Eugene and Portland

We rolled into Eugene in the afternoon and found a little place to stay between the campus and downtown. Eugene has a smaller downtown than we expected, but very nice. Many of you have probably guessed by now that we are in movie withdrawal, so we decided to begin dealing with that in Eugene. There's a great second run theater here where the tickets go for $1.50. We started there with "Ocean's 13". The next day we went to the first run theater and saw "Stardust" (which we both really liked). We saved for last, a small independent theater that is located in an old church. This is the Bijou theater (see picture). It was really a great experience right down to the actual movie, "Death at a Funeral". Yes - in between the movies we did wander around and explore Eugene.

Onto Portland. Now we are in real movie country! We loved Portland. It is a really lovely city - divided by the Willamette river. We walked all through several sections of town. Washington Park was beautiful - containing a fabulous Rose Garden that was huge. There were lots of unique funky restaurants and wine bars and of course tons of theaters, including some in which you can order brews and food. This is definitely our kind of town. We managed two more movies while here. "No End in Sight", which we heartily recommend, and "Becoming Jane", which we really enjoyed and recommend to those of you with a taste for the Jane Austen type English movies.

Well we know that many of you already think we are a little crazy and this will seal it. We were making preparations for Seattle when we both said that the last half of August was making us nostalgic for LBI and the Atlantic. We thought, well maybe we could get some cheap airfares and fly home for a week and then back here to be in Santa Barbara for our rental in Sept and Oct. So we went online and surprise, surprise we found some inexpensive tickets for San Francisco to Atlantic City. So we figured it's only 650 miles or so to San Fran - why not drive down and fly home? So we fly out this evening ( Tuesday) and arrive home Weds AM. We'll fly back on the 30th in plenty of time to get to Santa Barbara by the first.

Crater Lake, The Shapiros and Big News

We set out from Crescent City and drove through even more Redwoods before crossing into Oregon. The pine forests in Oregon just go on forever! They are very dense here so you have the feeling of driving down a long, very thin corridor of road totally engulfed by these beautiful trees. Ok, another National Park, can you believe it? Crater lake was formed when a giant volcano erupted, then collapsed in on itself. Slowly, the snow and rain filled this abyss with water. At it's deepest point, it is well over 1900 feet deep. The water appears an extremely bright blue due to the depth of the lake. I wish I could remember the diameter of the lake, because it was huge. There was only one place on the rim where the lake was accessible ( after a very long hike down ), and that was used as a base for excursion boats. But when standing on the opposite rim, the boats were barely visible in the water and the trail and piers were not visible at all.

After Crater Lake we drove north to Sun River ( just below Bend, OR ). Our friends the Shapiros ( Lynne and Alan, better known to many as "The Beezers" ), were vacationing there. It was wonderful to see them. The next day we went hiking at a nearby state park with some beautful rock formations. It is often a site for rockclimbers, but we declined that excitement. The hike was challenging enough as the temp climbed into the upper 90s that afternoon while we were hiking. I guess we should have started out earlier, but we had had too much fun the night before for that.

Thursday found us driving west to Eugene, OR. This is the home of the University of Oregon and possibly the running capital of the US.


But enough of all this travel nonsense - we have some really important news!!! We were thrilled to get a call from Will informing us that he and Heather are expecting their first child! Hence, we are expecting our first grandchild - Oh my gosh - can you believe it!!? How cool is that? We are sooo excited. I might add that Aunt Greta is pretty excited too!!

So here we are, smiling ear to ear, signing off for now. Take care, all of you out there - but especially you Heather!

SF, Mendocino and the CA Coast

We really enjoyed spending the day in San Francisco with Nancy. We took a long walk along the cliffs bordering the Pacific from Land's End to the Cliff House. It was a beautiful day so the scenery was spectacular. Later in the afternoon we wandered around the area near Katelyn's place, had a little al fresco wine and olives and then a light dinner. Back on Fillmore we stopped for dessert and some time at the cafe.

