Trip Memories – some previously unpublished pictures

Tall trees of Heart of the Hills Campground.  We will remember this place for the high trees, thick brush, and secluded from society’s mad rush. The trees bring with them birds and small ground squirrels, and shade and coolness which we were seeking.

The thick brush hides fellow campers, muffles most noises, and are fun little places for the ground squirrels to scamper around in.

We took one day away from nature and traveled over to Victoria to visit the gardens.  We found ourselves in the middle of a large bustling city, with lots of people, lots of commerce, and capital of British Columbia and all that comes with that. 

Yes, it was nice to see the gardens, but the other side of the “teeter totter” is the hassle which comes with taking the ferry, driving through big city traffic, and the hustle and bustle of it all.  Victoria is a pretty city though…but not for us.

So back to he wilderness we go, and hide out at Klahowya Campground.  We could have stayed there longer, but I did not want to get shut out of the next, more popular Mora Campground…

Mora Campground is more popular, but you still feel away from everything…isolated, peace and quiet.  And it is close to the ocean, a river, and not too far from a nice Indian Community.  And….

…it is deep in the woods too.

This is also where we ran into the most logs along the coast…and I will always wonder what a guy in a white shirt and tie is doing out in the middle of this pile of wood taking pictures for.  Take off the tie, roll up the sleeves, and enjoy life man!

And over at La Push we had the first of many wonderful sunsets that we enjoyed along the coast.

When you have a good sunset, you have so many pictures of it that you can’t use them all.  The harbor picture was in the posting for that day…but this one here did not make it…along with about a dozen or more which are just as good.

Like this one here too.  Oh, they can go on and on…but the memory of each is embedded in my memory. Tomorrow, the rest of the story….

Note:  Only two of the above pictures were previously published…there are many many more that remain on the hard-drive…and stored within our memories.

PS:  Sandy had a Lemonilla Tillabar today, and she said they were the best lemon ice cream bar she ever had...Arny got a bite, I know how he feels....

La Push Sunset

“What do you mean a La Push sunset?   I thought you were moving on?”, one might ask.  Well we did move, ten miles, or one mile depending upon how you look at it, over to La Push.  Woke up this morning, and I just decided that we needed some juice…electricity that is.  Camping in the rain forest area brings a bunch, and I do mean a bunch, of small evergreen leafy material in onto the floor and carpet of both the car and the motorhome.  Felt like we were getting away from that type of environment now, so let’s get some full hookups for a day and night and take care of business.  This new camping site, which I will share later, is just one mile away as the crow flies, ten miles away as the motorhome drives.  What I did not expect was such a great photo opportunity with the sun going down.

   

After another dinner at the only restaurant in town, food was still good, service was still a bit iffy, we came back and I took a 30-45 minute nap, and when I awaken, I look out the window and I just knew I needed to step outside with the camera.  Marcia had just laid down so I peeked my head in and asked if she wanted to go for a short drive to Beach One, but she said no (in her sleep I think).  So off we (Skruffy and I) went just a few hundred yards to the north.  Got this shot on the left from the same location we took shots just a few days ago, and the one on the right is from the Marina area just east of the restaurant (the restaurant would lay between the two areas).

Drove back over to the beach area, and the sun came back out from behind the clouds…wow it was bright.

There we go, now my eyes are shaded.   

It takes a bit of time and patience, but I knew the sun would be dipping into the cloud bank way off shore.  What a sight this was, as the radio is blasting away with Chris Tomlin - Blessed be Your name.  WOW!


Right then this boat start coming into the entrance of the harbor!  What timing!!!

The next song was “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me.  My goodness, I am just enjoying this to the max!  And then it happened…. 

“Hello there little fella.”  (as she steps right into my shooting view…)

GROWL….BARK….GROWL  (and NO, it isn’t me, it is Skruffy, although my first thought was “good girl”)

A nice conversation envelopes with this lady who is traveling with her husband from Portland (I think).  I tell her about Skruffy…her being a rescue…being a service dog for Marcia.  After about 5 minutes I say to her,

“See that tree over there?”

