May 2010 CA,OR, WA Part 1

Bridal Vail Falls, Yosemite Valley
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, YosemiteNP
Drive through Sequoia tree at Calaveras Big Tree SP, CA
Azalea

In Fresno, we toured the Forestiere Underground Gardens. Here an immigrant wanted to have an orchard, so he bought land in the Fresno area. Afterwards he found out the land was composed of several feet of hard pan where nothing would grow. Not one to admit defeat, he dug a maze of underground tunnels where he planted his orange trees, and dug holes to the surface for light and water. He even lived underground. It’s amazing what a determined person can accomplish with 40+ years of back breaking work.
We were able to get into Yosemite NP and we biked around the valley. We even saw a black bear while we were there (but no picture). We did get a campsite in the NP, but it was 20 miles from Yosemite Valley. We tried to get up to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir but we were told by the NPS that our RV was too wide, despite road postings that indicated we were OK. Frustrated by our efforts to see Sequoia and now parts of Yosemite, we decided to leave.
Since we could not see the big trees in Sequoia NP last month, we went to Calaveras Big Tree SP and saw its giant Sequoia trees. We followed the scenic Trinity River over to the coast to see the Redwoods. An unexpected bonus was finding a group of 12 Roosevelt Elk grazing at a coastal lookout.
Overall, we were happy to leave California. In addition to the problems we had in their National Parks, their State Parks were by far the most expensive in the country, as much as $45/night.

May 2010 CA,OR, WA Part 2

Roosevelt Elk along Costal Highway in CA
Scotch Broom
Sea Lion and Seal getting some sun, Oregon coast
Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon coast

Oregon
Traveling up the coast of Oregon improved our mood as we saw large groups of seals and sea lions basking in the sunshine. Oregon’s State Parks were some of the best we have visited. We toured the Heceta Head lighthouse and saw more seals and sea lions there. In Newport we visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium and toured their Passages of the Deep, where you walk through underwater tubes surrounded by sharks, rays and other sea life.

May 2010 CA,OR, WA Part 3

Yoda's Helper
You call this a trail?
View from Hurricane Ridge, Olympic NP
My new winter touring vehicle

Washington
We took a week to tour the Olympic National Park and we covered every area we could get into. The road was open to Hurricane Ridge but there was still enough snow on the ground for the locals to go skiing. After a good soak in the Hot Springs at Sol Duc Resort, we had lunch in Forks, the town that the movie Twilight made famous. Heading out of the Hoh River Valley, we found a large herd of Roosevelt Elk resting on the river bank. We had a fair amount of light rain during the week, but it didn’t slow us down - just made a mess in the RV!

May 2010 CA,OR, WA Part 4

Sol Duc Falls, Olympic NP
Pat and giant Western Red Cedar, Olympic NP
Big Leaf Maple covered in Cub Moss, Olmpic NP
Rhododendron, State Flower of Washington
Visit with the Remys
Our friends, Tom and Cornelia, invited us to spend the long Memorial Day holiday weekend with them. We had not seen them since we all went to Peru together last Nov. From their house in Renton, WA we went to see the Experience Music Project. This is billionaire Paul Allen’s (Microsoft’s co-creator) tribute to Jimi Hendrix and the electric guitar. Paul also cleared out his attic and basement of his Sci-Fi collection and created an adjoining museum that we checked out. Then Tom and Cornelia treated us to a fabulous lunch at the Seattle Space Needle’s rotating restaurant. Later, we visited the Jimi Hendrix Memorial. We toured a few gardens but it was clear that we were still in the rainy season so we took in a few movies and went to see an excellent local production of 42nd Street. Then it was time to move west, into the rain shadow of the Cascades Mountains.

May 2010 CA, OR, WA Part 5

Seattle Space Needle

Pat, Don, Cornelia, and Tom from Space Needle

Yoda says, "Pat, she is where?"

Jimi Hendrix Memorial, in Renton WA