Mt. Ranier and points south!

I guess I have totally lost track of where and when we have been because we were in Olympia WA while touring the Seattle area. While we have been staying at the Riverbend Campground, I have come to the conclusion that the unofficial weed of Washington State is the Blackberry! Everywhere we go the road banks are covered with huge blackberry bushes. The roads in the campground are no different and trust me I have managed to eat my fill several days in a row.

This is getting disheartening that I am not getting caught up with this blog. I cannot believe how poor the phone and internet service is in so many places out here in the west. Even today we, as I compose this we are in Yuma, Arizona and at best I have poor cell service and no internet from the RV Park.

Let me try to catch up some, we have been to Mt Ranier which is the tallest mountain in the lower 48. One of the neat things about Mt. Ranier is that you can drive closer to the peak than other mountain that we have seen.

While moving to Oregon we going to stop at Mt. St. Helen. This stop will make for a long day, but it should be worth it! We stopped at the state visitor center for Mt. St Helen and then we unhook the car and drive another 50 miles to the actual scene of the event. It is amazing how much the lava cone inside the original crater has grown. In probably two more periods of activity the cone will get tall enough to start adding to the height of the mountain.

We return to the RV hook up the car and get down the highway as fast as legally allowed, arriving at a campground near Cannon Beach, OR. The rugged coastal scenery brings back memories of something I have seen before and suddenly I realize that we are in Goonie Country! Yes, the movies Goonies was filmed in Astoria, OR.

Another interesting attraction in the Astoria area is the Astoria Tower. This landmark is visible for miles from town, and it provides a grand view of the scenery. While touring the tower we learn of a local tradition of buying a little balsa wood glider for a dollar that is then flown from the top. Since they are made of such lightweight wood; they offer little to no impact on the environment and yes, some people actually try to find their plane to see which one flew the greatest distance.

We will be moving again tomorrow where we will be boondocking at Tillamook Cheese Outlet for a couple of days. This area of Oregon also has some very rugged coastlines and some very good dairy products. If you ever see the Tillamook brand of cheese or ice cream do your taste buds a favor and try it. While staying here I had a chance to see some old machinery and enjoy the petting zoo.

While on the coast we get to see more interesting shorelines. Being from Delaware we are so accustomed to flat beaches and miles and miles of sky leading inland from the water’s edge. Out here it can go from sea level to several thousands of feet above sea level in just a few miles.

As we travel down the coast, we plan on visiting as many Redwood Forests as we can. Believe me the photos I will share in no way will convey to you what we actually saw. The enormity and the perseverance of these huge trees is unbelievable! The bark is so thick that it is almost fireproof but once disease sets in the trees will char but not burn. The number of trees we saw that were burned out and through yet still had canopy was growing taller and taller.

One day we travel to Crater Lake and although it is called Crater Lake the lake was actually caused by volcanic activity. While on the tour we were told about the development of the lake, the importance of the effect of fire on the Ponderosa Pine tree and the tenacity of the pine tree. The lake was formed when a volcano cone collapsed causing the depression that filled with water. To my amazement the lake is only filled with run-off of rain or melting snow. The pinecone of the Ponderosa Pine is so durable that it actually has to be burnt in order to open up and release the seeds inside it. Finally, we got to see a living tree stump! The stump pictured below had bonded its roots with the tree in the backgound sometime before being broken off just above the ground. The stump is actually getting bigger and appears to be healthy and living without any foliage whatsoever.

Well, this gets us to the southern border of Oregon and my next post will start with California. But remember life has gone on while we have been touring. Hopefully we will slow down some and I may find better internet service. I do know that sometime in the near future we will be camping with friends who has a Starlink connection. If it works out, I might have to look into getting my own receiver.