Day 21

Well this is my third attempt to post tonight. First one finished saved and ready to post when I got kicked off the I ternet and guess what - no post. So I tried again, this time no pictures just blog and again I'm kicked off and no blog. This time I'm trying on my iPad to see if that makes any difference
So, yesterday we left woodland saw some farm land, found a screw in a tire, got it fixed and only got about 300 mm.
Today we left Fresno and saw more farms - huge dairy, oranges, lemons, grapes, walnuts, almonds, corn, alfalfa, cotton, rice, etc. Never knew rice was grown outside of Asia.
Tonight we're in Vegas. Tom sprang for a room unlike any we've stayed in before - very old and tired. But it does have a king bed, tv, bathroom and air co dittoing. Oh yes, and the worst Internet connection so far. Tom says I've made him look bad but I said he's done that already. Ilm just broadcasting it LOL
Well here goes my third and last attempt to post. Wish me luck and by the way did anyone guess what that picture was of before I told you

Day 21

Day 19

This was one of our last looks at the Pacific Ocean before starting east to see the interior of California - farm country!!!! But not before seeing the California giant Redwoods. What can you say about trees that are bigger around than we are and about 300 ft. tall.




This doesn't look so big, does it. But miles of forest were full of these majestic beauties.




















Have you ever seen a leprechaun before? lol
I tell Tom at least once a day how strong he is and how big he is in my eyes - I guess I'm going to have to start finding something else to say to him - like, you are so small I could hide 100 of you behind a tree. LOL
All kidding aside, tonight we're just outside Sacramento and may take a day to go back and backroad some farms we've seen - no pictures, cause no camera. But we have seen corn, sunflowers, almond groves, plum orchards, olive groves and fields of rice. This country is so full of surprises and is so interesting.

Day 18

Today we left a small town - Garibaldi - and bad weather to move onto sunshine, warmth and some beautiful scenes.
We finally found a pull off where we could make our way over sand dunes to the beach. There was sand and huge boulders but above all was the roaring of the pounding waves. We tried taking pictures but couldn't do it justice. However here are some of the pictures I decided to put in.l We are now inCrescent City, California and hope to see a lot more beach tomorrow:)


Try and guess what this is. Winner will get the satisfaction of knowing they're right.










This is the mark left by a wave as it snaked across dry sand. We thought it was really interesting. Okay, who won?

Our travels down Washington's coast brought many beautiful scenes our way from the mountains in clouds to lakes and finally to the ocean and the surprising shorelines we saw. We even saw a cranberry bog just to fill in some areas we knew nothing about,
I didn't mean to put in the picture of the bridge but since I did we think it was almost as long as the one at Mackinaw City.
Most surprising thing we saw today - the shoreline. Anything from sandy beach to rocky to bogs.
Most beautiful thing we saw today. Mountains half shrouded in low clouds with only the bottom and top showing.
Animals we saw today. A deer standing at the side of the road waiting to cross.
All in all a great day = can't wait until tomorrow to see what's down the highway.

Day 16

 

These are salmon which will be milked for their eggs at the fish hatchery on Vancouver Island

 Tom and I arrived on Vancouver Island knowing we had  places to see things to do - one of those beingt Tofino on the west side of the Island.  This isn't Tofino but was close to it - great beaches, sorry no pictures of the surfers.  
I kinow these pictures aren't very good but they were taken with my iphone after an accident with our camera.  Well, not sure if you can call it an accident.  While we were at the Cathedral Grove taking pictures of the huge trees a bee (or something like one) decided we had been there long enough and stung me on the hand and I think I threw the camera thinking that would do something, not sure what.  The camera landed on the lense and that was the end of our camera :(  Didn't cry over it too long as within a minute my arm started to itch first the elbow then my other elbow and hand and before I knew it I was itchy from my eyeballs to the soles of my feet and thought I might have to find a tree to rub against.  After a  quick trip to a pharmacy and some Benedryl taken in the store without water, I realized that the lump in my throught that I thought was the pills caught in my through wasn't pills at all but some swelling. 
I melted the ice I had on my hand trying to control the itching and then the swelling started.  Not very pretty.  Must admit it soured the sights for the rest of the morning until I fell into a drug induced sleep.  Feeling much better now but it did take a few days for the swelling to go down.

 This isn't Cathedral Grove but but a grove of giant trees at Elk Falls that Tony and Vicky took us to.

 Here we are looking tiny next to these wonders

 Elk Falls were a sight to behold!!!

