Tri-Cities, Washington: Hood Park, COE Campground

 

The tri-cities area of Washington is in the southeast corner of the state. We found a great Corps of Engineers Campground here called Hood Park. It’s on the Snake River just above the point the Snake River empties into the Columbia River.

In fact its only two miles above the point Lewis & Clark camped during their epic exploration of the ‘wilderness’ west of St Louis, looking for the highly hoped for but non-existent Northwest Passage.

There was a grain storage facility on the far bank that became a nice focal point for several spectacular sunsets.

We almost always enjoy COE campgrounds and Hood Park is no exception. Peaceful, quiet, clean and well maintained, Hood Park was a little slice of heaven.

         

Just a little fun at night with the river and barge lights…

 

Loved the geese in the sky and in the water.

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Hood Park,Washington,Tri-Cities,Pasco,COE Campground

Crater Lake, Oregon: 56 Feet of Snow Last Winter

Yes, you read that right. They had 56 FEET of snow at Crater Lake last winter! Throughout the Sierra Nevada’s they had a lot of snow last year. Around 2X as much snow as usual.

  

And Crater Lake gets a lot of snow in a normal year. It ‘normally’ takes them 3+ months to clear the road that circumnavigates the lake. This year however, the road was not completely opened until mid-July.

 

Didn’t stop the flowers from blooming magnificently...

 

The blue color is intense; hard to tell from the photos just how clear the water is. It’s all snow melt. No rivers flow into or out of Crater Lake. Precipitation, snowmelt and evaporation are in a constant battle with the outcome declared a tie. The lake level stays relatively the same year after year.

The lake is roughly 6 miles across and 1,949 feet at its deepest point. Wow. Simply amazing.

See Ya!

Dale & Mary Lynn

Technorati Tags: Crater Lake,snowmelt,deep blue,clear,56 feet,snow

Mt. Shasta California: America’s Mt. Fuji ?

We left Reno travelling on the back roads thru the Sierra Nevada’s until we arrived in Mt Shasta, California. The mountain is beautiful and is visible, in some places for over 50 miles.

 

In fact, when approaching Mt Shasta from the North, it has been given the nickname of “America’s Mt Fuji”, because it resembles the famous Japanese mountain in both shape and visibility from afar.  I look forward to seeing Mt Fuji in person someday so I can judge for myself…

This steep sided cinder cone is located just to the Northwest of Mt Shasta; in fact this photo was taken from the lower flank of Mt Shasta. This is called Black Butte cinder cone.

Love it when I can get an insect or two crawling around on a flower…

This was a far up Mt Shasta as we could drive; the road was closed from here on up due to snow. Remember this is in late July.

 

We went to a festival in Weed, California, complete with music, hippies and this cool 1923 Fire Engine. For some reason the town of Weed smells just like it’s name sake – it seemed everyone around us was smoking a joint or a bowl. The police seemed to concentrate on people who were drinking too much…

 

Everywhere you went around Mt Shasta, the views of the mountain were spectacular.

These conifers grew wild along the road up Mt Shasta, looking for all the world like they were sheared into shape on a regular basis, but of course they are not.

 

While exploring around Mt Shasta we found a cool reservoir that had only a few small boats out water skiing. Not packed with people like the lakes back East.

See Ya!

Dale & Mary Lynn

Technorati Tags: Mt Shasta,Weed,California,Rose,Fire Engine,1923,Cinder Cone,Black Butte

Family Vacation Fun In Outer Banks, NC & Ocean City, MD

We took a vacation in July -- don’t laugh, full time RV’ers need to ‘get away’ from all the stress of travelling full time, going anywhere you want, when you want… Ok, Ok, we didn’t ‘need’ a vacation, we ‘wanted’ to see family & friends. Soooo, we flew from Reno, NV to Baltimore-Washington International in Maryland where we rented a car and began an 18 day frenzy of family, friends, and food – not necessarily in that order.

 

Most of Mary Lynn’s side of the family was able to get together in the Outer Banks, NC for a sun and fun filled week by the sea.  

Mary Lynn and her sisters, Carol and Debbie  --

 

enjoying the sun, sand and surf. And no, the water was not as cold as Mary Lynn’s expression would have you believe.

 

Something about the beach brings out the ‘beast’ in guys…

Debbie & Richard’s family looking cool, calm, and collected.

A great looking three generations – I mean ‘sisters’…

My son Christopher & his wife Rachael. The Atlantic Ocean is just a little different venue compared to Oklahoma…

Carol’s daughter Kelly in the midst of relaxing and a great water balloon fight with Chance.

Carol’s son Jeremy, his wife Danielle and their photo loving daughter Rachael.

These canal homes are in Ocean City, MD across from relatives we were visiting. 

All in all 18 days flew by and all too soon we were flying back to Reno to resume our six month West Coast adventure. Next up: We drive through the Sierra Nevada's to Mount Shasta in Northern California and then launch ourselves through Central Oregon.

C Ya!

Technorati Tags: East Coast,OC,OBX,NC,MD,Ocean City,Outer Banks,Carol,Debbie,Family,vacation,Ocean,Sand,Surf,Sun,beast,Christopher,Rachael,Jeremy,Danielle,Kelly

Reno, Nevada: Biggest Little City in the World & Gateway to Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is undoubtedly one of the prettiest places on earth. A beautiful blue, crystal clear lake located at an elevation of 6000 feet, surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains, many of them snow covered most of the year. Lots of gorgeous scenery. And of course lots of spectacular multi-million dollar homes.

In any case our friends Terry & Marci live in Reno and we decided to visit them in Reno while we travelled back home for a family get together in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

 

 

“Biggest Little City in the World” is Reno’s self-proclaimed sub-title. And the is more than a little truth in Reno’s advertising slogan. It has a great combination of typical city problems plus the distinct challenges associated with legalized gambling, all inside an incredibly small footprint (for a western city; eastern cities lack the choices that plenty of available land presents).

 

Lots of great motorcycle riding. We went all over the Sierra Nevada’s around Lake Tahoe and the surrounding counties. Beautiful is both over-used and under stated in describe the rugged mountains, alpine forests, and lakes still frozen in late June…

 

See Ya!

Technorati Tags: Reno,Nevada,Biggest Little City In The World,Sierra Nevadas,Lake Tahoe,Terry,Marci