HappyTrails

Waterfalls and the National Parks Blog

Now that I'm learning more about my inherited Nikon I have a new item on my travel wish list.  When we are back on the road I would like to try to visit (and photograph) as many waterfalls in the National Park System as feasible.  As I've posted before, I read the National Parks travel blog and I found this post interesting. Check it out.

The weather has been typical foggy in the am and sometimes clear later in the day.  We enjoyed another walk along the Hammond trail yesterday.  Unfortunately, walking and taking photos doesn't work for me.  I want to get the benefit of the walk and if I take my camera I'm distracted from the walk.  Today I'm going to concentrate on completing my second week photography assignment, weather permitting.

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer and having some great RVing experiences.

Happy Trails!

Fuel prices in Northern California

It has long been a known fact that the fuel prices in Northern California can be expected to be some of the highest in the nation.  Even though the barrel prices have fallen over enough weeks to result in lower prices at the pump, they are just as high as when we left several weeks ago.  Given that the economy is not as strong in the northernmost portion of California and people are known to express their views, it's surprising they aren't screaming at their elected officials.  Northern Californians seem to be sleep walking through the debate about having a "real" energy plan and producing more oil as we move as quickly as possible to make alternative options as viable and cost effective as possible.  No wonder Nancy Pelosi feels so secure in her elected slot.  It takes very little research or imagination to see that Ms. Pelosi is more interested in her self interests than in improving the situation for her fellow state residents (or the rest of the country). 

If it weren't so damaging to the future of this great country we could laugh at how ridiculous these folks are, again and again.

As for our travel schedule, we are in a holding pattern waiting to see how the month unfolds.  Our next trip will most likely be back to Oregon. 

Lots of competition

I must say the Olympics have been pretty exciting.  I really get drawn in to the stories of the incredible efforts our athletes make to reach their goals. 

Oh, tonight's appearance/forum of the presidential candidates at Saddleback was pretty exciting too.
If you want to have some more concrete details for making your decision about who will make the best leader of our great country, check it out.  The replays will be on TV, on the web and in the print media.
It's good to see that "facts" are emerging to show who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't.

Here's a photo I took today at a dog agility event.  I was practicing using "shutter priority" for action.

Fuel prices in Southern Oregon

When we drove up the coast to Florence, Oregon we noticed that Reedsport had the lowest diesel prices $4.629 - as compared with 4.859 in other towns) so we planned to fuel up on our trip back($4.479) to Jacks' Dad's house.  We made a change to our plans to take care of some business in Grants Pass and as we drove down I-5 we found that the Love's Truck stop and a couple of other stations had even lower prices($4.199).  Gasoline hasn't dropped as much as the diesel prices yet and of course today the per barrel price is a bit higher so who knows what tomorrow will bring.  It certainly pays to check the internet fuel pricing sites but sometimes they are not up to date.

We're in Grants Pass and it has been quite warm so we'll be heading south soon.  We have enjoyed our time on the coast and these few days of extreme warmth and will be returning to the coast next month (budget permitting).

Safe travels and Happy Trails

National Park System

For the many RVers who love the National Park System this blog post could be interesting.  Click on this link and find out about the commission established to look at the future of the park system. 

Here's one of my practice photos of some simple flowers.

The Sun has arrived, yeah

We had about an hour of sun and interesting cloud layers yesterday but we rushed out and drove up the highway and "poof" it was gone. Today we woke to lots of interesting clouds, warm temperature and bright, bright sun.  We should have some possibilities for photography later.

We also went to a new eatery we read about, Pomodori.  We had a very reasonably priced Italian meal and would definitely return.

Here's a photo of the vintage fountain in the Old Town of Florence.

We must keep trying if we want to be free..

I know we all have different points of view but I think we can agree on one thing, we want to be free in our great country.  The energy issues we face are real and they aren't going away because the per barrel price of petroleum has dipped for a few days.  Oh, there are pundits who will say that this week's price dip shows that we don't need to increase our U.S. production. But to me it's a matter of common sense...why continue to "buy" our energy from countries we cannot influence?  I'm not going into all the angles out there on this but in my opinion we must produce our own energy...as much and as varied as possible. AND, we must continue to press for fuel efficient vehicles.  Trucks and truck related vehicles are probably the last to be made more efficient but I know they will continue to be driven to deliver our goods and to transport people to work.  As fulltime RVers we have taken a careful look at what we can do, drive a small towed vehicle, take shorter distances each month and stay longer, lighten our carried weight....we're still thinking.

Here's a page I put together to go in our 2008 album.  Someone may look at this some day and laugh at
how difficult it is to convince the people who can make things happen.

