Category: P.J.

Mile 4649, Ocean Park, Washington (local miles only).  One more cloudless day, a little bit warmer.  We spent the day walking around Leadbetter Point State Park and the beach at the north end of the Long Beach peninsula.  On the beach we were virtually alone with the plovers, hundreds of them, and seagulls and vultures picking over the carcass of a dead seal.  Went back to the house and finally got some laundry done.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 4603, Ocean Park, Washington (local miles only).  A cloudless, sunny day with a stiff breeze, ideal for the annual kite flying festival at Long Beach, albeit a bit cool (60 degrees during “the heat of the day”, but fine for me).  The kites were wonderful. Very colorful and imaginative.

Then we went to Cape Disappointment, at the entrance to the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark saw the Pacific Ocean.  Gorgeous scenery, many pictures.

We are getting desperate: Too much gorgeous weather keeps us from catching up on our blog posts and email. Plus we need to do laundry, but when? The last significant rain we saw was one hour out of Boston.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 4543 – Ocean Park, Washington. The National Weather Service threatened us with clouds and a chance of showers, but once again we experienced a mostly sunny day from sunrise to sundown.

P.J.’s Great Aunt Esther left a lot of postcards in the Mount Hood River valley and along Historic Route 30, a stretch of highway preserved in the Columbia River Gorge, so we spent most of the day trying to find the sites, with P.J. taking comparative pictures. We succeeded with most but not all. (Successes follow in the next post.)

At the end of the day, we drove into the night to reach Ocean Park, on Southwest Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, where we have rented a house.

Vintage Postcard Project: August 23: Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 4252 – Stevenson, Washington (in the Columbia River Valley).

We woke up to gray skies at the west entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.  Even had some drizzle on the way up the mountain. Rainier remained in the clouds as we drove out of the park, but then again it cleared miraculously and we had a wonderful, crystal-clear afternoon by the time we got to Mount St. Helens.

I first visited Mount St. Helens in 1982, two years after the eruption.  It was a moonscape then.  Now it was much greener.  Spirit Lake still has some floating logs left over from the eruption, but it looks much clearer now, and life is coming back more than diverse than before.

Drove through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest all day. Reached the Columbia River Valley by evening.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 4066 – Mount Rainier National Park (local miles only).

We went hiking for the day, starting at “Paradise”, one of the visitor centers in the Park.  The weather was not completely perfect, but good enough.  We hiked up along the Nisqually Glacier to a point called Glacier Vista.  It was sunny, but clouds loomed above us.  Mount Rainier’s peak peeked in and out of the clouds, but mostly in.  We aimed for a place called Panorama Point, which appeared to be in the clouds.  P.J decided to turn around, but I decided to head on.  To my pleasant surprise, Panaroma Point was around the other side of the mountain and had much better weather.  Beautiful views in all directions.

I proceeded to return via the other side, which led over a substantial snowfield.  At one point, there was a fairly steep drop in the snow path, which was very slippery, even with good hiking boots.  There was a family in front of me, and the adults— trying to preserve their parental dignity— were spastically trying to stay upright while slowly stepping down.  One lost her footing and rolled upside down.  One of their kids, however, got on his rear and “body-toboganned” down the slope.  That seemed like a much better solution to me, so I did the same thing.  I have not had so much fun since I was a teenager.  I went down on my blue-jeans. My ass was totally wet, but I was easily down in no time.

~ Posted by Arjan.

After I left Arjan, I had the great pleasure of running into our host, Sandy Altman, from the Stone Creek Lodge, where we were staying, who was hiking with her grandson. We hiked down together, and I received a complete education in the sub-alpine flowers blooming all over the mountainside. Altogether, I think we counted 23 different varieties.

~ Posted by P.J.

Vintage Postcard Project: August 21: Mount Rainier National Park

Mile 4024 – Mount Rainier National Park.

We left Seattle in the morning, but not without P.J. visiting the historic University of Washington Library building, for which she had a postcard from her Great Aunt Esther.  After that, we went to Spanaway Lake, for which she had another postcard, with a reflection of Mount Rainier.  The entire shoreline of this lake is now “developed”, and it was impossible to find a spot from which the postcard could have been taken.  Next to Olympia, Washington, for two more postcards, of the Washington statehouse.  More luck there, although the Washington Capitol building was partially covered in gauze while it is being renovated.  Finally, on to Mount Rainier National Park.

For the first time this trip, we tried our luck finding accommodations on the road.  We succeeded, but in August it is definitely risky.  Some places in the park were booked more than a week out.

Vintage Postcard Project: August 20: Washington State

Mile 3841 (local miles only).  We visited an old friend, John Ramsey, whom we have not seen in many years, and two of his children, whom I have not seen in decades.  Very enjoyable visit.

[Photograph © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Got up in our Vancouver hotel and after breakfast headed for the cruise terminal.  Because my Prius could not handle four people and all our luggage, we also got a taxi.  I followed the taxi through downtown Vancouver, weaving in and out of traffic.  We were there in no time.

We checked in for our cruise.  Our cabins were near the bow; the dining room near the stern.  For three meals a day, we had to walk one mile per day.  No problem for us, but it was for my dad, so we had to get a wheelchair to move him around the ship.

We departed under sunny skies at 5 PM.

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 3537 – Vancouver, British Columbia.  We arrived here to depart for our Alaska cruise tomorrow.  Picked up my dad and stepmother at the Vancouver airport.

[Photograph © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]

Mile 3298, Wenatchee, Washington. The wonderful surprise of the trip so far. We went to visit the Grand Coulee Dam, because P.J. had a historic postcard in the area from her great aunt. What we found is not only the dam, but spectacular scenery and fascinating geological stories in the Grand Coulee itself, too much to relate in a brief entry. When we have time, we will add more info.

Vintage Postcard Project: August 9: Idaho and Grand Coulee, Washington

[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]