Long Key SP, Layton, FL

We had a last minute change in plans. We caught wind through the “campers grapevine” that Long Key SP 35miles south of Key Largo was open on a contingent basis. That park is listed as closed for renovations. It seems that delay in the work has allowed the park to open its campground on a day to day basis. Yippee for us! We had 9 days open without reservations and will stay here at Long Key until they kick us out or our 2 week limit. We came here Friday, 20^th. This is a favorite park for us. Every campsite is on the ocean. You get beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and it has one of the best beaches in the Keys as there is not really many beaches in the Keys, good hiking and biking too. Les is very happy. The weather has been great. Lows in the 60's and highs in the upper 70's. Shorts and sandals weather. Oh my, camper food for us is special. Here you see a meal of grilled pork steaks with creamy shallot sauce and grilled asparagus. The next day we made some gumbo, Yum. It was a lot of preparation but well worth the effort. I caught another butterfly here at this park. I must get my identification book out now. Below is some plovers gathered on the rocks as they were being covered by the incoming tide just behind our camper. It is so fun to watch the birds here.

As I mentioned above, we will stay here as long as they keep the campground open or our 14 day limit, which ever comes first. We will adjust our schedule to fit. Les wants as much time here as he can get.

John Pennekamp SP, Key Largo, FL

We have been in John Pennekamp SP, Key Largo, since January 9^th . The weather has been very good with many shorts n' sandal days. Another benefit to camping is meeting wonderful people. At this park we have shared a couple of evenings socializing and playing Sequence with Kristie and John from Mich.

We have had some very nice paddles in the mangroves. Paddling here is like floating in an aquarium. The water is so clear making it easier to see the life under it. Fishes, sea grass, and coral. Another nice thing in this park is an old orchard to hike to. We were fortunate that this is the time when the key limes were ripening. We have made some refreshing key limeade. Years past have offered us some great bird pictures, but so far this year we seem to be blessed with butterflies. So pretty and graceful.

We hope to get another paddle in before we leave Saturday, 21^st. If the weather cooperates and the wind stays calm. Our plan is to go to Everglade NP, Flamingo CG. But we are hearing of the possibility of getting to camp at Long Key SP before their construction begins. If we can we will take a few days there.

Winter Escape 2012

We are off again. This year we left early to stop in SC to visit with Kevin and Peggy in their new home in Camden. They were super to host us for a few days and we enjoyed Marty's family also. It was great to meet Pauline, 1 month old.

Les and Kevin also worked on some of the new house jobs.

New Year's day was spent again with my cousin Jan and her lovely family in Jacksonville. They are so kind to include us in their New Year's meal. And they allow us to camp in their front yard! Thank you.

On our way to our first park we stopped to visit Bob and Betty Harper in Titusville. What a nice stop on our path to Jonathan Dickinson SP, Juniper. We stayed a week here. A cold front brought chilly temps early in our stay but each day warmed and we are having great temps now. Les has enjoyed the biking, hiking and we did a small paddle today. I'm being consistent with my exercises so that I can “play” a bit later.

We leave tomorrow, Monday (9^th) heading to Key Largo and Johnathan Pennekamp SP for a 12 day stay.

Lassen Nat'l Park, CA

Our visit to Lassen Nat'l Park was a super one. This park is an area with volcanos, Lassen Peak had a series of eruption from 1914 to 1917. Mt St Helen erupted 1980, so this is an indication of what to expect there as the years pass and nature does it's thing. The lake behind us was formed when one of the eruptions moved rocks to block a stream at the time. We had super weather for our stay and enjoyed 3 days in the park.

This is Cinder Cone, a volcano (inactive). Note the trail winding up the side. After a 1.2 mile hike to this cone you then have an 700 ft ascent to the top. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that the trail is all cinders and very loose. Oh my! Les made it up much faster than I but I did make it, much to my surprise. We were rewarded with beautiful views. Check out some of our other pictures of this trail in the slide show. Oh to get to this location we drove a 7 mile gravel road. That sure did make our camper and bikes dusty and the vibration shook some things loose but the camper fared out pretty well.

