Our Adventure Has Come to an End...

... in front of Ellen and Jerry's house, Concord, CA!!!

We drove up to Ellen's house Sunday afternoon, after leaving the Elk's Club in Redding earlier in the day...   Our cousin Judy met us on Saturday and we had lunch at what seemed like Redding's favorite restaurant (it was crowded) - In-N-Out Burger....  We also walked across the  Sundial Bridge over the  Sacramento River, in what felt like 100 degree weather!  So...  about 3,500 miles, 6 states, 3 National Parks, many memorable sights, great times along the way shared with family and friends...  we're home!  Check back soon, Haley's going to write one more "Blast  From the Past..."

Blast To The Past - Part 1 !

Auntie Barbara and her best friend!

Sweet Home, OR
Oregon Trail Banjo Camp

    Here's Haley! I saw mom's last post, so I decided to write tonight's blog. I'm going to take you on a trip to the past, all the way back to July 1st. This would have been posted earlier if we had known how to add photos. But we didn't, so I'm doing it now!

    We arrived at the Oregon Trail Banjo Camp in Sweet Home, OR July 1st. There were around 60-80 banjo players, a couple of gut-bucketers, and a handful of washboard masters. Needless to say, we had some great music! The group would play from morning to the next morning! Can you see what Auntie Barbara's shirt says in the first picture? If you can't, it says "Member of the Blue Gin Club." She became one of the new members. To become a member, you have to drink a shot of Blue Gin. By the way, the gin isn't actually blue; it just comes in a blue bottle. There were a lot of toasts and cheers. Mom said it sounded like a college fraternity party! 

    As you may know, gin can put some funny ideas in people's minds. One example is becoming a Sharpie tattoo artist. One of the banjo players is a fun, raccoon-obsessed guy named Rex. He decided to start drawing raccoons on people's arms. I had to get one! I convinced Mom to get one, too. Here's a pic!

   

    Cool, huh? I thought so too. Auntie Barbara decided to get one also, but since this is a "family-friendly" site, we're not posting that 'embarrassing' picture...  The Banjo Camp wrapped things up with a performance at the VFW hall in Sweet Home on July 4th. It was a ton of fun. Especially because I got to dance the hula! It was a great surprise for everyone. Here's a picture of me dancing.

    We left on the 5th and arrived in Portland, where we met up with my Auntie Ginger. We had dinner at an artisan pizza restaurant and Bill and Laurie Wilson joined us (Bill is an 'old' family friend...) Auntie Ginger spent the night with us at an RV park on the east side of Portland.  She has a catering business that is booming this time of year. She is doing weddings every weekend! We were lucky enough to join her on a trip to the farmer's market in Portland the next morning. It was absolutely amazing to see all of the fresh produce. We got there early to get the best pickings, so we saw some of the booths getting set up. It takes a lot of work to get all of the produce up on the tables. Plus, you have to make it look beautiful! After we did some shopping, we had lunch with Bill who had joined us at the market. It was fun to all be together. While we were eating, we saw a peculiar sight. A man pushing a piano with a chihuahua on top of it. I decided to go investigate. I found out that he was doing something he called "Piano Across America." He started in New York and played his way to the West Coast. He played beautifully. I really liked the map he put on the front of his piano. He marked where he had been in a red marker. Totally awesome!

Bill, me, Auntie Barbara and Auntie Ginger
lunch at Portland Farmers Market

    Well, thanks for letting me rewind a little bit. I'm glad we found out how to put in pictures! It makes the blog so much more interesting in my opinion. It's getting pretty late now, so I think I'm going to sign off. Until next time!
    Love,
        Haley

Getting closer to California...

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Hmmm...  where's Haley when we finally get wi-fi and have time to work on the blog???  It's Thursday night, 7/21, and we're pretty much in the middle of the l-o-n-g Oregon coast...  we started west of Portland at  Cannon Beach, which I'd never been to before... loved it, Haley and I spent some time on the beach (this silly picture has Haley fooling around with a type of seaweed we never see in Hawaii!) while Mom visited with a lady on her deck overlooking the beach.  We had a great lunch that included shrimp for Mom and me, while Haley had grilled cheese...  some shopping, and then we headed down to Tillamook.  The cheese factory was a fun self-guided tour,  so many assembly lines and automated actions to watch...  I just wondered what everyone's job was and how the cheese seemed to be moving by faster than the humans could do what needed to be done...  it also reminded all of us of the 'I Love Lucy' episode where Lucy and Ethel were working in the chocolate factory! 

