New blog address

We are pushing the limits of my technological ignorance now and trying to switch over to Wordpress for this blog. It appears I may have been successful and the new address is two4trippin.wordpress.com

But that blog still remains a work in progress…see you there.

9/6/2022-I am now trying to go back to blogspot, so we are WAY beyond my technological ignorance.

Western States Wildfire Season, 2015

Redding, CA, was next on our list, a visit with Jeanne’s brothers Dwayne and Dave. In our never-ending quest to come up with new destinations, Jeanne and I have somewhat decided to stay close to California for the Gladiator’s (Max, our grandson) birthday in November with the intention of taking him to Disneyland. So we headed up to Redding for a few days stay, again staying at the Winn-River Casino/Resort. Thus began our extended California experience through the devastating western states’ wildfire season of 2015. We arrived in Anderson to smoke filled skies, barely able to see the sun at midday. A few days of good visit time with the boys and we floated south to Santa Rosa for a few days visit with Max & his family. We actually succeeded in tearing Max from the grasp of his mother and taking him shopping. Of course, no shopping trip with Max could ever be complete without the prerequisite stop at the playground inside the mall.

The sun peeks at us at the Winn-River Casino campground.

There are actual mountains in this background, somewhere...

A dog's life in this hectic world! Woody & Rags kicking it at Rags' house in Anderson, CA.

The Gladiator in his realm at the Coddingtown Mall, Santa Rosa, CA.

"Hail to thee!"

Our son Chad planned a family get-together at his place in Atascadero, with a family zip-line extravaganza, so from Santa Rosa we scooted further south and found the Vines RV Resort in Paso Robles to park the house at. Very nice RV park, well maintained, pools, spa, beer & wine tasting on site, the only “bad” is it is right on Hwy. 101, so traffic noise is constant. Jenn, Gus, and Max met us for the weekend at Chad’s house, and everybody, Max included, partook in the zip-line festivities. Chad also had a home project in the works, a patio gazebo and brick planter around the newly poured back patio, to which we offered our services and back muscles to. When we first arrived in the area, the smoke from the wildfires was not too bad, skies were actually still blue with smoke on the fringes. And luckily, we got our zip-lining at the Santa Margarita Ranch completed just in the nick of time. A few days later, the wildfires got out of control, and Chad actually heard the town of Santa Margarita had closed down due to fires. I hope the Santa Margarita Ranch survived, it was a nice day of zip-lining.

The pool area at Vines RV Resort 

Home, in Paso Robles, CA

"OK, Chad. I hate these instructions when they are written in French!"

"Voila! One patio gazebo, at your service!"

"I'm ready to rock, how 'bout you?"

"We're ready to rock, too! Oops, now Chad, where did I leave my helmet?"

Max and Jenn, "zippety-doo-dah!"

Jeanne and her death grip style...

Gus hangin' on for dear life...

Free-flyin' Chad...

The Flying Wallenda's got nothing on us!

And one brick planter box on the way.

After 9 days in and around Atascadero, smoky skies darkening with each passing day, we decided to head over to the Porterville area to an Army Corps of Engineers campground at Success Lake. The drive there was not the most scenic and once we arrived we were unable to escape the smoke. This poor campground was as barren as one would expect in the middle of a most severe drought, and the lake was but a mere puddle. While staying here we drove up to the Sequoia’s Nat’l Forest to sightsee what we could in the thick smoke. King’s Canyon Nat’l Park, at the northeast side of Sequoia’s, was closed at the time due to current wildfire activity, heavy around the Lake Hume area. We were very disappointed in the Sequoia’s Nat’l Forest as far as Nat’l Parks go. There is heavy tourist traffic there and a lot of driving involved, similar to Yellowstone. But the “features” within the park have limited parking areas near them and most were full when we were there. The Parks do run free shuttle buses from some of the parking areas to the features, but that does not mitigate the inconvenience or lack of autonomy of parking near and walking to the things you wish to see. And of course the smoke was extremely thick making the normally scenic mountain views mostly obscured. 

One of California's REAL SCENIC landscapes! Central Valley area...

Home at the Corps of Engineers campground at Success Lake near Porterville. Nice smoke screen rising up behind us...

Gate area into the Sequoias Nat'l Forest, complete with that lovely smoke ambience.

Nice view of the mountains?!? NOT!

More of the mountains...

Moro Rock through the smoke and haze.

…and the sun sets on our little stay at Success Lake.

Trying to find some respite from the 100 degree temps we have been in for the past couple of weeks, we chose to head up into altitude to maybe escape the heat and possibly some of the heavier smoke. Mammoth Lakes became our destination, with a few day’s stop in Bishop on the way. We found the Tri-Counties Fairgrounds in Bishop with FHU and 50A service to use as our home for a few days. Smoke continued to plague us, but we toughed it out and took a 3-hour, round trip hike on the Little Lakes Valley trail just between Bishop and Mammoth Lakes. This would have been an absolutely beautiful scenic hike if it were not for the smoke. The trail winds among numerous lakes among the mountains and even with the smoke, it provided some pretty nice scenery. The trail is popular with the overnight camper/hikers/fishermen and you need to get a permit from the rangers for that back country camping.

Even with smoke, still picturesque...

Hiking on the trail toward that next lake.

Imagine if the air were clear...

Takin' a break above Box Lake.

…and another break at the side of Long Lake.

Water so clear...

Two recreational wanderers living the good life!

Well, tomorrow is moving day again, off to Mammoth Lakes. Jeanne has found several possible sites for setting up residence, some paid and some boondocking. It sounds like we may be in the Mammoth Lakes area for a while, temps are supposed to be manageable. Oh boy!