Tony's car looked so good in the parking lot that I thought I'd take a picture and see if I could sell it to VW
So now we are mourning the loss of our camera and looking forward to getting one so we can take some pictures again - that is pictures that you can see what they are.
Tonight we are in Port Angeles, Washington and looking for some warm sunny weather.  Anyone knoiw where it is so we can go to find it?

dAY 10 AND 11

No pictures today - not that we don;`t have any just that I`m too tired tonight to go through them and pick some out. 
Yesterday we left Jasper and arrived in Mt.l Currie and a day of wonderful sightseeing which ended in a half hour wait at a road construction site during which time we discovewred that the river right beside us was full of sockeye salmon.  even I could see the fish in the water.
Today we made it to Qualicum Beach after a morning in Whistler.  Not only did we ride the cable car to the top of Whistler but we took the hift chairs to the peak and also the cable car across to Blackcomb.  Great heights :)  The sea to sky highway didn`t disappoint us and the first sightings of the Pacific were thrilling.  Our ride over to the island included sighting a hump back whale and the engtire ride spent on the upper deck at the front of the ferry - so windy that Tom could have hit himself if he had spit. lol
Tomorrow we`re off to view the forests of Vancouver Island and revisit the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Day 9, Sept. 7, 2011

 Moraine Lake has changed|!!!!  The overlook we stood on 20 years ago is gone, thee is a resort there and 100s of tourists.  And the beauty of the lake has been lost.  Wish we had skipped this stop.

 Remember I asked you to bear with me as I learned to blog again, well  pictures are out of sync.  This is how we ended our day, sitting at the side of a river (picture to follow).  We're just outside of Jasper and enjoying a beautiful evening.

 Lake Louise is as beautiful as ever.  I guess there's nothing more to say, it was all we remembered from 1991 and maybe more after our last disappointment with Moraine.

We found this lake, or maybe I should say we drove past this lake, there it was right beside the road wanting a picture to be taken of its beauty.  Tom and I decided we much prefer to look in places other than the hot tourist spots.  This is so unspoiled and beautiful.

 God spared no beauty when His hand created these mountains.  White tips on top of grey and green and slate, absolutely gorgeous.

 I'm so proud of myself that I only put in a few pictures tonight - we took over 160 and I could have put them all in.  Every turn in the road had a spectacular view - nothing quite like the Canadian Rockies!

This is the river we sat beside until the bugs drove us inside.  Our first day in the Rockies was a reminder of how great our God is and how much He loves beauty.  Maybe with the sadness of leaving Ro and Art He knew we needed something that would distract us.  And it did!

Day 8, sept 6, 2011

Well my first post has been a lesson in patience and frought with mistakes. The whole last section got lost and as Tom would say it's floating somewhere out there. What I had said was to please be patient with me as I learn to blog again and laugh with me as I miss catching spelling mistakes Tom and I have enjoyed four days with Ro and Art. We have spent some time in their beUtiful back yard, walked in their neighborhood, taken some drives, seen what they call road kill Alberta style (a moose), but mainly we have enjoyed visiting and just spending time with family. We have also spent a lot of time laughing at how alike we are, sleeping with Ro for the first 17 years of my life obviously made a lasting impression on me lol We got to see tara and bill one evening - figured out we haven't seen tara since she was about 12. We also saw mike, Jenny and the boys. Everyone says the boys being identical triplets are next to impossible to tell apart but I had no problem at all. - Tom even asked me which was which. Jack wore red, Jordan black and will blue - what's the big deal LOL

2011 Holiday, Week 1

We spent our first night in Mackinaw City, northern Michigan where Lakes Superior and  Michigan meet

 

This bridge spans the 5-mile straits between the two lakes.

 

Lake Superior has beautiful sandy shores that screamed out for our footprints.

 

So Tom left his footprints

 

and I did too.

 

The drive west was beautiful - ranging from large grain storage setups beside railroad tracts

 

to gas wells - those in operation and those being drilled.

 

to more farms.  Crops changed from those we see at home to the further west we got became wheat and canola and hay.

 

And finally the mountains we longed to see again.  We drove up to Fernie. BC first to visit Lana and spent some time catching up.  We haven't seen Lana in 20 years.

Then we were on to Calgary to visit with |Ro and Art for a few days.  In usual fashion we arrived late in the evening - about 10 pm.  

 

We drove to Drumheller with Ro and Art to visit Maureen and stopped to see what wind does to soandstone. 

 

This is the wrong picture however since this is my first blog it stays in cause they changed blogger and I'm still trying to see where things are on this page :)  Expect more of the same and just chuckle with me as I miss spelling mistakes, etc. 

We have had four lovely days with "Ro and A"rt, enjoying visiting with them and sitting in their beautiful backyard in 26 degree weather.  It came west just for us, which we really appreciate.  

Last night Tara and Bill came for supper and we figured out we haven't seen "Tara since she was around 12 - she's grown up really well!  

Tonight Mike, Jenny and the boys are arriving for a visit and I'm excited to see how the boys have grown since we last saw them - a few pounbds each :)  

Kids, we miss you and are looking forward to getting some kind of system going where we chat and keepo up - it's been harder getting into the swing of things than I thought it would be.  

Talk to you soon.