Oregon or Bust

We found a farmer's market in the very town we were near open Wednesday mornings! Finally farm fresh produce. Loading up on veggies and berries (Marion berries and blueberries are in season here.) we were disappointed, still no corn! A short growing season in this part of the world, they were closer to our late May early June in vegetables ready to harvest...

We traveled south on 101, Oregon Coast Scenic Highway, and it lived up to its name. The cool thing about Oregon is besides the pull offs along the way, there are many state parks with parking, picnicking, restrooms along the way. Frequent campgrounds dotted the road, too. Naturally we stopped at most of the pull offs and some of the state parks.

Each area was different. Some beaches were sandy, others rocky with no sand. There were sandy beaches that had huge rocks sticking out of the water. These were the ones the seals and sea birds of all sorts liked. You could see the seals lying on the rocks almost rock like themselves. Waves crashed over rocks making waterfalls in the ocean. Some beaches required a climb up huge sand dunes, others you climbed down rocks to gain access to the water. In some areas mountain streams and the forest came right up to the ocean. The forests were never far away along the highway.

The predominant tree is red cedar towering above other coniferous trees. There were enough deciduous trees to make the forest interesting. Red cedars are tall and graceful; the huge trunks indicate their old age. The branches are delicate, they hang veil like. Often the trunks are padded with moss. There was a Spanish moss-like growth on many of the trees. It was a brighter green than what you would see in South Carolina or Georgia.

The main difference between this coast and the Jersey shore is that they were not crowded. That's because no one swims in the ocean here. Dangerous waves combined with highs of 65 degrees doesn't make you want to jump in. Skip dangled his hands in, but was careful to keep the feet dry. No need for sunscreen because we were usually wearing long sleeves and jackets!

We drove south as far as Coos Bay, then went across the bridge to a working town, Charleston, where we found a nice restaurant for some fresh fish. You could watch the fishing boats in the marina.

Potatoes!

We covered the rest of Idaho and finally saw some potato fields. I can't believe that most of the Idaho potatoes grow in the western part of Idaho. I know it's long, but it doesn't seem long enough to produce all of the potatoes labeled Idaho potatoes...

When we crossed into Oregon we were jubilant! We made it! Route 84 travels along the Columbia River, the border between Washington and Oregon on the Oregon side. What a beautiful ride. Out in the distance I could see a snow covered mountain and figured it must be Mt. Hood. By the time we found a place to pull over, it didn't look as impressive, but the picture in my mind was incredible. I don't know if Mt. Hood is like its sister mountains: Mt. St. Helens, Mt.Rainer, Mt. Baker and still farther north Denali, which are often occluded by clouds. I got to see Denali from the air, but never from the land. People talk about the mountain being out like we do the sun up in Alaska. It's a big deal to see Mt. Rainier in Seattle, too. She wasn't out when we were there a few years ago.

Route 84 goes into the Columbia River Gorge, a Scenic Route. The views were beautiful with coniferous forest and hills on one side, the river on the other. Wild sweetpeas grew on the roadside. We saw kestrel, osprey, eagles and pelicans along the river.

We were able to stop at Multnomah Falls, a waterfall so high that I couldn't get it into my photo in one shot. Perhaps if I were standing on Route 84 I could have captured it all before I got smushed by a semi. We took time to hike midway up the falls trail. Took some photos and finally asked someone to take one of us! The whole trip and no photos of the two of us together! How silly.

I was practically giddy driving across Oregon,we made it! We were headed for the Pacific Coast, PACIFIC COAST!!!

We drove to Salem to pick up a car at the airport there was some difficulty. The airport was very small even though it is the capital of Oregon. There was one gate and two car rental places, neither of them was Avis, where ours was reserved. We drove around and around and finally returned to the municipal airport to the two rental counters and noticed the lady at the Budget counter was wearing an AVIS Shirt...Trying to trick me, I said. No, the sign hadn't come in yet, but they rented for both Budget and Avis.

The drive to Waldport to our next KOA reservation was beautiful. Across a mountain on a road that followed the Alsea River. I enjoyed driving, but it was hard on Skip in the RV, very winding and a lot of ups and downs. The river emptied into a bay which empties into the Pacific. After finding our campsite we took a walk across the bridge from the campground to the town. We saw seals swimming in the water and some diving loon-like bird. No white necklace so I didn't know if it was indeed a loon or not. A long drive that ended with a nice site and sight.

Are there Potatoes in Idaho?

Reluctantly we left the mountains, following the Snake River into Idaho. The ride again was wonderful; we loved seeing boats and people fly fishing in waders. I never knew that Idaho was more than a potato farm.

