Prison Vultures

September 25 - 27, 2017
Elks Lodge #1712
Shingle Springs, California



Yesterday we started our day with a trip to the Folsom Prison Museum.  It was very interesting but now I can't get Johnny Cash's song out of my head.  I was surprised to see an exhibit about "Sheriff Joe" from Arizona at this museum. 

The original prison was nicknamed "The Castle" due to its design.   It is built in a hole formed after the excavation of the granite used in the buildings.  We weren't permitted to get close enough to see where the road sloped toward the main gate.

All of the license plates for the state of California are still manufactured at this facility.












We also drove over to see the site of Sutter's Mill.  The area now is a state park with a reproduction of the original sawmill.

This is the site of the original mill on the American River.  It's hard to visualize how quickly this area changed after gold was discovered.  The ranger told me that a three once nugget was found five years ago so there must still be gold in the area.  

This is a memorial to the Lincoln Highway and old US 40 which were replaced by Interstate 80.  Notice how smooth the slabs from the original road are?  Too bad the newer road is not pothole free.

We were driving down the road when this group of statutes caught my eye.  These enormous works of art were made by a local dentist in Auburn, California.  The parking lot of his original office is decorated with several of his concrete statutes.

Did I mention that they were very big?






The artist's first statue in the 1960s was of a nude man.  Unfortunately it faced a busy street causing shock and criticism from the town.   School buses were rerouted so they didn't pass by with a load of school children.  That was a long time ago and now no one seems to pay much attention to the art work.

We have been fortunate to time our visit to this Sacramento suburb to coincide with the annual vulture migration.  It is rather disturbing to see large numbers of vultures circling overhead.  I wonder if they know something we don't. 

When we were driving in Oregon we passed a sign warning "Ecology Crew Ahead". I was expecting to see a bird banding operation, turtle crossing or something like that.  It turned out to be people picking up garbage.

Sundials and Sore Feet

September 22 - 24, 2017
Elks Lodge #1073
Redding, California

I was starting to think the sun didn't shine in Oregon but when we left it was a nice day that showed the promise of getting out of the 30s.




We drove south towards Redding, California and past Mt. Shasta.  Beautiful day!












As we were driving along, we passed this memorial sculpture garden on the northwestern slope of Mt. Shasta.

This garden was started by some northern California veterans on 134 acres of land donated by the Park Service.  Tens of thousands of tree were planted by volunteers representing veterans.  Sculptures were then added to the garden to enhance the memorial.

The Greatest Generation

 POW - MIA

 

Redding, California has numerous nice walking / biking trails.  We are camped right next to the Sacramento River Trail.  This paved trail provides public access to the river along the many miles of the trail.




 
We enjoyed the trail that went over this bridge called the Sundial Bridge.  The decking is composed of metal and glass.

The vertical piece on the end of the bridge functions as a large sundial with markers on the ground to signify the time.  Wonder how that works with daylight savings time.

 View from the bridge.

Fire and Ice

September 19 - 21, 2017
Klamath County Fairgrounds
Klamath Falls, Oregon

After we left Florence, Oregon we traveled to Brookings, Oregon for a few days.  Brookings is the site of the fire camp for the firefighters in the area.   A large map was posted in front of the grocery store everyday to keep residents and visitors updated on the progress of the closest fires.  Two days of rain cleared the air and helped with the fires so we decided to try Crater Lake once more. 



Fire didn't stop us but the snow did.  As the road climbed higher the light rain turned into heavy snow. The road and the visibility got so bad we had to turn around and drive back to Klamath Falls.  We're from Arizona so we didn't have an ice scraper or snow brush.  I think we have turned into wimps since moving south!

Today we drove south a few miles to Lava Beds National Park.  I was expecting something like Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona but instead of being above ground the biggest attraction at this park was the lava caves.

