ Robert had installed in his music room. He also showed slides from Moran's collection of old Seattle and island life at that time.  Miraculously Robert's health improved once he was away from the stress and work of the city and he lived another 40 years or so to age 86 on Orcas Island.  He donated 5,600 acres of his ground and helped build the road up Mt. Constitution so the State could make this lovely state park.

Once we got to the top we were back in the clouds but the view was still beautiful.  On the way down we stopped and hiked through the rain forest back to a couple of pretty little waterfalls.

Just a note - I am not mad in this picture - I am just studying the camera to see the light to tell me when to smile - you can see I missed it!

We stopped and did some beach gathering and Dad found a piece of beach glass which is just as it sounds - a piece of broken glass that has been tumbled by the tide in with all the rocks until it is sort of polished.  We took it one of the jewelry stores on the island and the girl there wire wrapped it into a pendant with some crystal beads and I have a wonderful momento of our time on the San Juans.  Dad was very romatical and said "as long as the ocean is wet our love will last".  So that was very fun.

Monday morning we were in line at 6:15am at the ferry dock to get the ferry leaving at 7:15am to return to the mainland. 

We got to Anacortes and stopped at Walmart for some grocery shopping and then proceeded to the border of Canada.  With only about a half an hour wait we sailed right through even though an RV oufit that looked just like ours two people ahead of us was pulled over into the search spot.  It must have been Dad's smoozing ability that won the lady over and she let us through.

Summer Solstice Parade

Saturday in the main little town Eastsound on Orcas Island there was a Summer Solstice Parade held at noon in conjunction with the regular Farmer's Market on the town square every Saturday in the summer.  Well let me tell you - this was an experience not soon to be forgotten.  The island has seemed to us a "bit off the grid" and this observation was surely confirmed with the characters in the parade.  The folks were throw-backs to the hippies of the 60's.  Some of them may have been actual originals but the rest must have been channeling their parents or grandparents.

The theme of the parade was "Gardens" so people were all dressed up as one vegetable or flower or another. Or they were decorated with actual vegatables and flowers.

There was a large - holding about 4 or 5 people - dragon that was sewed together out of different fabric.

Lots of people with decorated push lawn mowers led the parade followed by an asortment of folks playing various instruments or other noise making devices.  One lady had her dog all decorated up with daisies.



Everyone seemed to be having the time of their life. My favorite of all was the very tall sun person with an independed hand that was another person on each side.  People just walked out into the street and gave the sun a hug and the two hands closed around them and gave the people a hug back.  It was great and so appropriate for a place where seeing the sun was a cause for rejoicing!

I was fortunate to find a very fabulous Nativity - the only one they had at a booth selling all kinds of cute fuzzy animals made out of wool grown on their farm on the island. There are lots of artists that sell their work from their homes - pottery and yarns and woven items from ipacas and sheep. They just have signs out in front of their places that say open and you drive down their lanes to their barn or shop where they sell you art work or produce, meat or eggs from their farm.  We also bought a couple of old cedar shingles from the museum they were selling for firewood & collected some rocks & shells so Steve can help me create a stable for the Nativity that will remind us of the amazingingly beautiful San Juan Islands.  It will be showcased as this year's addition to the ever growing collection.  The ladies  who created it seemed happy that it sold to a "nativity collector" after Dad told them I had about 50 other nativities in my collection.

We have enjoyed out time on the San Juan Islands even with the cold and dripping weather.  There is one more day left - maybe the sun will show it's bashful face.  

Whale Watching

Friday we took the Ferry to another island - this one actually named San Juan to take our whale watching excursion we had booked on line  out of Friday Harbor with Captain Carli.  We had chosen him because of his advertising as being a smaller boat - only 6 passengers rather that a huge boat with 75 people all crowding up on the decks trying to get room to take a picture.

The weather was actually worse on Friday that it had been the previous days. Very overcast from the start and cool about 60 degrees.  We got to San Juan Island and drove out to the National Park site where the English had camped for 12 years (1860-1872) on the north west corner of the island closest to Vancouver island.  During this same time the Americans camped out on the southern section of the island while they were trying to decide who really owned the islands. 

