Oregon

I love the Oregon Coast, probably the most dramatic stretch of scenery along the Continental US Pacific.

 We camped near Port Orchard where we had a nice fish lunch at this quaint shack in the harbor.

And toured a turn of the century farmhouse

 which has been meticulously restored

 Here's an old twist on a new convenience; the breadmaker

This time of year the flowers are in bloom.   Rhododendrons and bulbs are prolific in the PNW

We were allowed to climb the stairs in the Cape Blanco lighthouse and get a close up view of the fresnel lens

We also stopped in Florence, Oregon which we had visited over 30 years ago in our first boat.   We went under this bascule bridge.  

This clever diner with the front ends of cars protruding is a newer addition to the town:

And lastly before crossing the Columbia River we stopped at the charming town of Astoria, Oregon (where the movie "Goonies" was filmed).    We had crossed the Columbia River Bar on that trip up the coast in 1979.   The bar is noted as the graveyard of the pacific coast as there are well over 1,000 wrecks under those treacherous waters. This is what remains of the wreck of the Iredale.

 This is a cool shot of a sundog halo around the Astoria tower.

The Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria is a great museum and well worth the visit.

 

California

Finally we made some westing in our tin can and hit the Pacific Coast.   Our first stop was to see friends, Mike and Alison Courson in Alpine.    Mike built his boat from a bare hull in the same yard we were building ours, way back in 1977.  We had the same hull design, a 32' Islander.   Now they are  anchored to a lovely hillside spot in Alpine which they steward with care and a landscaper's eye.

We mangled another jack on our trailer attempting to get up their very steep driveway so we could park in front of their house.    Then we went on to Chula Vista where we caught up with Ed Byrd who Jim used to work with at San Diego Gas and Electric back in the 70's.    Ed is happily retired and remarried to Lori, a nurse, who he wishes he had met first years ago.

Heading North from San Diego, we stopped for a while along the central California coast and camped near  Morro Bay.   We both loved this area with green carpeted rolling hills, dramatic coastal scenes and viticulture just about everywhere you looked.   What could be better?    The high real estate prices and poor fiscal situation in the state of California prohibits settling there  but we can certainly visit the place once in a while.

 Then farther north to catch up with cruising  friends we made in Marmaris, Turkey back in 05'.   Joe and Suzy Altmann have a lovely hillside home overlooking farm fields in Aromas, near Santa Cruz.    We did some bicycling in Monterey on a chilly day and Joe and Suzy took us around the sights in Santa Cruz and surrounding area.    At night I got to rest my bones in their hot tub.

 We got to spend Easter with their family.

 This is a photo of a glassblower's collection.  The lovely lamps you see sell for more than $500.  Fun to look at!!!!

We decided to get through San Francisco.  One of my favorite towns on earth, it is too hard to manage with a trailer so we hot footed it across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the more manageable northern coast of California.

Next we visited Jim's uncle Skip Carey and his wife Jeanette in Arcata, California.   We poured over photos of family dating way back and Skip took us around town pointing out some of the houses the family had owned over the years.    Skip is a hot rod enthusiast and proudly showed off his '41Chevy Coupe which he restored.

We took a ride through the redwood forest one day

and had lunch with a friend :)

San Carlos, Mexico

We also took a drive without the tin can to San Carlos, a beautiful town on the Sea of Cortez about a 6 hour drive straight down from Tucson through Sonora, MExico.    There's a lively cruising community here with a marina, haul out and a very nice anchorage.    This is one of the places we have put on our "possibility to retire here" list when we get finished with cruising.   Who knows when that will be.   The terrain is awesome with desert mountains behind the town,  hidden canyons to find and explore, on the sea with sparkling blue water and great diving/snorkeling spots.   Not to mention the wonderful Mexico culture, food and people.

