A Week of Travel to Anacortes, WA May 8 to May 14

We left Coyote Creek RV Park, in Morgan Hill, CA, our spot near Jill, Bob and Lauren in San Jose to make our way back to Anacortes.  We had had a wonderful visit with them but it was time to move on.

Our route took us north on I-680 across the Martinez Bridge, which crosses the Carquinez Strait just west of Suisun Bay.  We stopped to pay the $20 toll (yep, $20!) and got a little too close to the right guard rail.  “Scrape, scrape, scrape!”  Terrible sounds.  We thought Abe’s side had been ripped off, but only a few of the lug nut covers had been dented.  Whew!  Scared us to death!

Our first night’s stop was in Redding at JGW RV Park, a place we had stayed a few times previously.  As we approached Redding we were amazed that we could see both Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen in the distance.  Both of these are active and thought to be the most likely to erupt.  Lassen, which has one of the largest lava domes in the world, is the southern most volcano in the Cascade Range, and Shasta is its next door neighbor to the north.

We found a Fall River brewing taproom next to the Safeway and stopped in.  The young man behind the bar (Bret) wasn’t busy and was ready to chat.  He told us that the shopping center in which the taproom was located saw a lot of homeless young people.  He had made it his life’s mission to help these people reconnect with families and lose their drug and alcohol habits.  Bret said, “That was me once and I understand what they are going through.  I realized one day that this life was a dead end and I reached out to my family for help.  Thank God they opened their arms to me, in spite of all the times I had hurt my mom and dad.”  Quite a story and quite a guy!

The next morning I-5 took us by Lake Shasta.  For the last 5 or 6 years, we’ve watched this huge reservoir gradually diminish as the California drought took its toll on the water supply.  This time the lake was bank full, as we had seen elsewhere in our California travels.  Yay!

We have watched this bridge being built across Lake Shasta for the last 5 or 6 years, too.  The approaches were reworked and made less acute, and entire new bridge over a steep canyon was built.  The bridge was built from both ends and met in the middle, high above the water.  Amazing!

We took US-97 north in Weed, CA to make our way to Klamath Falls.  Taking this route gave us views of both Mount Shasta in the background and Shastina in the foreground.  In previous years we have not seen this much snow on these peaks.

We parked Abe at Tingley Lake Park, just south of Klamath Falls.  Long-time Visalia friends Phil and Rita Olson moved here when they retired to help Rita’s parents with this mobile home park.  This stop, right on our route, provided us with the chance to catch up with old friends.

As luck would have it, a few of Rita’s cousins were arriving that day as well.  We had lunch at the Klamath Falls Creamery Brewery with Phil and Rita and Rita’s cousin Mike and spouse Joyce.  They were from Anacortes!  It was great to get to meet them!

Rita’s parents, Frank and Nell, bought Tingley Lake in the early 60’s and developed it into this beautiful mobile home park.  Frank was quite a handy guy and did all the infrastructure work, maintenance, and beautification.  He even thought to anchor this log in the lakebed, so the pelicans would have a place to sit!.  Can you see a fish tail sticking out of the front pelican’s mouth?

Wednesday, May 10 we left Tingley Lake after lunch and headed to Sisters, OR.  Our drive north on US-97 was beautiful!  In the photo, we are driving along Tingley Lake, watching the snowy peak of Mount McLoughlin emerge, when a train appeared.  What an iconic photo of Klamath Falls!

Look at our windshield!  We drove through two swarms of midges and got plastered!  Obviously the first thing we did when we got settled was to wash the front of the bus!

Wednesday evening we parked in beautiful Sisters/Bend Garden RV Resort, located between the two towns.  This part of central Oregon was surrounded with volcanoes and we had spectacular views!  This was one our top 10 nicest parks!  We had a windshield view of the lake, providing us with lots of bird-watching opportunities.  Two pairs of Canada geese were raising their goslings on the grass in front of us and would occasionally take the families for a swim.  Very cute!

We arrived in beautiful warm sunshine and had amazing views of all the volcanoes around us.  Sadly, I didn’t take any photos this day, thinking that we would be out and about on Friday and I would get better photos.  Not to be!  The rain moved in overnight and we didn’t see the volcanoes again!  In the area are 5 volcanoes:  The Three Sisters, Mount Bachelor, and Broken Top.  Within the greater area are at least 466 volcanoes that erupted in the last one million years.  The last to erupt were Mt Bachelor and Charity, the South Sister about 2,000 years ago.  Very recent in geologic time!  The heights of the volcanoes are all 10,000 to 11,000 feet.  Obviously on a clear day, each of these peaks is very prominent and each is always covered in snow.  The next time we’re here, we will do some more exploring.

We had planned to spend two nights in the area, and, since we awoke to rain on cool temperatures we headed to Bend to see the sights.  We visited Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House.  On their beer menu was “Black Butte Porter”, one of Dan Bream’s (our good friend from Visalia) favorites!  This brewery is huge and its beer selection is sold all over the country.  It was interesting to see the original facility and was a great spot for lunch.

Bend was known for its microbreweries and we were on a mission to find some new and interesting ones!  Our next stop was 10 Barrel Brewing.  This microbrewery was on the verge of making it big.  They had tasting rooms in Denver, Portland Boise and were about to open one in San Diego.  We spoke with the young man who would be the manager of the San Diego tap house.  He and girlfriend had moved from Minneapolis for this job!  Amazing.

