Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is the home of Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark spent November 1805 through March 1806, and the last stop on our Lewis and Clark tour! (You can give that last statement any emotion you wish!) They built the fort in an attempt to stay warm and dry through the winter months. A group of volunteers help the rangers by giving demonstrations and talks about the history of the expedition and we listened to a gentleman this morning that did a really good job.

Astoria and it's neighbor town, Seaside, are bustling with runners and their supporters this week-end because of the annual Hood River to Seaside Relay Race - about 200 miles. It consists of 1,200 teams of 12 and takes 4,000 volunteers to organize/direct it! We talked to a man at breakfast whose wife was running 3 different "legs" for her team - she started at 3 am on Thursday morning at the Timberline Lodge where we had lunch the other day - and ran 6 miles. He said the length of each run depends on the terrain and the runner. Participants have been running, walking, limping, by the RV park all day. There are many cars and vans with slogans - one said - "Don't Get Too Close - We've Got The Runs!" and another had a wooden caricature of a slug on the top of the car and a sign - "The Slugs are Slow but Steady."

We rode our bikes along the waterfront, (it's windy here like Brownsville) had lunch at a local brewery on the river, and saw the sea lions near one of the piers. They are huge animals and a noisy bunch - all pushing and shoving for a spot in the sun! I sent a video of them to Samantha and Emily.

Columbia River Gorge

On Tuesday, we travelled through the wheatfields on the plains of Idaho and east Washington until we hit the orchards and vineyards of south, central Washington near the Columbia River Gorge. The east side of the gorge has been marred by dams and railroad yards but the area we are in now near Hood River is lovely.
There are waterfalls everywhere you look and Mt. Hood is in the background!

We took a loop tour around Mt. Hood yesterday (Wednesday.)  Stopped and hiked along Cold Spring Creek to Tamanawas Falls - a beautiful way to start our day. We ate lunch at Timberline Lodge - a ski lodge at Mt. Hood. It is a National Historic Landmark - built in the 1930's as a WPA project. Believe it or not, they are still skiing on some areas of the mountain - in August! Gorgeous old building of rock and logs. We stopped and saw other falls on our way home - most of them close to the road - our legs were tired from our morning 4 mile hike!




We hiked the Eagle Creek Trail today - thinking it was only about 3 miles total - but we ended up with a longer hike than yesterday - about 6 miles! Our legs are soar tonight! But it was so nice - two falls on this one - Metlako Falls and Punch Bowl Falls. Today we had lunch at a cafe on the River and then toured the Bonneville Dam. We joined a ranger led tour that was really interesting and even got to see some salmon coming up the fish ladders!





There is an osprey nest, high in a dead tree, across the road from our campsite and we have enjoyed watching them. It was such a nice temperature that we decided to eat outside tonight. Roger took a bite of meat and a bee stung his lower lip! I had to pull the stinger out with tweezers! I gave him some Benadryl and ice but it is puffed up big! How freaky!

We got up at 3:30am so we could SKYPE with the girls before they went to bed. Samantha wanted to tell us all about school and her new teacher - then she took the computer to her room to show us how they redecorated it. It's real cute and she loves her new "art station" with all her arts and crafts supplies. Emily was crying in the background because she couldn't talk until she ate all her dinner! Samantha said "she's being Miss Cranky Pants!" They are excited to go to Bali on "holiday" next week. Emily says they are going to "ride on an elephant!"

Megan and Carlos just got back from a fun week-end in LasVegas with David and Monica. Good shows and good food but not especially lucky at gambling!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

August 22, 2011 our 42nd wedding anniversary – how have that many years gone by when we haven’t aged a bit?! We celebrated on Saturday with our boat ride and dinner so today was a quiet travel day – we are headed to the Columbia River Gorge.

Roger went to see the Dworshak Dam near Orofino, Idaho yesterday– you know how he loves the engineering details of dams! I stayed home – the last thing I wanted to do was get in the car and ride again!

Hells Canyon

We decided to splurge and celebrate our anniversary with a jet boat ride on the Snake River in Hells Canyon! We're getting more adventurous in our old age! The weather was glorious and we had such a fun day!
We drove about 1.5 hours to Whitebird, Idaho - up and over the mountains - and then 17 miles down (and I mean DOWN into the canyon) on a gravel road, to Pittsburg Landing, on the Snake River. We have been driving in mountain terrain for so long we were awestruck when we drove up to the plains - miles and miles and miles of farm and grass lands.
We have decided that the #1 item you need when visiting Idaho is BRAKES! When we finally began our descent to Whitebird, we drove, I should say coasted, about 15 miles down a 7% grade. There were several "run a way" truck stops along the way - deep sand, high angle run offs designed to stop a vehicle. Somewhat comforting!
The advantage of the tour we took is that it actually begins in Hells Canyon - so the whole adventure is in the canyon. The disadvantage is, you have to drive there - down, down, down to the boarding spot. As we drove into the parking lot we saw a Piper Cub coming in to land on a small airstrip across the river - looked pretty "tricky" with the canyon walls! This area is called Hells Canyon because of all the rapids on this part of the Snake River. They are rated on a scale of one through six - we went through one Class 5, two or three Class 4's and many Class 1-3 rapids - exhilarating! Oregon is on the west side and Idaho is on the east.
We went 32 miles up the Snake River to the Oregon Visitor Center at Hells Canyon Dam, had lunch and then began our return trip. Fun going up but really exciting coming back down at full speed through the rapids - we got wet! Roger got some good videos of the smaller rapids but during the bigger ones we were in life jackets, holding on tight - the camera would have gotten soaked!
The jet boats are really a neat way to ride the rapids but there are also plenty of kayaks and rubber rafts on the river. Apparently, there is a feud between the boaters and the rafters similar to the cattle vs sheep ranchers! There were several private jet boats - they use them to sport fish large sturgeons - the guide told us they cost about $70,000!! If they catch a sturgeon, it is illegal to even take them out of the water so, they have to get pictures of them near the boat! They are huge and often take 4-5 hours to "land."
There are three old sheep ranches on the river - none in operation now - what an isolated life they led!
We stopped at Mack's, the only restaurant in Whitebird for dinner - people we met on the boat told us they had good food. What a surprise - a gourmet type place in this little tiny town! A really nice end to a perfect day!

