West Coast States 2013

[DonnaR57]

You are not the only one, Lifey -- I'm reading and goggling at the photos, too.

Keep 'em comin', Keith!

Donna

[keithg]

Thank you Lifey for your encouragement. I always found an excuse not to do it :). Had lots of other stuff to do and then thought to late now. hehehe. But you never gave up. Happy you didnt. Im enjoying doing it.

Keith

[keithg]

Thank you Donna. Im happy you like it. Its taking a while but its fun. Lucky, Margaret wrote notes everyday in a travel book. It helps. Ill get some more done later. Have to do a bit of stuff and then will be on the road again.

Keith

[keithg]

Now the 23rd of may and just had breakfast at the Comfort Inn where we were staying for two nights. Caught up with a few things we needed to do like laundry and emails. Our good friend Stan arrived and we went to lunch across road at Famous Dave's Restaurant.


FAMOUS DAVE'S.


WE ATE WELL. :)

After Stan left we wandered around town for a look but weather was terrible. Lots of rain and very dark. Also quite expensive compared with other towns we thought. Next morning we headed out after breakfast and headed further west.


LEAVING BOZEMAN HEADING WEST.

Beautiful highways out there on the interstate but it gets boring. We turned off at Whitehall and followed the old Hwy 10 i think its called. Goes through to Butte. What a beautiful drive. It had been snowing over night and when you pulled over and got out of car, you could here the snow plopping off the tree's.


WHITEHALL


OLD HWY 10




CHIEF ACCOUNT AND BOOK KEEPER ENJOYING THE SNOW.

Great time had through there. Now back on I 90 and headed for Spokane.


I 90 MONTANA


IDAHO STATE LINE
When you are driving down the interstates, you see these small places off to the side as you race past and wonder what they are like and whats there. The interstates are awesome roads and get you from A to B real quick but you miss out on so much. We make a point of driving down in to some of them. For example, Wallace in Idaho. Neat little what i call a cowboy town where Lana Turner was born and discovered.


WALLACE IDAHO.


WALLACE.

We crossed the line into Spokane, Washington where we spent the night. Went out to look at the falls. Ate a bag of giant marshmallows.


ABOUT THE FALLS. Hope you can read it.


SPOKANE FALLS.


ROAD OUT OF TOWN.

Thats enough for now. Im getting puffed. Its fun reliving it all though so ill be back later.
Be good now.

Keith Aka, Chief Banana Eater.

[Mark Sedenquist]

OK, now imagine Keith's photo (above) but the street is filled nearly to the top of the first floor of all of these buildings by a layer of "volcanic ash". That's how it looked in August, 1996 when we visited. It was used in the filming of Dante's Inferno...

Mark

[keithg]

WOWW. I didnt know that Mark. Cant even imagine what that would have been like for everyone. Ill have to check the movie out. Thank you for that info Mark. Something else ive learnt from this fantastic forum.

Keith.

(MARK: Just adding a comment in response... Just about everyone in town got the chance to be an extra in the movie -- We got a "guided tour" from some of the movie extras and saw how they "filled" the street.)

By the way, if you ever get back -- Vern Pine is the MOST-gifted chainsaw sculptor you're ever likely to meet. His studio is a couple of miles from town. A baby bear with a butterfly on his nose is in my office -- looking at me right now.

[keithg]

Left Spokane and headed further west. Heading for Oregon and down to Crater Lake. This stretch we found pretty boring.




WINDMILLS BY THE HUNDREDS.

We headed south to Madras where we stayed the night. Just farms and no animals all the way down. Dont know what happened to them. Hotel we stayed at had ghost we think lol. Light would shine out of bathroom now and then and shine across the room and then disappear. No idea how it was happening lol. Next morning, we headed off for Crater Lake. Was very foggy when we arrived and snowing but could tell it would be a beautiful place if the fog lifted.


ROAD UP TO THE TOP OF CRATER LAKE.

We decided we would wait and see if the fog lifted and it did. slowly.



