In Search of Big Foot

July 5^th   So, we’ve had our grandbaby fix and the fireworks have all exhausted and we are on our way to the north woods in search of big foot. That’s where he/she lives, right? Anyway, we are going to go up the coast through San Francisco, yup right through the city onto the Golden Gate bridge and continue up the 101, which we’ve been assured has not been damaged by the big rains of last winter.

To our friends that advised, yes, we did take 19^th Avenue. And, surprise we did not hit any traffic (in our direction) going to our first stop in Healdsburg. Thankfully, we set our first night’s destination for a short hop. When we pulled into the campground I heard a bad squeal coming from the engine compartment. After getting settled in, we headed into town in search for a diesel mechanic to look into the squeal. The first one I stopped at, said he could get to it in about 8 days, but he said that there was a fellow down the street called Blackmore that might be able to help. Off we went to check out the fellow down the street and lucked out. The next morning, we had the coach in his yard at 8am. He sent us off to have some coffee while he checked it out. 3 hours later we were on our way to Eureka, CA with another new alternator. We will be returning the first new one to the Texas outfit and try to get our money back.

We are staying at the fairgrounds for a better price, using our Passport America, the sites are not the best we have ever seen. I guess we should have ponied up for a few more bucks and checked into the Elks next to the golf course. We had camped in Eureka about 16 years ago and I remembered that there was a coffee shop with a spa attached, in the area. When I asked the gal that checked us in about it, she told us that she had lived here all her life and never heard of such a place.

We found it in Arcata, the next town north of Eureka. I guess she never left town. That tub I’m sitting in is redwood and after a day on the golf course it feels great.

This is the view from the hot tub looking up to sky with a fringe of garden on the roof of the changing room.

This is it: Café Mokka Finnish Country Saunas and tubs in Arcata, CA.  Check it out online http://cafemokkaarcata.com/sauna/sauna.html

July 8^th finds us back on the road following the coastline north along the 101. As you might know, the west coast had some Wicked weather this past winter which included some massive rainfalls. This did not bode well for the coastal highway. We came across several instances of one lane roadways where they are working hard to repair washouts caused by the heavy rains.

They just install traffic lights at these one lane areas and continue to work and try to get them back to their former width.

As you drive by, you can see that there is no road left. It makes you wonder, just how can they fill the empty space with a road. We turned inland at Crescent City hoping that things would be better but it was just more of the same as we headed along to Grants Pass. What a ride. By the time we got into Cottage Grove, OR we were exhausted.

Our accommodations in Cottage Grove was an RV park adjacent to hotel/spa. Sounds really nice, eh? To tell the truth it was quite lovely, 20 years or so ago.  The sites were small and they expected you to park your extra vehicle in a parking lot outside of the RV section. We lucked out in that there was a spot for the car next to the RV. Our reason for stopping in Cottage Grove rather than a little further north at the Willies where we have some friends of old was to visit my nephew Glenn. The last time we had seen Glenn was when my sister moved the family to Alaska in 1974, he was 12. He was away in Hawaii when we visited the family in Alaska. So, as you can see it has been a long time coming, this reunion.

Here's a couple of pictures taken at Glenn’s place sitting by the creek running alongside of his house. One of his favorite activities is to drop a line in a great little fishing hole behind the garage. We did not get any pictures of Angela to share, but we did have a wonderful visit with the two of them. Glenn did share his culinary skills by having us to dinner twice while we were there. It’s a good thing we gave ourselves three days, we had a lot of catching up to do. Yes, I did get a round of golf in at a wonderful little course across the road from the resort we were staying at. Visits with family are always all too short, but it was time to bid Glenn and Angela a fair adieu and continue our journey north.

We decided to stop in the Vancouver, WA area for a change of pace. Last time we were through here we had stopped in Portland and Mt. St. Helens. Why not in the middle. Our first day was spent exploring Vancouver where we drove around a bit and found Fort Vancouver and Pearson Air Field.

Here’s a picture of Mt. Hood taken from above Pearson Air Field. After a walk through the interpretive center, we stopped for happy hour at the Ulysses S. Grant House.

It was such a nice day, we decided to sit out on the porch, and no I don’t know why Pat closed her eyes for the picture.

We didn’t spend that much time in Vancouver, so I can’t really give you that much of an opinion. Some of the parts that we saw gave us the impression of a city that is reinventing itself with a lot of construction going on down near the waterfront. Also, there were some beautiful old homes in some of the neighborhoods near the old fort.

The next day found me on yet another golf course and I’ve included this picture because of the view. If you look in the center of the shot just over the trees, you will see a bit of white. That is just one more of the Cascade volcanos called Mt. St. Helen. We are headed there on the morrow.

We first visited Mt. St. Helen in 1991. That meant we were able to drive in just a few miles to a visitor center where they showed a movie and had some information. You could also stand on the deck and look out to the east and see the mountain some 30+ miles away.

We came back 10 years later when they had opened the roadway back towards the mountain and built the Johnston Observatory. And now here we are returning after another 16 years following the same route. Many of us had watched the devastation on TV thinking that this who area of Washington was done for. But to visit it over the years of recovery is a thing of beauty. As we were told in the movie at the observatory, the first thing to come back were the flowers.

This is a picture taken in 2001, note the flowers.

This is a similar picture taken this year with a profusion of flowers and grass.

Just an example of more flowers growing near the road. In the park section, that area closest to the volcano, everything was left alone to comeback naturally. There are patches of forest returning in the surrounding hills.

But nature certainly has a way of taking care of her own.

Here are two pictures that are taken from the same place, the first in 2001 and the second on our most recent visit.

The biggest difference we can see is the amount of ash around the river.

Of course, after all of this you would like to see a nice picture of Mt. St. Helens, wouldn’t you?

Unfortunately, the day we visited, the clouds decided to wrap her so we could not get a good view. And she was so visible the day before.

So, I brought back a 2001 picture of the mount for you pleasure. Before the eruption, the mountain came to a peak. There was another eruption that may have made other changes but this is what we have.

Before I go, I have to introduce you to the headliner of this installment of my blog.

He is located by the sunken “A” frame or he was in 2001, you know how he likes to disappear.

Pat tells me that I like to run on a bit too long on my blog, so, I’ll stop for now and continue our Washington visit in our next installment. Hope you are enjoying the ride.