Crater Lake

The drive down from Blue River was uneventful and quite pretty. Went past a few of these lava flows again. We set up in an RV park just north of Crater at Diamond Lake. We went down to the top of the lake and decided to go clockwise around it. Crater Lake was formed when 12,000' Mount Mazama erupted and then collapsed about 7,700 years ago. Later eruptions formed Wizard Island inside the caldera and the flows from the new caldera coated the inside of the opening. Since then, rain and snow melt filled the hollow creating the lake. Today, precipitation and evaporation are about equal and the lake fluctuates about three feet in height. The area rceives about 66" of precipitation per year with annual snow fall of 500". No streams flow in or out of Crater Lake.
The ride on Rim Road is just spectacular. Yesterday we stopped at a few spots including Cloudclap Overlook, Phantom Ship Overlook and walked along the Sinnott Memorial Overlook. We also took a short side trip out to The Pinnacles, a group of spires which eroded from canyon walls. The spires are fossil fumaroles where volcanic gases rose through hot ash deposits cementing the ash into harder rock.
On the way way back around, thunderstorms began building and moving over the lake. We stopped at an overlook on the lake to watch. The storm slowly moved across the lake and finally got to us. It then intensified and began to hail. We vacated the area and headed for home, but the storm caught us and we finally had to pull over in the midst of a severe hail storm. The temperature had fallen to 40 degrees. The ice stayed on the truck for several hours after the storm, but fortunately no dents to the truck. Thunderstorms continued late into the evening and I wouldn't be surprised if some flash floods occurred.
Rim Road is about 33 miles around the lake. We will do it again today with a detour down to Klamath Falls if time allows.

Bend,Sisters and Redmond

We toured over through the above listed towns yesterday. They are just on the east side of the Cascades and so enjoy a 300 plus sunny days a year climate. Bend has about 75,000 people and looks to be a humming economy. Sister's looks like a small but nice tourist place and Redmond is more a country town. On the way we stopped at Sahalie Falls which was quite a scene. A rushing mountain stream forced through a narrow opening and down 120'. The spray was expansive and the rapids below just gorgeous. Just past that we ran into lava flows from eruptions about 3,000 years ago. Some have trees and plant growth covering it, but some looks like it cooled yesterday. There are two different types of lava named by Hawaians. One means rough and craggy and the other is smooth. This was the rough and craggy. Goes on for miles. We then stopped at Lava Butte National monument which was more and wider of the same. Today we head down to Crater Lake.

Sea Lion Caves

Yesterday we drove over to the coast of Oregon at Florence and headed north on Rt. 101. The Florence area is known for it's sand dunes which get as high as 300 feet. We stopped at a number of state parks and scenic views along the way. Sea Lion cave has an elevator to take you down to the edge of the cliffs where sea lions colonize. At this time of year they tend to be feeding in the ocean and not on the rocks where they tend their young in spring. We saw a number of them swimming around. They're a larger animal than I thought with males averaging 1500 pounds and some getting as large as 2000 pounds.
Further up the coast, we stopped at Cape Perpetua, another well known spot. We turned back east at Walport, a bit south of Jim Carson's hometown of Newport. We went through Corvallis and continued east on Rt. 20 back into the Willamette National Forest and more big trees. Logging is again a huge industry in the Cascades. We saw trucks with some logs which must have been 6-8 feet in diameter. They were down to 4 or 5 logs per truck. A lot of fruit and vegtables are grown in the area and we stopped and picked up some excellent produce which even turned out to be organic.

Blue River, Oregon

We left Portland yesterday and drove down to the town of Blue River, about 30 miles east of Eugene. It's a big golf and resort area. We got lost once in a detour in Springfield. We set up and took a ride down Scenic Hwy 19 into the Willamette National Forest. We ended up at the Constitutional Grove, a grove of trees along a path with a tree labeled for each signer of the constitution. The grove was doug firs and red cedars and quite impressive. It was darkish in there in the middle of the day.