 I should back up a little...  after heading east from Glacier National Park and Kalispell, where we spent two nights with old college friends, we headed toward Seattle which was another first for me, and of course Haley...  actually for all three of us!  Highest on our list of 'Things to See' were Pike's Place Market and the Space Needle...  This 3rd photo is out in front of Pike's Place...  We had to see the fish booth where they threw the fish around, very entertaining! Driving in Seattle with the motorhome would have been treacherous, so we parked it at a mall and took the bus downtown...  then we took the monorail to the Space Needle, which was so enjoyable, a nice sunny day with a great view around the city and Puget Sound.  We all did fine with the height.  It's getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversay!  We spent the night parked in front of my step-daughter Monica's house.  It was so nice to visit some with her, Jim, and  Christopher...  Emily was at camp... 

     Next we headed south and stopped at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center...  it was a cloudy day, so we couldn't see the mountain, but a few weeks ago we saw it from a distance while driving to Hood River along the Columbia River...  So anyway, we have this pic to prove we were there.  The movie in the Visitor Center was horrifying...  hope we never witness anything like that on the Big Island!!!   We drove to Vancouver and met a friend of mine from 6th grade (!!!) for dinner at a great chicken teriyaki place.   

That pretty much brings us up to the present...  tomorrow I think we'll be seeing Linda, one of my high school friends and a college roommate.  This trip has really been a great opportunity to re-connect with old friends.  I still have to write about our time at my mom's Banjo Camp in Sweet Home, OR and seeing Barb in Eugene...  I hadn't figured out how to import photos then, so that part of our trip isn't even on the blog yet!

National Park Daze... Yellowstone & Glacier

     Our days in Yellowstone National Park were amazing...  it was just simply wondrous to finally see Old Faithful, a part of nature that we've heard about all our lives...  unfortunately, those pics are on my camera, not on my iPhone,  so a little too complicated for me to get over to this blog...  However this pic of Mom and me was taken at Artist's Point, the great lookout for Lower Falls on the Snake River.  It flowed through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which was also so beautiful!

   I was beginning to think we would be the first visitors to Yellowstone to not see any wildlife!  But finally we did see bison which you can see in this 2nd photo.  It was so exciting to pull over to the side of the road and watch Haley get out, cross the street and take photos, from a good distance I might add!  We also saw elk, so we felt better about our large animal sightings!!!

                        Haley's 14th birthday was Friday, so we started the day out with candles on cinnamon rolls and sang "Happy Birthday" to her!  She was excited to see a birthday banner stretched across the motorhome when she woke up in the morning too!
     The highlight of Glacier National Park had to be all the snow at Logan Pass at the summit of The Road to the Sun...  People were even skiing...  on July 16...  hard to believe.  That road only opened up on Wednesday, the latest ever, due to snow cover...  We stayed in Kalispell those two nights, at friends from college days.  This trip has been such a nice blend of just the three of us on the road some of the time, and other times spent with friends and family along the way...
    Tonight we're in Moses Lake, WA, and will drive to Seattle in the morning.  Then Mt. St.  Helens, Vancouver, Cannon Beach, and on down the OR coast.  Should be back in the Bay Area Jul. 25.  Until our next post...  good night!

She sure is 'Faithful!'

These are the Grand Tetons. We went to the National Park today and I saw license plates from 16 different states in the Visitor Center parking lot! Isn't this a pretty picture?

We went over the Continental Divide three times today in Yellowstone National Park, WY.  I couldn't get a good picture from the RV, so we pulled over to get this shot.

I don't think I have to tell you where I am in this picture. Watching the geyser was breath-taking. This was about an hour before it 'erupted.' It's something that will stay with me a long time. Ok, that's pretty much it. TTFN! (Ta-Ta For Now)
    Love,
        Hale

Jackson Hole, WY Excitement

   Jackson Hole, WY is an amazing destination...  I'd love to return and stay in this area for a few days as there are so many outdoor, adventurous things to do...  However, this morning we're moving on and heading up through Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone!  Tonight we'll stay near the west entrance to Yellowstone, and by then we should have seen Old Faithful geyser and probably some moose and if bears, I'm hoping for distance! 
   The picture above isn't exactly where I'd like it, but at least it's here!  It's Shoshone Falls in Idaho and we stopped there on our drive between Boise and Pocatello.  It's known as 'Niagra Falls of the West' as it drops over 212' along the Snake River.  It was just breathtaking.  The road down and back up from the falls was also a little breathtaking in a RV, but in a different sense, especially as I was the passenger on the cliff side (Mom's a great driver, don't get me wrong)!  By the way, I also improved my RV driving skills in Idaho...  and yes, you guessed it, this is Kathy's blog entry, not  Haley's!  =)     
 Now this photo is from the gunfight near the Town Square in Jackson Hole and is staged every evening at 6:00.  The entire town has a Western theme with wooden sidewalks, after all, Wyoming's nickname is 'The Cowboy State!"  The gunfight 're-enactment' was exciting, and loud, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.   Wish I could find the "wrap-around text" option...  Here's a pic of Mom and Haley with one of the 'actresses' after the gunfight...  the archway  you see behind them is made entirely of elkhorns and there's one on each of the 4 corners of the Town Square!

