kayaking – Page 2 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

10-03-2015 Belfast, the Titanic, and the Devils Causeway

Ireland Day 13 and 14

Good morning. I took a little break from the Ireland posts for a few days. Currently in Rocky Point the skies are partly cloudy, the temperature this morning before daylight is a balmy 50 degrees F with rain coming tonight and tomorrow. Much needed, although the timing could be a bit better. It is Halloween, and the rain is set to begin around 5 this evening. Bummer.

Our home. Pelican Butte reflected in Pelican Bay on a gorgeous fall afternoon.

For us, the weather has been perfect, almost. We have been moving part of our home to Mo’s apartments in town, leaving the other part here at the big house in Rocky Point. Mo’s brothers were fabulous, Dan and his wife coming from the Portland area and Don coming from Spokane to help us do the heavy lifting. Original plan was to simply use the pickup and trailer, but after many days of sunshine, rain was forecast for our single moving day, so we rented a U-Haul.

Good plan! We never could have done it otherwise, and we never could have done it without all the great help we had from Mo’s wonderful brothers, and the dogs of course.

After the move, the sun came out and we slipped out on the creek for a gorgeous fall kayak. Brother Don, who builds his own very fine wooden kayaks, was less than excited about our older kayak, since it developed a big leak in the back end, and he spent much of the trip bailing with a sponge.

But those are other stories to come later. I still have a few more tales of our trip to Ireland to complete.

Belfast continued: On Saturday morning we woke once again to impossibly good weather, with a bit of cloudiness, but no rain in sight. We had prepared for this trip, knowing that Ireland was always rainy, knowing that we would have to deal with raincoats and umbrellas and be willing to accept that there is a price for all this green.

Somehow God and Mother Nature smiled on us for the entire 15 days we spent in Ireland, with an unheard of two weeks without rain except for that little spitting shower we encountered at Newgrange early on in the trip.

The day began with a bus tour of Belfast rather than a walking tour.

Since the city is not exactly charming, I didn’t mind that much, especially when we saw the graffiti, and the giant fence between a Catholic and a Protestant neighborhood to prevent them from throwing bombs at each other.

All the guides proclaimed how peaceful things were now, how wonderfully calm it was and yet the depression and sadness in the air was palpable. I can imagine, like most big cities, there are wonderful aspects to Belfast, but we didn’t really have time to explore in depth.

After our bus tour, we took in the Titanic Belfast, the world’s largest Titanic museum located at the port of Belfast where the Titanic was built. If you click on the link to the museum, you will see some rather impressive moving graphics. The videos on the website are very good, showing what I tried to manage with my phone to much less success. The museum is huge and glitzy, and quite Disneyesque, There are several floors of excellent displays relating to the design and building of the great ship, as well as its demise. There was a cafeteria and a restaurant, a bar and a gift shop with lots of Titanic memorabilia for sale.

In spite of how well done and obviously expensive the museum was, the commercial aspect of the whole thing really bothered me. Let’s make a bunch of money on the crash of a ship and the loss of all those lives. It didn’t feel like a memorial, but more like a Disney ride. The museum is part of the Northern Ireland attempt to increase tourism in Belfast, which still lags far behind that of the Republic. Still, riding the little cars that followed a track through the darkness to the sounds of the rivets pounding steel was fun. The museum does an excellent job of showing the complexity of building a great ship in the early part of the 20th century.

However, we had something much more wonderful in store for us that afternoon, the finest reason of all to visit Northern Ireland, an excursion to the Giant’s Causeway on the Atrim Coast. Just a little over an hour north of Belfast, the Causeway is a magnificent exposure of huge hexagonal basalt columns that resulted from ancient lava flows from fissures in the underlying limestone.

Quoting from the UNESCO website:

The Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast is a spectacular area of global geological importance on the sea coast at the edge of the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland. The most characteristic and unique feature of the site is the exposure of some 40,000 large, regularly shaped polygonal columns of basalt in perfect horizontal sections, forming a pavement. This dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. Celebrated in the arts and in science, it has been a visitor attraction for at least 300 years and has come to be regarded as a symbol for Northern Ireland.

The property’s accessible array of curious geological exposures and polygonal columnar formations formed around 60 million years ago make it a ‘classic locality’ for the study of basaltic volcanism. The features of the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast site and in particular the strata exposed in the cliff faces, have been key to shaping the understanding of the sequences of activity in the Earth’s geological history.

