Cruise blues and other news~~~

We took a 7 day Alaska cruise out of Seattle aboard the Norwegian  cruise line's ship Jewel.  Our accommodations were perfect;  a mini-suite with a full balcony.  Daughter Steph took care of all the booking and what a good job she did.  We had tons of space and beautiful views.

Photo from our balcony ~ Ship leaving Seattle

The first two days were spent at sea and by the end of the second day as we pull into Ketchikan Howard had full blown gout in his right foot, making walking long distances very painful.  There is a lot of walking on a gigantic cruise ship not to mention the shore excursions we planned to do, but alas, it was not meant to be.  By the time we got to our first destination, Ketchikan, we were resolved to the fact we wouldn't be doing much more that sitting on our balcony and watching the incredible scenery drift by.  Plus we had mostly nasty weather, rain and fog for 6 of our 7 days.  The sun came out in Victoria, BC on our last day. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, eating delicious cruise ship cuisine, and enjoying a trip of a lifetime.  Here's the ship's itinerary:

1. Ketchikan, our first stop, has a population of just over 8,000 and is the fifth most populous city in the state of Alaska. Local economy is based on tourism and fishing, hence the title of salmon capital of the world.
2. Our next stop is Juneau, Alaska's 3rd largest city by population.  Anchorage is first with just over 300,00.  The Aurora Borealis or Northern lights can be seen on clear nights from August through April, usually over Mt. Juneau.  There are lots of shore excursions including whale watching and trips to the Mendenhall Glacier.
3. Skagway is home to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and to both the White Pass Scenic Railway and Chilkoot Trails, two famous paths in and out of town.  
4. After another day at sea we arrived in Victoria, BC.  We've been to Victoria many times and visited Bouchart Gardens, the Empress Hotel, and the beautiful Parliament Building. The downtown and marina areas make for a good walking tour..
5. Next stop Seattle.

Along the way we saw ice bergs and glaciers, quaint towns and seaports. There was a lot of fog and rain but our balcony was covered and there were large sliding glass doors to enjoy the views. Sure we missed out on some good shore excursions, but we made the most out of our days, depending on Howard's comfort level. 

   

Marina in Ketchikan

Cool, foggy days

Glaciers

Waterfalls

We returned to the Elk's lodge in Port Townsend for a few more days, then decided to take the ferry and spend some time in Anacortes.  More on that later.  We'll be returning to Port Townsend to our "happy place" at the marina where we have a waterfront view, August 18-30.

A quick trip to the Joseph, OR area~~

Our very first stop in Eastern Oregon was at Pendleton, not on the itinerary and completely unscheduled. We had noticed our voltage gauge fluctuating while driving; sometimes down to almost zero, then back to the normal 13 volt range.  We looked up and found Cummins Northwest and they were able to get us in Monday morning, the day we had planned to leave Charbonneau.  Howard figured the voltage regulator or alternator may be failing, considering our MH is 14 years old with 157,000 miles.  When hooked up to the computer voltage was steady, no fluctuation even with a load.  All the wiring checked out so the only thing they could think of was that our gauge is faulty.  So we were sent on our way...

Lake Wallowa:

Bloggers are the best and we are continually learning and adding places to our "to go" list. We really focused on the Joseph area after reading Roads Less Traveled great write-up with their always beautiful photography.  We were a little skeptical when we got to La Grande on I-84. There was a lot of smoke and the air quality was poor, but we were too close to pass it by. 

Wallowa Lake State Park seemed to be our best choice as a base camp, located just 6 miles out of Joseph, and framed by jagged 9000 ft. peaks and a clear glacial lake.  The park was quite full but we were able to get 2 nights.  Smoke filled the air and the ranger mentioned a wildfire was close by.  Helicopters were flying back and forth to retrieve buckets of water from the lake.  Our photos are hazy at best.

Fire on the ridge line

Lake Wallowa geology

From the other side of the lake

Trail from our site to the lake

Imnaha:

We had one full day to see as much as possible, only covering a very small portion of all the many suggestions we received and places we had read about.  The decision was made to drive out to Imnaha, 30 miles east of Joseph, then decide if we had time to drive the 24 miles south to the Hat Point Lookout or the rough 27 miles north to Dug Bar, for the views into Hell's Canyon on the Snake River.

By the time we got to Imnaha it was close to noon. After a visit to the country store for a drink and some info we decided against driving out to the overlook.  We have driven to Heaven's Gate out of Riggins, ID, taken a wild jet boat trip into Hell's Canyon from the north end at Clarkston, WA, and lastly driven into the canyon from the south end on Highway 71 out of Cambridge, ID a couple of years ago when we visited friends in Caldwell.

Joseph:

So we headed back to spend the rest of our afternoon exploring the lovely town of Joseph. The smoke had receded leaving puffy clouds against a clear blue sky and we had a great walk-about, followed by a super good dinner at the Outlaw Restaurant:

On almost every street corner sits one of the famous bronze statues created at Valley Bronze at its foundry in Joseph; each paying tribute to a segment of the town's history.  Chief Joseph, the town's namesake, proudly overlooks all!

