Part 3 Flashback: July 2019, Washington National Parks & a RV on a Ferry?

July 2019

Picture Frame Falls
Mt. Rainier National Park 

As we continued our journey towards Alaska. We had to make stops in Washington for the National Parks. Although we didn't have time to do all in the state. We found a campground between Highway 5 & Mt. Rainer on Mayfield Lake. We could leave RV there and just take truck to explore Mt. Rainer. 

Our relaxing campspot at Harmony Lakeside RV Park
on Mayfield Lake 

Next day we headed out to the Mt. Rainier National Park. It was overcast with the occasional showers. We still had hope that we'd see the mountain. As we drove around the park we thought we'd catch glimpses but the cloud cover never gave us a good photo.

Narada Falls

We love waterfalls and could bore you 

with all the different photos of them we took in the park. 

You KNOW Randy had to take this road. Hmmm, sign with rock falling from overhead ...sure, looks like fun!?! 

Ok, one way so SHOULDN'T meet another vehicle!
Rickseeker Point Road

Paradise Visitor Center

Parking lot was so full, Randy dropped Joyce off then went to park. Only spot was about 1/2 mile DOWN HILL from visitor center. Due to no cell service, he had to hike back up to visitor center to find Joyce. 

Huge visitor center and lots of people!

Yep, there it is, in the background is Mt. Rainier! 
(Anyway that's what they said!😕)

So many beautiful wildflowers along roadways.

We continued our trek north making a detour to the west a bit, so we could go to another park, Olympic. We found a campground right on the water, at Port Townsend Washington. 

The blue dot is Port Townsend, Washington.

The Keystone Ferry going to Coupesville. There are 2 ferries that make the round trip daily. One we would later take with the RV. You can see opening in back where they load the vehicles.

Yes the campground was right next to the parking lot for restaurants and the marina. But WHAT A VIEW!! That's the back end of our rv on right and if you look in center you can see a cruise ship going by. And of course as you can see in previous pic, we watched the ferries. They left Port Townsend every hour and half, during the day.

Point Wilson Lighthouse

Love this pic. The water, the flowers, and 2 deer walking on shoreline.

Enjoyed seeing all the birds along the shore. Heron and Bald Eagle.

Our main reason for traversing up western side of Pugent Sound was to go over to Olympic National Park. So we made the hour drive from Port Townsend over to Port Angeles to the main Visitor Center. We've learned in our National Park geekness, to not only stop for Randy's cancelation stamp in his park Passport book, but to gather information before touring a park. As we enjoy the wildlife, we always ask the rangers where's the best possible place to see the animals in the park. It's really helped knowing where to look, even with "ol' eagle-eye Randy". 

(Sadly, due to COVID in 2020, a lot of visitor centers are closed or reduced hours.)

Randy standing next to huge 650 year old Douglas-fir slab.
 The age ring tags on tree slab show from center-out...
1349-Tree begins, Indians live here
1492-Columbus "discovers" New World
1620-Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
1776-Declaration of Independence signed
1872- Yellowstone, first National Park created
1938- Olympic National Park created

 

This 3D map shows the vastness of the park, almost a million acres. The red dot is the Olympic Visitor Center near north entrance to the park. There are not many roads thru the rugged terrain.

What a spectacular view from Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center!
Elevation 5,242 feet. In the winter of 1998-99 they had 62 feet of snow! Up to July in the year of 2019, they had 18 feet of snow here.

Madison Falls

Blue dot is Cape Flattery

We decided to drive on out to the further Northwestern point of Washington. Driving the road was almost like being on a rollercoaster as had so many sways and dips. We assumed it was from all the huge logging trucks using the highway. Glad we had left the RV in Port Townsend!

Cape Flattery Big Chair at Neah Bay Washington

As we headed back to Townsend we saw there was a town named "Joyce". So of course had to go there!

Pink highlighted line (top left) shows ferry path.

We had checked into taking a ferry from Port Angeles to Vancouver Island, then from there another ferry over to Vancouver. Umm, nope not in our budget. However Joyce did find we could take a ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville Washington. The price was well worth not having to drive south, around Puget Sound and then back north. BIG plus was not having to drive RV thru Seattle! It saved us a days time also, as we needed to get to Alaska before snow started flying!

The line-up to board the ferry.

They know how to pack all the vehicles in. There were more cars down on other side of walls, plus motorcycles in front of us.

TIGHT SQUEEZE!!

There was so much to see, we hated that it was soon time to get below to your vehicle.

We saw all sorts of ships, boats and even swimming Harbor Seals,
 as we crossed the Puget Sound.

Point Hudson RV Park, from the ferry.

It was almost sad to say goodbye to Port Townsend. The quaint town, the wildlife, and watching the marine traffic made such a wonderful stay. Joyce had even asked how much snow the area got in winter. (It wasn't much, but they did get some. So Joyce crossed it off the list of settling here.)

