Oregon

From Mt. St. Helen’s to Tillamook, OR is 125 miles of gorgeous scenery. The ocean vistas are beautiful. We stayed at Big Spruce RV Park at Netarts Bay about 6 miles from Tillamook. It’s an old fish camp with  rather tight spots. The people here are crabbers and clam diggers. We had lunch at the Sea Shack on the bay and checked out the Fred Myers grocery and everything else store. Not cheap. The next day was Thursday, and while we waited for the fog to clear and the sun to come out and warm things up, we toured the Air Museum at Tillamook’s old Naval Air Station. They housed eight blimps in there during the war. The building was made completely of lumber. Actually, there were two, but one burned down in 1962. This one is owned by one man and all the planes in it. He flies all of them and will take passengers for a ride. He’s 74.

We had lunch at Schnooner’s, a very nice restaurant on Netart’s Bay across from the rv park. Then we went to the Cape Meares lighthouse which is only 38 feet high. There is also a Sitka spruce that is called The Octopus Tree. It’s supposedly in Ripley’s Believe It or  Not.

The rest of the pictures are of the coast and a wind surfer who was having a blast. It’s too cold and windy here for us.

Mt. St. Helen’s

We got lucky again, and got the last spot in the camp ground. On the trip down, Carman hit a piece of wood in the road, and the car developed a vibration. We took the car to STS Tires in Longview and the verdict was that the wood bent the tire rim and they couldn’t do anything but put it on the back. He should be able to make it back to FL if he’s careful and lucky.

We then drove up to Mt. St. Helen’s and took pictures. It was very cold and windy up there. At the visitor’s center, we opted not to watch the movie, and when we got back to the RV park, our neighbor told us that was the best part. Oh well!

Mt. Rainier from Mt. St. Helen’s

Seattle

It’s really cloudy. We went into Seattle around 9 am and found our way to a parking garage, but it took two sets of instructions to find our way to Pike Place Market. Once we did, it was wall to wall people enjoying the sights and taking pictures.

In the Starbuck’s picture (supposedly the very first one), notice me taking the picture and Carman next to me.

I always take pictures of big cruise boats, because I’ve never been on one.

Seattle is almost as bad as San Francisco with all the hills and steps. It was 172 steps out of the Pike Place Market to where we parked the car.

We had planned to have lunch at an interesting restaurant, but felt that the prices were too high and the offerings not that great. We opted for a Russian piroshky which is nothing but a Polish pirogie. Later we found a bar with a deck and the sun was finally shining. Then we found an Albertson’s to buy more food for Carman to cook. Monday was housecleaning day and washing. Tomorrow we leave for Mt. St. Helen’s.

On to the Pacific Coast

We left Montana early Friday morning in anticipation of seeing Idaho and planned to have lunch in Coeur D’Alene, but only managed a picture of the beautiful marina.

The last few miles of Idaho into Washington were killer for the camper because of poor roads and constant construction. I got so tired of going straight up and straight down. Columbia River Basin was impressive.

We got the last spot at a nice campground in Moses Lake. Carman wanted to ride the water slide, but you had to be under 5 feet tall.

The ride from Moses Lake to Black Diamond and Lake Sawyer was an adult roller coaster ride in a motorhome. The pass was only 2300 feet, but the road went straight down, no per cent of grade was shown; this is I-90? In some places the road was so rough that if I hadn’t had things so tightly latched, we’d have all sorts of things flying around. On the flat, the wind made me crazy, so going up and down mountains was a relief. Our campground is on Lake Sawyer. There were lots of people out enjoying the amenities. Flowers here are eye-popping.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Kent. The downtown mall was similar to ABQ Uptown.

West Yellowstone

We left for West Yellowstone about 8:30 and arrived at Grissly RV Park around 11. It’s a beautiful place and as soon as we set up, we found an RV store and Carman fixed the door latch and we went to the local market for some buffalo meat. It didn’t look good and was too expensive.

The information center lady gave us a map and advice to navigate the park. We headed for Old Faithful and saw buffalo and elk along the way. The cars stop for any little sighting of wildlife. Old Faithful was very crowded and not due to go off until almost 5, so we decided to head back and cook dinner on the grill again. I’m liking this!

 

On Tuesday, we did the full lower loop: very spectacular water falls and lots of buffalo. We had lunch at the lodge (circa 1920) and then back to Old Faithful to await the show. I was disappointed. The wind was blowing so it didn’t go very high. It finally warmed up and we’re doing pork ribs on the grill. It’s going down to 31 tonight. I find it hard to believe it’s July.

Beautiful white pelican on Lake Yellowstone.

On Wednesday morning, we couldn’t leave for the upper loop until we moved the rig to a new spot. The guy in that spot had a mechanical problem and we were delayed until after 11 am. Mammoth Hot Springs was a real treat and scenery along the way steep and spectacular. There was a sleeping grizzly on the side of a mountain. Again traffic was backed up and we couldn’t find a place to stop: no picture.

