Heading Home to Kansas

September 7th we were saying goodbye to Montana and looking forward to being home.....or not  looking forward to the long drive home one or the other. Anyway we were eager to get started.

The sun was just coming up. I was eager to leave but at the same time sad because I loved this area. No wonder Grandpa Hoag wanted this to be his final resting place!

The trip home was beautiful  all the way. We went through Wyoming, South Dakota. Nebreska and finally Kansas. I didn't take pictures. I just enjoyed the ride. My thoughts as we traveled were what a beautiful country we live in and how fortunate I am to be able to see it and enjoy it. We met wonderful people from all over at our campground, at the lighthouse and as we traveled. It was just seven weeks of an amazing trip.

One of our stays was in Rapid City, South Dakota. We had dinner at a wonderful steak house, Dokato. Theire was an interesting statue of a buffalo that was made of all kinds of "junk". It so fascinated I took several pictures of it.

Home at last.

Yellowstone Park September 6, 2014

Here it is October 30 and I am finally in the mood to do some blogging. 

After getting the tire fixed on the camper we decided to visit Yellowstone. 

Both of us had seen it before and enjoyed it very much so we kind of knew what to expect. We were ready to see just what we could see in four or five hours. It is a very big park with many wonderful formations that only Mother Nature could provide. Because it is so big we knew our sight seeing would be limited.

The park has a special meaning for me because My grandparents met and had a romance at Yellowstone when the Park was just becoming popular. Grandpa Hoag drove a stagecoach and Grandma Hoag worked at the lodge. Their romance of two years ended in marriage having my mother and her brother, Uncle Frank and her sister Aunt Catherine.

It was always a sweet story that was fun to hear Mom tell.

Gary and I had lunch at one of the new lodges where I met a young couple working at the cafeteria. They were visiting at the window when I came up with my empty tray. I told them the story of my grandparents and with a wink I said, "One never knows what a summer job in Yellowstone can do." Their answer was a giggle and an Oh, no.

This couple was from Czechoslovakia! There were several young people working at the lodge from other countries. How times have changed.

As Gary and I were leaving there was a small yellow bus parked where it could pick up tourist.Gary said, "There is the modern day stagecoach!"

Yellowstone pics:

On our way to Yellowstone and the beautiful Yellowstone River.

Wild life in the park. Whenever there was a group of people gathered taking pictures you knew they had found some wild life. 

His partner is resting.  Look close at the top of the tree shadow.

Small geysers and the resulting rock formations. Warning signs with dangerous.....very hot every where.

Angel Terrace

Small geysers

Indian Paint pots

It was a short day but a fun one. We were now on our way "home" to Yellostone Edge RV Park. 

If you haven't  guessed I love water pictures. This one is one of my favorites.

Livingston MT

It was time to leave Carl G Wasburne and Heceta Head Lighthouse. I have to admit there were some tears when we left the campground. We had made some good friends and it was sad to say good bye but it was time now to head home.

We were on our way to Oregon City,Oregon to have dinner with Bob Kenny,a nephew on Gary's side,and his son Matthew. We stayed the night and the next morning we were on our way to see the Columbia River. 

The next picture does not do this scene justice. The sunlight brought out all the different colors. After I had taken the picture I stood in awe enjoying this beautiful spot.

This drive was truly awesome. It was a beautiful drive all the way to Spokane Washington.

From there we headed for Livingston Mt.

We drove 18 miles south of Livingtons to the Yellowstone Edge RV Park. It was  in a beautiful setting by the Yellowstone River...known for its ideal fly fishing.

I loved this area. Each morning when I stepped out of the  camper I would look up at the mountains and say.....I am in Montana! Wow.

It was cold when we woke up, hot during the day except in the shade and once the sun was down it was cool again. I truly loved it.

To get into the spirit of our surroundings we watched the movies.....yes we have a tv for our camper. It is for DVD's only.....Ledgends of the Fall about a family living in MT but filmed in Canada, and A River Runs Throug It, narrated by Robert Redford. This movie was actually filmed right here in this area. 

Once we left Spokane there was always a river on one side of us or the other. It fascinated me. Gary got tried of me saying, "a river runs through it" Robert Redford knew what he was talking about.

I wouldn't want to live in MT because of the cold winters and small towns far apart but I loved being there the four days we were there.

Livingston is were my grandfather on my mother's side grew up. When he married my grandmother they lived there then moved to Baker where my mother was born and 23 years later I was born there.   

My grandparents are buried in Livingston. Grandpa wanted to be buried at the foot of "Old Baldy"

Livingston is a town with an interesting history. At one time it was known for its railroad.

Then in the 70's it was discovered by Hollywood, artist and fly fisherman.Now it seems it is thriving on tourism.

We made several trips into Livingston for  groceries and to fix the tires on our camper. It seemed one of the wheels was leaking oil. It was an easy fix and not as serious as we first thought but it caused us to stay one more day because we wanted to spend a day in Yellostone Park since we were so close. 

The next day we headed for Yellowstone our last hurrah and then it was a serious drive home.

Darlingtonia ......eeeek!

Our trip to Crater Lake was on Wednesday and Thursday of our last week at the lighthouse.We had a few things we wanted to do before we left this area. One of those was to visit Darlingtonia which is just outside of Florence.

