Setting Up a Campsite

Blogs have not been published for a while because there was no cell phone service or internet in the mountains. We were off the grid almost completely. We did have our inverter in the truck so that phones could stay charged for  quick photos and the computer charged to write when there were quiet moments like our 1st morning early.

A Morning View from our RV

I feel a little badly because I told my supervisor from Boston that I’d be able to handle any follow-up work while on vacation, except for the time in Canada. Well, since Canada we had little service and then no service. I do not know what I was thinking when I told him that but I suppose I’ll deal with any issues once we leave the mountains.

We made an error also when we left Fresno in that we did not completely think thru our conditions for dry camping. We did not drain our holding tanks completely and did not fill up our fresh water tank to the top. Also, one of our propane tanks was empty, but we just started our 2nd tank. We were in too big of a hurry to get out of the heat. There wasn't a dump or any services within an hour drive.

For now we are going back to the ways of our early days of camping. Using the water from the campsite faucet and washing dishes in the big sink behind the campground bathroom. We also fill a big pot with water at the campground faucet then heat it on the stove.

We could not find a group site so took the campsite next to ours for our son Justin and his group. We thought that we’d just put the 2 tables together from the 2 sites. We put up our screened room in a level place with the fold-up picnic table for a play area for kids.

The 2nd Site

Justin found us and all was fine.

Campsites with a play center

A Not Fun Vacation Day

It was a 15-hour drive from Craters of the Moon down and over to Kings Canyon in the west side of the Sierras. We’d planned to stop in Reno and take our granddaughter to breakfast at the Excalibur. Oops! Excalibur is in Las Vegas, we realized when we got into Reno.

Rest stop near Reno

We had to drive down the Central Valley, it was hot! Not what we were used to, but what we had left for the past few weeks. Ugh, we were not in the best of moods but we had to go this route to get to where we needed to be.

We’d planned to meet our son, Justin and his boys, his wife and her daughter, in Cedar Grove, the last campground in Kings Canyon. The plan was that we’d all arrive on Wed am at the latest. We decided that we’d arrive on Tues night rather than trying to rush on Wed.

We had to stop at Costco as we were out of food. We also needed to do laundry. We’d run low on clothes back in some town, who knows where, so stopped and bought more. Now it was desperation time again and we hated to buy even more clothes.

We were not completely happy campers when we went into Costco. Then Costco was not set up at all like ours. They didn’t have some of the products that we see in ours and we really needed. More foul! Then I got really ill from some gluten, don’t know what I’d eaten the day before, but there it was. But fortunately, I was in Costco when the gluten issue hit and not on a 2-lane road with no shoulder.

We left Costco and went to the grocery store next door, bought what we needed and got on the road. We decided that it was too hot, we were getting too grumpy and we would deal with laundry in Kings Canyon.

We were in Kings Canyon by 9p.m. but, Cedar Grove was another hour back into the mountains. But it didn’t matter how far Cedar Grove was, we were going to plant ourselves in a campsite and be done.

It had rained just before we got into Cedar Grove, and although thunderstorms were forecast for that night we only had clear skies with a gazillion stars. We found a campsite with a long drive, perfect for our RV and long truck, parked and set up camp. Good to be back in the cool weather again.

Side Trip to Craters of the Moon

Google Maps said it would be an 8-hour drive to Craters National Park. That was well and good but not quite accurate here. Add on a few hours and get a late start and we are good to get there after dark.

The road was nearly all 2-lane and immediately after leaving Glacier, curvy. Maybe an hour drive after Glacier we hit road work, where the pavement had been removed so that it was sometimes gravel and sometimes dirt. A very slow go. After many miles of road construction the roads were still 2 lane but very smooth. 

The glaciers were visible for a couple of hours and I’d love to return to Glacier on this road. The views were so beautiful in the rear view mirrors. But hopefully the roads construction will be completed.

We arrived in Arco, the closest city to Craters, at dark about 10pm. The KOA was ready for us and we were ready to eat dinner and sleep. By the way, the KOA did not appear to have any dumps at the campsites but the price was right, only $29 per night with a free breakfast.

