Coon's Eyes and Kittiwakes, a Solstice Boat Trip

First boat trip of the summer! Since Carl broke his rib last summer, the boat didn't get a lot of use and didn't get put away properly for the winter, so we spent a good bit of time cleaning and rinsing and finally got out of the harbor Saturday afternoon for a quick trip out in the sound!

 Looking back on Whittier after we left port. Over the peak

on the left is Portage Pass, and there's a cruise ship at port

in the center of the photo for scale! 

Beautiful Prince William Sound

Kittiwake Rookery

 Tiny starfish!

The naked S.V. Dolphin in all her glory!

This photo doesn't show how bright the red really is!

North to Alaska . . . Again!

The drive north was, again, quite the adventure! We finally made it to Alaska two days late and a new trailer in tow! And the weather was fantastic the whole way!

 Our first night - a sweet little hot spring in B.C. 

 Camping down the road a piece from the hot spring. 

Trying to set up the wing in the wind proved to be a bit of a challenge!

I like this shot of the load. 

 

 Jasper National Park.

The clouds were just lifting when we drove through, so 

I still have yet to see it when it's clear and daylight.

 Sunset as we drove west of the park.

 Camp on the 2nd night! It was so beautiful. The 

mountains in the background were snow covered and I couldn't

get a good photo of camp with the mountains. 

 Beautiful mountains somewhere near the south

end of the Cassiar Highway. 

Here's where the adventure really begins!

Kitwanga, B.C. is a lovely little town about 2 miles north of the junction

of the southern end of the Cassier Highway. Our goal for day 3 was to

make it to Kitwanga because there is a cute little campground there that is 

maintained by the community to encourage folks to stop by and stay. There is 

a gas station and auto shop across the street and a grocery store/hardware store

next door. Plus, you get folks like Archie & Dawn and Richard stopping by to 

check on you and make sure you're not getting eating by skeeters and that you're

having fun and just to shoot the shit! It's great! As we pulled into the campground,

we could hear a squeak that did not sound good. Turns out the wheel bearing on the

trailer had been completely lost and the wheel somehow stayed on the trailer!

Thanks to all those folks, plus the mechanic, Eric, we were able to figure out how to 

get ourselves AND allof our stuff to Alaska! We ended up not being able to find the 

correct wheel bearings to replace the lost set, so we found a sweet, cheap replacement 

in the next biggest town, and Archie & Dawn are storing the trailer and all of its parts 

and Archie & Eric are going to fix it! We just have to mail them the parts! Archie was 

pleased with the deal because now he has another utility trailer to use until we can retrieve it!

 The broken trailer. 

This is when my camera battery died, so the rest of the trip

was not photographed until we go almost to Anchorage. I 

decided to fire up the camera just to see if I could sneak out one

more photo, and I snapped one of Matanuska Glacier just before

the camera turned off again, this time for good until I could unpack

the charger, which I finally managed to find! 

I'll be better about posting again now that physics is over and done with! I promise!

Bighorn Canyon

This post is LONG overdue! Over spring break, I went to Billings and Red Lodge to see Carl's family and we took a little side trip one day and headed to Bighorn Canyon. I didn't even know this existed, and so close to home! It's beautiful.

This is actually a reservoir, so just imagine how much 

deeper it was before the damn dam! 

The Fabulous Winter Break of '12/'13!

Four weeks ago to the day, Carl and I loaded our camping gear in the Rocket Box and set sail from Missoula in the trusty Purple Pancreas for an epic journey through nine states in the Southwest U.S.of.A. (and the Pacific Ocean). Our first stop: Craters of the Moon, Idaho. We camped just outside the park on the coldest night of our trip. We ended up eating dinner that night and breakfast the next morning in the heat of the Soobee just to stay warm.

We hastily packed our camp in the morning and headed for Reno because we had friends to stay with, to whom we are eternally grateful! Our stop in Reno was quick. We got up early and hit the road, headed to San Fran to see the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm lacking in photos from the first few days, but after San Fran we headed to Death Valley, which is where the photos begin.

Driving into Death Valley

 

SWEET syncline in Titus Canyon, Death Valley

(That's me for scale down at the bottom of the curve.)

That's some stressed out rock.

(Me for scale again.)

