Olympic Game Farm

Our friends, Larry and Julie, are here visiting from Idaho. We took a day trip to the Olympic Game Farm. Needless to say, we got up close and personal with several of the animals.  It was great fun and good company.

Last day at Port Angeles

We spent our last day in Port Angeles hiking the Spruce Railroad trail.  It was 7.5 miles round trip which is our longest hike to date.  The trail follows an old railroad track built during the WWI to haul logs out of the forest surrounding Crescent Lake .  We enjoyed great views of the lake and explored several old tunnels.

Lake Crescent

Railroad Tunnel

The only wildlife we spotted

Sol Duc Hot Springs

We have always wanted to see Sol Duc Hot Springs so we finally went. There were lots of people taking advantage of the hot springs pools.  The highlight for us was the hike to Sol Duc Falls.  After the hike and a great hamburger at Granny's Café, we decided to go to Hurricane Ridge.  It was a beautiful sunny day - a great day to take in all the views.

Sol Duc River

Sol Duc Falls

Olympic Mountains

Strait of Juan de Fuca from Hurricane Ridge

Altair Campground Hike

Today we took a 4 mile hike from the Altair campground and ended up at a beautiful creek.  It was the longest hike we have attempted so far and it was well worth the effort

 

Olympia Nat'l Park

Spent yesterday in Olympia National Park hiking various trails. The day was warm and sunny.  We started at Madison Falls which was a short walk to the base of the falls.  We then drove further down the road and hiked the 1.5 mile trail to Marymere Falls.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to go to the Hoh Rainforest and hiked one of the nature trails at the Ranger Station.  Those huge trees and hanging mosses were amazing.  It felt like walking through a cathedral as the trees were so majestic and it was so quiet.  Got back Port Angeles and had dinner at Sabai Thai Cuisine.  A fantastic meal.

Marymere Falls

Maple Grove  Hoh rainforest

Hoh Rainforest

Elwa Dam Rv Park

Our site at the Elwa Dam RV Park ("best RV Park by a dam site" says the brochure) near Port Angeles. The dam has been destroyed along with it's sister dam further up the river.  This is the largest dam removal project in the world's history with the hope of restoring the salmon run and natural ecosystem.  Very peaceful and quiet spot. We took a hike along the Elwa River.  Plan on being here about 3 weeks.

Home Sweet Home

Elwa Dam Site

.

Port Townsend

This is the first stop in our next adventure.  We are at Fort Worden in Port Townsend WA for the next few days.  Sara, Todd and grandkids will be joining us for the weekend.  We left our house after 25 years in the hand of a Property Manager and  will be full time RVers for at least a year.  Plan on spending the next few months in this area as we will be volunteering here at Fort Worden during the months of Sept and Oct.  Let the adventure begin.


On the Road

We left Desert Gardens today and headed towards Colorado.  Spending the night in  Las Cruces NM at the Hacienda RV park.  Very nice.  Will stay here again.  Had a great Italian dinner at Luna Rosa.

Pima Air Museum

We went to visit the Pima Air Museum in Tucson and the airplane boneyard  at Davis-Montham AFB.  The museum was very interesting with a lot a great displays. We took a hour tram ride around the grounds where there are over 300 planes on display.  We then boarded a bus for Davis-Montham and toured around the boneyard where there are over 4000 planes from around the world stored there.

We have spent a lot of time at the pool. doing a little hunting for some Geocaches, playing a little horseshoes and just hanging out.  Have really enjoyed our visit with the SoCal Plendls. We will be hitting the road ourselves on Monday, heading for home via Colorado and Iowa. 

Garret

California Company

Jeff, Vicki, Garrett and Justin are visiting from California.  They arrived last Friday.  Yesterday we went to the Mesa Market which is 55 covered acres of vendors.  That is about 2.5 miles of things to look at  and buy.  Today we got up and headed our for Superior and some rock hunting.  We did about a mile or so of backroading, over rock and down into gullies and creeks to arrive at our destination - an old Perlite mine.  Imbeded in the rock face are obsidian rocks or Apache Tears as they are called locally.  So we spent some time with hammer and chisel digging out the rocks.  Garret was in 7th heaven and was very helpful in identifying some other rocks for us.  Jeff really enjoyed the off-roading element. I had a small run-in with a Cholla cactus but Jeff pulled the stickers out with a pliers so not too much harm done. We left there and headed to Globe for some lunch.  Then a short drive up to Tonto National Monument to check out the Cliff Dwellings. We were able to explore the dwelling and take in the fantastic view of Roosevelt Lake and valley.  Finished the day with soak in the hot tub.

Garrett the Rockhound

View from the Cliff Dwelling

Tonto Cliff Dwelling

 

Picacho Peak

We visited Picacho Peak State Park, the only site of a civil war battle fought in Arizona.  Hiked one and a half miles ( round trip -let's not get crazy) to a look out point.  Amazing views of the desert and Tucson in the distance.

Trailhead
 

Sequaro cactus gets its first arm at age 60.

beautiful day

Tucson and Globe AZ

We are enjoying some very pleasant weather in Florence and have been keeping pretty busy. We visited the Besh-Ba-Gowah Indian ruins, San Xavier Del Bac Mission and Old Tucson.  All three were very interesting. The Indian site was at its peak about 1450AD. The Mission was established in the 1600's and Old Tucson is a western town used as a movie site since 1940.  We are really enjoying our stay here and seem to find plenty of things to do that does not involve yard work or house work.  A real plus.

Besh-Ba-Gowah Indian Site Globe AZ

Old Tucson

San Xavier Del Bac Mission
 

Arizona Update

 It has been a busy time in Florence since returning from Washington for Christmas.   We took a day trip to the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park in Globe AZ.  This is the remains of a 700 year old pueblo where you can explore some of the rooms, climb ladders into upper stories and view how the original residents lived.  Some areas have been extensively restored and some have been excavated.  It was very interesting.  We had a lunch at a little Mexican restaurant.  Since there is a real lack of good Mexican food  where we live, it has been our goal to find the best Mexican food we can find.  The restaurant in Globe met the criteria.


We have been in the midst of a cold snap with highs in the low 40's and night time temperatures in the 20's.  This is the longest stretch of freezing temps since 1988.  We have managed to keep the pipes from freezing and are anxiously waiting for the warmer weather to return. 

We have been enjoying quite a few of the activities sponsered by the park.  Lots of occasions to visit with neighbors or learn something new.  We learned how to play Bocci ball and I completed a stained glass project.  Gary plays horseshoes several times a week and is working on a gourd project.

Today we went to the Lost Dutchman Mining Camp restaurant with others from the park and enjoyed a nice lunch and entertainment.