Cascade Locks to Burns

For those who think the latest boots were just a bit of fluff, you need to know they feature the state of the art stability, cushioning technology and is the footwear of choice for top riders. They are stirrup-friendly and deliver peak performance for the serious rider.  Therefore I am now looking for a quarter-horse!

In the meantime we drove from Cascade Locks to Burns today crossing an amazing array of countryside.  We had no idea Oregon was so varied.  After we left the Columbia border and headed off into the hinterland, most of the time we were at a fairly high altitude and bits of leftover snow were evident.   Without more ado....

Precariously perched on the side of the cliffs. 

This seems to be the way the reinforce the strainer post for the fencing.  This is a pretty major one, but smaller ones can be seen all over.  

A welcoming flag in Burns.  We drove about 400 miles today and arrived about 6.30 seeing gas and rest.  

Going as far as we can tomorrow towards Salt Lake City.  Good night all.  Sleep well.

Actually today was my birthday.  I'm a little confused and thought it was yesterday.  In NZ it's probably 2 days ago by now, but I say party on....!

Hummingbirds, Boots and the Columbia River

As requested by those who haven't seen hummingirds, here are 2 views.  Their little wings go a mile a minute and they don't stay long for their photograph to be taken.  

This is a view from the RV driving along the Columbian River Gorge between Oregon and Washington.  As you can see it was a bit of a rainy, drizzly day.  Also you can't actually see much of the road as they've planted trees on both sides that block the view.  Must be to help with wind protection.

A bluejay, again, for those who haven't seen them.  It's about half the size again of a blackbird and very dashing with its cone head feathers and flashing blue colours.

Now for the main feature of tonight's blog.....the American's version of Doc Martin's / Cowgirl boots and Mary's face says it all - jealousy.

And note the lovely details including the lovely mauve lining.  And the are so comfortable.  Have you ever seen anything like them before?

And you thought the M & Ms were Clancy's ruin!

We are currently at Cascade Locks for the night and tomorrow we head out on Hwy 97 to Bend, missing out the snowy mountains and then heading East on Hwy 20.  Not sure how far we'll get but we are heading to the Southwest which is our goal.  

Change of Plans

The weather wasn't really that kind to us today.  The forecast was for snow over the mountain pass we wished to cross so we have diverted a little bit north to the Columbia River so we can skirt the mountains and still head generally East.  So....it's raining now but we are already in our RV camp for the night.  Clancy has gone out to see where the hot pools are as it would be a perfect day for it.  

For those of you following the map we took Hwy 5 up to Portland and then caught the 84 along the Columbia River.  We are currently camped at Cascade Locks and apparently the hot pools are not available.  We will have to think of alternative amusements.  

The rain is really coming down now and we really don't care.  

Bye for now.

Slice of Heaven

Another oasis on our travels.  Another lovely environment and good company.  In no particular order are the following photos, (a small selection out of hundreds, I might add).   Everyone in this house has Apple computers, large and small.  And they know tons more than we do as we are novices of the first order.   Jay and I hard at work. 

This is an example of the funky attention to detail Alison and Mike take in their renovations.  The tiles on the stair risers are laid out like the theory of evolution.  Fish at the bottom and birds at the top.  Alison is mainly a bird vet and mainly parrots.  

My cousin Jay posing with us and one of the goat family. 

Clancy and Alison were out feeding the babies when this little one decided to make its appearance into the world.  Note also the woods in the background.  The field's pest is digging squirrels who leave little mounds of soil in their wake.  A bit of a nuisance.  

This is Dr Mike Hare (the A and E doc) feeding the kids.  He's a lanky 6'5" bloke with a wicked sense of humour.  Works hard, plays hard, laughs all the time.  He loves rocks and they have a stake in an opal mine that we might get to fossic in.  He's also Alison's better half these past 34 years. 

Here's Alison hard at work.  She is little, laughs all the time and is generous to a fault.  We are so loving it here and as there are no more time pressures, we have decided to stay an extra day.  

Nice pic of the valley in front of the house.  Clancy and Mike.

And that's all for now. 

We're not going to Ohio just yet but intend to book something for 2 or 3 weeks from now.  It is much cheaper if you book in advance.  Today we are doing a spot of shopping for farm clothes and possibly rounding up some rams and feeding the kids twice a day.  Bird watching in between.  Clancy found a robin's nest not a foot of the ground.  Still trying to photograph a hummingbird.  The buggers won't stay still.  He he he.  

Breakfast now.  Love to all.  

Oregon Bound

We spent the last 2 nights in a redwood forest with Ken and Jane.  Ken is a local lawyer and Jane is a herbalist, teacher and therapist.  Amazing people, amazing environment.  Jane fed us wonderful salads, quiches, drinks and flavour sprinkles all made with herbs and goodies from the garden.  We love her.  