After the Snake River and mountainous section we came to lava everywhere. Having seen it in Hawaii, it was not something I realized you could see in Idaho. But we were, after all going to Craters of the Moon National Monument...and it certainly did look like the moon or some volcanic planet. Since the lava is black and it was a very hot afternoon, we only did a few small hikes on paved paths, also black. We were able to see cinders (very porous rocks) aa (also porus, but not in chunks) and pahoehoe which is the ropey slow moving lava. What was amazing is that this had erupted over 2000 years ago and there was very little new plant growth. Primary succession is a very long process where the lava breaks down from wind and water eventually becoming able to sustain plant life. Lichens, which are a symbiotic relationship of a fungus and an algae, slowly eat away at the lava also helping to create soil. Next grow the small grasses or wildflowers. The progression is very slow and depends on the amount of rain. On the Hawaiian Islands the sides which get the most rain have progressed farther and supports trees and such. Craters of the Moon reminded me more of the dry side...weird in Idaho.

We also discovered that there was a lot of early nuclear testing in this section of Idaho in the 40's and 50's. The first town lit by nuclear energy was Acco, the very town we were staying by..no wierd glowing at night, but I wouldn't want to live there.

We spent the night in Idaho at a different KOA. It was adequate, typical clean bathrooms, flat pull in area. We only needed a place to sleep and clean up for the morning. At this point I still had not seen a potato field and we were halfway across the bottom section of Idaho.

Isn't life Grand?

We visited the Grand Tetons in between visits to Yellowstone. Since you drive through the park to get to and from Jackson Hole, we did the drive 6 times not including the exploratory trip. There was the regular route as well as a scenic route. Both were spectacular. There were places to stop on both, too. Animals could be seen on either route as well.

Besides the beautiful mountains there were lakes, several with good sized boats and marinas. For my kayaking friends, there were many beautiful places to put in at both parks. The Snake River certainly does snake and there were creeks as well. You could rent everything from a kayak to a 22' boat in the larger lakes and there were many places to rent tubes or other floating devices. With more time we may have rented something, but we didn't stay there long enough to see everything there was to see nor do everything there is to do. Guess we have to go back!

In Jackson Hole I bought a sticker for my car with the Tetons on it. It summed up my attitude of late: Isn't life Grand?

Do NOT Appoach the Wildlife

One of the main reasons people come to Yellowstone is to see the wildlife. When there is an animal near the road all traffic stops in both directions. Most drivers pull over or make an attempt to; others just stop while someone gets out of the vehicle to snap a photo. The more rare the animal the longer the stop.

Park rules tell you: Do NOT approach the wildlife. There are warnings about "safe" distances to view wildlife. I was appalled in South Dakota when I saw a parent and young child run towards a bison in an open field. Did they think it was a petting zoo? People are gored by bison.

The elk, moose, mule deer and even the bison don't pay much attention to the tourists. We joked about them working shifts in different people areas. someplace had a T shirt to that effect. Even those animals could be dangerous if they decided to run away from the humans and come in your direction.

Being a rule follower, I expressed annoyance at those walking toward the animals trying to get a better shot or to have their child pose with the animal.

At some point we stopped to see what the crowd was looking at. I wasn't driving so I picked up the camera, got out of the car, crossed the street and went to the side of the road to see what I could see. Nothing, so I moved closer. No warning bells, no "DO NOT approach the wildlife" sounded in my rational mind. After all I was up an embankment from the animal which turned out to be a bison. as I took a photo of the birds landing on his back a second one approached from out of no where. OH! Where did HE come from? That's when the brain turned on and I realized there was one more fool than I thought.

We covered a lot of territory that day. Mammoth Springs at the northernmost section of Yellowstone had more interesting geological and geothermal oddities to marvel at. We stopped at the visitor's center but had trouble parking as a herd of female elk were holding a sit in at the green. Many parking spots were blocked by park rangers. there were warning posted : Do not approach the wildlife.

On the return trip we commented on the diversity of landscape within the park. It is enormous and changes. One really needs several days to explore the park connected by a figure 8 road.

We stopped for a late lunch in a parking area and noticed the traffic was at a standstill in both directions. As we were getting our picnic lunch out of the trunk of the car a person walked by and asked if we had seen the grizzlies...no...so up the road a bit was a mamma bear and two cubs digging food on the hill.

Skip grabs the camera and runs up the road. I continued to make my sandwich, eat it, all the while noticing that the traffic isn't moving and Skip isn't returning. I couldn't leave the car with the windows open and I had no keys...

A few minutes later Skip returns all excited about the bear and the photos he took. "You realize," I said, "that there is yet another fool who approached the wildlife." Ah, but he had a plan. If mama decided to come down the hill he planned to climb the ladder on a nearby RV. I said, "Next time, leave me the keys..."

Lunch eaten and traffic still moving slowly and backed up pretty far, I thought we'd have trouble getting out of the parking lot. A nice person let us into the line of traffic as it inched toward the location of the bear. By then she was still visible, but higher on the hill. The car was stopped, I jumped out of the car with the camera and walked closer. A woman told me where to stand so I could see. I listened to her without thinking even though it was RIGHT in front of a pickup truck on the road. I looked at the bear for moment, took a very poor photo and had a moment of clarity when I realized once again I broke the rule. But I quickly decided that there were over 25 people there and the bear would get one of them, not me. So there I stood, gawking at the bear. I was interrupted by an annoyed driver who was yelling, "The traffic is moving!" OH, I guess I should move off the road.