Yesterday we went on a 13 mile scenic float trip on the  Snake River, with a little white water thrown in, I think part of it was rated a 2 on the white water scale...  We saw eagle nests and eagles, some Canadian geese, but the big guys aren't usually out during the middle of the day...  We also saw the ranch owned by the Sam Walton family (of WalMart/Sam's Club fame), Tiger Woods' old house, Harrison Ford's ranch, and some beautiful homes as we floated by...

Mom getting prepared for Scenic Float.

We got a cold rain too...

Haley had a turn at "Captain!"

... end of our raft "cruise!"

  Time for breakfast and 'unhooking' and getting on the road again - it was sure nice staying in one place for more than one night as we've only done that a few times: Shasta Lake, with Ginger in Portland/Hood River, and now Jackson Hole!

Pass the Potatoes!

Hey everybody... Haley here. As you can tell by my title, we are in Idaho! We left Oregon today. We went to this really cool Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, OR. It was amazing! They had a bunch of scenes set up with fake people and animals. When you walked by, you could read a sign or listen to an audio recording. It's amazing what they had to go through. And they didn't have radios, television, Nintendo, or a GPS! We hope to get to Jackson, Wyoming tomorrow. Whether we do or not remains to be seen. Well, it's 11:35 pm here, so I think I should go to bed. Oh yeah, one more thing: 5 days and I'll be 14!!!! I can't wait. Ok, nighty-night!
Love,
Haley :)

day 4- We're in Oregon

We spent last night in a RV park at Seven Feathers Casino in southern Oregon after leaving Lake Shasta and our cousins Judy & Rich, Kim & Kristina. The first day at Shasta it was still cloudy after RAIN, so Judy took us to her house, first time I'd been up there... It's a beautifully decorated (many family antiques)mountain home with a large, sloping hillside yard creatively landscaped by Judy!!! Rich's shop/garage is a car enthusiast's dream: his race car as well as a classic Camaro & Thunderbird! Then yesterday we had a beautiful morning with them on the houseboat - the sun finally came out! Haley and Kristina had a blast on the WaveRunner... Haley says that would probably be the highlight of her trip (I'm sure they went FAST)!!! So now we're on our way to Sweet Home, OR and Mom's Oregon Trail Banjo Camp and 4 days of banjo friends and fun. I haven't had my first RV driving lesson yet, but will as soon as we reach some straight stretch of I-5! Still figuring out how to add photos...

Our First Adventure... Shasta Houseboat with Cuzzies!

Mom and Judy - 2  cute cousins!

One of many nights spent playing Chicken Foot

Judy shows Haley how to ride WaveRunner

Our first 3 days were spent with Judy, Kim and Kristina on the houseboat on Shasta Lake and we had such fun times just being together.  We arrived in the middle of a rainstorm, Rich and Judy met us at the marina and helped transfer us and our stuff from the motorhome to the houseboat.  Rain couldn't dampen our spirits...  domino games, great barbecues and meals and time spent with family, sleeping on the houseboat, getting to go up to Judy and  Rich's house for an afternoon, riding the WaveRunner...  just some of the highlights of these days with cuzzies!  So far Haley thinks riding the WaveRunner with Kristina will be the 'highlight' of her trip!!!  We hated to leave, yet the adventure beckons...

And We're Off! (Like a Herd of Turtles)

A rainy day for driving...

Ready to hit the road...

I love my new loft bed!

Hey Everyone!
It's Haley here. We have officially started our roadtrip through the North-West. I am so excited! We hit the road around 1:30, and it's been pouring rain ever since. I've already learned some valuable information: be careful when you walk around in a moving vehicle. It's really hard to balance! Anyways, we are on our way to Lake Shasta, where we will be spending 2 nights on our cousin's house boat. The last time Mom and I went there, it was so hot I passed out! I don't think I'll have to worry about that this time though... Well, that's all I have to say for now... We'll write again soon!     Love, Haley