Coos Bay

Then up #101 on the Oregon coast. Not the big redwoods, but still lots of trees & beautiful seaside.

Saw a bunch surfing in a bay area. Also some great scenery. They had a piece of a large redwood in a park that you can walk through.

Stopped in Coos Bay for the night. They have wifi in this burg, seems like her like most places is connected.

Tomorrow will see us head inland to catch the I-5 and then on up north. We will likely be home a day later, so Monday late or Tuesday because of the time spent in the repair shop. Now we brake for anything - LOL

More Redwoods

On the Road Again

Got up early and had the hotel comp. breakfast.

After that took the car into a tire shop and got a repair job. As it turns out the heavy breaking we were doing coming through the pass yesterday caused a very serious vibration problem; the rotors were out of round. The shop turned the front rotors & we were as good as new. I have to say the stories about tourists getting ripped off by auto shops in the US are just urban legend. The repair bill was $86 & they gave me more expensive options as well as this one & it worked out well.

Little cooler day as we traveled highway #101, the coast route. Very scenic & huge trees lining the highway when you aren't right on the ocean front.

The Redwoods

Travelled north on highway #101 through northern California up to the redwood forest area. Stopped at the Trees of Mystery & took the hike up through the giant redwoods. At the top of the trail, took the sky tram ot the peak. Pretty impressive. The Brotherhood tree, the largest in the area was massive. Hard to believe but it is about 3,000 yrs old. They had a display representing the size of a big fallen one at different times & at the time of the Crusades in 1096 it was well along; and it was less than half the size of the big one.

There is one group of trees where hundreds have marriage ceremonies every year. Hard to describe it all as there are so many massive trees, it is a very moving experience.

Eureka CA

Interesting place, they have a large number of Victorian theme buildings in the old town area. Some amazing stuff here!

Reno in the Rear view

Well it was a hot one in Reno, in the 90's again, but all we saw of it was in the rear view mirror. Vini, vidi, vici - we came, we saw, we conquered. LOL. We were curious to see how it compared to Vegas, well it doesn't. In fact we like Laughlin better, but we can say we saw it.

Interesting drive from Reno northwest to Redding, California. Some nice country. Saw several Condors, which was pretty cool as they were endangered at one time. Now you talk about Big Birds, this is one!

Travelled west of Redding to the Pacific Coast. Another interesting highway, very nice around Redding. I have driven twisting roads, but this hwy #299 west would give a snake a back ache. And steep grades, half of the trip is mountain on one side; straight down into the valley on the other. Some nice scenery, but when you are driving an Indy race, you can only catch quick looks.

Here we sit in Eureka, CA, it's on the coast of northern California. Some neat stuff here, but not enough to keep us around for a second night. Lots of fishing and a very active sea port. Weather sure has cooled off, back to long pants for me tonight. Supper was at Applebys. We will head out up the coast highway [101] tomorrow to see the redwoods.

NEWS FLASH - Marg is tired of hotels & restaurant meals & wants to go home. After the redwoods we will probably make miles for home. Will pass through Portland, then Seattle & probably come across the border at Abbotsford. Should be in GP by late Sunday or mid-day on Monday.

A few pics from Reno

2nd day in Reno

Another nice day, about 93F & sunny. Went out for a buffet breakfast, skipped lunch, then buffet for dinner. Not in our hotel though, we went to the Eldorado. The buffet there is amazing, a far cry from the one in our hotel. Great food & deserts to die for.

Toured around the city a bit & found a Wells Fargo where they gave us some more: do, re, mi. Sure are some old parts in the center of this city, much as you see in most large cities. Must have been an Englishman who drew the road plans, I never saw a straight road here. With that infusion of cash we were off to the Legend Outlet mall. Marg got a couple of things in GAP & some other chic store. Touched lots of stuff in the other stores, LOL. Managed to get out of Burlington Coat without any bags, which is quite unusual. There was a sporting goods store with an amazing fish tank at the mall.

Prowled around in the casinos again. Did both did relatively OK, me earlier on & Marg won in the latter part of the day. Got her to cash in my blackjack winnings, not often we have $100 chips to redeem, LOL. Heck, I even won $8 playing Keno. They sure are generous with the free drinks here, not like Vegas. I must have had 3 or 4 beer yesterday & again today. Marg had a couple of margaritas, almost came back singing. LOL. Pretty good day all way round.

Back on the road tomorrow. Heading for the Pacific coast & the giant redwood forest. Not sure where we will end up or whether there will be wifi. Will provide the next update when we get connected.

