Beaches, California and Crater Lake ~

Warming up on Cannon Beach 

One of the  many different jelly fish we saw

Cool Pirate ship kite 

Driving down 101

From the cherry stands along the way 

We spent two days laying on beaches down the coast and then got a pretty rainy day ~ so, we decided to get Adams feet on the ground in California so he could mark that one off the map. This is what it looks like inside while we are driving down the road..... :)  

Top of the Redwoods National forest 

Crater Lake National Park

We now have to pay the price for adding on the miles South. Planning a couple of days of driving with stops to see what we can. There doesnt seem to be much to see in Eastern Oregon but are planning stops in the fossil beds and then on to the Tetons. The time will be spent doing the important things ~ 

Uno Tourney on the road!

Mt Rainer and Mt Saint Helens

This was the place Alex really wanted to visit on this trip ~ SO glad we decided to fit it in! 

Making dinner in our campsite under Mt Rainer

We got up, Mark headed up the hill on his bike and the boys and I headed up to the visitors center. We stopped here to see this amazing waterfall ~ It was one of the most stunning we have ever seen,  even for Adam, who says "what is so amazing about waterfalls? They are just water!" :)    

First Bear of the trip ~ on the way up to Mt Rainer

Mt Rainer

Alex

We finished off the day by going through the Mt Saint Helens Visitors Center and viewing the Mountain. Pretty interesting for Mark and I as we remembered it ~ And then, on to Oregon!

Olympic National Park

Entering the Park to head up to Hurricane Ridge 

The boys enjoying the view at Hurricane Ridge

Some of the drift wood trees we encountered on a walk up Rialto Beach

The boys hiked to the hole in the wall 

We camped at the campground on the beach and when we went down the stairs this guy was waiting for us. He swam along and played on the beach while we gathered sand dollars.

Mark at Ruby Beach after his ride

.....and just for fun ~ We drove through the town of Forks and started to see all of this vamptire stuff ~ Then I remembered that Twilight was set here ~ Kind of funny to see all of the cute signs. 

Seattle and on to Olympic National Park

L

Adam taking a photo before we head up into the Space Needle

At the top! 

We visited the Pacific Science Center and had a ball. This is in the 3D imax about Humpbacks 

Adam learning about pullies and levers ~ He is lifting 550 pounds

Then off to the zoo ~ where Adam had a ball! He absolutely was in heaven and got to see a Komodo Dragon and King Cobra! He filled his camera and then took all of these photos 

Thinking of all of my flamingo friends!

We went up to Anacordes and picked up our two new captains and then made our way to the coast where we prepared to catch the ferry across to Olympic national Park.  

Sea Lions off the beach 

Mark and Adam beaching combing in the AM

Our campground from the ferry ~ and just a few photos of some of the sights we took in....

Great White Adventure Continues

 DAY 1 FOR US ~ Ready to head out in the big white whale! 

 DAY 2 ~ First Stop ~ Museum of the Rockies. Lots of Dinosaurs - 

and lots of Chocolate! Very interesting history on chocolate and the exhibit even smelled like chocolate. Needless to say, we had to have a little when we left as it really started your cravings!

We also attended the wedding of Marks cousin Katie and spend some time with Marks side of the family. It is always such a treat to get to see Great Grandma Jeannine!  

DAY 3 - I saw our first large animal of this trip when a moose was running beside us as we were driving down the interstate. I did grab the camera and tried a photo which turned out to be a nice photo of nothing. The co-pilot who is in charge of photos looked like this during the sighting at approximately 630 AM. He did tell me he thinks I saw a horse though and not a Moose as the competition to see the biggest, best and first wild animal is always pretty important! 

Alex sent me this photo ~ Looks like they are having a pretty good time at their school as well. 

Unusual photo of the day ~ We are driving along and saw this ~ looked like this black bear was having a nap in the back of this truck. I am pretty sure it was a permanent nap,  but it was a fun sight for us! 

Got to Seattle ahead of schedule so we used our time as wisely as we could ~ visited the Aquarium and a brief run through Pikes market.

All is going well with the RV. Only one slight mishap when I went down a street that actually ended in a tiny parking lot. Learned how to back up, uphill and  managed not to crunch all of the bikes on the back! I didn't realize how steep the streets are here ~ San Francisco has nothing on this place!  

The forgotten trip of 2014

Looking through the blog I realized that I forgot our summer trip from last year. We spent some time in Montana again ~ Big Sky mostly. A couple of high lights from the trip were White water rafting and skiing in July! 

Off on the Great White Adventure 2015

So, we are starting off this family adventure in a new fashion. Mark and Alex left by Air today to fly to Washington to become sail boat captains. Adam and I will drive to Washington to pick them up when they are done in our all white ~ because- we- ran- out- of- time- to- put- the- new- stripes- on- it ~ motorhome.  Hence ~

THE GREAT WHITE ADVENTURE 2015

I was asked to make sure we blog and found that we had been hacked when I went in to check on things. So, if you try to open this and get advertisements/pop ups, text me. I think I got it fixed which is amazing knowing my tech skills!