Idaho, Oregon, and Northern California

 This blog is a conglomerate of 2 and half weeks of traveling since West Yellowstone.  We've been traveling and staying 1-3 nights in each spot.  Doing lots of sightseeing and moving on so haven't had time to blog.  This was in southern Idaho "Craters of the Moon".  The remains of an ancient volcano.  Drive through area and lots of trails and places to get out and look around.

We walked up a large dormant volcano.  It looks smooth and flat, but is actually like walking on chunks of coal (cold coal) so it crunchs under your feet.  Pretty steep climb.  there was a flat top with some shrubs growing at the top.  Great view.  Saw a dormant smaller volcano with a large crevious in center.  At 93 degrees outside it still had snow in the bottom, never sees the sun.

We moved on the Twin Falls Idaho.  This bridge is the number one base jumping bridge in the world.  Saw 3 people jump off, free fall, and then open a small parachute - landing on the flat areas next to the Snake River.  Saw the large man made dirt jump that was built for Evil Kneivel to jump the Snake River in the 70's.  Still there but privately owned so couldn't walk near it.  Met a retired Hwy Patrol officer that worked the event.  He said it was a mess and the town

 got destroyed by all the visitors.  They weren't prepared and never

figured on all the crouds.  Ended up costing the city 2million in damage and losses.   So finally we come to the cities name sake.  The Falls.  absolutely beautiful and pictures could never show it, but God gave us a rainbow so we'll take the beauty!

Cruzin' from Idaho through Oregon we see there are trees left in this country.  Many, many, many trees.  Oregon east is full of trees and lower rolling mountains.  The middle is flat and desert like.  The West is huge mountains, trees, and the beautiful ocean.  Definitely a state we will have to return to see.  Stopped 1 night in the parking lot of Beaver Motor Coach.  We saw were our coach was born.  They don't make them anymore but toured repair shop.  The onto AM Solar in Springfield (East Eugene) to get our solar panels checked out and learn a bit more about them.  Ended up staying 2 nights in their parking area and getting 2 more solar panels.  Now we have 8.  Hopefully enough to keep us going when we don't have shore power.  Great people and awesome hosts.  Met another full time couple that stayed too.  Solar is the way to go.

San Rosa California is the home of Charles M Schulz Museum - otherwise known as the creator of Peanuts cartoons.  We toured the museum and the ice hockey rink that he was very involved in.  Originating in Minnesota Mr Schulz couldn't live without hockey.  I paid Lucy an extra nickel to help Randy out!!!

The rooftop you see is the "home" that was built in the 1940's that was a lookout for Japanese enemy troups that may continue past Pearl Harbor and threaten our west coast.  They don't have tours anymore but still neat to see history.  there was a plaquerd with information to read.  Love learning about WWII.  We stayed 2 nights in Klamath California - heart of the Redwood National Forest.  Not a fun, windy road to take the motorhome on, but the expert driving (Randy) did great.  Did overheat the front brakes once, but we've learned since how NOT to do that.  Those roads are deceiving in their hills.

 Paul Bunyon and Babe the blue ox great you at the Klamath Mystery of the Trees museum.  Lots of Indian artifacts.  Tram ride through the redwoods and the best was a trail walk through them and all the wood carvings that an artist did from redwoods.  Like 20 foot squirrel, 12 foot mosquito, people, ect.  Just blew my mind the first few giant redwoods we saw.  Again another thing that pictures just can show.

 Trinidad California is this tiny town but has a gorgeous lighthouse and ocean view.  Walked down to the beach and saw seals hanging out just sunning.  then we had to walk the 100+ steps back up, Oh Yah!! 

 this was Randy driving the motorcycle through the "drive through tree".  There are, I think 4 of these trees throughout California and we saw 3 of them.  Not only are Redwoods wide, they are tall - up to 350 feet and width varies up to 60 feet diameter.  They live thousands of years.  Some have up to 30 inches of bark, outer protection.  They are resilient to fire and most diseases.  There center is dead so even a mammoth tree can live if it is hollowed out.

Trying to give you perspective on this one gigantic redwood and out Trail Blazer.  some of it's branches were 6 feet in diameter.  Just so big.