ONE OF MANY PICS OF MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS

We left for Missoula early Thursday morning, because it’s a 277 mile trip. I picked a campground that unfortunately was full; not the worry Jellystone across the street had room. We visited one of the local Walmarts. It’s in the 90’s here which is great after freezing in Yellowstone.

Bozeman

Montana is incredible! I was so worried about the drive, but it was beautiful scenery and good highway. We arrived at Bear Canyon RV park early, but our spot was open. I washed rugs and my clothes until late afternoon. Then we took a tour of Bozeman and made plans for Saturday.

It rained during the night and the temperature went down drastically. We had the electric heater set to come on during the night, and we weren’t disappointed. We walked the dogs in a light cloudy drizzle. Checked out the Walmart, and then had lunch at a delightful Chinese restaurant. Then we toured Main St. and had margaritas at Ted’s. After that we returned to the park and a beautiful sunshiny day: so much so that Carman put on shorts and took off his shirt. I took pictures of wildflowers and the mountains surrounding the park.

The road below is I-90 and the RV park is behind me on the hill. They sometimes have bears come to get in their garbage.

Marshall broke the latch on the screen door. Today, Sunday, we checked  online for RV stores, but they are all closed because it’s the Fourth of July. So we went to Livingston, a pioneer town. They were having an arts and crafts fair. We toured the railroad museum and an historic museum that was in an old school with almost the same floor plan as St. Joe’s in Sharon. Out back was a one-room school house and a fire truck museum. Great side trip!

Devil’s Tower

(Sorry, I got this a little out of sequence: Devil’s Tower comes before Cody).

Tuesday we drove to Devil’s Tower without GPS and stayed at a nice KOA next to the Yellowstone River. Our senior passes to National Parks and Monuments worked great. At the visitor’s center, we hiked around the base  of the tower and took pictures all the way. One is of the campground below.

On to Cody

We left for Cody at 6 am on Wednesday. We stopped in Gillette for breakfast a couple hours later. After we left I-90, the road through the mountains was wild. At the very top of a gnarly mountain, we encountered road construction that was nothing but two muddy ruts. I was so busy paying attention to my driving that I didn’t notice that Carman was no longer behind me. I thought that he had stopped to take some pictures because the scenery was killer. When I got to an information rest area center, a gentleman knocked on the camper door and told me that Carman had a flat tire. He noticed it and hailed him down. What a good Samaritan! They thought that the construction crew could inflate it for him, but that didn’t happen. He had to put the doughnut on instead. Carman caught up to me farther down the road. I followed him the rest of the way. Just before we got into Cody, we hit a thunder storm, and Marshall tried to crawl under my legs because he was afraid of the lightening and thunder. I had to pull off to the side of the road until there was nothing more to frighten him. Carman, in the meantime, took pictures of the lightening.

After we settled in the RV park, we went to the tire place. They had to order a new tire and it arrived at about 3 Thursday afternoon. We had to move to another campground, because the park was full for the 4th of July. I guess we could have stayed at the local Walmart like 50 other units did. I got a picture of some of the ones who were still there the next morning.

When Carman went to pick up the new tire, the guys presented him with a piece of drill bit that they found in the tire.

I made reservations for 3 days in Bozeman to wait out the holiday travelers. Our last night in Cody, Marshall ate 4 quarter pounders that I was defrosting for the grill. Here is a picture of Marshall looking full and a little shame-faced. Since he doesn’t do people food, he suffered two days of diarrhea which kept me washing rugs and rags and spraying for the smell.

Deadwood

On Sunday, we left for Deadwood and stayed at Elk Ridge Campground for two days. We visited the local Walmart and bought food for Carman to cook: some really great chicken. On Monday, we toured Deadwood. Kevin Costner seems to own most of it. We took a school bus tour that was very entertaining. The guide told us all about how the gold rush really made the town, which looks nothing like the series. Wild Bill Hickock is the most important character to have ever lived there, and he is buried in the cemetery with Calamity Jane right next to him . We ran into some camper friends, Pat and Loyd from Bishop, California, who were parked next to us in Rapid City. I didn’t get a picture of them or trade email: how dumb! We drank a few with them Saturday evening. The pictures show the downtown and the Red Light District and the cemetery which was perched on top of a very steep hill overlooking the town.

We had lunch in a nice quiet restaurant downstairs from one of the many casinos. I won $3 in the penny slots. The Celebrity Hotel and Casino is owned by Kevin Coster and has all of the costumes and posters from his movies plus a lot more. I got a picture of the Love Bug, the jeep from Mash, a Clint Eastwood poster and a wall of signed celebrity guitars.

 

I noticed when we were walking the dogs that one of the pushers was from Texas had a Rotary flag along with its Texas flag. I went over and visited with the people. It turned out that the lady Rhonda Kennedy is a past District Governor in District 5890, and they live in Sweeny, TX south of Houston. They were on their way home from the International Convention in Montreal.

The next morning, after a short Walmart and re-fueling stop, we headed for Devil’s Tower.