When the treaty was signed it said the border between Canada & America was on the 49th parallel lattitude and extending along the straight around the tip of Vancouver Island to belong to Canada.  The problem with that was there were two straights - one on east side and one on the west side and depending on which one you defined as "the straight" it made the difference of whether the group of islands known as the San Juans were part of the United States or Canada.  There was no fighting just the joint occupation and then towards the end they let Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany be the arbitatior and he decided the islands should belong to the U.S. With this decision the English just packed up and moved back to Vancouver island. Enough of a history lesson for now!


By the time we were done at the historical site it was raining hard and did not stop the rest of the day or night.  We traveled down the west side of the island and viewed what would have been beautiful west facing beaches if the clouds were not hanging so low you could barely see the water.  We stopped at a Lavendar Farm and saw all of the products they made out of the distilled oil - even cooking vinegar and oil & lavendar flavored chocolate as well as dog biscuits and all the normal lotions and potions.  It was just too much tranquility and calmness for me!


We went on to Friday Harbor not sure if the whale watch boat would go out with the weather the way it was but just like Southeast Alaksa rain does not stop anything.  We went out with Captain Carli on a not so great looking boat with a young couple of college students whe were studying in NewYork but were from mainland China.  

Captain Carli was quite a speciman of crustiness but with the help of his buddies on the radio put us right in a group of 4 or 5 transient Orca whales. The transients are like batchelor lions who just kind of wander around trying to join a larger group of Orcas called residents who seem to stay in certain spots more regularly.  We followed them back and forth off the beach for over an hour.

They did not put on much of a show but Steve did get one picture of one of them up out of the water.  All in all it was fun just being out there watching them in their own world.

There were about 4 or 5 other boats at first -all the big boats with people elbow to elbow all along the railings trying to see but they all left not long after we got there so we had the whales for quite a while to ourselves.

We went back to the harbor and had planned to wander around the tourist shops and doddle around until the ferry returned us to Orcas Island and our camp site at  10 pm.  But lo and behold the shops mostly closed at 6 pm or a couple of them at 7 pm so we had sea food on the warf and then just waited in the truck reading our books in the rain for 3 hours until the ferry came.

Kayaking

Thursday morning we went on a guided kayaking excursion. We paddled in the ocean out around a point where we got out and hiked up to an outlook point and enjoyed the beautiful view.

This is not actually us but is another couple whe were paddling without a guide coming into the same spot when we were up at the observation point. In the background is Mt Baker on the mainland of Washington.

We had a double canoe like the one in the picture. Steve was in the back working the rudder and doing the serious paddling. I was in the front trying not to splash water on anybody.  On the trip with us was a family from Guam who had moved to the US about 12 years ago. We really enjoyed them. It was the parents and 4 children. The boy had just graduated from college and the youngest daughter from high school. 

Here we are up on the look out point.  As you can see we are all bundled up.  I have been freezing ever since we got here but all the rest of the people just wear shorts and sandles like it was summer.  I do not know if it is my old dry bones from the desert country or what but damp feeling 64 degrees just does not seem warm to me.

 



Here is a picture of all our kayaks on the beach - all rocks in typical Pacific Northwest fashion.  Some of the members in the family we were with plus the two guides who accompanied us used the single ones.  On the way out we saw bald eagles and went up along the edge of the rocks at high tide and saw lots of purple and orange starfish or "tarpiths" as Jeff called them when we first moved to Alaska.  Speaking of Alaska - Dad saw a memory flashback docked in the harbor on the way to the kayak launch and just had to take a picture.  He did not cry for too long afterwards.

Just like the Bare Necessities but with the flying bridge.  We sure had a lot of fun in Alaska with that boat.

After getting back in the kayak and launching we went around the corner a bit further and came up on about 20 seals sunning themselves on a couple of rocks that were fast disappearing in the rising tide. The first kayaks got a bit too close and the front paddler in our boat kept paddling trying to get closer every time the photographer was trying to get a shot of the whole group - BUT before they were all scared back into the ocean Steve did get this shot of one cute little fellow.



We paddled on back home - lucky to go around the point where ealier there had been some sketchy currents going on at slack tide smooth as could be.  We had a race the last few hundred yards but even with the old folks handicap of being in front of them all to start we came in well back in the back smoked by the guide in his longer single kayak and the brother of the Guam family with his strong tatooed arms.