More Portland

We did a little shopping in the am yesterday, then met up with Kim who took us for a tour of Portland. We took a tram ride at a new hospital facility which connects the lower portion on the Willamette River with an upper portion way up on the hillside. It gives a terrific view of the city. After that, we went to one of the many city parks, which was abuzz with activity. There were a couple musical events going on, several parties and multitudes of people riding bikes, jogging and dog walking everywhere. The park we were at could have been an auboretum, with sequoia, beech and doug firs all over.
The people here seem to be an outdoor-active bunch. Bike riders everywhere. The other day returning from central Oregon, we passed the annual Hood to the Beach run. It's a relay which travels about 197 miles. There were hundreds of runneres involved.
When Brad got back from work, we headed into downtown to the Portland City Grill, which is located on the 30th floor of one of the taller buildings in town and faces out to Mt. Hood. The clouds eventually parted enough to get a blurred view of the mountain under a full moon. It's quite a site. We've had a wonderful visit with Brad and Kim and look forward to seeing them in Peru.

The Big Bang

We drove up to Mount St. Helens yesterday to view the devastation from the May 18, 1980, eruption. The eruption was triggered by an earthquake which caused a massive landslide that covered 14 miles of river valley to an average depth of 150'. The landslide released trapped magma and gas producing a lateral blast of hot rock and ash. In less than 10 minutes, 230 square miles of trees were leveled. The mountain lost 1300' of height and .67 cubic miles of volume. Cement like slurries of glacial melt and boulders called lahars scoured and buried streams draining the volcano. An ash eruptions rose 15 miles up from the crater and lasted 9 hours. Avalanches of pumice and hot gasses called pyroclastic flows, shot down slopes to the north.
A number of people were killed or went missing (30-40). The eruption occurred on a Sunday morning. On Monday, thousands of loggers would have had little chance of survival. But as bad as it was, the blast was small in comparison to some previous ones. One quite a bit larger occurred in 1800. And evidence suggests that 3500 years ago an eruption occurred which left a vein of pumice from a pyroclastic flow a meter thick which runs all the way north over Mt. Ranier and into British Columbia. About 40 times more powerful than the 1980 blast.
The Visitors Center on the way in is run by Washington State Parks and had a terrific movie about the lead up to and the day of the blast. Some stories of survivors are remarkable. We continued out to the Johnson Ridge Observatory which is about 5 miles away from the still active crater. We caught a young Ranger giving a presentation on the events as we looked over the site. People were spellbound by the scope. The volcano has developed a lava dome and material is still flowing in at an amazing rate. The new dome is at 1300 feet. Unfortunately, clouds obscured our site into the crater, but the surrounding area is spectacular. As President Jimmy Carter said when he was flown over the area, "It makes a moonscape look like a golf course."
We got back and headed over to Brad and Kim's where they prepared the Peruvian national meal, ceviche, which is raw fish, in this case cod and tilapia, marinated in lime juice and spices, served with a sauted sweet potato. The acid in the lime juice "cooks" the fish. It was great.

EVERYBODY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! VINO AND TUNA BREATH HAVE TAKEN OVER THE BLOG!!!!

