ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST

After spending the night at a roadside turnout we find in our Parks book  the Oregon caves National Monument.  It was 17 miles off the road on twisty turney  drive up into the mountain to over 4000 ft.  The caves are in the mountain and from the opening you climb up  500 stairs and then begin the  down and up again for about 1 1/2 mile walk, many places you need to crab walk to protect your head and turn sideways to get through.

 There is lots of water  in the caves and from time to time a ice cold drop falls on your neck.  There are several different types of stone and one marble chunk is over 1080 feet long.

 There are thousands of side caverns like this one that range from a few feet long to many hundreds of feet only to dead end.  The caves are a constant 54*F and damp, we were happy to get back in the sunshine and head back the long brake ride down the mountain.

 We cross into California just before two o'clock and arrive at the National Redwood
Forest home of the giant redwoods, and, wow, are they ever big.

 Some of them are around 300 feet high and 40+ feet in diameter, Most are really straight and no branches for 80-100 feet. Sure is lots of good lumber (oops sorry, they're protected.) The one Diane is standing by is called corkscrew tree, somehow 2-300 years ago 3 small trees got twisted together.  There  are numerous tree that have been partially hollowed out and used as living space in the past.

 A few miles down the road we find the "DRIVE THRU TREE"   It was too small a opening for trekkie but the guy behind us did just find.

 Along the California coast we see many sights like the one below.

For mile after mile we parallel the ocean and a never ending vista of sea, sky, sand and rocks.  The drive is very slow going with twist and turns up and down hills and the need to stop and enjoy the  view often.

TOWARDS CRATER LAKE

From Depoe Bay we continued on south down the coast highway. Oregon has hundreds of state parks along the coast and we stopped several times.  The water was very cold about 50 * and only a few brave kids were playing in the waves. 

Diane took several tries to get the waves breaking on the rocks behind and Keith with his eyes open but it turned out great.

 The cliff just a few inches behind Diane drops off about 70 feet to the beach, The Oregon coast is known for the rock formations just off shore left from a volcano  in the distance past.

CRATER LAKE  The crater formed when a volcano blew off the mountain top many years ago. The only inflow of water is from rain but mostly from snow. The mountain gets a average of 44 feet (17 meters)  on a yearly basis. 2011 saw 56 feet or 17 meters of snow. 
 

 It snows every month of the year and because of the height and the purity of the snow it is considered the purist body of water on earth.  We imagine that is what the whole earth was like at creation.

The purity is what makes the water so blue.  It is also the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1943 feet
. Sadly the roadway around the rim is not open yet, it often does not open until mid July and only for a few weeks.  The temperature on top was right at 50* but now 3 hours later heading back to the coast it is 84*  Tomorrow we will cross into California and the Redwood forest.

MEMORIAL DAY IN DEPOE BAY OREGON

 We had left Portland around 2:00 on Sunday and traveled west towards The ocean.  We came across a casino and knowing that they all have lots of  free  RV parking we stayed the night.( no, we did not go inside).  Monday morning we made the coast and in the town of Depoe Bay there were tons of people lining the street.  We stopped to see what was happening and found a group of 6 people setting up lawn chairs on the grass overlooking the harbor.  They explained to us that it is a annual memorial to 2 fishermen that drowned in 1936 while attempting to rescue some others and it is now a memorial to all who have given their lives for others.
There was 18 boats all decorated with flowers, they go out about a mile to where the 2 fishermen died

 and form a circle around the area. (hard to see in the pic but there really is a circle of boats)

 

 When  the boats are in position there is a flyover by the USN and then a helicopter comes in and drops a wreath (above)   and the all the boats throw their flowers in the water. 

The people we sat with were very kind and shared their snacks with us and kept up informed of the on-going activities.        Normally the helicopter will go right down to the water and almost touch but to day the swells were 8-10 feet so the wreath was dropped from about 20-25 feet

. It was a fitting way to spend Memorial Day with new friends. 

GETTING STARTED

As you can see the flowers and scrubs in Vancouver are in full colour. The campground we were in has some of the most beautiful gardens around.

We had a uneventful flight from Ottawa to Vancouver,  Ruth got us to the campground in good time and trekkie was in good shape except for a flat tire. I carry a small compressor and got that blown up and she started right up. We spend a few hours (and a few $$) getting groceries and supplies and spend the rest of the day cleaning up and getting ready. 
Friday morning we crossed the border into the U.S.  with Portland OR as our destination.
First mistake was forgetting it was Friday of a holiday weekend. We were 6 hours going the first 150 miles  and got to Portland after 8:00 pm.
This morning we got the oil changed, new tires, some more groceries and now will spend the night here, find a church in the morning and then head to the Pacific Ocean and then south on the coastal highway.

2012 Southward

OK   After messing up the link for all of you a couple of times I finally got the kinks out and ready to go.
We are flying out of Ottawa airport at 0700 on Wed so will be up and going early.  We left a lot of our belonging in the roadtrek  (trekie) last fall so will travel with just one suitcase and carry on. We will be met at Vancouver airport by our friend from  Florida, Ruth who has kindly volunteered to take us to the campground where trekie has been waiting patiently since last Sept.  Hopefully she survived the winter well.
We need a day or two to de-winterize her then off to Washington state and to Portland, Oregon for new tires, windshield and general maintenance. We'll be back in a few days.