We took the ferry from Seattle to explore both Victoria and the Butchart Gardens.
The bay area in VictoriaIn order to see the most of Victoria in our short stay we took the double decker bus tour.
Some of the “interesting” residents!These hanging flower baskets were all over downtown.Hotel Zed is a local hotel with a 60’s theme, thus their hotel transportation are these VW buses!China town district.
Mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway that stretches across all of Canada East to West; it connects via ferry to here in Victoria.
The entrance to Butchart Gardens.Butchart Gardens entrance.See the Leopard?
Its hard to imagine this was just an old quarry when they started!
Very pet friendly; they even had these doggy drinking fountains !The dancing waters fountain; mesmerizing!An interesting (and maybe a bit gross for some tastes) water statue.
An interesting water fountain! Probably a bit gross to some!They even had this beautiful hand carved carrousel.
They even had this beautiful antique hand carved and painted carrousel there!
Our campground was in Port Angeles.The day we arrived it rained constantly all day. Surprise, surprise!We took a day trip to the Hoh Rain ForrestVery dense forrest and very green; moss grows on anything that doesn’t move!Thats a boy, a little bigger than Reeve, standing by that huge tree! So big I couldn’t get back far enough to get it all in even with my wide angle lens!This is the best I could do to get an entire redwood tree in the shot! They’re enormous !
Ferns growing out of the root ball of a blown over tree.
We went on a short hike on this trail; there was word of an Elk sighted close by.And lo and behold, there he was, just grazing! He could care less that people were within 20 feet of him!
On another day trip we went to Hurricane Ridge.Beautiful drive up there.We spotted this Marmot near the Visitor’s Center.
While exploring one day we discovered this: an old WWII bunker, part of Camp Hayden!The gun here had a 45′ barrel and shot 16″ projectiles. The one on the left is almost as tall as me and weighs over a ton and the gun could shoot them over 28 miles!Camp Hayden was part of the joint American/Canadian Defense System to protect these harbors.
We found this cute lodge up there too; The Log Cabin Lodge.It was a bit overcast and drizzly but it adds to the picture I think.Their lobby greeter!Off the side of the road was this small rapids. At the right time of year Salmon are going up stream to spawn.Through the VERY clear water you can see a few Salmon here.
We took the harbor tour boat while in Seattle area. We stayed with our friends Doug and Cindy Lundvall in Bellevue just outside Seattle.
The iconic needle of Seattle.While in this area we stayed with our friends Doug and Cindy Lundvall. This is the view of Lake Sammamish from the deck of their home in BellevueFour generations; Jan, Polly’s sister and the grandma; Elise, grand daughter; Meribelle, great grand daughter; and Cindy, daughterDoug and Cindy let us tag along for a 60th Birthday party for one of their good friends, DonnaThe Birthday girl, DonnaHer husband Peter Blake and his son entertained us with some great musicHer stepson, Robert Blake was our host at his home and a great musician in his own right.The evening sunset from Robert’s back yard.We were also invited to tag along on an excursion to Doug and Cindy’s friends and colleagues from their teaching careers; hosted by Ron and Valerie, for a fine Wine/Dinner Party; what fun!
An interesting metal sculpture of Ron’s; it’s 6 feet tall! It was made by one of his students.We also went on a day trip with Doug and Cindy to see Snoqualmie Falls just outside of Bellevue
A group shot; Doug, Cindy, Jan and me (I get in a picture once in awhile!
We stopped at Taylor Shellfish Farms for some really fresh oysters for lunch. YUMMY!!We didn’t have any plates or utensils but that didn’t stop us from enjoying them!
The farm
Their little lighthouse covered in, you guessed it, oyster shells!On another day trip with Doug and Cindy we visited the town of La Conner on the bayfront.They had John Waynes old yacht the Norwester there as a museum.Interesting project undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineering and the town of La Conner
While in Bellevue, we took a day trip to Tacoma to visit the Museum of Glass.Artists working on a piece in the Cone workshopThe finished design drawn in colored chalk for their reference
The painstaking process to produce the glass swirls, simply amazing!
