In League with the Greats - 28 June 2010

Well, we awoke after spending the night listening to some very noisy frogs. They made my nights sleep very fractured indeed. But, some amazing things awaited us and we departed our lovely little cabin in the Oregon south.

We had been given a brochure on the waterfalls of Oregon and had decided on two to visit. The first was Tokepee and was about 30 miles up the road. As we reached the car park, the first thing we noticed was the huge lake on one side of the road and the second was an enormous pipe on the other side of the road, that was leaking. There were about 4 small leaks and 1 large leak. The whole pipe was rusting and had ferns growing out of it. Looked pretty cool though.

We started our walk the way we have with many of our walks, with a chat to some people in the carpark. They were heading back north, to Canada, but wanted to see some of the falls first and then Crater Lake. They were from a town in Ontario that we had passed on our journeys. The walk to the falls was just lovely. Everything is so incredibly green and it was the perfect time of morning to be viewing the scenery.

The falls themselves were beautiful, they are called a Tier Fall. In some photos, in the brochure, you can see that they are and wish you could see it from where you viewed them. But, beautiful just the same.

We headed off again to go to Watson Falls. Yet again, we had a chat with a lovely couple who had a home in both the Florida Keys and the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming. Two areas that we had driven through. They also had two incredibly gorgeous dogs, who we lavished some attention on.

The walk to Watson Falls, was quite a hike this time. It was a bit rugged at times and all uphill but well worth it. You see some of the falls for most of the walk. We followed the stream uphill past many smaller cascades and finally got to the main event. It was truly spectacular. It fills the soul to stand surrounded by such natural beauty as can surely exist anywhere on Earth.

Little did we realize…

After Watson falls, we continued up into the higher elevations of the Cascade Mountains. We stopped for lunch at Diamond Lake, which was truly spectacular. The colour of the water is so blue it’s unbelievable, and the snow-capped peaks in the background make a beautiful backdrop to a feast of soda and Cracker Jacks.

Soon after we left Diamond Lake, we were entering Crater Lake National Park. As we climber higher and higher there was a little snow, then a bit, then a bit more and before long, there was quite a lot of snow everywhere. The day was warm, about 85 degrees (27-ish) but the snow still on the ground from winter is over 20 feet deep in a lot of places. We could only drive around the western side of the crater because the other road is still too thick in snow to get a plow through. Midsummer, eh?

We were admiring the beautiful snowfields on our right side when suddenly we saw the view to the left appear from behind a crag.
You hear people say that a view is “stunning”. It is a common figure of speech. We’ve used the word in here quite a bit, I imagine, for the amazing scenery that we have seen.
But in this case, it is the literal truth. The first time you see Crater Lake, it is stunning in a physical sense. You just stop and stare, stunned as your heart and throat have palpable reactions to the majesty before you. It is emotional, even. You cannot believe that such place can possibly exist. It is beyond anything that the most imaginative fantasy writers or movie-makers could ever conceive of. And it is real.

Crater lake is an extinct volcano. Thousands of years ago, it blew its top and was left with a crater making up the top of the mountain. As happens in many volcano craters, a lava dome slowly built up. Eventually, when it became extinct, the rocks cooled enough for snowmelt to run inward from the surrounding edges and form a lake with water so blue that it really cannot be believed. The top of the lava dome is still above the water level, and is now called Wizard Island. There is still pine trees up here and plenty of snow. We looked at it a long time and dawdled awhile before, with a certain wrenching feeling, we headed onwards, down the other side of the mountains and towards the California coast.

We passed through the town of Medford, Oregon, and used the I5 north for a bit to get onto US 199, which joins US 101 closer to the border and they are collectively called the “Redwood Highway”. Is that a clue to our next destination?

US 199 was a real treat and the further south we went, the more Oregon tried to entice us to stay with the most lovely forest scenery. In the late afternoon we passed back into California, on our way to Crescent City. We followed the Smith River Valley, which was truly very beautiful in its own right. Then, unexpectedly, while driving through a section of dense fir forest, we became aware of the super-size of some of the trees. These are the miraculous Giant Redwoods of Northern California. They stand among the lesser fir trees, which are themselves (the smaller ones) bigger than any trees anywhere else in the world. And the Giants make the lesser trees seem like small children, standing next to their parents.

