What Does a Month Mean to You? (Seaside, OR)

Okay, so our plan for posting once a month did not work out too well.  So, what have we been doing since our last posting?  We started out August in Pacific City for two weeks and for the last two weeks, we were in Seaside.  We returned to Pacific City in early September...the black-hole for any kind of signal service and that is why we have not posted until now.  We have decided that it is our least favorite Thousand Trails due to limited full hook-ups, roads, space to maneuver, no cell phone service and very limited internet connections.

During our two times in Pacific City, we kept ourselves entertained with lots of walks on the beach and around the campground.  There were two things we did like about the campground - the healthy walks were really good because of the hills and the friendly rabbits were entertaining.

 The rabbits come running up to our feet looking for carrots.

It is definitely a lot wetter here along the coast which doesn't bother us most of the time.  It was rather nice to walk through the woods on a foggy days, but the mud wasn't much fun to walk through at times.  Every once in awhile we would discover small streams along the way.

Cape Lookout trail

Now, we are back in Seaside for the second time with a better connection to the world.  We haven't been back very long...only a few days.

During this time, we were going to install a new shower door that we had special ordered from Home Depot.  The old shower door was falling off  its hinges.  We thought about just doing a shower curtain, but the cats find it fun to hide behind and scratch holes in it.

We were going to do a before and after photo.  Unfortunately, our plans have been delayed because the company sent the wrong size.  Now, we are waiting for the second shower door and we have extended our stay in this area by making reservations at Ft. Stevens State Park for an additional five days.  Hopefully, by the time we blog again, we will be showing off our new shower door.

The last time we were here, Dan ordered and hooked up a Tailgater portable antenna for Dish Network via satellite.  Now, we can watch TV and just in time for the new fall season.  Yea!!

During our first visit to Seaside, we visited with Dan's Aunt and Uncle in Astoria along with their youngest son's family.  It was great seeing and catching up with all of them.  Dan's cousin's family came to Seaside for the day before heading home.  

We had a wonderful time watching their son ride the carousel at the Seaside Carousel Mall.  Afterwards, we walked around the downtown area as well as on the beach.

 We also had the opportunity to watch the relay racers from Hood to Coast Relay cross the finish line.  This is one long race.

  

 

Sandy's quilting blog is updated more often than this travel blog, and has pictures on each post.  You can read the quilting blog here: http://quiltincats.blogspot.com/ 

 

We hope everyone had a great summer.

Happy Trails!

 

 

Once a Month (Newport, OR)

With slow WiFi / internet  often during our travels and  being busy, we are going to post just once a month unless something extra special happens during the month.  

 

Dan spends part of his day working on  fitness with walking, running, hiking and getting back into shape.  He has set some great goals for himself and has already lost 25 pounds and changed his way of eating (see  http://www.drmcdougall.com/free_1.html for eating style).   In the meantime, Sandy has been busy trying to keep up with Dan and her Etsy shop.  Since she has opened her shop up for Custom Orders, she has been seeing more activity from interested customers.  She is working on her second special order right now!

Paulina Falls

We spent most of our time walking and hiking through the beautiful countryside around the Bend/Cascades area.  So many views, too many photos, so little time.  Sandy is slowly getting the photos uploaded to our Flickr albums.  You can view more at this link.

Tumalo Falls

We have fallen in love with Central Oregon especially Bend and the surrounding area.  We have a feeling that we will be going back again.

There are so many trails to walk with gorgeous view of rivers, water falls, and snow-capped mountains.

Sparks Lake

Green Lakes was our longest walk - over 9 miles round trip with great elevation changes.  That was quite a challenge, but very satisfying to accomplish.

Log bridge

Green Lakes

On Metoluis River near Sisters, OR

 Sandy got her wish to spend the day with Kristy at Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  She loved every minute of it.

We have been on the Oregon Coast for two weeks.  Definitely enjoying the cooler weather.  Although, we did not realize it would be so cool that we would be back to layering up to take our walks.  Still, we can't complain and the cats love the cooler weather.

Seal Rocks State Park

Historic Downtown Newport Marina

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer.  Happy Trails!

Miles Down The Road (La Pine, OR)

Good Grief!  I can't believe we have not posted for almost two months!  So much has happened...sooo many miles have been traveled.  Let's see if I can get us caught up on our travels.

After Zion National Park, we headed north into Utah.  We stayed one week at Hill AFB while waiting for the weather to warm up a little more before going further north.

Hill AFB, Utah

Next stop was on a small base near Boise, ID.  The weather warmed up quite a bit...well, for a few days while we visiting.  We spent a Saturday afternoon wandering around downtown Boise during an open street market.

Hot day in May, Boise, ID

Boise, ID

 Springtime brings out lots of critters to watch..

We stopped in Spokane to visit Dan's family.  Dan decided it was time to get back into shape by buying a Fitbit for the both of us.  It monitors our miles, steps, flights, and calories.  

Fitbit fits in our watch pocket

The best part is....it automatically enters all our information into a program so we can monitor our progress.  We have become big time walkers.  For us, 3 miles was a great day.  Now we have become more serious walkers and have managed to walk up to 9 miles in one day.

It's amazing how motivated one can get by seeing the results on a computer, not to mention, how good we feel.  Dan has also changed his diet to the McDougall Program, which is Vegan and starch based: http://www.drmcdougall.com/free_1.html  Between long walks and change of diet he has lost 20 pounds between 6 May and 23 June.