After saying our goodbyes to Nancy, we shot over to Sausalito and had breakfast at a nice, sunny place with a cool view of the misty city. We headed north along the coast highway for quite a while and caught lots of switchbacks with clifftop views of a rough, windy Pacific. The views from Muir Beach were amazing. We switched over to “the” 101 after a while and made it to Mendocino around 4:00.

Mendocino was just what we needed - looks like a quaint New England village - small and quiet - as one guy there said "no where to go and no one in a hurry to get there". We lucked out by getting a room in "The Blair House" a beautiful old B and B built in 1888. We soon learned that it is the house used as Jessica Fletcher's home in the old TV show "Murder She Wrote". Mendocino was the location of the fictitious Cabot Cove. By the way, our room in Blair house contained the most comfortable bed we have ever slept in - bar none! But I digress, Mendocino sits on headlands that overlook the craggy cliffs of the Pacific, with a beautiful beach just around the south side of town. It was cool and breezy our entire stay, perfect for walking around the headlands and kicking back. We decided to stay a second day. Sunday night, the Persiod meteor showers were due so we set an alarm for 2AM and crept out of the B+B to go down to the cliffs and watch. Wow I haven't seen a starry sky like that since the badlands. We enjoyed the meteors but have to admit that we cut the show short because we were not prepared for how chilly ( cold ) it was.

Monday morning we left Mendocino and drove up the California coast to more and more spectacular scenery. Coupled with that we had the treat of going to several sections of the Humboldt state and national parks that contain the Coastal Redwoods. These are sisters to the great Sequoias. The Sequioas have wider trunks but the coastal redwoods are taller. The groves of redwoods in the cosatal forests were amazing and wonderful to walk and drive through.

Monday night was spent in Crescent City, a beachtown and commercial fishing port on the northern end of CA. We are looking forward to Oregon, Crater Lake and the Shapiros!

Fiesta in Santa Barbara + Yosemite

Hey there - yes it's us and we are still alive, well, and on the road. We spent a great week in Santa Barbara enjoying the events of Fiesta and kicking back with Greta and Josh. We even managed our first beach day of the summer! Santa Barbara is becoming familiar enough to us that it almost seems like coming home to arrive there. Anything familiar seems a little like home.

After the week in SB we headed to Yosemite to camp and hike with Jim, Debbie, Wayne and Robbi - better known to most of you as the Baja group. We had never been to Yosemite before so we were in for a real treat. It is beautiful!! And I'm learning that anywhere is fun with this group! I have to admit that my quads were talking to me for a couple days after the hike we did - but that's probably a good thing after the lazy week in SB.

We broke camp and drove Debbie back to her place in Brentwood on our way to San Francisco. Bless her, she invited us to relax in her hot tub and pool and shower and do laundry and get a good night's sleep before venturing on the next day to SF. What a godsend! So we arrived in SF rested, clean, and our laundry done!! My quads still weren't happy though.

We were so excited to arrive in SF because our friend Nancy was there visiting her daughter Katelyn and son-in-law Brendan and their new little daughter Emma. ( Wow is she cute!! ) We were so happy to be able to see Emma and visit with them and see their new house etc., etc. For those of you who know this gang you will not be surprised that we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and evening of good fun. And, unbelievable as it may sound, Beth ( Nancy's eldest daughter - also a resident of SF ) was away camping and offered up her place for us to stay. I mean are we lucky or what!?

So we are writing this from a litle Cafe on Fillmore in SF, looking forward to a day in SF with Nancy, whom we had not seen since June - what fun!!

Hope all is well with you dear reader - enjoy!

Flagstaff and Santa Barbara

We said goodbye after a good visit with Linda and Joe and drove to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is a very interesting, vibrant city, heavily influenced by the presence of Northern Arizona University and the proximity of the Grand Canyon. We were able to get a room in The Weatherford which is an old Hotel ( 1897 ), right in the center of town. Sixteen feet high ceilings and floor to ceiling huge windows overlooking the main intersection made for great accomodations - never mind that it was a shared bathroom - at least we didn't have to walk down a dark path to get to it - haha. It was Friday afternoon and later we found that our room was directly above the bar and more specifically the band - which played til 2 AM. But that's okay, it was happy noise. That afternoon, after exploring the city we actually went to a movie - wow - first one for me in over 6 weeks ( Bill had seen Harry Potter in CO ). We both enjoyed the familiar experience. We really liked Flagstaff - it's a base for travelers to the Grand Canyon so this is a busy time of year there, but it retains it's own funky flavor.