It was a very fun experience except for the getting in and out of the kayak but the guides and others so kindly helped me and Dad was kind enough to not take any pictures of! Stay tuned for whale watching next.

Little House on the Ferry. . .

Dad thought he was so funny when he said this he laughed so hard tears were running out of his eyes. I am sure you can all picture it!! 
It really was quite an amazing feat of driving to put the RV & truck on the ferry where they wanted it. We got to the terminal about 1 1/2 hours early as directed so we would be sure to get a spot.  First they load the foot passengers & people with bicycles. Next they load the cars going to the first island they stop at. Then they load the bigger vehicles going to the first island. It is all rather amazing. When you buy your ticket they tell you which numbered lane to wait in and then they know how to get everybody on in the right order. The size ferry we were on can hold up to 150 cars. 
When they gave Dad the go ahead he just drove it down the ramp and parked it packed in there so tight about 12" clearance on the left front corner of  the RV from the wall of the ferry. There is another row of cars parked right tight up against you on the right side as well. You just have to open your door real carefully and squeeze out so you can go upstairs and watch the scenery while you are sailing.  We made one stop at Lopez Island on the way and it took us about an hour even with the stop.  The loaded some vehicles on the opposite end at Lopez because all of the cars were getting off that loaded with us so when we got to our stop on Orcas Island a Garbage truck and a big Ford pickup had to BACK UP the ramp to get off before all the vehicles that had loaded with us in Anacortes could drive up.

We got off the ferry and drove some very small winding roads about 20 minutes on this island to our spot at West Beach Resort. It is very nice with lots of trees and a huge grass lawn where we are parked. 

There are lots of small cabins and one 3 bedroom house and then another spot for trailers to park.  There are also playgrounds for the kids and even some tents with wooden platform floors you can rent.  We are kind of up on a small bluff with some of the cabins but looking right out over the ocean facing west to the sunset.  You can see our trailer up on the bluff in the trees right above the white car on the left of the third cabin from the right side of the picture if you enlarge the picture. This is looking back from the boat dock at the resort.

Down below there are other cabins right on the beach with their own front porches and campfire rings on the beach. There is a dock and you can rent boats and kayaks and a little store etc. The first day we were walking down to register and saw a racoon just stolling along in front of one of the cabins. There is a pond with ducks and a hot tub where you have to keep your clothes on because as the rules say "this is a conservative resort".  Dad did another fantastic job to back the trailer in and we are enjoying our spot as the only trailer where there are spots for about 6. The pop out just misses a tree and the electicity & water hook-ups are in exactly the right place.

Wednesday afternoon we just were lazy. I set up my recliner folding chair and read a book out on the lawn. Dad puttered around with his computer and pictures and then took a nap.  Dad grilled steak for dinner and left it out on the picnic table while he came in to get some plates and a big old raven picked it up off the plate and tried to fly away with our dinner. (Dad thinks maybe his First Nation - what they call Indians up here - ancestors taught him to like steak)Luckily he could not carry it and dropped it on the lawn where it had just been mowed so there was grass clippings all over it. Dad ran out there and picked it up and we washed the grass off and enjoyed a delicious steak dinner.  We will be more careful in the future.

Here is a beautiful shot of the sunset - even without the bight colors it is fantastic. It is like all the scenery up here - all shades of blue/grey or green/brown.

On Top of the World

Tuesday morning we woke up and started over the Northern Cascade mountains to make our way to the coast so we could take the Washington State Ferry to our first destination - Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. 

We started up out of the Columbia River Gorge at the Grand Coulee Dam and soon were up in a very desolate desert looking region - the Spokane Indian Reservation. No wonder they were mad when the Dam was built and they couldn't live along the river and fish for salmon any more! 
Further along the way the landscape started to look better and we saw miles and miles of cherry and apple orchards and also vineyards with wine tasting rooms.  Many of the cherry trees were completely covered by frames with netting 4 or 5 acres at a time to protect them from the birds. No wonder the cherries were $2.49 per pound at the fruit stand - but we bought some anyway and they sure are delicious.
Then we came to the part on the map that said "closed in the winter". We just kept climbing and climbing and the mountains were sticking up with rocks and snow.

