Day 2-Grand Teton

Hi All,

The plan was to get up at 5:30 to do some sunrise landscape photography. When the alarm clock stopped ringing, the sound was replaced by the drumming of rain on the roof. Plan B was to sleep some more then a trip to Jackson for shopping and lunch. The sky did clear and we got some mountain views.

Elk Horn arch, one of several in Jackson

Elk horn close-up

Stage coach tour in Jackson

Finally some clear sky

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Day 1 at Grand Teton

Hi All,

We had a wonderful first day. We got several replies to yesterday's email. One was from our NH friends Jim & Marilyn Rosenthal, amazingly, they were camped only six mile away!

The four of us drove the park road, stopping at overlooks and soaking up the scenery and enjoying our picnic lunches. We then hiked the 3.2 mile Taggert Lake trail for even better views and reflections.

We went to bed early since we plan to do some sunrise photography tomorrow.

Mt Moran from Coulter Bay- Carl paused on his morning run for this 

And this!

Lovely cascade along the trail

Wildflowers and Grand Teton

Tetons reflected in Taggert Lake

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Grand Teton

Hi All,

It was an easy, pleasant drive to Grand Teton except for one section. Highway 22 fringe the Idaho border to Wilson, WY was posted as 60,000 pounds max vehicle weight. Since we weigh about half of that, Carl figured it would be fine. Once committed to the route, we came to the warning sign "10% Grade Next 14 miles"!!! That's the steepest road we have been on with the coach. It was first and second gear both uphill and down. The scenery was beautiful but Carl wasn't watching ;-).

Once set up in the campground we walked around the campground and were greeted by this deer.

We have two weeks here and we are eager to see all there is to see.

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Hagerman Idaho

Hi All,

Two days of driving east from Newport brought us to Hagerman in south central Idaho. We spent a busy days taking in the sights; some we knew about, others were pleasant surprises.

Malad Gorge is a beautiful state park

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument displays many 3.2 million year old fossils. This is the lower jaw from a ten foot tall camel!

Fossils we're excavated from the sedimentary cliffs above the Snake River. Near this spot we saw a section of the Oregon Trail  with a series of parallel rut where hundreds of settlers passed in their covered wagons on the way to a better life.

We visited the site of the Minidoka Internment camp where 10,000 Japanese Americans were held during WWII. This National Historic Site is a sad, forlorn place, befitting the shameful period in our history that it recalls. The photo is from 1943.

Thousand Springs State Park had this magnificent waterfall

Tomorrow we drive to Grand Teton.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Heading East

Hi All,

Yesterday we finished our stay on the Oregon coast with a blizzard of errands and shopping in Newport. We had a fabulous dinner with Bob & Cindy and their Colorado friend Virginia.

Today we drove east through the mountains to Burns, OR and camped behind a small casino.

Carl had an ooops moment when he dropped his phone. The glass front shattered but remarkably it still works fine, though reading small text through the cracks is tricky

Cindy's blueberry pie tasted even better than it looks

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Clandestine Lighthouse Tour

Hi All,

We told the lighthouse restoration supervisor, Bob, that we were leaving and convinced him to give us a tour of the work in progress. We climbed the beautifully restored stairway and marvel led at the rich ochre color of the exposed brick. At the top we admired the solid brass door frame to the restored catwalk. It will all be fantastic when completed later this year.

National Registry Plaque

Beautiful brickwork and stairway, even with the plastic tread protectors

Carl climbed a scaffolding ladder to get this photo of the painted roof and new vent ball (all 400 pounds of it!)

Bob shows us some of the restored pieces

Old and new stonework

Not only did we see some of the beautifully restored lighthouse but we gained an appreciation for just how demanding this worksite is. The gusty wind tearing at the plastic made a racket and the slight movement of the scaffolding made it seem like the whole lighthouse was swaying.

BTW: If you know anyone associated with Oregon State Parks, please don't tell them about this tour. We wouldn't want to get Bob in trouble.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Faugust on the Oregon Ciast

Hi All,

There is frequent localized fog here when the interior valley heats up and the rising warm air is replaced by air from the 55 degree ocean. Some residents call this month Faugust. Today was like that.

Most of the day there was nothing to see in the scopes so we showed folks the murre eggs and talked about the eagle attacks. 

After work we relaxed in the coach then drove to Florence for dinner to celebrate our 44th anniversary. Waterfront Grill- very nice.

One more day at Heceta Head and we are on the move again.

Faugust on Central Oregon Coast

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502