Cathy & Jan's Travels: 2014

Friday, December 19, 2014

Completion of our 2014 Travels

We revisited the first lighthouse that got us started on our passion with lighthouses - Admiralty Head Lighthouse - Whidbey Island, WA

We are now back in Dickinson, TX in our usual winter RV Park for 2 months for our annual doctor visits etc. In the last 6 months we have traveled from Oregon thru Washington to Montana and thru Wyoming and Colorado on our way back to Texas. Here are some of the highlights of our travels:

We continued our multiple visits with relatives and friends and made over 20 stops this year to visit with various friends & relatives in the Western USA.

We attended our first National Park Travelers Club annual meeting (held in Seattle area this year (next year it will be in El Paso, TX) – This club promotes visiting National Park Service Sites and provides a list of all of the locations where one can get National Park Service Passport Stamps. They also give out awards to those that have reached various milestones in their quest in collecting the Passport Stamps. One new award this year (The Flat Hat Award) is given to a National Park Service employee that goes out of their way in helping a visitor. We were fortunate to visit with the first awardee when we later stopped at a site in Ohio.

We revisited the following great and beautiful National Parks:

North Cascades in Washington State.
Glacier - we again took the shuttle up the Going To The Sun Highway to Logan Pass to see the mountain goats.
Yellowstone - quite crowded since we visited there in early August
Grand Tetons, and
Rocky Mountain - we again drove over the great Trail Ridge Road

We visited 15 National Wildlife Refuges and have now collected at least one National Wildlife Refuge Passport Stamp in each of the 49 states (only one left is Hawaii). The one that we liked the best and saw the most wildlife was the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah (where the Bear River empties into the northern end of the Great Salt Lake)

One of our major goals in our travels is to visit and get passport stamps of the National Park sites (especially all of the sites in the lower 48 states). We almost reached our goal in 2012 when we visited Cumberland Gap National Historic Park on the border of Kentucky, Tennessee, & Virginia, but the Cesar Chavez National Memorial had been newly designated in California just 3 weeks earlier. Then, in 2013, three more sites were designated in the east (Delaware, Maryland, and Ohio). This year we visited the Cesar Chavez site in California, but still had the 3 sites in the east left to visit. Since we do not plan to go east for a couple of years and thinking that they may designate a new site at any time, we decided to make a quick 4 day / 3 night trip from Denver (by air) to visit the remaining 3 sites in the east. So at the beginning of September, we flew to Washington, DC & visited the First State National Monument in Delaware, Harriet Tubman Underground National Monument in Maryland & then flew to Ohio to visit the Charles Young & Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. Fortunately, no new sites had been designated before our last site and now we can say that we have reached our goal of visiting all of the 365 National Park Service sites in the lower 48. It has taken many miles to see all of these places, but we have learned so much and have been places we probably would not have gone in this great country of ours.

After Denver, we attended our 9th consecutive rally of the New Horizons Owners Group held this year in Amana Colonies in Iowa. This group is made up of people that own New Horizons 5th wheels made in Junction City, KS. We are still living our original 5th wheel made in 2002 & have no plans to get another one since we still enjoy what we have. We did provide some unplanned excitement when a dust devil (whirlwind) came thru on a clear day and broke our awning arms and then laid the awning over the top of the rig. It was really weird since there was no wind before or after the dust devil and no other trailer was affected.

This next year we are going on our long planned first trip to Hawaii for 3 weeks in April and visit the 6 main islands - of course we plan to visit all of the six National Park Service sites, visit the National Wildlife Refuges that are open to the public, and take photos of as many lighthouses as possible. Plus, we might even get to see a beach or two. After this we plan to travel less than usual and spend most of our summer and fall in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.

Hope that all of you are doing well.

Sunset at Haystack and Needles Rocks at Cannon Beach in Oregon

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse - Oregon - Note: At one time this was turned into a columbarium (place to store a person's ashes) - but this venture has since been abandoned.

Tumalo Falls - West of Bend Oregon

Butterfly at lavender farm on San Juan Island, WA

"I've been kissed" sculpture at San Juan Islands Sculpture Park, WA. Note: You can purchase this gem for only $12,500.

Female Goldfinch - The Washington State bird.

Diablo Lake in North Cascades National Park - The color is due to 'glacial flour' - Ground up bedrock by glacier erosion.

