Break Out The Liederhosen!

Hands, knees, slap your thighs and get out your liederhosen, we are in Leavenworth, a Bavarian Look Alike Town, which was dying in the sixties and remodelled itself as a Bavarian Village. It really is as bad as it sounds - even the McDonald's and Starbucks are built to look like Rhinish Chalet/castles.
Having said that drive to it and the mountains around it are wonderful, as is the Wenatchee River that runs through the town. It was more interesting when described as 'That Barbarian Town' by a friend in Shelton.
Although Sally found a Bavarian Cold Stone Ice Cream Shop, which was very good, of course I was forced to follow on.

Enumclaw and The Tacoma Narrows Bridges

Sunday
Another town with a great name - Enumclaw, apparently a mainly a Danish settlement, this area is also big on logging. We are staying at the Expo Center, the campground is very pretty with large sites. It's Memorial Day Weekend and there are only three other RV's here! Fairgrounds are the best kept travel secret for RVers.
Today it has rained, so we have had a quiet day, done a shop at Safeway, bought some Copper River Salmon for tea - a bright red salmon, like the red salmon you get in John West's best red salmon tins. It was very tasty.

Good view of the Older bridge

Crossing the Tacoma Narrows bridge was a bit of a fulfillment for me, as stated on the last blog. Sally took some really good photos as we crossed over. What is not generally realised is that the other, older bridge built in 1950 actually uses the same bridge supports and footings as the original 'Galloping Gertie', but with a redesigned deck structure.

Driving across the bridge

View of the Tacoma Narrows

The next part of our journey

In the week since Anne and Roy left us we have managed 80 miles with the trailer, though we have seen some beautiful sights, done some washing and sorted the car. Now we are going to do some miles as we hop over the Seattle Metropolis. Today we will drive to Enumclaw, which is at the start of Route 410, gateway to Mount Rainier. It is about 120 miles. We will drive across the Hood Canal Bridge and down the length of Kitsap Peninsula, not quite an island it is about 60 miles by 20 miles and joined to the mainland by an isthmus about a mile wide. Notable as we will pass the Trident submarine base, where they keep both submarines and missiles. Then to exit the isthmus we cross the fabled Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which (un)fortunately is not the original 'Galloping Gertie' bridge that I loved to show kids in science lessons. 

The phenomenon was called aerolastic flutter, which doesn't sound very dangerous, till you look at the video above. Now replaced by two separate suspension bridges, for which a toll is charge only on the Easterly direction bridge - our way of course. Still it is one of those places that is on my 'bucket list'.
Here is some information on the new suspension bridge:

Sorry about the annoying music on these, but you can turn the sound down.
We stay at Enumclaw for two nights, then drive on round the north side of Mt Rainier to a small town in the North Cascades called Leavenworth, where we hope to see some more nice mountains. From there we will drive Route 2 to another man made iconic monument - The Grand Coulee Dam. This should put us in Eastern Washington, near Spokane by next weekend, though the locals call anything East of the Cascades Eastern Washington. That is the plan, lets see if it works
Incidentally I have update the Mount St Helens Blog to include footage of the eruption

Sight seeing on a Rainy Day

It was forecast - all the locals said it would - it is a Holdiay weekend. Today we awoke to the sound of rain on the roof. It  was miserable looking outside. we had planned to drive up into the Olympic National Park to a place called Hurricane Ridge, on a mountain 5200ft up,  to see what the park looked like. However lookingout of our window there were no mountains at all - thhe rain clouds and fog had completly obscured them. So it was in to Port Angeles and Walmart for Sally and Jiffy Lub for me and the Chevy. That done (oil change) it had stopped raining and was now just cloudy, still couldn't see the mountains, so we drove into Port Angeles for lunch. Now the other name for the coast here is Dungenesse, so where better to have a Dungenesse Crab than here. So we did! We sat in a waterfront restaurant looking at the Dungenesse bay, eating our Dungenesse Crab (species), except it came from Alaska, as they are out of season here! Go figure! Better still come back in June when they are in season - for the Indian Tribes to catch, or wait until October when the white man can fish for them,. Go figure that one too!

