Mini-tour Day 19

We woke up this morning to a near empty RV park. It turns out that most of the people staying in this part of Montana at this time of year are Canadians who are heading back home after taking their RVs south to spend the winter in Arizona. The park itself had a small river running through it which is well populated with fish. Lovely scenery.



We met the people staying behind us who had just bought the RV park. Really nice couple. Bob, the husband, had been CEO of some financial company who forsaw the financial collapse of the USA a few years back, and had steadily managed his way out of stock and property holdings, cashed up, and then looked for a secure path through the coming financial demise of the USA. Interestingly his view of the near future of the USA was the same as mine - a bullish spike in the next 6 - 12 months followed by a second, and deeper, wave of the recession / coming depression.

Bob's wife, Jan, is doing her PhD in Natural Health, and so of course the 4 of us got on well and chatted most of the afternoon. Jordan also had a great time playing with Bob. They have a 36' fifth wheeler with pop-outs. Very big inside, with a full size kitchen with 2 fridge-freezers, full size washer and dryer, large bedroom with walk-in robes, queen size bed and shower / bathroom. All for $26,000. Amazing price, the more I see the more I realise Australia is very over-priced in so many areas.

Back to our holiday - I discovered that we are 3 weeks too early for the roads to open in Yellowstone, and so modified our itinerary for the next few days. Grand Teton National Park is open, but can only be entered from the southern entrance. That would make the drive tomorrow too long, and so we decided to pack up and head down to an RV park close to that entrance tonight. So off we go!!



We never left until around 5pm, with a 3 hour drive to Victor which is just east of Wyoming. The vistas we saw today were even more spectacular. Large mountains and frozen lakes dominating the skyline.





We pulled into this camp around 9:30pm, to find the thickest snow we have seen yet. Our site is literally shovelled out of the snow. No doubt we will have fun exploring the camp tomorrow morning (whilst being pelted with snowballs from a certain little boy), before heading into Grand Teton National Park to see yet more wonderous sights!

Mini-tour Day 18

With the long drive to Dillon, Montana ahead of us, we had the alarm clock set for an early start. The weather was looking nice for viewing the sights we expected ahead, and so off we went.



The scenery soon proved to be gorgeous as we drove around the edge of Couer D'Alene Lake, after crossing the state line into Idaho. Then we ascended up yet another mountain pass, climbing until we reached the summit at Lookout Pass. The snow here was thick and dry, beautiful conditions for the skiers and snow-boarders who were enjoying the slopes. We decided to stop and enjoy the snow as well.



No prizes for guessing who was out in the snow quicker than you can blink!!



And a good time was had by all, pelting Mummy with snowballs! Jordan also decided he was already an expert snowboarder, and wanted to prove it to us. We persuaded him to try a few lessons when we get back home. I think we will be visiting some Australian ski-fields this coming winter...

We decided to pop into the ski-cafe for a coffee and hot-chocolate before he continued and, and here is where the day took an interesting turn. I couldn't find my wallet...

As I wrote yesterday we finished the day by filling up with petrol. I remember as I was filling the RV up I popped my wallet on top of the bowser, and thinking that would be an easy place to forget it. Well, so I did. Pity we had travelled an hour and a half into the mountains on the next day before I remembered it. Luckily I had navigated to the McDonalds, which was next to the gas station, using the GPS - otherwise I would have no idea where the gas station was. So I brought the Maccas back up on the GPS and started the trip back, with an expected arrival time of 1:30pm.

This is where it got really interesting - my heart was saying that it would be fine as I create my reality. My logical mind was saying I am in the USA in the middle of a deep recession, and there is no way my wallet would still be there, especially with identity theft being rife. What a battle my mind went throught for the 90 minutes of the drive back!!!

As we arrive I can see the pump where we filled up, no wallet sitting on top. I wander into the station and explain I left my wallet there the previous evening. The girl reaches below the desk and pulls out my wallet, then suggests I check it. Nothing missing - not even the cash. All there. The girl says I am extremely lucky it was handed in, and is amazed the credit cards and cash are still there.

As for me - well the whole event was a valuable reminder that our reality is ours to create, the universe can either be harsh or loving, whichever you chose and believe.

So we drove back to Lookout Recreation Area and had another snowball fight, and then a nice coffee and muffin. From there we still had a 6 hour drive ahead of us to the camp ground in Dillon, Montana.

Montana has spectacular scenery, once again different from all the other states, with its own unique beauty and grandeur.



