Idaho

We visited the World Center for Birds of Prey while in Boise.  This is a gyrfalcon.  Who's watching who?

They have a live show every day.  This was a bird that will be in a free-flying show in October.  Very interesting.

We walked down on that trail overlooking the Snake River.  There is a golf course down there.

Another view

This bridge use to be the tallest bridge in the country.  It is over 400 feet tall.

We drove over to Shoshone Falls.  It is just a trickle this year.  They are doing some construction work and have diverted the falls for a while.  I'll bet it is beautiful when running full force.

This is the opposite direction.

Your dad looking into the sun.

And me looking into the sun.

 

The weather here has been coolish this week.  Last night it got down to about 45. The warmest today was 60.  So of course we needed sweaters.  We leave in the morning for Arco.  More later

Love, Mom and Dad 

Leavenworth

We spent several  days walking the quaint streets of Leavenworth.  It's up in the mountains and very nice and cool.

The buildings are like you're really in Bavaria.  We ate German food cooked by real German cooks.  Yum!

We went through a nut cracker museum while there.  I can't believe the thousands of nutcrackers there were. One of them is as tall as your dad.  His name is Karl.  People collect them.  I can't see how.  We saw some for collection that cost $200 or more.  Not for me.  Where would you put them?  Most of them are about 18 inches high.

We went to Pendleton for a couple of days and didn't do to much if anything.  Then we came on to Boise, ID.  We ran errands yesterday.  You know, haircuts etc.  Today we're going to an eagle place.  Evidently they rescue birds and release the ones that are healthy again.

We head up to Jerome tomorrow for two nights then on to Arco to the Craters of the Moon.  We'll write more later.  Love, Mom and Dad   

Mt. St. Helens and Tacoma

We went to The Museum of Glass in Tacoma. There is a hot shop there, and I love watching the artists.  We got lucky and saw two visiting artists in the process of creating.

These are the hands of Fred Curtis from Ireland.  He used to be a glass cutter with Waterford before they closed.  He has his own business in Ireland now. 

He is overseeing some blanks to be sent back home for him to cut.  He has been contracted to make a bunch of eagles for the museum in the home town of JFK's grandfather. . 

We  drove up to see Mt. St. Helens the other day.  We were  glad to see how much the mountain has recovered. 

 

We getting closer to the mountain.

Here we are five miles away from the crater.  We watch a movie about the eruption, and after it was over the curtains came up to windows overlooking this scene.  It was breathtaking.  Your dad took this picture because he was the taller of us.  You can see steam coming up from the lava cap.

A couple from Washington took a picture of us overlooking the Columbia Gorge.

 

We are in Leavenworth today and tomorrow.  Then we go back down to Oregon.  More later. Love, Mom and Dad

Oregon

A family along the trail took our picture for us.  We're standing in a giant redwood in Northern California.

This is the first picture I took in Oregon.  We're in the Waldport KOA.  That's the bridge we crossed to get to the campground. 

One day while in Waldport we drove up the 101 to Lincoln City.  We stopped along the way to watch people digging for clams at low tide. 

There were about twenty people down there.  From far away they looked like ants.  They go down with shovels, PVC pipes and buckets.  I'll bet dinner was good that night.

Here we are out at a state park at Otter Rock.  It was cold, but beautiful out there.

We saw a bunch of surfers from up on the cliff.  There is a walk up there around the point.

More of the same surfing beach

We drove on to Dayton to Yamhill Valley to taste wine.  The grapes are getting close to harvest. And the wine is tasty.

We're sitting outside at Amity Winery tasting.  That is a view of part of the valley.  Farmers in this valley grow more than just grapes.  Hazelnuts are the big thing up here.  Also corn, hay and tomatoes are abundant .

On our way to lunch we stopped at A Wing and A Prayer Alpaca Farm.  We saw a new baby that was less than 24 hours old.  The mother was a first time mom so she hummed every time we got near the baby.  The farmer said we were okay though.  I learned a lot about Alpacas.

Today we are just outside Portland.  We took a road trip up to Mt. Hood.  We got as close to the top as we could without having to climb it.  This is at Timberline Lodge.  They were still skiing and snowboarding today. 

 

We've had a good time so far.  Our next stop is going to be near Mt. St. Helen.  We'll be there Wednesday.  That's all for this time.  Love Ya, Mom and Dad

Redwoods and Oregon

I haven't taken many pictures this trip so far.  I've just been enjoying the scenery.  It's beautiful up here.  We spent some time in the Redwoods and did a lot of walking on trails.  This is a picture of one of the trails.  We went to the coast a lot as well.   We are now in Coos Bay Oregon.  We'll be here in Oregon for another week or so. 

The ocean was close to one RV park so we walked on the beach about two miles three days in a row.  Walking in the sand is difficult.  My legs can feel it.

We're going to go sight seeing tomorrow.  We're on Highway 101.  I'm done now, so I close for this time. 

balloons galore

This is St. Francis Church in Santa Fe.

The porch where the local Indians sell their ware.  All of it is beautiful, but I didn't buy anything this time.

They have a new shopping area and an excursion train near old town Santa Fe.

This is some of the Special Shapes on Thursday morning. We're at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. They couldn't fly that day because the wind was blowing too hard.  At least we got to see the balloons.

The balloons are first blown up with a huge fan and then they heat the air inside to get the envelope to stand erect. 

One of the cuter shapes.

This one's called "Little Pirate." He took forever to stand up.

Pete the Parrot Pirate

It is great because we can walk down amid the baskets and get startled by the propane burners coming on.

This was Friday morning.  the shapes got to fly as well as the other balloons.  The sky was alive with color. I for one couldn't stop smiling.  It's great!

The cow is the largest shape; it  almost covers a football field before it's blown up.  The Wells Fargo stagecoach is almost as big.

She, Airabelle, doesn't fly for very long because it takes a lot of propane to heat the balloon.

Wells Fargo doesn't go very far either.  It came down on the lawn in back of the balloon museum right next to our groups campsite.

The mushroom didn't go up at all that day.  But almost everyone else did

The Hummingbird is a new shape this year.

We are crossing the bridge over a drainage ditch toward our campsite.  Beautiful isn't it?  Pictures just doesn't do this justice.

The clown landed two rows behind us.

The balloons hung around for a long time.  The wind speed was almost nonexistent.  I sat in the co-pilots chair to watch and woke up about 30 minutes later and they were all landed. 

Friday night they had a Glowdeo.  The balloons are lit up by the flames in the dark.  It's quite lovely.

It is hard to get a photo of several balloons lit up all at once, but I sure had fun trying.  You can see Angry Bird ( another new shape.)

 

This is what it looks like from up above the field through our windshield.

This morning was the last mass ascension. At least 500 balloons were up in the air at one time. There is a wall of balloon tops all getting ready to take off.

A bunch of people walk the basket to a clearing and a ref, called a zebra, gives the signal to go up.

Look at the "wall" behind this basket.

Up up and away.

These are the kissing bees.  They have been at the Fiesta for years.

 

We are on the other side of Albuquerque tonight.  We are worn out.  The balloon field is one mile long and we must have walked it 8 or 10 time in the four days we were there.  Tomorrow we plan on doing some sight seeing.  Maybe Old Town. 

We'll see you all in a week or so. 

Love, Mom and Dad