We did get a good picture of the van parked in the trees anyway.  Not enough time for the sauna etc.  Never enough time.  Ken burned lots of CDs for us so we had music on the road for the first time today.  Thanks Ken!

We hit the road about 8.30 and at about 9.00 we were at Patrick's Point looking for whales.  The guard at the gate said there were some last week.  However, we saw a pod of about 7 or so spouting and flinging up their tails.  Just us.  Nobody else around.  So exciting!  Almost as exciting as Clancy's new boots and hat.

The whales appeared just out there.

Then we stopped at a random beach and found this little guy running around under huge broken bits of concrete.  Clancy fed him some granola to entice him out and we got a couple of cute pictures.  

I see you.....

And before we knew it....after about 7 hours of driving we arrived at Alison and Mike's place in Salem.  We'll post more pictures tomorrow as this is such an amazing environment too.  But first we had to feed the goats.

I think Clancy's in love again.  

These guys are so cute, tame and small.  There are a few sheep too, one that looks like a dalmation but I couldn't get a good photo of that one.

And now it's 10 o'clock and we must away. 

Bears, churches and rocks

Hi everybody.  Sorry it's been so long but we haven't been able to connect to the internet for long enough.  There's lots of pictures here so, not much talking.  

When we were in Pasadena we went up the Angeles Crest Highway as far as Mt Wilson and had a look around.  We were trying to get some views of the city but it was too smoggy or hazy or something.  However, there was this cool bear sign.

I think we talked already about what an oasis Pasadena is and what fabulous houses there are.  This one is known as a Craftsman and is a particular style.  I remember them from my kidhood.

This is just a bloomin' big house.  

This photo was taken in our hotel room in Pasadena.  We found the room very dimly lighted and were constantly hunting for things in the gloom.  I think there's something about being in a hot climate and cool dim interiors.  However, Clancy did discover this monstrous bag of peanut M & Ms.  It is 1.5 kgs and only cost $9.00.  We call it Clancy's ruin.

We had a hell of a time returning the car.  We went to 888 Figueroa Street where we thought they should be.  We were a couple of hours early so we stopped into a laundromat to do the laundry.  We got talking to the guy there who helps people (yes, we needed help) and ended up showing him our photos of NZ and he ended up shouting us the laundry washing and drying.  Nobody knew where the Avis place was so we just starting looking for 888.  Finally, after turning around 3 or 4 times in the vacinity, asking people none of whom knew anything, we worked out we were in North Figueroa and we needed to be South.   That turned out to be about a thousand blocks and we took the surface streets.   Instead of being 2 hours early, we were 10 minutes late and getting frantic.  

Now we were in downtown L.A. and the Avis return place was on the 5th floor of a carpark building from where we had to drag all our stuff in the elevator down to the ground floor and do the business.   Then we had to struggle out the door and wait for the taxi.  Because we are now on the OPPOSITE side of the city, the taxi cost $61.00 plus tip!

Picking up the campervan was also frought as the people there were trying to do three things at once and were quite distracted.  All in all, we were glad to get out on the road and out of L.A. and we made it all the way to Morro Bay the first night, arriving in the dark, but arriving nonetheless.  

We'll show you the van later as I just deleted the picture accidently.  

Here is Moro Rock, the local claim to fame.

Then we hit the road again and made it up to Nathan and Kay's in good time.  They live about a hour West of Yosemite which is a wonderful national park.  They live in a renovated church.  It was actually renovated by my ex-husband over 2 years and it is pretty amazing.  Very spacious.  Here is an example of a bit of their living room.  They have about 3 sofa sets for visiting, etc., a ping pong table, pin ball machine, drum set, and lots of other toys.  

Nate drove us through Yosemite where we saw teepees.  I told Clancy we would look like geeks with matching jackets and yes, here we are. 

Yosemite is basically massive granite cliffs and waterfalls and beautiful forests.  They have several famous rock formations, some of which are world famous rock climbing venues.  Nate says it takes 4-7 days to climb up the face of some of them and people hang there sleeping during the night.  No thinks.  Here is Yosemite Falls, the tallest water fall in the country.  This is only part of it.  

Random cliff overhang.  Nice. 

Yesterday was about 9 hours driving to get to Arcata just south of the Oregon border where we are now parked in a grove of Redwoods near my friend's house.  It is a sunny day and we are about to do a spot of sightseeing and perhaps a spot of shopping.  So, must away.

First though, thanks to Zoe for the pictures of Arthur.  Yes, Arthur, we saw you at the display on Anzac day.  You're looking great, as always and we're missing you and thinking of you.  

Lots of love to everyone.

Mary and Clancy

On the Road at Last

Hi Everyone. No photos today as it was all very hectic and we finally got to Morro Bay at about 9:30 at night so we have no idea where we are or what anything looks like, BUT we're back on schedule.  Most things about the motor home are great.  We were surprised and pleased to get one that you could walk into the back from the front seat.  That is so convenient.  Down side....they left out a few essentials like the torch and there are no little cake plates....how can that be?  I must eat cake!