Craters of the Moon consists of cinder cones, splatter cones, caves, lava tubes and lava flows, some as recent as 2,000 years ago. The volcanic activity here, however, did not occur from a cone or mountain, like Mt. St. Helens, but rather, from fissures under the surface. We found hardened lava flows much like the ones we’ve seen on TV in Hawaii, but here the lava came from cracks in the surface of the ground. The lava is thin on top so that it will break when stepped on.

There are cinder cones throughout the park and chunks of lava that blew out. Plants have started growing on the older flows.

There are several hikes to take on paved walkways, some only ½ mile long with little elevation change. Interpretive signs tell the story of the area.

The hike, The North Crater Flow, is closest to the visitor’s center and located on lava flows that mostly look like long fat spaghetti noodles. There is one area of a’a’ lava which consists of lava chunks. The 2^nd hike that we took, Devils Orchard, went thru an older flow where the pl

ants and trees have started to come back.

http://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm

Unfortunately, we were only able to take the 2 easiest hikes as we did not have much time to spend. But there was much to learn on the 2 hikes and it was a very interesting side trip.

Running Around Glacier National Park

Our night started out with a bang, lots of banging. It was about 11:30pm, I was posting photos of our trip on Facebook.  It 1^st sounded like someone was trying to break into the RV then a banging on the truck. I turned on the light above the door and looked out the side window. There was a huge bear in the bed of our truck hitting on the tool box then he/she tried to move the ice chest.

I yelled for Dale, why, I have no idea. He woke up and came down without his glasses. By that time, Twinkle came by me and started growling. Some protector she is. The bear quickly left. A neighbor camper came out of his RV with his flashlight. I was thinking “there is a huge bear out here, not some noisy neighbor”.

In the morning we found bear prints on the sides of the truck and hood, slobber and dirt on the truck where he/she’d looked in the windows, scratches on the hood and windshield, a door and on the RV.

The morning was bright and sunny, such a welcome change from the days of rain. We were so glad to be able to hike and picnic without the fear of rain.

We started our morning with breakfast at the Many Glacier Hotel. The hotel has been partly refurbished back to its 1920’s glory. More changes have yet to be made. The lobby reminded us of the hotel in Yellowstone, however. the Yellowstone hotel is a little grander, as we remember it anyway.

 

After breakfast we found a trail off of the path to our truck and took it a ways back, Zaya skipping and running in front while I brought up the rear while shooting photos. We lost the trail in the forested area and returned back to our truck.

We picked up Twinkle and went back to St Mary’s Visitor Center so Zaya could get her special patch and her Jr. Ranger badge. We then started on Going to the Sun, looking for the perfect hiking spot.

Zaya didn’t want to do a hike to the St Mary waterfalls so we drove looking for a place with an inviting trail. We found one that followed a stream. We found a picnic spot along the stream and unpacked our lunch. We’d brought wine but then just wanted water; don’t know what was wrong with us! We were mostly alone except for the occasional hiker walking by.

Winds were picking up and one particularly high gust blew over my tripod with the camera right onto a rock. Unfortunately, I lost my polarizing lens, it completely shattered, but it seems that the rest of the heavy duty camera survived. That has yet to be determined, but it appears to be ok.

With food in our belly and a beaten up camera, we started up the trail right up the hill. We stopped to read a large sign that told us we were in Grizzly Country. A little wake-up. But we had no worries as Zaya talked and sang nearly the entire hike. We didn’t walk all the way up to the top, but we got in a good walk on a beautiful afternoon.

We drove back to our campsite just a little sad that we had to leave but looking forward to the next leg.

Glacier; The Road To Apgar

Glacier National Park is a place I’ve wanted to visit for some time now. Unfortunately, because of our truck break down, we had days cut off of our visit. Fortunately, we can drive there again, it isn’t the end of the world.

We arrived in Glacier late afternoon and stopped immediately at the St Mary’s Visitor’s Center. This visitor center is on the North East entrance. We picked up Jr. Ranger books to complete. We were told to return to that visitor center for the swearing in between 12:30-2 in order to receive a special patch only given at that center.

There is road work going on in the park and we were told that we could not pull the RV thru the entire park. We could only drive into Rising Sun then turn around. That was better than nothing and we did want to see the park right away.