The visitor center was excellent, filled with fascinating displays that we chose to forego in favor of the real thing. With just under three hours to spend, we wanted to enjoy the hiking, the views, and the geology, although I would have liked to see the displays if there had been time.

We had just enough time to walk the trails to the famous part of the Causeway so often pictured in photographs, with hundreds of people playing on the steps of the columns and crawling around with delight. It might have been nicer if not so crowded, but I guess that is also the price to pay to visit a World Heritage UNESCO site on a sunny Sunday in early October in a land where it has been raining for months.

Once we passed the most popular area, and continued along the narrow trail, the crowds thinned a bit and we had time to drink in the magnificent views of basalt flows, columns, the red interbedded laterites, and basalt chimneys. Again, it was an exhilarating and beautiful hike, and the area is managed extremely well with the visitor center built into the side of the mountain and using renewable resources for power.

It was a wonderful afternoon, with the sounds of the sea and crazy wild trails to follow along the rocky coast.

Mo and I talked about this as I was writing, and for her, the Causeway was one of the highlights of visiting Ireland, and for me it is still a toss up between the Causeway and the Cliffs of Moher. I would suggest not missing either if you choose to visit Ireland.

Note: Since I am already nearing the end of my monthly data usage allowance, with 13 days left to go, the link to the photos on SmugMug will be added to this blog at a later time. Check back if you want to see them, or remember to go to my SmugMug photo page with the link listed in the left sidebar of the blog.

Next: Leaving Belfast, we return to Dublin, and our last day in Ireland

Fabulous Friends Fabulous Days Fabulous Fun

Continued from this post:

As I wrote yesterday, Jeanne (my friend from Vermont) arrived on Monday, Labor Day, a very short time after Phil and Joanne left for Eugene. I haven’t seen Jeanne since her wedding last year, when I traveled to Vermont to participate in one of the most wonderful weddings I have ever experienced.

Jeanne has many friends in Klamath Falls, and it gets pretty crazy when she visits trying to fit everyone in. Most of her friends are high energy, very physical folks. Big time bikers, runners, hikers, and white water boaters. Just like Jeanne. Thank goodness I have a couple of decades on them as an excuse for not being able to keep up, not wanting to, actually. I’ll settle for a flat water paddle and a long walk any day!

Still, Jeanne made sure she had time for us, spending a couple of days and a night in the cabin. After a nice walk in the neighborhood, we settled in at home for some of Jeanne’s favorite ribs. I don’t think I have made them since the last time she visited, but I am sure glad that was her request. Got the recipe from a local Rocky Point resident famous for his cooking. Something about a few hours braising in pineapple juice and seasonings before they go on the grill with sticky sweet gooey sauce makes them fall off the bone tender and so tasty. Yum.

Once again we pulled out the dominoes. Jeanne and Alan found out while visiting us a couple of years ago that our domino game was one they actually liked, but forgot how to play it. Alan, now her sweet husband, actually bought her a set after they left here last visit. Hopefully this time she will remember.

The next morning dawned the most gorgeous, smoke free, bluebird sky day we have seen in weeks. By nine Jeanne and I were on the water, launching at Malone Spring and traveling north to Crystal Spring.

The canoe trail is within the boundary of the Upper Klamath NWR, and parallels the steep eastern flank of the Cascade Mountains. As you can see, it winds through the marsh, with lots of meanders. The water is crystal clear, but filled with plants and fish and birds abound.

In this photo, from a larger perspective, you can see the upper part of the canoe trail in relation to our place in Rocky Point, in addition to Pelican Bay where we kayaked with Phil and Joanne, and the spring run to Harriman Springs where we took Judy and Phil and Joanne as well. It is nice to have options based on how much time we have and how many miles our guests wish to paddle. The run with Jeanne, (and the same run later with Jimmy and Nickie) is about 8 miles round trip.

I would have loved to linger at the spring, but we had only 4 hours to make the round trip because Jeanne’s friends were picking her up for another adventure. Hiking down to the water of Crater Lake for an icy swim and the long steep hike back up were next on the list. I begged off this one, even though invited since I wasn’t sure my recently rebuilt innards could handle the climb back up the long steep trail.

After Jeanne left, Mo and I had a day to get the new wood stove moved into the apartments, finish up a few details, and buy groceries for the next round of guests.