Driving through the Sonoma and Napa valley is vineyard after vineyard.  Saw Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard. Didn't stop but saw the sign.  Lots of mobile homes to huge Tuscan mansions in the midst of the acres.  Beautiful area.  Even golfed with vines on each side of the fairway.  Lots of grapes, but didn't taste.  Too aftraid I'd end up on America's Most Wanted.
Next we ventured into Yosemite National Park.  We are staying just outside the park in a campground.  Found out the mountains are not good for cell phones, internet, or satellite - as we have none.  We are entering this blog sitting on a bench on the Groveland Library porch.  Groveland is the closest city to our campground and it's 20 miles away.  We attended Church in the Park so stayed in town to use the free library internet.  Love those libraries.  Church was great too, Bible based and simple community church.  We will attend there all 3 weeks we are in the area.

Yellowstone

Entering the first National Park in America.  Yellowstone.  Actually there are 5 entrances but the most iconic is the North entrance were Teddy Roosevelt inaugaurated the park's opening.  We stayed for 6 days just outside the National Park at West Yellowstone.  Grizzly RV Park.  Town of 950 people.   It was like a mini Wisconsin Dells.

They had a great Grizzly and Wolf Center that gave information about safety in the park with these two trouble makers.  They also had 7 wolves and 9 grizzly's in habitat areas.  These were all animals taken from Yellowstone because they were injuried and not able to return to the wild or nuisance animals (they liked us humans too much and wouldn't leave us alone or our garbage). 

Here's a big hug to all of you from us.  I forgot to shave that morning, sorry.

 This is the new couch that Randy picked out for our motorhome.  Took some measurements, and it just wouldn't fit.  Bummer!  Actually, I think Buddy would have been jealous so it was better off left in the store.
The popular book in all the National Park stores is "Who pooped here?"  Teaching kids about wildlife scat recognition.  Well we have the answer to the age old question.  Do bears poop in the woods?   YES they do - watch this.
 The Elk have made their home in all kinds of places.  Including downtown Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone.  Not sure if he was waiting by the firehydriant for privacy, but he wasn't going to get it with all of us gaukers staring at him.  He eventually just layed down beside it for a rest.  There were many ladies in town to, but they were smarter and hung out in the shade of buildings with their young.
This is always a tell tale sight.  Where there are cars stopped, there is some type of animal to be seen.  We always kept our eyes open but when this human event occurs, it was an easy catch that we would see wildlife.  I wonder what the animals think of our "herds". 
 Of course what visit to Yellowstone would not be complete without viewing Old Faithful.  She now runs on a 90 minute schedule +or- 10 minutes.  I remember it used to be closer to every 60 minutes.  Must be time for a battery change.  It was fun watching all the herds of people suddenly move in about eruption time and then suddenly move away as soon as it was over.

We toured all, and I mean everywhere, in Yellowstone via motorcycle or foot.  The good old 1989 Honda Goldwing just loves this mountain air.  In Wisconsin we averaged 39-40 mpg with both of us.  Here we've been doing about 50mpg.  It's only a bit scary when the bison decide to walk on the road.  It is great for taking pictures and video from the back.  No windows to shoot through or frame to get in the way.  Well maybe Randy's head now and then but that's OK.  This was Yellowstone Lake, time for a break and looksee.

Just one of the many, many rivers flowing through Yellowstone that amaze me in their beauty and I couldn't believe the number of Fly Fisherpersons.  A sport we did not know much about but seems to be the only way to fish in Wyoming.  Maybe YouTube has a video we could watch to educate ourselves.???

 To the left "old geezer"

To the right "old geyser"

Mud pots and all of the wonders of being on a volcano are here at Yellowstone.  It was the wildlife watching that interests us the most.  Waited for an hour to see the pack of 7 wolves and their cubs that come out of the woods at 5:30-6pm.  Or so we were told by the dozens of people that come to watch them every night.   Except the night we waited.   No wolves.  The night before arrived in the Hayden Valley area and were told they had just gone back in after a 2 hour romp with their cubs.  Timing is everything.  Saw a grizzly between Tetons and Yellowstone by the side of the road but pictures just look like a brown furball as he/she was in the tall grass and Ranger Rick made everyone keep moving.  No big horn sheep, goats, or mountain lions spotted.  Another goal, someday.

Grand Tetons

 Coming into the Grand Tetons there was a wonderful cloud covering in the afternoon.  It did rain later that day but it made for a beautiful picture of the Tetons and butte infront.  It was a wonderful welcome into the area.