Stopped at at B & B en route

Stopped to take a picture of a unique B & B along the route. Didn't get past the front gate, that's how you stay married for over 40 years - LOL

Goldfield - en route

Went through a few small places on the way, like Goldfield. Not too sure, but don't think too many are getting gold there.

Leavin Las Vegas

Got an early start, you know how it is in a strange bed. Well it's definitely not like home. Stopped at IHop, where else, and it was great. By the time we got on the freeway, the traffic had died down and it was clear sailing out highway #95. There is a lot more of Vegas than we realized, it took over half an hour to get out of the city.

It was an interesting trip, mostly desert & mountains you say, well yes, but lots of new stuff as well. For example drove by Alamos, you know where they invented & tested the BIG ONE, before taking it to war. Then up through Hawthorne, which is basically a huge underground weapons/ammunition storage site. There are bunkers on the surface that mark the entrances to the bunkers. There are literally hundreds of them all over the valley. Pretty much as far as you can see.

Reno, first time here

Well it was a long travel day, but we got to Reno at 5:30 & guess what time rush hour happens here. LOL That and major construction on the freeway, our manual said take exit 14. You guessed it that was the exit that was detoured. Anyway took #13 & low & behold there before us was Circus Circus, so guess where we are staying. They had such a good deal, they give you lots of goodies.

Went to supper, yes another buffet - note to self look into buffet pants. No I learned my lesson yesterday. We both had large salad plates and then I had a stirfry, Marg had a bit of a second salad plate.

Then to the casino, where I cleaned up on their free chips. Walked away with $64 of new Reno money. Marg was about even, so bottom, it looks like the buffet was paid for by the generosity of the casino.

Leavin' Utah

Got up early and packed up. Had to winterize the motorhome before leaving it in St George, in case it freezes at night. It likely won't during the day, but at the end of December it might get down to minus 1 or 2 in the night. Also put sun reflective stuff in the windows, as the sun down here can be quite punishing. Anyway it was about 10 when we finished, so decided not to try for Reno today.

Got as far as Las Vegas instead & are at Sam's Town tonight. Nice room & being off the strip, we got a great deal. Had the usual Vegas problems, had buffet for lunch & then buffet for dinner. Should have brought buffet pants, LOL.

Ran around looking for the pawn shop shown on the tv show, Pawn Stars, but no luck. Got directions from several locals, all bad. Seems everyone has an opinion, none of which were even close. Oh well, just wanted to look around.

Not sure how Marg made out, not so good I think, but I won big at blackjack - plus $17. Met a lady named Barb at the table & it turns out her and her spouse & another couple are all from Breton. Small world.

Plan is to head out early for Reno or Lake Tahoe, not sure which, tomorrow.

Last day in Utah

Spent the day packing up & cleaning up the rv so we can get away at a decent hour tomorrow. Not sure how the day will unfold, but will be on the road as soon as we get everything squared away with it. Need to drain the water in case it freezes here. It shouldn't during the day, but some of the nights at the end of December get a couple of degrees below freezing. We also put the reflective silver stuff in the windows & the covers on the tires, as the greater risk here is the damage done by the sun until it cools off. If we don't get away at a good hour, will likely just stay in Mesquite and get an early start for Reno on Tuesday. Hopefully we will have internet connections along the way and be able to show a few pics of our journey. We are looking forward to it as we will be seeing most of this territory for the first time. BBQ again for supper and then a dip in the pool. That was about it for today.

Saturday Sep 24th

Made a trip through St George, there sure are some nice areas here & big homes. Speculating it has something to do with the Mormon crowd & the size of their families. See lots of large families here, although Bill & Patti would fit right in - LOL. Nice homes in any event. Picked up a few things to help us pack up the motorhome, like tennis balls to put under the windshield wipers.

BBQ for dinner, in the process of trying to empty the fridge, had a wonderful dinner.

It was a nice hot day & after dinner we went into the pool for a refreshing break. Never took any pics today, so Marg went out after we got back from the pool to take this one. FYI, the tall column in front of the motorhome is a cedar, all trimmed up to look like a column.