LoLo Motorway

We slept with the window open and listened to the river! Got up early and drove up to the LoLo Motorway - sounds like a race car track but, trust me it is as far removed from that as possible! It is actually, the trail, on the mountain ridge, that Lewis and Clark traveled, that eventually led them to the plains. There is a fire look-out at Crested Butte, about 10 miles further up the trail, that is no longer used by the forest service and is rented out for overnight visitors. We really wanted to see it but, the road was so bad we eventually turned around. Can't imagine the view from up there! We did hike back to "Sinque Hole" - another Lewis and Clark campsite, before we started back down the mountain. Roger is having such a good time exploring all these places he read about in the journals and I am in awe of the arduous journey they endured! I feel like I am "roughing it" with no cell phone!
After our early morning hike, we left the campground and drove another 50 miles in scenery just like yesterday. There are many small creeks that flow into the river so it gradually gets bigger with less rapids.   We are in Orofino, Idaho tonight - at a BLM campground on the Clearwater River -
Internet but no cell phone!

Wilderness Gateway

We are overnighting in Wilderness Gateway National Forest Campground ($4.00/night!) on our way to Kooskia, Idaho. Roger has found the most beautiful places to stay on this trip – we are camped right on the Lochsa River and can hear it as it meanders over rocks and through the woods.

We stopped at “Travelers Rest”  - now a state park – this morning. It is the area along the LoLo Creek where Lewis and Clark camped in 1805 and in 1806 before and after they went over the Rocky Mountains at LoLo Pass. There was a volunteer there, from the local Lewis and Clark group, who gave  us a guided tour and explained how the archeologists discovered that this was actually the place where they camped.

You will be surprised at how they figured it out! Historians and archeologists studied Lewis and Clark’s journals and had narrowed the location down but needed “proof” of the exact camp area. Since they  were truly a military unit, the camps were always laid out according to military protocol. So, they could figure out where the campfires and latrines should be. They knew from the journals that many of the men were sick and Lewis often treated them with a powerful laxative that contained mercury – fondly, nicknamed “thunderclappers!” The archeologists found large amounts of mercury in a latrine area convincing everyone that they had found the correct camp site!

We then drove through Clearwater National Forest and the Bitterroot/Rocky Mountains. Our next stop was the LoLo Pass Visitor Center – a beautiful log cabin type building. They have audio tapes you can check out, like a library book, listen about Lewis and Clark’s adventures, and then return to one of several different places in Idaho. As we left there, there was a sign that said “Winding, steep road – next 99 miles” – and they were not exaggerating! We traveled through 85 miles of the most gorgeous wilderness we have ever seen – around every curve there was another panoramic view of the mountains and alpine forest – all the way following a clear bubbling river right next to the road! The Lochsa River is a premier white water rafting/kayaking river in the spring. I can’t even imagine how it roars through the gorge then! No way to capture it all with a camera!

Emily called last night and when I answered said “Tima, can you get on SKYPE? Call me on SKYPE!” Such a cute little voice! She wanted to tell us all about a dinosaur birthday party she went to; show us her apron she made at school when they made cupcakes; and tell us how she can swim without her floaties! Such a cutie! Samantha is in school so we will have to wait until the week-end to talk with her – the time difference makes it difficult when she goes to bed and school early.

 

Hiawatha Trail

We drove from West Glacier to Kalispell for one night and then on to Missoula, MT. More beautiful country! Someone told us "Missoula is the Austin of Montana" - a university town, music and the arts and we would add traffic! A couple of "down" days with full hook-ups for laundry etc. Roger got the car washed!

We drove west to the Idaho/Montana border today and rode the Hiawatha Rail to Trail bike path. What an experience! You ride 15 miles downhill and a shuttle takes you back to the top - my kind of biking! It is in mountain country - the scenery is panoramic and gorgeous. We rode through 8 tunnels and over 7 high trestle bridges. The first tunnel was 2 miles long - dark, cold, wet and scary! We had to rent lights to put on our handle bars - next time I'll bring a big spotlight and duct tape it to my bike! The trail is gravel and bumpy - more like mountain biking - and we were covered with dust when we finished but, what fun!

Roger had a flat tire soon after we exited the big tunnel - so glad it did not happen in the dark! He changed the tube and pumped it up with a CO2 inflator and it went flat again a short time later. Thought we were doomed but, would you believe the "Trail Marshall" came by and helped him fix the valve core and pump it up again. The bike gods were with us because it was fine the rest of the way. We were really worried we would end up walking either back up or down!