A Birthday Party

We ended our visit in Seattle with a celebration of Julia's birthday.  My cousin Elyssee, her husband Buck, her daughter Emma (who just graduated from Pamona College) were there.  In addition, Julia's buddy Sophie (they share a nanny) and her parents Dave and Iva attended.


Julia celebrated with a birthday cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes.

A Ferry Ride to Bainbridge Island

Seattle lies in the middle of the Puget Sound and is served by ferries that allow a visitor to explore the islands of the Sound.  Today we explored Bainbridge Island.

About four times the size of Jamestown, RI.

It is a short ferry ride from Downtown Seattle.

We all had a grand time on the ferry and on the island.  One of the most impressive sights appears while returning to Seattle…

Tomorrow is our last day on Seattle.  We will celebrate Julia’s first birthday and then fly home to Jamestown.

In Seattle

We arrived to many welcomes in Seattle – from all -- especially Julia
A few statistics for those of you who are interested (with apologies to Harper’s)

• Number of miles traveled in rented Toyota Yaris: 5134
• National Parks Service sites visited: 7 - Jefferson Arch (St. Louis), Tallgrass Prairie Preserve (Strong City, KS), Bandelier National Monument (Los Alamos, NM), Grand Canyon, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite, Crater Lake
• Clothes washed in: Visalia, CA; San Jose, CA; and Seattle, WA
• Roadfood suggestions eaten in and enjoyed: 6 - Henry’s, Goody- Goody Diner, Kumback Lunch, Dyer’s Bar-B-Que, Cafe Pasqual, and Otto’s Sausage Kitchen
• States driven across: 17 - RI, CT, NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, NM, CA, OR, WA

Almost there…

We left Crater Lake early this morning and drove thru fog and snow – the most beautiful scenery we’ve seen so far.

We headed for Portland and Powell’s Bookstore…how could we miss it?  Ralph picked up a book on search theory … “Searching for Shondra”… for a long time they looked in all the wrong places.  I bought some easy reading fiction.  As a last stop before we get to Seattle, we decided to make one more Jane and Michael Roadfood stop…at Otto’s Sausage Kitchen.  We had a few grilled on the sidewalk.

It’s now on to Seattle and daughter, and son-in-law and granddaughter Julia.

By the way for you who are paying attention…I’m updating this on the road and the Google map on top of the blog is not updating correctly…I hope to get it fixed this evening…pictures of family will follow

Crater Lake

We finish our National Park portion of this cross country tour by spending two nights and one spectacular day at Crater Lake National Park in south central Oregon.

Crater Lake was formed 7900 years ago by a volcano erupting and leaving a crater or caldera (“bathtub” our park ranger Sue told us) which is filled with snow and rainwater.  The sights invite panoramic photos, so here are a few…

  The park gets 44 feet of snow annually and currently in the last week of June, there are 41 inches of snow on the ground.

We say goodbye to Crater Lake and the rest of the National Parks and Lodges that we have visited during this trip Monday morning and travel on.  First a short stop in Portland Oregon to visit Powell's Books and stop at a Roadfood choice of which there are several.

Next we spend a short week with daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter Abby, David and Julia in Seattle.

Monterey Aquarium

After sighting the Pacific, we visited Monterey, CA and the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Pacific

The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa who crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it as Mar del Sur (South Sea), and then by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the Pacific during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522. 

In June of 2010 the ocean was sighted by the American traveler Ralph Klingbeil who crossed from the island of Cannonicut in the Narragansett Bay north of the Atlantic Ocean.  Mr. Klingbeil had traveled some 3700 miles in a rented Toyota Yarus.

Paris in Palo Alto

After all that technology, we went to Stanford and spent some pleasant time in the Rodin Sculpture Garden at the Cantor Arts Center.

As we walked around, Ralph and I remembered our 2008 New Year’s visit to Paris with Barbara and Jonathan.

Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2

We made another stop on the “Scientific Traveler Tour” this afternoon at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.  Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2 was demonstrated for us four relics from before the personal computer age.

There were a few other relics in the museum…

A Gold Star for the first daughter or son-in-law to guess what is hanging from this man’s belt!

