A day of sunshine and beautiful views. We left Quinault Lodge and drove around the southern and eastern part of Olympic National Park to Port Townsend Ferry Terminal. We stopped in Aberdeen, WA to get the oil changed in our rental car because it kept giving us a warning that oil life was low. The guy at the shop told us that it only had 1 ½ quarts of oil and it holds 8 quarts. All we would need is for another car to break down on us this trip. It is fixed now and Hertz will reimburse us the price of the oil change. Hope to get our truck back at the end of next week. Gale and Phil left at 5 am for the ferry as they had reservations because of the RV. Margaret ... read more

Olympic National Park Washington. Today was a beautiful sunny day as we headed from our hotel on the beach to the Lodge on the lake. We are staying in the Lake Quinault Lodge, which as you guessed it on Lake Quinault. The lake is actually owned by the Quinault Indian Reservation who charge a fee to fish in the lake above the fishing license cost. The Indian Reservation is shut down so you are not allowed to fish on the lake. This really bummed Kevin out. However, you can head up the road and go to their casino. Go figure…We met up with Phil, Gale, Barry and Margaret at the lodge. Phil and Gale are staying at a RV site just up the road and the rest of us at the lodge. We all went for ... read more

On May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake started the largest landslide in human history at Mt. St. Helens. The pressure on the magma in the volcano caused the gases to expand and the magma just exploded. The explosion blasted a mix of hot gases, lava and rocks of all shapes laterally from the top side of the volcano at about 300-500 mph. The wind force sheared all the ancient forests in its way. There are stumps still standing but the trees were blown far from this area. The ash from the explosion rolled out vertically in a dark flume as high as 80,000 feet in the stratosphere. It melted all the glaciers on the mountain creating floods and mudslides called lahars as far as the Columbia River about 50 miles away. Most communities in central ... read more

Saturday May 8, 2021 Drive from Lewiston Idaho to Mt. Rainier National Park Washington Nice bright sunny day in Lewiston started driving across Washington to Mt. Rainier. The landscape of eastern Washington is mostly large rolling farmland hills. There were so many farms much like the Palouse of Idaho. This is rich volcanic soil so fertile. We followed several rivers (Snake, Columbia) which most likely provide the irrigation for this beautiful farmland. As you get further into the state we saw acres upon acres of vineyards they were stunning. Wineries abound in this area of Washington. Then there were apple orchards as far as you could see. I will think about that every time I eat a Washington apple. As we drew nearer to Mt. Rainier the weather became colder and the mountain was covered with ... read more

Beautiful sunny day in Riggins, Idaho almost 90 degrees!!! Drove to White Bird, Idaho to meet up with our outfitters Hammer Down for a day of fishing on the Snake River in Hell’s Canyon. The deepest part of this river gorge is 7,993 ft, which makes it the deepest river gorge in North America. It borders the states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The magnificent Seven Devil’s Mountain Range stands high above the canyon on the Idaho side. There are some crazy rapids in this canyon. The outfitters use a jetboat and go over those class 3 and 4 rapids with easy. However there is quite a bit of bouncing and splashing but gives you quite a thrill. We saw several rafters on the Snake today and I thought I would much rather be in this ... read more