Day 14. Monday. August25

Embassy Suites in downtown Portland had a wonderful full breakfast.
Left our luggage with bellman and took off walking.
Too full to have lunch at food trucks. Full city block of them.
Went back to hotel for luggage and car. Valet popped the trunk! We had a hard time getting it shut bak. Had a hard time getting luggage back in car with room for me in back seat. Had to redo it there on the street in the heat.
Drove to tram and took it up for the views. Only $4.35 per person -- both ways! $5 more to park car. Saw Mt. Hood. 4 min. each way.
Reorganized car when we got back to car. Down a level in parking garage was cooler than out on the city street had been.
Drove to Mt. Rainer. Took East to West, Southern route so we hit the road construction area after they'd stopped for the day. Beautiful sights. Glacier on Mt. Rainer. Did a half mile walk at waterfall area.
It got a bit curvey at the end and John III was feeling a bit sick. Stopped at first gas station for a break with snacks and drinks.

Drove on to Gig Bay near Tacoma, Washington for dinner at Tides Tavern, recommended by Bob Jobe. John had halibut fish n chips. I had a cup of homemade clam chowder. John III had the mixed seafood platter -- prawns, scallops, halibut, king fish, corn salsa and twice baked potato, and I had part of how meal. Best potato I've ever had. King fish was especially good, too.
Then it was time to find a place to stay. Downtown, or near airport? Decided that near airport made the most sense for two nights and getting John there very early Wednesday morning. Uh-oh. We started calling ones listed in AAA book, and they were sold out for one night or the other, or way over our budget. Finally got one and got moved in. 11pm, so I'll have to add pictures tomorrow. At least I have good internet!
Tomorrow we'll see Seattle. Hope to turn in early tomorrow night so we can get enough sleep before taking John to the airport and setting out for Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.

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Day 13. Sunday. Aug24

Oh, my. I think we stayed up too late last night! Plus, the train came by about once an hour blowing it's horn. If you ever stay at an airport hotel in Portland, check to see that it's not near the railroad tracks!
I woke up at almost 10am, and I was the first one up. Breakfast was over at 10, so let's just assume they didn't have those great waffles.
John III had a lot more luggage than we'd anticipated, so we took it all to the car and Super-Packer went to work. I didn't make my goal of nothing blocking the driver's sight, but it did an amazing job. Wish I had a picture, but he trunk had to be shut like an over-filled cabinet!
We had a very late breakfast at Elmer's Diner across the street. Yummy!
Then we drove to Multnomah Falls. We hiked halfway up one of the falls. They were beautiful.

Then we went downtown and checked in to the Embassy Suites. Oh, man it's pretty -- and large! It was built in the early 1900's as the Mutnomah Hotel.
Picture to be added....
Once we got settled, we headed out for the waterfront and took a little stroll. Next stop, The Japanese Gardens. Amazin how one city block can feel so big. Then on to Rogue Brewery/Distillery. We had a flight of beers (one was root beer, and it was delicious)! Then a nice walk back to the hotel to get ther in time for the drinks and snacks.
At the manager's reception, we got some dinner ideas. The first one we thought about trying was closed! The second was closed, too! Then we saw Huber's and stopped there. What a beautiful building. Built in the early 1900's with tall archways and lots of dark rich wood. The food was great, too. Turkey and dressing, with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and we all shared a crime brûlée for dessert.
After dinner we needed to walk a bit. We found our way back to the hotel, and then to Voodoo Doughnuts. Finally the line was short enough! We got a bacon maple creme, a Fruit Loops, a Bavarian creme filled, and an Oreo Cookie. We got back to the room and had just a bite of each and had to put them away. They were quite good, but we were so stuffed!
Pictures to be added....
Tomorrow there's more to do in and around Portland, and then drive on to Seattle. We'd better make sure we get up before 10!

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Day 12. Saturday. Aug23

The Bandon Inn was oh, so nice. Those might have been the best pillows ever. The view from the room was beautuful. I believe we really did have the "exquisite" room. It was the only room with a balcony. Request room 143 if you're ever there!

John played 2 rounds of golf.