Dinner with the Stusnicks and Checks

We celebrated arriving in San Jose by having dinner with Eric and Maddy and their son and daughter-in-law Harold and Jenny…

From Yosemite to San Jose

Driving from the Wawona Hotel to San Jose is to pass thru more than a century and some beautiful country.

A Walk to the Ahwahnee

On our last day in Yosemite, we walked from the shuttle stop at the Yosemite Lodge to the Ahwahnee.

View A walk in a larger map

Only later did we find out that we missed an opportunity to add another wildlife to our life list … we were in mountain lion country!  We had lunch at the Ahwahnee, a 1927 grand lodge, in what looked like to me. like Frank Lloyd Wright style.

Walking with John Muir

We spent a day in the Yosemite Valley.  Although 2010 is a far cry from the 1870’s, you can almost imagine that you are walking with John Muir himself.

We took an “easy” walk from the Yosemite Lodge (where Barbara and I stayed a few years ago in March or April – can’t remember which month – it was much emptier then) to the Yosemite Lower Falls.  There has been a lot of snow this past winter and spring melt off has been rapid, so the Falls are very full…

We then took a shuttle bus to the Mirror Lake Trail (also “easy”, but longer).  Because of all the snow and runoff and recent warm weather, the lake isn’t much of a mirror, but the walk was wonderful nevertheless.

Even with crowds, the shuttle buses, and souvenir shops – it’s still easy to imagine you are walking with John Muir…

Yosemite

We are staying at Yosemite for three nights at the Wanona Hotel.  The hotel is from the Victorian era – a main building, 1879…

and several smaller cottages and annexes.  we are staying at the 1918 Modern Annex with private baths.

  this is our front porch and this is the view from the porch…

It is on the National Register of Historic Buildings…so no telephone, TV or internet.  Even my Verizon mobile card does not work here, so these blog entries are delayed.

Back in time…

We just spent 3 nights at Wawona Hotel in Yosemite NP.

It’s a little bit of the nineteenth century inside of Yosemite.  No TV, internet, or cell telephone.  So blog entries have been delayed.  Will coming soon…

For the next three days we will spending some catch-up time with dear friends Eric and Maddy Stusnick in San Jose, CA.

Bears!

As we were finishing our visit to Sequoia we came across Mom….

   Her cubs were nearby,

   and then -- this photographer decided it was time to move quickly…..

Land of Giants

When John Muir visited what is now Sequoia National Park he called it “land of giants”.

We spent a wonderful day here today.

Folks from all across this country (and world) come to have their picture taken in front of “General Sherman” – the most massive tree in the world…

Crossing the Desert

Today we crossed the Mojave Desert and arrived in the San Joaquin Valley – it sure felt like the “Promised Land”.

The landscape was both forbidding and fascinating….

 

 

Tomorrow we will spend the day visiting the Sequoia National Park and then on to Yosemite.

Leaving Las Vegas

We stayed last night in Boulder City, a 1930’s “model” city, conceived by the Federal government as an ideal town, to which the American people could look for hope of a better future.

For dinner, we took the short drive to Las Vegas, to try out the Buffet at the Golden Nugget.  A bit like “Old Country Buffet”

Hoover Dam

We continue to make stops on the “Scientific Traveler Tour”.  Hoover Dam is certainly one of them.

It is not only an engineering marvel, but to a girl from “the city” it reminds me of Radio City Music Hall…

The inscription reads….

"Since primordial times, American Indian
tribes and Nations lifted their hands
to the Great Spirit from these ranges
and plains. We now with them in peace
buildeth again a Nation."

Lunch on The Mother Road

We stopped for lunch from the Grand Canyon to Boulder City on a portion of Route 66.

The rest rooms….

Fossils and Condors

One of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting a National Park is attending a Park Ranger program.  the Park Rangers are always knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Today we started the morning off attending a Fossil Walk program and we learned all about fossils in the Grand Canyon and found a number of them ourselves.  Ranger Pat said looking for fossils is like looking for mushrooms – at first you think you can’t find them or identify them at all and then after you see one or two, you can spot them all over. 

This afternoon, we attended the Condor Talk.  Ranger Nicole was able to deliver a Condor during her talk.  It flew above us and we could all identify the bird by its markings just as she had explained.

Resting on the Trail!