To The Barn

After around 17,000 miles the horse (truck) was glad to get back to the barn (Yakima), get the saddle (trailer) off, and have a good roll in the dirt. (Oops, my farm roots are showing). That was on May 9. It is still being used for some short jaunts but may get that rest for awhile when we get the car out.

We will be here for awhile taking care of some business. Then it will be on the road again to the Montana area. We will see where the wind blows. We will keep posting when something of interest or picture worth occurs.

Up the West Coast

Our next travels took us north. As we traveled, we saw a few interesting things. Here are a few of them.

While traveling through California we saw some more Joshua trees. They are actually a variety of Yucca. The Yucca root can come from these trees.

We stopped just north of Fairfield, California and saw a cousin of mine. We also stopped in to see a son-in-law's sister and her family. Our campground was in a beautiful area. There were lots of peacocks and peahens there. They are beautiful, but are they ever load.
We stopped in Grants Pass, Oregon and saw B's Aunt Annie, her daughter and son-in-law. After visiting with them we went to Annie's son's place. We had a great visit and dinner with him and his wife. The next morning our camper was a source of interest to four black tail deer who have chosen to take up residence on their few acres.

Another stop was south of Oregon City. Here we saw a niece and got to meet her future husband. Her mother and step father were also there. Our campground was along the Malolla river. It was a nice campground but we had a very noisy visitor.
The Columbia Gorge was nice and green. It is only in the spring that one sees this as most of the year the hills are brown. Another unusual thing was that there was very little wind. For those that may not know, the Hood River area is a favorite spot for wind surfers.
Maybe one of the most unusual things that I spotted was something that is not seen very often. Some books, mostly children's, have made reference to this. I feel that I was very lucky to catch this action, a tree walking to another spot.

Third Try's a Charm

The first time we tried to ride the balloon it was too windy. The second time it had mechanical problems. So we tried again on Thursday evening. W called and they said they were flying. So we hurried there.
The basket is a circular cage that is only about 3 feet wide. Note the frame above W and C.
The passengers have to be evenly distributed to keep it balanced. The balloon is on a cable. We were up at 400 feet for about ten minutes.

It also has some flaps with cords that can be pulled to let out helium. The flag shows that there is a little wind. They don't fly if it is more than 15mph.
After all that excitement, C was hungry and decided to eat a giant peach.

Waves

We decided to do some exploring. This time we drove to New Port Beach and went out on the peninsula. We took a lunch along and ate it on the ocean side beach. There was a good wind blowing and I thought it was pretty cool, but there were people playing in the surf. There were a few surfers out too, in wet suits.
This area is interesting. The west side is filled with boats. The peninsula is jammed with buildings and homes. If you have back door shore on the inside, your boat is tied up there, or there may be a string of boats on buoys there. At one time there was a wharf area with an amusement park. All that is there now is the Ferris wheel and shops. We had done some sailing with W in this area when we were out for his graduation.

W had recommended an area called Crystal Cove to eat and explore. So we went there next. Buildings were first built here in the 40's and 50's. It is still being restored.

We did some beach walking. The tide was coming in. There was good surf here but no surfers as there are lots of rocks. We picked up a few shells at an area that had lots of shells, most of which were the same.

I took a few pictures of the waves
and of one that almost got B. He did get sprayed while washing off a shell but I missed it.

There are some interesting rocks on the beach. These rocks are round and are about 6-10 feet in diameter. They are not sand stone like everything else around here and look like basalt. They are composed of black layers. Cracks run out from the center. W says that there has never been any volcanic flows here. There are several of these rocks here, some lying down, some on edge, some tilted. So what are they? Any ideas L, since you have had the geology classes.
Left upper, double click to really see.
the above one is still embedded in the surrounding rock.

What would beach pictures be without one of these,

or without some of these?

We did see some tide pools but W says there isn't much life in them because of the contaminated run off.

After walking the beach, we stopped in and had dinner at the place recommended by W. It was good food and nice to sit and watch the beach and waves while eating.