Ocean Shores, WA

Our final night (Sunday) was spent at Copalis Beach, just 6 miles north of Ocean Shores. Once we got our campsite, we went to Ocean Shores to visit the "Sand Castle" festival. Things were winding down, so we only got to see the one sand sculpture. They also had several chainsaw artist with their cedar sculptures. We left Copalis Beach early the next morning and headed home with lots of memories. Thanks TREK for another safe trip!

Ruby Beach - Pacific Coast (WA)

We rose early in the morning and had a good breakfast in a local restaurant. We felt relieved to leave Forks, WA in one piece!

As you head south from Forks, WA on US 101, your first sight of the Pacific Ocean is at Ruby Beach. The shoreline at Ruby Beach has it all - sand, pebbles, rounded stones, driftwood, and sea stacks. Between the mighty Pacific breakers and the towering coastal firs, the pebbles and sand of Ruby Beach serve as a barrier between two worlds. Occasionally sea and forest connect, but mostly this magical stretch of shore calls those looking to wonder, wander or just beachcomb.

CLICK HERE to watch the slideshow of several pictures taken in this area. You can change the viewing time by increasing the seconds once you launch the slideshow.

Forks, WA

Nowdays, you cannot drive through Forks, WA and not sense the full impact of Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" book series. It is overwhelming and will stimulate anybody's curiosity to read her books. There are four books in the series - "Twilight", "New Moon", "Eclipse", and "Breaking Dawn". Once you start the first book, you will not want to put it down. From then on, you will read the entire series - GUARANTEED!

We drove to LaPush and explored the scenes, as described in the book "Twlight". We had a great time and spent the night at an RV park in Forks, sleeping with one eye open. If you read the first book in the series "Twilight", you will understand the pictures in our short slideshow. For those of you who have read the first book "Twilight", then take this quiz and see how you do! CLICK HERE to take the "Twilight" quiz!

CLICK HERE to watch the short "Twilight" slideshow. You can change the viewing time by increasing the seconds once you launch the slideshow.

Makah Canoe Celebration

We were invited to a very special canoe celebration by Makah tribal members. There were 3 traditional Makah canoes that were given to three separate families. This was a promise made by tribal elders over 38 years ago. It is a goal of the Makah tribe to give each family, which can be very large, a personal canoe to resume their ancient fishing ways of the past. It was a very emotional and educational opportunity for us to celebrate with them. We enjoyed a delicious meal of specially prepared elk and salmon, which was served during the celebration.

CLICK HERE to watch the slideshow of several pictures taken in this area. You can change the viewing time by increasing the seconds once you launch the slideshow.

Cape Flattery - Tatoosh Island

Cape Flattery is the most northwesterly tip of the USA (48 States) and looks across the mouth of the Straits of Juan DeFuca and Canada. The Pacifric Ocean is the backdrop and Tatoosh Island is located off the tip of the cape. There use to be a Makah fishing village on Tatoosh Island years ago, but no longer! In the winter, storms rage through this area, with winds of 100+ MPH on occasion! Look how calm and beautiful the day was for us. We had a great time exploring and seeing the spectacular scenery and the rugged coastline.

CLICK HERE to watch the slideshow of several pictures taken in this area. You can change the viewing time by increasing the seconds once you launch the slideshow.

Hobuck Beach - Neah Bay, WA

On a spur of the moment, Nancy and I decided to take a trip around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. We had never been to Cape Flattery and had not been in this area for several years. It was going to be beautiful weather so ws just decided to head out in TREK for another adventure.

Hobuck Beach Park is on Hobuck Bay, which is located on the Makah Indian Reservation. The Makah tribe has built a very beautiful RV park at this beach. This is where the tribal members would launch their whaling canoes when harvesting the big gray whales that still frequent this area. This is not a practice anymore with the tribe. A few years back the Makah tribe was on national TV when they launch their canoes and harpooned a gray whale and took it to shore. They used the entire whale, in their traditional ways, to share with all tribal members. The hunt was not for commercial purposes, but for self-sustaining use only. This was a very special and meaningful event for the tribe.

