Places to visit
My sweet daughter has let me use her Cannon EOS 50D digital camera. Today, we took it out for a test drive. I have even purchased a book, David Busch’s Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR Photography. Thankfully, I found it used on Amazon and it was even Prime! So far I am learning all the buttons on the camera and what they do. So please don’t expect “expert photography” YET!
I thought flowing water would be a good test so we headed east on 138 to find us a waterfall. Hwy 138 has many waterfalls as well as the North Umpqua River. This part of Oregon is so picturesque and beautiful. We stopped at Susan Creek Falls trailhead and hiked up to the falls. The weather held here and there but we did get wet by the intermittent rain.
This is Dale’s rendition of “Rain on the Windshield.”
We can’t go by the North Umpqua River without getting a photo! This would have been great if an eagle had come by!
I took a bunch of photos here with different settings and filters.
Susan Creek Trail is a very easy trail. Well maintained and wheel chair accessible. You will agree it is very beautiful.
I can’t go past a flower. I HAVE to take a photo. I used the little flower setting or Macro setting for up close photo’s.
It has been so wet in our part of Oregon. We wanted to see how much water was coming over the falls. We were not disappointed.
These were taken with a slow shutter speed 1/30th. A polarized filter was used also.
And finally – are you ready for it! A selfie.
See that big white spot? That is water on the lens. Lesson learned.
A wonderful day with a stop at Steamboat Cafe for a quiet lunch. I encourage you all….get out and enjoy nature! 🙂
Life is good. God’s power in the cross of Christ.
Headed for the Tetons
After leaving our camp at Madison Creek, we had to go all the way around the park due to a road closure below Old Faithful. Therefore, we were able to get a good look at Yellowstone Lake!
As we were driving around this lake, I got to thinking, “We haven’t seen a “herd” of buffalo at all.” Literally, around the bend and bam….
Our travel time to the Tetons was not a long one after leaving Yellowstone. Probably aout 28 miles. It seemed like the two parks were connected!
Our friends, the Kings, clued us in to a boondocking spot from “Days End” and we found it near the little town of Moran along the Buffalo Forks River.
This campsite was about 30 miles from Jackson Hole, so not real convenient to “going to town for a loaf of bread.” We did spend a day there, getting gas, groceries, doing laundry and having lunch.
As you can see, the mountains are beautiful. We stopped at a pull out and got a great picture of the mountains and the Snake River.
Woke up to this one morning.
This is a beautiful place and I am so glad you took the time to enjoy God’s creation so far from Oregon!
Life is great! God gives us blessings we don’t even realize!
Yellowstone National Park
I have been absent from posting to the blog! We were in Yellowstone National Park and didn’t have phones or internet. Then we moved on to the Tetons and boondocked so had spotty phone service.
Our mileage to Yellowstone from Bozeman was like 90 miles, so it was an easy days drive. We stopped in W. Yellowstone, MT to check out RV parks and see what the town had to offer. RV parks were $33/day to $45/day full hook-ups. After careful thought, we left the trailer in W. Yellowstone and journeyed into Yellowstone NP to see what the Madison campground had. Not many spots were open but we did find one that we could fit in and get sun so signed up for it. Back to W. Yellowstone to get the rig and grab some lunch. Lunch was a disappointment at the Old Town Café. They couldn’t even cook a decent hamburger and fries. Oh well.
Dale went ahead of me to the campground and as I was driving the 45 mph all these cars were stopped on the road. That, as we learned, is “animal spotting.” So I got off on a turnout and found out an elk was busy eating on an island in the river.
- This is a Bull Elk and had an impressive rack. My phone gave him 2 butts!
I also saw my first Bison.
Our campsite was perfect, except hard to get the TV set up. Too  many trees. But that was okay because we were so tired after a day of traveling over the park. We had to put the dog food in the trailer because a momma grizzly and her cub wandered the campground at night.
Our first day out included drives off the main road, rivers, waterfalls, mud pots, hot springs, geysers and fumaroles.
- Geyser Basin
As you can see here in this photo, dead trees. Vegetation just can’t grow with the very hot water in the thermal areas.
We walked many a boardwalk to look at all these. I easily got in my 10,000 steps.
Our goal for the day was to see Old Faithful. Being at it is so late in the year to be visiting here, most everything was closed. The only buildings open were at Old Faithful. The Visitor Center and Snow Lodge were a gift shop and a grill were open. The lodge had dinners but we were home before then.
When we got to Old Faithful we had phone service. I text by daughter, Lesa, who is in Germany to get on the internet for the web cam at Old Faithful. She did and we shared the moment when Old Faithful went off. This made this moment so very special for me.