After driving the 7 miles and back, we thought we’d drop the RV. We found that both nearby campgrounds were packed full, but each told us about a campground 7 miles away, Chewing Blackbones. We went to the Chewing Blackbones, located on Blackfeet land. We found that we were one of only a few campers, but the campground was clean and very secure, not to mention reasonable; $50 for full hookups.

After a night of rain, the skies cleared a bit for a beautiful sunrise. The plan was to take a picnic lunch with us, maybe do a little hiking but drive the entire Going to the Sun road. We saw that Apgar, on the SW corner, had a Visitors Center where there were pelts, skulls, and other things on display to touch. Also, there were kids’ ranger programs which Zaya needed to complete her Jr. Ranger.

The Road to the Sun is amazing with beautiful mountain peaks, wildflowers, lakes, glaciers, weeping wall, lots of waterfalls and a few wild animals. We stopped and saw a bear on the hill, then stopped for the circus on the top at the top at Logan Pass. The Pass has a visitor center but it was freezing cold, raining and jam packed, so packed that we could not even walk thru. I told Zaya, “let’s get out of here”. We used the restroom and moved on down the road.

The road down to Apgar is steep and narrow, so narrow that we were nervous. There is a complete drop off, down to the river way, way down on one side, and a jagged rock wall on the inside. Perfect road for the Ferrari or Jag but for the big honking truck; well we had to watch it.

We reached Lake McDonald and a picnic area close to Apgar. It wasn’t raining just a few sprinkles off and on. We had a fun picnic and shot photos of the lake. We could see the storm moving in.

Apgar is another stop in the park. The Visitor Center is about ¼ mile away from the Apgar Village. The Village has a Nature Center which is what we were interested in, run by the National Park Service.

We arrived at the Nature Center in time for a ranger talk, this time about Watersheds. Zaya made a watershed by crumbling a piece of paper then folding it up. She unfolded the paper and put it on a clipboard, taping down the sides but leaving the center high like a topo map. With a highlight pen, she colored the peaks then the ranger sprayed water on top. Where the water ran the colors showed the watersheds.

Inside the nature center, various animal skins are on display for touching. Bird eggs can be held, skulls and horns compared. They range from bears to coyotes, fox, bighorn sheep and elk. Zaya loved walking the elk hoof across the floor. She also tried on the head of the bear for size and then compared her little hand to the huge grizzly bear paw.

When the center was closing we enjoyed a bowl of Huckleberry Ice Cream. We tasted the berries that the bears were eating. A little like a blueberry but different.

Drumheller, An Excelent Museum

We tried to leave Banff early as we had a 4-hour drive to Drumheller, where there is a fabulous Dinosaur museum. It was highly recommended that we visit there.

We drove to the museum via Hwy 9 which is a beautiful drive in itself. Many brilliant yellow fields of safflowers. I really wanted to shoot some photos, but we thought we’d better get to the museum. But for those who read this blog and want to make this drive, plan extra time in order to shoot some great photos.

The museum is amazing. There are interactive displays that kids can do. One that Zaya loved was touch screen where a dinosaur is outlined then parts are jumbled together in a corner. You must touch and drag each part to the outline and when it is placed correctly the screen lights up. Zaya was so excited to build a dinosaur correctly.

There are some living animals like some huge cockroaches maybe 2-1/2” long and a soft-shelled turtle, the type of which was in existence millions of years ago.

The museum has many educational opportunities. We missed many of them by arriving in the afternoon. They offer chances to make casts of fossils and hear stories. For older kids they can dig for fossils and the one we did was to hike to look for fossils.

We went on a 1-1/2 hour walk with 2 stops thru the Badlands. The path is dirt and some areas a little steep but not difficult. The walk isn’t long at all. The first stop was in a flat semi-circular area at one of the hoodoos. Fossils and rocks have washed down and are strewn about the ground. The guide pointed out fossils, iron-ore rocks, glacial erratic, sandstone and petrified wood. Then the kids were encouraged to bring rocks to her to identify. We then went and saw a semi-exposed dinosaur for our 2^nd stop.

