Sunday
April 1st , 2012
Here is our site, not very big. This campground is mostly for
seasonal campers.
Did not do much today. The weather is blah! So, to the
heated indoor pool we go. The water is nice and then we went to
the hot tub. Darn! The hot tub is the same temperature as
the pool. After 15 minutes, I went to the shower to warm up.
Monday April 2, 2012
We travel back on the road, we came from a few days ago. There
was
one point of view that was interesting because you could get close to
the rocks where the waves are breaking.
The waves enter this canal between the rocks and move up pretty fast.
On one side of the canal, there is a "blow hole" and when the waves
hits it the right way, it is just like a whale blowing air when they
come to the surface for a breath.
It is so pretty to see the waves breaking on the rocks. Never the
same way, but always pretty.
Here I am waiting for a wave. The people on the right photo
actually got wet from one of the waves. Very dangerous place to
be.
Such a nice scenery.
On our way back, we decided to stop at Ona Beach and go for a beach
walk.
By the look of the trees you can tell the wind is strong and mostly
coming from the ocean.
This is not rock I am standing on, but very hard sand.
Another easy day, but with so much beauty. Even if I really like
to watch the waves, I think I would get tired of the noise after a
while.
Tuesday April 3, 2012
Today the sun is shinning, time to take a walk in historic part of
Newport.
Nice tavern, I really like the sign above the door.
What a neat thing, a bike to lock your bike on.
This street has a lot of murals. All are very beautiful and so
much details in them.
We can hear some weird sounds coming from further down the
street. The closer we get, the louder the sound. Finally,
we
got close enough to see that they were coming from sea lions. One
of them was very vocal.
They are California Sea Lions. The reason they have
their nose in the air is to relax their neck muscles.
A really nice street, lots of small boutiques and restaurants.
Wednesday April 4, 2012
We leave behind Newport head toward Astoria.
Some of the things we see in our travel. Like Santa!
In almost every town and cities we go thru, you have those little
espresso drive thru.
This one is neat, just like the signs on the side of the road.
Some more sceneries.
With all the rain we have been getting in the past few week, many roads
were damaged.
Highway 101 is the coastal road, but at times it goes inland for 10 or
20 kilometers. Another espresso shack.
Too bad the weather is not sunny, it would have been much nicer.
An other tunnel in 2012!
We are getting anxious to see the sun more than a few hours every few
days. We are tired of the rain.
Thursday
April 5, 2012
As far as campground goes, this one is very sad looking. Mostly
permanent
resident and the place is falling apart.
But I love the little
lake with the dock. A good coffee and then off to Astoria.
Astoria is not a very big city. The information center
recommended a visit to the Astoria Tower to give us a view of the city.
The road to the tower.
The tower of Astoria has the history of the area all around the
tower. A view
from the top of the 164 steps.
A view from the top.
Before we take the trolley tour, we stop for lunch at
Bowpicker.
Specialty?
Fish & Chips.
Here is the menu, only one item to chose from. This is the only
place in Astoria where the fish & chips are made out of tuna.
Notice the hours!
Here is the famous place...
Only two people can work in there, a cook and a cashier.
The best fish & chips we ever had. The fries are soooo
goooood, nothing is greasy. If you ever come to
Astoria, stop at Bowpickers for fish & chips. It is worth it!
After this great meal, up on the trolley for a guided visit of the
waterfront.
For only $1 per person, you can't beat this tour. The guide is
really good.
Here is the only beach in Astoria, no kidding!
A really nice little city, we will be coming back.
Friday April 6, 2012
Our site with only 15 amp, water, but no sewer. Pretty trailer
trash, but at $18 a night
and for only two night, it works for us. We are on our ways to a
campground
close to the Mount St-Helen.
Our first floating house on the Columbia river.
Longview is an industrial town, mostly forest related.
Half way across the Columbia river, we enter Washington.
Stuff that happen to us! On the highway they have this big sign
that tells us an information center for the state and for the volcano
is coming up. We decide to stop and get some information. Once we
are close to the info center, we can see there is no room for large
vehicles even less for a motorhome towing a car.
Darn!
So we continue on the road we are on and find ourselves in a dead end!
We had to unhook the car so I could do a u-turn with the motorhome.
The campground is not too far so we did not re-hooked the car, Michèle
followed me with the car.
After setting up at the campground, we went to the Mount St-Helen
welcome center.
Ouppp! I forgot that it is colder here and some of the
interpretation centers are closed for the season because of the snow!