I was so excited to have Nickie and Jimmy (The Intrepid Decrepit Travelers) send a text message saying they were heading our way and would we be home. I had already practiced a couple of days of food, so I just did it all again for our new company. Good thing we all like salmon! The End of the Day (3 of 7)

They arrived on Thursday afternoon, and didn’t take long to arrange Tergel in the shop driveway, get her leveled with the slides out and join us for more make it yourself wraps and fruit. I have found this to be a great way to do lunch for a bunch, laying out spreads, hummus, cheeses, veggies and several kinds of tortillas for everyone to put together their favorite. Takes a lot of the pressure off!

Mo took a break from our guests to try to catch up on getting the lawns mowed while the three of us took Mattie for a nice long walk along Rocky Point road while we chatted and got caught up on all the recent doings. I was really impressed with Jimmy’s recovery and his strength walking after such recent knee surgery. Way to go, Jimmy!

We had so much fun with dinner and conversation I completely forgot to take photos. Guess that is a good sign.

The next morning we were again up early to get out on the creek before the warm temperatures took over. Sadly, the bluebird skies had disappeared and smoke from the California fires was once again muting the horizon and the distant mountains.

Still it was beautiful out on the water. Jimmy and Nickie have a tandem Sea Eagle, but opted instead to try our hard side boats. It was just at the point of being a bit too long, but everyone did fine and instead of having to rush off when we reached Crystal Spring, we had the luxury of lolling around above the beautiful springs before taking our time going back downriver.

The current is almost negligible, just enough to feel it a bit as you are paddling upstream, but not enough to really get you moving downstream. Nature was good to us on this day because the afternoon winds never appeared. Good thing there isn’t much current! Mattie is new to kayaking, and this was only her third time out. She is just a bit nervous. For who knows what reason, she decided to jump right out of the boat into the water. It was COLD, and I think she was quite happy that Mo was able to haul her back in within seconds. She didn’t try it again.

While floating around the spring, my phone rang. What?? I didn’t even remember that it was on and certainly didn’t expect to have a signal. Sure enough my friend Marti, from Idaho, was calling trying to figure out how to get to Rocky Point. I told her we would be there in a couple of hours and that hopefully she could relax on the porch till we arrived.

When we got home, Marti was waiting patiently enjoying a book and the shady porch with her dog, Rueben. Rueben was a very excitable dog, and we had no idea how he and Mattie would get along, but they were just fine, if a tad rambunctious. I offered the cabin to Marti and Rueben, and Jimmy and Nickie decided it was nap time in Tergel!

Understand, Marti is a river rat from way back, guiding on the Rogue River in years past, and running the Grand Canyon and so many others I have no idea about. Still, I had offered to take her out in our lake kayaks, but after so many trips I felt a bit worn out. The look of disappointment in Marti’s eyes when I started to beg off another kayak trip was enough to get me back in my boat once again that day for a second paddle down to Harriman Spring.

I got a good deal of paddling in during that week, for sure, and I loved it.

We had planned to go out to supper, down the road once again to the local resort, but everyone was so relaxed, and there was so much food left over that we decided to eat at home. I marinated and broiled some chicken and made another fresh salad to go with all the rest of the goodies. We feasted, laughed and talked until everyone just plumb gave out and meandered off to bed.

Saturday morning dawned smoky and warm, and I think Nickie and Jimmy were not happy about having to return to Nevada City and the huge Butte Fire smoke that was affecting their area. Still, everyone was up early, sharing coffee and fruit before they buttoned up Tergel, hooked up Smartie and headed down the road toward California and Marti continued her Oregon travels heading toward the coast. The End of the Day (7 of 7)

This last photo might just give an idea of how much fun we have with these great friends of ours that we never would have known if not for RVing and blogging about it.

I think this may have been the busiest week I have experienced with company since my family reunion back in 2007. It was so much fun to see everyone, but I must say next time I hope all our visitors won’t have to schedule during the same week.

September Transitions, and some Fabulous Visits from Fabulous Folks

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon with blue bird skies and 41 Degrees F at 10AM

Deer in the back yard here in Rocky Point. Good thing I have a deer repellent that works.

It has been an interesting year for me. A time of decisions, transitions, changes, and progress. When my birthday rolls around, I like to take a few moments to re-evaluate. Turning 70 is a milestone, one that seemed an anti-climax after thinking I was “almost” 70 for so long that when it happened, it didn’t seem all that different.

