Washington Adventure

Near Mount St. Helen's volcano

New snow from the night before along the road going up

Headed on up the road from Oregon coast towards Mount St. Helen's Volcanic Monument.   Have wanted to see this place for quite some time and finally got my chance.  Of course, it was cloudy and hard to see the mountain, and the roads were still covered with fresh snow, but got as close as we could.  Finally had to turn around because the road up to the final visitor's center was still closed for the winter.

Road up to Mt. St. Helen

Observation area

All that we could see of Mt. St. Helen and as close as we could get

Merriman Falls in Quinault Rainforest

After leaving the Mt. St. Helen's area we headed across Washington towards the coast.  Did stop in Kamala, WA and took a picture of the actual high school used in the Twilight movie.  (will include this picture with the rest of my Twilight adventure pictures below).   Spent two nights near Hoquiam, WA and did some exploring in part of Olympic National Park around the Quinault Rainforest area. 

Quinault Rainforest

Quinault Rainforest near Aberdeen, WA

Headed on up Hwy 101 on the Washington coast towards Forks, WA.   Home of vampires and werewolves.  Haven't seen any yet, but you never know.  Went out to LaPush beach on the Quillayute Indian Reservation (were Bella and Jacob have their first talk about the legend of the tribe being descended from wolves).   Beautiful beach, lots of driftwood, rocks and starfish hiding in the intertidal zones.


View from LaPush Beach

Starfish hiding among the rocks

Beautiful walk on beach

Of course I had to do my "Twilight" exploring also.  Interesting town Forks, though most of the filming was done at other locations, it still has all the excitement and intrigue anyone wants if you are a "Twihard" like me.

In Forks, WA

Bella's truck

Near LaPush on the reservation



Actual High School used for filming in Kalama, WA

Will continue our adventure tomorrow going out to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park and then continue on around the coast towards Port Angeles (home of Bella's mushroom ravioli).  Will stay in that area for 2-3 days to see the rest of Olympic and then head for the ferry in Port Townsend to take us towards Bellingham.   Then it's on up into Canada heading towards Prince Rupert, BC to catch the ferry.   Will update soon.   Miss you all, but having outstanding adventure.

Northern California and Oregon

     

At Lassen Volcanic Monument

Road to Lassen

Continued our trip by heading through Northern California.  Absolutely beautiful.   Went to Lassen Volcanic Monument and the snow was so still so thick.   They had only recently plowed the road up to the park. 

Mount Shasta

Had to climb over snow to see Crater Lake

At Crater Lake

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

After Lassen in Northern California, we headed up towards Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.  On the way we passed Mount Shasta, OMG what a gorgeous site.   We feel that our trip has truly begun now because we are covering territory that we have never covered before.  We continued up towards Crater Lake through roadsides covered with snow.   I knew there would be snow, but wasn't expecting quite this much still on the ground.

After Crater Lake, we drove around a scenic loop and hiked up to Toketee Falls.   It is two falls that flow out of a lava tube made from basaltic columns.   It was an awesome view.  We also drove out to Diamond Lake, that was completely frozen over. 

Toketee Falls

Diamond Lake

After leaving the Crater Lake area we headed for the Oregon Coast.  What a unique drive up Highway 101.   We passed lighthouses, beautiful shorelines and unusual little villages.  Saw birds that I had to look up in my bird book and sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks.

Oregon Coastline

Umpqua Lighthouse

Yaquina Light House

From here we headed up towards Fort Stevens State Park, near Astoria, OR.   Will do some exploring there tomorrow and see what we can see.   

Starting Our Journey April 15, 2012

Getting ready to leave

We departed from Texas City, Tx on Sunday 4/15/2012 and headed north out of Texas.   As you all know it takes a while just to get out of the state.

Dust Storm in northern Texas

From Texas we headed towards Albuquerque, New Mexico, then on towards Page, Arizona, Ely, Nevada (managed to loose $1 at the casino) and today made it to Reno, Nevada.  Have traveled over 2,000 miles so far.   The trip has been wonderful and so peaceful.  Miss my children and grandchildren already, but have Skyped with them.   What a wonderful tool.   Have enjoyed the beautiful weather, rather chilly a few nights, but nothing too hard to handle.  

Lake Powell at Page, Arizona

Had to travel (well didn't have to, but did anyway) down the lonelist road in US.  Hwy 50 in Nevada.  Had to make sure that we filled up with gas often, because there really wasn't much along the way.   Did pass cars often, so not too lonesome.

Heading towards Reno, Nevada

David and I have now decided that we have truly begun the adventure part of our trip.   We are now "road virgins" by heading into an area where we have never traveled before.  

From here we will head towards Mount Lassen Volcanic Monument.   The road going into the park is snowed in, but we can make it to the visitors center at least.   Will then head on up through California.   CLICK on COMMENT key below if you want to let me know what you think :)

Shoshone Mountain Range, Nevada

Saturday April 14, 2012 - Getting Ready For Our Trip

Grandkid sleepover (Connor, Logan, Arwen and Adrian).   Will miss them an awful lot, but will

e-mail, txt, phone call and skype.  (Be sure to click on the picture to see rest of post)

Family get together today at Rachel and Stephen's home.   Left to right: Celeste, Adrian, Connor, Adam, Me, Toni (David's mom), David, Stephen, Rachel, Arwen & Logan.   What a group.   Great food, lively conversation and just a wonderful time saying goodbye to all.

Packing up the travel trailer.   Trying to find a place for everything.   David said we would have to draw a diagram of the inside of the trailer labeled showing where everything is located.   We take off tomorrow morning bright and early.   Well, it probably won't be bright because I'm sure we will leave VERY early in the morning.   Rather like Christmas morning were everyone is too excited to sleep the night before.  Heading towards New Mexico first thing.   Really hope we can get past all the awful weather the central region is having and have blue skies and sunny days.   Will keep you updated as often as possible.   Thanks for all the goodbyes and prayers for a safe trip.   We will miss you all.