USA – the WEST

The kids are off for a round of geo-caching with their trading trinkets in hand.

Charis, Lilly, Anya, Cali, Jack, Xander, Rome

Beth, Janice, and I took a leisurely stroll around the woods and beautiful it was.

More fun in the pond.

Night two, BBQ Night!

Lucas, Windy, Travis

Lainee and Jack out for a row.

There were evening games of course and much hilarity followed by the bedtime distribution of light whirly things from L&H for the amusement of the young ones, Caleb being not so entirely young as he is off to college at the end of this vacation.

Lona’s.

Caleb, Anya, Rome, Charis, Lilly, Cali, Travis

Lona’s.

Caleb, Jack, Lilly, Rome, Lucas, Xander, Trevor, Lucas, Christa, Anya

Angela’s.

This was the blackberry hedge near the pond with gallons and gallons of blackberries and around the property, in almost every direction actually, there were more more more.

Trevor, Darryl Charis, Lilly, Anya

Lona’s.

Charis

Angela’s.

Rome, Lilly

August 8

Good morning! Betsy led us in a nice long good morning stretch. That feels good!

Hot tubbin’ with all the kids, and Trevor.

Cali, Anya, Charis, Trevor, Christa, Lilly, Rome, Caleb, Xander, Jack

He’s eating our apples!

Everyone was trying to catch a fish. They used bread, cheese, even carrots.

Cali

WOW. We had blackberries for lunch! The kids went out and picked them all. WOW!

Lilly, Jack, Rome, Xander

The girls playing a rousing game of Uno.

Anya, Lilly, Charis, Cali, Rome

Lucas is coaching Lilly in the finer points of Guesstures, a charades-like game.

Go Lilly!

Lona will NEVER forget how she was Robbed, ROBBED I tell you, when she lost the grip on one of her cards.

Jack is Mr Flyswatter, King of the Flyswatters, Flyswatter Extraordinaire!

August 7

We got up this morning at Lucas and Betsy’s and were off early for SHOPPING. We had done some shopping yesterday and then, since we are trying to get food for 24 people for 5 days, shopped and shopped some more.

As I write this late into day two someone has gone to the store many times already for items on the list and forgotten and items that never made it to the list. I can see into the future…more trips to the store.

Night one, Pizza Night!

After dinner we went on a trek around the property and it really was very cool. At one point we had to make it across a crevasse from one steep and slippery slope to another.

The boys lent many hands. I needed three…one for each arm and one to push.

Darryl, Lona, Lucas

On the way back from the walk the kids discover a huge blackberry hedge. Huge enough for a blackberry stuffing session and so so many more we are going to be stuffing ourselves with blackberries for days.

Chrsta, Lilly, Darryl, Xander

Darryl and Angela…Hi!

And there’s MORE. All the kids took turns going for a boat ride on our pond.

Xander, Rome

Having fun!

Rome, Xander

Travis, Lainee, Cali, and Jack hadn’t made it yet – they arrived well past midnight and I was long gone sawing zzzs by then.

August 6

We’ve made it to our destination – Gig Harbor, WA.

August 5

We were up for a country breakfast this morning and we got just that here. On the sign it says “You can’t say Yummy enough.”

Nice on the Lighthouse. Not surprisingly there are many lighthouses all along the Oregon coast, rocky as it is. I’m not sure where either of the ones I took pictures of are.

We enjoyed many a delightful bridge most having been built in the 1930s and looking like grand projects of the WPA.

I do always appreciate these hyper-telephoto hyper-blown-up pictures at the beach.

Another lighthouse to check on. We stopped here for a stretch and a pee break.

Art.

We’re having an early night at Seaside, OR, a popular vacation spot they say about themselves and…

…the point where Lewis and Clark first reached the Pacific Coast.

A Wiki Fun Fact: “On November 24, 1805, the party voted to move their camp to the south side of the Columbia River near modern Astoria, Oregon. Because Sacagawea, and Clark’s slave York, were both allowed to participate in the vote, it may have been the first time in American history where a woman and a slave were allowed to vote.”

We’re here at Captain John’s for the night, in the little fishing village of Charleston outside of Coos Bay, Oregon.

(internet pic)

For example we learned from another guy that these are Sitka Spruce.

August 4

We’re into the Redwood National and State Parks swath of the California coast. We stopped off here at the Visitor’s Center for maps and a stroll.

We decided to take the short and gorgeous trail to the Lady Bird Johnson grove. This is all fog – no evidence of the fires this far north.

He was our first informant, all about the rings on a felled tree, but not our last by many because everyone along the trail was full of chatty stories and if we were to be standing to look at something, it would surely bring a story by a passer-by.

Ahh.

From the interpretive walk brochure: “Capable of ascending to heights over 360 feet, coast redwoods tower over all living things on the planet.”