More in Titus Canyon.

Gas in Death Valley cost an arm, a leg, and a tiny wooden figurine

with an over-sized 'badonk-a-donk.'

Salt flats in Death Valley.

Dante's Overlook - Death Valley

Helicopter riding to see LAVA!!

There's the lava! :)

The cruise ship docked in Hilo. We hung out

at a cool little park/beach soakin' up the rays.

That's when I realized that was the boat we were on.

Our second day in Hawaii was in Honolulu. We decided to go see Pearl Harbor and then find something else to do for the rest of the day. We ended up getting on the wrong bus and drove WAY past Pearl Harbor and then finally got off the bus somewhere quite far from where we had intended on going. While we were waiting at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, a super friendly bus driver who was just starting his route for the day picked us up - evidently we looked lost - and we weren't even on his route. He took us to a transfer station and gave us new bus tickets and sent us on our way! It was a fun journey to nowhere! We finally made it to Pearl Harbor and then off to the beach!

Sheela the Destroyer!

(Pearl Harbor)

Waimea Canyon - Kaua'i

Whale watching!!! The people watching on tour boat

was just as fabulous, if not better than the whales!

That's our cruise boat waaaaay of in the distance.

La Brea Tar Pit - L.A.

Dr. Seuss plants at La Brea

Another exotic plant. I'm standing upright

in this photo! The leaves are HUGE!

Eight seconds, baby.

We headed for Las Vegas out of L.A. after our first stop on our Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops. We had to see the night life in Vegas just because. We went to the MGM Grand and bought tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show, which, unfortunately, happened to be the WORST live performance we've ever seen. Ever. So we left and headed to a campground. It was the warmest night we spent outside and we were greeted by Coco the Ewok Spaniel. Next stop: Hoover Dam!

The Mighty Hoover Dam

The Grand Canyon

T-Rex prints in the middle of nowhere Arizona.

(Pink Crocs, size 9 for scale.)

Fossilized Dino yolks.

Thanks to Sheela's sturdy birthin' hips, she was able to

be in four states at once!

When we got to Flagstaff, we had to do our second stop on the Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops, which set us back a little on our schedule, but again, not too bad. We got the car back in the late afternoon and decided to head to Mesa Verde.

Mesa Verde - The Spruce Tree House

Cliff Palace

After the awesome sights at Mesa Verde, we set a goal to just get to Moab so we could spend some extra time at Arches National Park. However, that's when our third and final stop on the Tour of the Southwest Auto Repair Shops happened. We stopped to try to heist a funny road sign and the car just puttered out with no warning! We managed to get it running for a few more miles when came upon a car accident that had closed the road. We had to wait for a good while and luckily, the car started again, but not for long. We made it about 3 more miles and the Soobee couldn't do it. We were about 50 miles south of Moab and we called AAA, who sent us a tow truck with "clutch issues." The driver was in good spirits about it and took us to Moab, dropped off our car, and then took us to a nearby campsite. We ended up spending the day in Moab while the mechanics replaced the alternator and the drive belt on the car. At the close of business, the car was fixed and we headed into Arches. . . FINALLY!

One of the Courthouse Towers in Arches National

Park at Moonrise.

(Moon for scale.)

Double Arch!!!!

Mildly inappropriate, but oh so very funny!

Delicate Arch at Sunset - May be my favorite sight

of the whole trip!

The weather was kind of foggy here, so the pictures aren't superb, but it was beautiful! We camped one night in the park before we beet feet up to West Yellowstone and then back to Missoula.

Canyonlands National Park

Seattle

A few weekends ago, Carl and I drove to Seattle to visit a friend of mine from Ireland who was visiting the area. It was so good to see Gianna! We spent one day in Seattle and another day on Whidbey Island, which is where we stayed for the weekend. 

View of the Seattle skyline from the 

new ferris wheel on the pier. 

And of course, we brought Sheela. 

Here she is in the Space Needle

Sunset at the Deception Pass Bridge

We tried to take a photo of Sheela outside this cool old

military fort (Fort Ebey, but more commonly known as

Fort eBay) but it's hard to see her, so Carl is there to help

see her. She's right above the 1942 in in the top right corner.

Taking the ferry from Whidbey Island to Seattle.