On our way home we took another off-the-road drive and found this geyser. People were around it and we kept driving. However, the thing went off so I stopped to get a photo. The height of the geyser’s cone tells us its age. Usually 1″ is equal to 100 years. This one was taller than Dale.
The next day we went to the East side of Yellowstone. Called the Canyon drive we travelled up and up. Elevation hit about 8000 and we saw some innovative person work.
This part of Yellowstone is called the “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone. Oh my gosh, was it ever beautiful. This is one of the places that “you just had to be there” kind of moments. Yellowstone was the first national forest in the United States in 1872. It became a model for other national parks. Aren’t we fortunate this grand place was saved.
From here we drove south to some mud pots.
On the way back home, we saw a bunch of cars off the road, parked and people out of their vehicles. We learned that this is an indication of “animal sighting” and we stopped. Look what we saw.
The next day, our last in Yellowstone, took us back to Old Faithful and hiking around behind it to many hot springs, geysers and Morning Glory.
A clear warning on the path to Morning Glory.
Star Pool
Morning Glory
On our way back from Morning Glory we came upon this in Firehole River beside Riverside Geyser.
And she/he kept coming. So we boot scooted out of there.
After our hike, we hit the grill for lunch. Great burgers and salad.
It was a great day for us. The sun was out and the day was in the high 60’s. Actually, the weather was excellent. Cold nights and mornings but nice during the day. I enjoyed this adventure and I still have that smile.
Life is sooooo good. God’s creation is just breath-taking.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Remember that movie with John Candy and Steve Martin? So funny!
That is what this RV park feels like. The Sun Rise Campground. The closest RV park to the center of Bozeman. Nice little park as far as RV Parks go. Facilities are clean as is the park.
Where do the Plans, Trains and Automobiles come in? Sun Rise is on Frontage Road. That right there tells you it is next to the freeway. I 90, the one that runs through Montana! The freeway is at the back of the park.
Trains. What RV park doesn’t have a train? The one here is on Frontage Road. Yep, right across the street in front of us. This section of train tracks seems to be where trains wait when another train is  “coming” into the train yard a few miles down the road from us. There are many coal trains passing through here. The coal is coming from southeastern Montana and heading up through Idaho and Washington to Canada to be shipped off to China. So it is a bit noisy here day and night with train whistles and screeching brakes.
Planes. We seem to be in the air traffic path for landing planes. Overhead. These aren’t as often as the trains but the noise is still there. Our ear plugs have come in handy this stay. At least we sleep well at night.
However, what RV park doesn’t have a train track or freeway! I’m so glad we are boondockers and can get away from all of that.
We are off to Yellowstone tomorrow. Check mark off the bucket list coming up!
Life is really good! We are covered in God’s grace and mercy.
Our Third Day of Traveling
On our journey beginning in Sutherlin, Oregon to Clarkston, Washington the road is 566 miles long. On our third day we drove from Ukiah to Clarkston.
We have friends in Clarkston and our trip to Bozeman was a good reason to stop at their home. We were excited to see their new home instead of just catching photo’s on Facebook.
We buzzed through Milton Freewater and Walla Walla. Sort of got lost in Walla Walla looking for Hwy 12 but it all worked out in a timely fashion.
We stopped at a rest area, Alpowa Summit, for lunch. It was quite windy but sunny.
Another Lewis and Clark sighting!
We arrived in Clarkston and had a heck of a time finding Wayne and Char. Their directions were spot on but a right turn is always difficult with an RV especially when you have a woman screaming in the walkie-talkie that a right turn is to be made right now!
Wayne was our site manager when we took a job with CLM in California 3 years ago. We have kept in touch. So it was great to be able to spend time with them at their house.
After getting set up behind their house we were given a tour of their beautiful home. It isn’t finished yet, but they are getting there.  They took us to dinner at Roosters, a local restaurant. The town of Clarkston has a park and walkway all along the Snake River and clear over to Lewiston which continues the park. We decided to eat out on the patio along the river.
Our food was excellent! I had a chicken breast served with this wonderful sauce and it was sitting on a bed of asparagus. It was topped off with crab that was very sweet. A side salad came with it. Since I am going to lose some pounds, this meal was petite and just right. Dale had his favorite Blue Cheese Burger with garlic fries – that were served with real garlic. Yummy.
Wayne then took us to Lewiston, which is just across the river. The two towns merge. We had a delightful evening.
The next day, we bummed around all morning and then went to lunch at the Tomato Brothers, which is an Italian food restaurant. Dale and I raved about our lunch and our food the night before. It wasn’t very expensive for the robust taste of the food that we experienced.
On the way out we saw this vending machine.
This was a vending machine for jewelry, artist cards, and bookmarks. Since these were all handmade, they were quite expensive. Some cards were priced at$25 and up.