John Day Fossil Beds

Brad, Kim, Dana and myself hooked up the RV and drove out to Prineville, Or., to see some of the central part of the state. Oregon is the 10th largest state. After we set up, we went over to Smith Rock, a very poular rock climbing formation, and a beautiful spot. We hiked around a bit and saw a couple interesting birds we'll have to look up. Brad and I made it up to Monkey Face Rock, a large rock balanced on a ridge. I was unable to ascend the last few rocks to the ridge as I'm not in peak condition and not particularly comfortable with heights. It was a great canyon type view with shear rock faces all around us.
In the am. we hooked up the RV and began a loop to visit the three locations of the famed John Day Fossil Beds. They were named for an early pioneer who, with partner, were robbed of everything they had including clothes, by indians. The larceny occurred at the confluence of the a river known as the Maw-Maw and the Columbia. The men survived and as the story spread, people began to refer to the Maw-Maw as the John Day River. The river runs south from the Columbia into central Oregon and through the area where fossils began to be found. So the famous beds took on the name of a guy who was wondering around naked and new nothing of fossils.
Over millions of years, multiple volcanic eruptions laid layer upon layer of ash and lava down which encased the flora and fauna of that particular time. Fossils from all these eras have been discovered with many new and unheard of species being found. The Beds are in three different locations. The Painted Hills Unit has a walking path through some incredible hummocks and hills. The colors are amazing. From there we hit the Sheep Rock Unit where a very interesting visitors center is located. The museum was neat and they ran a film which detailed what they knew and how this area formed. They even allowed Tikki and Gwen, their dogs into the air conditioned theatre to watch. After that we ate a picnic lunch and turned toward home and the Clarno Unit. The ride over was one of the best parts of the trip. The scenario was very similar to the North Dakota Badlands area. Steep, colorful and craggy.
On the ride home we took Rt 26 which runs past Mount Hood. Near the high point on the road we began to see signs for the Hood to the Coast Relay, an annual event where teams form and run legs of a relay all the way to Cannon Beach, about 150 miles away. There must have been hundreds of teams and it looked like a very well organized event. The road was littered with runners of all sizes and shapes. It made for interesting conversation as we passed hundreds and hundreds of runners.
We got back to our RV Park a little after eight and set up and went out to a bar-b-que joint for dinner. A long day.

First Two Days

Yesterday's blog disappeared into cyber space for some reason. We had a fairly slow first day as Brad and Kim both worked. We met for dinner at Jake's Crawfish House, a truly great restaurant in Portland. Tim Eckstein joined us and it was good to see him. Our meals were fantastic.
Yesterday Brad and I golfed at a local muni course while Dana and Kim shopped. The course was well maintained with quick greens. Payed very poorly but had a good time. In the evening we went to a concert by Wilco, an alternative style band, which was outstanding. It was at an outdoor venue on a beautiful night.
Am reading reading a relatively new biography of Mao Tse Tung. He made Stalin and Hitler look like choir boys. They attribute 70 million deaths to him, the majority by intentinal starvation. He fed people less than concentration camp prisoners and sold the harvests to fund his Great Leaps Forward, which were almost entirely for military production.

Portland, Oregon

We set up in Fairview, Or., yesterday, which is in the NE side of town. A typical urban RV park. Spaces are tight, but the location is good, only about 15 minutes from where Brad and Kim live. The drive down was rainy and when it rains out here, it pours. We set up in a pretty good shower and went over to see Brad and Kim. They rent a house in a nice residential neighborhood, probably 50's or 60's vintage. I believe the style is craftsman, and many homes in town are this type. Real estate in Portland seems quite pricey, just about equaling NJ prices. Portland is a nice small city with a lot of attractions and a large number of people who bicycle everywhere. They ride in traffic like a car and take a little getting used to. When you look both ways at intersections, better keep an eye out for them.
Brad and Kim live with two dogs, Tiki and Gwen, one small, one large. Kim is actively seeking a new job as she recently received her Masters degree in social work. She has several applications out and is also looking at possible promotion with her current organization. Brad works for Precision Garage Door, a nation wide franchise group. They both love the Portland area and are very outdoors oriented.

The Burke Museum

The museum is at the U of Wa. in Seattle and is hosting an exhibit of native american art. It had some interesting stuff and a few totems outside. A terrific photo gallery on the concept of joining Glacier, Yellowstone, and a corridor up through Canada into the first International Park. Of course the artist is German and they wouldn't have to chip in anything. Or they could base it on the UN and we could donate the land, pay for everything , and let people from other countries do anything they want with immunity. Well it's a college campus, what can you expect. The museum also had a floor on Pacific Rim Cultures. It was ok, but after the Charlie Russell Museum in Great Falls, everything else seems lame.
Off to Portland, Or., today and a visit with Brad and Kim.

Mount Ranier

We made the ride over to mighty Mount Ranier yesterday. Ranier is about 14,400' and the tallest point in Washington. It's almost perfectly symetrical, the perfect volcano. Unfortunately, the weather has turned on us and it's been on and off rain with cloud covers. Not good for mountain observations. Also unfortunately, not all the roads around and through the park are open. There are still some snow closed roads which haven't opened this year, and some areas, trails and roads were severely damaged by heavy rains last year. It cut channels down the sides of the mountain to bedrock. All of this is second hand as the clouds would not allow a view. It also appears that the park needs some upgrades to handle the amount of traffic it receives. Like Glacier, stops for points of interest have inadequate parking and are often full. We weren't able to stop at Paradise Point, one of the primary attractions. The shuttles that are available run every 45 minutes, and anyway this is America where people drive their cars to where they want to go. It was along drive without much to show for it.

Local Native Art

The last couple days we stopped at a two local art places of interest. The first was a carver of totem poles. There are about 7 different styles of totem carving which vary by group running basically north from here to Alaska.. The best known are ones from the Vancouver, Canada, area. At any rate the carver we spoke with was a busy guy. He had a couple finished ones laying horizontally in his shop and one that was in the carving phase. The wood for the largest one, which was huge and all painted and ready to go, came from a 600-700 year old Red Cedar. The wood cost the carver $22,000. At any rate, he was generous with his time and answered our questions. They use computers now to help with lay out and design. If you want one, you consult with the carver about the story you want told. I was trying to figure out how to tell the story about how the Jersey government spent billions of dollars to replace 56 inner city schools and ran out of money with only half completed. The pole would have been too high with many snakes wrapped around it.
The second place we stopped was a gallery advertised from the road and up a steep slope. These people did prints, carvings, weaving and specialized in glass. They were experimenting with a couple new techniques for firing glass with micas and silica sprinkled on to create special effects. It was interesting. They are leaving for an exibition at the University of Washington in Seattle over the weekend. We may go as the exibit is near the Seattle Museum with it's totem pole room.

Rain Forest Over-Nighter

We decided to divide and conquer by staying over night in the town of Forks, Wa. It allowed us to see as much of the western side of the Olympic Pennisula as we wanted. The drive to Forks was about 3 hours, but because we took some detours, up the Elwha Valley and near lake Crescent it took longer than that. We took a little room in Forks, which turned out to be lucky because by the time we returned to town, every place was "No Vacancy."
We got right back on the road and headed for the Hoh Rain Forest. The valley is on the western side of the Olympic Range and is at an elevation of about 570'. Annual rainfall is 142". The ride in is eerie. As in the south, moss hangs like a shroud on every surface including limbs, bark and rocks. The forest floor is fern covered and littered with ancient logs, mostly covered with moss and ferns also. Trees over 250' tall loom over the landscape. Some areas are so dense that almost no light reaches inside the canopy. Occasional groves of maples have a glow. The moss covers all the limbs almost to the exclusion of leaves. The entire area is an amazing tree growing machine. Lots of moisture and fertile, well draining soils provide a perfect enviroment for firs, spruces, cedars and hemlocks to thrive. The National Park has some virgin forest areas, but most of the pennisula has been logged, some areas multiple times. These areas seem to be closely monitored and many are labelled as to when they were last harvested, replanted, and when the next harvest is anticipated.
We headed back to Forks and then out to Rialto Beach. Bought some smoked salmon in Mora. Hope it's as good as the samples.
Friday we got up and drove around the south side of the park. Stopped at Ruby Beach, a gorgeous spot just off Rt. 101. Another spot with abundant washed up trees along the shore line. The rest of the ride was mile after mile of forests in various stages of growth. It appears that 20 years yields about 25 to 30 feet of verticle. Drove in aways to view a couple huge old trees, one about 20' in diameter. About 1900 years old. Amazing.

Cape Flattery or Bust

Exploration of the Olympic Pennisula was started full scale. We drove out to Hurricane Ridge, a ridgeline of Olympic Mountain peaks ranging from 5800' to 6700 ' many snow capped. Some areas on the pennisula receive massive amounts of precipitation. The wind packed snow builds up and feeds many glaciers. One of the info boards said that the packed and heavy ice and snow goes through a structural change into glacier ice which can then move. We also made a stop at Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, a bay formed by a spit of sand five miles long. We pushed on following Rt. 112 all the way out to Cape Flattery, the most NW point in the country. Some folks try to get to all four points, with Key West, a place near San Diego and a spot in Maine being the other three. The path and board walk out to the viewing site were gorgeous, cutting through a forest of Doug Firs, Red Cedars , Hemlock etc. The ferns grow three or four feet high and are thick, as is the forest itself. Foliage looks so dense as to be impenitrable Saw a large herd of elk on the way back. It was a long, long ride and we didn't get home until 11:00 PM. The area is so large we may have to consider staying a night out on the far side of the park to avoid the three hour ride back and forth.

Hoodsport

We drove around Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia to get to the Hood Canal and our RV park in Hoodsport, Wa. Hood Canal is actually a fjord and subject to great tidal swings. The tide was out when we set up revealing mud flats where people clam and oyster. When we returned from a ride up to the Townsend Ferry, the tide was in and we were surprised at how high it was. Quite a shift.
On the ride down, we were able to get a pretty good look at Mt. Ranier which overlooks and dominates the sky view around Seattle. Ranier is over 14,400 feet high. It's so big that it looks as if it's right in town. Very similar to the way Mt. Hood overlooks Portland, Or. Ranier is a volcano and not dormant. The area is very populated and if that baby ever lets loose it's a big problem. "Where Do You go When the Volcano Blows?" as Jimmy Buffet would say. Actually, I believe Tacoma is the spot that all the mud and stuff would drain towards.
On the ride to Townsend, we stopped at a couple State Parks overlooking the Canal. From one we had a great view across the Puget Sound to Mt. Baker. Today we start further exploration of Olympic National Park. There seems to be an almost cult like interest in this area, expressed by several readers. I doubt if we penetrate the Huang Rain Forest deep enough to find Sasquatch, but you can add one to your golf bag at your local pro-shop. Tiger could use your support.

Picture Day

Since both of us are recovering from colds, we took an easy day. Got blog pictures up to date, went shopping for groceries and visited a local arboritum at Western Washington U., right here in uptown Billingham. Leave this am for Hoodsport, over on the Olympic Pennisula. Mt. Ranier and Olympia National Park to follow.

Hi--Dana blogger back after Bruce took a lesson from Rob on how to re-organize my pictures that were in disarray after a surprise sneeze sent them all to ----!! (I was outside with Linda chatting and keeping her little friend,Mia, company). Flowers again--I whined for a couple of weeks about missing my wildflowers, but we've been enjoying the displays ever since--up in the mts. and now here in Washington--the gold colors of late summer and lupines. Ibought a bouquet of dahlias for $4 from a help yourself roadside stand--I think of Marilyn Eckstein when I see them--she always had such a lovely display--you can see it from the road.
We are constantly amazed at the beauty of this country, from windswept and barren to these gorgeous views of the Cascades and San Juan Islands. The Olympia National Forest is next!!!

Fins

We took a whale watching boat out of Bellingham yesterday to see if we could catch up with some orcas. The San Juan Islands are a well known habitat for them and sitings are frequent. Unfortunately, the resident whale are out of town. There are two pods that frequent the area and resident orcas eat only salmon. At this time of year the runs are about wound down and the whales are further out torward the ocean. Fortunately, there was a pod or pack of transcient whales in the area. These whales eat everything they can find. The local harbor seals and sea lions are very aggitated when the transcients are in town. Sea lions have been known to jump into boats to escape. The transcients however do not do any of the jumping out of the water tricks that the residents do and normally all you see are dorsal fins sticking out of the water. We road all the way out to Canadian waters near Victoria Island to see them, about a 3 hour ride. It was cold and everyone was bundled up multiple layers. All the whale watching boats from the American and Canadian side were in the area the whales were swimming, about 15 boats all together. We had a few good looks at them but the moment is brief. After about an hour of following them around, we headed back in. The bonus was a pretty good tour of the San Juans.
I missed the final round of the PGA do to the whales, but Grant called us and gave a report of the almost failure of Tiger to hold on. Apparently, Ernie and Woody gave it a pretty good run, but Tiger came back with a birdie after a bogie. Number 13.

The Chuckanut Drive

Dana spent the am at a Bellingham city craft show where streets are blocked off etc., while I checked out ferry and whale watching posabilities. She got some art pottery and I found out that the whales have been further out in the sound, beyond most tourist boat ranges. The orcas are very unpredictable and we hope they come back in today.
After that, we found an article about a scenic by-way called the Chuckanut Drive. It's also known as Rt. 11 and runs from Fairhaven, just south of Bellingham to Burlington, about 25 miles south. The road was built in the late 1800's, and is a windy, twisty one and very narrow. It dips in and out along the rugged coast line and has a number of overlooks to view Bellingham Bay and the Puget Sound. Along the way it passes a few oyster farms and restaurants specializing in oysters. My taste for oysters has been low recently. Somewhere I read an article by a chef out here that oysters should not be eaten raw during warm months and that they are better cooked all the time. Jim and Sandra Carson might disagree with that. Anyway, we passed on this opportunity. The road eventually came out to some flats where a beautiful view of Mt. Baker was revealed in all it's snow-capped glory.
Between these events, I caught a little PGA action, with Tiger leading by between 2 and 5 shots. Hopefully the last round will have some excitement.

Anacortes and Mt. Baker

We decided to investigate touring the San Juan Islands, so we drove to the port of Anacortes. We found a visitors center and some very helpful people. Problem is that to board your car at a couple of the ferry terminals will require lining up 2 hours early, which I have a great aversion to. After checking some schedules, we decided to return to Bellingham and see what ferries go to the islands from there. Whale watching is also big with Orca sitings being the number one draw. I'll investigate today.
On the way down I-5, the only N/S road available, we noticed something unusual. The drivers in the area are the most aggressive we've ever seen. They put the beltway boys from the DC area to shame. At 70 mph they jump back and forth between lanes when no room exists. And it wasn't just an isolated person. If you allow any room between cars, somebody jumps right in there. It's like watching a horse race. Anyway, this is the area where Starbucks started and I attribute it to over caffeinization. We finally fell in behind a Winnebago going 60 and nobody was interested in cutting in there.
We came back to Bellingham and took on supplies for a trip up to Mount Baker, a little NE of the city. The drive to Artists's Point was a great mountain climb. We passed through some beautiful forests and saw a small grove of what had to have been Redwoods, the bark was so red, and we also saw some stumps of what would have to have been old growth forests. The stumps were way larger than anything we saw alive, including the Redwoods. The ride up included some great view areas. Mount Baker has more snow and snowfields than we've seen anywhere else. The top was spectacular. We ran into a guy at one of the stops who was strapping on his ski boots. We stopped and chatted with him, his name was Jeff, and he said he skis every month of the year, even if he has to throw the skis over his shoulder and hike up to the snow fields. We'll post a picture of him to make all you ski bums back east jealous. This will drive Russ Selser over the edge.
How about Tiger's 63 at Southern Hills? He's 7-0 when up after 36 in majors. Any hoop nuts should check out Bill Simmons article on ESPN.com.

Out of Touch

Tuesday we traveled from Missoula, Mt, to Republic, Washington. We went up through the Idaho panhandle near Lake Pend Orelle (pronounced Ponderay), and then across northern Washington. The town of Republic was a gold mining town and also is known for fossils. It's only 25 miles from the Canadian border. The terrain in the area is very unusual severe rolling ground. It was shaped in the last ice ages by massive floods caused by ice dams creating huge lakes (Great Lake size) which periodically collapsed leading to unimaginable flood waters racing to the sea. A coulee is the low area between rises. It was about a 350 mile drive and quite scenic. Our camp ground in Republic was maintained as finely as a golf course. It had automatic irrigation and the owner must mow twice a week.
Wednesday I started the day with a visit to a local health clinic. I believe the smoke from the fires around Missoula got me. The Doc said she thought "flatlanders" could be suseptable to such conditions at the higher elevations. Never recall having a combination ear, sinus and bronchitis situation before. Glad I went instead of doing the normal and putting it off. Dana kicked my butt into going.
Upon return, we loaded up and headed south to the Grand Coulee Dam. The ride south on Rt. 21 was spectacular, through canyons, mountains and coulees. Roads designated as Scenic By-ways are marked in the atlas and we try to ride them when possible. The dam is unbelievable. Four times as large as Hoover Dam, and a mile across. Produces more electric than any dam in the world. The visitors center was great and we saw a movie on the Great Flood, where we got info on the local land formations, mentioned above. On the way back, we cut through the Colville Indian Reservation which was another scenic ride, but not denoted in the atlas. Got home and basically collapsed after dinner.
Thursday, Andy's birthday, we left Republic heading for Bellingham and the Strait of Georgia, just north of Puget Sound. We took Rt. 20 west which turned out to be the ride of a lifetime. The road through North Cascades National Park was as pretty as anything we've scene. Washington Pass was spectacular but the prettiest place we saw was the Diablo Overlook above Lake Diablo. Hopefully the picture do it justice. The water is torquoise caused by "glacial flour,"the powder that is produced by glacial movement over terrain.
The town of Bellingham is right on the water, and is a sea port. Our RV park is urban in nature, but nice. We had dinner at the Bayside Grill and Bistro overlooking the marina on Bellingham Bay and had some very good halibut. Went to a local park and watched a country trio play a few tunes, and called it a day.

Inside Missoula

Linda took us around Missoula and to Polly and Rob's house on the SE side of town. Their house has a lot of room with a couple bedrooms on the main floor and two more downstairs. It sits on a bluff with a great view over town to the mountains beyond, but yesterday they were hard to see with all the smoke around. It's an older home and they have joined the ranks of all homeowners who never have to worry about having something to do around the house. They've repainted inside, redone a bath room and some flooring, found hardwood under carpet and exposed it, and are half way done painting the exterior. (There's a painting party at their place Wed., which we're sorry to say we'll miss.) Masons were there working on a new patio and front walkway, both being done in stamped concrete. They also have a nice in ground pool in the back. Way to go.
We left and visited Jake's house in another section of town. Lost my bearings and can't tell you which area it's in. Jake bought a house with a detached garage and then rented out the house and lives in the garage. In the fall he's leaving for a nine month tour of Africa, travelling around the perimeter using local transportation. He's going to see it from the natives point of view.
From there we went to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Rob works there and likes it a lot. They have been instrumental in reestablishing elk herds around the country, especially in Pa., Ten., and Ky. The visitors portion of the building is well worth seeing if you're here and want to see elk.
We picked up some steaks at the store and headed out to Alberton for dinner with Chuck, Linda and Mia, a friend of their's 9 year old daughter they were looking after for the day. We had a great meal finishing up with ice cream cones on the back stoop. We've had a great visit with with them and can hardly believe we're leaving already. We'll see them again in Peru.

Big Day for Lydia

Yesterday was Lydia's baptism and a wonderful day it was. The church had a very good turn out and the service was extra nice. Lydia was dressed in 130 year old christening dress which was the one Louise King was baptized in, and didn't even fuss when the water and oil were placed on her head. Jake and Jerilyn were God parents and Polly and Rob and the grand parents were beaming. Coffee and cake were served at the church and then everyone returned to Linda and Chuck's for a celebration. They planned for 50 and that must have been about the number. The food was great and plentiful, and everybody had a great time.
The smoke situation was not bad at all in Alberton, but as we headed back to our spot in Missoula, the smoke became worse. It was mixed with some clouds and smoke from the local pulp mill which made an ugly soup. About 200 people NE of us were evacuated from their homes. The high sun, heat and wind have made things so dry it's hard to describe. One of the big fires, the Milepost 124 Fire, they believe was started by a vehicle with a bad wheel bearing which disintegrated and the pieces started a number of fires in the grass along the road and it was off the races.
When we got back, our cell phone came to life, and I had a message from Dave Mangold who lives up in St. Ignatius, Mt. Dave lived across Schoolhouse Rd. from us back in Milton and did some baby sitting and dog sitting for us years ago. He and his wife, Marci, are both Physician's Assistants and have allergy practices in Missoula, Kalispel and St. Ignatius. We hopped in the truck and drove the 35 miles north on Rt. 93 to their ranch. They have a couple of dogs, a couple of horses, garages for vehicles and trailers, and a beautiful home on 50 acres at the base of the Mission Mountains. The smoke was so bad up there that the mountains were barely visiable and believe me these are real mountains. They had just returned that day from a trip back to the Jersey shore and Milton. We had not met Marci before. She is a Wyoming girl who has climbed Grand Teton Mountain, so she's right at home in the Montana environment. It was great to catch up with them and see how well they're doing.

