Day 30 – Travel Day/Tour Day – 138 miles from Albany OR to Castle Rock WA

It was a long but really fun day. We awoke to a cold, cloudy day, got packed up, filled the propane tank, and were on the road at 9:30. It was a typical Interstate 5 travel day, and we arrived here in Castle Rock WA at the Mt St Helens RV Park.

We got set up and settled in, had some lunch and relaxed for a bit. Then we decided to drive the 5 miles to the Mt St Helens Visitors Center. That is a pretty visitors center with a good 15 minute movie and lots of exhibits. We decided to go ahead and drive the 49 miles to Johnston Ridge Observatory. It was an amazingly beautiful drive. Within the first few miles we saw a pair of coyotes trot across the road. There were awesome bridges, and we drove up on ridges and down in valleys.

From the Visitors Center, Mt St Helens was 35 miles away. The closest we got to it was 5 miles at the Observatory. With every turn, we got a new view of it. It was a good choice to drive late this afternoon since the sun was behind us most of the way which made for easier driving and better photos.

We finally got to the Johnston Ridge Observatory at 5:45, just 15 minutes before it closed. It was a great view. Then it was time to go back the 50 miles the way we had come. We made a few stops along the way including a restaurant Bill had read about online. It was still open, so we stopped for dinner at 7:30. It is called the 19 Mile House and is a cute little house high on a ridge overlooking the Toutle River. We sat out back on the porch. The place is known for burgers and cobbler, but we had burgers for lunch. I got a Southwestern Chicken Salad which was really quite good with a variety of greens and a spicy ranch dressing. Bill had halibut. We did share the mountain berry cobbler a la mode. It was really good.

Now we are back in the RV relaxing. This is a fairly pretty park, and we have everything except sewer, so we are happy. Tomorrow we will do a long drive on the other side of Mt St Helens and then maybe on Saturday have a down day.

Day 29 – Travel day – 205 miles from Ft Klamath to Albany OR

It was cold this morning, and I so didn’t want to roll out of bed. But I did, and we were on the road at 9. We had to backtrack some to get on OR 58 to cross the Cascade Mountains. It was a pleasant drive at first with pretty lakes and fir forests. Then we crossed Willamette Pass and down we went. It was a 2-lane, winding, steep descent. It always makes me nervous when there are runaway truck ramps. There were TWO of them on this road, fairly close together. It was a long descent, but we made it. As we followed the Willamette River to I 5, we passed Lowell and a lovely covered bridge. Then it was on to I 5 to just between Covallis and Albany to our KOA campground for the night.

We arrived here at 1:30 so that Bill could go look for cigars. Good cigars are hard to find on the road, but thanks to the Internet, he had a few spots picked out. We decided to do dinner and the cigars at the same time. In one of the brochures, I found a Thai restaurant that was supposed to be good. Then Bill found a Hungarian restaurant. Both were close to the cigar store, so we decided on Hungarian.

We drove right past the cigar store and had to call the owner to find out where it was. We were right there and just couldn’t see it. It is a tiny store, but the old man running it was delightful. He had a precious cocker spaniel named Sammie who was 3 yrs old and absolutely adorable. I played with her while Bill found cigars.

Then it was another trial to find Novak’s, the Hungarian Restaurant. Neither the Droid nor the GPS was any help. So we called again, and once again we were close but not there.

Our waiter at Novak’s was delightful. I ordered an iced Magyar Hungarian coffee, and Bill was delighted to find some Arnold Palmer iced tea/lemonade. The coffee was quite unusual – lots of cinnamon. At first I didn’t like it much, but then it grew on me. Bill wanted to order the langos – a Hungarian specialty of deep fried bread served with small bowls of sliced garlic, strawberry puree, and apricot jam. It was huge and oh, so good. It should have been dessert.

I ordered pork schnitzel and Bill got chicken paprika. Both meals came with soup (Bill got goulash and I got chicken and dumplings – really spaetzle), and a garden salad. The soups were good, the salad decent but standard. My schnitzel was really good, but the ‘homemade’ mashed potatoes were under-seasoned. Bill got spaetzle which I would have preferred. Both dishes were covered with a creamy paprika sauce. It was fun to try everything, but we didn’t eat it all.

Now we are home recovering! Tomorrow is a travel day to Mt St Helens where we will be for 3 nights.

Day 28 – Rogue River Gorge/ Natural Bridge OR

We both slept in this morning and took our time getting ready to go. We had a short road trip planned – about 37 miles – to see the Rogue River Gorge and the Natural Bridge. It was a pretty drive up to Crater Lake and then west. We had stopped at the Ft Klamath General Store to see if they had sandwiches for a picnic. This place looks derelict from the outside, and the fuel pumps next to it look like a hazmat problem, but there were lots of truckers there yesterday, so we stopped. The inside was thinly stocked with random items, but the deli section made fresh sandwiches that weren’t too bad. The husband/wife propriators were quite friendly, and the walls were covered up to the ceiling with baseball caps. The wife told Bill to put his hat back on or her husband would have it on the wall. We did stop on the entrance road to Crater Lake to see Annie’s Falls and the Godfrey Glen Meadow overlook, both of which were worth the 5 minute stops.