Back to the welcome center, it is very well done. A very good
display of what happened back in 1980.
Back at the motorhome, I went on Skype and guess who was there?
My good friend Dave from Cold Lake. What a pleasure it was to
talk to Dave and catch up on stuff from Cold Lake.
What is going on?
We look outside and see hail falling from the sky?
Just a little bit and it melted right away.
A busy day.
Saturday April 7, 2012
Another "What is going on?".
Frost on the car and grass?
Photos of the campground and our site. It is a very nice place.
If you look closely you see bicycles on the antenna tower! Never
saw that before.
More photos.
A very nice campground and our site has a beautiful view of the lake.
The sky is clear and the temperature is warming up
nicely. Lets not waste time and head to Mount St-Helen.
WOW! And we are not close yet. Impressive!
All the trees you see were blown down by the blast from the volcano in
1980.
You can still see some of the ashes and rocks at the bottom of the
valley.
The volcano erupted 30 years ago.
We never taught, we would be next to this much snow!
This lake was formed after the eruption on Mount St-Helen.
Back at the motorhome, I do some reading outside while enjoying the sun.
We sure pick the right day to visit Mount St-Helen, the sky was crystal
clear and we could see everything.
What a nice day!
Sunday and Monday, April 8 and 9, 2012
We are not going anywhere today. Just a nice fire and a good
book. Ahhhhh!
The photo is not like the real flower, the flower had purple on the
tips of each petal.
The temperature is in the low 20s.
Time to wash the motorhome, it sure needs it.
After dinner we were watching tv and when we looked outside and saw two
deers
A really great day!
(Monday was pretty well the same except a little bit of shopping.)
Tuesday April 10, 2012
Time to move again. Ferndale, here we come!
The campground has a propane filling station. Not too expensive
either, only $0.79 per liters.
WOW! I have never put that much propane before. Close to 58
liters.
Bye bye Silver Lake.
I guess he did not get his loan and he is not happy!
Lots of BC plates on the way back to Canada. I like the little
sign in the back window.
What?
Day
and night, you had a choice before!
The Cascade range in the distance.
Never saw a "no hitchhiking " sign like this one before!
Sometimes Michèle takes photos that surprises me.
Finally home!
The last few day were great!
Wednesday
and Thursday, April 11 and 12, 2012
are going today, well home as in canada! we leave behind the
campground at around 9:30 am and stop for a last coffee.>
Filled up the motorhome before the crossing of the border. Less
than
an hour later, we are back in Canada. At the custom, the custom
officer ask us just a few questions and we are on our way in less tan
10 minutes, including the waiting time! Welcome to BC!
Driving across Vancouver went well regardless of the road construction.
Once at the ferry terminal, we only have to wait 30 minutes and in we
go.
We are in the lower deck with the trucks. Very beautiful scenery.
Our ferry is the
Queen of Cowichan. Built in 1976 in
Victoria, she can carry 360 cars, including 12 semis.
Our cruise ends in Nanaimo on the Vancouver Island.
The closer we get to Comox, the darker the sky is. We ended up
traveling under the rain for more than half of the way.
Luckily, the rain stops once we arrive in Comox.
We leave the motorhome at the Walmart and we went straight to Jérémy
and
Danielle's place.
Sure was nice to see Jérémy and Danielle again. Boy did we miss
them.
We spent the night at Walmart and tomorrow morning we will be shopping
for a campground.
Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, 2012
We spent the morning visiting campground in the Comox area. We
finally took the one on base,
Tee Pee Campground.
Mostly because it is the closest to Jeremy and Danielle's place. The
cheapest and closest to the
inside
passage.
Here is our site in the campground.
Nice site with 2 services (water and electricity) and they supply the
"honey wagon" to empty your used water tanks.
Jérémy and Danielle are visiting us and they even brought firewood for
the campfire.
Two beautiful and sunny days.
Jérémy and Danielle spent some time with us on both days. That
was really nice, we love them both.
We are getting set up for the next 3 months. Kind of nice to
slowdown.
Sunday, Monday, April 15 and 16, 2012
Sunday is a laid-back day. I went for a nice walk on Air Force
Beach. Saw an eagle on top of a tree.
Jérémy came and we went in town for a little shopping.
After he left, I did some cleaning up. On Monday, I fixed a small
water leak on the fresh water hose.
Michèle has taken a photo of me my pj, I
do not like it when somebody is outside in
his pj!
I really like our site and we are slowly
making it home.
We really like our site and we are
slowly making it home.
until next time.
Life is good...