All that we saw of Montana was at quite an altitude, around 5000'. Needless to say with the snow came very cold temperatures and icy winds. After stopping at another McDonalds mid-way for a coffee and play break we arrived at the camp around 10:30pm, hooked up and Janine cooked us a nice hot soup before bed.

I nodded off looking forward to our visit to Yellowstone National Park the next day.

Mini-tour Day 17

Today was a rest day, which worked out for the best as Janine had a sore back and wasn't particularly mobile, and I was quite tired from all the driving, and also had some photo / blog entries to catch up on, as well as some trading study.

Jordan was full of beans, and on top of that we had run out of propane, and there was no way we wanted to stay in the RV with no heating!! So we headed out to fill up the propane tank, have some lunch, and take Jordan to a McDonalds playground so that I could do some trading in peace!

Jordan had a great time, made some more 5 minute friends, and my trading went well. We decided to stock up on some groceries as there was a supermarket in the same area, and finish off with filling up with petrol in readiness for the trip to Montana tomorrow.

Off to bed for a good sleep - with the heaters keeping us warm!!

Mini-tour Day 16

This morning we woke up to snow again - a light fall that had frosted everything ever so subtley. We decided to head back into Leavenworth to have a look through the shops before heading off to Spokane.

The shops were absolutely gorgeous, full of art, Christmas decorations and Christmas themed items, as well as other amazing offerings I had never seen before. And so cheap!! With the recession in full swing, some shops had 50% - 70% off ALL items. I could have bought an amazing chess set for $10US, but decided not to - next trip will be for shopping.

In daylight the town reminded my of Innsbruck in Austria - one of my favorite places in Europe. The mountains which hug the town, the architecture, even the feel of the people. Leavenworth is very much a tourist town, and a place I must return to for a longer stay on our trip next year.



We looked around for an hour or so, and then had to leave as I had a private lesson with Nick scheduled for 4:30pm.

I had decided to take US2 over to Spokane as it had another mountain pass, only this time a lot lower.



Well we didn't have to travel far before the scenery changed totally. The forests and thick snow were gone, giving way to a more barren, but just as breath-taking, vista.




We travelled up into high plains where the land was flat for miles, surrounded by the mountain peaks on the edges. Pine trees were replaced by thick grasses, greens by browns.

We cut it fine, arriving at the selected McDonalds with about 5 mins to spare before my class. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I must have found one of the few Maccas in the US with no wifi!! Just over the road though, was a motel with free wifi. So I jumped into the RV and drove it into the motel carpark and tried to connect there - only to find it was password protected!! Hmm, another motel next door, lets try that. So I drove over there, but couldn't connect due to low signal. Knowing the situation must work out in my favour I decided it must be because I was using the laptop on battery, not AC. So I started the RV generator to give me 110V, plugged in the laptop, and sure enough got a connection out to the internet. Nick had waited for me, and my lesson proceeded without incident. Another example of no such thing as a problem!!

Jordan enjoyed the Maccas playground whilst I had my lesson (by the way for those that know us and our dietary preferences, rest assured we haven't given in to the dark side and Maccas 'food') :-) Actually we are finding it surprisingly easy to eat well with the RV providing a kitchen to cook our own meals. We buy 'meals' here probably once every 3 days just to sample local cuisine. We have our vitalgreens to supplement and are not having any real problems with reactions to the food. Actually in some areas we have found a lot of organic offerings. Unfortunately the USDA has it's own definition of organic here, and so I don't place a lot of stock in goods labelled organic.

It wasn't much further to the camp ground, only 20 miles or so. We arrived safely at the KOA, hooked up, and Jordan was out wanting to play in the snow again! We settled in, and were in time to witness a Spokane sunset before dinner - another amazing finish to yet another amazing day.

Mini-tour Day 15

We woke up to more wet weather - I was starting to understand a comment we had heard that people in this part of the world don't tan, they merely rust!!

Our original schedule had us staying two nights here, followed by a very long drive to Spokane. After a quick chat we decided to alter the schedule, and drive to Leavenworth after having a quick look at the North Cascades National Park. I wandered over to the office (keeping a lookout for bears!!), and the office staff were quite happy to accomodate us and cancel the booking we had for the second night here.



After a nice hot breakfast of oats we headed into the park. Once again the rain cleared for us so we had nice clear weather for the drive in. Magnificent mountain peaks surrounded us, and the grennery slowly gave way to snow, with Jordan exclaiming how his wish for 'snow everywhere' had come true. Little did we know to what extent this had come true, but more about that later...



We pulled in at Diablo Lake, as we knew the roads were closed just a few miles further down the road. Then came Jordan's highlight for the day - throwing snowballs at Mummy and Daddy!! We all had a ball playing in the snow for half an hour or so, before going back to the motorhome for some warmth and lunch.