I had a great birthday, made more so my social media, Facebook of all things. I love getting birthday cards, but the plethora of greetings that come my way from all over the country and even far parts of the world really add a celebratory air to the day, even one spent doing errands. Of course, the errands in town were topped by a celebratory cocktail at the luxe Basin Martini Bar right in Klamath Falls, and tasty tapas for supper. Lots of cards, fabulous presents, phone calls, a wonderful day. Lucky me.

More is on the agenda in the coming two weeks, but that story will come later. For now, my big job is to try to track what has happened and where we have been during the last few weeks since I last had time to write. Thank goodness for calendars and photos, or I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.

After our visit with Judy early in August, we spent much of the month working in earnest at the apartments and in Grants Pass. It seemed as though every day we were driving one place or the other with tight schedules, deadlines, meeting contractors and realtors.

The realtor part was a bit tiresome, because in spite of the fact that I sold my house on Painter in 11 days, the closing hasn’t been so timely. Once again we were delayed by the big California lender, with more requests showing up even after I had signed my part of the closing. After the last snafu, where we all decided to start over with a new lender and a closing date in December, some details shifted, and once again closing is imminent. We will see. Getting close to being done (16 of 35)

The rest of the projects were incredibly successful. The apartment painting project is at last completed, and looks great. Did the final walk around this week with our contractor, who does great work if always a bit behind schedule. The flooring project was completed through Home Depot, a process that entailed repeated trips to the store in town, myriad phone calls between shippers, installers, coordinator, schedulers and such. What a process! Still, the contractor also did a great job and we love the results.

The apartment is at last completed and ready for us to begin moving in some of our furniture. We have tentatively planned to have it habitable by November.

The Grants Pass cottage was also part of our projects. With the high heat and low water well numbers, we make it a point to return at least every week or ten days to spend 2 or 3 nights there. My biggest job is moving the single water hose, attempting to keep the few plants alive and healthy. The grass is doing fine with the daily watering at 2GPM that I have set up on a timer.

Exciting forthcoming project for the cottage is the installation of a new water holding cistern, scheduled in mid October. Once that is completed, we will be able to set up timers and sprinklers for more areas on the property without worrying about running the well dry. Grants Pass water is notorious for salts and iron, but we won’t bother setting up filtration systems until we have a new house to protect once we move there for good.

In the mean time, Mo is working on all sorts of projects, including clearing out the main part of the old building she plans to use as a workshop. She tore out the old windows to make more storage space, re-worked and removed a bunch of old cabinets to build a workbench, and managed to install a nice window air conditioner that Melody gave to us when she moved out of the Painter Street house. Yay!

On an earlier visit we cleared out all the old stacked carpets in the mud room, cleaned up and painted it, and Mo fashioned new frames for the door and window from some old wood she had on hand. Looks great. Every project we do at the cottage must be tested against our willingness to see it come crashing down when it is time to raze the cottage and build the new house.

Lots of wood working stuff over there to keep Mo happy for years to come!

I haven’t quilted a thing. The sewing machine managed to come out for a few days while I worked on my first quilted clothing project, a jacket I plan to use for traveling. It was so much fun, but oh my, don’t let anyone look at it too closely. So many mistakes, and I learned so very much about what NOT to do when making a quilted jacket. Photos of this little project will probably show up in the next posts which will be sometime after early October.

MoHo traveling has been on hold as well, with our last trip to Waldo Lake the last time we tucked away in our cozy rolling home. Both of us are getting serious hitch-itch, day dreaming about the time when we will get that baby rolling again for something longer than the trip back and forth to Grants Pass now and then.

With all the work we were doing, Mo and I still managed some fun times during August. Melody and her clan, along with the new guy in her life came out for a great family day/BBQ with us and we laughed ourselves silly playing Bocci ball on the very sloping lawn. Mo and I took a break to chase down the SuperMoon rising over the boat launch in Rocky Point, a quiet and lovely moment in the midst of all the busy days.

I spent a lot of time walking Mattie, who seems to think that our long walks are the perfect time to find the biggest thing possible to carry home. She carried this bone for more than 3 miles, and it was worth it, because I think two weeks later there are still remnants of it lying around the house.

