Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

We left Port Townsend on Tuesday morning, July 21 and headed over to Widbey Island and then to the town of Anacortes to meet up with our friends. We drove the coach with car attached onto the ferry for the 25 minute ride across Puget Sound. Better than a long drive around the sound that would have taken the better part of a day!!!

Our friends were all waiting for us and were glad that we were finally there.


Waisting no time the next morning we were off again. We took the ferry boat over to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. As you can see by the second photo that it was a little foggy on the ride over but turned out to be a great day. Friday Harbor is a cute little town so the girls took off and did some shopping until lunch. We were headed back to meet at the restaurant when we were told of a seal that lives in the harbor that has one eye and is pregnant so we were off to see "Popeye". It seems that Popeye had lived in the harbor there for some 20 years and a local legend. They have even had a statue put in the park for her. She has a baby every so often but always returns to the harbor. She was very friendly and was looking for food so Sandy and Fred bought some herring and fed her, she was a very happy seal.

We had a great lunch and then headed back to catch the ferry back to Anacortes.

We will be here in Anacortes until about August 26th and begin our journey home with more stops along the way.

That is all for today..... love and miss you all.

Candy and Johnny

Olympic National Park, Washington

July 20 and another beautiful day and we were off once again! We left Port Townsend and headed to Port Angeles, from there we would head to Olympic National Park and Hurricane Ridge.

The Olympic Peninsula of Washington, dominated by tortuous terrain and surrounded on three sides by water, has stood in isolation for millennia. As eons passed, it developed its own special character preserved today in the Park.
The park is a genuine wilderness, and much of it can only be reached on foot. Back country travel is made easier and sager by six hundred miles of trails. You could hike these trails for two solid months and always be seeing new country!


The Olympics were set aside as a national monument in 1909 and further protected as Olympic National Park in 1938.
The Olympic National Park protects the largest old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. Its unique character begins with ancient trees that took root 200 to 1,000 years ago. Differences in moisture (from 40 to 240 inched annually) and changes in elevation (from sea-level to 7,980 feet) create a mosaic of forests in the park.

A world of landscapes unfold here: glaciers chisel U-shaped valleys, and brilliantly colored wildflowers blank sub alpine meadows.

We headed up to Hurricane Ridge with the top down on the car and it gave up sights to behold! When I asked why it was called Hurricane Ridge the Ranger said "why do you think?" I knew that they did not have hurricanes in this part of the world so I thought it must be because of the high winds.... and I was right. The ranger said that in the winter the winds can reach as high as s very strong hurricane, thus the name. The scenery was once again specular!!!! In every direction it was beautiful. We did climb some trail and it was well worth the hike. The photos here really do not do the park justice.

We only had the one day to explore and there is so much more to see. Maybe someday we will get back here and explore some more. Below are some more photos as the blog will only allow me to put four photos here.

On our way back down the mountain, we just missed a landslide, there was rocks in the road and the hill still had the dust from the slide. The bottom photo shows the dust still in the air. We did not stay there too long as we thought more much be coming down the hill. Signs of an ever changing world.

We are off to Anacortes to meet up with our friends for a month of fun and laughter. We are going to take the coach on the ferry across to Whidbey Island.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love, Candy and Johnny
There are several more photos below in the next blog......

Olympic National Park Photos

Port Townsend, Washington

We left Cannon Beach on Sunday, July 19 and drove up to Port Townsend, Washington. It was
another beautiful day for a drive!
We drove along the Hood Canal on up to Port Townsend.
In the late 1800's, sin flourished in the brothels on Port Townsend's Water Street, while proper Victorian women and children kept their distance on the bluff above. The town was built to be seen from the sea, aiming its advertising efforts at sailors. In fact, the wives and offspring of seafaring captains were banned from the downtown area so they wouldn't mix with the disreputable women-for-hire

Today, the division is still reflected in the architecture, with castle-style bed and breakfasts sitting atop the hill and eclectic boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses set down at sea level.

Out on the point above Port Townsend is the Point Wilson Lighthouse, guiding the boats into the Puget Sound. The lighthouse sits in the grounds of Fort Worden State Park. We missed the tour of the lighthouse however we did go to the Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum. This museum is the only museum dedicated to the tradition and history of the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound (circa 1897-1969). It was a very interesting museum with all the military artifacts, photographs, uniforms and professionally built scale model and interpretive displays. John was most interested in all the guns they had on display. I found it interesting that there was a piece of shrapnel from the missile that was fired on Ft. Stevens in Oregon ( see blog on Astoria).

The movie "An Officer and A Gentleman" was filmed on the grounds here at Fort Worden.