Other exhibits were equally beautiful and interesting
The National Park Inn where we stayed for the night. Very “quaint”!Very large trees; compared to Big Blue even!View of Mount Rainier from the lodge.Yet another beautiful water fall!
We took a day trip through the park. Actually very little access by car.Aptly named Reflection Lake.Another view of Mount Rainier (we had the bikes with us while our RV was at the dealer for warranty work)
It’s the tallest mountain around; even visible from our friends Jim & Kathy’s back yard in Enumclaw, about 50 miles away!
Our first view of Lake Coeur d’AleneWe took a boat tour of the lake.View of downtown Coeur d’Alene from the boat.
Some beautiful homes on this lake for sure!
A few nice old wood boats too (Chris-Craft I believe)
We met a nice couple from Minnesota on the boat; Manny and Carmen.These two are either an Eagle or Osprey nest, I’m not sure which is which.
We found a cool bicycle theme bar and restaurant with the help of our good friend Dan Plummer and his fiancé Diane.Dan and Diane (sorry it’s out of focus, iPhone shot)
Dan and I went fishing on his boat on Spirit lake.Dan caught a nice one; we didn’t get a picture of the tree branch I caught!
Jan waited in the park on shore while we fished.
The next day Jan and I had Happy Hour at the hotel downtown; nice view of the marina from there.
We had a great camping spot at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula. Lots of space, beautifully landscaped with lots of trees, flowers and grassy areas.
Jan’s high school friend Sally Friou came to dinner with her two pups, Cuba (little black dog) and Sita. She suggested some great places to visit while we were there!I got a dog fix too!We did a day trip to see a series of beautiful lakes.
Met this little fella; not sure what kind he was but definitely a water snake!
Another day we visited the Lolo Summit
We had lunch at Lochsa Lodge, a beautiful hand hewn log lodge!View from the back dining patio of the lodge.We net Sally at Big Arm Campground at Flathead Lake. She was staying in one of the Yurts they have there.
The view from her campsite.Sita enjoying the crystal clear water!Believe it or not there’s about 8-10 inches of water in this picture!A storm’s coming.
On our way back Jan took this picture out the window; amazingly dry here!
Our campsite, cleverly shot to keep out the freeway and railroad next door! Really nice campground none the less; large spots, lots of trees and grass!Our one excursion here; we were resting up after two weeks in Yellowstone! Really well done Computer and Robotics Museum.The first Apple computer.Anyone recognize this from school?!?A little computer nerd humor!Great quote I thought!
We drove to the top of the mountain behind our campground and I got this shot of the town of Gardiner, you can see our campground in the foreground.It doesn’t look like much from the front, but Iron Horse Bar & Grill was our favorite eatery.It had a large deck overlooking the Yellowstone river.
I had a great Elk burger; one of the many great local items on the menu.Jan had a refreshing Huckleberry cocktail; I had a local beer of course!
cody, wyoming- sort of near the east entrance (50 miles)
We met our good friends Claude and Hope from Philidelphia for our second week of Yellowstone. Here they are at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum.
Claude with Bill.Of course they had Bison (Buffalo)Buffalo Bill himself greets you at the entrance via a smoke hologram.There was a very extensive gun museum; too many to show. This one was different; not really sure how it would work!There was also a Plains Indian museum; there were 4 or 5 museums there, a great value!
Buffalo fur coat worn in winter by the indians.An intricate beautiful beaded saddle.They were a nomadic people, following the seasons for hunting and such.Even their dogs worked!The four of us went to the Cody Rodeo; a nightly event during the tourist season. Claude and Hope even got hats for the occasion!They had bucking broncos as well as bulls and cows for the younger riders.
And cow roping
And Team cattle roping.
the best shots from our 2 weeks in yellowstone (i won’t use all 2500 pictures)!
Mammoth Hot SpringsThis is the view from below as you approach from the north entrance.
Interesting patterns!A bridge we traveled as we went through the park.
We saw Sheepeater Cliff (Sheepeater was the nickname for the local indians)
Then we saw these guys!
Roaring Mountain
Beautiful river valley picture.
This geyser isn’t anywhere near the size of Old Faithful, but it erupts every few minutes.
Notice the old 1937 bus? Pretty cool they’re still using them!