Genie checked out the coastal town of Bandon in the morning.

 

And in the afternoon, to the Wild Animal Park!

There were several lazy animals!

 

And some babies we could pet. Only pet their backs; never their heads or faces.

 

Of course, I made a friend...

 

From 6:30 to 11pm we were driving to Portland. The first half was following a river to get from Scenic Highway 101 to I-5. We were glad most of that was before dark. We saw several herds of elk!

We finally arrived in Portland to join John III, who had arrived in Portland by plane from Sitka earlier in the evening.

 

Comfort Inn and Suites, Portland Airport for the night.

 

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Day 11. Friday, August22

We goy up very early for the drive to abandon Oregon today. We left soon after 6:00. It took us a while to get out of the park. We didn't have cellular service, and the Maps App did niot describe the roads as the maps and signage did. About an hour in to our 4-hr trip to get out of Yosemite, we saw a wreck. At first we thought it was two cars. We slowed way down and offered to send for help as soon as we could get reception, but the girl in the van said no felp was needed since there was a gas station just a little bit down the road. Later,thinking about it,MIT wasrobably a 1-car accident, and they had probably hit an animal. Whenever a bear is hit in the park, they put up one of thee signs:

The car was really bashed on one side. Even the wheels were twisted. It was perpendicular to the road, completely blocking that side of the road. I'll bet traffic was a real mess really quickly. Thankfully no one appeared to be hurt.

As every day has been, today was full of all kinds of scenery, and it was all BIG! We saw corn fields, grape vines and even olive trees!

Pics to be added....

A big surprise bonus was in store. Highway 101 goes right THROUGH the Redwood Forest!

 

 

I ran the batteries down again (fourth time) so we stopped for some. The cashier was so unbelievably rude ... Not just to us, but to everyone! If that's the only help they can hire, that's sad. Oh well. Made the pit stop, got batteries and a HoHo snack.

We arrived in Bandon about 7:30. We checked in and Brendon showed us every place in the complex on the map, then gave me of the Old Town, then pointed out more suggestions on both! We finally got away, delivered our bags to the room and headed over to the pub for dinner. I think that was the tastiest food I've ever had. Yum, yum, yum!

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes for John

Rockfish, butternut squash with toasted hazelnuts, and fresh Brussels sprouts for Genie.

 

Okay, so, this room. Brendon said he was giving us an exquisite room, and exquisite it is. It's the only room with a balcony. The balcony overlooks part of one of the golf courses. Windows floor to ceiling on two sides. A bathroom as large as a bedroom with jacuzzi, too.

Picture.......

 

I think with this new Blogsy app I can go ahead and post this, and come back to it later to add pictures and edit. I sure hope so!

We're mighty excited for tomorrow. Several of John's friends have played here, but he had to stay home. Now he gets his chance to play two of the courses.

And, John III flies in to Portland tomorrow. We won't get there till really late, but it will sure be good to see him.

 

 

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Day10 Thurs Aug21

I could just say big mountains and big trees, and that would be enough to describe this day. But here comes the long version!

We woke up early in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley to catch the first shuttle for the day to Stop 8, Yosemite Lodge so we could get our tickets for the all-day bus tour.

We got our tickets and then had a great breakfast at the lodge. Blueberry Pancakes, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, the works!

The bus was ready for us at 8:30, and we headed out at 8:45. Most of the people on the full bus tour were from New Jersey. The couple beside us were from Texas, and are full-time RV-ingl

Herb the bus driver / tour guide was excellent, with lots of stories and facts to share from his 18 years of experience. He lives in the lower valley with his wife. He hikes and skis and photographs.

Among our numerous stops,the most impressive were Glacier Point, Mariposa Grove, and the Tunnel View.

Glacier Point provided most awesome views of the valley and the famous points, Half Dome, El Capitain, Cathedral Spires and Bridal Veil Falls. There is a telescope up there and we could see rock climbers on top of Half Dome and hiker at the top of the fall through it.

 

This is looking down at the valley and Curry Village.