From the internet: “President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill authorizing the creation of the Redwood National Park in 1968. His wife, Lady Bird, officiated at the dedication of the park.

In 1969 the newly elected president, Richard M. Nixon, dedicated this grove to Lady Bird in recognition of her devoted service to the cause of preserving and enhancing America’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of all the people. A short easy interpretive trail loops you around the grove and features interpretive signs talking about the trees and how Lady Bird helped save the grove from being logged.”

A ‘well-oiled’ group of young people suggested this photo. Good job kids.

Really, gorgeous.

Rhododendrons!

Over the border…over the drought!

The California Bear guarding the bridge.

According to the Klamath Chamber of Commerce: “The Golden Bears on the Klamath River Bridge weren’t always golden.

Sometime in the late 50’s or early 60’s mysteriously the cement bears on the old bridge would turn golden over night. Despite efforts of the State Highway Department with buckets of turpentine swabbing off that golden color, overnight the bears would be returned to their golden hue.”

Hi guy.

A club had formed in town to keep the bears gold…the Golden State Bears. They are now however in need of a bit of refreshing.

Oh YAY, a Roadside Attraction! The Trees of Mystery! They have a ski-lift style ride to take you through the forest and presumably learn the mystery of the trees.

We didn’t do the ride because seeing these guys was enough for us. A man with a microphone could control the characters, wave his hand, blink, smile, and he could see the whole scene and make comments to the posing tourists.

On the Oregon Coast you can see the trees growing right up to the water and the beaches full of driftwood. We travelled over the bridge there in the distance and the drive was gorgeous.

There are a few people standing there half-way down in the right third, by the opening, for scale.

Our hotel in Eureka, the historic Eureka Inn is, let’s say, an experience…a perfectly fine one, interesting, historic even, and we enjoyed an entertaining dinner in their bar.

August 3

There are a lot of Chinese influences present here in the Gold Rush territories. This is Sacramento’s entrance to their Chinatown.

On a morning walk to see the cathedral and the capitol buildings.

A view of a side entrance.

Gracing the roofline at the front.

All along our walk we were seeing these large boxes with various decorations and all referencing http://www.capitolboxart.com.

From the website: “Artists were selected based on past work and paid to create a design (or designs) that was transferred to vinyl, and wrapped around a City of Sacramento traffic utility box. The vision is that by using these “blank canvasses” as a platform for the artistic community graffiti will be eliminated creating a beautiful, safe, inclusive, and interesting environment for pedestrians and commuters alike.”

In front of an office building.

On our way to Eureka, oh no, FIRE. We are turned back! and have to take an alternate route that takes maybe only an hour longer but that hour we spent in mountain switchbacks.

That’s smoke!

Since we were on an alternate route I hadn’t looked into anything we might find along the way so when we came upon the dang cute little town of Weaverville we decided to check out their museum.

It was fun especially because the ladies running the museum and gift shop (gift shop of course) were so full of enthusiasm for Weaverville.

Windy did a little browsing through the shops while I sat out on the boardwalk eating a tub of ice cream, Oh it was good, and enjoying some clicks.

I copied this from Wikipedia because I think it’s interesting.

“While the architecture from this period (mid-1800s) is commonly attributed to Victorian gold miners, characteristics of West End, such as multi-storied buildings, large arched doorways, full-height balcony windows and the use of decorative wrought-iron balconies, were most ubiquitous in parts of Spain and the Spanish colonies. This influence may be attributed to the fact that the period of Spanish rule in California enjoyed immigration from all over the Atlantic, including Spain and the Canary Islands, and the Spanish colonies.

The architecture of Old Town Sacramento (formerly known as West End) exhibits observable characteristics similar to that of San Juan (Puerto Rico), Havana (Cuba), Tampico (Mexico), Seville (Spain), Santa Cruz de Teneriffe (Canary Islands), Madrid (Spain).

While the architectural style of Old Sacramento, with its wrought iron balconies and evenly-spaced full height windows may remind one of Paris, it should be noted that Sacramento’s oldest buildings predate the Haussmann Projects that renovated large areas of Paris in that style.”

Looking back.

August 2

Road Trip! Windy and I motored up the I5 straight into Sacramento for a stroll through the Sacramento Old Town and a night at the Vagabond Inn.

This is Old Sacramento State Historic Park.

This park is located at the edge of the Old Sacramento Historic District. The area was developed as a tourist attraction in the 1960s and is named in the National Register of Historic Places.

It’s very cool and not so much Disney-i-fied as it could have gone, probably because the buildings are more restored than rebuilt and not all the angles are 90 degrees or all the lines so parallel.

They did move some buildings here from other parts of town and demolished the ones that couldn’t be repaired.

We had a tasty dinner on the deck of the Delta Queen on the Sacramento River pulled up alongside Old Town.

The center section of the bridge in the background raises and lowers on cables.

Our state capitol…we’ll swing by in the morning.