We played a lovely game over lunch remembering all the amazing settings we had enjoyed for our lunches over the previous 2 weeks - amazing seascapes, towering mountains, huge forests...

We headed back to the Maccas with the huge playground so I could book the accomodation at Leavenworth while Jordan had another play. Jordan was asking about more snow, and I said I didn't know if we would find any more until we hit Yellowstone in a few days. Little did I know how wrong I was!!

Unbeknown to me, between us and Leavenworth there was a 4000' mountain pass...

As we headed up into the mountains, the snow got heavier, and thicker, and heavier, and thicker, until it was coming in horizontally and the road was just white. At places we could see the road was cut into probably 10' of snow. And then night started to fall!

Needless to say I was very pleased when we stopped heading up and started down the other side of the pass. I thought surely the snow would relent, but instead it got heavier and thicker!! Finally it started to recede some, however Leavenworth itself sits at about 1500' - I didn't realise this until the next day when I saw the mountains which overlook the city on all sides!

Anyway we arrived in Leavenworth around 8pm, and were amazed to see it is a Christmas City - the main streets are very old-style European, all covered in Christmas lights!!



It was so gorgeous we decided to stop off in town and wander around for a while. Lots of the shops had Christmas related window displays - really happy and uplifting. What a bonus to find this!!!

After enjoying the atmosphere for a while we headed out to the camp ground, found a site and enjoyed another nice hot meal before bed. Another adventurous day came to a close!

Mini-tour Day 14

I had been looking forward to this day as one of my personal favorites of the trip - the journey up to North Cascades National Park. We were due to take the Port Townsend - Keystone ferry, and then skirt Seattle up to the National Park.



Once again the heavens had closed in as we awoke, with very strong winds. Weather was looking harsh even for the ducks!! I knew things would be fine though - that being one of the aspects of my trip over here that had been demonstrated again and again. No such thing as a problem, merely mysteries in the unfolding.

We headed off to Port Townsend and found the ferry - once again the GPS worked flawlessly (have I mentioned how great it is having the 1.2 million points of interest - makes finding things a cinch!!). We drove up to the ferry terminal only to be told that the winds were too strong for berthing at Keystone and the ferries were staying in dock until things calmed down.

Knowing that somehow there would be another option we headed down to our local wifi station - McDonalds. There we met some locals who filled us in on some local history, gave Jordan some toys (much to his delight), and advised us to head down to Kingston where that ferry would be working fine, being a much larger vessel.

So off we went, arrived at the terminal, and had a lovely lunch whilst sitting in line waiting to board the next ferry in 30 mins time. The trip over was fun in the big waves, Jordan spent the whole trip purposefully falling over in the seat along with a new friend he had made, thinking it was great fun! The trip over was only 30 mins, then we took the drive up to Concrete on the outskirts of the National Park.

We stopped at the closest McDonalds we could find to make the booking, and for me to attend a class. Jordan loved this Maccas as it had the biggest playground known to man. I've never seen anything like it!! Probably 2 stories high, and 50' by 30'. Huge.

We left there, and travelled the last half hour in the dark. When we arrived the gates were closed - not at all matching my 'no such thing as problems' view of life, especially considering we had a booking!! Knowing that all was well (just not knowing how!!) I had a look around in the dark. There was one lane in, with the barrier down, and one lane out. I thought perhaps we could drive in through the out lane, only to discover it had a tire puncture strip!! Then Janine spotted a radio mic. I thought why not, grabbed it, pressed the transmit button and said 'Hi - anyone home?'. Sure enough we had an answer, and 10 mins later we saw some lights coming down through the rainy mist, and got let in and led to a spot for the night. That was nice, especially since during the wait I read on the notice board that 4 bears had been sighted recently and people were strongly urged not to approach them!!

Another fun day came to a close after a nice hot meal and then bed.

Mini-tour Day 13

Today was originally scheduled as a rest day, however earlier in the trip some Americans we met whilst travelling up through Oregon had told us that Cape Flattery was a must visit. This camp ground was as close as we were going to get to that part of WA, so we decided to head out to the Cape even though the weather was looking overcast and rainy. I had no doubt that it would work out in our favour!



It was a two hour trip out to the Cape, 90 miles or so. The first stop was the closest town, Neah Bay, which is in the Maka Nation Reservation. We dropped in at the Maka Museum to get directions out to the Cape, and then drove the last 10 miles or so to the Cape.

The walk from the parking lot to the Cape was spectacular itself - beautiful rain forest.