We had a nice relaxing lunch at the historic Wawona Lodge. We ate at tables of six, so we were with the Texas couple and a young couple from Southern California.

After lunch we went to Mariposa Grove, one of the few remaining groves of Giant Sequoias. I was glad to learn that the redwoods are just another type of sequoia, since we won't have time for the Redwood Forest. We got out and rode in a tram, with our same driver/guide. A few months ago, the Department of Interior decided that to better preserve the big trees, the tram road, gift shop and other building should be taken out. There will be a boardwalk installed and visitors will have to walk to see the grove. The trees have roots that only go down 4-6 ft but go out up to to 200 ft, so their roots are being compressed. Those trees are hearty, though. They hardly ever die unless the fall! Great Sequoias are not considered mature until they are about 800 years old. Most of the larger ones we saw were 1700-2000 years old! We saw them in all stages, from sapling to immature, to mature, to fallen and dead. No telling how old the fallen and dead are, becaus they don't decay. They are resistant to bugs and bacteria. Maybe because of the mke-up of their tannin. Their sap is water based rather than oi based, so they don't die from fires. Their insides can even be hollow and they don't die! The sequoias have little baseball-sized cones. The sugar pines have cones that are sometimes more than a foot long! And the Jeffrey Pines have medium-sized cones. The Jeffrey Pine we saw at Mt. Rushmore smelled like vanilla, but these smelled more like butterscotch. I wish we could grow one in our yard!

 

Our last stop was Tunnel View. We had stopped there yesterday on our way in, so we spent most of our time chatting with Herb. He's even been to Craters of the Moon in Idaho! First person we've ever met who's even heard of it.

On the shuttle on the way back to Curry Village, I saw a bear! It was crossing a creek, and just around the bend there were dozens of unsuspecting park visitors frolicking in the creek!

 

We were exhausted after the long day, so a quick bite from the grill and we're done! Blog time, map time and then we'll be out. Tomorrow will be a very long day of driving.

 

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Day 9. Wed. Aug20

Woke up in Three Rivers, CA. Had a nice breakfast (make your own waffles) and headed out for Sequoia National Park. First, though, we stopped at a little grocery store (THE grocery store) for some more camera batteries and Mellow Yellow for John. They had shots in plastic shot glasses that were sealed on top! In the Grocery Store! When I saw they had Whipped, I just had to buy a little 4-pack. They are just the cutest things!

 

First adventure was Sequoia National Park, which we learned is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park. So if you drive in to one, you come out the other.

 

We stopped at the visitor's center first thing, and we were sure glad we did. We had planned on taking some of the free shuttles around, but we learned that they are just shuttles with no informative talks, and that it would be much better to just drive through. This time of year, crowds are down and parking at the notable spots is not a problem.

The General Sherman tree is in Sequoia and the General Grant is in Kings Canyon. The Sherman Tree is the world's largest living thing. It's the largest sequoia by volume. The Grant Tree is the largest in circumference. For both of them there is a short hike to get there, so they just pop out of the woods all of a sudden. Much better than if there were a parking lot at them. Crystal Cave is between them, but it was closed because of a rock slide yesterday. Sure glad I wasn't there for that! We also heard that Highway 41 had been closed and nearby town evacuated due to forest fire. Highway 41 would take us from Kings Canyon to Yosemite. Thankfully it was reopened late this morning. Niiiiiicccce!

We stopped for gas in the middle of miles and miles of flat grassy fields. It was a Chevron station near the town of Friant, population 30! The store was fascinating. They sell liquor in the gas station! We saw so many different landscapes today.

 

Yosemite is something else. Just about every day, several times during the day, I would look out the window and say, "Gosh, this is BIG." Pictures cannot show you how big the landscape is. Similar to the pictures we took at the Grand Canyon. You just can't get the depth or perspective in a picture.

We have a nice cabin in the Curry Village, which is down (down, down) in Yosemite Valley. There is no phone service and no internet service here. So, thanks to this new Blogsy App, I can type this all up and post when we leave here Friday. Niiiicccce!

 

Factoid: The main difference in a National Park and a National Forest is that in a National Park you should leave everything right where you find them, but in a National Forest you are allowed to keep a few cones or rocks for your personal collection.