As we prepared to head west from Flagstaff, we were pondering where we might go for a couple days, as our rental in Santa Barbara didn't start til 8/1. Then it hit us - duh - we can always go earlier and we were really ready to be in one place for a little while and anxious to see Greta, Josh and Rocco. So we gave Greta a call to warn her and started our drive to Santa Barbara. We called our rental and found we could go in a couple days early. We made very good time and arrived in Santa Barbara by 6:15 that evening. Santa Barbara never disappoints. So we are enjoying visiting here and we get into our rental later today. Wow we will actually be in one place for a whole week - what luxury.

We are approaching 10,000 miles on the trip and have decided to reward the "Catdog" ( my pathfinder ) with a day at the Spa - a complete detailing, in and out. She certainly has has earned it!

The pictures are of our hotel in Flagstaff - day and night - and one from Grand Junction of Bill with Linda Bynum and Matt and Jess.

More Raft Pictures

An earlier post from Barb told about the white water rafting trip down the Clark Fork river on July 11. I bought a waterproof disposable camera to take on the rafting trip and now have these pictures to show. I selected four of them to put on the blog along with two that were taken by Jeff Childre, a professional photographer who uses a high speed camera and gets 20+ shots of groups going down the rapids. His shots are great and we ordered the CD but we had to have it mailed to Will and Heather’s house. I was able to get a few emailed to me from Jeff for the blog. Thanks Jeff! (www.clarkforkphoto.com).

The couple in the middle seat are Amy and Richard from Stephensville, Montana. Amy ended up in the middle of about half of my snapshots as Barbara was quick to point out. But hey, I was always turning around to show the rapids we just shot. What could I do? I was just glad to have a few of Jeff’s action shots from one of the large rapids because my snaps were always before or after the white water.

Moab to Show Low

We left Grand Junction at about 8:30 PM and drove through the most spectacular light show of lightening that we have ever seen. It was a bit scary but we pushed on and finally made it to Moab safe and sound. Moab is right outside of Arches National Park and set in the middle of spectacular red rock formations. We kicked back for the early part of the day and then went to Arches park for the late afternoon and evening. You will see evidence of that in the pictures.

On Wednesday, we left Moab for Show Low, AZ and a visit with Bill’s sister, Linda and brother-in law, Joe. They have a place in Show Low that they spend time in during the summer to get away from the heat near Phoenix. It’s so great to see them. We enjoyed another one of Joe’s great dinners ( boy do we miss them ), and had fun catching up. This morning we are catching up on our blog and hanging out with Linda and Joe. It’s so nice to have time to spend this way.

Hope all is well back East!!

Boulder to Grand Junction

We decided to take a day and visit Boulder. It is a lot bigger than we remember it – but that was a long time ago. Neat town. The University of Colorado is located here, which always enhances the character of any town. There is a very nice city center on Pearl street and several blocks is pedestrian only, containing restaurants, bars and shopping. The day we were here there was also an Arts and Crafts show with tents set up in the walkway and in the nearby park. We decided to book a hotel for Will and Heather’s last night.
So the last day we checked into the hotel early and spent the afternoon at the pool. Wow, did we enjoy that. You know there is traveling and vacationing – these are two very different things. We have been traveling for a long time and it can be tiring – we were all ready for an afternoon of vacationing – hence the afternoon at the pool.

On Monday we packed up and took Will and Heather to Denver airport. It was very sad to see them leave. We had a great time traveling together!

After the airport, we headed west through Colorado toward Grand Junction and a visit with Linda Bynum and her children Matt and Jessica. Stopped in Vail for a walk around and then right to Grand Junction. Grand Junction turned out to be a great place with a nice little downtown. Linda, Matt, and Jess took us to Pablo’s for some of the best pizza we’ve had anywhere. It was so nice to catch up with Linda. We haven’t seen her in so long. We really had fun visiting with Matt and Jess. They have grown into such impressive, interesting young adults.