Daughter Melody is one of the lead stars in the play Chicago, put on by our Klamath Falls Linkville Theater. I have tickets for the closing show in October, but decided that I had to see it before then, so I’ll be in the audience tonight, in the front row. I have heard my daughter sing “All That Jazz” for years, but never starring as Velma on the stage. I am thrilled!

As the month of September continued, however, all work stopped. For some reason, all our friends who had promised visits seemed to converge at once on Rocky Point in the first week of September. We knew Phil and Joanne were coming, and I had scheduled Jeanne’s visit for months. But suddenly Jimmy and Nickie were heading our way and I was not about to miss time with them. To add to the fun, an old friend from my working days in the 80’s in Idaho retired, and called to say she would like to stop in and say Hi. I hadn’t seen Marti in 40 years maybe? so of course I wasn’t going to say no.

Scheduling all worked out perfectly, in the long run, with one set of folks replaced by another set within hours, and sometimes overlapping.

First to join us were Phil and Joanne from Eugene. Our history goes way way back, to 1977, with some gaps in between, but you know how that can be with old friends. They came down on Labor Day weekend, and settled into the cabin before we had a make it yourself lunch of vegetarian wraps and fruit.

Our destination that first afternoon was a six mile round trip hike on the southeast side of Fourmile Lake, just west of Rocky Point near the Cascade crest and into the Sky Lakes Wilderness. We had a wonderful time on a lovely hike that meandered around Fourmile Lake with views of Mt McLoughlin, and a final destination of Badger Lake.

We earned our supper, and enjoyed the planked salmon, zuchinni rice ( a new recipe I love with shredded uncooked zukes added to hot rice, corn, black beans, and peppers), cole slaw from an ancient recipe Joanne remembers from the 80s, and my favorite dessert to make, a French Apple Gallette.

The next day was supposed to be hot, so we planned to get out on the water early. Phillip is a great cook, and I remember the days when we shared working weeks at the Forest Service work center and Phil would make huge breakfasts, eating three times what I ate and staying skinny forever. He is still pretty darn slim, but maybe the marathons have something to do with it. Hartwig making eggs before we left (1 of 1)

I made the potatoes but Phil scrambled the eggs with leftover salmon, cilantro and who knows what else. They were so good and I don’t even like eggs.

We decided to kayak from the main dock in Rocky Point, traveling southward toward Harriman Springs so that they could get used to paddling on flat water and not be out too terribly long.

We were treated to lots of pelicans and smooth silky water and Joanne, unused to all that shoulder work, did just fine. As often happens when we introduce folks to paddling, by the time we were done they were asking about kayaks. Of course, Joanne is hoping for a tandem kayak so she can ride in the back and Phil won’t know when she isn’t paddling.

Melody and Robert drove out from Klamath Falls just in time to see Phil and Joanne and take a little paddle of their own on the bay. Joanne and Melody figured out that they hadn’t seen each other since Melody was just 16!

That evening we decided to try out the Harriman Resort for dinner. The resort is still trying to get it’s sea legs and still doesn’t have a liquor license. Instead we shared a great bottle of wine before we left, and trundled down the few hundred yards to the restaurant.

It was an interesting experience. The restaurant is beautiful, and we all ordered halibut, which was quite tasty. However, Phil and Joanne are fish only people and the garlic mashed potatoes came smothered in a rich, dark beef gravy!! Now what chef puts beef gravy on a fish plate! The waitress was quick and accommodating and the offending gravy was gone when the fresh plates were quickly replaced.

We rounded out the evening with our favorite Racehorse dominoes before everyone crashed happy, tired and satiated from too much food and laughter.

I think I’ll continue the rest of the story in the next blog since this just keeps on going and I want to share all the photos.

Next: Jeanne arrives from Vermont and Nickie and Jimmy arrive from points north

August 3 “Bird Lady of Blogland” Visits Rocky Point

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon 74 Degrees F and Mostly Sunny

Mo and I have been lucky enough to meet some delightful people as we travel around in the MoHo. Most readers know about the infamous meet and greets of people who have known each other only through the internet, and the extended family of RV bloggers who read and comment on each other’s blogs over the years.

For people like the two of us, somewhat solitary and not especially socially inclined, the people that we have met in this way have been an incredible treasure, and some have become life long friends. Judy, Travels with Emma, is one of those. We have enjoyed each other’s company in the past out on the road. It was great to have her volunteering here in Oregon, close enough that she could manage a short visit.

