A first for us: we visited Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho with our coach on a travel day. We parked our coach at the visitor center, unhooked our truck, and drove around the park, plus walked around a bit.
Visitor center:
Relief map; the red circle lights show the moving magma hot spot that is currently under Yellowstone:
Old lava:
Crater:
Snow in the crater:
We drove our coach 270 miles, over four hours of driving, from Glenns Ferry, Idaho to Alpine, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops marked:
Our actual stops:
Preparing to leave:
Mural:
Snake River:
Love’s travel centers have been adding RV parks; this looks like a decent one, with pull-through sites:
Wide load:
Shoshone:
Zoomed perspective of the road (highway 26):
Another wide load:
We chose this route so we could visit Craters of the Moon National Monument:
It has some RV parking, which barely fits us, so we were able to visit on a travel day — a first for us:
We unhooked our truck, and drove around the park (see a forthcoming post about that):
When we got back, the RV parking was full:
Onward on US-20:
Arco, Idaho, the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power:
We made an unplanned stop at a rest area, to take a break from unnervingly high wind gusts:
Peaks:
Fuel stop:
We had to wait for a long time due to an inconsiderate truck driver that had parked and gone inside; the convention at truck stops is after fueling you can pull forward and stop for up to 15 minutes, but this driver was gone much longer than that:
Potato fields:
Snake River:
Palisades Dam:
Palisades Reservoir:
“Welcome to Wyoming”:
Our destination:
We took Mom to a Seattle Mariners baseball game.
Jenn’s game summary:
The Mariners lost 4-3 in 11. They had the lead most of the game until Sewald blew the save and went into extra innings. Saucedo really blew it then. J.P. Crawford led with a home run on the first pitch. It was “Salute to the Negro Leagues” day so they wore Steelheads uniforms and everything had a retro vibe, which was cool. The roof was closed, so it was not the best day for baseball, but it’s still a beautiful ballpark. Sat in the Club level, but couldn’t park in the connecting lot—$60 to park two blocks away.
T-Mobile Park:
Jenn with a picture of her hero, Cal Raleigh:
View from the club level:
Media booths:
Pizza:
Mariner Moose:
Play ball!
Salute to the Negro Leagues Day:
Closed roof:
Home run!
Home run trident:
Line for food (fairly fast moving):
Fish and chips:
Retro sailboat race:
Selfie:
Panorama:
Last year we visited some eastern parts of Olympic National Park in Washington state. This year, we visited several western parts of the park, including beaches and rainforests.
Quinault River Ranger Station:
Maple Glade Rain Forest Trail:
Salmon House Restaurant for dinner:
Seabrook, a created town on the coast, aka the hellmouth:
Kalaloch Ranger Station:
Kalaloch Beach:
Tree of Life:
Picnic:
Beach 4 Nature Trail:
Big Cedar Nature Trail:
Hoh Rain Forest:
1.5 hours delay?!
After half an hour in the line, and at least another half hour or more still to go, we gave up and turned around. Not worth that wait.
We stopped at Hard Rain Cafe for a snack:
Mora:
Rialto Beach:
The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area is one of the largest expanses of temperate coastal sand dunes in the world.
South Jetty:
Umpqua Beach:
The Redwood National and State Parks is interesting, in that it is jointly managed by the National Park Service and the state of California. Their headquarters are in Crescent City, with a small book store (not a gift store, thank you):
We visited several of the component parks, starting with the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, which includes a fun scenic drive through the redwoods:
As part of this park, we did a hike to the Grove of Titans:
A fun tunnel of fallen trees:
It’s a big tree:
Video of ambient sounds:
Continuing the drive through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park:
Tunnel:
We headed into Oregon for a side-trip:
To the Illinois Valley Visitor Center of Oregon Caves National Monument:
Then back into California:
Though the agricultural inspection station:
Since we’d been to the Redwoods National Park, it was time to add its sticker to our coach:
Another day, heading down the coast:
To Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park:
A strange historical artifact:
360 video hyperlapse of a drive from that visitor center:
Elk on the side of the road:
Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center:
Lady Bird Johnson Grove hike:
Video hyperlapse of the Lady Bird Johnson Grove hike:
Coastal drive:
A bear on the side of the road:
While at the coast, we visited several lighthouses. The first (southernmost) was Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City.
It is interesting in that you can only get to it (without a boat) at low tide. At high tide it is an island, but at low tide you can walk across to it.
We enjoyed a couple of drives along the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Firstly heading north from Meyers Flat:
We stopped at the visitor center, with quite a character volunteer, super-fascinated by Jenn’s passport stamp book:
A wooden log RV:
A nice walk through the Gould Grove Nature Loop Trail:
Bridge in Rio Dell:
We had lunch at Scotia Lodge in Rio Dell:
The next morning we went to the local coffee shop, The Daily Grind… a cute shop, but unfortunately undrinkably bitter coffee:
Then a drive south along the Avenue of the Giants:
We hiked in Muir Woods National Monument in California.
A map; we did the Bridge 4 two-mile loop, returning via Hillside Trail:
Gift shop:
Pressed penny machine:
Woodpecker:
Sign:
Hearst Castle is an iconic mansion about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
They offer a number of tours, from the basic Grand Rooms Tour, which we did 22 years ago when we first moved to the US, to a more exclusive Julia Morgan Tour, about twice as long, limited to just eight visitors, and gets to go places not seen by other tours. We opted for the latter this time; a very worthwhile experience.
The experiences starts and ends at the visitor center:
The visitor center includes food, a gift store, and exhibits:
Everyone takes a bus up the hill to the castle:
The tour started with the outdoor pool; we were on a side of the pool where the other tours can’t go:
Castle:
Exploring one of the guest cottages:
View:
Another cottage:
The castle:
Dining room:
Another room:
Game room:
Theater:
Another room:
Julia Morgan’s room:
Kitchen:
Stairs:
Bedroom:
Stairs:
Ceiling:
Library:
Back of cottage:
Underneath a large patio are some old hidden steps, that were built then covered up as Hearst changed his mind:
Indoor pool:
I recorded a timelapse video of the tour with my new 360 camera as an experiment. Unfortunately, the timelapse is designed for static subjects, morphing any movement, which isn’t great with motion. I really should have done a hyperlapse instead, but this is still interesting:
The view looking down the hill, including the winding road to castle:
Hearst Castle sign:
Photo:
