Thursday and Chuck and Carla and RC (their dog) fired up their bus and left for Bend, leaving us on their drive to organise ourselves for the next couple of months.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Day 6: Collecting The Rig
Wednesday was a much more relaxed affair and we were able to recover from our road trip. Chuck very kindly took me to return the rental car and collect our rig. There is always some trepidation when doing this, as one is never sure what has happened between leaving and collecting. However, once I had reconnected the battery, the Chevy fired up first time, the trailer was intact and dry, I removed the tire protectors and away we went - great feeling to have our home on wheels back again. Once back at Chuck's we happy to move back in. Meanwhile, Chuck and Carla were moving stuff into their bus, as they were going away for a few days to an exotic car show. The relaxed day moved to dinner time and we succumbed to the local Golden Corral for a very pleasant meal.
Day 5: To Chuck and Carla's
We rode out of Pendleton in the early morning and headed South East along I84 - destination Chuck and Carla's house, where we were looking forward to seeing them again. This road has been built almost directly on the Old Oregon Trail, which is the route used by the wagon trains of the 1840/50's.
The road climbs giving great views to the West, it must have been a great sight for the Emmigrants moving West, even though it was desert and they still had a long and dangerous boat trip ahead, they could at least see the 'Promised land', well at least the Cascades and Mt Adams. The road then descended into the narrow Grande Ronde River Canyon, a river we plan to explore further East next week.
We stopped at La Grande for a drink - Joe and Sugars Diner, had a reasonable coffee and a nice cinnamon roll (Sally dared herself to eat a raspberry muffin) and drove on.
I had totally forgotten that Chuck had recommended the Nell's-n-Out at La Grande for a cuppa - I felt bad (well my stomach did) that we had missed this opportunity to try one of the legends of Eastern Oregon.
The road climbs giving great views to the West, it must have been a great sight for the Emmigrants moving West, even though it was desert and they still had a long and dangerous boat trip ahead, they could at least see the 'Promised land', well at least the Cascades and Mt Adams. The road then descended into the narrow Grande Ronde River Canyon, a river we plan to explore further East next week.We stopped at La Grande for a drink - Joe and Sugars Diner, had a reasonable coffee and a nice cinnamon roll (Sally dared herself to eat a raspberry muffin) and drove on.
I had totally forgotten that Chuck had recommended the Nell's-n-Out at La Grande for a cuppa - I felt bad (well my stomach did) that we had missed this opportunity to try one of the legends of Eastern Oregon.
From there we travelled through Baker City and then through canyons to the Snake River, which is the border between Oregon and Idaho. When we crossed the Snake river the speed limit goes from 65 m.p.h. to 80 m.p.h., so we were able to make good time to Chuck and Carla's arriving at 3.00 (would have been 2.00, but crossing the Snake River moved us to Mountain Time and we lost an hour).
We were warmly welcomed by Chuck and Carla and spent some time swapping summer travel stories and catching up on news.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Day 4: Road To Pendleton
We knew that today, Monday would be a long drive, so we attempted to set off really early and actually got away by 9.10. we left Mt Rainer National Park by going through the White Pass to Yakima. This took us through a deep valley with a beautiful waterfall at the head of it. We drove to Yakima and took a short detour to the Sarg Hubbard Park, where another of the Merci Train box cars is on display. we also stopped for a coffee at a small espresso bar and had a nice drink and a (small) goodie.
From Yakima we drove on across the Columbia River at Umatilla. This town is notable as it has a huge storage depot where about 12% of the USA chemical weapons are stored, we took a couple of pictures ans the storage facility is right by the road, this storage facility was started after the First World War.
From Umatilla it is only a short hop to Pendleton, so we arrived about 3.00.
We stayed in the Rodeway Inn, which was quite pleasant. Its major advantages being that it is close to the town centre and also had rooms available! Because this is Round Up Week, one of the biggest Round Ups (rodeo to you and me) in the USA. Pendleton used to be one of the biggest cow towns, though now its main source of income seems to be from this one week of the year festival. The place was buzzing with people in western dress. Sally and I took a walk along the riverside and found an entire Indian village set up for the week, as many Indians come here to take part in the Round Up shows.
Pendleton is also interesting for its social and cultural history. Being a railhead and centre for the cattle industry, it also had a whole load of 'ladies of the night'. Many of the houses are still there, though no longer used for their original purpose. There is also a very interesting Chinese perspective. Up until the 1950's it was actually legal to shoot any Chinese who were seen on the street in daylight hours! This ruling comes from way back and highlights another of America's less pleasant sides. Chinese were brought across from China in the 1800's to work on building the railways, often in conditions worse than black slavery. Once the railroads were built then they were just turned loose, wherever the job finished, and were seen as something close to vermin. In Pendleton, they managed to make a living by servicing the hotels laundry needs, however, because they could not be seen on the streets, they built underground walkways which joined many of the hotels, so that they could remove and deliver the laundry. These underground passages were also used by people who wanted to get from their business premises to the hotels for their own purposes without being seen. The underground city is still there and you can now get an underground tour to see many of the things that happened underground.
We ate at The Saddle, a family diner, where the daily special was Prime Rib, on seeing what others were eating, we opted to have one meal between us, believe me it was enough for the two of us!
From Yakima we drove on across the Columbia River at Umatilla. This town is notable as it has a huge storage depot where about 12% of the USA chemical weapons are stored, we took a couple of pictures ans the storage facility is right by the road, this storage facility was started after the First World War.
From Umatilla it is only a short hop to Pendleton, so we arrived about 3.00.
We stayed in the Rodeway Inn, which was quite pleasant. Its major advantages being that it is close to the town centre and also had rooms available! Because this is Round Up Week, one of the biggest Round Ups (rodeo to you and me) in the USA. Pendleton used to be one of the biggest cow towns, though now its main source of income seems to be from this one week of the year festival. The place was buzzing with people in western dress. Sally and I took a walk along the riverside and found an entire Indian village set up for the week, as many Indians come here to take part in the Round Up shows.
Pendleton is also interesting for its social and cultural history. Being a railhead and centre for the cattle industry, it also had a whole load of 'ladies of the night'. Many of the houses are still there, though no longer used for their original purpose. There is also a very interesting Chinese perspective. Up until the 1950's it was actually legal to shoot any Chinese who were seen on the street in daylight hours! This ruling comes from way back and highlights another of America's less pleasant sides. Chinese were brought across from China in the 1800's to work on building the railways, often in conditions worse than black slavery. Once the railroads were built then they were just turned loose, wherever the job finished, and were seen as something close to vermin. In Pendleton, they managed to make a living by servicing the hotels laundry needs, however, because they could not be seen on the streets, they built underground walkways which joined many of the hotels, so that they could remove and deliver the laundry. These underground passages were also used by people who wanted to get from their business premises to the hotels for their own purposes without being seen. The underground city is still there and you can now get an underground tour to see many of the things that happened underground.
We ate at The Saddle, a family diner, where the daily special was Prime Rib, on seeing what others were eating, we opted to have one meal between us, believe me it was enough for the two of us!
Day 3: To Mount Rainier
Well a couple of days in Seattle and we were ready to leave. Although it was a fun way to start this trip, it's excitement soon wanes, It has some exciting architecture and fascinating history. It is very artsy, and we are not artsy.
Our next goal was Mount Rainier (14,114 ft), sixty miles to the south, but dominating the Seattle skyline. Not the tallest in North America (Mt McKinley, Alaska, 20,237 ft), or even the 'Lower 48' (Mt Whitney, CA, 14,505ft), but one of the most impressive, as like Mt Shasta, CA(14,180 ft), Mt Jefferson (10,495 ft), Mt Hood (11,250 ft), Mt Adams (12,280 ft), Mt St Helens (8,360 ft) and Mt Baker (10,781 ft) it is a volcano, has a pointy top, is covered with ice and sits well above the surrounding mountains, making itself obvious, a bit like the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit. Colorado has higher peaks, but they are smaller peaks built onto bigger mountain ranges, I mean, who has heard of Mt Elbert (14,440 ft), which is higher than Rainier? The only famous mountain in CO is Pikes Peak which at 14,115 ft is only the 20th highest peak in Colorado. Enough.
The sheer size of this mountain is what makes it memorable to me. We entered Mt Rainier NP from the North, via Enumclaw. This time we stopped and could see the mountain, compared with our last visit when after a three day wait for the weather, we left without seeing it. The weather has been remarkable, clear blue skies and good visibility. We drove along SR410, before heading south, past Sunrise, which is the northern visitor center, waving at Roy and Anne on the way. We then took the road to Paradise, which is the southern visitor center. We had a very enjoyable visit. We wandered up to Myrtle Falls to take in the wonderful views. There were still many summer flowers in the meadows and lots of people to chat to on the way.
Eventually having seen all we could take in we drove back down the road to a little town called Packwood, where we spent the night in the Packwood Hotel, a very quaint turn of the (other) century wooden hotel - lovely small rooms with shared facilities, but a very lovely hostess called Marilyn who made us feel very welcome. We really enjoyed staying here.
Our next goal was Mount Rainier (14,114 ft), sixty miles to the south, but dominating the Seattle skyline. Not the tallest in North America (Mt McKinley, Alaska, 20,237 ft), or even the 'Lower 48' (Mt Whitney, CA, 14,505ft), but one of the most impressive, as like Mt Shasta, CA(14,180 ft), Mt Jefferson (10,495 ft), Mt Hood (11,250 ft), Mt Adams (12,280 ft), Mt St Helens (8,360 ft) and Mt Baker (10,781 ft) it is a volcano, has a pointy top, is covered with ice and sits well above the surrounding mountains, making itself obvious, a bit like the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit. Colorado has higher peaks, but they are smaller peaks built onto bigger mountain ranges, I mean, who has heard of Mt Elbert (14,440 ft), which is higher than Rainier? The only famous mountain in CO is Pikes Peak which at 14,115 ft is only the 20th highest peak in Colorado. Enough.
The sheer size of this mountain is what makes it memorable to me. We entered Mt Rainier NP from the North, via Enumclaw. This time we stopped and could see the mountain, compared with our last visit when after a three day wait for the weather, we left without seeing it. The weather has been remarkable, clear blue skies and good visibility. We drove along SR410, before heading south, past Sunrise, which is the northern visitor center, waving at Roy and Anne on the way. We then took the road to Paradise, which is the southern visitor center. We had a very enjoyable visit. We wandered up to Myrtle Falls to take in the wonderful views. There were still many summer flowers in the meadows and lots of people to chat to on the way.
Eventually having seen all we could take in we drove back down the road to a little town called Packwood, where we spent the night in the Packwood Hotel, a very quaint turn of the (other) century wooden hotel - lovely small rooms with shared facilities, but a very lovely hostess called Marilyn who made us feel very welcome. We really enjoyed staying here.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Day Two: Downtown Seattle
Today the weather was wonderful, record high for this day in Seattle. We planned to look at the older districts of Seattle today. However finding a parking space was tricky, not that there were no spaces, but should we park in them, would we get another ticket? We eventually parked near Pioneer Square and walked up to Pike St Market, which was very lively, very busy, and horrendous to navigate with a wheelchair, so that was not a good start for the day, although I did manage to go and see the Gum Ball wall in Post Alley.
