Day 24 & 25

 

Sorry, today is a two for one...

On Thursday we joined our friends at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park and Sundial Bridge located in Redding, California along the Sacramento River.  The bridge is amazing.  It actually functions as a sundial. 

There were some beautiful birds...

And all the animals seem to like Rick's shoes!  Go figure, we go all the way to California to see a porcupine!

The exhibits in the museum were Out of this World which featured the costumes from the superhero movies and Fueled by Fire which were different types of art formed by fire.  One artist uses a torch and burns the design onto pyrograph paper.  Very interesting.  Something I have not tried...yet!

Then shopping and back "home" for a BBQ.  the sunset over the mountains was beautiful.   It is great to be spending time with old friends.  There are some people in your life that even though you don't see one another or even talk for long periods of time, that you can get together and be right back where you were.  It is good to have those ties. 

Today is a peaceful day up n the hill top in Cottonwood, California.  Catching up on homework, sleep, and enjoying the peace and scenery. 

Day 23

Today began with the exploration of Patrick's Point State Park.  Portions of Jurassic Park were filmed here.  The movie is portraying the Jurassic Period, said to be about 150 million years ago, give or take a few million.  Yet the conditions of the Park are were not "created" they are very foggy, misty and mossy today.    We hear huge numbers, into the billions, for the age of the earth and yet these enormous, strong, sturdy redwoods only average about 1,000 years old.

Why is it so easy to fall into negative behavior, form bad habits and believe out of this world explanations for any given situation and so hard to remain of positive thought, keep good habits, and trust in God's Word, which is actually much more logical than what the "world" would have us believe?

As the scenery of the Avenue of the Giants takes our breath away, how can we even consider any explanation for life than God's Hand? 

We spent the later part of the day winding, and I mean winding!, along California Hwy 36 to Cottonwood.  Even had to avoid a deer!  We will be with some old friends this weekend.

Day 22

 

Blessed with a beautiful day along the Coast!  Sunshine, Blue Skies, the scent of the sea and mild temperatures.  Nothing like a day at the shores and in the redwoods to bring your life into perspective. 

The views have been beyond words as we zig-zag along the shoreline. 

We drove from the coast into the Redwoods National Forest.  The trees have such strong limbs that they become the roots for other trees. 

The Trees of Mystery has at its center a place called the Cathedral tree.  Many trees have grown together forming a sacred spot.  These are the words that sit in that spot...

Do you suppose God created the Redwoods for the dinosaurs??

We capped off our evening with a nice dinner with my cousin Nancy and her family in Eureka, California.  Haven't seen them in 25 year...the last time we were in California!

More redwood adventures and visiting the Mills Family in the coming days...

Day 21

A Sunset!!!

Three full weeks!  We were blessed with a couple of hours of sunshine today and our first almost sunset over the ocean. 

The town of Bandon, where we are staying, is really a nice place.  Very historical and quaint...they even have a neat yarn shop! 

Rick and His Buddies



She can feed them both!



We spent the morning at the West Coast Game Safari Park.  Karsten loved holding, petting, feeding and playing with the baby tigers, leopard, lion cubs and other animals.  Rick had a buddy too! 

Then we had a great lunch and headed to the shore.  We were at Face Rock.  Can you see the face?

Do you See the Face?

The legend that has been passed down through the Coquille tribe summarizes by saying the face was put in place by God after a tragic event to remind the people to always head the advice of their elders and to always look to the heavens.

To top off the day, we visited the Cranberry Sweets Shop in Old Town Bandon.  Yummy! 

Heading to California early in the morning!

Day 20

Our night in Yachats was foggy and dreary.  The hotel left a lot to be desired.  I pray that we never let our profit margin interfere with our maintenace or customer service!  It is really sad that so many properties up and down the coast have prime locations and seem to take the attitude that they don't need anything else.  Most are friendly but the properties have been left to decay. 

All those who flock to the coast really need to check out Lake Superior!  We are now in Bandon (we skipped the extra night in Yachats).  Bandon is a very nice town.  We are staying at the Bandon Inn at a port and we can walk to the waterfront and the shops...on the list for tomorrow!  No pics today, it was so misty and foggy you could not see too much:(  But we do have video!

Day 19

This morning we left Seaside, Oregon to head south on Hwy. 101.  The weather was misty and bleak. 

 

We stopped at several scenic lookout points and got some great pics of  the waves rolling in and crashing along the shoreline.  We also made a trip to the Devil's Punch Bowl.  I have a video that will be on FB later. 

For all the economic woes we hear about, the western part of the country seems to be holding its own.  The lodging facilities all have their "No Vacancy" signs posted and the traffic has been steady.  We are in Yachats tonight.  Rick and I were here 25 years ago and there was nothing here then.  We stayed at a brand new little lodge right on the shore and could walk to everything in town which consisted of a post office that sold kites, a grocery that doubled as the liquor store and one restaurant.  Today, that little lodge has been torn down to make way for new condos on the shore.  And the shore line is just covered with homes, motels, and condos.  It seems that all those who built years ago that thought they were on the shore have now found out that someone else was brave (or stupid) enough to build even closer to the sea.  Kind of like someone building a two story home in front of DeHut's cottage! 

Some of the homes literally sit in the wet sand and the tide must be their front yards...on a good day.  I don't want to hazard a guess on where it is on a bad day.   On the way down we also stopped at some chainsaw carving shops.  Some of the work was absolutely incredible!  A real inspiration for Rick. 

Tomorrow we will be doing some exploring and hoping the weather clears a bit!

Day 18

Dragonfly @ Mt St Helens

Today was bittersweet.  We are anxious to begin our journey down the Pacific Coast but sad to say goodbye to Kylanne.  The day began much the same.  Very gloomy. 

Our View from the Bremerton Fairfield Inn

Our first stop was Mount Saint Helens.  It certainly puts God's creation into perspective.  On May 18, 1980 the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens devistated the lives of 1000's of people and forever changed the landscape of the area.  While doing so, it offers scientific evidence of how quickly change in the geoligical make up of our world can occur.  And while so much may seem lost ,beauty is offered in the oddest ways. One of my purchases is a beautiful topaz blue gyastone necklace.  This stone sparkles and catches the eye from afar, yet it is created from some of the 540 million tons of ash that covered over 22,000 square miles after the eruption.  The ash is used for many different glass creations.  You can view the handblown ornaments at the Glass Eye Studio website.  30 years later and they still have ash!  We also visited the 7 Wonders Museum.  They carry an incredible selection of books that delve scientifically into proving creation at God's hand.



Look closely and you can see part of the bridge.

Next we meandered along the Columbia River to the coast.  In Oregon they chose to build bridges instead of utilizing ferries.  The bridges are everywhere and very long.  One might ask if economically this was a sound choice.  It seems that Washington has quite a market running their ferry service throught the Sound. 

Tonight we are at the Inn at Seaside.  Cute little town, but very busy even though we are "off season".  On the road again tomorrow...