Sunday, June 18, 2006

Visited nearby Ebey and Ft Casey State Parks.  There is a huge Fort at Fort Casey.  We wandered around the Fort and adjoining lighthouse for several hours, then we went down to Ebey State Park to see what was there.  While we were out on the beach we saw some people parasailing.  We watched this one guy come down and land right in front of us.  We ended up giving him a ride back to where they were all taking off from.  He is from Australia.  He travels the world following the summer so that he can parasail. 

Late in the evening we went back to the beach so that we could watch to sun set on the West Coast.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Ok, so today we had a National Lampoon Vacation kind of day.  We started out with the intention of driving to Mount Rainier National Forrest.  We planned to stay the night and then drive to Mount St Helens tomorrow   We had carefully studied the map and decided the shortest route would be to go down to the east side of the mountains and enter there.  First you have to understand that we are out in the middle of nowhere.  The last town was 50 miles back and it was about the size of Livingston.  Then we are told that there is a strip of road about 10 miles that is closed due to heavy snow on the road that had not been cleared yet because there are Spotted Owl's  nesting in that area and they do not want to disturb them with the machinery.

  We had to make a 100 mile loop, 100 miles of mountain loop to go around the birds.  By that time, it was getting late so we decided to just go ahead down to Mt. St Helens.   We finally got almost into the entrance gate to the volcano, only to be told that the road was under 5 feet of snow.  We would have to go around to the west entrance.  That was another 70 miles of mountain roads.  By the time we got around to the other side of the mountain, Everett has about lost it. He has vowed that we are going to get to this mountain today! He refuses to stop at any of the small towns we have passed so that we can find a campground.  He is not stopping until was get there!  We finally get there at 11:00 pm.  Good thing we are pulling an RV because we ended up sleeping in the parking lot!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Finally saw Mount St. Helens.  It was neat, but still somewhat of a let down after all the trouble we had trying to get  there.  Not that the volcano was a let down, the clouds were really thick around the  mountain so you could not see it very well.

We left Washington and went down into Oregon.  I wanted to try to find a spot where there were not a lot of people, so we went up to a State Park at the northern most point on the Oregon Coast.  It is a very nice state park called Ft.  Stevens State Park.  There is a Fort of course, then the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Columbian River on the other.  They have real sand here, not rocks.  The sand is almost black though.  Not hard to understand considering all the mountains are black stone.  The Pacific Ocean is beautiful.  To bad it is so cold!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Went to the Lewis & Clark National Monument.  Saw to area where Lewis and Clark made their final stop on their expedition.  They made their winter quarters here.  We watched a movie done from the Indian's point of view about the time that Lewis and Clark spent here.  It was very interesting.  The original Fort is no longer standing, but they have made a replica in the same spot that it stood on.

Went back to the beach in the evening.  The kids were looking for sand dollars and we watched the sun set. 

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Drove the Scenic Route 101 down the Oregon Coast to Newport.  We are staying at South Beach State.  We stopped a lot to admire the awesome view.  The mountains go all the way to the Ocean.  In some places there are sandy beaches but in other areas only huge cliffs that drop off right into the ocean.  We arrived late.  We just had time to catch an interpretive talk and then rush off the a quick dinner and get a bath and get to bed.  It does not get dark here till almost 10:00 so it is really late by the time we get to bed, and even latter in the morning by the time we manage to get up.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Got up at 5:15  so we could get out to the tide pools at low tide.  It was really neat.  We saw anemones,  sea urchins,  starfish, surf crabs, snails, even harbor seals.  We saw a surf crab make the mistake of wandering into a anemone and in just a split second it had grabbed the crab with it tentacles then closed up with the crab inside.  It was wild.  If you stick your finger in an anemone it reaches out and grabs your finger and tries to pull it in.

We finally got to see the sun set without the clouds being in the way.  It was like nothing I have ever seen before.  The sun comes down and sets just on top of the water for a minute then it starts to slowly sink and disappear.  The really neat part is that it does not look at all like that yellow round thing you see up in the sky.  It is positioned so that you can look directly at it so you can see that it is just a flaming orange/yellow ball of flaming gas.  It did not really look round either.  I  tried to get pictures, but I just don't think there is anyway for a picture to do it justice.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Drove down Hwy 101 to Reedsport the went east to I-5.  Made out way to Grants Pass.  Drove up a really long, curvy, steep road to get to The Oregon Caves National Monument.  By the time we got there, it was late so we found a place to camp and settled in for the night. 

We had another National Lampoon moment again today.  This one was by far the worst one yet. We were driving on I-5 around 5:30 pm.  Very much day time, we were in a lot of traffic.  When out of nowhere a deer ran out in front of the truck.  Everett tried to stop but there was no way to stop that truck and trailer in time.  He swerved into the next lane as much as he dared with the traffic, but we still caught the deer with the passenger side of the bumper.  I will spare you all the details, but lets just say it was not pleasant.  It was very upsetting for all of us, but there was not really anything we cold have done to prevent it from happening.  Now, we have yet another insurance claim when we get home.  The front bumper is pulled down where the deer hit it.