Sequim, Washington

Eight great days of catching up!  From the moment we picked up Rob and Pam at the Seattle airport until we said our goodbyes we had a great time.  Sequim is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the airport.  We enjoyed a great lunch at the Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor.

Tides Tavern-Gig Harbor

We lived in Burleson, Texas from 1992-2016.  During that time, we were blessed to get to know a lot of wonderful people.  We met Rob and Pam McNeely fairly early on in our tenure.  They have two children the same aga as our children and the initial introduction came through youth sports.  Over the years we had so many great times together.  Now that the kids are grown, we've both moved from Burleson.  We don't see each other nearly as often but have stayed in touch.  We were thrilled when they were able to join us for an eight day stay in Sequim, Washington.

Sequim

A few hours after arriving in Sequim we went to the Olympic Cellars Winery...........

we were soon dancing the night away with "Victims of Love", a really good Eagles tribute band from Seattle.

Sequim, which we were incorrectly pronouncing prior to our visit (pronounced Skwim) is located on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and north of the Olympic Mountains.  We were fortunate to be able to rent a waterfront house directly on the Strait of Juan de Fuca which allowed us to enjoy amazing sunrises while enjoying watching cruise and cargo ships heading to and from Vancouver and Seattle.

Sequim is well known for its fields of lavender.  It was a little past "peak color" but there was still plenty to enjoy.

Pam zoomed in close to get this great picture!

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Dungeness Spit, a five and a half mile-long sand spit that is home to over 250 species of birds.

On the trail overlooking the Dungeness Spit.

On the spit.  The trail is strewn with driftwood and subject to tidal changes......we didn't venture too far out!

One final look at the Dungeness Spit

Every sunrise from our beachfront was spectacular.........

and filled with birds!

Even after the sunrise there was plenty of sitting and enjoying the waterfront......

watching the ships go by...........

and enjoying the views of Mt. Baker (approx. 100 miles away)

We had several eagles for neighbors!

The Olympic Discovery Trail passes through Sequim.  Rob and Pam rented bikes and covered about 30 miles, riding from Sequim to Port Angeles and back.  Beth and I enjoyed a nice walk along a small portion of the paved trail.

Back porch Scrabble!

There was plenty to do around Sequim, and I've tried to document some of those adventures in this blog.  Additionally, there will be a few more blogs coming on our adventures in the Sequim area.

Mount Rainier National Park

 

While we haven't visited all 63 of our National Parks, we've been fortunate enough to have been to quite a few of them.  We even had the opportunity to spend some time in the American Samoa National Park a few years ago (the only national park in the Southern Hemisphere).  

The drive from Cannon Beach took us through Astoria.  No drive through Astoria would be complete without Fish & Chips at the Bowpicker!  

We enjoyed stopping at the Mount St. Helens Visitors Center.  The visitors center provides a very interesting look at the 1980 volcanic eruption of the mountain.

The visitors center is located about 40 miles from the mountain.

There were numerous displays and a very informative movie

Since we were relatively close, we weren't going to pass up the opportunity to check Mount Ranier National Park off the list.  Mount Rainier National Park was established in 1899, making it the fourth oldest.  Over 97 percent of its 236,000 acres are undeveloped, protected wilderness.  The centerpiece of the park is the 14,400 mountain itself, which is often hidden by clouds and fog.

We spent two nights at a small motel in the one red light town of Morton, Washington which gave us one full day to explore the park.  If you pass through Morton and are hungry, Chimis Mexican Restaurant is pretty good!  The weather forecast for the day of our visit wasn't too favorable. It called for a cloudy, rainy and foggy day.  Unfortunately, the forecast was right, but we didn't let that change our plans to visit the park.

We entered the park through the Nisqually entrance and enjoyed driving to the Henry Jackson Memorial Visitors Center.  There were several short trails and waterfalls along the very scenic drive that we enjoyed.  On a clear day the large windows at the visitors center would have given us a great view of the mountain.  On this particular day, we had a great view of rain, clouds and fog!  In spite of the less than ideal weather we enjoyed our visit, reminding us once again that you can't always judge the day by the weather!

The scenic overlook wasn't as scenic as it could have been.........

but the trails were great!

There's a mountain out there somewhere!

Cannon Beach, Oregon

 From Ashland we made our way northwest towards the Oregon coast.  Our next destination was the small coastal town (pop. 1,800) of Cannon Beach.  We had spent a little time in Cannon Beach before and were looking forward to our four-night return visit.

Cannon Beach

There were several route options for the drive from Ashland to Cannon Beach.  The shortest, less scenic route was around 6 hours.  The longer, more scenic, coastal route was around two hours longer.  Not being in a hurry, we chose the longer, more scenic route.  One other factor in our decision-making process was the fact that the longer route took us by the Tillamook Cheese factory.  The promise of complimentary cheese samples and ice cream certainly played a major factor!

