Jim and I left Oregon mid January. I had always wanted to go to Yosemite National Park, so we stopped along the way for a few days. It was cold! There had been snow! It was quite the trip just to drive the RV to the RV park, and then more driving to actually get to Yosemite. I am so glad that we stopped. As you look through the pictures, you will see the winding road to get to the RV Park, ice on the waterfalls, lots of rainbows from the moisture. I am so glad we stopped during the winter, now to see what it is like in the summer.
click on the picture, then click on individual pictures or the slideshow button. If you want to see the pictures full screen, click on the F11 button. Once you are done, use the back arrow to get back to the webpage. I will have to figure out how to make it much smoother, it’s been awhile.
It was COLD driving to Walla Walla, it was COLD while there for the Barrel Tasting weekend, it was COLD driving back to Portland! RV’s are not the most weather-proofed home, so the heater runs a lot, and the propane is used up fast. We tuck a sheet under the bottom edge of the couch on the slideout to try and block some of the cold that comes in from there. It helps, but it’s not perfect. Luckily, I have an electric lap blanket and we have an electric blanket on the bed. Keeps us nice and cozy when it’s COLD out there!
These are ice crystals on the side window where I sit on the couch. They are on the inside of the window from the moisture inside the RV and the COLD outside! On Saturday and Sunday, we did see a few snowflakes falling from the sky, but it really was TOO COLD to snow!
More ice crystals, this is from the front windshield. We have a curtain that we keep up to help keep the warm in and as you can see, it must work. The COLD air got trapped between the curtain and the windshield, it’s a wonder it doesn’t snow inside the RV
More ice, this is the drivers side of the windshield. There was no warm air in that corner, nor did the sun ever hit it during the day. BRRRRRR
As we drove home, you could see where the irrigation was forgotten and not turned off. You would run into stripes of white that looked like snow. It was actually built up ice.
Depending on when they finally turned it off, some of the ice was inches thick and not melting, it was TOO COLD outside!
The quiet waters around the Columbia River had ice on them, here is a little ice built up along the Columbia.
As we drove west, Mt. Hood finally came into view. Clear, COLD, and lots of snow! The skiiers are in 7th heaven!
Another shot of Mt. Hood.
Well, it’s still COLD outside. I walked today, had to really bundle up as I did the same in Walla Walla. I just keep telling myself I am burning more calories to stay warm when walking when it is so COLD outside. I think I will have to keep telling myself that all week.
I love taking pictures; some are good, some are better and some just strike me as interesting. When Jim and I were over in Kennewick, WA for the wine judging, I walked in the mornings for a little exercise, but didn’t want to carry my camera. I remembered I had my cellphone and it had a camera. The last two pics are mobile pictures. The first two were taken with my Nikon. These are all from the first few days of November.
I was up early to take my mom to water aerobics, ran back in to take this awesome sunrise picture.
Picture of the bridge out of our hotel room window, the water was like glass all day.
same bridge, but during my walk, photo taken with my cellphone…
another cellphone picture, as you can see, I am a little enamored of water reflection pictures. I really like this one of the house boats near the hotel in Kennewick.
The rain has started, it’s going to be pouring all day long here in Portland, Oregon but I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you. I love the fall colors, everyone always thinks of the Northeast, etc when they think fall colors, but, hey, we have them too! As we drive around, I always say, "oh I should have taken a picture of that!" as we get to enjoy the golds, russets and oranges of the fall.
Fall color in a complex in Kent, WA
Right behind the RV, we can watch the colors change in a neighbors yard
Lots of color on the ground after the first big rain & wind
colors of fall at Lenne Estate Vineyard in the afternoon twilight
I hope you had the chance to get out and enjoy the colors of fall… there is nothing better than to watch Mother Nature use her paintbrush across this wonderful land.
We arrived in Portland safe & sound. I was up early (5:30am) to take my mom to a doctors appointment (it was at 7:00am of all things and had to be early) and to my surprise there was this glorious sunrise! I ran back into the RV to get my camera to take a few shots before we left. I got so lucky! The first pictures are looking over my parents home, but then I turned around and right behind me was this rainbow that I have never seen the likes of before. It just makes you drop your jaw in awe when you get to see wongers like this.
What a great way to start the day, in all this glory.
The last week of August we spent in Chelan, at the city park on the lake. What a great spot to enjoy the day and so close to all the wineries around the lake. One of our reasons for visiting Chelan was to do some wine tasting, it’s been on my list for quite some time. It’s a great time to visit; Chelan now has it’s own AVA and they deserve it. Great wineries & great people, worth a visit (or two or three…). We also did wine tasting in Leavenworth (part of the Columbia Valley AVA).
The wineries we enjoyed on this trip (but more to try at a later date!):
Hard Row to Hoe * – on the south side of the lake, had a great time chatting and enjoying the wines
Vin du Lac – another winery on the south side, we stopped here for dinner & wine tasting
Tsillan Cellars Winery – on the north side, great views, grounds are awesome, tasting is fun
Nefarious Cellars * – enjoyed chatting with Dean & Heather, the wines, the view…
Boudreaux Cellars * – needed appt for here, great time with Rob & Tyler, totally off the grid and worth it
Icicle Ridge Winery – we tasted downtown Leavenworth, but you really need to go to the winery!