CLICK HERE to watch the slideshow of several pictures taken in this area. You can change the viewing time by increasing the seconds once you launch the slideshow.

Day 29-34 (Clearwater River Valley, BC)

We traveled the Yellowhead Highway south to Clearwater, BC and spent the night at the KOA campground. The next morning we did some grocery shopping and headed up the Clearwater River highway to our friend's (Jim & Colleen Vadheim) cabin in the valley. Their cabin is located just outside of Well Gray Provincial Park on 70 acres of some of the most beautiful and pictureque land that you can imagine. From the first day of our arrival, until our departure, the time was filled with excitment, adventure, exploring, laughter, fun, good food, friendship, and many unforgettable memories together. Our day would start with a cup of coffee in the early morning, sitting on the deck, counting the black bear grazing in the surrounding pastures. We would occasionly see sand-hill cranes, Canadian geece teaching their young survial skills, a doe with her new-born fawn, and the pastured horses romancing each other.

We hiked into the bush, viewed some of the most dramatic waterfalls, took a boat trip up the pristine Clearwater Lake, played golf, and had a very interesting experience with a black bear that weighted around 600 lbs. or more. This was a very special time for us to spend with our friends and bring to a close our exciting trip. We headed home on June 11th which was our granddaughter's 18th birthday and for her graduation from high school on June 14th. Thanks Jim & Colleen for a great time - we love you guys!

We arrived home safe and sound to Fox Island. Upon completion of our trip, TREK'S odometer had an additional 5,500 miles. We averaged 21.8 miles per gallon on our trip - not bad! You better get yourself a ROADTREK before they run out of them!

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 28 - Jasper, Alberta

We arrived with plenty of time to get a great campsite and tour the town. We had a great time looking at all of the shops and decided to have pizza for dinner. So far we had not seen a moose, so we purchased "Bowinkle" as a magnetic mascot for TREK. After dinner we treated ourselves to an ice cream cone and headed back to the campsite. As we approached our campsite, we notice an elk feeding in the meadow next to our campsite, so we took a picture. Nancy is a Bev Doolittle fan and so before we left in the morning, she took some very beautiful pictures of the many aspen that were in the area. Our next stop will be in Clearwater, British Columbia where we are looking forward to visiting our friends, Jim and Colleen Vadheim. They built a cabin on 70 acres of land in the Clearwater Valley and we will be staying with them for 5 days exploring the countryside.

Leaving Jasper, we headed west through the mountains and the Yellowhead Highway south to Clearwater, BC. We passed the second highest mountain in British Columbia which is Mt. Robson (12,972'). They say you can never see the top of the mountain because of the clouds. We found out that this was a true statement, so we took our picture and then I goggled a picture so you can see the top of Mt. Robson.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 27 - Hinton, Alberta

After leaving the Icefields, we traveled north to Jasper, Alberta. We wanted to head east towards Hinton because it would be closer to Miette Hot Springs, plus we wanted to do some laundry, relax, and catch up on things. Miette Hot Springs is nestled high in the mountains without any other distractions. It is the hottest springs in Canada. When I was here as a little boy, we could not go into the hotsprings because of a polio epidemic in Canada. This was very upsetting, so one of our goals for this trip was to finally take a plunge and enjoy this Canadian pleasure. After stopping to buy groceries in Jasper, we headed east across the Athabasca River and came across a herd of Big Horn Sheep, which were coming out of the mountains to water in the river. After taking a few pictures, we found the Hinton KOA campground, which was very nice. We finished all of our chores and got up early the next morning and headed to the hotsprings. As we traveled into the mountains we saw a black bear sow and her 3 cubs. We learned that a Black Bear sow will usually have either 2-3 cubs every other year. We arrived at the hotsprings and soaked for longer than we should have before heading to Jasper to spent the night. They have 4 pools - 2 hot pools with different temperatures and 2 cooler plunges at different temperatures. We learned to use the pool rotation effectively, so we stayed for almost 2 hours and never got light headed. We wanted to spend the night in Jasper and to walk the town, so we headed west to find a campground at Jasper.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 26 - Columbia Icefields