Estes Park

We drove from Deadwood, SD to Estes Park, CO. This is one of the entrances to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park and a very pretty town in and of itself. Small river running through town with a walk along it and the back patios of the stores and restaurants overlook the walkway and river. We needed a day off so we just spent time in a cool internet cafe and wandered around town etc. We really enjoyed kicking back and reading and resting - haha.

Okay - so much for lazing around - today we all four went up into the park and did a nice 5.6 mile hike up to an Alpine lake. It was beautiful. On the way back I got focused on the banana in a backpack ahead of me ( I was sooo hungry ) and just kept following them, thinking they were going back to the same trailhead we were. Well, Bill followed along and low and behold we ended up hiking an extra mile all seriously uphill and came out at a different trailhead. I have to say that extra uphill mile kicked my you know what! By the time we rode the shuttle back to our car there were Will and Heather relaxing and laughing at us. They have had alot of good laughs about this one. Oh well what can I say - maybe it was the universe telling me I needed some more exercise!

Today we decided to come to Boulder for the day. Bill and I remember this as one of our favorite stops in the past - we'll see how it has changed.

Hope the summer is going well for all of you. Take care and enjoy.

Carol - Sorry I missed your call - we were out of range.
Patti - Have you got that texting down?
Nancy - How is Katelyn?
Craig - Got your email - check is on the way - Thanks!!
Greta and Josh - Can't wait for Fiesta!
McCorkles and Geigers - Don't forget to sign up for Fantasy Football.
Beth - Any date set?
Megan and Chris - Thinking of you both and sending out all my best wishes - ENJOY!!!
Stephanie and Jim - Give Sophia a big hug and kiss for me.
LBI Gang - Hope the fishing is good and the eating is better!

Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Deadwood

Well we pulled out of the Badlands and headed for Mt Rushmore. You know....., we learned that the original idea, by Doane Robinson, a state historian, was to do various massive rock sculptures along this route depicting General Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody, Lewis and Clark, Chief Joseph and other legendary Sioux warriors marching along South Dakota's skyline. Then along came Gutzon Borglum, who in his wisdom decided that there should be one large sculpture of American presidents. He chose these four to symbolize the development of the U S. Personally, we liked the original idea better...... Mt Rushmore is indeed impressive, but the surrounding facilities made it look like just another tourist trap. We went on to see the Crazy Horse sculpture still under construction, but chose to view it from the road for similar reasons.

Deadwood was our next stop - you remember that - the place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed. Some of you may know it from the HBO series. This was a fun stop. Many of it's buildings downtown are still standing from the 1800's. We did the tourist thing of watching the shootout depicted by the locals. It was fun. And of course we had to lose a little money in the small storefront casinos.

Trivia questions - 1. What is the deadman's hand?
2. Who is buried next to Wild Bill?

Devil's Tower and The Badlands

Devil's Tower - you remember that - from Close Encounters of the Third Kind - hehe. It is spectacular - a huge formation rising out of the prairie. It is a sacred place to many of the Indian Tribes in the area with several magical stories of how it was formed. Their name for it is "Bear Lodge", which we have chosen to call it. We have to admit that we were saddened to read that this sacred place was " renamed" Devil's Tower by some Cavalry soldier. How's that for disrespect. But I digress. We did a hike around Bear Lodge and it is most impressive. We will attach pictures, but they just don't seem to do it justice. As you hike around it you see many prayer clothes hung on the trees from those who still revere this as sacred ground. It is all very humbling.

Later that day we drove to "The Badlands", and they were amazing. Even the 114 degree heat couldn't dampen our enthusiasm. They are like a scaled down version of the Grand Canyon and you can walk and climb all through them - like a great maze. You may remember that this is a place that the western "bad guys" went to hide when "The Law" was after them. You could get lost in here forever and just die of dehydration. However, they are incredibly beautiful. We camped in a state site that evening right in the middle of that spectacular lanscape. Watching the sun set over these peaks was daunting. And the stars that night - wow!