As we got higher and higher we saw many waterfalls just pouring down the mountain from the melting snow. It was amazing and beautiful. It seemed like we were truly on top of the world.

At the one of the top passes we saw spots of pink snow which dad claimed the owner of Hyde Drift boats had told him you could scoop up and eat and it would taste like watermelon snow cones.  We stopped and tried to reach some but it was always too dirty. Dad claimed it was some kind of algae which I assumed was just a plant or moss. I was sure glad we didn't get to try it when we got to the visitor's center and saw the display on "watermelon snow" that said it was caused by some of kind of worms that are in the snow at a certain temperature and altitude level!! YUK!! 
We finally made it to Anacortes and stopped at a very nice trailer park. After unhooking the truck and going to check out the Ferry Terminal for tomorrows launch we traveled down to the south end of the Island to go across the Deception Pass Bridge that we had travelled under in the Bare Neccessities when we sailed it home from Seattle to Sitka.  This is a very narrow and hidden opening into Puget Sound from the main channel that was discovered by Captain Vancouver's men in 1792 making it a much shorter route than it would have otherwise been to travel from the mainland shore up to Vancouver Island and Alaska.  The currents and tides weore just swirling around looking so powerful from up on the bridge

I could not believe we were brave enough to take that little 26 foot boat out through there. Dad said he planned the whole trip to leave from Bellingham so we could pass through there at slack tide.  Good thing he is so prepared or all of you except Jeff & Wayne might have been in another family!! And Wayne would have been an orphan raised in Southern California with Aunt Karen's family. (He was staying with Grandma Guymon in California while Grandpa Guymon, Dad, Jeff & I sailed to Alaska)  Sure glad it worked out the way it did!
It sure is BEAUTIFUL and green up here. Moss growing everywhere - on houses and trees. And FABULOUS FLOWERS, bushes and ferns everywhere you look. I am still not entirely sure why we chose sagebrush & the desert.  On second thought though it is all worth it because of the fabulous in-laws we have because of where all our children grew up and went to school. It was meant to be!

Finally on the Road

After months of planning and counting down the days until the final day of work we are officially "on the road".  We started out Friday June 15 with a trip with all the Idaho Falls cousins to the zoo & McKenna's birthday #1 party.  Here is the birthday girl with her favorite new doll gift.

Steve helped Russell pick up his new drift boat from the Hyde boat factory Friday and they went for a float on the Snake River for the maiden voyage.
After "blogging lessons" from Katrina, I met Katie for lunch and then we proceeded to the Jefferson County Rodeo to see the Rodeo Queens that come to Russell's office for their braces and the rodeo of course.

Sunday morning we begin the first stage of the "things not seen before" portion of the trip. We spent Sunday night in Missoula at a trailer park with free cable TV and suffered through the Thunder game. Dad enjoyed all the phone calls for Father's Day. 
Monday we stopped in Spokane to visit a cousin on my mother's side of the family & gathered lots of awesome old family pictures and personal histories. Dad used the new traveling scanner/printer we brought with us and it did a fantastic job. My cousin & I just sorted through old pictures and handed him what we wanted copied.  We also copied some discs she had from a different cousin of old family pictures I did not have.  It was a very worthwhile stop. 
We traveled on through the rain to Grand Coulee Dam a very amazing engineering feat. We enjoyed the visitors center and parked right down town behind the Indian casino with the RV. Dad with his usual gift of gab made friends with an old timer with no teeth and then a lady who saw our Utah plates and had to talk about her grankids in Utah.  Then we had dinner and there was a knock at the door - I was sure it was going to be the cops telling us to not part our RV in the middle of town. But it was the Mormon Grandma lady who had come back with her husband who was a retired power plant operator to take us back over to the dam to watch the laser light show on the dam at 10 pm.  The show was quite impressive with the Columbia River as the "narrator" telling the story of the power of his water through giant speakers and the laser images on the face of the dam.  The spillways were open so there was lots of water roaring over the dam as well.

We feel so fortunate and blessed to be able to share this adventure together. We will keep you posted with more accounts and pictures as we go along.