Playing Catch Up

The last three weeks have been very busy and very productive. Despite what seemed like 2 straight weeks of rain, we still managed to get some exploring done, even if we got a little waterlogged.

Here are a few quick shots of some of the other places we got to poke around in.

Harrison Hot Springs

View of Harrison Lake from the Promenade.

Lots of statues and footprints around town.

The source of the hot springs. Info plaque states the water can be as hot as 145F, or 63C.

Salmon statue in the middle of the town park.

And those of you familiar with the TV show “Timber Kings” might recognize this fellow.  This is the Sasquatch statue carved by Pete Ryan and installed by Beat and his crew.  You can watch the episode here.

Not all Squatches are unfriendly. This fellow was downright cuddly. 🙂

Sasquatch Provincial Park

These falls were right on the roadway leading into the park, so close you could feel the mist from it with the windows down.

Deer Lake.

Mike at Hicks Lake.

Another roadside falls, this one between the lakes inside the park.

Peace Arch Park

The Arch straddles the border between British Columbia and Washington State. The land was actually purchased by children of both countries donating their pennies and nickels.

A nice thought.

The inside of the Arch.

Othello Tunnels

A beautiful hiking trail on old train tracks.  The tunnels were an incredible feat of engineering and took several years to build.  They were created to connect the Fraser River Valley with commercial centers to the east.  It took a bit of screwing up my courage to enter the tunnels (just little bit claustrophobic), but I surprised Mike and did it anyway.

3 of the 4 tunnels lined up perfectly, the fourth had a turn inside it. Took a deeper breath to make me go inside that one, lol.

Overlooking the gorge from a train bridge that connected the tunnels.

Inside one of the tunnels.

The old tracks followed alongside the Coquihalla River, which showed some very intense white water.

It was a long way down at times.

Hope

Hope is a small town located at the end of the Coquihalla Pass.  The entire town is populated by these wonderful chainsaw carvings.

We just couldn’t escape the Squatches, but we loved them all.

The detail on this totem style was incredible. Even the eagle’s wings showed the feathers’ shafts and details.

Another beautiful carving by Pete Ryan, the same artist that did the Sasquatch in Harrison Hot Springs.

Hope was also renowned for being the filming location for the original “Rambo” movie.  This year marks the 35th anniversary of that event, and the town featured a walking tour with an explanation of which scenes were filmed on what spots.  We came across this filming harness being towed through town.  Not sure if it was connected somehow, but we thought the harness was really cool anyway.

The long crane is attached to a harness that is bolted to the smaller car. The camera hangs off the end of the crane and films the actors inside the car while they’re moving.

We also got some improvements done to Lonestar while we were waiting out the weather. This included a new set of taps and a larger kitchen sink, solar panels mounted on the trailer roof, and a newly designed pull out bed frame that collapses down into a couch in the daytime, and folds flat against the wall for travel. Much nicer to be sleeping up off of the floor.

New Friends

In the meantime, we were happy to make some new friends. We spent a great evening with Marj and Jeff, a couple of full-timers from Alberta. They are a wonderful, friendly couple who were welcoming and incredibly easy to talk to. They kindly (and patiently) taught us a couple of new card games, and will hopefully be joining us in Arizona after Christmas. We had so much fun! Can’t wait to see you again guys!

We also had a breakfast date with Theresa and Claude whom we met through RVillage. They’ve recently sold their house and have become full-timers. We were amazed at how many things we had in common, right down to dealing with real estate agents. It’s so nice when you meet people like them and immediately feel a connection. They hope to be hitting the road full time in the spring, and we hope our paths cross again in the future.

Back At ‘Er

With our month in Chilliwack now behind us it was time to hit the road once more. We entered Washington at the Abbotsford/Sumas crossing with absolutely no difficulty and made our way to Bellingham, WA and the nearest Costco to stock up on the things we knew we couldn’t bring across the border.

We traveled on down I5 through Seattle, caught a beautiful view of the Space Needle lit up after dark, and finally settled in Tacoma for the night. In the morning we crossed the Tacoma Narrows and got a good look at Galloping Gertie, the famous bridge that twisted itself right into the water in 1940. She’s much sturdier now, and features a fabulous view of the water below.

Galloping Gertie, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

We swung north and began our coastline tour, stopping for a beautiful beach hike in Dungeness

Dungeness State Park

Playing tourist on the beach.

before cutting across to Forks and finally down to Ruby Beach, where I got my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean proper. It was love at first sight. I had poor Mike pulling over at every lookout for photos and videos, which he patiently did. He just shakes his head and calls me “his five-year-old” when I get this excited.

Our second night in Washington was at the Quinault Casino in Ocean City. It offers free RV parking, as a lot of the casinos do, and they’re much quieter and have far better security than Wal-Marts. We had a very restful night there, and then crossed the state line in the morning.

Oregon or Bust!

This bridge was so cool with a hill on each end and basically a causeway in the middle.

And as pretty as Washington was, I have to admit, Oregon is now my favorite by far. The highway follows the coastline much closer, and the terrain changes at every turn. Rocky shoals, long sweeping beaches, tide pools and sand dunes. It’s never a dull moment,and always something new to look at. We even stopped for lunch right on the beach just past Astoria.

Hank and Lonestar wanted lunch on the beach too.

Our first night in Oregon found us in Tillamook at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, a beautiful little spot featuring a renovated barn full of fine cheeses and wines, gourmet food items, upper end kitchen gadgets and souvenirs. There was a petting zoo outside, and a field in the back where they allowed RV overnight parking. A very quiet and restful sleep that was greatly appreciated. And so was the incredible brie cheese that I left with.

Driving the Coast

The rest of that day was spent exploring the 3 Capes Scenic Loop, starting with the lighthouse at Cape Meares.

Cape Meares Lighthouse. The Fresnel Lens weighs 1 ton.

Since it’s on such a high cliff, the lighthouse only stands 12m high, or about 40 feet.

Looking south from the lighthouse

Obligatory Selfie.

View from the front of the lighthouse.

Three Arches Rocks, visible from the lighthouse lookout.  You can’t see from this angle, but there are visible holes worn through all three of these formations.

This spot also starred the Octopus Tree, estimated to be somewhere between 200-300 years old.

The Octopus Tree, 46 feet in circumference and 105 feet high.

A Sitka Spruce estimated to be 250-300 years old.

The rest of the loop featured beautiful beaches, sea caves and even sand dunes.

After a night at the Casa Del Wal-Mart in Newport, we started the morning with breakfast at the Boiler Bay State Park, which is a small spit of land that looks out over the most amazing surf and shoals.

Surf at Boiler Bay

Surf at Boiler Bay

Content Seagulls

Surf at Boiler Bay

Surf at Boiler Bay

We moved on from there to spend the afternoon at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. This place is incredible! They have so many hands-on exhibits and fascinating animals, including the Passages of the Deep, a series of underwater walkways that lead you symbolically from the Oregon Coast out into the open sea.

I fell head over heels for this little fellow.

Feeding time, but you gotta work for it.

Tufted Puffin in winter plumage.

Anemone

Beautifu sea lion sculpture

Mike making his videos in the Passages of the Deep underwater walkways

Yellowtail Rockfish

China Rockfish

Inside the Passages of the Deep underwater walkways.

Inside the Passages of the Deep underwater walkways.

Inside the Passages of the Deep underwater walkways.

Pirhana

Always knew I had a big mouth, lol

Mike saw this in the gift shop and loved it!

By the time we left the aquarium, it was getting late and we needed to find a place to spend the night. We ended up in Florence, and as I write this, we are finally all caught up. Let’s go see what today will bring.

See you down the road. 🙂

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