Once we reached the Rogue River, we started our exploration at the upper river viewpoint. The Rogue River is a small river that tumbles over large rocks, through narrow gorges, and then passes down and through a short lava tube and erupts at the other end to continue gently down to the Pacific 184 miles below. There is a 3 mile trail that follows the river from before the gorge to below the natural bridge. We just drove and parked at various viewpoints, hiked backwards a bit and managed to see a great deal of this pretty section of river. We had our picnic at the last viewpoint/walk before checking out the Natural Bridge. It was a fun day-trip.

We came back to the RV and did laundry. This was a little different in that they have a locked room with two washers and dryers. You pay $3 per wash/dry and get the key to the room. Anyway, the laundry is now done for a few more days.

At 5:30 we headed the 13 miles into Chiloquin for dinner at The Table. Bill found this on Yelp and we both loved the fact that someone said: “I promise that this is the best place you'll ever grab a sandwich that is attached to a laudrormat and has bars on the windows.” There were only a handful of people there, and the poor older female waitress brought us menus and water, explaining that she was flying solo tonight because everyone else had not come in. I got the Avocado Delight – a true California sandwich on sourdough with avocado, spinach, sprouts, onion, and tomato. It was fresh and good. Bill got a southwestern omelet that was also good. The food was just good, basic food which was kind of nice.

Once again it has really cooled off at night, and I have my sweatshirt back on! We had a truly amazing sunset which made the pine trees look like they were on fire. Tomorrow we are off to Albany OR for a quick overnight stop on our way to Mt St Helens.

Day 27 – Crater Lake National Park OR

It was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery. We left the RV at 9:30 and headed the 20 miles to Crater Lake Nat’l Park. As we left the huge meadow-filled valley and started climbing through the fir forest, a tiny fawn came onto the road. He still had his spots. He bounced across the road, paused a second on the other side, and then went on into the woods. A good omen for a good day.

We reached the Rim Village Area at 10:25 thinking we had just made it for the 10:30 trolley ride around the rim with a ranger narrating, but the schedule in the paper was wrong, and the tour was at 11. We signed up, went to the gift shop for a road tour book of Crater Lake and also found one for Mt St Helens.

The tour was a little dry. Ranger Ross needs some help with his people skills. But the stops were amazing and the scenery awesome. The ride around the rim is 33 miles, and this tour took 2 hours. I think we would have been better off doing it ourselves, but Bill had wanted to do this. I did see a stellar Jay and a Clark’s nutcracker which was fun.

When we got back, we went to the big, old lodge for lunch. The service was awful, mostly because they were badly understaffed. We waited a half hour to be seated. Then Colby, our waiter, took forever to take our order, and then it was forever before it was brought to the table. And he forgot Bill’s ice tea altogether. The good thing was that the Monte Cristo sandwich I ordered was quite good. I hadn’t had one in years, and this was yummy with marion berry jelly. The final bit of idiocy was just as we were waiting for the bill, Colby came by and put down another helping of our original order. We told him we had already eaten once. Duh-oh!

Then we set off in the Tracker to drive the rim again, seeing everything from a different perspective and stopping when we wanted to stop. We took a 7 mile spur road to the end where we saw The Pinnacles – old fossil fumaroles created when gases escaped after an eruption. They were quite impressive.

It was already almost 5, but we had one more stop to make – Castle Crest Wildflower Garden trail. This is a half mile trail with tons of wildflowers all around and a stream meandering through the area. It would have been perfect except for the hordes of mosquitoes everywhere, but it was well worth it. I got lots of photos which I will upload after I get them processed.

Now we are back at the RV relaxing. Crater lake is truly an amazing sight, and its enormity cannot be expressed in words or photos. If you click on the photo to make it bigger, you can see the tiny white spot in the water beside me that is a fairly large tour boat. That gives some perspective!

Day 26 – Redmond OR to Ft Klamath OR – 105 miles through OR

It was interesting to watch all the RVs pack up and get ready to leave. I was impressed at how orderly it was, and how easy it was to get out. We were on the road at 9:30. It was an easy drive down US 97, and we now had a new destination. Bill had called the Crater Lake Resort RV park and gotten reservations there, so we are now 34 miles closer to Crater Lake.

We arrived about 1. Another couple had just pulled in beside our site, and we all watched an idiot in a mega RV screw up. First he started to get out of his RV with the engine running and the RV in neutral. It started to roll, and he just barely got back in to stop it. Then when he tried to back into his slot, he rammed into a water pipe. He finally got it parked.

We are in a lovely site backed onto a pretty little stream. There are big cedars all around the campground which is great, but it means no satellite. We tried the dome and then took our chairs out back to sit by the stream. Our neighbors, Paul and Sherrie, who had also just come from the rally joined us. We all had a nice chat for an hour. We are out in the middle of nowhere! Our cell phones and internet connection do work, so that is something.

