Hall's USA Tour: Northwest 2018

We are now driving north looking at the Pacific Ocean.   We stayed in Brandon last night and tonight we are in Yachats, Oregon.   It is Labor Day weekend and many in Oregon are heading to the beach for summer’s “Last Hurrah”.   We only have a room for the night…hopefully we will find a room for tomorrow. We saw some interesting things in our coastal drive today: 1) A lighthouse (of course); 2) quaint fishing village; 3) fishermen cleaning salmon; and 4) ATV’s riding in the sand dunes. Oregon’s sand dunes extend for 40 miles along the Oregon coast.   They are really interesting to see because they have been sculptured in so many ways by glaciers, wind, rain and tides.   It was exciting watching people drive the dunes on ATV’s.   I did some climbing in the dunes and found it was hard work in very soft sand. Fishing village Cleaning salmon. ATV's in the dunes Just outside our motel room.

We want to cut through all of the bull and get down to our biggest issue.   When I lay it out for you, you may laugh and take issue with our issue, but this is really serious… As of today we have been in 12 motel rooms.   Keep in mind we are now in our 80”s.   Our problem is that we can’t remember what room we are in.   In fact, twice we have tried to get in to the wrong room.   We are not sure but we may have triggered the attention of some motel managers.   It has gotten to the point that we now have to write the room number on the back of our hand…in ink.   Keep us in your prayers that we don’t get picked up for “Home Invasion”.   Ann and Mike. Day 12 is a driving day as we are heading to the Oregon coast. Mike and Ann at Crater Lake.  (Can you see room 311 written on the left hand?)

We are staying at the Crater Lake Lodge.   Crater Lake is truly one of the most beautiful sights in America.   It is the deepest lake in the United States (1943’).   It is fed only by rain and snow and is considered to be the cleanest large body of water in the world.   It was formed when a volcano had its interior collapse.   I am not sure if my pictures will let you see the true blue color of the lake.   There is considerable smoke haze from the fires in British Columbia. We are relaxing at the lodge for the day.  Tomorrow morning we are scheduled for a 2 hour trolley ride around the rim of the crater.  Following that, we take off for the Oregon coast for a ride north to Seattle. Crater Lake The Lodge at Crater Lake

Day 10: Wine Tour We went on a wine tasting tour with 6 people from Mississippi, 2 people from Washington D.C., 2 Australians, plus Ann and Mike.  When the 5 1/2 hour tour was over, we found 10 other people we liked being with.  It was fun. Make no mistake…Hall winery in Napa valley is still my favorite.  It is not because of the name (said a Hall), the wine is outstanding. Portland is a really interesting city.  Lots of good things about the city… great rail and subway system for starters.  Several cab drivers told me that the community is very liberal.  One interesting situation is how they deal with the homeless.  The city decided that no one goes without housing and no one goes hungry.  They put $2 Million in to the project.  One year later, the city is in turmoil as thousands came from all over the country.  The budget quickly ran out because when they ran out of housing they put the homeless in motels.  The whole project was a wonderful liberal idea that no one though

Today we went on a conducted tour of the Columbia River Gorge.  One side of the Gorge is the State of Washington and on the other side is Oregon.  The last 200 miles of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were on this stretch of water known as the Columbia River. On the early part of the tour we looked at several spectacular waterfalls.See below. Later in the day we drove partway up Mt Hood to the Timberline Lodge.  The peak of the mountain was partially covered with clouds so we were not able to get clear pictures.  There are several big glaciers on Mt. Hood and some people were skiing today on the mountain.  Mt. Hood is the 2 nd most climbed mountain next to Mt. Fuji.  Mt. Hood is 11,240” high and is classified as a dormant volcano. The day was partly cloudy but at times very clear.  This was unusual because we heard from many people that the forest fires in British Columbia put a heavy layer of smoke over Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.  We saw smoke and it just lo

This morning we drove from Great Falls to Missoula, Mt.   and shopped at the Farmer’s market.   Then we headed to RocknRudy’s Gift Shop.   This shop had more “stuff” than you can imagine.    Even Mike who hates “Gift Shops” was impressed.   Since we are leaving Montana I have to make a few comments.   This state is beautiful, desolate, lots of open space and they grow more “golden hay” than I have ever seen.   There are mammoth fields and plains that have this golden look, everywhere. Then we headed for the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.   This byway is associated with Lewis/Clark and their search for a waterway to the ocean.   It was gorgeous ride but a bit too long for Mike , however, I really enjoyed it.   We are spending the night in Lewiston, Idaho the end of the Byway.   We head out tomorrow for Oregon.   Mike finally let me write a blog.  See you tomorrow.  Ann One of the scenes along the Lewis and Clark Byway.

