Today was one of our longest drives of the trip.  Tomorrow is another long one.  We will be stopping for lunch with Priscilla Melton near Bakersfield.  I haven’t seen her in about two years.

On the way down we were driving into smoke due to a wildfire that has been burning near the 5 right inside California.  I was not able to get a cool picture of Mt Shasta, it was shrouded in smoke.  What we were able to make out  I thought that’s a small mountain after seeing Denali I have a feeling most mountains will be small to me.

Tomorrow we are headed home.  So tonight was dinner at Anderson Pea Soup.

Amazing things are happening on this trip.  I woke Roy up at 7am.  This was great because we got an early start upto Crater Lake.  The goal was to drive the rim, completed successful.  The lake is so blue and undisturbed. I got my first glimpse from the Phantom Ship Overlook, what amazing color.  We stopped at the gift store right outside the park, thought we would get shopping done early.  Decided not to do breakfast and head out the east rim.  This was a smart move, kept ahead of the crowd.

Once we get home I will post some pictures of today.  I have been able to use the Canon more so my pictures are getting better.  Practice! Practice!  I also took a bunch of pictures of chipmunks they were everywhere. The overlooks showed such differant views of the lake. The interesting part is you can see the island from almost any vantage point.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crater_Lake

We saw lots of Moos today these are probably going to be what we see on the rest of our trip.  Tomorrow we will be in Santa Nella for pea soup from Anderson’s then home.

I SAW ELK.  Lots of them, right outside of Winchester Bay. The drive over went fast once we got on I-5 interstates will do that.  We actually were able to get breakfast at McDonalds when we got to I-5.  I have to remember we are back to spicy sausage in the biscuits.

We climbed into the Cascades I think it’s the highest we’ve been this trip.  Once we got to the KOA in Gold Hill we quickly set up so we could head to the Oregon Vortex.   http://www.oregonvortex.com  I wanted to see a golf ball roll up hill.  It was interesting watching Roy trying to figure out how things happened.  There is a cabin that is all off its base and kinda screwy angled.  I went in and had to go right back out, because the angles of the building messed with my balance and perception.  Thanks MS.

When we finished the tour Roy admitted he had fun.  We then headed down to Medford to get gas, find a tire place to change the trailer tire on Tuesday on the way out.  We grabbed a bite to eat  at Black Bear Dinner then head back to the trailer.  Roy and I are getting up early Monday to head to Crater Lake.

The drive today was winding and hilly with great views of the ocean thrown in.  We were actually on the move at 9am.  I think that’s the earliest this whole trip.  On the way out we took some geese and tank pictures.

Even with an early start, we still pulled in at 5pm.  The reason is CHEESE!  Cheese curds to be exact.  I have a disclaimer to add here.  The cheese curds I purchased were strictly for scientific research.  Everyone knows I’m a cheese head from Wisconsin and have not had cheese curds in YEARS.  I went through the sample line and had to have some.  I purchased some smoky chedder, white chedder, and CHEESE CURDS.  I also got some cute knick knacks, a t-shirt, and 1 scoop of ice cream for each of us.

Once we got to the park someone was in our space, no camp host.  Lucky there was someone who left early we pulled in to it.  Day 77 Sunday we will be in Gold Hill for two nights

Traffic is crazy.  We left about 10am, did not take the ferry so it took time to drive around the bend instead of the ferry.  Whidbey Island is larger then I thought, the campground was about middle of the island.  Got up early because we were going to take a picture of Deception Pass.  We didn’t because it was raining.

After struggling through traffic in Seattle, near Fort Lewis I looked for a route to get us out of traffic, it did Roy will have to share the round about way. We pulled in about 5pm, I gave the gate guard my last name and was asked if I was related to a Quimby who was station here.  I don’t think I am.  

Quiet night the days growing to an end tomorrow we are still along the coast in Winchester Bay OR

Ok I’m a dork.  I love Grey’s Anatomy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey%27s_Anatomy A hospital drama set in Seattle. I wanted to see where it waa filmed.  IT IS NOT filmed in Seattle.  I was bummed.  Roy and I took the ferry over to Seattle to do some sight seeing and shopping.  The cool thing about having handicapped plates is at least in Seattle you don’t have to pay for parking.

Roy took me to Jack in the Box for early lunch, one of the few fast food done on the trip.  We then headed down to the waterfront for shopping.  Parking was still full so Roy dropped me off and I shopped and walked to where he was parked.  Note to self never buy from first shop you come too.

I got taken for a fool.  Remember I said I love Grey’s; before the current name of the hospital “Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital” it was called “Seattle Grace”.  I found a t-shirt with Seattle Grace intern so I bought it.  I was a little bummed because it didn’t have the new name.  Next gift shop I go in not only did they have t-shirts with the new hospital name they had scrubs.

Seattle lived up to it’s reputation for rain, it did on and off the whole time.  We decided to beat the traffic and go it at Ivars Seafood down by the ferry.  It was good I had surf n turf with shrimp.  Roy had, WAIT FOR IT King Crab.

Friday we are headed to Camp Rilea in Seaside.

Today was fun!  The first thing I realized is I’m a small town girl. The second thing is I’m glad I don’t drive.  We are staying on an island so we got up and did camp/self keeping and cleaning then headed for Groundspeak.  The drive to get to the ferry takes about an hour, the ferry ride takes about twenty minutes.  I have been on three different types of ferries this trip.  The only thing I could think of was the Grey’s Anatomy episode where they had a ferry accident.  Funny how the mind works.  The round trip wasn’t bad for an old fart and a gimp plus car for $21.50.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_State_Ferries

Once off the ferry we headed towards Seattle, even though I forgot the GPS in the trailer we found our way to HQ.  The streets are narrow and steep in Seattle.  We were greeted by a lackey (worker).  There was ten people there for the tour, we started out with a slide show and then we were able to find the amazingly large cache, look for trackables.  Here is a trackable with a sense of humor.  I grabbed a few TBs to travel in the valley.

  I also added to my coin collection.  I know you are all shocked.

After the tour I wanted to see the space needle. Smaller then I expected.  They make it look so big on TV, I snapped a picture tell me what you think.  We headed down to the water front to see if there was a place to eat for dinner before catching the ferry back.  Dinner was king crab for Roy, I had calamari and chips.  Thursday we are coming back to see Pike’s Place Market and go shopping.

The scenery on this leg was amazing.  We went through 8 tunnels, climbed out of a few canyons.  The Hell’s Gate Airtram was closed because it had some power issues otherwise sounds like it would have been cool. http://www.hellsgateairtram.com

The Fraser river runs through Fraser canyon and it is amazing how the force of water craved the rock.  Interesting read https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Gate_(British_Columbia)

Once we got onto Canada 1 the Trans Canada Hwy I knew we were back in civilization, oh well.

Crossing the border was less painful this time. I did not get a welcome to the US picture because it was on a flashing sign at the crossing.  I did not want to take a chance on taking a photo.

Our campsite is on the water again.  Thanks Ammo Chief (Ken) for the lead.  Whidbey Island Navel Base.

Traffic is crazy once you get to rhe big city.  Wednesday we are headed to Groundspeak Geocaching head quarters.