Today we went to the Olympic National Park visitors centre and found out 2 routes to take for the scenery of the mountains. First we went up Hurricane Ridge. this was amazing and we went up over 5000feet.

We met an American, Vietnam war veteran and had a good chat with him. He had a brilliant prosthetic leg and was so friendly. He said his other joints were now wearing out with old age!!

I think I saw a bear up there in the snow??

We saw lots of deer today in various places on the mountain.

Next we went to Lake Crescent, also beautiful and calming atmosphere.

Lastly we went to Mary Mere falls.

and along the River Elwha. This was an interesting river. At one time it was teaming with salmon and then they built a dam and flooded the valley. The environment completely changed for 80 years. In 2011 they finally decided to explode the dam and to let the river relive its due course.

They are busy planting native plants and flowers and trees. Only 4 months after they blew up the dam the salmon have begun to return, isn’t that amazing! There were signs to beware of the bear up there as they are in the area.

We just saw more deer.

Hope you are all ok, we are. We go on our cruise on Saturday!!!  xxxx

 

 

So today we decided to explore the coastline up to the Indian territory to cape Flattery.

We were disappointed that most of the way you weren’t able to access the sea and when you could it was very primeval, but that is a beauty anyway.

We continued passed Clallam Bay and it became much better. We saw this huge bird of prey at one part. It was a juvenile bald headed eagle.

When we got to the visitors centre an old man was in there playing on a banjo. He was very good and played songs for as  we looked around. He made us sign the visitors book as in all the time he’d worked there he hadn’t had anyone from England in there.

At Cape Flattery there is a steep “half mile” walk down to the viewing platforms. It seemed longer than that but I managed it and felt really pleased that I had made the effort. These are Granddad’s photos as I didn’t take my camera down there.

The views were spectacular, there were caves and rocky outcrops and lots of sea birds to see. The cape is at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and you can clearly see Canada across the water. Grey whales and orcas and porpoises and seals are there all year round and puffins and many birds of prey. We only saw the sea birds and eagles.

On the way back we passed Lake Crescent. We will go back there tomorrow and to mount Olympus.

Back in Sequim which we now find is pronounced squarm! we went to see our bald headed eagles again. There were lots of seals on a sandbank off shore but too far away to photo sadly. We had another lovely day and were out for nearly 10 hours! xxxxxx

 

We are now in Sequim pronounced squeem. We stopped by the coast nearby before we arrived and I took these photos. There is a special week going on called “irrigation week”

There was a bagpiper playing and a gun went off twice and they raised the flags on the flag pole and then 12 or 13 yachts all decorated with flags pulled out of the marina and sailed around the bay as the bagpipes played them out of the harbour. The yachts were full of very smartly dressed people with white trousers and suit tops. we watched them for a while before we went to see our motel.

We knew we were near to Dungeness Spit 7 miles away so we went down there. It is a wild life sanctuary for sea birds and animals, and totally unspoilt and natural.

We saw bald headed eagles down there and took many pictures. The brown ones are the juveniles. There were other birds too and I am sure we will go there a lot.

We called at a fish restaurant on the way back and I ate scallops mmmm Grandad had halibut it tasted so fresh.

Good luck Lily all this week with your SATs. It was great to catch up with you all via messenger this morning xxxxx

The cloud was lower today and although it was sunny, it was  much colder. We visited the lake and the visitor centres to find out more about the volcano that exploded. It is quite a scary story.

It snowed when we went on the board walks over the lake. That’s how cold it was up there.

I took a few more pictures of the landscape. very different from 2 days ago when we saw blue skies and the tops of the mountains.

This area is fascinating and so beautiful it is sad to leave but we must move on tomorrow up to Sequin Washington State( just opposite Victoria on Vancouver Island Canada) Its the very north of Washington near the Olympic Mountains.

We have been away almost 4 weeks but have seen so much…. we are having an amazing experience. There I so much beauty in our world. xxx

A funny name to call this area next to the river!

We woke up to pouring rain. Fortunately the thunderstorm severe warnings came to nothing here!

We decided to go to Astoria and not to the mountains due to the weather ( and driving would be difficult up there)

The marine museum was very interesting and we learnt a lot about salmon fishing and dangers from the bank of waves coming into the river over a bar from the sea. Many ships have been lost over the 200 years.

We saw a monument high up above the town and so went to see it. It is called Astoria’s Column and has paintings all over it. There is a 360 * view from up there.

People can climb up the tower and the tradition is to fly a paper plane from the top.

There was a traditional first nation canoe up there too.

Grandad was brave and went up to the top. He said it was so very windy on the platform and he felt unsafe. Can you see him on  the side in the wind?

The bridge at the top is the long bridge we crossed over the wide Columbia River

The next 2 pictures are of an historical covered bridge.  Over a small river. Washington State has a few of these dotted around. The bridges were all built of wood and to make them last longer they were covered over to protect from the weather

Tomorrow the weather is better and we are going back to the volcano Mt St. Helen’s

Well done Anona for being nominated for an award for all your work as a student. I know some one else got it but you have done so well! Love you very much!