Our final stop was a very small microbrewery…almost a one-man show.  You can see from the photo that a tent was attached to the building, to provide more room for the patrons. What a unique name…Bridge 99 Brewing!  You might be interested in their story:

Two friends decided to turn in their carpenter belts and follow their passion by starting a small batch brewery using eco-friendly methods and the freshest, local ingredients. What started out as a hobby, quickly grew into a full-blown obsession for crafting fresh, "more drinkable" microbeer.  Keeping it local, staying humble and using sustainable practices to create the best tasting beer are the priorities at Bridge 99 Brewery. It starts with using fresh , local hops from Tumalo Hop Company in Central Oregon. After the brewing process, spent grain, hops and yeast are sent to a local ostrich rancher rather than going into the landfill. Also, rather than sending grain wastewater down the drain and into our rivers, it is collected in large totes and used as nutrient-rich fertilizer on a local farm.  Where did the name Bridge 99 Brewery come from? Wanting to build a brand around something unique to the region, along with "99 bottles of beer on the wall" singing in their heads, the two set out to find a name. The search was over almost as quickly as it began when they remembered a local US Forest Service landmark, Lower Bridge - also referred to as "Bridge 99" - that crosses the Metolius River near Camp Sherman, Oregon.

Friday, May 12, we continued on US-97 north toward Washington.  This was a gorgeous drive and much more interesting than beating north on I-5!  We were on the east side of the Cascades, but had beautiful views of the mountain peaks.  We passed through this pretty little valley.  We also crossed the 45^th parallel…equidistant between the equator and the north pole.  I’m always amazed how far north this parallel sits in the US!

Crossing the Columbia River on US 97 was an amazing sight!  I took the photo from the Washington side of the river, and in the foreground you can see Peach Beach RV Park.  We camped here the first night in our new RV over 2 years ago.  It was a great place to stop except for the train noise!  Trains ran up and down both sides of the river 24/7, tooting their horns at every car crossing.  The steep high river canyon walls made for a great echo chamber!

We had reservations at Prosser Wine Country RV Park for two nights in Prosser, WA, in the midst of vineyards and wineries.  You might have heard of some of the wineries:  14 Hands, Kestrel, or Barrel Springs Winery.  This RV park, although convenient for exploring the area, was built for rigs smaller than ours.  When making reservations at an RV park I always inform the attendant that we are about 55 feet long (motorhome and pickup) and hope to receive adequate parking but it certainly doesn’t always happen.  Like this time!  We made it work, though and were off to explore.

A friend of a friend recommended that we have dinner at Horse Heaven Saloon in downtown Prosser.  We weren’t disappointed!  Great food and a western theme too!  You will notice the door handles are 6 guns!

Saturday May 13   we drove to a museum called The Reach (named for the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River) in Richland.  Richland sat on a section of the river that took a northward bend in its otherwise southbound course and was the last free-flowing section of the river.  We saw fascinating displays and discussions of the Ancient Ice Age floods that sculpted this area and determined the route of the Columbia River.  Much of the Hanford Reach flows through the Hanford Site, a nuclear production facility established during World War Two, as part of the Manhattan Project.  The site was home to the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world.  Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. 

During the Cold War, the project expanded to include nine nuclear reactors and five large plutonium processing complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the more than 60,000 weapons built for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.  Many early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate, and government documents have confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River.

Jerry was standing outside the museum, beside a spent fuel bundle.

We grabbed one of the museum’s docents to hear what he had to stay about Hanford Reach and were delighted to discover this gentleman was a retired nuclear physicist from the Hanford Site!  He had worked in the nuclear power plant for 40 years.  He was very vocal about his concerns about the storage of radioactive materials buried underground in 177 leaking tanks holding 56 million gallons of chemicals and nuclear waste!  The clean up of the site had begun and was expected to take 50 years at a cost $110 billion.  Whew!

After way more information than our brains could hold, we found a pretty little restaurant right on the Columbia River for lunch.  After all the recent rains in the area, the river was full and running fast.  We saw very few boats. 

Our next stop was Daven Lore Winery, just outside of Prosser.  This winery was owned and run by a friend of a friend and we knew the wines that Gordon produced were very nice.  The winery was holding its spring release and had a special wine tasting for their wine club and the public.  What a beautiful spot!  The picture shows you the house and the very few grapes that Gordon owns.  

The house and winery were south of Prosser in the Horse

Heaven Hills, a well-known wine growing area.  The views were amazing!  Gordon told us on a clear day he could see both Mount Rainier and Mount Hood from the deck of his house! 

Wine tasting is quite an interesting process.  We try to act like we know what we are doing and try to imagine the flavors described for each sampling.  “Essence of raspberry and ivory soap with a brisk finish of pencil lead”.  Okay, I made that up but I hardly ever taste those flavors listed on the wine label!

Sunday May 14 was our final push to Anacortes.  The weather was cooperating as we approached  Snoqualmie Pass on I-90…rainy and in the 40’s.  This pass, the primary link between Seattle and eastern Washington, has been closed many times this year due to the severe winter.

By Sunday afternoon we were well settled at our home port, Fidalgo Bay RV Resort.  We had sunshine and moderate temperatures and we were delighted to be settled.  As I was guiding Jerry into our site, I noticed a little killdeer running up and down the pad.  Upon further exploration we found her sitting on her nest…just behind the right rear tire in the rocks.  How we didn’t run over her nest I’ll never know!

So we are settled back home.  We left here August 28, 2016.  You might be interested in some statistics:

• Number of days on the road:  259
• Distance travelled:  8,500.  This number surprised us.  We thought it would be more.
• States seen:  23.  Several states we were in twice or three times!
• Number of RV parks:  49.  We were fortunate to stay with friends a lot!
• Amount of fuel purchased:  1395.2 gallons.
• Amount spent on fuel:  I didn’t have the courage to add it up!

We will be in Anacortes all summer and my blog-writing will become even more sporadic as we visit with friends, bike and hike the trails, and tour the places in Washington we have yet to see.  We hope you have a great summer too!