Kestrel Vintners * – again, tasted downtown Leavenworth, but also have tasted in Prosser where they are from
Benson Vineyards * – back on the south side, high on the hill, a great place to end your wine tasting experience
There are many more wineries to enjoy in Chelan, Leavenworth & Wenatchee, I see another visit in our future
The weather was great, the food was great, but it was a little struggle in the RV park; it had only 30amp, so only one AC unit could run at a time and if you wanted to use the toaster, microwave or coffe maker, you had to turn the AC off oh well, roughing it smoothly still.
The last weekend in August, which was the last weekend at Chelan, we spent some time with our friends Bob & Kathy over at Pateros while they were racing their vintage Hydroplane (new post coming).
I talked Jim into heading over to Glacier Nat’l Park in Montana for 1 week. I am so glad that I did! I loved the park, the hiking, the scenery, the geology, the critters I love looking for wild animals and I got lucky this trip. Still, no moose
I put my pictures out on Facebook, but I know many of you don’t have accounts, so I also put them up on Picasa. This way you can browse through them, run them as a slide show, or not look at them at all!
In a nutshell, this is what we did for our 6 days at Glacier:
8/16: we drove along Lake McDonald (it was windy and gloomy on this day, lots of clouds) and I made Jim stop over and over again to take pictures We continued on to the lodge and all the way up to the loop.
8/17: we drove around the bottom of the park on hwy 2, stopped at Goat Lick (no goats for us) and then on to Two Medicine Lake. Again, another gloomy, cloudy day.
8/18: I hiked up to Avalanche Lake on a ranger guided hike. Ranger Doug was full of stories, he is 83 years young and so spry heading up this 1.5 mile trail with 500 ft elevation climb. Again, I took lots of pictures and even got to see a black bear. In the afternoon, Jim and I drove up to Logans Pass and saw our first mountain goats.
8/19: Jim and I hiked the Hidden Lake trail from Logan Pass in the morning. Gorgeous day, so much sun! We got to see more mountain goats, marmots and bighorn sheep. We continued east on the Going-to-the-Sun hwy after the hike to St. Mary’s. We got to see osprey and a golden eagle soaring over a meadow looking for lunch. We figured we hadn’t had enough fun yet and I was still looking for a moose. We continued by driving up to Many Glaciers and Fishercap Lake. We just missed the moose by a few hours, but got to see the tracks in the mud. We continued up to Red Rock Falls. By this time, Jim was way overloaded on our hiking, so we headed back to the RV.
8/20: We drove up the west side to Polebridge, a small community that takes you back to the ’60s. We bought several yummy breads & cookies from the bakery and then continued our drive into the park. We decided to drive up to Bowman Lake. Beautiful! we chatted with some ladies that had just finished a hike and they had seen a mama black bear with 2 cubs about 20 minutes before they finished their hike. I would love to go back to this lake and have a kayak with me. So peaceful, so serene, so beautiful.
8/21: lazy day, we drove back to Lake McDonald to take the 1 hour lake cruise. It was fun, Clarissa our Ranger was interesting to listen to. We got to see a Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle and brown loons.
It was a very successful trip, enjoyed every minute and I would truly recommend that you go visit this wonderous park. Especially since the glaciers will probably be gone in 20 years or sooner and it will change the whole aspect of the park. Enjoy it while you can!
July always means Cow Camp (CC) for my family. Then you say, "Cow Camp? what is that?". Cow Camp is lots of things, mostly my family getting together (my parents, all my siblings and significant others, all our kids and if they have them, their significant others & their kids) and enjoying the time together. We have been doing this at least once a year for over 45 years! That’s a long time in the same place…
The movie shows a lot of what we do, we eat, we enjoy beverages, we swim at Cultus Lake, we do volunteer work (wood duck boxes through out the area), we relax, we fish, we hike, and anything else that we can think of.
This year, we also did a toast to my parents, Monty & Sally, for they are what started this wonderful tradition and they will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in September. Since CC is one of the few times that all of us gather, it’s a great time to celebrate what ever needs to be celebrated.
This was a "lighter" year, many of the young adults had to come and go based on jobs, etc. I think the most we had for dinner was about 35 people. That is nothing! we have been as high as 45+ in the past, depending on the meal. Favorites are clam chowder night & pancake breakfast. I flip a mean pancake my dad makes the best homemade clam chowder. I snagged a big bowl full of left overs so that I could have some for another meal after we left. YUM.
Yes, the dreaded but exhilarating Poo-Poo Point. I wanted to see if I could do it, but knew I would be hurting when I was done. I was right on both accounts, I made it to the top and my calves are still barking at me I want to thank the ladies for dragging me along on this hike, I really slowed them down, but they got lots of rest on the way up. Poo-Poo Point is where the paragliders launch themselves over Tiger Mountain for a great ride down.
I was always lagging behind, but it was really steep… about 1800 ft vertical in 1.5 miles; that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.
Looking out over the Cedar Grove landfill from the South launch site
Vicki just over the rise to the North launch site
looking down the actual North launch over Issaquah and towards Lake Washington
Awesome ladies; Rhonda, Jennifer & Vicki; there is no slowing them down
This mossy tree was very cool, looked like velvet on the branches
We came out behind Issaquah HS (under renovation), look up – center – you can see the North launch site that we hiked up to (light green cleared area).
I would do this hike again, but definitely need to be in better shape! or maybe I just didn’t do enough stretches afterward, nope, better shape… thanks again ladies, for letting me tag (and drag) along