The state of Washington has so much natural beauty to enjoy, we wished we could have stayed longer. We were so blessed the weather stayed nice and we saw so much more than we've shared here in the blog. We hope to someday go back and explore more, such as the San Juan Islands. But for now it's, (cue the John Wayne movie music) 🎵 "North to Alaska"!

Oregon, Family & Fun July 2019

July 2019
2nd segment of our Alaska trip blog

Randy, Joyce & Uncle Dale at Crater Lake

Since we'd be in the northwest on our way to Alaska, we wanted to stop in and see Randy's uncle. He lives in Myrtle Creek Oregon. He invited us to stay at his place, and as a long-time rver he had full hookups for us. We felt so welcomed, as all the cousins arrived when we got to town. It was amazing that Randy & his cousins were raised almost 2000 miles apart, as their sense of humor and mannerisms are so much alike!

Crater Lake National Park was only couple hours away, and it was soon decided we needed to take a road trip there. 

Randy's Uncle Dale, & his 3 children Mike, Diana & Jim.

It was a tight squeeze but all 8 of us fit in RV for an evening of family time.

Uncle Dale had told us what time he served breakfast (for the deer). There were some guests that arrived an hour early but several knew the exact time!

The fawns were so precious and we loved to watch all of them.

Jim & Lou Ann, Ed & Diana, Joyce & Randy, Uncle Dale, Mike

On our way to Crater we made a stop at Clearwater Falls.

Diana & Ed recommended breakfast at Diamond Lake Lodge. We had a gorgeous view of  Mt. Bailey.

Joyce & Diana were so much alike. Both had to get their toes in Diamond Lake.

We finally arrived at Crater Lake National Park. The lake is such a beautiful BLUE! Yes it's actually the color shown in the pics! The lake is fed entirely by rain and snow. The color is due to it's depth and purity. It is America's deepest lake with a depth of 1,943 feet. 

Dale, Diana & Ed at Crater Lake

Panoramic of Crater Lake

The photo looks like it's been edited. All we kept saying was "Wow what beautiful blue color"

We loved staying with Uncle Dale and being around the cousins. We so enjoyed all the wildlife and nature on his mountain. 

We even got to celebrate Randy's birthday with family. Diana invited us over for dinner and fixed a yummy birthday cake for Randy. 

Uncle Dale also had turkeys that came up to eat.

Uncle Dale loved zipping around with Randy on his 4 wheeler. 

Dale took Randy up on his property, to a cabin that he & the boys had built.

Diana found her a boyfriend.

Can you see the family silliness?

Dale drove us up one of his trails but due to trees down we couldn't go any further.

Joyce couldn't keep up following Uncle Dale!

Randy "helping" Joyce wax the rv.

Uncle Dale had scaffolding and convinced us to stay and wax the rv. So the week we had planned to stay turned into THREE weeks. On the day we left all the cousins came by to see us off. Even Jim & Lou Ann stopped in on the way to a doctor appointment. What a wonderful time we had at Mrytle Creek!

After we left Mrytle Creek we headed towards Portland. We belong to Harvest Hosts (A membership which has farms, vineyards, museums etc that allow you to stay overnight at their farms or parking lots, for free. There are generally no hookups, and you're encourage to support their businesses.) We saw there was a place to stay not far out of Portland in the Willamette Valley. Various farms and vineyards make the valley their home, due to the fertile soil. The Hoffman Farm Store in Beaverton Oregon, raises and sells Blueberries, Blackberries, Marionberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tayberries and various other produce and products. They hosts wedding and other events on the weekends so you had to call for reservations. When we arrived we were directed back by one of their event barns. 

www.hoffmanfarmsstore.com/

You can see all the small farms in area around Hoffmans.

Our truck & RV,
 looking from the store across one of their parking lots.

In the evening we had the place all to ourselves, 
with just the sounds of the sprinklers.

The color of the blueberries let you know which were ripe.

Kelly, one of the owners was working in the store and was a great hostess. (Yes, we bought lots of various berries, small pies, jam, and even their yummy berry milkshake!)

The following morning we got our buckets from the store and walked among the bushes picking blueberries. They then weigh your harvest and you pay by the pound price.

Joyce loved being out in the field picking!

Yum, fruits of our labor!

While at Hoffman's, Joyce had seen that we'd only be a half hour drive from Portland's International Rose Test Garden. Joyce had gone there when Randy had a training class in 2008, but that had been in October so she wanted to see roses at their prime. And Randy had not seen the gardens. Yes it was worth the drive! The roses were gorgeous! Some of the roses are just numbered as till their trials end they are not named.

Joyce could bore you to death with ALL the rose pictures she took!

Joyce was in her happy place!😊

It was a quick tour, but we both enjoyed it and were amazed at all the rose varieties.

Uncle Dale and his family thoroughly spoiled us! We had such a great time with them in Oregon! Their sense of humor and loving gestures were such a blessing and hard to leave! But Alaska weather can turn snowy in September so we had to continue our travels north. Next stops were for the National Park geek (Randy) in Washington State, Mt. Rainer and Olympic. 

I John 4:7

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. 

Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.