Deception Pass State Park Hike

It was a beautiful day here in Washington, so off we went to Deception Pass State Park.   It was a good workout and took us about 90 minutes.

Deception Pass Bridge is also know as Conception Pass Bridge to all of us military folk who were stationed here.  Most did not leave the area without going back over the bridge and with a new baby.  Not much to do in the winter when it was rainy and cold. 

We took quite a few pictures of the hike but I'm only posting a few.  As usual the pictures say it all. 

Click the link, select slide show and hit F-11on your computer to enlarge.
 

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/DeceptionPassStateParkHikeJuly2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPs_ve7wof26gE

More info on the park:

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Deception Pass&subject=photos

Forgotten Lighthouses

I just found some pictures that I forgot to do a blog entry on.  In early May we were in Newport, Oregon.  We stayed at a great park, Port of Newport Marina and RV Park.

http://www.portofnewport.com/index.php

This is a nice place to spend a week.  You can walk around the Marina and watch the seals swimming around looking to score a snack from the fishermen.  The aquarium is a short walk from the park.  There are State Parks all up and down the coast of Oregon.  We've never seen so many State Parks in one area.  There are nice restaurants in town and they fix fantastic clam chowder once you finish your tour of the lighthouses and State Parks. 

In Newport there are two lighthouses.  One on each end of the town.  Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was built first, but it turned out not to be positioned correctly for ships to see it, so they had to build another one at the other end of town, Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Lucky for us as we get see two in one day.

Here's our photos of Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.  As usual, click the link, select slide show and then hit F-11 on your computer to enlarge the pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/NewportLighthouses?authkey=Gv1sRgCITqjtvbgv3EaQ#

Next up, Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Lots of sea birds nesting nearby.  It was very tight inside the lighthouse and difficult to get pictures, but we got a few.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/NewportLighthouses02?authkey=Gv1sRgCLLMn52tmoDAoQE

Here's some more info on the Lighthouses.

http://www.yaquinalights.org/

Bill and Heather

This is the first set of pictures from Bill and Heather's visit.  Hopefully they will send the pictures they took and we'll add some of them later. 

We had a great visit.  They loved the "cottage" in the campground we rented for them.  They got to use the fireplace inside the cottage and the fire pit outside the cottage.

We did some great hikes, walks and runs (Bill and Heather ran, we watched) in the area and got to eat a lot of seafood. 

We left them lots of time to just sit and relax.  They looked pretty rested and relaxed when they left.  We enjoyed their visit very much and we can't wait till we get to go to Bogota to visit them. 

They are in DC while Bill gets some training and Heather checks in at her office.  They have a nice apartment near Dupont Circle.  They are having fun and enjoying being back in the US and in DC.  Life is good.

Click the link, select slide show, hit F-11 on your computer to enlarge the pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/BillAndHeatherComesToVisit?authkey=Gv1sRgCK6_wOzNga2pKQ#

Anacortes and Whidbey Island

We are back in the beautiful state of Washington near Anacortes and Whidbey Island.  We are kind of in between those two places.  Great campground.  We are going to stay here for two months.  We will see our doctors and a dentist while here. Catch up on some other boring stuff and just hang out, enjoy the rain and the "Sun Bursts".   That's what the locals call the sunshine when it pops out of the clouds.  It happens seldom and everyone has to run around and look for their long lost sunglasses.

We are very excited that our son, Bill, and his sweet wife, Heather, are coming to visit for a week starting tomorrow.  Bill was born at the Naval Hospital here on Whidbey.   We left when he was 3 weeks old, so he's excited to see where he was born.  They will head to Washington DC for 1 month and then to Bogota, Columbia for two years once they leave here.  

We love this  area.  Lots to do and it's beautiful.  Here's a link to our blog with pictures from last summer's visit and a few other web sites about the area.

http://aroundthebendrv.blogspot.com/2010/06/whidbey-island-and-anacortes-may-2010.html

Here's some more pics of Anacortes:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Anacortes&rlz=1B3GPCK_enUS368US368&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=639

Pics of Whidbey Island:
http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1B3GPCK_enUS368US368&biw=1280&bih=639&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Whidbey+island&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park is EYE CANDY

Bryce Canyon is way out in the middle of nowhere and it is high up, 9000+ ft.   There's no place like it.  We camped just outside the park at Ruby's.   Chris had a little trouble with altitude, which slowed her down, but we loved it there.  It was very cold when we were there April/May.