I took the photo of the vintage fuel pump at the Arcata Airport.

Man eating plant....just kidding, sort of....

Oregon has a number of nature areas to explore and Darlingtonia Botanical (see previous post here) area is quite interesting.  This photo was taken of the Cobra Lily, purported to eat insects and such.  I have some photos of the viewing site and the details on the plant that I will post separately.  I also have some interesting shots to share that Jack took (much better than mine). Here is one of my shots.

Photography in bad lighting

When the weather won't cooperate for photos of your favorite locations you can still capture good photos for your scrapbook.  Well, I should say I practiced with my camera to have some memory joggers of our time in Florence.  I plan to go back to town and take an exterior photo of Sidestreet Bistro when the lighting is better but here's my photo of one of their gorgeous hanging planters.

This was taken on the porch of the Sidestreet Bistro in Florence, Oregon.  We highly recommend it to anyone visiting this town.  We now have a number of viable options for eating in this small seaside town.

A view of Yachats

Oregon National Dunes in fog

Day trip to Yachats, Oregon

We drove up the coast from the Elks RV parking area to Yachats.  This little town is very low key.  There are one or two touristy shops but it is mostly a coastal residential area.  We drove past the Haceta Head Lighthouse (previously visited and photographed), the seal lion caves and a few federal and state campgrounds. 

While we were sitting in the parking lot watching the local surfers do their thing we noticed a large whale hanging around just off the point.  Every once in a while it would "blow" a stream of water and we watched anxiously hoping it would reveal itself by jumping higher out of the surf.  No luck.  There were a number of folks on the viewing deck observing birds.  We spent a good hour plus just taking in the scene.

 

Two gals discussing the birds and the whale sighting.

It wasn't particularly cold as we watched the surfers but apparently the water was quite cold and one of these folks bundled up in his cozy, plaid bathrobe after leaving the water.

Once again, not the greatest day for photographs but I still want to document the story.

Happy Trails!

Not such great photo weather

I took this photo last night but I wasn't so happy.  I'll blame it on the poor light and lack of clouds, lol.
I played with it in Photoshop.  I'll be working on getting some better photos.  This shot is near Haceta Beach, just off highway 101.

We're at the Elks RV Park in Florence

We left Jacks' Dad's and drove to Smith River where we spent a free night at the casino.  It was uneventful except that the weather which had been forecasted to be rainy was actually beautiful.  That's the way it is on the North Coast, one minute it's cool and foggy or raining and the next, it's sunny.  The forecasts are always subject to change.  We met another fulltime couple who happen to be from Arkansas  Pat and John are traveling south and they've had a fabulous month in Oregon.

We headed north this morning and made one stop at the Harris Beach Rest Stop to use the dump facilities and then a stop in Bandon (Ray's parking lot) for a few groceries.  All in all quite a beautiful drive up the coast.  We arrived at the Elks park and found the site we chose sight unseen to be just fine for us  The WiFi is great, the water pressure and the 50 amp service are as advertised and there is a nearby shower room.  We LOOOVe the elks.  I'll have some photos soon. 

Happy Trails!

Getting ready to roll...

We've been preparing for our drive up the coast tomorrow.  Jack has been enthusiastically cleaning the exterior of the moho.  If I do say so myself, he does a great job.  I do the chrome. As luck would have it, the forecast says drizzle/likely rain tomorrow.

Since I don't have any new photos yet I thought I'd post one of our nearby coast as the day ends.  It's almost "as is" from the camera.  I added a slight vignette and the text.

Molly has a pampered life

Molly lives in the S.F. Bay Area and summers are pretty cool.  She's a lucky girl because she was adopted by great people and she has lots of cozy things to cuddle up with when it's freezing.  Yeah Molly!!

Congress doesn't care about U.S. fuel costs

I'm sorry but I really do think these people need to be replaced!!!  They only care about getting themselves re-elected and lining their pockets with money from us (taxpayers!!!)

Aaaargh!  CLICK ON THE TYPE BELOW TO ENLARGE FOR READING

Comment on gulls

On our list

We will be staying a short distance from the Darlingtonia nature area in Florence, Oregon next week.  We stopped for a quick look on our last visit but didn't do any real exploring so I'm expecting some opportunities for photos and to learn a little more about the beautiful Oregon coast. 

If you're planning a trip to the coast here's a link to some interesting a information on Darlingtonia.

View of the Elks park

We will be spending next week here near Florence, OR

photo from google maps - click on image to see enlarged version in new window

Always something to learn

I'm starting a photo class today.  It's not a class in a traditional forum, it's an online class given by a scrapbooking gal whose photos I really like.  She isn't a professional photographer but rather someone who is very good at recording her day to day life and her family in photographic form.  I'm really excited to follow along with the instructor and the other students to hone my skills.  I'm beginning this new journey as a "beginner" with my SLR.  Oh yeah, this is a class intended for people who want to demystify all those manual settings on an SLR camera.  We'll see how it goes.

Here's another one of my Yountville balloon takeoff photos:

Some photo ops

We're going back to the Oregon coast.  It probably won't be warmer than mid 60's to low 70's.  That's ok because it will be warmer and less foggy than our current location. Here's a photo I took along the coast a few months ago.

Getting ready again

Jack has been busy waxing our house. It takes a while but he really has a process and I even help with the chrome.  We use a waterless wash that we became aware of in our first year on the road. It's not the cheapest method but we are very satisfied with the results.  One of the good facts about a waterless wash is that when you are traveling and there are rules at the park, "no washing of RVs", it comes in quite handy.
Jack's saving the wheels until we're parked in Oregon for the week.

Yes, we're headed up the coast again.  We debated about doing the previously aborted trip up to Washington but decided that we should just stick with our plan not to be farther than a few hours away from the family.
We'll be staying at the newly found Elks RV area for a week or so.  This will give us some much need R&R time and opportunity to take photos galore.  Oregon never disappoints with it's fantastic scenery and vistas.

I'm participating in a photo class for scrapbookers so I'll have numerous photo lessons to do and I'm just praying that our WiFi is working.  The park has WiFi but you never know what the real capability is until you get there.  We could look into WiFi booster arrangements but we're going to try it as is first.

Today is the official "eleventh anniversary" day.  Wahoo, we're going to have another dinner at our favorite restaurant in Florence soon. 

Here's a postcard I practiced on to mark the count down:

Here's what "pre coffee" looks like, he he he

I mentioned in my previous post that Jack was pre coffee when we went out to photograph the balloon takeoffs. Here's what it looks like when we haven't had our morning jolt.  Actually, you can tell by the lights on the building that it was EARLY.  We know that to be out taking photos at the perfect lighting will require some sacrifice. We're working on dealing with that. 

And there's more!!

Oh, I forgot to tell you about a few of the things we enjoyed on our short trip.  We had a fabulous anniversary dinner at Bouchon, a french style bistro in Yountville.  It is one of our favorite places.
AND, we awoke to this from our room window.  I had to "encourage" Jack to hurry up and get out with his camera.  We both were "pre-coffee" so it took a few minutes for us to get oriented. I took my first 20 photos without proper settings on the camera, doh!  Here are a couple of mine:

Getting instructions and ready to go...

Ready to go...

Up....up......

and away.....

Ballooning over the Napa Valley is quite an experience. It costs quite a lot to float up over the vineyards so we haven't done it but there were lots of excited folks taking off this morning.

Oh, and we say lots of RVers on the highways too.  I guess everyone is working out their own plan to do what they want to do and adjust to the fuel costs.

Happy Trails!

We enjoyed our trip to Napa

We took off over Highway 299 between Eureka and Redding early in the morning thinking we would have some residual smoke from recent fires at Whiskeytown.  What we actually drove through was about four hours of of fairly heavy smoke.  We even drove by several still smoking areas in the trees. It became difficult to see a few times but we were committed and the road was open.  We did see firefighters along the way and knew that if it was still dangerous the road would have been closed. 

After stopping in Vacaville briefly we continued I-5 to I-80 and then Highway 12 to Yountville. The interesting fact I mentioned in the previous post was that our accommodations for the night were in an antique railway car grouped to create an Inn.  It's a small place but the location was great.  We walked to the restaurant for our anniversary dinner and had a fun time.  By the way, even though the room/railcar was narrow it was nicely furnished with a very clean bath...and it not that much different than our motorhome space, except for the kitchen.

Here's a photo of a caboose.  This wasn't our room but since we were in the middle section the photo isn't as interesting as the caboose.

Road Trip, Road Trip, Yippee

It's going to be short and we aren't going in our house, the motorhome.  We have some business to take care of an can only take a day or so away from family right now so we decided to spend an overnight at a quaint Inn in the Napa, CA, area and have a lovely dinner at one of Thomas Kellers' restaurants to celebrate our anniversary.  It's a bit of a splurge but we deserve something special to mark our eleven years of wedded bliss.  I know I'll have some photos to post (the Inn even has WiFi).  I won't say more now because I don't want to give away what is the most unusual aspect to our stay.  Be sure to check back to find out what I haven't told you yet.

Happy Trails@