 

 

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Day 8. Tues. Aug 19

Woke up in Palm Springs again. It was a beautiful sunshiney morning, so we stayed out by the pool just as long as we possibly could before heading out on the road again.

We saw all kinds of orchards but didn't know what they were. There came a spot where we could turn off to inspect them. They were oranges, limes (or lemons that are still green) and sonething that looks like a pomegranate to me. And, of course, grapes. We saw several fruit stands and they also advertised blueberries.

Lemon, or lime?

 

This orange below was on the ground under the tree above.

We arrived in Three rivers and checked in to the motel and still had time to get to Sequoia National Park in time to see Hospital Rock. Since we bought an Annual Pass, it didn't matter that we would just be going for an hour. If we had to pay $20, we would not have done it.

 

Dinner in Three rivers as quite yummy. The cook was grilling out in front of the restaurant, and it smelled sooooo good. John had a steak and I had chicken.

The motel was very 60's. We were on the very end and you had to go around a building and up 4 stairs to get to ours and 2 other rooms.

 

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Day 5

Okay, I'm still quite frustrated over slow internet and NOW I find that if I add pictures, the iPad will not let me scroll but so far down the page.
Maybe I'll try creating in a document and then posting to the page. An added benefit would be that I could type and add during driving time and then just transfer and post at night.
Yesterday,
Aw, heck!  I give up for now!

Day 7. Aug18

 

Woke up in Palm Springs. John took car to Honda dealer and got shuttle to Mission Hills for golf. Terry Wilcox had arranged for him to be able to play. Terry's grandchildren call him "Poppy." There is a pond named after him (Poppy's Pond)where the winner of the LPGA Nabisco Champion takes her dive.

 

This is John Cook's condo. We stayed here the first time we ever came to Palm Springs.

He called the shuttle to get him afterward and car was ready. Yay!!!

Genie slept in and lazed by pool.

Weather was quite strange and unexpected. 70+ percent humidity and temps under 100! Strange haze, so no,bright sun. It was all the news! (Except for a young woman' s body had bbe found in 140' mine shaft and killer arrested in Anchorage, AK! She'd been missing since late June. The last couple of days they were looking for his car with ...Alaska tags! Glad we didn't get here earlier!)

John returned with Subway for lunch and we stayed by pool, relaxing until time for dinner, and about that time it cleared up. Tried to find an Italian place he'd been before with Hendren. We couldn't find it, or it was closed. Next we tried to go to Johnny Costa's after reading about their chef who had cooked for Frank Sinatra in his home, but it was closed. So we went to Kalura Trattoria instead and it was a great find. Just across from The Blue Coyote from the might before, on Palm Canyon.

After dinner we rode down to Paseo Drive in Palm Desert and other old favorite spots..

Here we sit at pool again, trying to figure out how to post with lousy internet service! 91 degrees, light wind, most comfortable!

1:09 am now, and I think we've got it!

 

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Day 4. August 15

I am so frustrated!
Most of our hotels have had lousy internet service, so I spend way too long getting nothing accomplished. Then I switch to 3G and eat up data usage like crazy.
I typed up today's post and then lost connection, so I lost the post . Grrr!!!
I learned tonight that I need to get my pics into Picasa in order to get them into the blog. Great. Now I can't get into my Picasa account to add them.  Double Grrrrr!!!!
But, I got to see 2 of my 3 cousins today and got to meet Madison for the first time.
Good night for now. Maybe tomorrow I can get something in here.
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Okay, so now it's Monday, Aug 19. I'm going to try backtracking, but still in keeping with the correct travel day.

We woke up in Keystone, SD, very close to Mt. Rushmore. Pooty ol' breakfast ... Leggo My Eggo! 
Dove past Mt Rushmore again getting to Custer, SD where we stopped in on the cutest campground/theme park straight out of the 50's!  
The car was a converted 1960 Bug. There was no line, so the driver took us on two laps around the track that encircled the playground. Then he got out and let me "drive" and took our pictures. The car is used in parades in the area. Fun, huh?