Path up the hill on Fairchild AFB

 From Spokane, we just had to visit our old hometown.  More Dan's than Sandy's.  Sandy lived in Wenatchee for 8 years while Dan spent most of his childhood in Manson and Wenatchee.

Columbia River, Wenatchee, WA

Of course, we had to check out our old haunts and homes.  Downtown Wenatchee has added a river walk and a new Public Market along the Columbia River.

 

We spent one day driving around Lake Chelan and visiting Rocky Reach Dam.

Lake Chelan

 Heading South once more to Central Oregon, we stayed at the Cove Palisades State Park.  The campground is in a unique area set between two rivers with high canyon walls surrounding us and the rivers.  We spent our days walking the trails and walking cats.

Views of Cove Palisades SP, OR

Views of Cove Palisades SP and mountains

 We moved south of Bend, OR to La Pine State Park.  What a beautiful area!  Snow-capped mountains in the distance, crystal clear rivers, and tall Ponderosa Pines.

Deschutes River

We are now settled near Sunriver, OR in Bend-Sunriver Thousand Trails park.  We plan to stay here for 3 weeks before moving back north to Redmond to meet with Dan's sister and for Sisters quilt show that Sandy has been waiting to see for a whoooole year.

Walking the Zion Trails (Zion National Park, UT)

We settled in Zion National Park on 23 April.  Just checkout the view we had from our site.  Talk about panoramic!  Everywhere we looked, majestic rocky mountains were towering over the valley.  Sandy's brother Jay and his fiancé Beverly joined us two days later.  They stayed in a cabin at the Zion Lodge with deer grazing in their front yard.

So, here's a quick summary of what we did and a couple of photos of each of the trails we walked during our stay in Zion:

Day 1, as soon as Jay and Beverly were settled, we headed out on our first walk to the Emerald Pools and Grotto Trail.  There are three Emerald pools.  Each one is located almost above the other.

Reflection of mountain in the Middle Emerald Pool

The first two trails were easy, but the Upper Emerald Pool was a little more strenuous.

Jay, Beverly, Dan, and Sandy
Upper Emerald Pool

By the time, we were finishing The Grotto Trail, we were pretty sure we would be sore and very stiff from our first day of hiking.  We decided to do an easy level walk to work out our sore muscles for the next day.

Smile Beverly!

Oh, the Grotto Trail?...it was very scenic.  Great views of the valley with the Virgin River moving through it.  Nice!

Day 2, we were all very surprised to find that we were more than ready the next day for another walk.  We were feeling our legs, but no one had stiff or sore muscles.  How about that?  Guess we are not as old as we think we are.  But, we decided to stick with our plans and walk the Riverside trail.

Everywhere I look...I see tourist with lots of food!
They're coming in by the busloads!

We looked into hiking up the Narrows when we noticed the water's temperature was only 46 degrees.  Sandy wasn't quite sure she would like walking for an hour or two in that kind of cold water.  The more we looked into the Narrows, we found out that it was advised to rent dry suits from the nearby town's store.  On our last day, we were told by rangers the Narrows was closed for the day because the water was running too deep and swift.  We were also told the best time to go was in late summer if there were a few days since the last rain or in September.  The water is a lot warmer, a lot lower, and better yet, running a lot slower.

Jay and Sandy found quite a few lizards along the trails.  Most of them seemed to enjoy the attention of the cameras or maybe they were just protecting their domain from the silly chattering humans....

Can you see his blue belly?

Day 3, we headed East through the other side of the tunnel.  We parked just on the other side of the tunnel to walk the Canyon Overlook Trail.  The views were spectacular!  The trail had some narrow areas, but nothing too scary like on Angel's Landing.

We were told by a ranger that whenever we see an arch forming in the mountain's side, there is usually a water source.  The overhang we are in was a little damp and felt very cool after walking in the hot sun.  One of the trails we did not make it to this time is the Weeping Rock trail.  Maybe next time.

Now that's a view!  There's a road down there...somewhere..

Okay, Day 4, we took on a more strenuous walk.  The Watchman Trail starts at the campground and winds its way up the side of a mountain for 368 feet to a lookout loop that overlooks the campground, Visitor's Center and the town outside Zion's gate.

We picked a very hot day for that walk, but it was worth the scenic views.  And, how were we holding up?  Not too bad considering we did not do as much walking as we had planned during the winter.

We took it nice and easy.  Can't see things if you are rushing through the walk, right?

Day 5, we wanted to do the Pa'rus Trail and Zion Human History Museum last because it was all downhill.  We met Jay and Beverly at the Canyon Junction.  From there, we followed a wide paved trail along the Virgin River to the museum and finished the walk to the Visitor's Center.  

The Mule Deer must be losing their winter coat.  They are looking a little shaggy.  They did not seem to be too skittish of humans.

Lots of desert flowers blooming right now...  This is just a sample of photos that Sandy took during our Zion stay.  She will try to upload the photos soon to our Flickr albums.

We finally had to say good-bye to Jay and Beverly.  We really enjoyed our time with them and wished it had not gone by so fast.  But, they need to head for home and we are ready to do some more traveling.  We are on our way north to Hill, AFB near Ogden, UT.  Maybe by the time we get there we will be ready to do some more hiking.
  Happy Trails!