So include me as a fool who not only approached the wildlife but annoyed a Homo sapien in the process. I'm glad he didn't run me over.

Thank you, Mrs. Harris

Skip and I had been talking about going to Yellowstone "someday" since our early courting/married years. To make that dream come to fruition was an exciting experience. We were finally here!

What we didn't know was that we would fall in love with the Grand Tetons along the way. We drove through Jackson Hole trying to find the airport where a car was waiting for us. Since we planned to be there six days it made sense to rent a car to travel around and between the parks.

I followed the RV with the directions from the car rental place and entered Grand Tetons National Park. The drive through the park was breathtaking. From the meadows arose mountains the likes of which I had never seen. They surpassed the Rockies in beauty because they were so close and so high. Expecting a touristy town between Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, we found they flowed seamlessly into each other. Flagg Ranch was between the two on John J. Rockefeller Memorial Highway which joins the two parks, no kitschy town or tourist trap between.

The view from our campsite was wonderful. We could see the Tetons through the trees and whenever we were there we checked the lighting because the time of day changed the way the mountains looked. My favorite was sunrise or sunset when they ranged from pink to purple to apricot. At night the stars were so thick you really couldn't pick out constellations. (I think it's a silly hobby based on the false belief that the stars are all on the same plane.) On the night we got home late from Yellowstone we could see the Milky Way, I think!

Our first morning we drove to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. Warnings about bumper to bumper traffic and road construction (saw our Recovery Dollars at work on every interstate highway in every state and every National Park we passed through.) did not damper our adventurous spirits. Layers of clothing, picnic lunch and snacks, water, camera, binoculars all packed and we were on our way!

There was a wait of about a half hour not long after we entered the park for road construction. So you turn off your engine, open the windows and breathe. We drove through parts of the park which burned in '88 which was coming back. Trees there were about 5 feet tall. Some of the dead trees still stood dwarfing the new growth. These forests need the fire periodically. The lodge pole pines have two types of cones. The regular ones that drop seeds each year and serotinous ones that are coated in wax and only release during the heat of a fire. So the trees have a cleared area to start their life. Another area must have burned more recently as you could still smell the residue of smoke and the new trees were much smaller.

The rest of the ride to Old Faithful wasn't bad. They are constructing a new visitor's center there and it was VERY crowded and seemingly disorganized. It was about noon and parking was difficult to find. Because I had to go to the bathroom we switched drivers Chinese fire drill style and I ran to find the ladies room while Skip found a parking space.

Then we found that Old Faithful was not far away. We joined the throng of waiting people, but couldn't get close enough to the Park Ranger to hear his lesson. We walked around the way and found a place to wait. We were not disappointed, it erupted and was very cool.

We decided to do the hike around the area, most of it paved or boardwalk, to see the other geysers, mud pots and other weird geothermal stuff going on. Much of it smelled like rotten eggs. Some of it flowed right into a creek...wonder how that affected the plants and animals... We were there so long that we were able to see Old Faithful erupt three times from three different vantage points.

We saw lakes and waterfalls, canyons, mountains and plains. All were beautiful. The best time to see wildlife is as the sun is setting. We saw bison, elk, moose, mule deer. There was a variety of wildflowers that changed with the elevation and rainfall of the area. I loved the alpine forget-me-nots, but did not get a photo.

We realized that we were too far from home to eat dinner there and decided to splurge on dinner at the Canyon Lodge. Skip had bison and I had trout My trout was fabulous. We toasted to our adventure bringing us here.

Mrs. Harris was a farmer's wife who loved the land. She managed the farm after her husband passed and continued teaching. She told her 4th graders about visiting Yellowstone and that Old Faithful was one of the most magical things you could see. She told her class that if they ever get the opportunity, they should see it. That stuck in Skip's head all these years. If you know Skip, you know he hated school, but he loved Mrs. Harris. She read stories aloud better than anyone he can remember and she planted a seed. That seed grew to make our visit bloom. Thank you, Mrs. Harris; you were right, it IS a magical place and everyone should go there.

It was 38 degrees when we reached Yellowstone the second time. By the end of the day the layers had been pealed off and it was a beautiful 76 degrees. There have been so many wonderful things that I want to write about, but lack of WiFi has stifled my ability to blog.

Later I hope to take the time to write about the scenery (magnificent), the wild life (moose, elk, bison and grisly bears to list a few), the campfires and starry nights, the weird geothermal stuff going on at Yellowstone, and my new love of the Grand Tetons.

We leave Flagg Ranch on Sunday and will go to Idaho again, near Craters of the Moon National Monument. Then on to Oregon. There WILL be internet there and I hope to catch up.