7/21/2017 - Driving toward Seattle

Friday - We ended up at a campground about 20 miles south of Olympia, that was the closest we could get to the Seattle area.  So we only had a 47 miles to go (Rochester is the "town" we are camped in). Although we considered driving back up to Mt. St. Helens this morning, we weren't sure that the top of the mountain was visible, so we decided against that.  We got on the road about 9:30, stopped at a truck stop when we got back to I-5 to finish airing up the tires, and arrived at our campground about 11:00 a.m.  Then we started calling for our next campground, which was just as difficult as this one had been.  Collins and Marilyn had already made several calls by the time we got involved, but we finally found one that could take us next week, north of Seattle, so then we began our touring.  Collins and Marilyn drove into Olympia to visit the Capitol Building. 

Joe and I drove on further, to Tacoma to go to the Museum of Glass.  In addition to an excellent gallery of glass artwork, there was a film where the artists talked about themselves and their art, and a "hot shop" where they were actually working with and blowing the molten glass.  This was fascinating, Joe probably watched them for 1 1/2 hours.  I stepped out to check out the gift shop (very expensive pieces!) then went back and watched them some more.

 We left our artists and walked through the very impressive gallery.

The artwork was divided into sections, the first was "sea," and the next was "jewelry."  These were some of my favorite pieces.

There were also "collections," some dated back to the early 1900s, some were donated by families or the artists. 

This building is right on the harbor so we saw several boats moored here.  This section of Tacoma is called the "Dome" section, and the hot shot had a sort-of dome top to let the heat escape.

 One of the artists on the film had created this blue dome artwork.

 Back to the hot shop, we watched them continue working on this piece.

They even had glass art as soap dishes in the restroom.

Along the hall to the restroom were other displays of glass art.  Grandpa thought Andrew would like this one, named "Blinky the Crab."

One interesting thing we learned is that they have kids submit their own artwork, and they select one each month and create a piece of glass artwork out of the kid's design.  They make 2 sets, one to give to the kid, and one for the museum.  A neat way to support budding artists.

They practically kicked us out when they closed at 5:00, so we looked over the harbor again. 

 There were 3 musical instruments set up on this balcony, for anyone to play.  Obviously, anyone!

So we of course got stuck in 5:00 traffic, which was crawling.  It took over an hour to get from Tacoma to Olympia which is about 30 miles.  Once we cleared Olympia, we got back up to speed and made it back to the campground, stopping for pizza at our exit. 

Then we thought we should continue with our planning ahead and try to get our ferry booked to Vancouver, and a campground on the mainland side for the night before.  Well, this was a new set of problems.  There are usually 5 ferries that run the route of Anacortes, Washington to Sidney, B.C.  Because of a generator failure on one of the ferries, they are down to four, and are not taking any new reservations at the present time.  So we have our campground booked for north of Seattle, which is on the way to Anacortes, but nothing in place for the next phase.  Had we not booked that campground already, we could probably cross at Port Angeles, south of Seattle.  Problems, problems. 

Tomorrow we plan to drive to Mr. Rainier, and the Brundiges plan to tour the LeMay "America's Car Museum," the "largest automotive museum in North America."  We shall reconvene at the end of the day.

7/20/2017 - Mt. St. Helens Monument

Thursday - Collins elected to have one of his "down days," so the other 3 of us headed up the mountain to see Mt. St. Helens, which is a National Monument, not a National Park.  We woke up to sprinkles this morning -- the first in a long time -- and it misted off and on most of the day, with periods of sunshine depending where we were on the mountain.  Our first stop was at a lookout to a bridge that had been built after the eruption in 1980.

As we got out of the car, we looked at these beautiful magenta flowers we had been seeing.  Upon closer inspection, they were like little bells.  We were told later they were foxglove.  Joe was fascinated by them, especially the insides, and kept looking at them closer and closer, finally wanting a picture with him and his first foxglove.

We continued on to Coldwater Lake.  Joe thought I should put my toes in there to see if it really was coldwater but I never found a good spot.  But there was a very nice boardwalk that let us get good views of this lake created by the eruption.

Joe was checking out the trees and thought maybe these ones we were seeing were birch but they finally had a sign identifying them as red alder.

Wildflowers were abundant along this drive, many different kinds and colors.  When we stopped at our next lookout, I got pictures of the wildflowers as well as a log that was still buried in ash.

I think our next stop was Elk Rock Viewpoint which was also the Science and Learning Center (closed).  But we did see elk.  They had spotting scopes set up and we saw two groups of elk here, one of about 17 and the other of about 10.  Once we saw them through the scope, we were able to find them in our binoculars but it was way too far for photos.

