Roadtrip 2014

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Nanette Harter

Ari and Eric got married in July (Congratulations!!!) and it inspired us to do a four week road trip centered on the event. Initially, our planning began to be a logistical nightmare with flights and car rentals and hotels because we kept adding people and places to see. The convenience of camping and driving everywhere became possible because Mom and Bill’s car would be sitting idle in LA while they were on Maui during that time. When they offered for us to use it we said Yes! Thank You! ROAD TRIP!!!

Planning involved not only charting a route and making reservations but also amassing camping equipment. With contributions from Mom and Pamela, orders from Amazon, and a few stops the morning we arrived, we were set.

We arrived early Tuesday morning July 1 at LAX and Chris, my brother-in-law, was kind enough to pick us up. After a breakfast visit with Pamela and Chris, we unpacked (car and bags), inventoried, shopped for provisions, repacked the car and we were on the road out of LA by 1. Even then there was traffic but I guess nowadays the question is when is there not traffic in LA? Soon we were driving through the open desert on Hwy 14 and 395. This is very familiar territory for us so we didn’t stop anywhere for pictures. (Therefore some photos of the first two driving days are taken from the internet—photo credits below.) Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills looked much like this photo. We were drinking in the beauty all around us as we zoomed through the Owens Valley.

We made it to Benton Hot Springs (past Bishop, California) in seven hours and were sitting in the outdoor natural hot springs tub in time for a beautiful colorful sunset! We had reserved a room for the first night on the road thinking we could get a good night’s sleep since we took a redeye the night before but that was not to happen for Neil. The B&B room was full of fragrance with scented sticks and laundry detergent. Neil slept on the ground outside the room in his sleeping bag. Cold and uncomfortable through the night he was up and soaking in the lovely water before sunrise. That was so delightful it made up for the rest of the night. I got into the water a little later and we did enjoy more time to soak in the hot springs tubs before sitting down to a good breakfast and setting off on the road again.

Wednesday, July 2, was our long drive day. We drove from Benton, California, through Nevada and into Idaho north of Boise. In Nevada we drove along the western shore of Walker Lake. The water level was low due to the prolonged drought but still it was beautiful.

We were setting up our tent just as it was getting dark. While planning our route before leaving Maui, Neil had found the spot on Google Earth! As he zoomed in on the maps, he saw tents along the Payette River just off and below the road. When we arrived, we sure enough saw the tents but there was a gate across the little access road. Oops! We decided to set up in the open area beside the gate because if we searched any longer for a new spot, it would be dark. I was adamant that the first time we set up the tent on the road, I wanted daylight. As we were setting up, cars started arriving at the gate and campground. Turned out it is the river rafting guides summer camp. They lease that little stretch of the riverbank for the summer and after their long days of rafting they come to this spot with their friends and party then crash. They invited us in but we were already half set up and our spot was fine.

When I looked at the phone as I climbed in my sleeping bag, it was an hour later than I expected. I knew we didn’t take that long to set up; Neil said welcome to Mountain Time. We both slept really well that night! We stopped for breakfast at the next town and visited with the waitress and some of the locals as we ate a hearty meal. It was gorgeous driving through the mountain roads of Idaho and over the pass into Montana. We made it to Lolo Hot Springs early afternoon where we had booked an economy cabin. We settled in and then enjoyed an afternoon soak in the natural hot springs water before heading to Missoula for the first wedding activity.

Coming next: The wedding festivities

Photo gallery below:
Clicking on the first photo brings up a larger view with a description. Depending on your browser, you can use the arrow buttons or keys to move through the gallery photos. If you are receiving this in an email and don’t see a photo gallery below, please click into my webpage to view all the photos!