However even beautiful as it was, it didn't prepare us for the sights at the Cape itself. The views showed the splendour and power of nature, an awesome experience. Even the freezing weather and strong winds seemed to augment the experience.



Cape Flattery would definitely be amongst the top places I would recommend any visitor to the US visit. The power and majesty of nature here has to be experienced.

The drive back along the coast has it own treasures waiting to be discovered, all in all a magnificent 2 hour drive.

Mini-tour Day 12

We woke up to some blue sky, and fresh pancakes for breakfast!! As we were leaving camp we decided to try the free pancakes, and they must have been good as I had 2 helpings, and Janine and Jordan 1 1/2 each. They were very generous servings too, with the pancakes being nice and thick, and perfectly cooked.

As soon as we got back to the van we disconnected from the site and hit the road - off to Washington State!!



It really does seem as if some of the States within the US are divided according to geographic content. As soon as we crossed into Washington the scenery changed. Rugged mountains initially gave way to low lying wetlands.



Moving further north we cut back towards the coast to move through Olympic National Park - and what a National Park it is, incorporating beautiful mountains, rain forest, sandy beaches, and finally magnificent lakes bordered by snow-capped mountains.

We stopped at one of the rain forest rest stops and decided to talk another 30 min walk through the trees to see how the fir tree forests compared with the redwoods down in California. Whilst the firs are a lot younger, the forest was just as gorgeous.



On from there we followed US101 to where the beaches meet the rain forests - absolutely beautiful...



And finally we got to the lake district, and well, words don't do it justice...



We pulled into Port Angeles, with snow capped mountains to our south, and across the bay more snow covered mountains in Canada.

Obviously with all this snow around us it is fairly cold here - just need to cuddle more to keep warm!!

Jordan is still making lots of friends each time we stop at a McDonalds so he can enjoy the playgrounds - lovely to see. He is keen to hit the snow again too - we passed a few patches today, but decided to wait until he get to some decent snow fields, which I am expected in North Cascades National Park a bit further north.

Tomorrow we head out to the NW tip of the US - supposed to be spectacular! I'll let you know tomorrow. Bye for now.

BTW there are lots more photos of Washington state in the corresponding album in my web albums...
http://picasaweb.google.com/pauly139

Mini-tour Day 11

Today was a catch-up day, catching up on washing, trading lessons, and sleep. Good thing too, as it rained all day.

Not much else to tell, except it is cold here in Oregon!!

Mini-tour Day 10

Today took us further north up the coast of Oregon. Although we didn't have that far to go, it took us all day as we enjoyed quite a few stops along the way.



First stop was brunch at "Pig'n'Pancakes" - what a name for a food outlet!! After recharging our battries we moved on and soon stopped at a spectacular section of coast where the sea was putting on a great show. Jordan took the opportunity to do some 'mountain climbing', which was rather precarious at places - at least to his parents :-). There was quite a drop over the edge of the rocks into the sea. All in all though it was very beautiful seeing the ocean display it's power, especially from our point of relative safety!



A bit further north found us admiring some lovely homes which enjoyed amazing views, as many homes along this section of coast do.



And one other stop which took us completely by surprise happened when we saw amazing shoots of sea coming up over a sea wall bordering on a small town. It turns out a natural blow hole had formed which sent the sea shooting metres into the sky - very spectacular!!



We finally pulled into the KOA here at Astoria around 5pm - and what a campground!! It has an indoor heated pool, a spa pool, mini golf, 3 playgrounds, volleyball, and free pancakes between 7am and 10am! As you can imagine we have one very happy little boy. On the way in we noticed what turned out to be a 42' RV. We popped down and had a chat to Frank who is the proud owner. He absolutely loves it, had it since 2006. Says it is a dream to drive, and you don't need a special licence (in the US at least).

I've been thinking more about whether we go with a motorhome or 5th Wheeler for the longer term. There is the 'problem' with motorhomes that you don't have a seperate vehicle for exploring when camped. However we haven't really found that an issue as it literally takes 5 mins to get ready to go on the road. We also haven't had any situations yet where we want to go somewhere and there isn't a parking spot big enough (ours is 30').

Having thought about all that, at this point I would go with a motorhome, towing a small car behind, which is the configuration we see probably 20 times a day with travellers on the road. Very few caravans in the US. Mostly motorhomes, less 5th wheelers, and rarely caravans.

Janine and I are loving this trip, but are both of the opinion that this one is like our scouting mission, seeking out the sights that we will come back and visit properly on a longer trip next year.

Anyway, enough for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow to fill you in on the details of day 11!!