Adding to their enormous size, some of the Giant Redwoods, growing close together, will join trunks and graft themselves together. We stopped the car at the side of the road and went for a walk out into the forest for about an hour in the gathering dusk. We saw some that were about 100 meters tall and some that were about 15 meters around. It beggars the imagination. These are the largest living things on Earth. And they are Awesome.

Eventually, chilled and awed, we made our way to a Crescent City RV park to sleep well (rugged up), and bring to an end one of the most spectacular and exciting days of our lives. Speaking for myself (Mark), I hope that I can remember this day forever. Just close my eyes and remember the day we saw just how Magnificent and Awesome the world really is.

The amazing root system of a redwood

The just keep going up forever

Mark standing infront of a fallen redwood trees root base. OMG.

These trees are truly incredible. They look like two trees are connected. Even the dead frames are amazing

How small can a person feel?

Oh, the lake! These images are not photoshopped. The water is that blue and the snow is that white! Truly incredible.

Wizards Island.

Wizards Island

Old Stump on a precipice

Old stump

Beautiful fields, the lake is behind us at this point.

Ok, Mark is six feet, you do the math?

Mark and Pia and Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Watson Falls

Watson Falls

At the begining of the walk to Watson Falls

The base of the falls

Tokepee Falls

An Oregon Highway, how beautiful

An Oregon Wedding - 25-27 June 2010

25 June 2010

We awoke after a very sound sleep and started preparing for the trip to the wedding venue. Joyce had informed us that the wedding was being held 2 hours northwest of Salem, in the coastal ranges. We had asked if there was anything we could do to compensate for our crashing the wedding. Joyce and Cliff very happily asked if we could transport 100 sunflower plants. These were going to be used as table adornments and then as guest gifts. The view the front seat looking back through the van was very bright and ‘sunny’.

The venue for the wedding was at Cedar Ridge, a summer basketball camp for kids. It is also rented out as an event venue. I was told that there was accommodation for up to 800 people. There are cabins and huge tents all over the property, so it wouldn’t surprise me. The wedding party and family were all staying in the main lodge and side house. The property itself was absolutely beautiful and perfect for a wedding. It didn’t hurt that there was also a slip’n’slide available for entertainment.

The drive to the venue was yet again stunning. Oregon was really showing off for us. We arrived at and unloaded our happy flowers. We then made our way down to the reception hall to see if we could help with any setting up. As nothing was needed we made our way to the rehearsal dinner in the nearby town of Vernonia, a really sweet little town. The dinner was at a wonderful Mediterranean Restaurant. It was there that we were reunited with Edna, Gary and Norma, Bob and Becky and met Edna’s daughter Cheryl. It was a wonderful evening.
After dinner we made our way back to the venue and slept in the van in their carpark, nice and large and private. It was cool but at least it was free.

26 June 2010

We had decided not to attend the ceremony itself, so we headed of towards the Oregon Coast. This area is famous for its beauty, and it really didn’t let us down. The drive towards the coast was through magnificent pine forests. We have seen these everywhere. Then the coast made its first appearance. Just spectacular. We had driven north to the Columbia river, which separates Oregon and Washington state. Then we turned westward for the pacific coast.

Our first port of call was the town of Astoria. This little town has made a name for itself as a movie town, some movies being, The Goonies, Short Circuit and Kindergarten Cop. We have a booklet with all the movies listed and homes used. This town is picture postcard perfect and you can see why they have used over and over. It looks just like we had imagined it would. Thoroughly charming but unpretentious. The perfect seaside town.

We made our way up to the Astoria Column. It sits atop one of the tallest hills behind the town with a commanding view of the entire area. This column is 160 steep steps high. It is something like Hobart’s Shot Tower, but was built for another purpose. It is there to mark the arrival of Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery on the pacific coast. We have been intermittently following in their footsteps for a few weeks now and it culminated with us parking our van, Sacagawea in a place where the woman, Sacagawea had once walked.