What drew us to it? It is a bog with meat eating plants. They were growing in abundance. Meat eating sounds pretty scary but they are selective as to what kind of meat they eat......insects only. That is a relief to know, huh?

Are you ready to see them. Here they are?

These signs will explain how the plant attracts its prey and the digestive process of the plant.

It brings to mind the Little Shop of Horror doesn't it?

The bog may be a bit intimidating but the walk to it is very lovely.

 

By this time we had done just about every thing we wanted to do before we ended our stay at Washburne Camp ground /Heceta Head lighthouse. We  had but one more place we wanted to go. Ono's in Yahaits. People at the camp recommend this restaurant from the first day we had arrived. 

We had the recommended dish...fish and chips. We agreed, it was great.

More What To Do......Part III

The Rogue Gorge was created by the same volcano that made Crater Lake. We just happened upon this right before we found Beckie's as we were returning from our trip to Crater Lake.

In the early 1900's as tourist were making their way to visit Carter Lake they stopped by here to view this beautiful , roaring, dangerous chasm.

It is deepest where I took the this picture. In the early days people would stand at this edge and look down. It was scary enough for me to take thie picture with the railing in place! 410 gallons of water flow each minute at this very spot. The average temperature is 44 degrees. Native fish do not grow to a large size because of the cold. Again, the river is very loud here.

In this same area is nature's Rock Graden. Douglas fir grow in the rocks. The roots are reaching down to the river.

This was a fun find. This is a living stump. When they cut this tree down they did not know its roots were already grafted to the tree beside it. Evidence of its growth is the bark seen on top!

 

All of theseamazing works of nature were in the same area.

Another fun find on our way home was this cute little restaurant. Gary kept seeing signs advertising it which said : Go to Tolly's and leave with a smile. So we decided to take a detour to the little town of Oakland to give it a try.

 This greeted you as you walked in.

The chairs were all wing backs with dollies on them.

It was one of the cutes restraunts I have seen. The sandwich was yummy too and the presentation was equally impressive. Needless to say we did leave with a smile.

Camp Ground Friends

One of the highlights at the end of the day was gathering around the campfire to share the days events at the lighthouse. Let me introduce you to our fellow hosts.

Joe fromOregon. Becky and Terry from Illinois . Newbies like us.

Karen and Ken from Texas. Graduates of Oregon State. Fifth year as host.

Jim and Nancy from Colorado. They volunteer several months each year and have for several years.

Bess and Terry from North Carolina. Terry was campground  host and maintenance. They are experienced volunteers. They gave us lots of good tips for long term camping and how to be vegans!

These campfire gathering were always a fun time.

We went to the lighthouse one night the week before we left  it was  a perfect evening, clear and no wind. We each brought our favorite beverage and gave a toast to our month together. It was just a special  moment.

A beautiful sunset as we went up to the lighthouse.

The lens at night is magnificent. It sparkles like an expensive piece of crystal. The darker it got the more outstanding the lens, beams and ocean became. It was just a great experience. Thank you my friends.

What to do??? Part II

What do we do on our days off. Remember special events without a picture:

Our last afternoon at the lighthouse ended with a special "shared moment" with a group on my tour.

It was the last tour of the afternoon. There were three gentleman, two brothers and a son of the older brother. The son was probably in his late twenties.

They were there in remberance of their 94 year old mother/grandmother who had just passed away.

After the tour they shared their growing up years in Florence and their memories at the lighthouse beach and the lighthouse itself. The older bother told his son how he and his mother were enjoying the beach ..as teenagers do....and when they went to leave he found out his car was out of gas! He had to knock on the door of the family in the big house to call his dad. His dad brought the gas and nothing more was said.

They also talked about knowing the family that started the Sea Lion Den's tourist attraction and also how their grandfather had driven over the mountains to deliver milk.

The event was just a special moment honoring their mother and I was privileged to be part of that.

Now picture events of our days off .......

We had heard before and after arriving to the campground to be sure to go to Crater Lake while we are so close.

So we did. We rented a cabin in Mazama Village.and we were on our way.

It is a climb of about 7,000 ft and the terrain was not how I expected. It was more like high desert.

We were told it would be cold both by friends at home and friends at camp. By the time we made our way up  it was 91. Needless to say I was not dressed for the occasion!

My description of Crater Lake: Awesome, Mysterious and a bit spooky! By the way driving up we were right on the rim.......bothGary and I were white knuckling it as we drove up.

I will let you be the judge of Crater Lake .....take a look.

It is the belly of a volcano,Mt. Mazama, that erupted 7,700 years ago

Wizard Island

The white pines added to the mystery of the area.

Our cabin in the woods. Note how th big doors close off the entry to the rooms during the winter It gets 533 inches of snow yearly. This cabin may not even be visible at that time.

We had an enjoyable meal at The Lodge. We even sat out on the porch looking at the this very still, very quiet, very blue lake.

So went our adventure at Crater Lake. Oh, I might add it was 91 degrees when we arrived and 50 degrees at 8:00 am when we left.

As we drove back we made some discoveries of our own.

Breakfast at Beckie's Cafe. It is part of Union Creek Resort. It was an iimportant camping spot on the road to connecting Rogue River Valley and Crater Lake. It was named after Ed Becklehymer who operated the restraunts and gas station.  It just took me back to those western days. Gary and I decided if we ever come back in this area we would rent a cabin here......we loved it!

More adventures of ours days off in my next blog.