Tomorrow we expect to drive over to Cathey's Valley to Nathan and Kate's house.  They live near Merced which is very near Yosemite National Park.  Kind of east of San Francisco but down a bit. We'll post some pictures of the van in the daylight.  

Good night for now.

Us

The Reunion

This is just a short update on the reunion activities which revolved around eating and drinking.  I probably enjoyed the picnic the most because we could move around easily and one didn't have to shout.  I am hoarse from 2 nights of restaurants.  It was amazing how much everyone looked like they used to....just a little older.  I think Clancy and I were the only ones who didn't dye our hair though.   This is us at the Italian Restaurant.  Next night was Mexican and way too many marguaritas!

Here is the church I attended during high school years.  I understand it is a replica of a bascilica in Rome, Saint Andrews perhaps?  Don't know how to spell bascilica.

Each of the pillars up the sides of the church are made from a different colour marble, no doubt imported from Italy.  I think it is over 150 years old.  Not so old in European terms I guess.  There are also frescos painted on the ceilings and all kinds of gorgeous details.  The day we were there, a wedding was in progress so we were just quietly sneaking around.  You can just make out the happy couple up at the alter.

And that's all about that for now.  

Bye

Venice Beach and beyond

Hi Folks,

We've been loving Pasadena.  It is like an oasis in the desert.  Here is a pretty typical residential street.  The houses are amazing.  Talk about wealthy.  They're like the cars - big!

This is the drive home from the beach.  This trip should take about 40 minutes and it took us 2 hours mostly due to an accident on one of the freeways.  Clancy took full advantage of the opportunity to photograph the city and the cars.  

You can see downtown Los Angeles through a little smog.  Clancy is amazed to see palm trees all over the place.  She thought it was just one particular street that is always in the movies.  

We rented a couple of bikes from the Santa Monica Pier and peddled along the famous bike/skate/walk/run way to Venice Beach - only about 3 miles for us, but the whole bike way is 26 miles long.  Really great.  We saw some amazing sights, for example this bloke had a pretty big piano on the footpath and was busking.  The brolly was for his dog.

There is an amusement park built on the Santa Monica pier along with stalls, entertainment, people fishing for herring and a film crew doing something with cameras and lights.  No idea who, what or why.  They weren't interested in having a couple of Kiwis in their shoot either.  

Here is Clancy doing the tourist thing on Santa Monica Pier.  We had a really good coffee too.  Still looking for the middle-aged waitress with a big heart.  

As you can see the beach was not very full as yet.  In another 3 hours it was about 4 times as full, which is really still not much compared to the summer crowds.  It was really pleasant actually, not too many people and not too hot although we did get a bit of sunburn.  

Tomorrow is Monday here and we're going to pick up the campervan!  We're going to try and drive up Pacific Coast Highway as far north as San Luis Obispo about half way up California.  We intend to stay at a motor camp at Morro Bay.  

Hope you are all well.  Thanks for the comments so far.  

Mary's Old Stomping Grounds

We had a big day today.  We fetched our rental car, registered with AAA and hit the road.  Here is car.  

First thing we did was drive 'round to my old house of course.  Looks much the same, but boy the neighbourhood sure has changed.  Houses where there were only trails for tomboys and horses and rabbits.  Oh my.  

We also had a little look at how the other half lives, pictures later.  Clancy is great at reminding me to keep on the right.  Mostly, it's okay but there are times....

Here is a typical vehicle. Not really sure what to call them.  Yank tanks?

We walked around Old Town Pasadena which is basically a mecca for the well-heeled and finally found a place that served hot tea and donuts.  Lovely.   Then we headed up to city hall where Clancy got whistled at.  You can laugh, but he had a gun and she didn't even smile.  She thought I said stand on the yellow lines to take a picture.  The cop said, "Where you from?"  "You're not in NZ now".  She got off with a warning.  

Pasadena is a well-heeled town actually.  Beautiful big trees shading most residential streets and keeping everybody cool.  Very nice.  The temperature is also nice; balmy, sometimes a bit hot in the middle of the day, but all right in the main.

We did a spot of shopping at Target which is very like a Warehouse.  Clancy got a new camcorder which should keep her busy for a while.  

We dined across from the Motel at Gin Sushi.  We shared one portion, as pictured.  The reason Clancy is looking funny is because she just had a big mouthful of Wasabi thinking it was avacado.  (Not sure if I'll get the photo to sit in the right place so it could be at the top of the page.  Sorry.)

Saw a little kid today with a NZ tee shirt on and Clancy reckons a lady in the dressing room was a Kiwi.  We're everywhere.

And now it's after 10 p.m. and we must go to sleep.  Tomorrow not yet planned.

Sleep well everyone.