However we then walked back to Pioneer Sq, where we had our packed lunch in the very tiny, but pretty, Waterfall Garden Park and then wandered through the Pioneer Sq finishing up at the Gold Mining Museum, which described the Klondike Gold rush in the Yukon Alaska. A fascinating insight into this piece of American history. This was a really tough place to get gold, with very few people actually getting gold out. Well worth the visit. http://www.nps.gov/klse/index.htm. We then drove back to the hotel for a nap before setting out to the local Diner, Li’l Jon’s, for a meal. From there we raced towards the Cascades, up I90 to Snoqualmie Falls to watch the sun go down. This was a very pretty place.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Day 1: Seattle World’s Fair
Friday
In 1962 Seattle played host to the World’s Fair. It’s most obvious legacy has been the Space Needle, so this part of town seemed a good place to start our exploration of Seattle. Seattle is also very water oriented, as it is built on an isthmus and surrounded on three sides by water. So on arrival at the Seattle Center our first activity was to take an orientation ride on a Duck. The tour leaves from just outside the Seattle Center and it took us on a 90 minute tour of downtown Seattle and then on to the waters of Lake Union, which gave us an ideal intro the world of Seattle. We were fortunate enough to ride with a Volleyball Team from Lafayette in Pennsylvania, so it was a very lively party as much as a tour. We loved Union Lake, with it’s many (501) houseboats, including, much to Sally’s delight, the Houseboat used by Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle.
After our fun tour on a duck (which is an amphibious truck, which was built as a workhorse of the Allied invasion of Europe, but then used all over the world) we had to move smartly to The Space Needle, where we had booked a table for lunch. At this point we can reveal that the weather was absolutely wonderful, clear blue sky and good visibility, the views of the surrounding city, mountains and waterways were amazing. We were shown to our table, which was a table for two beside the window, when we sat for a couple of hours, watching the world revolve round us (though of course it was the restaurant which was revolving) relaxing and enjoying a wonderful meal, wonderful view and wonderful company.
When we had eventually finished our meal we took a ride up one floor to the observation deck and had a wander round outside. We watched a number of seaplanes fly past quite close to the building. We looked down on to the buildings below, many of them with roof top gardens, One building had giant spiders either painted on, or were giant models. We could also see the International fountain, which looked a lot of fun. Eventually we returned to earth and took a stroll round the Seattle Center grounds, ending up at the International fountain. The fountain has a number of displays which are accompanied by music. The water is thrown way into the air across its giant bowl. It was fun to watch brave souls and children trying to get to the centre of the fountain without getting wet. Once again we marvel at our fascination for moving water.
Having spent a great day in Seattle Center we returned to our car to find we had a ticket, which was quite distressing, but we think that it was issued in error, as they may not have recognised Sally’s Disabled Badge, so watch this space for a result on that one. We also realized one of the downsides to living in Seattle – The traffic is awful at drive time and all the little ways of making the traffic flow better are merely confusing for the casual visitor – special cycle and bus lanes, lane markings you cannot cross, one ways, it was a bit of a nightmare getting our of the city.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Preparation and hitches.
Today we started getting ready for our next trip in earnest. Terry has spent time in the garden cutting hedges and mowing lawns, besides sorting our apple crop which he and Stu took off the tree on Sunday. I've been collecting stuff, cut Terry's hair, weeded some Bristol sinks we grow flowers in and generally tidying up. There is always some last minute panic. This time, we realised that we had not renewed the trailer and car tags (like the UK tax discs) which ran out at the end of August. So Terry has had to renew them on line and they will be posted to our mail box and then they can forward them on to us. We have a print out of the transaction so hope that will be OK until we actually receive the tags and get them onto the rig. We are not sure if it's an offence not to display the tags if they are on their way or not - watch this space to see if we get a citation or not. Yesterday we went shopping for presents for people who we stay with or who offer us hospitality in any way. I love giving a little something from the UK to these kind folk. We went into deep Yorkshire to get these and had a lovely day in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, with a lovely lunch out to boot. Shame it's getting a bit Autumnal here as it was overcast and the wind was a bit chilly. I expect we'll find the same sort of weather in the North West of the USA again. Hope we beat the snow. We fly from our local airport to Amsterdam early Thursday morning and then from Amsterdam to Seattle. We plan to stay a few nights in Seattle to explore the city, then we drive, in a hire car, down to the south side of Mount Ranier for one night. We HOPE we see the mountain this time, as last trip we camped for 3 nights on the east side and never saw it as the clouds never lifted. We did see it out of the airplane window as we flew into Seattle but we want to see it close to. Fingers crossed. Then we will drive for a couple of days to get to our friends Chuck and Carla who live near Boise , Idaho. Looking forward to seeing them again as we had such a blast with them at the end of our last trip. We will then pick up the rig, say a sad goodbye to Chuck and Carla and set off on our travels.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Latest
Tuesday July 8th
We have now arrived safely back home.