Today we are in Great Falls, Montana for the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.   With film and interactive displays we experienced some of the history of the Lewis and Clark journey as they explored the northern half of the Louisiana Purchase.   At Great Falls on the Missouri River, there were 5 falls that Lewis and Clark had to portage around .In the afternoon we went to Buffalo Jump State Park.  It was really interesting how Native Americans hunted bison by driving them over the cliffs.  A buffalo runner raced right over the cliffs…with the stampede close behind…and jumped onto a safe ledge out of the way of horns and hooves.  Even those animals that saw the cliff at the last minute were shoved over by the momentum of the racing herd.  I’m thinking that PETA would have something to say about this practice. One of the falls Lewis and Clark had to get around on the Missouri River. There were 5 of these in a row at Great Falls. Portage method used by Lewis and Clark

Leaving Cody, Wyoming, we drove and spent the day in Yellowstone National Park.   There is always so much to see in the park. But we were not the only ones, as hundreds of people had the same idea. Lots of game were in evidence such as bison and one magnificent elk.   We arrived at Old faithful with a 60 minute wait.   But there were lots of other minor geysers to hold our interest. Tons of road construction made progress slow at times. At one point we were behind a line of 15 to 20 vehicles.   Everyone was moving very slow because a Bison was walking in front of the lead vehicle taking his (or her) ole time…and, of course, everyone who passed had to take multiple pictures. Huge rack Old Faithful Named "The Devils Mouth"

We drove to Cody, Wyoming to do two things: 1) See the Buffalo Bill Museum and 2) See the Buffalo Bill Rodeo. I had been through the museum years ago and I was so impressed by their collections that I wanted to see it again.   They have great items on Buffalo Bill Cody, the plains Indians and one of the world’s best gun collections. My friend Buffalo Bill Everything about this picture was "live". This one was also live. At night I went to my first rodeo.   What a treat!   It was great fun.   Cody, Wyoming has a rodeo every night.   They had everything that rodeos are supposed to have.   They even let me ride a “live” bull.   Believe it or not, I stayed on the required time (even though real cowboys don’t wear tennis shoes).   All in all, it was a great way to spend my 80 th birthday.

It was a long day with lots of driving but we got to see some very interesting sights.   We started at Teddy Roosevelt’s favorite ranch.   He lived on the ranch prior to being elected President. We had numerous encounters with Bison, especially one big one who wanted to share our picnic lunch. We had to keep looking over our shouldes to make sure he kept his distance.   We also got to observe lots of prairie dogs at play, in and out of their dens. We enjoyed visiting Teddy Roosevelt National Park.   It is one of the national parks that not many people visit.    It is out of the way and you really have to want to go there.   Most of what we saw would be a geologists dream with lots of colors and layers. Bison on the grasslands of North Dakota Prairie Dogs This big boy tried to come to the picnic lunch. Tourist overlooking the Badlands

We left Minneapolis early Monday morning…sad to leave the Simonson Family.   We headed West…no surprises through Minnesota but once we hit North Dakota it was a whole new vista.   North Dakota was mainly plains and huge farms.   You had to pay attention to gas and other facilities because there is no one in the eastern half of North Dakota.   I mentioned that you had to pay attention because someone in the car developed a very strong urge. However, as we drove Interstate 94, all we saw at highway exits were signs that said “No Facilities”.   In desperation we got off at an exit and drove 3 miles to a very small town called Buffalo.   There was a very small service station (?) with a dirt driveway.   They did have the facilities we were looking for but it took a long time to get my partner to use the facilities.   I kept telling her she was going to have to “lower her standards”.   She eventually made the decision to move ahead with my suggestion.   She made me promise to pay more att

This is a new blog for Ann and Mike Hall.   We have this burning desire to circle the USA and see as many sights and sites as we can.   Our plan is to hit the road one month a year and head to a different part of the USA. In this blog we are heading to the Northwest…mainly Washington State and Oregon.   We plan to stay out 32 days (or less).   We are currently in Mound, Minnesota visiting the Simonson family.   Tomorrow we will head out and drive 400 miles to Bismarck, North Dakota.   In a couple of days we will be in Cody, Wyoming for the rodeo.   We are excited to get started. This blog will be a joint project written by both Ann and Mike.   If you want to check in with us, click on our blog address at:hallsnorthwesttour.blogspot.com The Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu once said, “The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.”   We think our journey may be 5000 miles or more and we are ready for the first step. Simonson Minnesota "Treehouse" Lunch on La