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Home (whatever this means ? )

start cleaning out the car, sorting all the camping
material. Sort the mail. Cleaning the house and
especially the garden.

Will take a few days to rest and look at some
stats. How many pictures (to backup), how many miles,
how much fuel, how many parks did a visit ?

But up to you, my readers.
Which one was the most impressive picture or
sticking story. Let me know.
Will post more pictures.

PS: It works, I have 87 cents out of the Ads. With a few more clicks
I still hope to get a free beer from all of you at the end of the year.

Sat Sept 7 2013 California Redwoods

Sat Sept 7 2013

Spend the day on the California Redwoods

Who is the biggest, The car or the tree

And back in the Bay area.
A one hour delay in the middle of a traffic jam
in the direction of San Francisco, late on a
Saturday evening. So many who want to ride
the new bay bridge ? Or another event ?

Fri Sept 6 2013 California

Fri Sept 6 2013

Slowly going south, from a raining day
into the sun dry California area.
Along the Redwood highway, A scenic road
along a canyon

An entering the redwood area

The typical California coast line

Ended today in the "lost coast" and passed several 'Toys for boys' .....

Thu Sept 5 2013

Thu Sept 5 2013

Nothing much to reports. Some dams, reservoirs,
lakes, and waterfalls.

And then, a good rain storm came in, and this
stopped most sightseeing.

Good excuse to have a beer in the oregon
"Steelhead Brewery".

Wed Sept 4 2013 Mount Hood

Wed Sept 4 2013
Continue the track around Mount Hood, with
an amazing set of waterfalls.

Started with the Umbrella Falls

2 miles further on the Timberline trail,
the Sahalie falls

Another 2 miles, get you to the Tamanawas falls

Then at the historic scenic drive north of mount hood.
Starting with the horsetail falls

A small climb to the upper falls, gives
you the pony tail falls. This is from
behind the tail (? ;-) )

Started a good hike at the beginning at  Multnomah falls

Over the bridge, to the top of the falls,
and then follow the river with an endless
series of falls. Only Weisendanger, Ecola
and Fairy falls got a name.

Up high in the mountains to the Wahkeena spring.
Coming down along the steep path next to the
river showed an endless continuation of falls

And just to finish, the Latourell falls

Back in Portland

Another opportunity to try some more
breweries.
Starting with Burnside Brewing Co
Tugboat, the oldest (since 1993) family operated
  brewery in Portland. 

Tue Sept 3 2013
Not sure which direction to go, went (somewhat
by accident) North again to Vancouver, just across
the Oregon border into Washington State.
A quick visit to historic fort Vancouver.
Mainly a trading post for beavers and other skins.

Also, a blacksmith in action.

Then, on my way to the scenic route around
Mount Hood.

The zig zag waterfalls

An on Mount hood, the Timberline Lodge

Made world famous on the movie "The Shining".
Only the 250 $ was somewhat a steep price, if
you can camp at the most beautiful  lake nearby.

And yes, there is still snow on the mountain.
The lifts are still open, and still grooming.


What do think about the "positive effects of negativity".
Any one beliefs this, of have even experienced this ?
Add a comment !!!

Mon Sept 2 2013 Portland

Mon Sept 2 2013

Portland, the Brewery capital of my trip.

While walking downtown, visited only
a very small part of all available breweries.

One of breweries that really jumped out in
size and offering of beer was:  Deschutes

A good beer: It's a Trap(pist)

But by far the best: The Green Monster

Here at Deschutes Brewery, we’re always on the lookout for a chance to create something new. That’s why, more than 3 years ago, our brewers decided to fill up some Oregon pinot barrels with a beer gone astray and infect it with Brettanomyces, and then wait for the transformation. Around the brewhouse it was known as “Green Monster,” and the name stuck. At the end of this experimentation story, you will find a monstrously fantastic, sour beer, with slight cherry and dried fruit aroma. In fact, the only scary thing about this beer is that it is SO LIMITED!

The Portland Chinese garden
A quiet moment while pub hopping.

Using the old steel bridge to discover
more breweries at the other side of the river.

Sun Sep 1 2013 Mount St Helens

Sun Sep 1 2013
Again a day of extremes.

Started at the Pacific Ocean.

Catch of the day: tuna

Mount St Helens, with some impressive
ranger talks about the eruption in 1980.
On May 18 1980, the mountain blew. A 5.1
magnitude earthquake triggered a violent
eruption and one of the worlds largest recorded
landslides. 1300 ft of the mountain top collapsed
into the Toutle River Valley. The pyroclastic surge
of rock fragments, and superheated steam claimed
57 lives and devastated 150 thousand acres.

And still active. A small steam plume.

And the amazing part, in the crater, as a horseshoe around
the lava core, is the most recent glacier. 700 ft tick layer of ice,
covered by dark rocks as insulation and makes it difficult to see.

Sat Aug 31 2013 a tropical forest.

Sat Aug 31 2013
Spend the day in a tropical forest.

But how to take a good picture of a dark
covered forest, with only a few rays of sunshine.