Photo credits:
All photos by Neil Rhoads except the following—
Alabama Hills/Mount Whitney photo credit
Walker Lake photo credit
Google map Zimmer Creek
Payette River photo credit
Lochsa River at Split Creek Bridge photo credit
Lolo Hot Pool photo credit
Lolo Outdoor Pool photo credit

Washington and Oregon

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We met Mailea in Leavenworth, Washington, on Monday after our cruise (thanks to Helene and Timothy generously loaning us Rover, one of their cars.) The town of Leavenworth is modeled as an Alpine Bavarian village. I was impressed that all the buildings in town are built in the Bavarian architecture, even the Holiday Inn. We ate a hardy German lunch in full tradition of the town but we missed having an um-pa-pa band. We enjoyed the hike and soak in Scenic Hot Springs in the afternoon.

The following day was spent in Seattle exploring the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Garden, followed by lunch at Pho Than, for Vietnamese soup with Chessa, a friend of Mailea’s. Luckily, we didn’t stay full for long because we had a fantastic salmon dinner with our friends Helene and Timothy that night.

Setting out for Oregon, we stopped several times off of I90 in Washington searching out waterfalls. We took a gentle but lush forested hike along the creek to Denny Falls. It was a lovely cloudy drippy interlude from dry car travel. We also had a car picnic while parked at an old growth forest with heavy drippy mist coming down all around us; typical Washington weather. Any longer and we would have put down roots and become part of the forest ourselves. We drove through the town of Roslyn, Washington, made famous as the location where much of the TV show Northern Exposure was filmed (Yes, Northern Exposure was supposed to be about an Alaskan community.) The camel painting is still on the side of Roslyn Café.

Greg and Trinity, aka Lucy the dog, had the house all ready for us. Oliver and Lela, the cats, tolerate our presence after smelling everything we brought in the house. Lela took full advantage of the extra laps to sit in and soaked up lots of loving attention. We feasted each night of our visit with Mailea; particularly memorable were the excellent salmon sushi, the incredible brined roast turkey from the Neil/Greg chef team, blueberry pie and cobbler made from fresh pints of berries, and Neil’s fresh rhubarb sauce.

Our previous visit in February was just too cold outside for us to explore much beyond La Grande. This time we set off to see some of the wonders of Oregon Mailea and Greg have been treasuring. They love to mountain bike and we went with them to one of their favorite spots where we hiked a bit while they rode. On Saturday, we drove to Wallowa Lake via the town of Joseph. The area is so picturesque that it has become a little resort alpine village in the middle of Oregon. After our lakeside lunch, Greg, Mailea, and Trinity took off for a walk to Lower Adams Creek falls while Neil and I took the gondola ride to the top of Mount Howard. (We had to split up because in their foolishness, the gondola people do not allow people who happen to be in dog bodies to ride in their cars. In solidarity, Neil stuck his head out the window pretty much the whole way up and down. No barking or slobbering, though. He mostly just used his opposable thumbs to operate the camera.) At the top, we walked over the still snow covered trails to the rocky overlook to take in the view of Eagle Cap Wilderness area and its rugged peaks.

Back in the La Grande vicinity, yet another afternoon of exploration took us to the top of Mount Emily which overlooks La Grande and the surrounding valley. Sadly, our trip was finally coming to an end on July Fourth when Mailea and Greg drove us to Pasco Airport to pick up a one-way rental car to drive back to Seattle. We returned for one last evening with Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia before our early morning flight to Maui. Thus ended a wonderful event filled three weeks of family, friends, sights, feasting, and laughter.

Photos and commentary by Neil.

Seattle

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We are fortunate to have wonderful friends in the Seattle area where our cruise ship departed. Plus a few hours away Mailea and Greg were residing in Eastern Oregon while Greg was completing his Masters in Education. (Greg graduated in July. Yeah Greg! In August they moved to Washington where Mailea now began her PhD program with University of Washington. Another July graduate is Ari, Neil’s daughter, completing her nursing degree (on top of her bachelor’s in biology). We’re proud of you Ari!)

In Seattle, we stayed with our friends Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia. Hard to believe with all the photos taken, we didn’t get a family photo of them but I have one from a few years ago when they visited us in Hawaii. Shane and Talia were great tour guides for our shopping expedition plus took us on a great hike in Carkeek Park. They also introduced us to a delicious Indian restaurant in Ballard.

We had a lovely visit and excellent dinner with our friends Barbara and William. They have recently added onto their house and we were able to see Mount Rainier from their balcony on the clear Seattle evening.