“Why yes, I was just going to get a picture of it…”

“Oh, if you go on the other side the tree will frame some of the rocks out there in the water!” I say.  And off she goes, the other way…to tell her husband.

I go back over there too and get this shot.  Then I show him and he is very appreciative.  He took numerous shots with his fancy camera and tripod. 

The sun has now sunk well into the cloud bank.  What a great sunset this has been.

I take a panoramic before I depart.

And felt like another shot from the marina might be nice…perhaps another panoramic….OH MY!  (Remember, you can click on any picture to make it larger, and the panoramic pictures are pretty good size.)

La Push, which your remember from the blog just a few days ago, is home to the Quileute Indian Tribe.  We are sleeping on their Reservation, so technically we fall under their laws right now.  They have asked that we don’t take pictures of their people without permission, absolutely stay away from their cemetery (which due to the Twilight Book Series is a big thing), and don’t take anything, not even a rock.

The RV Park is part of the Quileute Oceanside Resort.  It is $40 plus tax per night, $27 during off season (October to mid-May).  Tax is 12%, and they tell you what the breakdown is for the taxes.  They don’t get nearly as much money per person as many of the other tribes do, and they don’t have casinos…so they must survive on tourist.

The RV park is right on the ocean, at least some of it.  Those RV’s to the right in this picture have a wonderful ocean view.

Here is our ocean view looking out with the door open…oh well, we did not come for the view…but I am glad we got the sunset views that we did...isn’t that right Skruffy?

Rainy Day Pictures

What a sharp contrast a day makes!  Two days of bright sun, today is colder, damp, and windy.

The birds are all huddled on this side of the wood debris, shielding themselves from the wind…until something comes along and…

…off they fly.  Don’t know what scared them, but it did not take long for them to settle down again.

Saw the Sea Lion again, this time it hung around in the same place…comes up for air, goes back down, comes up, goes down…  I think he must have been catching some ZZzzzs down under.

These Redhead Ducks tried to see how many ducks can fit on a small piece of dry sand….but the Heron, upper left corner, would have nothing to do with them.

The above 9 second video shows the Redhead Ducks shooting along the water.  I watched them for many minutes today and in past days…it is so neat to see.  I wish I had the camera going when nearly the entire group of ducks shot from the middle of the river the sand bank, that was cool.

Of course little missy (Skruffy) just had to come along with daddy (that's what dogs do when you say, "You want to come along girl?") … but she did not want to get her head all wet.  Having her on my lap, keeping her covered, and trying to keep the camera dry while taking pictures is what I call “A Fun Hour”.   

With moving day tomorrow, I told Marcia I would take her to dinner over in La Push.  Now La Push has one restaurant, and the reviews are a bit difficult for this place.  It is called Rivers Edge Restaurant, and it has no website.  There are reviews in Yelp, Google, and other places…and they were hit or miss.  For the most part I told Marcia that most of the reviews liked the view from inside, liked the food, but the service was “hit or miss”.  I would say that this sum up our experience. 

The food was real good, but not much “homemade” type of stuff.  But it is quality stuff, for that I give them credit.  The view from the inside was real good…had it been a nice evening with a nice sunset it could not be beat.  But the service was hit and miss.  Blond lady that sat us was very nice and pleasant.  The rest of the staff were more “dull” with their attitude.  As a former restaurant manager I once again saw a place that could be a gold mine, but those running it don’t know how to make it such.  However, in a town of some 300 people, it could be worse.  Overall we were pleased, and we would return for the food, especially the Clam Chowder Soup which was real good.

After dinner we went up to “Beach One” (they have three beaches, one, two and three).  The wind was such that I could hardly get out of the door.

Again, sure a big change from two days ago!

These two guys were out there “trying” to body surf….I think they need some lessons from my Cousin Barbara’s son Matt…

…who surfs along the Northern California coast and just about anywhere else he can take his board.  (picture above was taken in 2012 along coast in San Francisco)

Tomorrow we are off to South Beach for a day or two…then we need to get some electricity again.

Rialto Beach, La Push, Mora Campground

After we settled down in our new Mora Campground spot, we took the short 5 minute drive to Rialto Beach.  This is a favorite for those who wish to tent/backpack camp along the beach here in Olympic National Park.