Smoky skies at Rocky Point

Mo and I drive that road between Rocky Point and Brookings often, so much so that we are almost immune to the narrow curving highway and its steep drop-offs. It is a four hour drive, a little less than 200 miles, and most of the time, the scenery is gorgeous. Not so much this time for Judy, with smoke from both the California and Oregon fires converging in the Rogue Valley, and coming over the crest of the Cascades to settle into the Klamath Basin as well.

In spite of the smoke, when Judy arrived mid-day, after a bit of visiting and a few snacks, we loaded up the kayaks and headed down the road to the public boat launch at Rocky Point. Even though there were some towering thunderheads overhead, the skies were quiet, and no sign of thunder or lightning frightened us away from the glassy, still waters.

It was a perfect day for Judy’s second foray into a kayak, nice and still, no wind, no current. I was impressed with her ability to slip into the kayak easily, (well almost easily), and do a pretty good job of keeping up with us. We wandered around Recreation Creek a bit before deciding to paddle south into the Harriman Creek spring run so Judy could see the incredibly clear water.

Even though some rather fat drops of rain fell on us, it wasn’t enough to dampen our spirits or get us wet.

It was Mattie’s first trip out in the kayak, and she wore her new little vest with pride and did great. She stood up most of the time, watching where the boat was headed, often turning around to Mo to be sure that everything was all right.

Mattie on Recreation Creek (1 of 1)-4 I so loved being back on the creek, on the bay, in the boat once again. I have really missed our times kayaking this year and hope that in the next few months before winter we don’t wait so long between paddling days.

Back home in the late afternoon, I finished up the ribs, making sure I did some “naked” ones for Judy and some gooey sticky ones for us and with some roasted potatoes and a salad. It was the first time that we had introduced Mattie and Emma and the two did just great.

I was amazed at how gentle Emma was with little Mattie, getting down to her level and so gently putting her paw on her to subdue her. Mattie would have none of that, however, and because Emma was so good with her, she was all smartie pants hot stuff, thinking how tough she was. It was great fun watching them tussle around.

Judy seemed to enjoy the cabin, although the extensive booklet of instructions that Mo left for the composting toilet were a bit much. We told her, “Just turn the crank, Judy”. I guess it worked fine, since I never did notice Judy sneaking outside to the old outhouse.

After breakfast the next day, Judy and Emma and I headed east through Klamath Falls toward the Tulelake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. It would have been a beautiful drive if not for the smoke, and I spent a lot of time telling Judy what she would be seeing if the skies weren’t so murky.

I’ll let Judy tell you about our day, but the best part for me was Judy’s excitement when she saw the birds. “Oh, I am back in my element”, she exclaimed when we pulled off Stateline Road at the first sighting of birds in the marsh. It was great fun for me to view the refuge through Judy’s eyes, and as usual, when I am with Judy, I learned so much. birds at Tulelake (13 of 50)

Loved seeing the mama grebe feeding her babies

After a long day exploring, we arrived home late afternoon and settled in a bit before I built a taco supper for the three (five) of us to share at the picnic table. We have lots of places to sit around the property, but often find that we end up in the same place most of the time. It was fun having Judy here, because we sat around in some different chairs, and ate at the picnic table instead of on the porch table. Silly how you can get in a rut sometimes.

After breakfast Judy headed back to the coast, and Mo and I slipped back into work/chore mode. Tomorrow we will be going again to Grants Pass and the Cottage. We try to get there at least every ten days or so to be sure things are OK, and keep the little patch of lawn watered. The “Cottage” in Grants Pass

Our other projects are coming along, bit by bit. My house on Painter Street is waiting for the appraisal and the closing and with the buyer renting from me until that time, Mo and I no longer have to maintain that property.

The Old Fort Road Apartments in Klamath Falls

Mo’s apartments in Klamath Falls are coming along as well, with the exterior painting and repair nearly finished, and the interior of the apartment Mo and I plan to use all freshly painted. Daughter Melody with grandson Xavier, and granddaughter Axel are well settled in their two apartments, and Mo and I plan to spend time there this winter when we aren’t here in Rocky Point or out traveling. It is smaller, easier to maintain, less snow to plow, and yes, cable internet…unlimited bandwidth. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to that!