Sedona, Las Vegas, San Carlos

We took some side trips while we were in Tucson waiting out dates for various appointments.    We dry camped near Cottonwood, Arizona where we could see the Mogollon Rim, an awesome escarpment that extends for miles, all the way to the Grand Canyon and visited Jerome, an historic mining town perched on the side of a mountain.    Sedona has to be right up there on the list of most beautiful places on earth.    We did a little bit of hiking around the red rocks and took a biplane ride up for a bird's eye view of the rock formations.   Jim loved it but I  pretty much held on for dear life and shut my eyes for most of the trip.   Good thing the loud engine drowned out my screaming.   The picture below shows us in our "Rocky, the flying squirrel hats" after a safe and welcomed landing.

Our intention was to spend a few days camped on the south rim of the Grand Canyon but we changed our minds when the forecast was for snow.    Good thing, as just after we got west of Flagstaff a blizzard dumped a foot of snow and the highway was closed.   Good call on Jim's part not to head north from Williams up to the campsite as we had a breakdown shortly after and were stuck for two days in a truck stop while repairs were made.

 LakeMead  supplies water to a number of western States.   Unfortunately, there has been a 10 year drought and the lake is down by 120 feet.   Although our campsite was supposedly on the edge of the lake, it looked like a creek below us.

Lenticular clouds. Is it any wonder why people think they are seeing flying saucers?  

We paid a visit to Hoover Dam.   Do you see the white crusted sides behind the dam?   That shows how low the water level is in Lake Mead.

On to Las Vegas, one of my least favorite places on earth.    Kelly was taking a break from her nursing studies with friends so we took the opportunity to see her.  Erin also caught a flight from D.C. and met us all there, so it was another rare occasion when all four of us were together.    We snagged tickets to see "Lion King" on stage and what a production it was.  Worth every cent.      Suprisingly we did very little gambling.   None of us were too keen to throw our money away.

The rest of the time we amused ourselves with some people watching and checking out the local fantastical architecture.

Tucson, Arizona

We've been visiting my brother, Mike, in Tucson.   He offered for us to pull our trailer into his backyard.    And what a great backyard it is with jawdropping views of the Catalina mountains and awesome sunsets.   I love the way the shadows play on the mountains as the sun moves during the day.  We wake up on the morning to bird chirping and bunnies and quail nibbling on cactus   Mike has a great sense of humor and his yard reflects that.

When we arrived we had another bout of cold weather with snow dusting the Catalinas.

Mike collects antiques and some military stuff we probably don't want to talk about:

Jim and Mike took a trip to the Titan Missile Silo:

 We drove up into the Catalinas one day.   Awesome scenery and great rock formations.

 These guys ride up the 25 miles to Summerhaven in the Catalinas, have a snack and then zoom down at 50 MPH.

 Beautiful.   Tucson in the distance.

New Mexico

What beautiful country views New Mexico has.   Our first stop was at Roswell to search for the elusive aliens.   Even the McDonalds has a spaceship theme.  We went to the museum but found it to be a bit of a joke.   The local historic and art museum was fantastic, though.

Next stop was Santa Fe   Instantly fell in love with the local architecture and beautiful homes.   None of which are affordable!!   We went up the mountain road to the local state park but realized we were into the snow line and cold weather was forecast.   So we dropped back down and found the Rodeo grounds and stayed there for a few nights.  We spent a bit of time walking around the Plaza where the Indians sit in front of the government building selling their beautiful silver and turquoise jewelery.   The St. Francis Cathedral is wonderful, of course.

There is a wonderful legend concerning the St. Loretto Church.    The church had been built however the loft had no access to it.  The nuns prayed and prayed for a solution to their problem and one day a man arrived who said he was a carpenter and built this spiral staircase with no supports then mysteriously left.   They believe it was St. Joseph himself who showed up to build the staircase.

We drove up to Taos.  Unfortunately the pueblo was closed due to religious ceremonies taking place there.   We did find the Rio Grande gorge and saw some interesting earthship homes built from simple materials, very "green" and many with an artistic flair.

Visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings was probably the highlight of our New Mexico experience.    We were able to tour around inside the ancient homes of Mogollon Indians  and had to look closely along the trails to see pictographs left behind....

On to Tucson!!!