Grays River Covered Bridge in Washington State

Carved tree stump in RV park in St. Regis, Montana

"Shoreline Silhouettes" painted bison in West Yellowstone, MT

Jenny Lake - Grand Tetons National Park

Grebe swimming with her chick - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge - Utah

Great Blue Heron - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge - Utah

"Maxie" - In Sumner, MO - "Wild Goose Capital of the World"

Monday, June 9, 2014

Western States Travels in 2014

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon

As we continue our 12th year of fulltime RVing, we are traveling in the western United States and have been visiting lots of relatives and friends in New Mexico, Arizona, and in southern and middle California. We are now in Oregon and plan to go to Washington state and then meander thru Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and then to Iowa and Kansas before arriving back in Texas in November.

Three years ago we started visiting National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and collecting the passport stamp at each one visited. As time went by, we have set a goal of visiting at least one NWR in each state. As this year started we had completed visiting an NWR in all states east of Colorado, so this year our travel plans take us to all of the western states to complete the rest of the lower 48 states. Fortunately, on one our trips to Alaska, we had visited an NWR there and took a photo of the NWR sign there. So we have sent a letter to get the stamp and won’t have to drive all the way up there just to get a stamp. Not only are we collecting stamps, but we have learned a lot about birds, migrating patterns, and wetlands management. And we have taken auto tours thru many of the NWRs to view the wildlife.

Since we take photos of lighthouses, we couldn’t miss visiting Lake Havasu City (which is on the border between Arizona and California). The Bill Williams River runs along the border between the states and Lake Havasu was formed when Parker Dam was built in the 1930’s. This dam is known as the “deepest dam in the world” since they had to excavate so deep to reach bedrock (73 percent of the dam is not visible).The main tourist attraction in Lake Havasu City is the London Bridge which was brought from London and reconstructed between the mainland and an island in the lake. One little known attraction is that over 20 working small lighthouse replicas have been built and scattered around the lake and on the island. These lighthouses are replicas of existing ones around the US and Canada. We managed to take photos of 19 of the lighthouses (a couple of these are included in the included photos). Note: We counted these as only one lighthouse in our master list since they did not have the “mystique” of real ones.

We also visited the Cesar Chavez National Memorial in Keene, CA (close to Fresno). This is where his last office was (and has been preserved) and where his grave is. The memorial was well done and worth the visit. This was also our last National Park Service site left to visit in the western US.

Right now we are in Eugene, Oregon waiting to have our solar system upgraded. We are not planning on adding any more solar panels, but are going to upgrade our 4 batteries to larger ones, replace our inverter, and upgrade our solar charge controller. We have really enjoyed for the last almost 10 years not having to check our 4 AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries. These batteries differ from flooded lead acid batteries in that the electrolyte is held in the glass mats, as opposed to freely flooding the plates. These batteries do not have any battery acid and never have to be checked/filled. They are more expensive, but well worth it to us.

While here in Oregon and since Crater Lake is one of our 3 favorite National Parks in the US, we just had to make one more trip to see it. The weather was perfect and the lake was just the wonderful deep blue as it could be. Note: Crater Lake gets an average of 44 feet of snow each year, but this last winter was one of the driest when only 30 feet fell. By the way, our other 2 favorite National Parks are Glacier (in Montana), and Bryce Canyon (in Utah). There are numerous other beautiful National Parks that are also very close to the top of our list.

Next year we are planning to slow down in our extensive traveling around Canada and the USA. We have been privileged to photo most of the lighthouses in the US and Canada that are relatively easy to get for a total of over 1,250 (Note: this number includes lighthouses in New Zealand and Australia). We have also managed to visit 372 out of a total of 401 National Park Service sites in the US (including all in the lower 48 states – except the 3 that were added last year in Ohio and in the northeast). Some of the remaining ones are just too far away for us to visit (such as American Samoa and Guam) or too remote (like some of the ones in Alaska). In addition we have also visited over two-thirds of the National Parks in Canada. So as you can see, it is time for us to slow down a bit.

We have been considering volunteering for a number of years, but didn’t want to be committed for long periods of time in one place. But next year we are going to try volunteering. Right now we are currently considering working in a visitor center, improving trails, or being an interpreter (but not being a campground host) at a National Park Service site or a National Wildlife Refuge.

The only other plan that we have for next year is to visit Hawaii (a place that neither one of us has been to). So, next spring we are planning a month trip to our 50th and last state to visit all 6 of the main islands. Taking our 5th wheel is not practical, so we will rely on rented vehicles and hotels or B&Bs. Of course, we are planning to visit all of the lighthouses, National Park Service Sites, and NWRs that we can.

And way in the future we are leaving open a possible return trip to Alaska/Yukon/Northwest Territories and one to the Canadian Maritimes (including Newfoundland).

Hope that all of you are doing well.