Can't make a decision on what ice cream to get at the Tillamook Cheese Factory?  They have a solution, get the three-flavor ice cream flite!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

The actual beach at Cannon Beach is several miles long and a couple of hundred yards wide, making it perfect for walking.  The most prominent feature of the beach is Haystack Rock, a 235-foot-tall sea stack that is a popular nesting place for birds.  At low tide, there are numerous tidal pools at the base of the rock.  The tidal pools are full of small fish and starfish, sea urchins and other small critters.

Haystack Rock!

Haystack Rock from our hotel balcony

Unlike Ashland, which was in the middle of a heat wave, the temperatures at Cannon Beach were more typical, a little cool, at times a little foggy and very comfortable.  We enjoyed daily walks, exploring the area and were very pleasantly surprised at sunset one evening when we were joined by some very special guests.

Cannon Beach Sunset.........it's not just for humans!

 

Ashland, Oregon

I was happy when we bought the game Quarto at a downtown shop in Ashland.  I'm currently on about a 100-game losing streak to Beth.  If I had only known, my smile might not have been so big.  

We didn't do a lot or research on Ashland prior to our visit.  It looked to be a convenient stop in Southern Oregon as we headed further north.  What we discovered was a vibrant city of 22,000 that had plenty to keep us busy for our two day stay.

Ashland, Oregon

Some of the things we learned about Ashland is that it is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which happened to be going on while we were there.  It also has a really nice downtown area full of small, locally owned shops, art galleries and restaurants.  Alongside the downtown area is Lithia Park, which is full of trails, a duck pond and a rose garden.

Lithia Park.  The only downside to our visit to Ashland was that they were experiencing a big heat wave.  The large shade trees were really appreciated.

No ducks in the duck pond!

Lithia Park

We didn't attend any of the Shakespeare Festival plays, but we did enjoy the free "pre-show" activities in the outdoor amphitheater located near the festival venues.  The first night there was a local Hispanic dance troupe and the second night a concert featuring the music of Whitney Houston.  Both were entertaining and the price was certainly right.

The free entertainment drew a big crowd both nights

We went to a local winery on Saturday afternoon.  There was a local dance company that put on a nice hula show.

As we discovered, Ashland was much more than just a stop along the way!

Mammoth Lakes, California

 

We've crisscrossed this country by car a number of times over the past ten years.  There have been many incredibly scenic drives along the way.  While it would be impossible to rank them, if we did try, the drive from Genoa, Nv. to Mammoth Lakes, Ca would be right near the top.

The two-and-a-half-hour drive was on Highway 395.  This section of the highway is a lightly traveled four lane road that runs along the eastern side of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains.  Along the way is a saltwater lake known as Mono Lake and a few miles further is access to the east side entrance of Yosemite National Park.  

Knowing that there would be stops along the way, we got an early start on the drive.  There were several nice overlooks along the route, and we also enjoyed spending some time at the Mono Lake Visitors Center.  The lake is estimated to be over 750,000 years old and because of its high salt content the only living animals in the lake are brine shrimp.  The shrimp serve as an "all you can eat" buffet for both migrating and year-round birds. 

Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve

Just a short distance from Mono Lake is the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park.  This entrance is less popular than the western side entrance.  Even though it was a beautiful summer day, there were only a few cars in line at the entrance, so after a few minutes we were in the meadows section of the 747,956-acre park.  We enjoyed several hours of hiking and picnicking before heading out the same entrance and on to Mammoth Lakes.

The Meadows area of Yosemite National Park is not as popular as other areas, but there is plenty to enjoy!

Mammoth Lakes

Mammoth Lakes is year-round resort area.  In the winter skiers flock to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.  During the warmer months of the year there are endless trails, golf courses and numerous lakes to enjoy.  We enjoyed hiking the three-mile easy/moderate trail around Convict Lake.  The lake was originally known as Monte Diablo. The name changed to Convict Lake in 1871 after a group of escaped convicts were tracked down by a posse along the shores of the lake. According to legend, a gunfight ensued.  Two of the members of the posse were killed.  The convicts were rounded up and soon thereafter frontier justice was served.  Thankfully we enjoyed a much calmer day picnicking and hiking around the lake under cloudless blue skies. 

The Convict Lake Trail is a three-mile trail around the lake.  

An early moonrise over the mountains

Mammoth Lakes got its name from a collection of glacier carved lakes in the area.  The most popular of these lakes are Lake Mary, Twin Lakes and Lake George.  The lakes are popular for hiking, biking, camping and fishing.  We didn't bike, camp or fish but we sure enjoyed hiking several of the numerous trails and relaxing along the shore.

There are over 300 miles of trails in the Mammoth Lakes Basin area....we didn't do them all!

We had an interest in visiting Mammoth Lakes for several years.  The wait was worth it.  We had a great few days exploring the Mammoth Lakes area before heading north back along Highway 395 to Genoa and then onward to Ashland, Oregon...........stay tuned!