Now that we are back we are busily seeing our lovely family and plotting our next adventure, which will be about Mountain Men, Lewis and Clarke, Nez Pierce Indians, gold and gem prospecting and more rivers and mountain scenery, as well as seeing our friends again.
The next blog will be:
Fall 2014: Rocky Mountain High ( http://roadblog14fall.blogspot.com/ )
We have now arrived safely back home.
Now that we are back we are busily seeing our lovely family and plotting our next adventure, which will be about Mountain Men, Lewis and Clarke, Nez Pierce Indians, gold and gem prospecting and more rivers and mountain scenery, as well as seeing our friends again.
The next blog will be:
Fall 2014: Rocky Mountain High ( http://roadblog14fall.blogspot.com/ )
Home again
Monday 7th July
We had an uneventful flight from Boise to Seattle, the plane followed the Payette River, where we could look straight up the Snake River Gorge to Hell's Canyon, which we hope to visit next trip, and the I84 past Baker City, to Pendleton, where we could see the still snow covered Wallawa Mountains to the North and the broad sweep of the Columbia River as it curved past the Tri City area. Most impressive was dropping through the clouds to see that we were flying alongside Mt Rainier, before landing at Seatac Airport.
We stayed at the Red Roof Hotel for our overnight stopover, the nearest food being at a Denny's, not a good choice. We sat for 70 minutes waiting for our food, though there was a reason - A Convention was in town. The "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is a convention which fills the area not only with My little Pony fans, but also spawns MLP lookalikes and costumed characters. The overall effect in Denny's was almost surreal and did provide some entertainment while we waited for our meal.
Our flight from Seattle to home went well and we arrived on time and in one piece. The only disappointing aspect was that the food on the Delta flight was miserable, still you can't have everything.
We had an uneventful flight from Boise to Seattle, the plane followed the Payette River, where we could look straight up the Snake River Gorge to Hell's Canyon, which we hope to visit next trip, and the I84 past Baker City, to Pendleton, where we could see the still snow covered Wallawa Mountains to the North and the broad sweep of the Columbia River as it curved past the Tri City area. Most impressive was dropping through the clouds to see that we were flying alongside Mt Rainier, before landing at Seatac Airport.
We stayed at the Red Roof Hotel for our overnight stopover, the nearest food being at a Denny's, not a good choice. We sat for 70 minutes waiting for our food, though there was a reason - A Convention was in town. The "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is a convention which fills the area not only with My little Pony fans, but also spawns MLP lookalikes and costumed characters. The overall effect in Denny's was almost surreal and did provide some entertainment while we waited for our meal.
Our flight from Seattle to home went well and we arrived on time and in one piece. The only disappointing aspect was that the food on the Delta flight was miserable, still you can't have everything.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Chuck and Carla
Tuesday 1st July
On Tueday morning we packed up from the Hegerman RV Vilage and travelled on to our final stop for this trip. Chuck and Carla! We can look back now and know how wonderful these people are, but as we approached their house we did wonder what might be about to happen.