Fortunately,

the museum is open until 9pm so there was no rush to leave. We wondered thru the timelines of the eons, viewing the various animals alive during those times.  http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/

High Tea Fit for a Princess

We thought we’d have a lunch-time picnic at a vista point, across the street, from the campground. We packed up our smoked salmon, dips, crackers and wine in our picnic backpack. We hiked over to the vista and were going to sit down on the chairs when it started raining. When the drops really started dropping we turned around and went back to the RV for an inside picnic. Of course, the sun came out and was bright while we had our inside picnic.

The whole lunch idea was a big mistake as we’d booked a reservation for Tea, but we didn’t want to be starving when we had our High Tea.

We dressed up, Zaya in the best dress she had with a pretty pink sweater. She had me brush her hair and put it into braids.

We got to the Banff Springs Hotel just at 3pm but were told that there wasn’t a reservation for us after all and that they were booked. Well, that was the wrong answer! I told them that we had come into the hotel and made our reservation the day before and we were now there to have tea. I was firm but did not have to demand to see the manager. After many apologies, we were seated with a nice window view.

Our mistake in eating lunch became apparent very soon. After our selection and sniffs of tea, we were brought small sandwiches and scones. The selections were brought on the 3-tiered serving plates. I had my own gluten free selections. Dale and Zaya shared theirs, but peanut butter and jam sandwiches were made for Zaya. Some of the sandwiches included: smoked salmon with capers, cucumber and radish, boiled egg, curry, ham and brie.

We didn’t stuff because we knew that we’d be getting a selection of desserts. There was one of each for Dale and Zaya; opera cakes, cream-filled cookies, other petite fours, and lime cheesecakes. I had a hand-made marshmallow, brownie with a crispy rice crust topped with chocolate mousse

, chocolate covered strawberry, another chocolate cake and cream filled cookies.

Fortunately, what we couldn’t eat they packed up for us to take. We still have desserts waiting to be finished.

Making it to Banff

The truck was finished on Sunday late afternoon, we stowed our belongings, hitched up and left Vancouver. We only got a couple of hours down the road when we stopped for the night, but at least we got down the road.

A little about Dale’s adventures: we got a text about 9a.m. from the mechanic saying that work on our truck had started at 8:30am. After breakfast, Dale got a taxi and went to the shop. Dale was feeling like the mechanic didn’t know what he was doing and was quite anxious. Dale walked down the street and another mechanic appeared. That mechanic told Dale that he did help out the ones repairing our truck before but refused to do that any longer.

The mechanic ended up going to the shop and helping, bringing in proper tools and giving advice when needed. Dale also had to help with repairs.

Needless to say, we were a little concerned when we started out on Canada Hwy 1 to cross over the mountains but the truck ran fine. Not a drop leaked out.

We arrived in Banff late afternoon, got a campsite at Tunnel Mountain, changed clothes and rushed off to the Banff Springs Hotel for Tea. We arrived only to realize that the time had changed and it was an hour later so it was actually dinner time. We made a reservation for High Tea on Tues at 3pm.

With dinner in mind, we found Eddie’s Burger where we had Alberta grass-fed beef burgers. Yum.

Adventures and Mis-Adventures in Vancouver

We were in Vancouver on our way to Alaska, with our older grandkids, about 4 years ago. We’d stopped in Stanley Park and stumbled upon the area with the Totem Poles. We thought that it would be a good place to bring Zaya this time, hence the stop in Vancouver.

We crossed the border into Canada after much scrutinizing of the papers for Zaya and Twinkle. Thank goodness for Google as we found a campground just north of Stanley Park.

After parking the RV, we quick packed up a lunch and some wine then drove down to Stanley Park and found the totem poles. The totem poles are made by different tribes then installed in the park.  

Zaya was enthralled by the totem poles, walking up and touching the ones available to touch. We took photos, walked around to see the views across the bay to the north and to the south. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=a7458795-e135-431a-80be-38b23093b629

We had to check out our campsite by 11a.m. and of course we were not ready at all. We rushed to get the RV battened down.

I’d gone into the office to ask if there was any recommendation for good smoked salmon and an employee told me about another employee, a Native, who also makes smoked Indian Candy. He gave the guy a call and the guy said he’d bring some Indian Candy over for us.

