Lewis and ClarkTrail

In Council Bluff, Iowa we went to see a Lewis and Clark center. It was small and covered three other things from the area.  We saw things from the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trails. 

We drove up to see the monument to the Lewis and Clark adventure.  You can see the Missouri River from up here.

The Monument

In Sioux Falls, Iowa later last week, we saw a lot more L&C stuff.  Here is Sgt. Floyd. He was the only person to die on the whole two and a half year journey.

This river boat was named for Floyd.  It was used on rivers until around the 60's by the Army Corp of Engineers.

This is suppose to be Floyd.

In Cali 4th graders study Missions, while in Iowa they study river boats.  This one is built of (you guessed it) Legos

After learning about Floyd, we walked over to the L&C center. The big dog was also part of the  company.

This is about Floyd's burial. The museum is really well done.

The townfolks put up the monument to honor the 21 year old sgt. He was buried up on this bluff in view of the Missouri.

We've seen this fifteen stars and stripes flag all over the L&C areas.  This one is at the gravesite of Floyd.

We're in Mitchell, SD tonight.  We went to see a prehistory site this afternoon and will send photos next time.  We go to see the Corn  Palace in the morning.  Maybe I'll send them tomorrow.  That's all for now.

Love Mom and Dad

animals of the Rocky Mountains

Dad said I forgot to show you pictures of the animals we saw.  Well here they are.  We saw moose twice, but this is the best one.  The ram ignored us and kept on eating.  We saw marmots, and pikas, but they were too fast to get photos of.  The Rockys are full of animals.  We saw a huge herd of elk and a few mule deer. All the elk and deer were too far away to get pictures.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We're in the Rocky Mountains with my siblings.  Mendy and Mike came up to visit for the weekend.  We had a blast.

The scenery is astounding.

On another day we drove up on the 9 miles long dirt road.  Poor Beverly, she is afraid of sheer cliffs.

Water falls and streams are everywhere.

We walked one half mile to see some of the beginning of the Colorado River.  And a half mile back to the car.  The altitude is a killer.  I panted a lot.

A volunteer ranger too our picture beside the river.

This is Horseshoe Valley.  The river that runs through here is crooked and looks like horseshoe.

Our last run up the mountain took us to Bear Lake.  We walked around it.  It was only a half mile to walk around it.We were lucky and found a parking space. There was a ton of people up there.

Guess Who?

Bear Lake  It's at over 9000 feet.  There is no fishing from here because they are trying to get green cutthroat trout back in the system.

We spent 12 days together and nobody thought to take a group picture.  We were just having fun being together.  Bev left 2 days before the rest of us did.  Everybody but us were going home.  We are in Kearny, NE.  I think that's all for this time.  More later.

Love Mom and Dad 

The end of our tour with friends

We drove up to Mt. Hood. It was beautiful and look at all the snow in July.

People were still snowboarding and skiing.

After a few days of travel, we went to Utah and drove out to the 

Golden Spike site.  The rails were being repaired so the trains weren't running.  But we learned a lot more this time.  Almost as good. 

This is where the golden spike was driven.

This is about all for the next 12 days.  I don't think we'll have a good signal in Estes Park, so I'll fill you in after the 22.  I'm not even sure who all is going to be there.

Love, Mom and Dad

More of the coast

I am amazed by all the huge rocks just off the coast.

This is The Octopus Tree.  It is said that the native Americans shaped this tree to put their dead in their canoes.  The tree is strange but beautiful.

There are several bird's nests along these cliffs.

Another of the lighthouses along the coast.

This is the beach at Pacfic City.  People park right on the sand.  When it was over 100 in Portland last weekend, a ton of folks drove to the coast.  You could barely see any sand at all.

This fall is called Munson Creek Falls.  It is just south of Tillamook.  We walked about a quarter of a mile UP to it. My Fitbit said I climbed over 20 flights of stairs that day.

This is a level part of the trail.

We visited Fort Clapsop while in Astoria

Here's a ranger firing his gun.  LOUD

This is said to be where the Lewis and Clark party landed their canoes.

While in Astoria we drove over the four mile bridge to go to Cape Disappointment in Washington. People can drive down on the beach.  It is kinda cool. 

This was the last  of the coast we will see on this trip.

This is the stinky rocks where birds roost.  PU  This is the view from the visitors center. At first I didn't smell it, but then the wind changed direction and WOW.

Guess what this is.

We are in WA until Friday.  We were suppose to go to Mt. St. Helens today but it is too overcast.  So we'll drive up and in tomorrow when it is suppose to be sunny.  We want to be able to see the mountain. 

It is hard to believe that in just 8 days we leave our friends and head off to Colorado.

That's all for this time.

Love, Mom and Dad

More from the coast

These are plants that eat insects.  They are in Darlingtonia wayside just north of Florence.

They are as big as a fist.  My fist at least.

We watched this woman clean fish from a day fishing boat. She was really fast.  It didn't take more then five minutes to clean a forty pound halibut.

This boat had about 20 people on board with at least two fish per.

We went to a glass shop and watched this guy, Patrick make a purple sea star .

There is a screen between us and the artist.

We drove to the coast to see some lighthouses.  This one is the oldest I think.

At another lighthouse we saw several huge rocks with nesting birds.  Boy are they loud.

This is the tallest lighthouse I think.

These are Common Murres.  They remind me of Penguins  We also saw a couple of whales out around the rocks.

This is the smallest harbor in Oregon.  It's in Depoe Bay.

This is another glass blower.

We drove up the coast to Lincoln City where we watched a bunch of people digging for clams.

Here in Newport we went to the aquarium and watched a pelican show.

We got up close and personal with sea stars.

That's all the photos up to us going up toTillamook.  We have been having a good time so far.  We head up to Astoria tomorrow.  We hear you're cooling down while  the heat is coming up here.

I think I close for now.

Love, Mom and Dad