By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea

Daily Mileage =250; Trip total=5190(MILESTONE we passed 5,000 miles and reached the Pacific Ocean. Just like Lewis&Clark but a little easier than they had it!!)

Today we drove up the coast of Oregon on Rt. 101. It was beautiful. The ocean is on your left and the mountains with the tallest pines trees ever are on your right. We had a little idea of this from driving in CA years ago, but there aren't quite as many green trees there.

Our best surprise today was stopping at the Sea Lion Caves. I thought it would be a cave that maybe you could occasionally catch a sea lion at. Boy, was I wrong. It is this wonderful little secret (maybe not so secret if you live here) place that actually has an elevator taking you down into a cave where sea lions live in the wild! Yes, I kid you not, we're not talking about sea lions in a zoo but rather, a place where they live and come back to birth all the time. Apparently a family decided to open and protect a "wild" sanctuary for sea lions back in the 1930's. They still own the operation. It's wonderful! You go walk down a paved path and you can hear hundreds of them on the rocks below. Then you take an elevator down 2000 feet to the caves where they live. You can see them and hear them along with some seals and a host of birds that are native to the area. It is really unbelievable. It's not like being in a "zoo" at all and it has been working for years. We never would have known about it but we happen to stumble on it as we drove up the beautiful coast line. (Those "rocks" in the photo down on the cliffs are not "rocks" but actually "sea lions." By the way, here is Rich the bull, which is what the male sea lion is called. Somehow I can think of other reasons why he might be called, bull!

So, the Oregon (Western) coast, what can we say? It's gorgeous. Not that we don't think the Eastern coast has great beaches (because I personally think we have some of the best in the world). This coast changes as you drive along. We saw cliffs with jagged rocks, sandy wide beaches (the tide was out), we saw walking trails to the beach with tidal pools on them. That is different than the east coast.
Parts of it reminded us of the Maine rugged, treed coast. Some of the towns along the way reminded us of Seaside Park, NJ or even Atlantic City (yes there are some towns that have casinos and are rather honky-tonk ) . There are parts of the road that run along the very high cliffs that have nail biting turns on them. Suffice to say, it's great and we loved the signs that kept telling you that you were entering the "tsunami area" every time you came down to sea level. On the way to Portland, our final destination for tonight, we saw quite a few wineries. They looked beautiful on the green hills as we drove by. (We have actually been drinking OR wine since we're here. When in Rome do as the Romans.......

We eventually ended up in downtown Portland. We are staying in high rise hotel similar to NYC. In fact, it reminds us of mid-town Manhattan. Lot's of older buildings that have been redone to house new shops, restaurants and hotels. Tomorrow we will explore the city and let you know what we think about it. The biggest disappointment to us so far is that at this rather expensive Marriott in downtown, we actually have to pay for WIFI or use the business center computer (guess where I am now?).

So I'm going to try and attach my photos into the blog, if not successful, I'll have to do it when I get to free wireless Internet. (There's something about paying for this service that is just annoying and I won't do!!)

Love & joy to all of you, Mare & Rich

Mighty Oregon (Warrior Ducks)

Daily mileage=321;Trip total=4940

Today we went down to Crater Lake National Park, still in Oregon. Crater Lake is a volcano that erupted 7,000 years ago and then collapsed. Over the next 5+thousand years water collected to create the second deepest lake in the Western hemisphere. The water is a beautiful shade of blue.

(For those of you who think Rich has eliminated me, since you never see me in photos, here's one from today.) There is a rim road that you travel around stopping at various points to view the lake and/or hike trails down to lake. However, today they only had about a mile of the 30 mile road open because of snow. We not talking a couple of inches here. It's more like several feet of snow left from the 40 feet they had this winter! Needless to say we didn't do any hiking up there. The scenery was still gorgeous and we're certain that a summer visit would be wonderful.

We had dinner in "downtown" Eugene which is really a university town. The campus is not huge (about 8 X 8 blocks long) but typical college area. It looked like a pretty nice place to go to school, as is the area (not quite sure what the UoO is known for??) We had Thai food that was really good and while we walked around their revitalized streets we came across the city's "duck exhibit." It's similar to the painted cows or painted ponies exhibits done in many other cities. The university (and maybe even the city's) mascot is the DUCK. So of course they have painted ducks. Here's Rich with "Ritz Quaker." Is that hysterical or what?!? By the way, the University of Oregon's song is "Mighty Oregon" and I'm thinking their mascot is duck(s)...

Anyway, we drove through a lot of Oregon today and it was beautiful. Just as you would expect with tall, old pines and great mountains (some with snow still on the tops) and raging rivers and beautiful clear blue lakes. You really feel like you're in the northwest of the US. It's great.
By the way, we stopped at yet another micro brewery, the Steelhead Brewing Company. They had good beer and have won 22 awards over the last 16 years. They also have places in CA but started here. All of you craft beer folks would love it out here. Most small towns have several breweries to pick from.

Tomorrow we're on to the coast of Oregon and Portland.