After this we spent a few hours driving south down the famous Oregon coast. And it didn’t disappoint. The scenery is simply stunning. We turned inland at Tillamook (pronounced Tillamuck) and made our way back to the wedding venue through some very remote backroads, twisting and crawling through the remote backwoods of the Oregon coastal ranges.

We returned to the venue in time for the reception (which they had graciously invited us to). There had been a few cancellations so we had seats and food and everything. It was a wonderful evening.

27 June 2010

We slept in a bit this morning and wandered down to the reception hall for breakfast at about 9 am. All meals were provided for the guests.
After a good breakfast we played some beach volleyball. The rules were (very) loosely adhered to and the game was more style than substance but it was very entertaining.

After that, we went for a bit of a walk and some people went on the slip’n’slide, which is about 300 meters long and runs down a moderately steep hillside.

About lunchtime, we loaded the van up with wedding gifts and drove in convoy back to Joyce and Cliff’s place. Then we went to the local hotel where Edna and company were staying and said another reluctant goodbye.
We knew it was time to hit the road but we need to thank Edna and her children once again for all of their wonderful hospitality and friendship.
Thanks again.

As the afternoon wore towards evening we made our way south on the I5, exiting eastward on highway 138, toward Crater Lake National Park.
We stopped for the night at a lovely RV park called Elk Haven, and after a great chat with the owners (who identified my accent in 2 seconds and knew where we were talking about because they had been to Brisbane and Surfers’ Paradise before), we settled down for the night in a great little log cabin by the trout ponds. We had dinner sitting on the front porch and were entertained by a trio of ducks singing for their supper.

Shiny happy faces

Edna, kids and spouses - at the rehersal dinner

Duck Haven - our entertainment whilst eating dinner

Our lovely little cabin at Elk Haven RV Resort

Up the 160 steps at Astoria Column

The view of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean

Astoria Column

The magnificent Pacific Ocean

Southbound Sacky – 23 & 24 June 2010

Old and New – 23 June 2010

We left the campground south of Seattle and made our way back north to Seattle. Whilst at the campground we had found some brochures with things to see and places to do (or whatever way that goes). We decided that we had to go back into the city as there was too much to see not to.

We got up early and were back on the I5 by 6.30am. But then again so were a lot of Seattle workers. But it wasn’t too bad. And at least we moved continuously. We backtracked past the tower again and made our way down 2nd Ave and into a parking lot (paying $12 for ten hours worth of parking).

After walking down second we stopped into a Starbucks, in the hope of a coffee, something for breakfast and free wi-fi. Well, this didn’t go exactly to plan. We got the coffee (and it was pretty good), we got something to eat (this wasn’t so good) and the wi-fi was there but we couldn’t use it. The food arrived on plates as it was in the cabinet, a croissant for Mark that wasn’t heated and two, almost frozen, slabs of butter. If you can believe it, they didn’t have any means of heating the croissant, so this was promptly thrown in the bin. As for the wi-fi, they were not getting free wi-fi until 1st July. Frustratingly in about 1 week. I guess we would just have to wait.

After that disappointment we made our way down towards Pike Market. This market is famous for its fresh seafood (which you can smell a mile away), fresh flowers and fresh food. We arrived just as everything was being set up and decided to make our way back that afternoon.

We slowly made our way back into town and down towards the Underground City Tour. We had seen, a couple years ago, a TV segment on an underground tour of Seattle. This was so worth doing and we had so much fun. It was well touted and a very entertaining trip through Seattle’s chequered past.

The city’s underground was created courtesy of the original city burning to the ground in the late 19th century. The new city was then created on top of the remains, but 8 to 35 feet above the original city. Thus keeping the remains of the old city available for tours. And also, if you can get it to code, to be made into businesses. The tour included a highly entertaining 20 minute opening story about why the tours were created and what Seattle’s history was. A book about the time was written by the guy who started the Underground Tour. We found the story and tour so captivating that we bought the book to learn more.

After our tour we started wandering around the city again and were directed to a fantastic café, situated underground (a lot of these places still have the old brickwork and curved arches). We had a really lovely lunch (nice freshly made sandwiches).
After that we slowly made our way back towards Pike Market. The place was brimming with seafood, flowers and art and craft stalls. Also, in this vicinity, was the original Starbucks. One of the photos is of the original logo, pretty cool, almost wish they hadn’t changed it.