Chill day - Sep 23rd

Spent the day around the rv park today. Went shopping to the outlet mall & then to the red cliffs mall. Marg checked the bank account and it was better than she thought, so shopping it was. She managed to get a good deal in Dillards, that's always a good day for her. Also got to JC Penney where she got another bargain. For me the a/c mall was the highlight. LOL First day of fall here, didn't cool off at all. May have to take a dip in the pool after supper. Changed some of the settings on the blog, perhaps that will help with making comments, if it's worse how will you tell me - LOL

The tunnels

The west portal from below, it's midway along the right hand edge

The east portal

East gate at Zion park

Thesandstone looks like a work of art on the east side of the park

The Grand Canyon

Drove to the north rim of the Grand Canyon today. It's quite a ways from here, close to 3 hr drive. On the road by 9AM & with the time difference, were there by 11:00 AM. Very scenic all the way there. It's a national park site, so very well done. There is a lodge you can stay at & most of the area is kept as pristine wilderness.

The area is amazingly open. There are no fences or guard rails along the edge of the canyon footpath, except for a couple of lookout points. Mostly it is a row of rocks along the footpath. The canyon is about 1.6km or 1 mile deep at this point and about 10 miles wide. The elevation is about 8,700 ft, so the weather was a lot cooler up there. When we got there it was about 66F & on the way out when we got to the valley it was 88F, so quite a difference. The view is, as you would expect, spectacular. The material says on a poor day you can see about 65 miles, on a good day up to 150 miles. Kind of gave me the willies looking down from the footpath. Had lunch sitting on a big rock overlooking the canyon. Cheese, Ritz crackers & some nice ham sausage from Mundare.

On the way back took a differnent route to try and get cell phone service. Finally got full service at Kanab, so we phoned Katie in England. Happy birthday darling, hope your 12th birthday was very special.

Came back through Zion park from the east gate. It's very different than the part we saw earlier. There are 2 long tunnels through the mountain, the longest being 1 1/2 miles long. There were openings along the tunnel, otherwise it was lights on. There are height & width restrictions for the tunnel traffic & lots of hairpin turns on the west side to get down to the canyon valley.

It was hot when we got back to the RV park, about 98F, so after dinner we went for a swim in the pool. It was very refreshing. This makes twice in the pool for me this week, kind of a record.

Sorry we missed your birthday Cassandra, hope your day was special. We love you. Happy Birthday!

Wednesday Sept 21

Cooled off today, I think it only got to about 94F. Almost had to go back to long pants - NOT! Went to a regional centre just down the road & got a few things. You really have to appreciate the irony of this; it was an end of summer sale. 94 degrees and they are lamenting the end of summer, sheesh. Marg got a haircut. As those of you who know her well will attest to, a new hair place ranks right up there with the financial crisis in Greece or Ireland. Anyway it turned out very good and life is, well, very good.

After lunch she needed some groceries, so went on her own. She likes driving in this foreign country & I like it when she does as well. ;>) Got all the food stuffs we require to exist - no beer, but she did get some shoes, Ken Cole, I think. She was pretty pleased with herself. What happened, I can't say; but shoes & no beer, perhaps I should start going on these trips after all.

Nice day around the park, then out to Applebees for dinner. Food was great as usual. She always has the appetizer plate for a small army, eats half and takes the other half for lunch the next day. I don't get that either, but my dish was good enough to be all gone. LOL

Stopped to fuel up the car at Smith's. It's a large food store, like Tesco with a gas bar. Anyway thought we should support the family. Stopped by the Mormon tabernacle on the way home & took a picture. Haven't joined the church yet, just took a picture. When we drove by there were people all about the place - coming & going. Now that is why I didn't join, they have to go too often. I am more suited to the weddings & funerals kind of church.

I should have taken a picture of the street sign, Tabernacle street. Could of put my hand over the end for Richards benefit - shorten it to Tabernac street. Lol, sometimes I crack myself up.

That's about it for now, off to the grand canyon tomorrow. Drive for a couple of hours, spit over the edge, then drive back, I imagine. Who knows, there might be something to see there.

Hot day

I know, you have heard this before, so proof is included. It's hot down here! Some of the cactus is in bloom. Very nice when this happens.

Virgin, Utah

On the way in to Zion park is this little settlement called Virgin. We stopped for some homemade ice cream, lots of jokes about the name of this place. The old gal at the ice cream counter was hilarious.

Weeping rock - Zion park

The weeping rock stop was quite the sight. Water runs off the sheer face of the canyon wall, almost like rain in some places. Right below the weeping rock the cliff is undercut and you can stand under it. It was so nice and cool there, that people were really taking their time in it.

Zion Park

Went to Zion National park today, it was an amazing place. Very steep vertical walls in most places, with the Virgin river flowing between them. Considering the heat, it & elevations, hiking the trails was challenging today.