We’d about given up and was starting out to leave when the guy with the salmon came arrived. We didn’t have any Canadian cash so he was going to wait while we got cash. Then the guy working at the RV Park noticed water dripping quickly from the truck and was immediately concerned that we were not going to make it to Banff, an 8-hour drive.

The Native drove me to the nearby bank so I could get cash, but he could not exchange the fish until we were back on Indian ground. Dale, in the meantime, started looking seriously for the leak.

I returned back to the RV and truck where Dale had no luck in finding the leak and it was pouring rain. I then googled a repair person nearby and found 1 open. The mechanic told me to get the truck right over and maybe they could still get us on the road.

We arranged to leave our RV in the front drive of the park, which is the place we’d pulled to when we saw the guy with the salmon.

We took the truck and drove to the garage. There we learned it was the water pump and that they would attempt to replace it still.

Unfortunately, the truck was not repaired and we have spent the night in a driveway. But we are self-contained so even though we could not extend the slide out, we still could make dinner and sleep.

We hope that the truck is done soon and we can continue on down the road to Banff.

In the meantime,

we hang out at the pool, walked to Whole Foods and shopped, stopped at Starbucks for a break on the way back to the RV Park.

I’ll maybe read a book, something I haven’t done in months.

Seattle with Cousins

We’ve spent most of the last two days in Seattle with Dale’s cousin and his wife. We try to stop when we are in the area, usually passing thru to Canada.

Dale and his cousin were close as young boys and remain good friends even though they see each other only once every few years. They haven’t grown apart and share interests like cars.

Norman and Marty were at a baseball game when we arrived but had left the driveway empty for us to drop our RV. We dropped the RV and the dog then went into Seattle. We did the typical touristy stuff like Pikes Fish Market and the original Starbucks. http://www.visitseattle.org/things-to-do/sightseeing/pike-place-market/

Pikes Market consists of a covered area in which businesses operate, much like a farmers market. Farmers sell fruits and flowers. The cherries are in season and we found some organic which made a great snack. Bought flowers for Marty and a stuffed lizard for Zaya.

There are several fish markets but the best one is located at the end. There are a couple of employees behind a counter then fish on ice just beyond the counter. There are employees in front of the fish counters. When someone orders a fish to take home the employee throws it to the guys working behind the counter with lots of shouts. It is quite a show.

There is also a fake monkfish which has a wire that runs under the ice to the rear. Employees will move the wire making the fish jump. Quite funny to watch people’s faces.

We finally met up with Norman and Marty, arriving at their house just moments before them. We picked up their 7-year old granddaughter and girls got along right away.

Thurs, the 6 of us piled into the truck, drove onto the ferry, and went over to Bainbridge Island. I’m not sure if this was Zaya’s first ferry ride, but she was so excited. She and her new friend/cousin ran around exploring the ferry.

After lunch we drive back to the ferry for the ride back to Seattle.

One of our son Nate’s friends thought that Nate was in Seattle as I’ve been tagging Zaya’s photos for him to see. The friend asked if Nate would come to his new restaurant. Well, since Nate couldn’t go then we went in his place. http://www.eatatporkchop.com/  Porkchop & Co. What a great little place and fun to meet some of our son’s friends. And a great way to finish a visit to Seattle.

A Visit to A Volcano

On to Washington and 1^st stop Mt. St. Helens.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, our granddaughter was anxious to see a volcano and here was a big one.

We arrived and planted our RV at the KOA close to the monument, ate some lunch and went off the see the mountain.

The Johnson Observatory is located on Johnson Ridge. This is the ridge where Volcanologist, David Johnson observed the volcano blowing and it is named after him.   http://www.mountsthelens.com/visitorcenters.html    http://www.fs.usda.gov/mountsthelens  http://www.mtsthelensinfo.com/about

At first Zaya was not so impressed, there wasn’t lava running out. Poor girl. We arrived in time to see a ranger speak in front of the volcano. He passed out various types of lava rocks that Zaya found interesting feeling the difference.