Another brochure we had picked up was for the Seattle Public Library. This may seem like a strange thing to be a tourist attraction but this place is an architectural masterpiece. Look it up online and you will see just how incredible it is. The entire roof is made up of diamond shaped panes of glass. The structure reaches up 10 stories in the centre and there is a viewing platform at the top and it is quite vertiginous.

We then decided, given that it was 3.30pm in the afternoon, that we should head out of the city and try to miss peak hour. No such luck. We hit a major snag right in the city centre. Something was happening a couple of blocks up and the traffic wasn’t moving at all. After inching forward we decided to turn completely the other way and head back towards the tower and out of the city, the exact way we had come in. Well, I guess we weren’t the only ones to have this idea, as it was just as slow getting out and we ended up driving south on the I5 in peak hour traffic that didn’t clear until well south of Tacoma, about 45 miles south.
We had decided that we needed a motel for the night. Sometimes, a full sized bed, a TV and some take-out is what is needed and on this night, that is exactly what we needed. Funnily enough, the town that we stayed in was called Centralia (cool name). This located about 60 miles south of Seattle.

I was in flower heaven (as many of you could well imagine), as well as food heaven.

Underground Tour

Underground crapper. Well, it was designed by a gentleman call Thomas Crapper. So it is a crapper! LOL

Fantastic skylight. Many of the tiles had either cracked or brocken entirely, but this one was still the whole thing. After this photo was taken, one of the other tour groups walked overhead and started stomping on the skylight, they all do it.

Chief Seattle, who the City of Seattle was named after.

One of many corridors of underground shops. Very cool (literally and figuratively).

The original Starbucks logo. Globalisation made them change.

Outside of the Public Library

Public Libary on the Inside.

The atrium from the highest point in the library. Remember it was 10 stories high at this point.

Volcano – 24 June 2010

We left the motel late in the morning and headed south on the I5 again. After only an hour or so, we turned eastward on state highway 508, straight to the Mount St Helens Visitor’s Centre. We promptly met an Australian woman there by the name of Gai (pronounced same as Gay). She’s from near the Sunshine Coast, where we live, and she’s been travelling around much of the US for the last 3 weeks also. We sat around and had a coffee and traded stories for awhile.

After a little while we parted company and headed up to the Johnston Observatory, right next to the mountain. We saw a movie about the famous 1980 eruption that was stunning in a different sense. The mountain today is shorter than it was before that eruption. This is because after the whole side of the mountain just collapsed, triggering the largest recorded landslide in the world, the volcano erupted and the top 1300 feet of the mountain were just blown away. Even now, the volcano is active, and as you stand there and watch, steam and smoke vent from the lava dome. It is awesomely powerful to stand there and watch. It is a reminder of how puny we humans are, with our tiny lives and insignificant nuclear power. Mother nature reserves the right to put us in our place whenever she pleases.

It is mesmerizing to stand there and watch the mountain. It was with great reluctance and a little foot-dragging that we drove away. All throughout this trip, there have been several places that we simply wanted to stay. Although it has been a great privilege to see these places, it comes with a bittersweet price tag as you have to put them in the rearview mirror and watch them get smaller until they disappear around a bend in the road. There is sadness as you wonder if you will ever see them again. I have felt this keenly many times and today was one of them.

Once we left Mt St Helens, we continued south across the Oregon state line and stopped at Salem. Edna’s daughter Joyce and her husband Cliff live here and kindly offered to put us up for the night. They have been excellent hosts and very welcoming. On Saturday, their daughter Jaye and her fiancée Michael are getting married nearby and we are going to help a bit tomorrow to run some errands.

Edna and Bob and Becky and Gary and Norma are all flying into the area tonight and hopefully we’ll see them tomorrow.

Charlie, Jaye's seriously cute border collie/ lab puppy. A seriously energetic happy puppy. At present staying with grandma and grandpa (Joyce and Cliff)

Milton, Jaye's cat. This guy is one of the most loving cats we have ever encountered. He gives you cuddles and keeps you company by the computer, a very cat thing to do.