We had met Chuck and Carla in the parking lot at the overlook to the Grand Coulee Dam, where they had made he offer for us to stay with them before we put the rig into storage. They were total strangers and we had only talked for about 20 minutes.That was over a month ago, and here we were bowling up to their front door to camp on their front drive. Worse than that, we also wanted to use their carpet shampooer and then wash the rig! What a cheek! What if they disliked us? What if we disliked them!
But our fears were groundless, as we turned into their drive they threw open the front door and welcome us with warmth and smiles. They just couldn't have been more helpful and welcoming. They have a lovely house and garden, which they showed us round. They have a little canal at the bottom of the garden, the house is amongst fields, this year mint is the crop and whenever the breeze come from the North the air had a lovely minty smell. They have a big swing and a teepee.
Chuck is a mechanic and has a huge workshop with a beautiful 1986 Marathon coach, very luxurious (pics after our next visit). Also a bright yellow Cobra replica kit car, that he took both Sally and me for a ride in. Very low, very responsive, very nice.
So we spent the next three days cleaning the truck and the trailer, Chuck helped with the washing of them and even polished out some of the scratches in the paintwork - Thank you Chuck.
Chuck and Carla love to cook and fed us royally, we managed to return a little of their hospitality by taking them for a meal in a Basque restaurant, which was great fun for us, though I don't think sheep enjoy being there!
We were not the only visitors to Chuck and Carla's home, while we were there a swarm of bees took up temporary residence in the garden, which was very interesting. Their garden is also home to a hawk and at least one family of those delightful California Quail.
We spent July 4th with them, the highlight, apart from Chuck's BBQ Steak, being watching the fireworks that all their neighbours were setting off.
All too soon we found ourselves hitching the trailer up to take it to the storage we had arranged in Boise and after saying fond farewells we were off on our journey back home.
On Tueday morning we packed up from the Hegerman RV Vilage and travelled on to our final stop for this trip. Chuck and Carla! We can look back now and know how wonderful these people are, but as we approached their house we did wonder what might be about to happen.
We had met Chuck and Carla in the parking lot at the overlook to the Grand Coulee Dam, where they had made he offer for us to stay with them before we put the rig into storage. They were total strangers and we had only talked for about 20 minutes.That was over a month ago, and here we were bowling up to their front door to camp on their front drive. Worse than that, we also wanted to use their carpet shampooer and then wash the rig! What a cheek! What if they disliked us? What if we disliked them!
But our fears were groundless, as we turned into their drive they threw open the front door and welcome us with warmth and smiles. They just couldn't have been more helpful and welcoming. They have a lovely house and garden, which they showed us round. They have a little canal at the bottom of the garden, the house is amongst fields, this year mint is the crop and whenever the breeze come from the North the air had a lovely minty smell. They have a big swing and a teepee.
Chuck is a mechanic and has a huge workshop with a beautiful 1986 Marathon coach, very luxurious (pics after our next visit). Also a bright yellow Cobra replica kit car, that he took both Sally and me for a ride in. Very low, very responsive, very nice.
So we spent the next three days cleaning the truck and the trailer, Chuck helped with the washing of them and even polished out some of the scratches in the paintwork - Thank you Chuck.
Chuck and Carla love to cook and fed us royally, we managed to return a little of their hospitality by taking them for a meal in a Basque restaurant, which was great fun for us, though I don't think sheep enjoy being there!
We were not the only visitors to Chuck and Carla's home, while we were there a swarm of bees took up temporary residence in the garden, which was very interesting. Their garden is also home to a hawk and at least one family of those delightful California Quail.
We spent July 4th with them, the highlight, apart from Chuck's BBQ Steak, being watching the fireworks that all their neighbours were setting off.
All too soon we found ourselves hitching the trailer up to take it to the storage we had arranged in Boise and after saying fond farewells we were off on our journey back home.
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