Oregon Coast and then back to Sacramento

Mill’s Casino in Coos Bay was a pretty nice set up. They give you the option of paying for a FHU site inside a nice, clean campground area, or you can dry camp in the very large, gravel overflow parking area. They still charge $15 to dry camp, but for a few days stay it was a good choice. The place is right on Coos Bay, in the middle of downtown North Bend, and the casino provides food and entertainment on site. We got to see a nice fireworks display over the bay, put on by the casino. A short hike in the hills took us to Silver Falls and Golden Falls in Coos county. Woody had a good time off leash and the falls were scenic as are most waterfalls you encounter.

Coos Bay boardwalk

All kinds of vessel float the bay in Coos Bay...

Critters call anywhere home in Coos Bay.

A bit of a collage of fireworks for the 4th of July celebration at Mill's Casino.

Silver Falls

Golden Falls

Continuing north along the Oregon coastline, our next stop was the Chinook Bend RV Resort in Lincoln City, OR. This was a dump/dive of a “resort”. Dirt/grass sites, lots of long term residents in broke-down beat-up trailers/rigs in various states of disrepair. The park charged extra for just about everything they had. The park is right on the Siletz river which is popular with salmon fishing and they had a small dock and boat launch area. They charge $8 for the boat launch ramp, and in our case we have a nice inflatable kayak we wanted to take on the river, but they still wanted us to pay $5 to launch that. We toughed it out a couple of days so we could sightsee the area. 

We stopped by the Boiler Bay lookout where, at low tide, you are supposed to be able to see part of a boiler from an old shipwreck. Well, it was not low tide, but we did catch a glimpse of a whale (or whales) cruising the coastline.

Wally the Whale cruisin' the Oregon coast

"Thar she blew!"

Who needs a boat to whale watch?

Depoe Bay is touted as the world’s smallest harbor, and it appears to live up to that reputation. The area is basically a whale watching and deep sea fishing tourist area and you do not want to blink when you drive through, you will definitely miss it.

Or so they say...

Entrance to Depoe Bay, pretty skinny if you ask me.

OK, yeah, Depoe Bay is the world's smallest harbor!

The Devil’s Punchbowl State Park is a beautiful beach area with soft sand, grotto-like rocky formations, and tidal pools full of the typical tidal critters like starfish & sea anemones. And of course, the namesake for the park, the Devil’s Punchbowl, has a nice overlook from the parking area above it where you can look into an empty “cauldron” at low tide and a partially filled one at higher tides.

Land locked fish during a low tide period at Devil's Punchbowl State Park.

Woody checking out some of the terrain.

A view from the inside, out.

Jeanne and Woody enjoying the sandy beach.

Sea critters at low tide.

More sea critters hanging on the rocks.

Namesake for the park, the Devil's Punchbowl, empty at low tide.

But when the tide rolls in, the "punch" spills in...

Yaquina Head National Area has a couple of lighthouses and spectacular tidal pools. It is also a hangout for year-round harbor seals. The park has personnel overseeing the visitors as they wander around the tidal pool areas, and they are very informative about the geology and zoology of this particular area.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

The lighthouse as guardian of the coast.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

Overlook to the tidal pools.

Seals lollygagging under the lighthouse.

And even more seals working their tans on an overcast day.

Tidal pool denizen, sea anemone in full bloom.

Sea Urchins galore!

And Starfish!

To top it off, more whale activity.

Ocean geysers?

"Dive! Dive! Dive!"

Drift Creek Falls was a nice hike up to a tall suspension footbridge overlooking the falls. We found it appears to be a favorite spot for locals to play in the water at the base of the falls, there were several families doing just that when we arrived.

The trail to Drift Creek Falls.

This is absolutely the furthest Jeanne would walk out onto the bridge! Vertigo, anyone?

The waterfall at Drift Creek Falls.

Pretty solid as far as suspension bridges go.

When we got ready to blast off from the Chinook Bend campground, Jeanne was doing some of her classic blog and net surfing when she found an ad for some assistant camp hosts at a park in Olympia, WA - the Washington Land Yacht Harbor RV park. A phone call and we were on our way. This was formerly a coop Airstream-only park with campsites for Airstream members only, but they recently changed and began allowing non-Airstream members to stay in the RV sites. We arrived and got set up, all ready to stay through the month of August. During our off time, we got to take in some of the local sights such as the old Olympia Brewery building, the poor, dying Capitol Lake (closed since 2009 due to extreme invasion of some type of foreign snails), Tumwater Falls, and Mt. Rainier Nat’l Park.

The old Olympia Brewery building.

Capitol Lake, looking to the dome.

This grating covers the large fish ladder at Tumwater Falls.

Some of the Tumwater Falls.

This looked to be an old, concrete type fish ladder along the river/creek.

More Tumwater Falls.

Christine Falls in Mt. Rainier Nat'l Park.

Narada Falls in Mt. Rainier park, complete with rainbow.

Myrtle Falls in Mt. Rainier park

Sadly, after our first week here, my (Charlie’s) mother had her second major stroke back in Sacramento, CA. Again, this one affected her speech, but she managed to recover quickly again. We remained in Olympia, planning to finish out our commitment then head back to Sacramento. However, one more week and my mother had her 3rd and most devastating stroke, leaving her half paralyzed and unable to speak. We left immediately and returned to Sacramento, where my mother was released home with hospice care and eventually she passed away at 6:30 am, July 31, 2015. She is in a far better place than we are now, peace to you, Mom, in all eternity, we love you.

So, now, life goes on. And our next destination is...