Then we tried to get the satellite dish to work which it didn’t. Bill had lots of help from another neighbor to no avail. We have lots of stuff taped, so we will not be without entertainment.

About 5 we headed out to check Ft Klamath and look for gas for the Tracker. None there, so we headed back to the small town of Chiloquin to look for gas. We headed south as we approached 97 again which was a wrong move. We had to drive 30 miles into Klamath Falls, passing several closed gas stations along the way. We finally found a station that was open and got gas in the nick of time. Oregon and New Jersey are the only two states that won’t allow the customer to pump their own gas. Maybe that is why gas is expensive here, and there aren’t that many open stations on a Sunday evening.

When we got back, Bill cooked steaks on the grill while I fixed some veggies. Tomorrow we tour Crater Lake which should be beautiful.

I posted no photo today because the internet connection is so slow, and I haven’t gotten a pretty photo of the campground yet.

Day 25 – Redmond OR

It was a lovely down day for me. I slept until almost 10! Bill was up early and went to a seminar sponsored by Coachnet, a new road assistance he had signed up for. I think he also went for the coffee and donuts. Then he wandered around the vendors and got some free stuff and made a few purchases. He bought a table top that fits over the steering wheel. That should be interesting. He also bought 3 pads that stick to the dash and hold cell phones, etc. For freebies, he picked up a chip clip, a first aid kit (with bandaids only!), and a strange looking pizza cutter.

He went back over for lunch and more browsing. I stayed here and worked on photos. I finally have them all processed and uploaded a sampling to Flickr. That feels good to be caught up before we head to Crater Lake and Klamath Falls tomorrow. The link to my photos is on the right. Today's photo is an aerial view of the FMC rally. We are parked in the group of RV's just north of the circular arena/expo area.

We did go out this afternoon to Walmart to stock up on groceries and water. I saw a new item in the checkout lane….coconut M&Ms. The lady in front of me had gotten some, and we talked about how strange they were. I got a small pack, and they are different. They only have green, brown, and white M&Ms, and they aren’t bad, but you couldn’t eat a lot of them at one sitting.

For dinner we went to Madaline’s Mexican Gill. It was really packed, but we were seated when we walked in. I got a $10 plate with chile relleno and a chimichanga. The relleno’s breading left a bit to be desired, but the chile was spicy and good. The pork chimichanga was quite good. Bill went a bit more upscale and got garlic rock shrimp which he enjoyed.

RVs are slowly starting to trickle out before tomorrow’s mass exodus. They turn the power off at 9, and we have to be off the premises by noon. Bill thinks we will leave about 9:30, heading to Klamath Falls AFB and their famcamp. They only have 5 sites at the AFB and don’t take reservations, so luckily Bill has some alternatives. Should be interesting.

Day 24 – Redmond OR

It was another touring day, not quite as wonderful as yesterday, but still rather pleasant. We left the RV at 9:30 and got on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. The first part of the drive was similar to yesterday – ascending through Deshutes National Forest up to Mt Bachelor. That was a really pretty drive. We have seen lots of bicyclists on all of our drives. Our first stop was at Soda Creek with a meadow vista, South Sister mountain, and Soda Creek meandering through the meadow. An older gentleman was dipping his feet in the creek. He said he was trying to see if the cold water would cause an old man a coronary!

The prettiest lake we saw was Devils Lake. We stopped at the Elk Lake Forest Guard Station built in 1929. Guards helped the rangers with various activities. Today it is staffed by volunteers who spend the summer here helping tourists. The gentleman who was there answered lots of questions and volunteered the info that they can sleep ON the bed in the station but not IN it, so he and his wife sleep in sleeping bags. We think it would be fun to spend the summer like that.

We continued on around to the Elk Lake Resort which was a small boat launch, restaurant, cabins, and gas. We got gas, and went a little further to the ‘beach’ on the lake where we had our picnic. The lake is quite pretty with Mt Bachelor looming over the far shore. We stopped at Lava Lake and then Cultus Lake Resort. The term resort has a much different meaning on this drive. They are usually small wood main building with wood cabins around, but the lake setting is quite pretty. Cultus Lake was the prettiest with lovely landscaping and summer flowers. The view of the lake was pretty. Bill wanted some dessert so we shared a piece of apple pie and then headed off again.

We were about maxed out on lakes and drive, so we cut across to US 97 and back to Redmond. We did make one more stop – the Crooked River Gorge and Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic viewpoint – just north of Redmond. Bill had found this the other day when he had gone to the fossil fields. It was pretty impressive! A smaller version of Royal Gorge in Colorado. Besides the beautiful view, I was totally impressed with the signs in the parking lot saying “Warning: Hazardous Cliff. Many dogs have died here. Put your dog back in the vehicle!” The 300’ vertical cliff did have a concrete wall, but I could see dogs escaping.

We finally made it back to the RV about 4:30. Seven hours on the road tired both of us out, but Bill headed over to the arena for tonight’s entertainment: some Jimmy Buffett tribute band. I decided to pass on that!