We drove across South Dakota. Loved those 80 mph speed limit signs that were only placed there because the Feds made them!

Day 3. August 14

Spent some time last night looking over possibilities for today and then ZONKED out!  Had another good breakfast (yep, those yummy waffles) and hit the road. Miles and miles of corn. Truly beautiful. God's wonders are sure at work in this grand country of ours. I feel so fortunate to be able to see so much, and share the time with my super-wonderful husband. I'm thankful, too for the technology to be able to document this trip and to share it with you.

Did I mention there's a lot of corn out here?!

Suddenly the long flat road went down, down, down and we crossed the Missouri River, and back up, up, up to flat lands again.  I just love, love, love these long flat highways where you can see just about forever. You can go miles and miles before seeing a meaningless speed limit sign - apparently only put there because the Feds make them! John's favorite kind of driving - "flying!"

There must have been 100 billboards advertising Wall Drug. At first they were for 5 cent coffee and free water bottle refills. But then they added saying like "Cowboy Up" and such. Finally one said we were just 150 miles from Wall Drug! It reminded me of the 100 miles approaching South of the Border.  There were several billboards for 1800 Village.  Remember, we're out in the middle of nowhere for hours. And then we see in the far distance a few buildings. When we finally passed them, it was funny that all that advertising was for such a small attraction in the middle of nowhere.

We checked the time and the map and decided to drive the short scenic drive through the Badlands, the sudden rock formations that just appeared after miles and miles of flat (lots of corn fields).  Just before the entrance to the Badlands there was a little ground hog attraction. We stopped for a bit for me to try to get one to come close. A young girl practically had them eating out of her hand!  No such luck for me.  John stayed in the car with the engine and air running, making calls and checking email.

As we approached the Badlands entrance, we realized the a/c was not cool. Uh-Oh!  We drove the short (nearly an hour) scenic drive with the windows down. Occasionally we'd try the air, but still no cooling. The road came back out to I-90 at, guess where..... Wall! Oh, boy!  Maybe I'd get to see this Wall Drug  while the a/c got fixed!  We drove straight to the only auto repair shop. I'd found it on the internet, and it only had one review, but it was good.  Jerry came out to take a look. He first wondered if it had "frozen up with the heat and unusual humidity. But if it were that, sitting for a while should remedy that, so we tried again. Still no cooling.  He tested the pressure. It was fine.  He checked some square things under rather hood, and they were quite hot.  He suggested we go to the next town (an hour away) to have it looked at. He called the Honda dealer, but they couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything until ....Monday! Then he called a buddy at B&R in Rapid City. Lon said to send us there and he'd take a look. So, no Wall Drug. We had to hurry on down the road to Rapid City. We hopped in the car, and guess what?  Cold Air!  Still, it was important to find out what happened.

We met Ron and his dog. We talked to him about what had happened, and he suggested it had probably frozen up, and had thawed while Jerry was checking things and then making calls on out behalf. He really believes it's fine and we should go on along our merry way.

Next stop, Mount Rushmore!  It was pretty amazing. We took a little half mile hike around it, and a man pointed out to us a special kind of pine tree that smells like vanilla.  Sure enough, you put your nose to it and smell a strong vanilla aroma!  Cool!  We made it just in time for the last talk on the history of the making of the sculpture. A really great presentation.

Back in the car, and down the road to a very curious attraction, The Flintstone's Bedrock Camping and Theme Park!  Really?  Yep, really!  Unfortunately, the theme park stopped letting people in 10 minutes before we got there. But the outside was pretty entertaining.
We met a man who works there and he told us all about what was on the inside and gave us recommendations for dinner.  While we were talking, there was a line of antique tractors coming down the road!  Tomorrow is the last day of the antique tractor convention.

Dinner at Cowboy was good. We were starving, but couldn't even finish our dinners!  We were stuffed.
Then a quick stop in a winery.

Then back up to the lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore. Very good video. We all sang America the Beautiful and the National Anthem. Very patriotic. the end all present and former military personnel were asked to come to the stage for recognition.