Once again an interesting place to visit.... our next tour in Olympic National Park. More on that later, Candy

Cannon Beach, Oregon

We got to Cannon Beach on July 15th. we will stay here for four nights. Our Campground in a short walking distance to town, the beach, and Haystack Rock and accompanied by a two mile swath of beach. A must see for visitors in Cannon Beach is the town's famed Haystack Rock right on the beach, the world's third-largest monolith at 235 feet. The other monoliths near Haystack Rock are called the Needles

Cannon Beach was named for a cannon that washed up on the beach in 1846.

Have to admit that this was a beautiful place to walk every morning. It is also ever changing! One minute we would be walking along the beach and it was a beautiful day and then the next minute the sea fog would roll in and cover the shore. The pictures just don't seem to do the area justice!

On Friday, Jul;y 17th we rode up to the town of Seaside. Seaside was Oregon's first seashore resort, and remains one of the coast's most popular yer-round destinations. We did walk along the Promenade. This famous 1.5 mile walk separates the beach from the town, and nearly everyone stops to feed the seals at the Seaside Aquarium along the way.

I have to say that I enjoyed Cannon Beach much more than Seaside.

In the last blog I told you that we drove up to Astoria, I forgot to mention that when we stopped to see the mouth of the Columbia River along the water, we did see whales off the coast. There must have been a large pod of them traveling north. Also the beach had so many birds, it was incredible!

From here we are heading to Port Townsend, Washington for several nights before heading over to Anacortes. We are planning on taking the ferry across the water to save driving all the way around Puget Sound. More on that stop in the next blog.

Love for now,

Candy and Johnny

Astoria, Oregon

July 16th, a beautiful day so we decided to hop on the car and head to Astoria, along the Columbia River. Astoria is a maritime town, surrounded by natural beauty, and claims a heritage as a center of fur trading, fishing and logging. Nestled against the hills along the Columbia River, Astoria's numerous Victorian homes overlook the town named for the early fur trader, John Jacob Astor. Rich in colorful history - including the arrival of Capt. Robert Gray in 1792 and the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. This is the oldest settlement west of the Rockies.
The city of Astoria sits lies mostly upriver from milepost 0 on Highway 101.
Highway 101 from Astoria to the California state line is part of our national scenic heritage. Mile 0 in Oregon is the southern end of the Astoria-Megler Bridge. Over 4 miles long, this bridge is the longest continuous three-span, through-truss bridge in the world. Construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1966. This bridge completed Highway 101 and made it an unbroken link between the Canadian and Mexican borders.

From here we travelled south to Warrenton. We stopped to see the Ship-wreck Peter Iredale. The Peter Iredale was a four masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906 on the Oregon Coast en route to the Columbia River. It was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton, about four miles south of the Columbia River channel. Wreckage is still visible, making is a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Pacific.

We also stopped at Fort Stevens, the United States' major defense for the mouth of the Columbia River from the Civil War until the end of WWII. Fort Stevens is the only military installation on the continental United States to have been fired upon by an enemy since the war of 1812. On June 21, 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced just south of Battery Russell (part of the fort). According to the Japanese War History
Office 17 rounds were fired beginning at 11:00pm. Much to the disappointment of the soldiers on duty, all batteries were ordered to remain silent. Lack of personnel on duty, poor technology to targeting and calculations that the submarine was out of range are among the speculations as to why Fort Stevens did not return fire. Failing to provoke a conflict, the Japanese submarine charted a new course to patrol off the Aleutian Islands.

Another fun day of sight seeing in the area. We are staying at Cannon Beach, Oregon, I will more on that and photos later..... That is all for now.... Candy

Evergreen Space Museum

Our Campground in McMinnville was right next to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. The little shuttle that you see to the left will come over to the RV park and give you a ride to the museum. It is called the Enterprise as the Space Museum will be getting the Enterprise Space Shuttle to add to their collection. When we had been in McMinnville two years ago we did go into the aviation side so this time we went to see the space building. It is incredible with all the space memorabilia that they have. The lunar landing craft and vehicle are just replicas. The museum tells the story if the beginning of the race to space and to the moon. A great place to spend an afternoon.

The Howard Hughes Spruce Goose aircraft is over in the Aviation building along with many other aircraft types. If you are ever in this area it is well worth your while

Historic Columbia River Falls

Hello to All,
We are on the move once again. We left McCall, Idaho on Friday, it was a beautiful day and a lovely drive. We drove a long day and made it as far as Cascade Lock along the Columbia River in Oregon. We had a short drive on Saturday so we got up and drove along the Columbia River to view the four different waterfalls cascading over the walls of the Gorge.
The first falls we came to (top photo) is Horsetail Falls. This falls drops 176 feet to the pool below.
Next we stopped at Multnomah Falls. It was spectacular! This falls is the second tallest year-round waterfall in the nation. the water of the Falls drops 620 feet from its origin on Larch Mountain. Unusually cold weather in the winter can freeze the plummeting water into a majestic ice slide. the Falls drops in two major steps, split into an upper falls of 542 feet and a lower falls at 69 feet with a gradual 9 foot drop in elevation between the two. A foot trail leads to Benson footbridge a 45 foot long bridge that allows visitors to cross 105 feet above the lower cascade. We hiked up to the bridge to get a better view. This is the only falls that can be seen from Highway 84 along the Columbia River.