Dungenesse Crab (from Alaska) eaten overlooking Dunegenesse Bay

After lunch we returned to the trailer, still with cloudy skies and no mountains to see. However on loooking at the Hurricane Ridge Webcam it showed that the sun was shining there (it is 20 miles away). So daringly we packed an evening picnic and drove off into the mist. After 8 miles of fog, some of it near zero visibility, even in the road tunnels! and a windy road we suddenly came out of the fog, which of course was low cloud, into glorious sunshine. We then drove up to Hurricane Ridge and were rewarded by the most fabulous views of the Olympic Mountains, made all the better for knowing how miserable the weather was on the coast. we spent a couple of hours there just admiring the scenery and the black tailed deer, watching the sun getting ready to set. This is the first time we have ever looked down on clouds from above (apart from an airplane), quite an interesting phenomenon. We decided to leave before it got dark as the road would be quite dangerous in the dark. We descended down the mountain, duly passing into the cloud and fog and returned to our trailer.
Another great day in the wilds of the U.S.A.
Note - Comet 209P/LINEAR, a tiny periodic comet discovered in 2004 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project (LINEAR) should provide a meteor shower, called the Camelopardalid meteor shower tonight.

Port Townsend

There are many similarities between the North Coast of the Penissula and New England, the climate is similar and the houses people built show similarities. We took a day trip to Port Townsend, the local ferry link to the mainland and Friday Harbor.
The mains street runs along the seafront, very inspiringly called Water St. We enjoyed wandering up and down this pleasant street with its big Victorian shops. we stopped at a replica soda fountain - The Nifty Fifty's, which had original decor brought in from a number of places as far away as Ohio. It was very pleasant as we sat outside the back in the sunshine, which has been a feature of the day, with a view of the sea.
We continued our wander and eventually ended up at the local park where we had our picnic lunch.
We then drove round the old part of the town gawping at the Victorian Wooden houses, eventually stopping at the Rothschild House, which is now a museum (no pics allowed inside) where the interior has been preserved from the 1880's, this was very interesting. Then the drive home, a very pleasant day

Sequim - Here we come

Dungeness Lighthouse

Wednesday
Oh yes, there is  place called Sequim!

Deer in the Park

Our time is up in Doeswallips, so what better than to move on to Sequim (pronounced Squim).

Glacier Peak - I think - 100 miles away on the mainland

Both out on the Olympic Peninsula. We got a good start and arrived at Sequirm by about 11.30, as it was only about 60 miles away. we are camped at Rainbow's End RV Park, it is quite pleasant, but tight, very tight. We are fortunate and have very nice triangular grass lawn about the size of a handkerchief. Did some shopping this afternoon and this evening took a drive through the town down to the beach - which is Dungeness Spit, a sand spit about 6 miles long out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca (no I don't know who he was, yet), the channel into the Puget Sound, which is 100 miles long and 10 miles wide at it's narrowest. It was very windy and quite chilly, but we could see mountains to the East, South and North of us. It is the most northerly point on the Peninsula.

Striped Peak - I think

I still have not learned that most places in America are much bigger than the look on the map. Puget Sound, from Olympia to the Canadian Border is 134 miles of water and is part of the waterway round Vancouver Island, which is in Canada, just across the water, 21 miles from Dungeness. Vancouver Island is 270 miles long.

Quiet day round Brinnon

Tuesday
Having had a down day on Monday and the weather being pleasantly warm, we used today to visit some local spots. Brinnon is a very small village on the east coast of the Olympic Peninsula. It is on Route 101, which clings to the coastline all way up the Pacific coast, from San Diego to the the Canadian border. Here it is doubling back south towards Olympia, the Capital of Washington, so when you are on 101 North, you are actually travelling South! The inlet that Brinnon is next to is called the Hood Canal, for some reason some the inlets on the Puget Sound are called canals. We had been told of Whitney Gardens, which is famous for its Rhododendron garden. It is literally a few hundred yards from the Dosewallips State Park, so we started there and spent a lovely couple of hours walking among some beautiful rhododendrons as well as azaleas and many ornamental trees. The photos of course do not do the flowers justice, still we try.

One of the people who worked there suggested we go a little way up the road into the hills, as there is a waterfall that is quite easy to  get to, so we drove off, there were no signpost, but we found the path to the waterfall, which was smooth enough for Sally to get her chair along. We found the waterfall and judged it to be magnificent. It was tucked away in the middle of a bit of temperate rainforest, very quiet. We clambered round the base of the waterfall and found a rock in the middles of the stream to eat our picnic. We had a lovely time there.