The final leg up the Icefield Parkway was spectacular. There were just too many glaciers to mention by name so we took many picutres to share with you. The scenery was very special, but extremely fragile. There was a haze in the air from the controlled burns in the area, but cleared up as we traveled north. The glaciers are definately shrinking in size, as was especially evident at Athabasca Glacier (Columbia Icefield). This glaicer is currently about 85 sq. miles in size, but receding around 33' per year. I can remember as a young boy, this glacier being all the way to the road. I took a picture to show you where this glacier is today in comparison with the road. The first time that I was here would have been 60 years ago with my parents. We both felt that this part of our trip was very memorable.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 25 - Lake Louise

We woke up early and headed to Lake Louise on a very beautiful morning. We wanted to be able to have a full day of hiking and exploring. We by-passed the freeway and took the old road to Lake Louise and it was spectacular. It is hard to explain traveling and viewing the scenery of the Icefield Parkway. The emotions that you feel cannot be explained in words. You need to see it for yourself to understand. We arrived early at the Lake Louise campground (10:30 AM) a got a great campsite close to the bathhouse. There are two magnificant lakes in this area, Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. We packed up lunch and headed up the road to Moraine Lake, which was still frozen solid. We hiked around a bit and then had lunch. There were several people that were brave enough to walk on the frozen lake, but we decided to just watch them.

After lunch we headed to Lake Louise, which I can still remember visiting as a young boy with my parents some 60 years ago. When we arrived at the lake, you cannot help but notice the Fairmont Lake Chateau Hotel. There were a lot of visitors, so we decided to hike to the end of the lake, which is at the base of the mountain range. Along the path, you could not help but notice several rock climbers ascending and desending the cliffs. The lake is open year-round and offers many recreational opportunities to visitors. The weather was beautiful and started to get very warm, so we decided to have a cold beer and wine at the hotel and look back at the lake and the glacial fields in the background.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 23-24 (Banff, Alberta)

We left Waterton Lakes early and headed to Banff, which is the beginning of the Icefield Parkway route to Jasper, Alberta. It was a very beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular. The Canadian Rockies are larger than life, rugged, and very pristine. Banff is nestled in the Bow River Valley and is located in Banff National Park. Their are two primary townships within the park (Banff & Lake Louise) and the entire area is an outdoor paradise. It is a wilderness area filled with wildlife, unusal rock formations, high alpine meadows, glaciers, and jade green lakes.

We stayed for two nights at the Tunnel Mountain campground just outside of Banff. We walked to town and then discovered that they have a trolley car transportation system, so we took advantage of that service. We strolled the town and visited the famous Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which was officially opened in 1888, when the Canadian Pacific railroad was built. We took a relaxing plunge in the Banff Hot Springs pool and had a very hard time leaving. We topped the night off with dinner at the "good old" Spaghetti Factory!

We took a hike to the Hoodoos, which overlook the Bow River valley and could see the Banff Springs Hotel in the distance against the pictureque backdrop of the mountains.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!

Day 22 - Waterton Lakes National Park

We crossed into Canada without any problems and got to show our passports for the first time ever. Waterton Lakes is located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada and borders Glacier National Park in Montana. There are three beautiful lakes (Lower, Middle, and Upper) which are located at the base of the Canadian Rockies. The mountains are very spectacular and rugged and there was alot of snow on them. Upper Waterton Lake was still frozen. You cannot help but notice the Prince of Whales Hotel when you arrive at the very small quaint town of Waterton which overlooks the middle lake. It was built in 1926 and named after Prince Edward. We camped at the park in Waterton and enjoyed riding our bikes around town and the lake. We took a short trip into the mountains to Red Rock Canyon and hiked out to the falls. It was very beautiful and we enjoyed having lunch by the river.

CLICK HERE to view our picture slideshow. If you would like to read the picture captions, then change the viewing time from 3 to 6 seconds. When you have finished viewing the slideshow, click the BACK ARROW icon in the upper left corner of the page and it will take you back to our blog page - enjoy!