Goodbye and another Switcheroo.

Well another 2 weeks have gone by.

We've said good bye to our Swiss Friends, Moved the Montana

and the dog house, visited with Ron and Maxine,

and now are retracing the steps of the Donner Party.

To Catch you up....

We moved inland from the coast to Woodburn Oregon.

Our friends then took advantage of the outlets to stock up on clothes to

take back to Switzerland.

A couple of hard core shopping days ensued and then it was time for us to say goodbye.

We had to head south with the doghouse and they headed to Seattle to catch their flight.

Meanwhile Gracie has been doing some of her own flying.

She jumps from the Dinette Area to the bed in the DogHouse.

Take-off

At Cruise Altitude. 

Finally - The 4-point landing.

Doodle Aviation at its finest!

Leaving Woodburn, we took the DogHouse 7hrs south to Red Bluff, Ca.

Then we drove empty 10hrs north to Cle Elum, Wa to retrieve the Monty.

Then it was 10hrs back to Red Bluff with the Monty.

Here they are side by side again at Red Bluff.

We then took the Monty 3 1/2hrs south to Placerville to put it in storage.

We returned to Red Bluff the Same day and spent the night in the DogHouse.

The Following day we drove back to Placerville to spend a few days with

Ron & Maxine at their home.

Once done we had clocked over 2,000 more miles on this trip.

Our total is now more than 18,000 miles logged since April.

Going to Rons place is like a visit to the antique car museum.

He is an avid auto restorer and quite good at it.

His current project is a 1975 Corvette (hope I got the year right Ron)

He does it all and does it to exact standards on the Vette.

Down to little blue dots of paint on certain unseen bolts.

One of his completed projects is this 1955 Chevy.

The chrome detail on these old cars is really cool.

It shines like new and is spotless.   And i mean SPOTLESS!

This car is not to original specs however.

It is powered by a 1970's era Corvette computer controlled V8 engine with about

twice the horsepower of the original engine.

Here is the 55 on the lift in his garage, the corvette hood in the foreground.

If you haven't noticed - his garage is gigantic, well equipped,

and spotless. 

While visiting Ron & Maxines, and enjoying their hospitality we visited some of

the local sights.

Below is at Sutters Mill, where gold was first discovered in California.

The discovery of Gold in California was a pivotal event in the history of the USA.

The Doodles traveled around with us everywhere and also had a

great time visiting.

We toured an inactive hard rock gold mine and posed for this self portrait

over 150' underground.

It was right around this time that I mentioned to Kate:

"I hope we don't have an earthquake right now"

Her response I cannot print.

A view of the mine shaft.

We spent 3 nights with our buds but as usual it was time to move on.

Tuesday we headed east on US 50 and crossed the Sierras to S. Lake Tahoe

and then went up the east shore of the lake.

That was a beautiful drive for our next blog.

We are now at Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee, California.

It was here where the Donner Party became snowed in and stranded just 60 miles short of

their destination in the Sacramento Valley.

This area is full of history and needs to be given more time in order to present 

it properly so that will be for our next post.

Till then.

The Coast

Another week has slipped by since our last post.

Another busy week for sure.

Arriving in Crescent City California, we spent a few days seeing the local sights:

The Crescent City Lighthouse

The BIG Trees in Redwoods National & State Parks 

We took a great hike among the giants

Franchesca is dwarfed by one of the smaller trees. 

We had to watch out for the wildlife along the way.

Isabella tried on my sunglasses for size.

Of course each night we had a campfire.

Sometimes accompanied by steaks over the hot coals.

Believe it or not - in all my decades of camping I have never cooked steaks

directly over a wood fire.   This was a new one for me.

The steaks were awesome!

There were more on this trip and there will be more to come.

Our daytime excursions as we headed north along the Oregon Coast

always included some Beach time.

Even with the cold water (perhaps 50 degrees) the girls and I

found time to get our feet wet.

Our overnights along the coast in Oregon consisted of the following State Parks:

 Bullards Beach State Park

 Jessie Honeymann State Park

Sunset Cove State Park

and Devils Lake Sate Park.

At Bullards Beach we visited the Coquille River Lighthouse

We walked a couple of miles to the beach and back.

Kate found another item to put into the DogHouse.

This piece of wood is to become a fish according to Kate.

Our next night was spent at Sunset Cove State Park.

In the morning we visited Cape Arago State Park and

Shore Acres State Park, all three of which are located next to each other.

Below is the Cape Arago Lighthouse.

Shore Acres State Park is located on the former estate of Timber Baron

Louis Simpson.   The estate and its beautiful gardens were originally

constructed in the early 1900's however the stock market crash and a massive

fire devastated his holdings and the estate was sold to the

Oregon State Parks in the 1040's.

The entrance to the gardens.

The mansion stood above the Pacific and enjoyed an awesome view

The variety of the flowers were amazing and they change throughout

the year. 

This is just a small taste of the visual feast that we enjoyed.

North of Newport we stopped for lunch in an abandoned dirt area at the top of cliffs.

To our south was the Yaqina Head Lighthouse.

Mom and the girls share a moment.

Further up the coast near Florence we visited the Sea Lion Caves.

The Sea Lions were not in the Caves, but they were on the rocks.

These are Stellar Sea Lions - the same type that we saw up in

Alaska outside of Whittier on our Glacier Cruise.

Next to the caves is the Heceta Head Lighthouse...

Supposedly the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

It certainly is a pretty one!

Our coastal tour concluded with a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory and

of course some Ice Cream Cones.

After our final night at Devils Lake we headed inland to just south

of Portland, Oregon where we are now.

The ladies will spend a few days shopping and visiting the Outlets.

I hope to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.

Our time together is winding down...  How fast the time passes.

In just a few more days we will be heading south to drop off the Dog House

then back north to fetch the Montana and once again start the

DogHouse/Montana Shuffle to get the RVs positioned

for next winter.   Then we'll head east in the DogHouse.

(remember that dance?)

Our friends will head north to Seattle to drop off the rental RV and

catch their flight back to Switzerland.

But thats not just yet.

That is all for our next post.