Old Faithful InnA very cool pendulum clock on the huge stone fireplace in the lobby.
The Upper Falls at Artist Point. Notice the green streak in the falls? They say it’s always there!Upper and Lower FallsA small herd of ElkMammoth Village has resident Elk too.
Jan was able to get a glimpse of a couple of black bears as I drove.
More Elk; these two are having a tiff apparently.
This poor old guy is not long for this world; he’ll end up wolf food or something.Cooke City, near the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone.The cabin on the left with the green roof was Hemingway’s at one time.
We found one of the many great picnic spots on the river.
Steamboat Point on Yellowstone Lake
Another great picnic spot with Claude and Hope.
We took the Beartooth Loop with Claude and Hope; Claude drove!Notice the MANY switchbacks on the road; I’m thankful Claude drove over that pass!
I wasn’t doing a “Gangsta” pose, I was FREEZING! And it was over 92 in Cody that day!
Lamar Valley; thousands of Buffalo!
This big fella just walked in front of us and gave us this look like “WHAT!”
Our camp spot for the week. Very nice campground, lots of space between spots!
Lots of open space too! Notice the flag up top?The view from up there.Signature Montana sunset!Storm coming!They even had a teepee you could rent in the tent area! All this and they give you free ice cream bars when you check in! Very nice folks!One last sunset pic!
little bighorn battle site (custer’s last stand)
This map shows the area and what was where.There is also a military cemetery there with graves from all the wars from this one to Vietnam.Each white stone represents a soldier killed; each red stone represents an indian killed.
This enclosed cemetery was the men in Custer’s command.
The one in the center (black) is General Custer.
There is a very cool indian memorial to this battle as well.
The story told here is MUCH different than we learned in school! WE were the aggressors, not the indians. They were just defending their nomadic way of life!The remaining ancestors still live here. These are their wild horses.
the hardin county historical museum
The truck out from; it looks like they were going to restore it but quit at the hood!
Coal mining trolly from the Lily Mine.The train station.Heated by coal stove no doubt!Luxurious kitchen in one of the homes we saw!We had no idea what the heck this was but looked it up; its a milk/cream seperator!Google it, you’ll see!One room schoolhouse.NOW I feel old; I used desks like these!Gas stationGeneral Store.
MANY old farm tractors and other vehicles. Very cool!
Funny name for a tractor company!The North 40!Inside “The North 40” The big tractor was HUGE! Those are normal size farm tractors next to it!
Many more outside too
This little guy followed me all over the yard!They even had an old street sweeper! Weren’t streets dirt back then?I know some guys who’d love this sign!And a kids toy made from tractor parts!
Stopped at this cool little diner in Spearfish CanyonVERY 50’s-60’s! And GREAT BBQ to boot!Came across these falls along the way, very nice.Very lush & beautiful!Really nothing picture worthy in Spearfish or Deadwood, but nice scenery along the way.The most famous bar in Sturgis (I’m told) They were bored so had a motocross going on in their parking lot and the adjacent streets.
Downtown Sturgis (with the obligatory Harley’s of course!)The Sturgis campground ( we didn’t stay there)Motorcycle Museum (closed)Jan liked this building. Gee, I wonder why?!?
on to mount rushmore
We went to Mount Rushmore and were greeted by this LONG line (After all, it was the 4th of July!)So we decided on a drive by shot instead!
Photo Crop is great!Profile shot of Washington
custer state park
On the way to the park we stopped at a KOA for a break and Jan had to have a picture of these flowers.We also saw this “Great View” spot and I had to see it! Yes, I actually drove up the narrow dirt road to an observation tower at the top. Kind of scary but so worth the view.
We had lunch at the Blue Bell Lodge in the park; very cool old lodge.Nice bar stools, don’t you think?
On to the park; and a Bison jam! We were stuck for 45 minutes while the Bison decided where they wanted to go!Crazy people not only got out of their cars, they let their toddlers be out there within 25 yards of them! Alone!
We’re supposed to stay at least 50-100 yards from them, but apparently they weren’t cc’d on that memo!
the badlands of south dakota
A truly amazing place! So vast and, in it’s own way, beautiful!