Love & Joy, Mare & Rich

Katherine of Oregon

Daily Mileage=476; Trip Mileage=4619

Today we drove quite a way and ended up at Bend, Oregon. The journey was long and beautiful. Desolate would probably best describe it. As much as the beauty is wonderful, we think it would be too isolated for us to live in. There were some spots between ID and Bend, OR where we didn't even see cattle, horses or any sign of cowboys! Bend, however, was like an oasis in the desolation. It has about 75,000 people in it and it appears like a big town.

Apparently, it was a lumbering town of old and is now an up and coming place to retire and/or live. It's quite lovely with little shops and good restaurants that reminded us of a university town. However, there's only a community college here. What we're not quite sure of, is exactly what everyone does who lives here. But it's very nice and they seem to enjoy it. It would be good base to visit a number of sites such as, Mt.Washington, Crater Lake or a number of hiking trails or river activities since it's located on a river. The micro brewery is even named for a nearby river, The Deschutes pronounced De-chut-es. (By the way, photos are limited tonight because we were driving through lots of beautiful but isolated areas. Rich didn't have time to cavort with any local wildlife because when we got here, we went for dinner and drinks.)

The restaurant we had dinner in, The Pine Tavern, had a 275 year old Ponderosa Pine growing through the heart of the dining room. It was quite extraordinary! (Mare didn't even notice it at first even though we were sitting right next to it. However, Rich at first questioned whether it was real.) Our dinners were good and Mare had wild river salmon and we both had Oregon wine!

On our trip here, we saw a soaring bald eagle. It was thrilling (as it always is to see one). It was close up and unmistakeably a mature eagle. Our best sign for the day was one on a bridge over a creek named, "Stinking Water Creek." Rich says they must have stolen it from the Bronx River Parkway. Needless to say, we didn't drink from it.

We are listening to a new audio book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's journal of a 30something year old woman who takes a year from her life to find herself (she sounded like she needed it). We are finding her writing insight, well written and humorous (even though she's only 30something).

Since we drove further today than we anticipated, we are going to go to Crater Lake tomorrow. That should be really exciting and beautiful.

Good night and love & joy to all, Mare & Rich

Down in the Valley

Daily Mileage=60; Trip Mileage=4143

Today we are relaxing and hanging out in Ketchum. Sun Valley is about 1 mile away so we went over and checked it out. The "poor" people don't hang out here. It's quite lovely (as is the whole area). This is the Sun Valley Inn which isn't quite as nice as the Broadmoor in CO but it's pretty nice for a ski house (nothing like the places we used to rent when we were young!)

The towns are old and western with a trendy hip atmosphere. Ketchum's motto is "Small town, big life." Here's the "lodge" we're at. It's quite nice and we would recommend it. Yet we had a very sophisticated brunch at a charming little restaurant, Christina's. We purchased some wonderful take-out for tonight's dinner on our balcony. Life is good!

Once again, Rich had an encounter with some "wild life." Did I hear someone call "Bullwinkle?"

Just in case you're wondering, we have actually seen some real animals on our journey. They include: bison (buffalo), cattle (cows & steers for you city slickers), antelope, deer, big horn sheep, coyotes and different birds (lots). Of course I'm waiting for the real Bullwinkle and Smokey to show up!

There is practically no snow here and they are in their change of season mode. The mountains are turning green and spring is quite evident with various flowers and trees blooming. In another month the place will be full of tourists again.

And, apparently most of the tourists can't cross the street. They have this interesting system by which you take a orange flag and cross the street (alone or in a group) and the cars are suppose to stop for you (we hope). We haven't had to use the system. Here it is.

The last interesting tidbit we'll leave you with is that Ketchum was one of Ernest Hemingway's homes. In fact, he was invited in the 1930's to Sun Valley with the hope that if celebrities came others would follow (and they did). He loved it so much he owned a house in Ketchum for over 30 years and did some of his writing here (For Whom the Bell Tolls is one done here). He sadly committed suicide here as well. There is a monument in his memory by Sun Valley in a very lovely spot. They even have annual Hemingway "festivals" here . Don't know if you can see the statement on the monument but it was written by him for a friend's eulogy. It is appropriate for him reflecting his love of the outdoors and his great sportsmanship. (By the way, thanks to Paul Lesczynski for telling us about Hemingway. We would have missed it without his suggestion.)

We are now going to take a nice stroll along what was once a train track down by the river at the edge of the mountain. Good night, Love & Joy, Mare & Rich

Private Idaho

Daily Mileage=319;Total trip=4083

Today we left Utah but not before visiting the great Salt Lake. It's huge and very salty (4-20% salt solution vs the ocean at 3%). No wonder it's called Salt Lake! We stopped at a wonderful state park on Antelope Island which is the largest one in the lake. It is home to a number of animals (such as antelope and bison). Believe it or not, no fish can live in the lake because of the salinity. Only brine shrimp and brine flies (and some algae) can exist there. However, it makes a wonderful buffet for migrating birds which you can see all over the island. The haze was so great that the photos were difficult to take, however on a good day, it really is beautiful. The lake is currently 75 miles long by 28 miles wide and covers 1,700 square miles.