We had also been told to visit Mount Walker to get some good views of the area, so we now returned to the 101 and traveled north about 5 miles, where there is a forest road which climbs to the top of Mount walker, now the road was a four mile gravel road, though the mountain is only 2800 ft, when we got to the top the views were amazing. Though not very clear we could see Mt Rainier, which is 82 miles away, though we could only see the top half as the bottom half was hidden by haze. The mountain seemed to just float in the sky. We could also see Seattle across the water.

After our little sightseeing tour of Brinnon we were ready for tea, so stopped in at the Halfway House Restaurant for a very nice meal. In all a pleasant day.

Bluegrass From The Forest

Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Since leaving Debra and Richard in April we have been working our way north to a deadline, which has been to arrive at Shelton by Friday afternoon, so that we could be at this bluegrass festival.
It is not a big festival, but it was in the right place at the right time. I think that there were about 400 people turned  up. The festival was held in the buldings and grounds of the local High school, we were parked on car park, or perhaps I should say packed on a car park, as it was very close fellowship, but we were not here to enjoy the views. The weekend was split into four concert sessions with half a dozen bands performing two or three of the normal 45 min sessions. The headline band was Junior Sisk And Ramblers Choice, but they were supported by some great bands. The school was very pleasant campus and the concert sessions were held in their auditorium, which was a beautiful building which would have been the pride of many towns, let alone a school.
Around that we found plenty of time to jam with friends, (although we had never met any of them before). In particular I spent a couple of very late nights with some people local to the Olympic Area who told me some great stories about the logging and fishing that was is so important to this part of the country. Again, Mount St Helens eruption was an important and memorable event in their lives. They were most welcoming and forgiving of my playing style (or lack of) and my infuriating inability to remember the words to songs.
On Saturday afternoon we were once again delighted to see Roy and Anne when they come over to see one of the concerts, they were camped nearby, packing their trailer ready to fly out this (Monday) lunchtime. We have been amazed at how, without really trying, our paths have crossed on this trip.
On Sunday there was a short concert performed by the Kids of Bluegrass, which involved kids of all ages, including one 2/3? year old girl who was just the sweetest kid who played (held) a fiddle. We have really enjoyed being able to share what we have been doing over this last few weeks.
Sunday afternoon the festival finished and we packed up an rolled on northwards up the Peninsula and have found a State Park called Dosewallips S.P. where we will relax for a couple of days before exploring more of the Pacific North West.

Mount St Helens

Wednesday

The road to the visitor centre was cleared and opened to the public on May 10th and we have camped at Toutle ready to visit the mountain. We started as early as possible and drove up the 47 miles to Johnstone Ridge Observatory. We have found out that it was named after one of the scientists who were killed when MSH exploded on May 18th 1980. We arrived at about 10.00 to find that the centre was still closed due to a water pipe breaking (no water - no toilets - no public), but were able to have a good wander round on the many trails. Our visit was made better by a volunteer who gave us a guided tour of the area, showing us many of the features that were changed or added when the eruption took place.

There are two aspects to MSH, one is the sheer size and beauty of the mountain, the other is to see and understand that it is the site of a massive volcanic eruption, the largest in living memory in North America. Johnstone Ridge is on the side of the mountain that was blown away, so you can see all the effects that the eruption had on the area. It is not until one actually experiences the place that one can understand the power and size of the eruption that took place. Although the mountain was still 6 miles away our view point enabled us to see the crater where the volcano had blown away the mountain side, below us we could see the lava plain, ash slurry and bits of mountain that had been rapidly eroded away. The rock ridge we were standing on was curiously bare of ash and we found out that the gas/ash/mountainside had slipped down some 4000 feet from MSH, into the valley area and its momentum had forced it up over the ridge, scrapping the facing side and top bare, before breaking over the ridge into the next valley, or falling back, just like a wave breaking on a seawall. Except the ridge stands 900 feet above the valley below! Awesome really was the word. The ash/debris layer on the valley floor is over 200 feet thick and in places has been washed away into intricate gorges, except the gorges were eroded by the hot slurry within the first few days, not over years as with water. The visibility was excellent and we could even see the steam that is still rising from the magma bulge which is again building inside the crater. Looking around, away from the mountain, one could see tree trunks lying in line with each other, where they that had been felled by the explosion. Except in odd places where they had been protected by the blast by being on the other side of a hill, there they were just dead, but still standing. In the valleys on the way up Sally had spotted tree trunks that had been buried in the ash, but now exposed in the river banks.