The evening was spent – Dale, Wayne and Char at Wayne’s mom for pizza and the football game between Seattle and Kansas City. I stayed home with my dog and just chilled.
Good friends and good food make for a life that is good!
Moving South
We left Bullhead City and Katherine Campground on the 20th of this month. So far, we are not keeping to our “pencil” plan! We are enjoying our stay at each spot we find. We headed south to Needles, Lake Havasu, Parker and finally Quartzsite.
Like most “snowbirds” we do not get tired of seeing this sign!!!
Or the Needle Mountains!
We stopped in Havasu to get batteries for our Walkie Talkies. Seems the rechargeable one aren’t charging any more. We pushed on for Quartzsite. We arrived by noon and found a place to camp off La Plamosa Rd. We first camped near the main highway to Quartzsite and found the traffic does not stop at anytime. So we moved a couple of miles down the road.
We do love this kind of camping. No neighbors close by, no generator noise, and it is very dark at night! The night sky is beautiful.
Saturday we went into check out the booths. The kitchen booth is my favorite and I spent a wad buying all these kitchen tools for the trailer. Then I went across the street to Sock – it – to – me! I found a nice top and some cool gloves made by women in Nepal. The lady clerking there moved her little phone credit card machine and ended up charging me $200 more than the $23 purchase. So this became a fiasco until I could get home and use my laptop to check my credit card. Whew it was credited as she canceled the purchase but my credit card people said I had the charge.
One of Dale’s student workers from 2005 came to visit us and we took her out to lunch at the Grubsteak. We had a very enjoyable afternoon with her and catching up.
On Monday, we put everything away and headed for Yuma and the KOFA SKP park there. But first, breakfast at our favorite restaurant in Quartzsite. Good food and inexpensive prices. They are famous for their sweet potato pancakes.
In these mountains we did a hike to the Palm Canyon with Terry and Kathy. Check out photos here at RVECAFE.comÂ
KOFA mountain range.
We passed our turnoff to Imperial Dam at the Yuma Proving Grounds.
We were amazed to get into the park at Yuma. Usually all spaces are full and boondocking is crammed full. We were able to get a space. We are on a corner. Under a street light!!!! But we like it. Traveling is such hard work we had to go out to a lunch/dinner at the Golden Corral. Always a favorite with us.
Since today is Christmas, we want to wish all our friends a very Merry and blessed Christmas. Today, the world celebrates a holiday the emphasizes the birth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Life is good. Enjoy your day.
I’m Back
It’s been awhile since I posted to my blog. Health issues have kept us busy these last 8 months but now that we have a clear way to travel, I’ll get back to posting.
We dusted off the moss on the Blue Heron and set those wheels rolling on the 12th of November for more than a week here or there. We are off for a 4 month travel fest for the first time in a lot of months. It has been 2 years since we have gone to Arizona for any length of time.
We left home in the dreary rain and clouds of Sutherlin and the weather didn’t let up all through Oregon. We stopped in Grants Pass to see Alice, my BFF. We share birthdays this month, so we met for lunch and the exchange of gifts.
We met at the Laughing Clam on G Street and had a lovely lunch. She got me the coolest bracelet! It is lime green and wraps around my wrist.
It was made for the Noonday Collection . A very interesting organization to help others. Check it out.
I gave Alice some scalloped round place mats and napkins we found in Coos Bay. Her favorite color!
After lunch we headed to a boondocking site we found on our last trip that way. We pulled in about 5 p.m. and got set up and had some dinner. It turned out to be a long day but we had a restful night – so quiet and dark out.
The next morning we decided to take a look at the ski area at Mt. Shasta. It was a beautiful day full of sun and blue sky. Please understand that this was a treat for us after spending a lot of our time under fog and rain and cloudy skies at home!!!
After taking a look we headed to McCloud, CA for a cup of Chai tea for me and coffee for Dale. We found a cute coffee/gift shop at the McCloud General Store. We enjoyed looking at everything there. I bought a pair of earrings and a wonderful, warm hat for my daughter, Lesa for Christmas. Her days in Germany are getting colder.
Before we left I had to get some photo’s of the McCloud Hotel. In the 1960’s mom and I and some girlfriends would drive from Klamath Falls to McCloud where my dad was logging. We would stay at this hotel. Brought back some good memories.
We also stopped for lunch at a rest stop. The day was so warm and nice.
We hit Reno traffic about 4 and it kind of freaked me out. I’m not use to people doing 65 on 3 lanes of highway with off-ramps every mile. We pulled into Verdi and found a space and heaved a great sigh of relief. Needless to say, we slept very well last night regardless of I-80Â outside our door and the train tooting its horn every who knows what time.
Now to spend time with family! Get to do some hugging on some grandkids!
Life is good. God is amazing and has held my hand for 8 long months!
