August 26, 27 2017 Olympic NP

Hello everyone.  The time around Olympic National Park took 2 days and some driving to see what we wanted.  Thank goodness we got here before the budget process wound down like it did in 2013.

 Before we started on Olympic National Park, we had to get there first.  The choices, drive 4 hours to drive around the inland water going all the way south to Tacoma...and then North to Sequim...or take the ferry.  We arrived early and got on an earlier ferry.

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 It was a nice sunny day out on the water.

 Mt Baker in the background.

 Sitting in the van waiting for the ferry to arrive in Port Townsend.

Our first plan was to drive up to Hurricane Ridge.  We both agreed that this was even more beautiful than the cascades.  More so because we were higher up and could see a combination of skies and mountains.

 Mt Olympus

 After reaching Hurricane ridge (5242 feet), we took a trail that got us even higher.  It was a fairly easy hike, but after spending a day at sea level, it took a little extra breathing.

 This time of year the forests are really a lush green.

 On the distant mountain, nature still hasn't repaired the damage from the fire of 2003.

 On the hike up, there was the remnants of a chair lift.

 Activity at the ski lodge is just a memory.

 As we were hiking up higher, we met FiveBuckDuck riding on the back.  Facebook fivebuckduck

Today (Sunday) we drove over to the Hoh Rain Forest, a little over 100 miles.

 We took 2 hikes, the first the Spruce Trail.  Over 90% of the large trees are the Sitka Spruce and Western Henlock.  The trees that eventually fall become nurse trees for new growth.

 The horizontal trees are the nurse ones.  Much of the new growth comes from the dying ones.

 In this tree that has been down for years, you can see the new growth growing up.

 There was a Maple grove of trees that you wouldn't recognize as Maples unless you looked above the moss.

 More Maples

 Leaving, the Hoh Rain Forest, we headed for the Pacific.  We reached Rialto Beach.

 There are small islands just off shore.

 A good way to travel off road.

 We were surprised to see the amount of huge driftwood (drift trees) laying  on the beach.

 Grammie taking a rest on the driftwood.

 We made is back to Port Angeles for dinner down by the water.

 A rock Octypus at the children's playground by the water.

Thanks for looking after Grammie.

August 25, 2017 - North Cascades NP

Hi, glad you returned to the blog today to see more pictures of mountains and lakes...but this time in a National Park...the Cascades.
We woke up this morning to a familiar sound to some, that is if you had watched a hot air balloon being inflated.  If you are new to this blog, go to October 3rd 2015 to see a lot of balloons.

 2 Fans partially filling up the balloon with air.

Once the fans have done their job, the the burner takes over.  It doesn't take much to finally inflate the 140,000 cubic feet of space.  When finished, 4 people hop in for a ride at $225 apiece.

 Beginning the day's ride up and over State Route 20 through the North Cascades National Park.

 Looking up to where the peaks run almost 8,000 feet.

 Looking down at the rock hugger.

 We did our 2 mile walk into Rainy Lake...where the lake is very clear. 

 Diabalo Lake from the lookout point.

 A panograph including around the corner.  Off in the distance is the Diabalo dam and generator complex that supplied over 100 Megawatts back in 1936.  At the time built, it was the tallest dam in the world.

 Grammie found a friend in the visitors center.  This one was shot by a poacher who also did the taxidermy work on it, and then for some reason donated it to the National Park Service.

 We ended the day at Oak Harbor Washington, the location of the Whidbey Naval Air Station.

August 24, 2017 - Winthrop, WA

 Before leaving Kelowna, we stopped back at Mark's to get a couple more pictures of friends from the neighborhood.  Three classmates from the Winthrop Class of 66.

The ride was beautiful on the way down.  From Kelowna, the Okanagan Lake follows alongside for pretty near 50 miles.  The lake overall is about 83 miles long.  The valley including Kelowna has many places, stores, farmers markets, roadside stands, etc that sell fresh produce. Georgia isn't the only place that produces peaches. The river is a great source of water needed to row grapes.  Vineyards are common in this part of North America, more so north of the border.

 We were tempted to buy some blackberries but then remembered that the border crossing was coming up soon, so there went that idea.  The border crossing went smoothly as there were 3 stations checking entrants to the US. 4 questions. Where are you from? What were you doing in Canada? Do you have any fruits or vegetables with you? Did you purchase any alcohol?  They let us through so we must have had the correct answers,  4 for 4.

Hi everyone,  it is nice to be home again, twice.  We are back in the US and are staying in Winthrop...not Maine but Washington.  Winthrop is known for the American Old West design of all the buildings in town, making it a tourist destination. Planning began years earlier, but was pretty much completed when Route 20 was nearly completed back in 1972.

Just a couple of pics from the area.  As you can see, the town is located in a valler...and... A River Runs Through It. Can you spot the deer?

 On the other side of town homes are commonly found in higher spots.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for Grammie...and yes it's good to have cell phone service back again.

August 23, 2017 - Kelowna

Today we drove from Golden, British Columbia thru Glacier National Park of Canada along Canadian Route 1 down to Sicamous, where we then turned onto Route 97A down to Kelowna.  The ride through Glacier was as beautiful as you would expect.  A great day for a drive...sunny, and in the 80's.  Sicamous and route 97A goes along Mara Lake for about 10 miles.  It is a vacation spot for local people.

We finally reached the City Kelowna which is well known for it's wineries in the area.  One of the local residents, Mark, who just happens to be a high school classmate of Tom, took us to 2 award winning wineries, less than 5 miles away.  Tom, Mark and Lewie, another high school classmate who is here from North Carolina enjoyed the day catching up on where we have been all these years.  Tom and Lewie traveled over a combined distance of 6000 miles, and as good planning would have it got together for the day.

A view of Lake Okanagan from the Tantalus winery

August 21, 2017 - headed towards Jasper NP

Just up the road from Lake Louise, Route 1 (Trans Canadian Highway), turns off to Route 93 and heads to Jasper National Park.  Within 100 miles, there is Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks.  We headed up towards Jasper and stopped at the Glacier Discovery Center.  As usual, the parking lot was full.  It is located in the Columbia Icefields.

This picture was taken from across the road at the Glacier Discovery Center.   At one time, 1885, the land where the Discovery Center is, was where the Athabasca Glacier once was.

 This picture was taken from the side of the current glacier.  If you look back you can see the Discovery Center to the right and a little above the middle.  All the land in between was glacier.  It has been studied and believed that the glacier has lost about 60% of its mass since then.

The glacier as it exists today.

The stone in the lower pars is numbered 1982.

Up over the hill and looking back down the other side, still quite a ways from the beginning of the Athabasca Glacier.

The rock under Tom's feer bears the scars of glacier movement.

 About 54 miles above Lake Louise towards Jasper is Peyto Lake.  Of all the lakes we viewed, this one had the richest Aqua coloration.  It was however, the highest up of those we saw.

 A panograph picture of the whole lake.

 The western end where the rock flour as it is called enters the lake.

 The rest of the glacier up the valley still looking west.

As today was the eclipse, it seemed like we were continually driving into clouds, and saw none of the eclipse.  We did get back to Lake Louise and took pictures there, some which were used in the blog for the 22nd. 

This day was spent well above the mile high altitude and called for warmer weather.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for Grammie