Gullies made by the slurry

The 'tidemark' at the top of the hill

Steam vent

You can see the eruption story on this Documentary, now on Youtube.

Mount St Helen's Basecamp

Tuesday

Marrionberry pie here we come

Quick chat after our drink

It would have been so nice to just sit in the sun Astoria, popping out for a nice cup of coffee and a browse round the shops, however, our vacation must go on! Today we start our assault on Mount St Helen. You think about going up a mountain (in a car this is, lets not get silly after all) and more or less you see it and then you drive up to it. Well the mountains they have over here it is not quite that simple. We have moved East from the coast via the Merry Berry Pie shop, where we had some Marrionberry pie, and are now camped at the closest RV park (bar one, which we didn't like) to the summit. Which is about 50 miles away, that is about how far Doncaster is from Manchester. So our visit tomorrow will mean a round trip of nearly 90 miles. That will get us to the closest observation point - Johnson Ridge Observatory. This will enable us to see into the crater that formed in May 1980 when the whole north side of the mountain collapsed. Even then we will still be 6 miles away from the summit.

View of Mt St Helen above Longview, WA

The latest news says that the magma is building beneath the mountain and it has been seen to move - this we will investigate tomorrow, if it hasn't blown up before then.
Meanwhile, being camped close to a lake means that there are some reflective views of Mount St Helen for me to photograph, so with a full moon close by I took some pics tonight, here are some of my favourites. Some the quality is poor, but I could not leave out a bald eagle flying over and being harassed by a smaller bird (crow?), or the heron doing some evening fishing, the picture shows what I think is a trout being eaten by it. It is a shame that I couldn't put a soundtrack on them as the frogs were quite amazing, very deep, almost a buzzing sound.

Following The Goonies

Monday
Today we have followed a sort of trail of locations for the film The Goonies. Two main places are Astoria and Ecola State Park.
We started in Astoria at the County Jail, well it was the County Jail until 1976, it was used as a location for the jail scene in the film and is now a movie museum, mostly about the films made in and around Astoria. These included The Goonies, Short Circuit, Kindergarden Kop, Free Willie, The Postman and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Right across the street from the jail is the Museum featured in the beginning of the film, it is a very pretty building, well kept with beautiful gardens. in fact there are many beautiful gardens in Astoria.
From there is was coffee time, we wandered into a combined brewery and bakery, which was very pleasant.
The main event was to drive up to the Goonies House. The house is still there and welcomes people to view it from the outside, which we did. Although painted a different colour we could recognise it easily as the Goonies House, and the house next door which had a zip line into their kitchen. We took a few pics and enjoyed the view of the town, talked to a few people who also came to see the house. It was very pleasant. We could even hear the large numbers of seals down in the marina about a half a mile away.
We had planned to have our picnic at the Astoria Column, which is on a hill overlooking the town. This took us past the school used in Kindergarden Kop, all of 150 yards from the Goonies house.
The view from the hill was truly spectacular, from the top of the column (157 steps) I could see Mount St Helen to the East and Ecola SP to the south, as well as Astoria laid out below.

Having checked off all the places to visit in Astoria we now drove South through Seaside, to just North of Cannon Beach to Ecola State Park, where the restaurant and cliff top scenes were filmed.
Once again we were amazed at the beauty of the scenery, the view over Cannon Beach to Haystack was spectacular. With the cloudless sky the sea was a really deep blue.
I tried to find the exact spot where Mikey held up the doubloon, while Sally watched a group of elk that came wandering past. I could see one island, but trees had grown to obscure the view of the second point, and the restaurant has been taken down, so not spectacularly successful there, however Sally did manage to get some good pics of the elk.
The last stop was Indian Beach, a mile up the coast. The road in the SP was wound its way through the dense rainforest so it seemed further than that. The beach is very beautiful, there were quite a few people there, some surfing.
On our way back we stopped at a Chinese restaurant and had a nice meal, Sally enjoyed it as they said you tell us what veg you want and we will cook it for you! So she had garlic shrimp with snow peas (mange tout), bok choy, carrot and spring onion.
Quite a long day but we really enjoyed following in the footsteps of The Goonies.

 

Quiet Day at Fort Stevens

Sunday
Today we took a rest day, during which we did a lot of sitting in the sun and catching up with things. I had a run and we also took a short drive into Astoria for a coffee and a stroll round the street market. While we were there we took a pic of the bridge from the point of view of Stephanie's house in Short Circuit.