We continued on to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, the end of this drive.We got to see more elk here, again through a spotting scope.   We went inside just in time for a movie, and stayed long enough to watch a second one.  When they raised the curtain at the end of the film, the wall was all glass, looking out over Mt. St. Helen.  It was a surprise, but a neat view. We saw a total of 3 films on Mt. St. Helens, and all three were excellent. They were all different, and covered different aspects of the event. 

 View through the window.

When we came out of the building, though, the mountain was socked in and we never did get to see the top, or the crater.  Every day we've been in Oregon and Washington has been clear and sunny, until today.

It started misting again just as a ranger talk began, so we, along with lots of other people, headed back to the parking lot.  Cars leaving were driving through mist and clouds.

We had a little snack in the car and waited for the weather to improve, which it did somewhat.  We headed down the mountain and made our next stop at Castle Lake, which we had missed going up.  And lo and behold, there were two elk here, fairly close.

As we came off the mountain, we stopped at a couple of restaurants and checked out their menus, but we ended up eating in the RV.  But as we came into the campground, Marilyn spotted a deer with her fawn.  That was exciting.

I should probably post an update on the Johnsons.  After they left us in Prineville last week, they made it to just outside of Reno the first night and to Bishop, California the second night.  But Mazie got to feeling bad again and Dave took her to the hospital in Bishop (where I got my head wound glued back together).  They didn't have a cardiologist there and advised against her traveling home in the RV, going through some places far from medical help.  They wanted to fly her back to Reno, but she told them if she had to fly somewhere, she would prefer to just go home.  So they flew her back to Sierra Vista, and she went straight to the ER there.  But they just kept her overnight, couldn't really find anything, advised her to see her cardiologist, and sent her home.  Meanwhile, David was driving the RV home, which he did in 2 1/2 days.  He got home Sunday morning.

She has since seen her cardiologist.  They are going to have her do a stress test and put her on a heart monitor, but they think it might have just been a reaction to the allergy medicine she was taking in Oregon, or the coughing she does.  They told her she had not had a heart attack, which was a great relief.  We are hoping she gets some answers and is on the right track now.  However, her hand is still giving her some trouble, especially her little finger.

We leave here on Friday, heading up toward Olympia/Tacoma.  But it was very difficult finding a campground that wasn't full.  We probably need to figure out our travel schedule and try to book ahead a little further.

7/19/2017 - Driving to Mt. St. Helen Visitor Center

Wednesday - Moving on day again.  We are leaving the beautiful Columbia River Gorge today, but the morning did not go smoothly.  We've been having trouble with our awning, it doesn't want to go in the track right, so Joe and Collins worked on it first thing.  Unfortunately, Joe broke a clip on his side, but they did get it up.  Something to fix when we get home.

That job done, we continued with our "getting ready to move" routine.  Joe sent me to the nearby convenience store to get a bag of ice for our cooler, and his morning soda.  When I got back, he was in a mess.  When he backflushed the black water tank, he pulled the gray water tank drain by mistake.  He had left that to begin checking the tires, and unbeknownst to him, he was not draining the tank he thought he was, and overfilled the black tank.  Ultimately, we had black water back up in our toilet, and it may have overflowed slightly.  Anyhow, we have an odor!  Back to the tires, the extension valve broke on one of the inside tires and he lost about 40 lbs of air pressure before he could get that stopped.  So when he got all this stuff put back together, we had to drive back to the convenience store I had just left to finish airing up that tire.  What a morning!

We finally got on the road about 10:30, and drove 90 miles to the St. Helen Visitor Center that is just off I-5.  There is another visitor center at the actual mountain, but we toured this one today, and camped right across the road at a state park.  We got there just in time for the movie about the 1980 eruption, which was fascinating.  Then we walked through the exhibits and gift store.

We were lucky to get spots in the campground since we didn't have reservations.  But we got set up and rested the afternoon away.  Collins took a nap, and so did I.  Joe sat outside and read, and I think Marilyn read inside their RV.  And after dinner, we all played cards. 

Yesterday while we did our marathon waterfall run, Collins and Marilyn had spent most of their day at the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) in Hood River.  "Two and a half acres of buildings house 100 antique airplanes, more than 100 cars plus motorcycles and jeeps.  And they run!"  That's why they were just beginning the waterfall drive when we ran into them at our last waterfall.

And I forgot to mention that "Multnomah Falls is the second highest year-round waterfall in the nation.  Plummeting 620 feet, the waterfall is fed by rain, snow-melt and underground springs on Larch Mountain."  I said I was tired last night.

Tomorrow the plan is to drive back to Mt. St. Helens so I hope there are no earthquakes or eruptions brewing there.  We continue to have wonderful weather and have loved this part of the Northwest so far.