The “Big House” at Rocky Point

Then again, with more than a decade of treasured time here at the Big House in Rocky Point, there will be a bit of nostalgia of course when it comes time to actually downsize and leave it behind. That is for a future time, however, and for now we are enjoying having this place to share with family and good friends now and then.

9-27-2014 A Day on Lopez Island

Current Location: Rocky Point Oregon Clear and 37 F at 8AM

I was so excited when I went to sleep after our beautiful evening sunset, knowing that the skies were clearing and we had a sunny day ahead for our trip to Lopez Island. What I forgot about being around all that water, was the clear skies often bring fog. We woke early Saturday morning to thick fog blanketing our campground with all views completely obscured.

Ah well, it should lift eventually, right? The weather people were predicting a gorgeous sunny day in the San Juan Islands. Hoping for as much time as possible on the island, we left camp around 7 and arrived at the ferry terminal in Anacortes before 8. What I didn’t understand properly was how to interpret the ferry schedules, and after we paid $44 for our round trip fare, the cashier told us to get in line in lane 1 for the first ferry to Lopez that would leave at 10:30 AM. Hmmm.

I knew we were supposed to be in line an hour early, but two and an half hours wasn’t exactly on our agenda. Especially in the fog. There was a small coffee shop near the lines that advertised fresh hot coffee, but when I reached the cashier, they were out of coffee. Just down the road, however, in the terminal building was another coffee shop and I didn’t mind the wait in line. Not much difference between waiting in the car or in the terminal. I picked up a couple of coffees and gathered a big stack of brochures for the islands. It was the smartest move of the day, since there is very little phone service on Lopez, and my most useful find was an excellent fold out map of Lopez Island. Our day would have been much more difficult without that map.

The fog refused to lift or lighten, and by the time we were actually on the ferry traveling west, the skies and the views were still completely obscured. The fog was so dense that they had a person spotting at the front of the ferry to give notice to the bridge of any hidden obstacles. Lopez Island (5 of 51)

Arriving at the tiny ferry terminal at the northern end of the island, I was impressed with the number of bikers in their northwest gear that lined up to get off on Lopez. With a more level landscape than the other major islands, Lopez is very popular with bicyclists. Driving up that first hill off the ferry and as we continued south along the two lane roads toward “town”, it did not look level to me! I was glad to be in a car.

In the fog shrouded landscape, a visit to Holly B’s Bakery was a perfect way to begin our tour of the island. Kayaking in the chilly fog wasn’t big on the agenda. Holly B’s was busy on this Saturday morning, and I must say that the cinnamon roll I purchased was perfect. Dense and not too sweet filled with nutty goodness, it was my favorite kind of pastry. Next to the bakery is the local bookstore, with both new and used books. A “real” bookstore, and we spent some time perusing the shelves and enjoying the ambiance of the place with lots of other folks who were visiting Lopez on this foggy Saturday morning.

I knew there was a Saturday Farmer’s Market but it ended in mid September. A nice surprise was finding two small booths filled with fresh produce from the local farmers. I bought some heirloom tomatoes, one called “the mortgage lifter” because the variety paid off someone’s mortgage. Yum! I also bought some kind of giant purple carrot that we sliced for carrot chips and some greens, some fingerling potatoes, and a couple of ears of tiny corn. I should have taken out the camera a bit more, but the fog was dampening my photo spirits and I didn’t bother.

Lopez Island (38 of 51) Best part of the farmer booths was the young man running one of them who told me, “Just head south!. The southern end of the island is in full sunshine right now. I had to leave it to drive into the fog to come to market”. Yayay! It was already after noon, and in Lopez Village the fog was thick.

Following our trusty little map, we traveled south over the narrow and picturesque roads right into the sunlight shining across the beautiful pastoral landscape. The forests are dark, but where the land has been cleared the light is gorgeous and the farms are lovely.

Our destination was Mackaye Harbor, suggested by Laurel, who volunteered on Lopez for a couple of months, as a good place to kayak. The skies were clear and the sun was gorgeous as we arrived at the boat launch, and the winds were almost non existent across the bay. Perfect. As warned, however, that water was cold! I have heard since forever that kayaking in the San Juan’s requires good skills and either a wet or dry suit because of the cold water. We had neither, but with the sunshine and light winds it seemed perfectly fine.