After we had eaten we drove down the the beach and watched the sunset. There is a wreck on the beach of an old four masted barque called the Peter Iredale. It is a magnet for photographers, so of course I took a few pics.

We Must Go DownTo The Sea Again

Saturday
Decision time, Mt St Helens, or the beach? The weather is still a bit iffy, if now dry. To see Mt St Helens we need a cloud base above 10,000ft and I don't think we will get that in the next couple of days, so we plump for the beach. we set out to drive the 108 miles to Tillamook, famous for cheese and icecream and having the largest hanger in North America. Also a crabbing area (I think most of the West coast is a crabbing area really). On the way out we took one last look at Mutnomah Falls, still awesome.

We stopped in Portland for supplies and lunch in Applebees, while there we decided to cut out Tillamook and head instead straight for Astoria. The scenery on the road to the coast was hilly rather than mountainous, but still quite dramatic. everything is green, green, apart from the brightly coloured azaleas and rhododendrons which are everywhere over here. We have ended up by camping in Old Fort Stevens SP, about 5 miles West of Astoria.
This evening we drove the mile down to the beach and sat and watched the pelicans play follow my leader across the wave tops as the sun was sinking in the West.
Nice to see the sea again.

Sharing the Waterfalls

Friday
And it is raining again today!
In the midst of their car troubles Roy and Anne have taken a day to drive down the gorge to meet us, so that we can explore the waterfalls.

We started by driving to the Vista House and looking at the fabulous view from there, not to mention the fabulous house that is Vista House, all marble and Art Deco. Complete with a Tardis style lift that comes up through the marble floor to take Sally down stairs to the gift shop and restrooms.
Vista House is on the Old Columbia Highway, which is now an 'All American Highway' and a great road to just saunter along. From Vista House we drove North to Bridal Veil Falls, where we took the short, but steep walk down to the falls.
Visiting falls when it is raining is not necessarily a bad plan as (1) there are very few other people stupid enough to go out in the rain and (2) lots of rain means lots of water in the rivers and makes for more dramatic waterfalls. Having said that the sun actually shone (briefly) while we were at the Bridal Veil Falls
Further along we stopped briefly at a couple of other falls and then, turning a corner came upon the Multnomah Falls. Second highest falls in North America at 582ft. It was very dramatic, especially with all the extra rainwater. We stood for some time just watching the water tumble over the huge cliff and accelerate down to the pool below.
We finally drove on to the Horsetail Falls, where we said our farewells to Roy and Anne. We seem to have spent a lot of time together without really meaning to, although for the most part (apart from their car) it has been really fun.
The views from Vista House showed some lovely cloud formations that created a really moody atmosphere. I have put a few together, though they seem to be repeats each one is different. You may find this boring, so can skip it if you want.

Temperate Rain Forest Means it WILL Rain

Thursday
Part of the beauty of the Columbia Gorge area is that it is so green, with a huge variety of plants and trees. It is classified as Temperate Rain Forest. So it is hardly sur[rising that it rains  quite often. We have been fortunate so far, but today it rained. Not despeartely bad, but fairly continuous. We decided that it was more a day for inside things, so we visited the nearby Bonneville Dam. This was very interesting and mostly dry. We saw lots of water gushing through water barriers and the turbines that are used to generate power. Very big. We also were able to access underwter viewing windows of the fish ladders. While we were there we saw an awful lot of salmon type fish (Chinooks I think) come swimming through. There is a small room where some people are employed to count the varieties of fish as they swim past. I thought the Fish COunter would be selling salmon, but no they just counted it!
A diversion to Cascade Locks for a cup of tea and a fine view of the Bridge of The Gods, followed by a look at the Horsetail Falls after rain had fallen meant that we had a full day, and fun, even in the wet.
While cooking tea Sally spotted a hummingbird on our feeder. This one is bridght orange and red. It is a Rufous Hummingbird, the smallest found in this country. The pics I have are ppor as the light was not good, maybe tomorrow will be better.

Busy Day in the Columbia Gorge

We woke early and because it was bright and clear we got up quickly and drove along to Hood River, to return to Panorama Point to be rewarded with a great view of Mount Hood, without a cloud in sight.

