Aug 26, 2010

Manzanita Beach

We took a drive north to Cannon Beach to visit a gallery featuring the work of Christopher Burkett, one of my favorite photographers.  After a lunch at Bill's Tavern we headed back to Nehalem State Park.  We stopped at an overlook and took a few pictures.  These are of Manzanita Beach with Nehalem Bay in the back ground.  The State Park is between the beach and the bay.




Until later.

Aug 25, 2010

Relaxing in Nehalem

After our VooDoo Donut breakfast, and feeling slightly guilty about it, we decided we should get back to eating lower carb. This morning it was this

with coffee from here

in a cup from here.

The campground at Nehalem Bay State Park has 265 sites with water and electric.  We don't have sewer hookups. But this
     is only a few steps away from us.  Dumping our dish water in here will help us keep the holding tanks from filling up before we leave on Sunday.

They also have some nice Yurts you can rent complete with bunk beds.

The beach is just a short distance away from us. In fact we can hear the surf from inside the RV. On our walk through the campground loops we took the sandy beach access trail

and walked up the dunes and down to the beach

and then we saw this   

The campground is mostly full this week . There are lots of families with tents and tent campers and lots of kids riding bikes and scooters.

We are tucked into our site with trees around us which gives us a sense of privacy. We like it here.

Until later.

Aug 23, 2010

A little VOODOO In Portland

We have been in Portland for the last two weeks.  We have busy catching up with our daughters and their families.  We really haven't done anything that exciting, but have enjoyed just being here and making a few memories.  Here's a sampling of the things we did.

1.   We took Nemo and Mia to the mall and made Teddy Bears at "Build a Bear".
2.   We took a tour of  Bob's Red Mill and then had lunch at the company store.
3.   Julie and Jeremy took us to dinner at a wonderful down south restaurant named Miss Delta.
4.   Nemo and Mia spent the night with us on the RV and we watched "UP".
5.   We went on a picnic with Michelle, Julie, Nemo and Mia.
6.   We went to church with Michelle, Ian and kids and had breakfast in the parking lot of their church
7.   We went on a hike and picnic with Michelle and family.
8.   Michelle put on a wonderful dinner for all of us and some of their friends. 
9.   We helped Julie with a photo shoot in the park.
10.  We ate Gelato 3 times.
11.  We both got haircuts and I got rid of my mountain man beard.
12.  And last but not least we stood in line to get bacon maple doughnuts from VOODOO Donuts.


Tonight we are at Nehalem Bay State Park on the Oregon Coast.

Until later.

Aug 13, 2010

MOUNT HOOD

Last weekend we stayed in White Salmon, Washington which is across the Columbia River from the town of Hood River.  Saturday afternoon we had a nice visit with our daughter Michelle and her two kids Nemo, and Mia.  They drove over from Portland. 

Just couldn't wait to see Grandpa and Grandma I guess :)

Sunday we decided to drive up to the Timberland lodge at Mount Hood.  We've been to Portland lots of times and always said we were going to go up there but just never made the time.  This turned out to be a beautiful day with great visibility.  

Timberland lodge was built during the great depression as a WPA project and is still in use today. You can ski year around at Mount Hood and there were lots of snow boarders on the day we were there.

The exterior was used during the filming of the movie "The shining".  Who can forget that famous line...."Heeeere's Johnny!!".

On our way back down the mountain we stopped at several fruit stands.  At one we had a beautiful view of Mount Adams to the north.

  The Hood River area is noted for it's orchards and produce in what is called the 'Fruit Loop'. 

At one farm they were having Van Gogh days, so here is my interpretation of sunflowers.


Until later.

Aug 6, 2010

AVALANCHE LAKE

While we were in Kalispell we (Judy) decided we should do a hike in Glacier National Park.  We chose the trail to Avalanche Lake.  This was approximately 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 500 feet.  

You start the hike on the Trail of the Cedars and then branch off on to the Avalanche Lake trail.  This is a very popular day hike.  We saw close to 100 people coming and going and,  yes Linda, some even had bear bells. 

The reward at the end of the trail is Avalanche Lake.  We found a place to sit for a while and enjoyed our homemade powerbars. 

While we didn't see any bears we did see a little wildlife.  Little in size, but not in determination. 

The hike up was challenging both on the lungs and the legs, and the hike back down was rough on the knees, but it was a good workout with some beautiful scenery.  

We have enjoyed our stay in northern Montana and look forward to our next visit. 

Until later.