Then off to the Junior Ranger program. This was the last one for the day and most people were gone from the mountain so there were only 2 other girls. The program is held in the amphitheater, located on the edge of the ridge. The 3 girls each had great fun, Zaya played Johnson Ridge in the demonstration of how the mountain blew. She was then all talk of volcanos.

Tuesday we were back at the mountain mid-morning. The weather was still cool so it was a perfect time.

Again we got there just in time for a ranger talk, this one was a little different so we learned a little more. We also brought our binoculars so we were able to see the “bowl” and the ice field.

Another Junior Ranger program was to start soon and Zaya wanted yet another badge so off we went. Again Zaya played Johnson Ridge and was quite the pro! The ranger on this program did a small demonstration on how the gas built up and blew using a small, old-fashioned, film canister, red dye, water and a stomach antacid tablet. The kids thought it was amazing.

After the program, we were walking up to watch the movies in the visitors center and I was wondering about some steam coming off the Mt. Zaya told us that she could answer any questions we would have

as she knew all about volcanos. So now we have a pro on our hands.

A Little Hiking

Sunday was our last day in Oregon and we spent the morning at Multnomah Falls, a place

that Clayton and Jen have been to before.

http://www.oregon.com/attractions/multnomah_falls

The park has a paved trail to the top of the falls, however, much of it is steep. The trail to the top is a little over a mile and we got within .8 miles. Fortunately for us, kids pooped out so we had a little excuse for not reaching the top. For the 1^st time in months I got to actually take my time shooting photos. I’d forgotten how I enjoyed my camera.

We’ve had a wonderful family time but now it is time to leave and move onto the next leg.

Downtime with Family

We arrived in Oregon City by 10pm. We were happy to get out of the car, after about 14 hours, and have some wine with our son and daughter-in-law. Grandkids were happy to be together at last.

It has been fun to just take some down time even though I’ve had and still have work to complete. It is also a time to re-group for the next few weeks.  We threw things into the RV before leaving so now we can actually put stuff away before we leave.

Oregon has such pretty city and state parks. City parks have water pads, and great playgrounds. I don’t understand why city governments, in other states, can’t invest in things for their children to do.

The kids love the water pads and run between the water and the playgrounds.

Yesterday we spent the morning at Eagle Fern Park, a park with a river running thru it. The river isn’t deep so the kids could walk across, but deep enough to float in an inner tube. There are walks one can take between the large trees and ferns. Cool and inviting and a break from the heat.

Long Driving Days

The downside and upside to long road trips are the long stretches of time in the car.

Yesterday started out well: breakfast with Julie then 2 hours later lunch with friends in Sonoma, Joe and Stephanie. Actually, Joe and I were co-workers when I was working all of the months in Nor Cal. We’d never met in person but spent lots of time on the phone, text and email plus facebook. It felt like meeting up with old friends.

We picked up our wine club shipment in Sonoma then started to the Santa Rosa area where we had 3 more wineries to pick up from. On the way our little chinchilla passed away. It was hot and he was old. We were so sad, he has been with us for many years but we were glad he was with us and not at home alone.

Of course we hit a ton of road delays, lots of work, lots of delays. Finally we had one winery left, an hour off of the main highway and nearly 5pm. The road to the winery is narrow, steep and it was so hot. They have 1-cent shipping to wine club members so we made the decision to have it shipped home after we return. It would have been nice to have the everyday wines on this trip but we will survive. The grocery stores have a good selection too.

We were disappointed when we couldn’t drive until midnight. We were tired and we didn’t want to sleep in the heat of Redding so stayed coastal.

And while we have lost our little Kerbs we have also greatly enjoyed our granddaughter. She has stayed with us for short times, usually with another grandchild or 2. But she has been quite the entertainer without knowing it.

She has been sitting for all these hours in the car. This morning for an hour or 2 she sang; sang songs in Spanish, then English, then sang while rolling her R’s. She told us that she wasn’t singing a real song, just singing words. She draws detailed pictures for hours, plays pretend jump-rope, talks pretend.

What a girl, and what a way to spend a vacation! Next stop, our son and his family in Oregon. We will be so glad to get out of the car!!! Both granddaughters are beside themselves for us to arrive so they can finally be together.