We didn't leave the RV prepared to go caving so we were lacking the required equipment: gloves, knee pads, safety helmets and flashlights with extra batteries and bulbs.  It is suggested that everyone leave their itinerary at the visitor center so if you don't come back in a reasonable amount of time that they would know where to start the search. This was starting to sound less like fun.










The ranger then told us that if we didn't want that much adventure, there was one cave that had lights, a paved walkway and did not require special equipment. 

Yet again, we chose the wimpy "adventure". 

Squirrels & Whales

September 14 - 16, 2017
Elks # 1858 Recreation Park
Florence, OR

On our way from Long Beach, WA to Florence, OR we passed through the squirrel infested town of Longview, WA.  Many years ago after witnessing the demise of most of the town's squirrels on the street in front of his office, a local contractor decided to build a bridge over the street so the squirrels could cross safely. 

This engineering marvel was such a success that several more bridges were built. The town now holds a Squirrel Festival each year to celebrate the rodents and their replica bridges.

We had originally planned to travel to Mt. Ranier, Crater Lake and Proxy Falls.  The routes to each one were blocked by wildfires so we switched to Plan B - driving down the coast of Oregon.  It's good to be flexible.




At Sea Lion Cave we went down in the cave even though the seals weren't there.  In the summer they gather on the rock ledges outside the caves.




 

In the winter the seals move into the caves.

South of Sea Lion Cave

                                               North of Sea Lion Cave

We saw whales almost everywhere we stopped.  I was surprised that they were so close to shore in relatively shallow water. 

If you look very carefully a whale fin is visible in this photo.












The biggest problem trying to photograph whales is that you have to be very quick with your camera.  Dave wasn't.  I think we now have hundreds of photos of the Pacific Ocean showing nothing but ripples where a whale used to be.

Disappointment and Chowder

September 10 - 12, 2017
Andersens On The Ocean RV Park
Long Beach, Washington






Yesterday we drove down to Cape Disappointment State Park.

The scenery was beautiful and we also enjoyed the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center.

Dave looks a little strange here but he was trying to tell me that a big wave was coming and if I didn't move  quick I would get very wet.

Today we went into town to see the Kite Museum.  Since the wind never stops blowing here I can understand how this is the perfect place for the International Kite Festival.  I never knew there were so many different kinds of kites.  I wish we had been here in August for the festival.

It is not a very large town but they do have good restaurants.  Luckily we found a wonderful place where Dave was able to get his fill of chowder.

This area is very different from the main land with its own personality.  Even the goats have artistic talent.

Guess if the children don't behave they get put up for sale.

We have really enjoyed our stay at this RV Park.  It is right on the ocean but without a lot of people.  

Smoke Free At Last!

August 7 - 9, 2017
101 RV Park
Forks, Washington

It was several long days of driving but we finally made it out of the smoke. When we pulled into the RV park in Idaho the manager came out to check that we were the proper distance from the other RVs.  He wanted to make sure we had a "fire break" between rigs.

Washington was just as smokey as Idaho so we traveled farther west to the Olympic Peninsula.  Unfortunately when we arrived in Port Townsend we found out that the Wooden Boat Show started the next day so we moved around to Forks on the west side of the peninsula.  It was only about 100 miles but it took us four hours to make the trip due to traffic and road construction.

It isn't smokey here but we still haven't seen the sun.  It seems we just traded the smoke for the haze and mist. 


 






Yesterday we visited the HOH Rain Forest on the western side of Olympic National Park.

It was quite a change from the hot smokey weather we have been having.

The park reminded us of Delaware where the humidity is just as high.










We took three of the trails but even after walking several miles the only wildlife we saw was one squirrel and this slug.










After the rain forest we drove down to Ruby Beach and we were rewarded with a glimpse of blue sky.

All the beaches around here are littered with large logs that have washed up on the beach over time.  It makes for quite an obstacle course, especially after the tide comes in.

Tomorrow we are finally heading south on our way back to Arizona.