A home made bendy combie! LOL

This destruction was about 8 miles away from the volcano itself. The trees all fell in the direction of flow. Just incredible to see and very humbling.

Mt St Helens, she started to talk just as we were leaving.

Mt St Helens, from 5 Miles away, Johnston Observatory.

How spectacular

You can easily see where the flow made its way down the valley. This still hasn't grown back.

Taken from the furthest visitor's centre. This is about 25 miles from the mountain.

How amazing does it look from this distance. This year was the 30th anniversary of the eruption.

The Pacific Northwest - 21-22 June 2010

The Pacific Ocean Again - 21 June 2010

We slept very comfortably at the Camperland Resort last night. We decided to rebook for the night again, to save some money. Even though it would take us at least an hour and a half to get back from Vancouver.

We took off and headed back onto the Trans-Canada 1, going west into Vancouver. The road was pockmarked with road-works for the majority of the way, but it didn’t hold us up too much.

The turn off for downtown Vancouver took us through some not so desirable areas. The poverty, drug use and ‘ladies of the night’ were highly apparent in this area and quite disconcerting. The car doors remained locked at all intersections. The pan-handling and begging was highly evident and confronting throughout the entire city. We have noticed that there is more poverty in Canada and visual indications of the global financial crisis. More so than we have seen in the States.

We decided to make our way up to Stanley Park. This park is about 1000 acres and is circled by both bike and walking paths. These two paths are separated by a line and everyone seems to follow the lead and doesn’t use the other lane. We walked around Stanley Park for a short while and found ourselves face to face with a Racoon. This is the first live one we have encountered. Most of the others have been squashed on the side of the highway. The raccoon would approach us, or anyone else and sit up on his hind haunches, not a foot away from you, begging for food. If you tried to walk away, he would follow closely. It was working, too. He looked well-fed. He was probably the most successful panhandler we saw all day.

We found that the parking in the park was $10 for the whole day, instead of the $24 that we had seen in the city. We were very happy with this occurrence.

We walked from Stanley Park back into Vancouver. The city seems very clean and well presented. Lots of water features and trees. To both Mark and I the downtown area reminded us of downtown Melbourne, the riverfront (seen crossing the Granville Bridge) of Brisbane and the Harbour of Hobart.

We made our way down Granville St towards Granville Island. The walk took us through an area that really reminded us of Brunswick St in Melbourne. We crossed the Granville Bridge and made our way down to the Granville Public Market. This area was so much fun. The shops really reminded us of the arts and crafts shops at Salamanca and Brunswick St. The food market made my mouth water and reminded me again just how much I am missing cooking and going fresh food shopping. It’s funny the things that you miss.

The walk back from Granville Island was a nice way to take in the city skyline. We walked over a different bridge this time but then made our way back over to Granville St, when the urge for a beer and a cider took over. The fact that I could buy cider here was a major point of happiness for me. They do not sell cider in the States, but in Vancouver it seems to be sold quite a bit. The bar we stopped in was gripped with World Cup fever. Everywhere in Canada seems to be at the moment.

After scanning the skyline, we made our way towards Vancouver’s tower. This is not like the one in Seattle or Sydney. It is tacked onto a building top, we declared that it really didn’t count in the tower stakes. After walking towards the waterfront we made our way down to Gastown. This area is a famous historic district of Vancouver and very cool. There were many Native Indian shops and art galleries. We walked through a couple and could have walked away with a house full of artwork.

Halfway down the main street we came across a steam powered clock. This clock is powered by steam and still worked. Well the internals still worked but the clock itself seemed to be stopped. But funnily enough, when we stopped to look at the clock it was the same time that Mark’s watch was. A little bit freaky. We only realized when we came back past that the clock wasn’t keeping time. It is a funny fact that a stopped clock is only right for one minute, twice a day. And that was the precise minute that we stopped there. Freaky.

We yet again encountered panhandlers in Gastown. Still hard to get used to. But you do have to say No. We walked back to the waterfront and headed back towards Stanley Park. It was at this point that we headed to the beginning of the walkway that we mentioned at the beginning of the blog. It wound its way around the waterfront and the back of some pretty amazing buildings. Along the boardwalk we encountered camera groups, running groups, lots of people walking their four legged friends and lots and lots of walkers, runners and cyclists. And as said before, everyone used their lane.