For a long time it was perfectly fine. The water was clear and the rocky shoreline on the north side of the bay provided interest. Our plan was to head north along the shoreline, hopefully rounding the point toward Davis Bay. The closer we got to the narrows, however, the rougher the water became and the swells although not bad, I had no idea how bad they could get. After all, it was Puget Sound, it was cold, the wind was coming up, and we had no wetsuits. I have to say I got a bit wussy, and suggested to Mo that maybe we should head across the bay toward the southern shoreline rather than going farther out into the straits between Lopez and San Juan.

Even though our time on the water wasn’t as long as expected, it was good that we turned around, because by the time we got back to the launch, the winds were rising considerably and I could see little fog fingers coming across the hills toward the south. Our kayaks are wonderful on lakes, even in the wind they track well, and we have managed mild currents in rivers and high waves on windy lakes. Still, something about these waters gave me an inner chill and I didn’t want to push my luck. Especially with Abby in Mo’s boat and that cold water.

Laugh if you will, but kayaking dark clear rivers in Florida with alligators on the shoreline didn’t create the bit of apprehension that I felt in the cold water of the San Juan’s. I know I would like to go back again, maybe when the weather is a bit more predictable, if it ever is, and explore the many other bays and shorelines of the islands. I might like to actually pay for a guided tour in a sea kayak with someone who understands how these waters work and then it wouldn’t be such an unknown. Still, I am so glad that we managed to at least get on the water and that the fog cleared up enough in the afternoon for us to do it.

The timing was all good, and we loaded up the boats and followed a different route back north to the ferry landing. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 5 and we were in line by 4. However, because of the fog, the ferry was delayed and we didn’t board until 5:30. So again, our lovely tiny bit of afternoon on Lopez was bracketed by several hours of ferry time.

The ferry trip back to Anacortes, however, was clear and beautiful, with no fog to mar the view. I again went outside to try for some photos, but that cold wind drove me back indoors. I wasn’t dressed in fleece and windbreakers the way locals know how to dress. We arrived home at Cliffside RV Park on Whidbey Island just at dark.

Lopez Island (45 of 51) Our day on Lopez was wonderful in spite of the fog and the delays, and I am so glad that we managed the trip. I re-read Nina’s post about visiting the San Juan’s again recently, and can only say that she is so right about her suggestions. It is incredibly spendy to travel on the ferries with a motorhome, and there are delays and weather to consider. We will go back for sure, possibly to Orcas, possibly to San Juan, and will pay the big bucks to get the MoHo to a spendy campground on one of those islands and actually stay for a few days.

Lopez Island (41 of 51) The islands are beautiful, the water is everywhere, I would love to have more time to go slowly and see more. I am not sure when the weather would be best, I think that part may be a crapshoot, with summer fog a possibility and winter cold rains a complete deterrent.

Lopez Island (48 of 51) We planned our exit from Puget Sound perfectly, leaving Whidbey Island early on Sunday morning and traveling the dreaded route north to Mt Vernon and I-5, skipping the ferries. We passed right through downtown Seattle around 8 am, without any traffic to speak of, and were in Portland in mid afternoon as the traffic started picking up. In the future, when we go back to the islands, our choice might be to stay at Fort Lewis on a Saturday night and drive north to Whidbey Island via I-5 early on a Sunday morning. It could work, and then our only big ferry expenses would be getting the rig onto the islands.

Spending the night in Beavercreek near Portland with Mo’s brother Dan and wife Chere was delightful. Hookups on the driveway and a great Mexican dinner topped off our visit. On Monday morning we decided that rather than taking boring I-5 and Highway 58 back home, the longer route over Mt Hood on Highway 26 would be beautiful. Sunny skies and a nice rest stop along the Deschutes River mid morning gave Abby a chance to test the waters and us a chance to warm up a bit.

No big trips for the MoHo are on the agenda in the next few weeks, but I am heading east to Vermont in a couple of days for Jeanne’s wedding. It will be my first time in Vermont, and from what I hear the leaves are waiting for me to get there before they fall. Mo will be holding down the fort here in Rocky Point this time while I go off adventuring on my own.

Abby is still with us, still eating and doing OK for now. She does sleep a lot, and now she pants loudly and snores even more loudly. The vet said that is a common side effect of the prednisone. But she is still here, she still is smiling, and still enjoying pets and hugs and Mo and I are appreciating the time we have with her beyond what the vet predicted.