The next falls we stopped at , Latourell Falls. It was a short hike up to see the falls. This falls has a 249 foot drop. It was named after an early settler. Each falls were more beautiful than the last!!!

The last falls we stopped at was Bridal Veil Falls. It was a short 3/4 mile hike . Although short, the trail was a steep trail full of switchbacks down to see Bridal Veil falls, but well worth the hike down and back up the trail.

The weather was overcast and there was fog in the air, but worth the trip.

We left for McMinnville, just a short drive from Portland. We will be here for four nights to see some sights and taste some wine. Yesterday we stopped at four of the winery's and did some good tasting and bought some wonderful wine. John says that I have to be careful and not overload the weight for the coach, and my response is that I will have to do some wine drinking then!!!

Take care and remember that we love to hear from you also..
Love, Candy and Johnny

Along the Columbia River

We left McCall Idaho and headed to Oregon on Friday, July 10th. These are some photos that I took along the way. It was a beautiful drive and the weather was great....

Be sure to check out the blog below on the B-17 Candy

McCall, Idaho

Thursday, July 9...oh what to do today.... Overhead we hear a large aircraft, John looks up and sees a B-17 flying over. He thought that he had seen the airplane on the field at the local McCall Airport. We hopped in the car and off we went, and yes, there parked along the fence was the B-17. You could go on the tarmac and see the plane up close. It was a thing of beauty! My Dad had flown on the B-17 during the was from England as a navigator. For a mear $425 you could take a ride, however we declined. They really took excellent care of this old aircraft!

Also on the airport property are the "Smoke Jumpers". The men and women that jump and land near a forest fire to put out the fires. They offer free tours so we decided to see what they had to say. It was very interesting! There are 35,000 forest fires in the United States every year. About 12,000 are started by lightening, the rest by people. These men and women go through 5 weeks of training and then are ready to make their first jump and fight forest fires. We saw them pack their parachutes and the food packs and water packs
that are dropped to them. The parachutes last for 10 years or 100 jumps, whichever comes first. Another interesting day on the road.

That is all for now, we are off to Oregon and wine country.

Take care,

Candy and Johnny

Hell's Canyon/Seven Devils Mountains

On Tuesday, July 7th we headed out to explore the area once again. This time we headed out to Hells Canyon Recreational Area managed by the Wallowa-Whiteman National Forest. Hugging the borders of northeastern Oregon and western Idaho, this national showcase holds over 652,000 acres of beauty and adventure.
Hell's Canyon is the deepest gorge in North America. Scenic vistas that rival any on the continent. World-class whitewater boating. Spectacular mountain peaks. Vast reaches of remote wilderness.
The landscape of Hells Canyon is a study in contrast, from the steep desert like lower slopes and sandbars edging the Snake River, to the rugged peaks and alpine lakes of the majestic Seven Devils Mountains towering almost 8,000 feet above.

We left Highway 95 and headed up Forest Road #517. One of the most interesting and important aspects of this country is how fast it changes elevation. From the Salmon River country around the town of Riggins (where we left the Highway) at approximately 1800 feet, the land climbs up to the Heavens Gate Overlook at elevation 8,429 feet. From there it is another 350 yard climb to the top.

The views from the top were nothing less than spectacular! You could see the Seven Devils Mountains and over to Oregon and Washington and to the east you can see across Idaho to Montana. Unfortunately, you can not see the river from the overlook. The drive to the top is via single lane gravel and dirt road with a steep grade. Have to say it was very interesting when someone was coming the other way. On the way up it wasn't too bad but on the way down being very close to the edge was exciting!!!!! to say the least!!!

Hells Canyon is the deepest gorge in North America. If you took a straight line from the He Devil Mountain (Tallest) out to where it was over the river, the depth of the canyon is 8,043 feet deep. While the 6,000 foot deep Grand Canyon has steep, straight cliffs, the Hells Canyon has a combination of cliffs, benches and smaller side canyons.

The bottom photo was taken from the top down to where we had parked the car. There was still some snow on the ground in places.

Another day and another adventure!! On Wednesday we took the day off and stayed around town. We did go to the local farmers market and bought some local caught salmon which we put on the BBQ. It was great! Not sure what tomorrow will bring but I am sure something fun. That is all for now. Hope all is well with everyone. Love, Candy and Johnny