This lady was trying to get the top off her bottle with some stone thing on the end of some string. Swinging it around the top of bottle. After watching her for about 10 mins, i asked her if she wanted me to take the top off. She smiled and said "No thanks. You will only drink it."


CRATER LAKE.




HAVE TO GO HERE AGAIN. BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

We even made a snowman. Was pretty tiny so we wont show that. Had a snow fight. That was fun. Took some video of that and sent home for grandson to see.

We carried on south heading for Westwood in Lassen County where we were spending a couple of nights with long lost relations.
But first we spent a night in Weed in a motel beside a truckstop and plenty of eating houses. Beautiful backdrop of a mountain with snow.


WEED CALIFORNIA.

Few years ago found quite a few relations on facebook. Im talking about relations from the 16th century. We stayed with Marty and Diane last visit as well. Two nights this time. We dont normally like staying with people. Feel like intruders. But the time we spent with Marty and Diane was awesome. Met one of there sons who is a well know muso and writes score's for movies. They took us around and showed us Lake Almanor. Few Canadian geese swimming around there.


LAKE ALMANOR LASSEN COUNTY


WOODEN BEARS.
Not sure how long for them to chop out a bear this size but only 10 minutes for one 1/3 the size.


CHESTER LASSEN COUNTY

After two nights in Westwood, we headed to Susanville where we met the Sheriff. Who happens to be cousin Marty's son. Bit of a buzz meeting a real live sheriff.


SUSANVILLE CHOPPER DISPLAY.

We parted company with Marty and Diane and headed south passing through Reno after a quick look in shops.


RENO.

We headed to Lake Tahoe. Looked quite pretty but couldnt get anywhere near lake as they were resealing all the roads to the lake. Finally got to Bridgeport where we stayed the night. No spooks at this motel. lol

Back later when we head to Lee Vining and through Tioga Pass.

[Lifemagician]

Left Spokane and headed further west. Heading for Oregon and down to Crater Lake. This stretch we found pretty boring.

Keith, I'm sorry to read that you were disappointed with this drive. I find that open country quite appealing. Did you not head west along the Columbia River from the Kennewick area? Route 14 which runs on the WA side of the river is very scenic to The Dallas. It is a very interesting bridge at that point, and you could have headed south to Madras from there. (I'm reliving my memory of the drive.)

I've not been to Crater Lake, but it looks very much like Mt Eccles NP in Western Victoria - if you have ever been there. No snow though! It is great standing on the rim with the lake way down in the crater, despite the fact that its lake is much smaller. The morning mist/fog often makes it much more beautiful.

Susanville has great memories as well, as does Reno. Love the biggest little city.

Lifey

[keithg]

Hi Lifey.

We had been across to Portland the previous trip through Dalles. This time with not good weather and if i remember correctly, we turned off on to Hwy 97 the Sherman Hwy. We love the open spaces and country side but on this day, there was no color. Not even a cow to be seen. Looked like some beautiful farms but no life. Lots of trucks but that was all. Crater Lake is magnificent. We only got to see the west side as the road around other side was closed due to snow. John Waters got some great shots there on his visit. A friend of mine was there a few days after us and got right around. I havnt seen that one in Victoria. one day i will. :)

Keith

[keithg]

WOWW. I didnt know that Mark. Cant even imagine what that would have been like for everyone. Ill have to check the movie out. Thank you for that info Mark. Something else ive learnt from this fantastic forum.

Keith.

(MARK: Just adding a comment in response... Just about everyone in town got the chance to be an extra in the movie -- We got a "guided tour" from some of the movie extras and saw how they "filled" the street.)

By the way, if you ever get back -- Vern Pine is the MOST-gifted chainsaw sculptor you're ever likely to meet. His studio is a couple of miles from town. A baby bear with a butterfly on his nose is in my office -- looking at me right now.

Thank you for the info Mark. Very interesting. After your comment, i looked up about it. Dante's Peak is the name of movie. I do remember seeing it at one time. I will find it and watch again now that i know where it was done. Must have been facinating to get the tour around town. I read that the ash was made with finely mulched up paper. Thanks. Im learning here every day. :)

Keith