Preparations

We spent the better part of the day helping Linda and Chuck get things in order for the party after the christening of their new granddaughter, Lydia. The girls prepared food while Chuck and I sat outside and watched the sprinklers cover the lawn. (We really did more than that.) Sam and his friend John stopped by and dropped off extra chairs and a keg of beer which had to be iced and set up. Before you know it, the day was gone. We went into Missoula for dinner at an Italian restaurant which was good shy the glass in Dana's pasta and the forgotten salads. We also stopped by the RV park and showed them our traveling accomodations.
After dinner, Chuck and Linda needed to head home because Jetur and Mike Riggs had arrived in town and are staying in Alberton with them. The boys had rendezvoused with Jake and done a float near Flathead Lake.
Saw smoke from some more fires and have heard that the Skyland Fire NE of Missoula was, according to the governor, in God's hands. They had just ordered the evacuation of 200 homes near the area. The heat,dry and wind make for impossible situations. Hopefully a cool front or rain will arrive soon.
Thanks to Grant for updating the travel map. I have no idea how that works.

The Clark Fork Float

Yesterday and the day before friends and relatives of Polly and Rob started arriving for the christening of Lydia, their 3 month old daughter. Sam, Jake and Polly arranged for a float down the Clark Fork River for the group. Besides the afore mentioned, the group included Jerilyn, Rob's sister Karen from Philly, Polly's friend Christine and her boy friend Chuck from New York City and two friends of Sam and Jake. They had two rafts and a white water canoe. They hit the river at about 3:00 pm and Linda, Chuck, Dana and myself took on the task of watching Lydia for the day. At about 9:00 pm the floaters returned to a dinner of burgers, fresh corn, potato salad and garden salad prepared by the baby sitting staff, who had a great time pulling it together.

The floaters had an invigorating day on the river, but the people who were really worn out were the folks back at camp. I certainly didn't recall the energy required to look after youngsters. Lydia was lots of fun but gave us a run for our money. Chuck was the granddad with the golden touch all day, and Lydia is just a beautiful and attentive three month old with big blue eyes.

Alberton, Mt.

Linda and Chuck live in Alberton, which is about 20 miles west of Missoula on I-90. They are only a few minutes off the highway, but what a difference. It's very rural. They have had some projects underway and are bringing them to conclusion just in time for their grand daughter's christening and ensuing party at their place this Sunday.
Yesterday Chuck took me for a tour through some of his favorite hunting grounds while Dana and Linda hit Missoula to shop. The tour was terrific. Later, Sam stopped over and had a new sight for his bow. It's impressive as were the three arrows he put in the middle of a target about 25 yards away. These new bows are a far cry from what we had as kids. Everybody out here is counting down the days to the start of bow season.

Into Missoula

We made it down from Kalispel to Missoula with no problems. The trip down skirts Flathead Lake, the Mission Mountains and other beautiful scenery which was hardly visiable because of the forest fire smoke. Fires in the Missoula area are about the same as the ones up north. We set and went into town for a while then headed out to Alberton to visit Linda and Chuck Gardner. They had just finished a stamped concrete project for their walkways around the house. It looks great. Their house is up in the woods and very nice. We had dinner and talked and talked. They're grandparents now and the christening of little Lydia, Polly and Rob's little girl, is this weekend. A good number of eastern folks are coming out for the event and we're looking forward to it.

Hungry Horse Dam

This huge dam was built as most are for flood control, irrigation water, and hydroelectric power. It's between Flathead Lake and Glacier Park. The ride back in is nice and the ride on the after crossing the top of the dam is better. We walked out to center of the dam, and Dana started to yell into the chasm for echoes. I've never heard such language. The rest of the day was spent catching up with some bookwork and planning. We'd made reservations at places through Labor Day and I need to start checking availability at the more popular spots coming up. South to Missoula today.