In the afternoon, joined the fantastic ranger walk,
an old wood logger for 30 years, who starts his
retirement today after 17 years in in ranger service.
And  now, I knows everything about .... 

Sitka Spruce
 Light and very strong wood
 Used for airplanes in WW I
 Silver colored, fish net pattern bark
 This one 270 ft heigh, 550 years old

Douglas Fir
 Very strong wood
 Very tick bast, tick enough for a hiding place for bats

Western Hemlock
 The trash of the forest

Nurselogs
 Fallen big trees. offers minerals, moisture
 and warmth for new seedlings.

 But only a few survive when the roots reach soil.
 New trees seems to stand on stilts as the nurselogs
 moulders away.

Mosses or epiphytes, feeding only air and light.
living on bigleaf maples trees

Fri Aug 30 2013 West of Seattle

Fri Aug 30 2013

West of Seattle


A day of extremes.
Last night, rain and fog. The brewpub, so famous
for the view on the harbor, missed it. Could not see
even the other side of the street.
And then this, morning a blue sky.
So, could see the top of the mountains.
And, an hour later I was from sea level, above
5000 ft. And a small hike to the local peak of
5699 ft. on Hurricane ridge. Above the snow.
With nice views on Strait of Juan de Fuca,
even Canada is visible.
And yes, this is snow, on the left.

 Good view on mount Olympia (about 8000 ft).

And then an hour later, I was standing in a
tropical forest.

Looking at a waterfall.

Ended up in vampire land.
For the people who know 'twilight'
Story was set in 'Forks'. The city in the US with
the most rainfall and damp climat.
Who would not believe that vampires are around here.....

P1120952

Thu Aug 29 2013 Seattle

Thu Aug 29 2013


The  farmers market in Seattle

 Or need a fresh fish

The Ferry from Seattle to the Olympic Peninsula.

And yes, it was raining....

Another passenger

Wed Aug 28 2013 Seattle

Wed Aug 28 2013
Seattle

Also here, the gold rush, made the city, nearly
overnight. And after a fire destroyed to complete
business center at the waterfront, they rebuild
it, with the strange plan to bring the hole city
one floor higher. So after the fire, the businesses
got an entry at the 1st floor. But a second entry
was designed at the 2nd floor, which is nowadays in
use. The underground, is mainly used for the tours
and the ghost tours.

Up to the "Pyramid Ale House", next to the Safeco Field.
But with a Baseball game just starting, it was too
crowded to even think about tasting.
And yes, plenty of other brew stops.

The Needle.
Chihuly the artist and creator of gardens of glass.
If you have a chance to see this, go for it. Magnificent.
You can (or could) see them in "de Young" Museum
in San Francisco.

The garden is just under the Seattle space Needle.

The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, has an interesting
visitor center, just around the corner.

Later in the day.
Went to the post office to pick up a letter
from general delivery. Found out that this
service is only from 10 AM to 3 PM. 10 past 3
does not work. So the next morning, 5 to 10,
does not work. Then, they could not find the
letter. Express over night is not general
delivery. Took minutes to find this out.

And another 'service' story. Where do you try
to change Canadian dollars to US dollars, in Seattle.
First try in a bank. No they could not do it. Try
another bank. Next bank. There is only one qualified
person for that, and see is sick today. Next bank,
the qualified person was available, but they charge
5 dollars, and you have to show 2 ID's to change cache...
At least they where that friendly to tell that next door
there was an exchange office, for free (?) and no
ID's needed.

But Pike's brewery downtown, nearly next to the
hotel (coincidence ?), solved all problems.
The triple monk's uncle is really, really good.

Tue Aug 27 2013 The iron goat

Tue Aug 27 2013
The iron goat

The most bizare hike. In the middle of the forest,
big concrete walls.

The North Santa Fe railroad build in this area
a 9 mile zig zag to climb the mountain.
But several landslides and snow avalanches
needed extra protections. The concrete walls
protected for avalanches, and extra wooden
roofs supported by the walls protected for winter snow.

In 1910, snowslides delayed two trains at the town of
Wellington. A vast section of snow on Windy Mountain
broke loose and crashed down, sweeping both trains of
the tracks into the Tye River below. Nearly one hundred
lives were lost. This was one of the worst railroad
disasters in the nations history and prompted more
improvements to avoid such tragedy striking again.

The origin

I will make my mark on the
face of this earth
and no man will ever
wipe it out !
James J. Hill, founder and
president of Great Northern Railway
the "Empire Builder".

Sorry, nature has taken over most of
the trails, and the several feet tick
concrete walls will be gone 'relatively' soon.

And this is the official "toilet".
Just the seat, no walls, no roof.
The impressive view let you watch
the trains passing by in  the valley.

PS: I know, all you readers are smart enough
to just blend out the ads. But if you click on
an interesting AD, this could give me an extra
beer at the end the of the year.
Just trying out if this system even works.
And forward the interesting posts to friends.

Mon Aug 26 2012 North Cascade scenic loop.

Mon Aug 26 2012

Continues the North Cascade scenic loop.

A region with plenty of apple orchards, and wineries.

And there are so many dams and lakes on the
powerful Columbia river.