The walk was longer than we anticipated but it was worth it as the view was just stunning. We saw quite a few float planes and the strangest gas station ever – floating in the centre of the harbour. How strange?

We made our way back to the car and proceeded to wend our way throughout the outskirts of the park. It took longer than anticipated, but was very beautiful. After driving back through the dodgy areas of town, even more so at sunset, we made our way back onto the highway and up to our campsite. We arrived late and decided to just hit the sack, unsure of what tomorrow would bring.

The Air Up There – 22 June 2010

We woke this morning and were pleased to see the sky trying to clear. We were much warmer last night and slept well.
There is a steep (almost vertical, mostly) ridgeline that runs along the back of the campsite and rises several hundred feet into the ghostly mist that extends from the bottom of the remaining clouds.
Not far from the campsite, there is a good-sized waterfall that can be clearly heard and seen in the distance from the campsite. The girl at the front desk, and a couple of the volunteer workers here suggested we take a walk up there and have a look. So we did. It was only about 1 mile return journey and not too steep as far as the base of the falls so off we went.
It was really beautiful. there iss so much moisture here that the pine trees gros as thick as grass and are all covered in moss an inch thick. It is wondrous. But you do keep expecting to see King Kong come crashing past. Or at least Sasquatch.

We had discovered through the wonders of the internet, that it was going to be prohibitively expensive for us to take the ferry to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. So, we went to Plan B.

We drove back down to Vancouver, and passed through the city, heading south, and arrived at lunchtime at the US border at Peace Arch.
There was another slightly confused border agent when he was confronted with a pair of Aussies, one with a US passport and a California-registered van.
We managed to convince him, however, that we were not a threat to National Security and he allowed us through, blissfully unaware that we were smuggling a banana and a quarter bottle of red wine!

A couple hours south saw us entering the orbit of Seattle. This is another of those cities that you hear good things about, but that lack the charismatic identity of cities like New York or London or Paris etc. etc.
We had both wanted to see it and made a point of stopping.
Of course, Paris had the Eiffel Tower, London has Big Ben and New York has the Statue of Liberty.
Well, Seattle has the Space Needle. Built in 1962 (we think it was the first such tower in the world) for the World’s Fair, and celebrating the dawn of the Space Age, it rises 504 feet (over 40-storeys) over the northern edge of downtown Seattle and offers an unbelievable 360-degree view over the city and the harbour, a part of Pugit Sound, connected directly to the Pacific Ocean, which we only saw yesterday (in Vancouver) for the first time in three months.

It was $17 to go up and normally (as in San Antonio) we don’t go in for such things, but we both felt that we would regret it if we didn’t. I’m pleased to say that it was worth every cent. It was awesome and we had one of Seattle’s (on average) 90 clear, sunny days of each year to enjoy it.
But the entire cityscape was dwarfed by the massive form of Mount Ranier, snow-capped and partly concealed by mirage in the distance.

After this, we got stuck in the afternoon rush hour and did two laps of the downtown (it is a lovely, clean, handsome downtown but we didn’t circle it twice on purpose) before travelling about 30 miles south of town to our evening campsite at the Sawyer Lake RV Park, where we paid $19 for a site and power and $6 for dinner for two (home-made tacos). It is a pretty spot and quiet. Hopefully, we’ll sleep well.

Mark and Pia and Elliot Bay

The Tower

Mount Rainier from 504 feet

The very cool electric buses of Vancouver (and also Seattle as we later found out). Check out the top of the bus.

Totem Pole, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

Pia and Statue

Stanley Park

Can I please have some food?

The Park and its skyline view, Vancouver, BC

The Marine Building - once the tallest building in the world outside of New York

Inuksuit - Safe Journeys

Gassy Jack - the plaque says it all.

This statue is like an easter egg hunt. It is a game for tourist to find the statue.

The lone gas station!

Three little house boats all in a row.

Entrance to Granville Island

Steam Clock - check out the top of the clock, you can see the steam

Float Plane and Paddle Steamer in the harbour

Bridal Falls - the name says it all.