#17 - The Beautiful Oregon Coast

September 10th - 16th

Our home for the next seven days was at Cape Perpetua Campground in the Suislaw National Forest. We were just south of Yachats (Ya hots) and north of Florence, Oregon. It's a beautiful area and we hoped to see it all and just soak it in. (Not literally, of course.) The forecast was for anywhere from 30-50% chance of rain everyday so we fully expected some sunshine and blue skies intermingled with clouds and mist and that is exactly what we got. Our campsite was pretty rustic. Literally, in the woods, surrounded by lots of trees and bushes with a  babbling mountain stream right behind us. It was a little dark and pretty wet. The best thing about it was that it was right across the road from some of the most beautiful areas along the Oregon coast. Devil's Churn, the Spouting Horn, Cook's Chasm are just a few of the names of the many stunning overlooks. Each day we picked a direction and rode the trike as far as we could go and still get home before dark. We loved it all. Watching the never ending, pounding sea against the rocks from the cliffs above is something I will never forget.

One of our favorite days was a trip to Florence and a place called Mo's. It is a restaurant known for its clam chowder and hands down, it was the best clam chowder I have ever had! Yum! While we ate, we watched people on the dock fishing for crabs. What an interesting process. Down goes the basket and literally a minute later it's pulled up with lots of crabs inside! They could only keep the males and they had to be a minimum of 7.5 inches long, so most of them were thrown back.  It was fun to watch.

Happy trails to you. 

#16 - On to Oregon!

September 8th & 9th

We're sure learning and experiencing the difference in Washington weather depending on which side of the Cascade Mountains you are on. From hot and dry to rain and a lot cooler. It's all pretty interesting.

The last two days of traveling around the peninsula in Washington are being spent outside a little town called Cosmopolis. Our clothes are still pretty wet from the rainy motorcycle ride yesterday so we're taking a day off of riding to try to dry things out and relax! That might not be easy as it's sprinkling as I write. We have a cute site in the woods that's kind of cozy, so we're good. The drive from Port Angeles was grey and rainy. We went through the town of Forks, which some of you may remember from the Twilight Saga. We were along the coast for a short time and enjoyed the views despite the weather.

After we leave here, we will spend the next 7 days in central Oregon along the coast. The forecast doesn't look good, but it can't rain all the time, right? We are hoping for...

Happy Trails.

#15 - Neah Bay and the Cape Flattery Trail

September 6 & 7, 2018

After leaving Silverlake and Mount St. Helen's, we chose to make a big circle around Olympic National Park and the large peninsula in northwest Washington. It was a beautiful ride to our first stop, Port Angeles, but the road was much  narrower and curvier than we expected. We wished we were on the trike rather than in Shorty! Port Angeles is located on the northern end of the peninsula on the Straight of Juan de Fuca, just south of Victoria on Vancouver Island. It was the first port many of our World War II soldiers saw upon returning from the Pacific.

We had a decision to make about where we wanted to ride and spend our one day in Port Angeles. One choice was doing some short rides into Olympic National Park and the other was a long 70-mile one-way ride to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery. It is about as far west as you can go in the lower 48 states. The weather was iffy that day so you can just guess our choice. You're right. Cape Flattery. Yikes. We were told that there was a 1/2-3/4 mile hiking trail to the ocean with amazing views and that it would be so worth it. We believe anybody so off we went.

It started raining just as we pulled into Neah Bay. There's a short drive from there to Cape Flattery and the trailhead. We had all our rain gear on, hiking boots, hiking poles, cell phones for pictures...we were set. Well, it rained our whole treacherous hike. Even Rick, who is a great hiker, thought it was one of his hardest hikes ever. Muddy paths, slippery rocks, slippery intermittent board walks, tree roots out to grab you, you name it. We met lots of people coming back and they all said, "keep going, keep going, it's worth it." Ya, ya, ya.

I must have been really motivated that day though. I hung in there, stayed upright and even helped Rick lift up a lady who had fallen in a bush and couldn't get up. I was so glad I had my poles! We took some great pictures and eventually got back to the trailhead safely. It's all good...or was it? We were cold and wet and had a 70-mile trip home on the trike. Oh oh. Won't go into detail but I don't think I've ever been so cold in my entire life. We eventually got back to Shorty safe and sound, got into warm, dry clothes and blankets and were fine. It is a day we will never ever forget. We wish you dry

Happy Trails. 🎵🎵

#14 - Silverlake and Mount St. Helens

Tuesday & Wednesday, Sept. 4 & 5, 2018

Oh, the joys of electricity! For the first time in nine days, we are plugged in and off water rationing. What a treat! Actually, it's kinda funny. Once you get used to using the least amount of water you need to get the job done, it wasn't that bad. As far as electricity, that was much easier than I thought it would be. We have a generator for essentials that we run for an hour/day, little lanterns that we use at night, I cook with propane and we use 12-volt house batteries for the rest. (What has happened to me? I can't believe I'm saying that stuff!) Haha. 

Anyway....we took the long way around to get to our next destination in Silverlake, WA. We wanted to avoid the same drive we took when we went to see Mount Rainier so we headed south to travel along the Columbia Gorge. What an absolutely beautiful area! Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures but we sure have the memories. We chose Silverlake as our next stop as we really wanted to see Mount St. Helens and it looked like a great motorcycle ride between the two.

Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its major 1980 eruption, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed, nearly 7000 big game animals (deer, elk and bear), an estimated 12 million fish, 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. (Information taken from literature we picked up at the Visitor Center). It was so interesting seeing the mountain from a distance and then being able to drive up to see it so much closer. You are driving on the newer roads, crossing newer bridges and yet still seeing the destructive remnants of the eruption. It was quite a day and we're still wishing you...

Happy Trails.

#13 - The Ellensburg Rodeo and A Last Ride

Sunday, September 2nd

Those of you who know me well or were with us on our trip 5 years ago, know I have always loved rodeos. It's the little girl horse thing, I guess. Anything to do with horses. Well, it turns out, the Ellensburg Rodeo, held annually over the Labor Day weekend, is one of the top 10 rodeos in the country. Since we were "floaters" on Saturday, today was the day for the rodeo and the county fair. It was a warm one; sunny and 86°. We were lucky, though, and got seats in the shade. Bronco riding, calf roping, trick riding, bull riding... we had it all. After the rodeo, we walked around the small county fair and then to our favorite park so I could send my latest blog. Another delightful day, ending with a beautiful early evening ride home through the canyon.

Monday, Sept. 3rd

The neighborhood is emptying out quickly, the long weekend coming to an end. Jerry, Debbie & Kristen, our floater friends, headed out early this morning and we will be leaving here tomorrow. The only ride we haven't taken so far is directly east and in an attempt to avoid heavy holiday traffic, that is where we went today. The town was called Vantage and it really was just a recreation area with a gas station, RV park and a fun little restaurant. It was a nice quiet ride through rural Washington and very different from what we were used to seeing.
We tried to soak in everything on our last ride home through Yakima Canyon. We truly enjoyed our time here and will miss it, but tomorrow we move on to the other side of the Cascades. We wish you...

Happy trails. 🎵🎵

#12 - Floating Down the Yakima River

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Thursday night, Rick had the pleasure of meeting a nice gentleman who had moved into a site a "couple of doors" down from us. He had walked over to visit and the two of them talked for quite a while, sharing their stories. Jerry was from the Seattle area and had been coming to this area for many years. He had lots of suggestions for us and was just a real good guy. He came to the campground the night before to get a spot before the holiday weekend rush. His wife Debbie had to work and she would be joining him late on Friday. Jerry and Debbie were "floaters." It seems that the Yakima River that runs through this canyon, brings all kinds of people (college kids, families, older folks) in from all over to spend the afternoon 'floating down the river.' We had seen some of them as we made our trips to and from town and it looked like fun but in all honesty, not something we would probably do.
Well, this morning as Rick and I were getting ready to head to the rodeo in Ellensburg, Jerry, Debbie and their daughter Kristin, stopped over to invite us to go floating with them! They said they had everything we needed for floating, pack a lunch and be at their site and ready to go in 45 minutes.
What a beautiful day we had together.
Laughter at all of us trying to get in and out of our tubes and kayaks, peacefulness as Ol' Man River took us down 12 miles of beauty, happiness with spending time together and getting to know one other and sheer contentment with the warm day, blue skies, cool clear water and floating! A train even came by and blew his whistle. Life is good.

Happy trails. 🎵🎵

#11 - Just Taking It Easy

Tuesday - Friday, August 28-31, 2018

Time for a little peace and quiet. There's not a lot of people here at the recreation site yet, so it's just us, the train, the mountains, night skies filled with stars and a few distant neighbors. We're just going to catch up on daily living, grocery shop, reorganize things a little, take a short ride when we get bored and just enjoy where we are, where we've been and where we're going. We did take one longer ride on Friday to a cute little Bavarian town north of us called Leavenworth. It was a busy ride with lots of Seattle folks coming into the area for the long weekend, so we didn't get to take many photos, but it was an enjoyable day.
It's been two weeks since we left home and a year ago on the 28th that I broke my wrist. We're so grateful that we can be here and continue to enjoy the beauty of our great country. We really appreciate you following along, your likes and comments. Haven't been able to communicate much with all of you except through the blog. Hope all is well.

Happy trails. 

#10 - Mount Rainier Road Trip

Monday, August 27, 2018

We're starting out this morning to see if we can catch a glimpse of Mount Rainier. They say it's rather difficult to catch it on a clear day and that it is frequently hidden behind clouds. We didn't have a lot of hope but it was a beautiful day and perfect for an approximate 180 mile round-trip ride.
Mount Rainier was the fifth National Park, established in 1899. Ninety-seven percent of it is pure wilderness and there really aren't that many roads that go through it. What we did see was beautiful.

We had to cross White Pass to get to Mount Rainier. A couple of roads were closed on our way up due to fires but we didn't see or smell any smoke. At the top of the pass was a firefighter camp. Maybe 50-75 little tents. What they do and the lives they live doing their work is truly amazing.

Well, we kept going and some time later, we turned a corner and both gasped. Between the beauty and the unexpectedness of it, there he was!
I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Happy trails. 🎵🎵