Mailea came up from Oregon to drive us back. We planned several days touring Washington together before reaching La Grande, Oregon. While still on Maui, Neil had researched hot springs and waterfalls in Washington and printed lots of maps, directions, and descriptions. Helene and Timothy hosted us for several more nights and provided us excellent local knowledge as we headed out for day trips. One trip was to Scenic Hot Springs near Stevens Pass in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We highly recommend it a as a medium strenuous hike and wonderful soaking spot. We also recommend you carefully read the directions (sent after you pay your reservation fee) that indicate the hike actually starts from the option two parking spot. We hiked several extra miles before figuring out our error. It made for a long day and we were very happy for the soak by the time we arrived at the pools.

Photos and commentary by Neil.

Victoria

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We departed Skagway Thursday evening sailing through the Lynn Canal and the Chatham Strait surrounded by a gorgeous sunset reflecting off the clouds and granite mountain peaks. We had two days at open sea as we headed back toward Seattle and this was the first time I felt the slightest roll of the ship. We got in one more formal night along with a Captain’s cocktail reception (as we were traveling with the Captain’s Gold Circle frequent cruiser members Audrey and Bill.) The culinary demonstration Friday included a tour of just one of the many shiny stainless steel kitchens. Probably one of the most memorable tastes we had aboard was an aperitif: lime sherbet infused with strawberry and thyme! An incredibly tantalizing experience with the tart, then sweet, and just the hint of thyme revealed at the end. I am still trying to reproduce it in my Vitamix!

As we traveled into the Juan de Fuca Strait between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, we saw a variety of marine life from orcas to humpback whale pods. Victoria, Canada, was our stop in a “foreign port” and sadly we only had a few evening hours here. We watched the docking process with the evening light and Neil spotted an eagle that sat perched right on top of the huge parking lot lights. And by moving to the far end of the observation deck, Neil was able to frame it against the green copper dome of the Capital Building.

Somehow, during our two days at sea, the camera received a major dent. We still can’t figure out when but the camera now vibrates every time the lens cover is open. (Neil has since taken the camera apart, removing one by one the tiny printed circuit boards and lens assembly, and repaired the dented casing but once back together, it still vibrates. We are looking into replacement cameras.) Even on the gorilla tripod, the vibration shows through on the night exposures. We decided to include a few of the blurry night shots of Victoria because it was so pretty with all the lights haloing the buildings and harbor.

Skagway

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Nanette Harter

The town of Skagway came into existence almost overnight when gold was discovered in the Klondike region (Canada.) What kept it from becoming a ghost town like nearby town of Dyea after gold fever died out is the railroad. Originally conceived to transport miners to the minefield, the rush to the fields was done by the time the rail was completed. Even so, the railroad prospered for many years as the workhorse hauling gold and ore down to the ships. Later, it was used to supply the US Army’s Alaska Highway projects. It was actually the completion of the highway into Skagway on the opposite side of the valley that eventually led to the closing of the railway in 1981. Happily, it reinvented itself as a tourist railroad and reopened in 1988.

The town itself is being restored to the turn of the century facade much through the efforts of the National Park Service and the Visitors Bureau. Mom, Neil and I spent the morning wandering through the town, part of the time following a Park Ranger tour as she pointed out the most notable buildings and colorful history. The most photographed building in town is the Arctic Brotherhood Hall which has over 8,800 pieces of driftwood making up the front exterior. Neil commented that at least the town retains its charm even with all the tourist commercialism.

After lunch including a lovely piece of smoked salmon that Neil had procured from the local market, we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railroad for our afternoon excursion. The train climbs 2,865 feet through incredible scenery with breathtaking views in all directions to the top of White Pass. The terrain, tunnels and trestles are a true feat of engineering especially considering this was accomplished in 1897. Please click through the gallery below on the webpage to get a good idea of the beauty we experienced.

Nan Harter

Sharing my adventures with family and friends

Category Archives: Travels

Roadtrip 2014

Washington and Oregon

Seattle

Victoria

Skagway