Those type of campers head north, because to the south is La Push, and that is part of the Quileute Nation, the Quileute Indian Tribe. 

Although there are many nice rock features out in the ocean and some along the beach during low tide…there is also a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of huge piles of driftwood logs piled up along the top of the beach.

This is a crowd favorite, the hole-in-the-wall which, as it is shown here, very accessible during low tide.  During high tide, especially with high surf, you are going to get a bit wet.

Our next stop was just across the Quillayute River (above) to La Push, which is a 12 mile, 20+ minute drive to the east, south, and back to the west…unless one wants to swim.    (do you know how cold that water is?)  

Anyway, just a short distance from Rialto Beach on our way over there we came to a turnout where one could see the Quillayute River…and we stopped…and something caught my eye out in the river. 

Three Otters!  They were just playing and playing and bothering the ducks, and having a ball.  I guess someone forgot to tell them how cold the water was.

After we went over to La Push, we came back to the turnout and I was able to get some shots of the ducks…but the otters were no where to be seen.

   

Both Marcia and I captured this Blue Heron flying across the river.  I thought since we both got it, I would use both shots.  On our way back to the campground there is a small pond to the north of the road and I saw a beaver swimming in the water…but before we could get the camera out, he went under and was gone.   

Over in La Push we didn’t know what to expect…and what we found was a fairly clean city, some older homes, a few restaurants, a marina, and gorgeous views of the ocean.  This is where the River enters into the Pacific.  The same rock structures we saw at Rialto have a different look and feel from this side of the river.

I am really liking the panoramic feature of the camera…and to capture that bird, yes it is only one bird, and have it turn into three birds is something else.  We really enjoyed the views from La Push, and we are contemplating spending a day or two camping over there near the beach at $40 per night…but they have no openings until Sunday, and just not sure we want to hang around this area that long.

   

Above are two of my favorite shots of the day that I took…both with the older camera too.  We are fortunate to have two good cameras.

Marcia was so impressed with this area, she got out of the car and walked on rocky/grass to take a few shots too.  Here she got one looking over the River at the Rialto Beach area, capturing the clouds which hung over the inland just 10 miles or so in.  Early when we arrived at Mora Campground, she said, “If the sun does not shine today, you might not live another day…”, or something like that.  When we were traveling along the Oregon coast back in 2012 she was going nuts after a week plus of no sunlight. 

   

I think we could have stayed there along the beach parking lot for the entire day…except there were a bunch of people around.  So back to the campground we went.  But I would be amiss if I did not talk a bit about the Quileute Indian Tribe.  The Quileute are a Native American people who number around 2,000 people.  They settled this area, where their reservation is located, after a treaty signed in 1855.  Under 400 Quileute live on the reservation today.  In years past, they were great whalers, and great fishermen.  Fictionalized version of the tribe is featured in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Members of the Quileute tribe are shape-shifters (mainly wolves) and hate the vampires.  Meyer’s books are centered on the town of Forks Washington, which is very close to where we are.  Told much in real Quileute folklore, the Quileutes descended from wolves…hence Meyer’s use of them shape-shifting into wolves.  From our brief encounter with them, they are a proud and happy people, they have a good tourist industry, and lovely area to live.

   

The Mora Campground is another no reservation, dry camping area in Olympic National Park.  The sites are nice, but unlike yesterday, we are back amongst the “group camping” thing.  There are 5 different loops, we are in loop C.  We got here so early that we had a hard time to find a spot…but by the time we got back from our trip over to La Push, there were only 2 camping spots open in the entire park, one across from us now being used by a motorcyclist from San Francisco, and one down the way which was gobbled up by one of two cars which passed by as this guy was checking in…this was around 4 pm.  So you have to be quick and on top of things if you want to get into these parks along the coast.

 

 

These two panoramic shots show how we are up against a wall of forest, and open to a lot of road, people and noise.  But hey, it could be way worse…you got to love these National Park Camping Sites.

I realized with the change to August I had forgot to put the pink ribbon on the pictures…sorry mom, but we still love you.  See you in a few weeks.