After our trip to the the park, we drove up into Idaho and decided to stop at Ketchum which means nothing to most of you but it is home to Sun Valley (noted not only for skiing but for Robert Redford). Didn't see him, but went to the Pioneer Saloon for dinner and felt back on the range again. The town is very upscale and cutesy with skiing right at your front door. Even though we don't ski anymore, it looks like it would be a great place to come in the winter or summer. Lot's of shops, boutiques and restaurants/bars of all different calibres. Of course, Rich made a friend at the hotel.

It's lovelier here now because it's between seasons and fewer people are around. So we pretty much have the area to ourselves. You can see where they put the "rails to trails" path and people walk/run/bike all over it. We will probably use it tomorrow. The slopes have a tiny bit of snow on the tops which gives it a different view. We have a little balcony to sit on and watch the "slopes" across the way. It's actually more than just potato land!

That's it for tonight, miss you. Love & joy, Mare & Rich

Zion Hears the Watchmen's Voices!

Daily Mileage=300; Trip Total=3764

Today's blog title is pretty religious, wouldn't you say? Well, we're in Salt Lake City and spent a couple of hours touring the Mormon Church center, Temple Square. It was quite impressive and as you probably know the home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear them, however we did see the old Tabernacle building that was built in the late 1800's and is an acoustical wonder. It was the home of the choir and held 12,000 when it was completed. It recently under went a refurbishment and they made the pews more comfortable so only about 6,000 fit in there now. They did an acoustical demonstration during which they dropped 3 pins and 1 needle from the stage and you could hear it anywhere in the building perfectly without any microphones.

The church now has a new conference center (7 years old) which holds 21,000+ people. It, too, is unbelievable. It is used two times a year for their worldly conferences and for the choir's weekly TV/Radio shows. It's also used for other non-religious performances (they televised Olympic events from here). The acoustics are even better than the old Tabernacle and there's not a bad seat in the house.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the design is the roof. They have built a wonderful garden on top complete with water features. It's there for people to use (although access is more difficult since "911"). From the photo you would not even know you were on top of a building. It would be wonderful if some other places would adapt their roof designs and make our cities look better.

In addition to a beautiful setting you can take tours, see movies and talk to "brothers and sisters" from around the world. They really don't push their religion but you can see the history of how it developed. It was interesting and nothing like we expected. Well worth the visit.

Of course we want to do Salt Lake but since we were stuck in rush hour traffic trying to leave the city to get there (5 lanes each way) we decided to see it as we drive out tomorrow.

We are staying downtown and it's a blend of old, nice architecture and new modern buildings. It, like several other older cities, is going through a revitalization. They are doing a nice job of restoring the older buildings and the area is quite walkable.

Just in case you thought we were in a religious mood all afternoon, we did manage to find yet another micro brewery. This one is called, Squatters. They had a beer called, Chasing Tail Golden Ale. And, you know the label had a golden retriever on it. So guess which one Mare was drinking??? It was actually pretty good, but the Extreme Ale (with a bike going over the mountains) was tastier. Needless to say we felt right at home here and could walk back to our hotel.

The ride here from Bryce was very pretty with lots of meadows and grazing animals. As we approached SLC we could still see some snow on the mountain tops. The famed Park City ski resort is right here and looks like a great place to ski. (Good news.) Since SLC is basically surrounded by mountains the pollution can't always get out of the area. So today's levels were "dangerous." (Bad news.)

So we had a good day and tomorrow we're off to Idaho. We finished the "What I Believe" audio book today. It was quite inspiring as was the scenery.

Good night and love, Mare & Rich

Old Home on the Range

Daily Mileage=30;Trip Mileage=3464

Well, here's the new Many homestead! What do you think about it? This is where we're staying outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. We're really getting rustic here (but it's OK). You're all welcome to come visit but you'll have to share the one room with us (there's two beds).

Anyway, we had another nice day here at the park. We did not get up for the sunrise photo of the amphitheatre so you'll have to see it on a postcard. However, we did a glorious hike down to the canyon. It was a 4 miler that went down 550 feet. (As they constantly remind you in the park, what goes down must come back up.) It doesn't take long to get down, but you are huffing & puffing on the ascent.

Another one of the "I Believe" thoughts we both have is, We believe people who wear flip-flops after passing a sign that reads, "hiking shoes with traction should be worn on trail" should be banned from the Park (maybe the human race because they are lacking in some basic intelligence). Furthermore, those who take their poor, little children (wearing flip-flops) on these trails while they're in hiking boots should be not permitted to have any more kids! YIKES! There are stupid people everywhere, even out in nature.

The Indians that inhabited this area said that the hoodos were the bad people who were changed into stone by the great coyote spirit. They say you could see the colors they were wearing when they were changed as well as their faces in the stone. Actually, when viewing the hoodos, you can see what they meant.

Once again, all we can say is that the rock formations in this park are the best we've seen and you never tie of looking at them, either from the top or the bottom. Since you can't be here, enjoy the view!

Miss you all, but we are having a wonderful time.

Love, Mare & Rich