This is a thermal area of Lassen, Bumpass Hell, a trail that takes you up 500 ft in a mile and then drops down 250 ft to the thermals was a much easier walk than the cinder cone trail. How interesting to see the power of the underground!

We have been able to take advantage of some Nat'l forrest campgrounds along our way. Here we are at one just outside Lassen as we make our way to our last Nat'l park stop: Great Basin Nat'l Park in Nevada.

The drive from Reno to Great Basin is a very stark and beautiful one. It surprised us that we found a campground, a Pony Express station, with wifi! A few days at Great Basin and we head east for some long driving days home. Just in time as the forecast for this area is that the cold fall weather is coming in just a few days!! That will push us home fast. Our target to arrive in PA is Oct. 12th.

Oregon Coast and visiting Aaron in Eureka

The drive south on Rt 101 was very nice. We took 3 days to make the drive and stayed at state parks. At one stop we toured a lighthouse and saw whales off the coast. The coastline is so pretty along Oregon and Northern CA. We are so looking forward to seeing Aaron at the end of this drive.

We arrived in Eureka Thursday. It was so great to see Aaron. Aaron had a super idea for us to camp with him in Shelter Cove at the south end of the Lost coast. We explored the Black sand beach with it's wild tide and tidepools. There were seals on the rocks to watch also. It was a real nice 2 days.

We had a nice disc golf game with Aaron in a Redwood course. We were impressed with Aaron's ability playing. He is also a super tutor.

We turn east now. Our plan is to visit Lassen Nat'l park and Great Basin Nat'l park then head home.

Vancouver Island, BC

We met up with my sister Lori and her husband Chris in Seattle. We all headed to British Columbia to explore Vancouver Island for a week. Ferries are a the mode of transportation between the islands. We had a 2 hours trip to V island and then a 10 min hop to Quadra Island.

Our first stay was at a house of a friend of Lori's on Quadra Island. A small island in the Discovery Island group off V island. What a lovely setting. A wonderful deck faced Heriot Bay where we watched boats and birds. We stayed 3 days here. Biking to Rebecca's Spit, picking blackberries, hunting petroglphs were some of the opportunities there.

Our second stay was at an interior park and the Ralph River campground. This island is very thinly populated with most of the population on the coast. The interior is very rugged and beautiful. We only spent one night here and with the number of misquitos, that was a good thing. But the surrounding was so worth the trip.

Our last stay was on the west side of the island at the Pacific Rim Provincal Park, Green Point, Tofino. Oh how lovely, with large pine and cedar forrest coming right up to the beach. Here we could ride our bikes on the shore, explore the coastal town of Tofino (where they have whale/bear watching and hot springs tours), watch the surfers (this is a big area for surfing), and take in some First Nation culture. We ate really well with Lori and Chris on this camping trip. Check out the Dungeoness crab they were preparing for one of our meals on the slideshow.

Monday (19th) we begin working our way down the coast to Aaron's. We are looking forward to the beautiful scenery and to get to hug our son!!

Yellowstone Nat'l Park

We had a wonderful time at Yellowstone Nat'l Park. We had 5 days to explore the park and enjoy the beautiyful weather, although with the high altitude here. the evenings were cold (31o to 330).

We enjoyed some excellent hiking along the rim of a canyon and some of the back country trails.

We biked some "off the beaten path" trails and one took us to our own private geyser display. Below you see a coyote that walked up to and around us while we viewed a thermal spring. Then in the slideshow you see a herd of buffalo that were grazing around the trail we were biking. The males were in rut and we saw some interesting behavior as the males were picking their females. Very interesing when you are standing just 25 feet away!

We arrived in Seattle Sept 8th, and are all traveling up to Vancouver Island for a week of exploration. We have a lovely trip ahead of us. We will return Sept 17th and may be able to post before we head down the Oregon coast to Aaron's.