Lily good luck for next weeks SAT’s and don’t worry about them, just try hard and they will soon be over xxx

Louis I loved the photo of you marking off our journey on the map. Good boy! xxx

Also lots of love and hugs to Otis Xavi and Alice xxxxx

Here’s a little bird singing a song for you all

 

We went to the volcano Mount St Helens today. we set of early as thunderstorms were forecast for late afternoon. It was a lovely drive up wooded valleys. We passed Silver Lake and then got to Toutle. Then we followed North Fork Toutle River. We got as far as Coldwater Lake and got great views of the crater of the volcano. The road was then closed due to snow.

I will tell you about this volcano. It erupted May 18th 1980. I can remember seeing the pictures on television at the time. The environment all around was totally devastated, covered by the eruption and 2 new lakes were formed. Nature has a force to evolve and now 37 years later there are trees and grass and flowers and the lake we saw was full of life. Every where looks good.

On our way back the clouds began to gather and as we ate our lunch the thunder started. The lady at the café told us as we left we must go now and “hunker up” there had been warnings on her television about the storm.

Well we have had thunder and lightening and heavy rain but nothing too bad. There have been more warnings on TV about huge hailstones and an intense storm but here in our hotel we are fine. The TV has gone off and on . Perhaps they are getting it up in the mountains so just as well we came back early! Nothing could ever be as bad as we had in Haast New Zealand for 3 days continuous ha ha!

Hope you like beautiful Mount St. Helen. We think it is very beautiful and may go back there tomorrow.

Saw this bird of prey in the mountains.

lots of love from me xxx

We are in Kelso on the wide river Colombia. The Colombia is the dividing line between Washington State and Oregon.  We travelled to the coast on the Washington Side and returned to Kelso on the Oregon side. We crossed a few long loooooong bridges on the way. The first stop was Long Beach where grey whales are often spotted.

Is this a whale Otis and Louis?

Next we crossed the long bridge to Astoria which was a large and interesting port. We caught up with the paddle steamer again!

Hope you like the photos today. It was quite hot today this afternoon was 81*f

Love to you all missing you. We will try to messenger skype at the weekend to both Oxford and The Hague xxxxx

On our journey today we stopped for a long time in 2 places. First was Salem, the capitol of Oregon at one time. We wanted to see the capitol building. It is made of marble and has a gold statue on the top representing the first pioneers that came to Oregan in the early 1800s.

2 previous capitol buildings had burnt down.

Inside is just as beautiful. We wanted to climb the 121 steps to the top of the tower to see the beautiful view over the river..BUT…. just our luck ……the spiral staircase is closed for a few weeks for renovation work.

Outside we saw the circle of flags of all the US states. Also a replica of the Liberty Bell.

I personally think the building looks ugly from the outside, but was finished in 1938 and is an architectural historical building of that era.

We next stopped in Portland Washington; it is a huge busy city and has the widest river running through it that I have ever seen. Colombia River.

We watched a big paddle boat go under the bridge and then we had lunch in a Mexican restaurant. I managed to find a salad without chillies in it!

The rain had set in and it is still raining now.

We are at Kelso now; the Best Western Aladdin Inn room 103. It has a swimming pool. and has a kitchenette so we can self cater. We’ re here for 5 nights until Sunday.

Grandad is enjoying his holiday!!

Musicians in Salem

love from me   xxxx

 

 

BHi everyone!

Today we woke up to grey skies and rain. We went back to the coast to the Oregon Dunes and visited Florence, Dune City and Winchester Bay. We had nice breakfast in a café at Florence and hoped the rain would stop. Well it did but there was grey skies and a little drizzle at times. This is the view from the top of the highest dunes inland

On the coast we found huge trees washed up on the sand in front of the sand dunes

We went to where the OVH sand buggies were at the weekend but it was deserted. We did see a deer but I wasn’t quick enough to photo him and 2 seals in the water that disappeared under the water as I got my camera ready ha, ha!

But then we saw 4 wild turkeys. They gave us quite a surprise walking along the road.

We are back at the motel now and getting ready for tomorrow when we leave Oregon nd travel to Kelso in Washington State. We are at a Best Western hotel there for 5 nights.

We had a nice day today in spite of the weather and saw a bald headed eagle, pelicans, turkeys, a deer, some seals, egrets and turkey vultures…wow!

lots of love xxx

Oregon is crisscrossed with many large rivers and we followed the Willamette River today up the Willamette Pass. The road gently ascends up to 6000+ feet and the ski stations are up there,( although closed now end of season). It was a lovely drive with views through the forests and over the wide river and lakes.

On the way back we witnessed an accident. 2 people were hurt but ok. A big 4×4 wheel drive was towing a big sized RV. A lady was driving it far too fast and the RV went out of control and flipped over taking the car with it. We were 2 cars behind and saw it happen. The lady had a head injury and her husband had to be cut out as he was jammed against the windscreen but was talking and not unconscious luckily. The car was on its side and the RV upside down and destroyed. No other vehicle was involved thank goodness. The RV just collapsed and shredded with its contents all over the road and the road completely blocked. We were thankful they survived and did not mind the delay. It could have been so much worse! It shocked us a bit as you can imagine.

We went back to the motel to recharge and rest. later we went to a nearby wildlife reserve and watched the birds. I hope you like the photos.

The turkey vultures had their eyes on the goslings, but the geese kept them close by to protect them until the raptors flew away.

Last photo for today and see if you can spot grandma?

Missing you all xxxx more tomorrow xxx