Just so you will know, we sometimes have to wait to do our blog entries as we need a good internet connection to upload the photos so it can be weeks before we get it all done.

Bryce is one of the places that everyone should see.  Kind of like the Grand Canyon.

We took over 200 photos, here's the best 20.  Click the link below, select slideshow and hit F-11 on your computer, this makes all the difference in the quality of viewing the pics. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/BryceCanyon?authkey=Gv1sRgCL7NsLbm46uYNQ#

Here's some more info and pictures.

http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/bryce.htm

The Easter Bunny at Zion National Park!!!!

No kidding.  We were in Zion walking back to the shuttle stop area and there, in front of the Lodge, the Easter Bunny was walking towards us.  He was very happy to see and made us take a picture with him.  He was pleased that we were putting it on our blog and he gave us candy!

Zion is beautiful of course, and the shuttle system worked great.  We were advised by a fellow camper to ride the shuttle all the way to the end/top of the park and once we decided which stops we wanted to see, we could take the shuttle down to wherever we wanted to go.  As you go up in the shuttle you hear a little about each stop which makes it easier to decide where you wanted to stop.

We took over 100 pictures, we got the best down to 12.  Click the link below, select slideshow and hit F-11 on your computer to enlarge the screen.


https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/ZionNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCKbz_-PIi-jjcw#


Here's more info and pictures on Zion. 

http://www.nps.gov/zion/photosmultimedia/photogallery.htm

A Special Tour in the Grand Canyon

Our niece, Jill, has a friend from college.  Her name is Leah and she is married to Brian.  Leah invited us to visit them in the Grand Canyon.  She and Brian live in the Canyon along with 3,000 other people employed by the park and other businesses there.  Brian is a Park Ranger who goes out into the canyon for longer periods of time and also on the Colorado River through the canyon to check on things.  He looks for missing or injured tourists among other things.  Leah works for the Grand Canyon Association.  A group who raises money for the Grand Canyon preservation.  Alex and I had been to the Grand Canyon many times before but we were very excited to get a tour from two people who's life is everything Grand Canyon.

Leah came to our RV park just outside the National Park to pick us up.  The first stop in the tour was to see the housing area in the park.  It reminded us of any military housing area except for the fact that it's in a beautiful forest.  We picked up Brian and headed to The Kolb House.

The Kolb brothers were photographers who settled in the Canyon in 1901.  They built a house on the edge of the Canyon and started taking pictures and movies.  Building a house in the Canyon and taking pictures and movies was not an easy task.  They would sell their pictures to the tourists once they started coming to the Canyon.

Part of the house is opened to the public in the form of a bookstore and an exhibit hall.  We quickly took a look around the public area and met some of Leah's co-workers and then headed down to the main living area of the house which is closed to the public.  I'm not sure why it's closed to the public as I forgot to ask Leah, but my guess it that it would be very difficult, and unsafe, to have thousands of people going through each year.  You'll see why when you see the house and our pictures.

What makes it so special to see The Kolb house and learn about their life, is the fact that it was such a remote, dangerous, and unforgiving place.   Below are some links to the story of the Kolb brothers.  An amazing story of the Canyon and the brothers.  Also below are the pictures we took of the house.
It was a wonderful afternoon.  Thank you Leah and Brian!

http://www.grandcanyon.org/kolb/kolbbrothers.asp

Here's our pictures:  Click the link, select Slideshow and hit F-11 to enlarge the pictures.  Pay attention to all the beautiful lamps in the house.

https://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/GrandCanyonAndKolbHouseStudio?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGSt6fezsyPOQ#

Here's a good video of the Kolb Brothers' story:   

http://www.azcentral.com/video/bcplayer/48592718001&pop=1