We were so chuffed that we treated ourselves to to breakfast out. On inquiring from the locals we decided to patronize the Egg River Cafe (formally known as Egg Harbor Cafe). we had a huge breakfast. This is the only restaurant where the waitress has negotiated us into buying a smaller breakfast! On the grounds that one breakfast and a side would be quite enough, and it was. Great breakfast. Sally tried an omelette, to see the effect of eating eggs, I tried the apple pancakes and they were delicious.

Returning to the trailer we quickly packed up and rolled on to our next campground - Ainsworth State Park, a mere 40 miles down the I84. We arrived there and were set up by 11.04, I think this must be some sort of a record. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the glorious sunshine.

I went for a run in the afternoon and this evening Sally and I ventured out the 1.2 miles to the Horsetail Falls, which were very beautiful.




This afternoon we received a call from Roy and Anne to say that their Dodge Pick up was again giving them problems and they were now camped at Memaloose S.P. Where we had left that morning.

Life in the Columbia Gorge

The Columbia Gorge is quite narrow and the Columbia River is quite wide, so there is lots of compewtition for land here. This ws the original end to the Oregon Trail. After six months of wagon travel the pioneers would end up at The Dalles, where they had to abandon their wagons as the only way down the river was on the river itself, then having lots of rapids, so no fun at journeys end then. in 1850 the paddle steamer came along, then the railway, then in 1920 odd they managed to build a road, now there is a four lane highway that clings to the river south shoreline and a road and railway on the northern, Washington, shore. The river itself has been tamed by a series of barrages which now enable large barges to navigate safely up and down, carrying mostly grain I understand. The trains seem to be frequent and long on both sides of the river, so it is a very well used transport corridor.
Today Sally and I drove a little to the West to River Hood, we went inland a little, but the mountain itself was shrouded in cloud, never mind, perhaps tomorrow. We explored the town a little, but much of it is closed at this time of the week, Tuesday (?). We stopped by the river for a picnic and were rewarded by great views down the gorge, as well as seeing a Bald Eagle, which had been fishing, being harassed by  raven.

Memaloose State Park, On The Columbia River

We watched our friends Roy and Anne drive off into the East, then left Cove Palisade ourselves to drive north to the Columbia River. Took a byway, the 197, very pretty could see all the clouds in front of all the big mountains. Real volcanic scenery. Huge lava fields. We dropped down into the Deschutes River Gorge to the little town of Maupin, stopped for a coffee at a little place called The Oasis, been there since the railroad came through in 1915! It looked like the 'Dueling Banjos' scene in Deliverance - river in the background, cabin type diner with a front porch, just lacked the boy with a banjo. Had a lovely coffee though (did I mention a short stack of pancakes as well? Or a side of Fries for Sally? OOPS!). Also sat and watched a pair of Ospreys come past the diner (as you do), they were nesting on a post about 50 yards away. Drove on, arrived at Memaloos SP and bagged a 'Prime site' on the Bank of the Columbia River, lots to see (and hear), with the 184 behind and the Union Pacific railway between us and the river barges. Looking forward to a couple days to catch up on the washing and who Lewis and Clarke are and why they are important in these parts. This evening we dropped back into The Dalles for a steak at Cousins Restaurant - a sort of upmarket Cracker Barrel. Thank you for that Roy and Anne (though it was entirely unnecessary, your company was more than sufficient compensation), now we have the basis for a reunion dinner out.

Smith's Rock State Park

Saturday
Sally and I drove the twenty miles to Smith's Rock State Park today. Although it has a peculiar rock formation you can drive past it without realizing what it is, in fact Highway 97 passes within 3 miles and unless you know it is there I am sure you would not notice it. However it is a volcanic crater, with a central cone and high walls almost all round it, about half a mile wide. However the Crooked river has found its way in, flows round the inside and flows out again on the other side, making a wonderful river gorge with towering, vertical cliffs which make for brilliant rock climbing and people come from all over the world to climb here. Today was no exception, with no exaggeration there were probably at least a thousand people taking part in activities in the park, mostly climbing, walking, cycling or just enjoying the views. A quite amazing place.
Highlight for us was being offered a view of a Golden Eagle nest, complete with two chicks, Sally spent about 45 minutes watching the nest trough the monocular and was completely delighted. Meanwhile Anne and Roy took a hike up the Misery Trail on the far bank of the river from us, we could see them climbing for part of the way, it looked hard, long and steep.

After visiting Smith's Rock Sally and I called in at the Rex Barber Bridge Overview, also the Crooked River. The river has cut a 300 ft deep gorge into the lava beds that at one time poured out of the Smith's Rock area. Crossing the gorge are the old road bridge, the new road bridge and the railway bridge. The are very impressive. The bridge area is named after a local war fighter pilot ace who grew up in Culver, a town nearby, and flew in the second world war. He was the pilot who shot down the bomber that was transporting Admiral Yamamoto around (he who masterminded the attack on Pearl Harbor), killing him and a number of his top staff, thus striking a blow for the war effort.

Cove Palisade State Park

Cove Palisade is a State Park built round a deep gorge cut by the Crooked river into the volcanic lava fields of the area. This gorge has been dammed and is now a huge reservoir, with spectacular views.

 The campground is right next to the gorge,at the top of a 600 foot drop. It is however a very pretty and well kept campground, with many trees that are in blossom at the moment. All this against a backdrop of the Cascade Mountains, though cloud obscured most of them for most of the time we were there.

It's Moving On Time!

Friday
We packed up our rig at Bend, feeling that we had not really done all there is to do in this area. Although it does not seem to have much it is a very nice place to be. Close to the mountains, close to the desert, warm and sunny with lots of countryside to see. It was a shame that we are about a week too early to get the benefit of it. We have one more visit to make in this area, on our way to Cove Palisade, our next stop, we made a slight diversion to Sisters, the town. The drive took us past some good views of the mountains. It is a bit higher than bend and has a more alpine feel to it, however it is a town stuffed full of interesting little shops, bakeries, coffee houses etc. we visited on the recommendation of our friend Sandy Brown, who lived in this area for a long time. Specifically we were to visit the clock shop! Beacham's. We arrived in Sisters in time for a nice drink in the Sisters Coffee House, which was very relaxing, Sally exchanging life histories with a very nice lady on the veranda as we watched the world go by in the pleasantly warm sunshine. As midday approached we meandered across the road to the clock shop, which is absolutely stuffed full of clocks. The owner - Ed - makes his own clock cases and also makes clock movements. At about 3 minutes to twelve the chimes started, all over the shop (two levels) a variety of chimes could be heard, this delightful sound continued for about 5 minutes, it was quite entrancing. We spent some time looking at clocks and the clock makers workshop, which is integral with the shop. Fascinating. Unfortunately the owner - Ed, was away for a vacation with his wife as it was their 40th wedding anniversary. Thank yo for your visiting idea Sandy. We continued to Cove Palisade via Redmond, where we found a nice burger joint to have an excellent lunch and then made the short journey to the campground. A pleasant, and short, moving on experience.

Day Out Amongst the Volcanoes

Thursday
Today is the first of May! Big Deal, no it really is a big deal round here. It may be the beginning of May with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80's, but up high in the Cascades it is still mid winter. With the amount of snow they get here they just don't bother clearing the roads. This week we have been wanting to travel the Scenic Highways and visit some cool volcanoes, but they have been closed. Today some of them open. The Lava Butte being the most important one. So we packed a lunch and went together to the Lava Butte, a 500ft high cinder cone, red lava. Nice cone shape, with a neat depression in the top, just like you imagine a volcano to be. Best of all a road winds round the outside, so you can take the car up to see the view (dejavu?, yes just like Pilot View Butte, which we visited yesterday, but it is different). So we went up and were rewarded with a fabulous view of the surrounding mountains. If we looked to the south we could see Mt Shasta, if we looked to the north we could see Mount Hood. Those two mountains are 297 miles apart, that is like standing in London and being able to see Leicester to the north and Paris to the south!

 We then managed to climb a little way up into the mountains, before coming to a dead stop with a 'Road Closed' sign. Still we did see a very pretty frozen lake  - Elk Lake.
On the way we found a neat picnic spot by Prairie Crane Lake, where we watched a Garter Snake swim up to the shore and slither up the beach. They apparently are not poisonous and are quite small, as the pic with my lens cap in in shows. Then while eating lunch we saw an Osprey, then a Bald Eagle. Then watched as the Osprey attacked the Bald Eagle  in the air! Again I have pics, but as the whole thing happened abut 1/4 mile away the quality is not that good.

Still in all a great day out with Roy and Anne, who are now reunited with their Dodge Ram Pickup and tomorrow we move on north. But that is another day and another tale.