 The next day after the rain.  An overheaded Mama Moose decided to lay in a large puddle in the the campground parking lot.  I think baby wanted her to move over.  She tried to lay down next to her but those long legs just didn't know what to do.  She walked off into the grass behind and did lay down. 

 We kayaked across Jenny Lake to get to the boat launch area for Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point in the mountains.  They have a group of tour boats that take people across for a $12 fee.  I felt like we were on the ocean.  Everytime one of those boats came across, it made more waves and tossed our kayaks up and down.  Made for an adventurous trip.  When we reach the other side, there were many kayaks tied up to trees in the area.
This was Hidden Falls and higher up was Inspiration Point.  It was a fast moving river all the way down the 1 mile walk up the mountain. 
I was told there was about 400 inches of snow on the mountains last year, so now we understand how these falls and rivers can be so full and fast moving.  There was still some snow at the very top, waiting for a refill come September. 

So this was our backyard for the week.

 

I am so glad I don't have to do the lawnwork or the landscaping, because my little mind could not even imagine or come up with the beauty we see.

Doesn't he look like a model on the runway, looking back before walking off the stage.  The swinging hips in the walk included.  We are glad he took a moment away from chewing to look at us for this picture. 

 Just a few more pictures of the Tetons and the beautiful mountain flowers that are still alive and well.  I thought for sure being July, that they would not be still blooming.  Surprise... a few hung around for our viewing.

 Teton Village offers a tram to the top of Rendevous Mountain.  A ski hill during the winter and a tourist trip in the summer.  It was a very sharp incline up and down but awesome view at the top.  I am not one for heights but the view made me forget about being 10,000 + feet up and a long way down.  We had a guest operator, age 7, on the way up.  Did a great job.

 I noticed that we have so many photos of our travels but fail to get us in the pictures.  So when the Japanese family asked for us to take their picture, they recipricated and took ours.  There are alot of people in this area from Germany, Japan, Korea, and other foreign countries that I am not sure where all but the different languages were flyin'.  (all on vacation).  Popular place to travel.

 The view from a trail at the top of the mountain before we "trammed" back down.  Too many beautiful places to go and 1000's of pictures to take.   Hope you get to go someday too!

Cabin at Dubois Wyoming

This is the wonderful little town of Dubois.  Take a step back in time and meet great people and a great town.  We ate lunch at the Cowboy Cafe.  Picture a tiny cafe, were you try to squeeze in as many people as you can and get great homemade food and Pie.  Everybody says Hi and offers their ketchup off their table.  We were lucky to eat there for lunch because when we came back into town at supper time the Cowboy Cafe was having a grease fire in the kitchen and the fire department was there.  They had to close down for 2 days to clean up, but were open again.  Hope none of the pie was destroyed!

Many miles west of Dubois is the mountainess, gravel road that leads to Howard's cabin.  It's not like the cabins we used to rent in Northern Wisconsin for a summer vacation.  This was a resort.  Unbelievable thought and design was gone into this cabin and only God could paint the view.  We had our own bedroom and bath.  Buddy got to hang out in the cabin and met 2 new dog friends, Ruger and Brownie.  Everyone in Wyoming owns a gun for a dozen.  We got to do a little target practice.  Lots of fun.

This was the panoramic view from the cabins window.  It looked like a painting.  Undescribable.

The inside was gorgeous and very homey.  We had lots of fun visiting, laughing, and eating together.

 Randy caught himself a Jackalope, roped it and rode it down the streets of Dubois.  He stopped for a moment so I could catch this picture inside the grocery story.  Ride em Cowboy!!

 The Rodeo on Friday nights in Dubois was entertaining.  It reminded me of a Friday night football game back in Wisconsin.  All the kids show up and they sell munchies and all the crowds of kids and parents hang out.  This was the youngest barrel racer, age 4.  They start them young.  Go to school Monday thru Thursday and Fridays is Rodeo training and show days.  This little cowboy didn't win, infact his time was twice as long as everyone else, but he's learning.

This was Jackie's favorite lake, mountain area to go to.  Brooks Lake.  Beautiful lake in the middle of the mountains.  You would never know it was there unless you took a right turn off the road and drove way back in the trees.

 

Where else in America do you slow down to let a herd of cattle cross the road?

It's a beautiful country we live in.  We are so blessed to be able to see it and meet the people.