Please take the time to click on the various web links highlighted for more information on this area, one we plan to get back to for a longer stay.  But now, we have to move on.....

Anacortes, a bird's eye view and some reminiscing...

A quick drive through Whidbey Island~~

Our ferry dropped us off at Coupeville on Whidbey Island. We are a two-motorhome caravan with Stephanie and Gary following behind.  This was a quick drive-through with no stops for sightseeing, just the beautiful pastoral scenery and endless views of the Sound, the city of Oak Harbor, and finally the Deception Pass bridge; all providing a moving picture out our big IMAX windows. We parked on the east side of Anacortes at the Swinomish Casino RV Park giving us easy access to I-5; nice facilities and fuel for the next day's drive to Vancouver.  We have a schedule! 

Arriving Whidbey Island

Anacortes, a destination~~

Anacortes and Whidbey Island have always been major summer destinations for us so these mere drive-bys were hard to bear.  We just had to at least take the few hours we had to give the family a bird's eye view of some of the scenic beauty we have so enjoyed around Anacortes on Fidalgo Island.

Cap Sante Marina overlook

Cap Sante Marina, Ferry Terminal, Washington Park~~

From the Cap Sante Overlook we drove over to the Ferry Terminal, a major arrival/departure point for ships to Vancouver Island and the San Juans.  Next a drive through Washington Park, first the beach then to the top for the views.  By this time all had agreed we had to come back for an extended stay! 

From here to many San Juan and Vancouver Island locations...

Howard, daughter Stephanie, hubby Gary

Howard

Gary

Now for the reminiscing~~

On Whidbey Island we stay at the Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor with its miles of walking paths along the waterfront.  Our friend Rusty has his trawler docked nearby and we go Dungeness crabbing out through Deception Pass:

A walk along the waterfront

With marinas...

Deception Pass

Out for a day of Dungeness crabbing

The guys pull in the crab pots

For another good haul...all have to be measured first!

Later in the evening!

Awesome Anacortes~~

From our dry-camping site at the Cap Sante Marina, now $20 a night, we have a marina view and easy walking into the lovely downtown.  The marina hosts summer concerts by the docks with wonderful fresh seafood and food stands.  There is the annual art festival in August and easy access to so many points of interest, like Island Hopping to San Juan Island for a day.

Downtown on a quiet day

Howard poses with the mermaids by the marina...

I love these Nordic Tugs, but they burn a ton of diesel & are very expensive!

Reflections...

A mass of masts...

An Overview...

Turning left for the long haul...

We picked up I-10 just east of Tallahassee, thus starting the approx. 2250 mile journey west. We have one more designated stop, and that is to visit Howard's cousins in Silverhill, AL, an easy drive.  We conveniently stayed at the Rainbow Plantation Escapees Park in nearby Summerdale for a couple of days, and enjoyed a drive to Gulf Shores for a final oyster po-boy fix at Bahama Bob's.

We had not seen the cousins, Jon, Julie, and Georgia for many years, nor met Jon's new wife Wendy, though I felt I knew her from our Facebook connection.  We enjoyed their southern hospitality and meeting all the extended family, and especially some great fried chicken.  Jon is an English sports car enthusiast and proudly showed off his '72 TR6:

Miss Scarlett is her name

Now, back on the interstate cities and sights fly by my window in a blur.  Time zones and temperatures create havoc with our minds and bodies.  The motorhome and jeep are covered in layers of nasty grime and grit, but we are headed west to our beloved families and soon the desert will once again be our home.

Here from the relative comfort of my passenger lounge is a composite of drive-by shootings through Alabama to Texas, and on through New Mexico to Arizona.  We had an overnight at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA but I did not even get out of the motorhome to take photos.

The Bayway to Mobile, AL

The bridge through the Atchafalaya Swamp on I-10 LA is the 2nd longest in the US!

The Horace Wilkinson Bridge crossing the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge.

Driving through Houston, above, was a little surreal as there was no traffic.  Howard had just been talking about our last trip to Big Bend NP and the little town of Alpine,TX where we spend the night en route.  Remember that great restaurant, he said, the one that Martha Stewart reviewed, and was so good.  Hmmm, not off hand but let me check online.  Here it is, the Reata Restaurant.  By now we're nearing San Antonio and, just like that, exited the interstate for the more peaceful Highway 90 drive! Noteworthy here is that we spent the night at the Escapees Park in Hondo, TX that night and the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees.

The High Bridge, above, towers over the Pecos River Canyon, near Del Rio, TX.  When we pulled over to take pictures we were nearly blown away from the cold winds.

Once we got to our Alpine destination and The Lost Alaskan RV Park, we felt as though we just might have landed in Alaska.  The temps had dropped over 40 degrees from the previous night, down to low 30s.  We stayed two nights to enjoy a fine dinner at Reata and by the time we left the next morning it was 22!  Our water pipes were frozen and ice caked on the windshield was so thick we needed the hair dryer to assist the defroster as we prepared to leave.

We re-joined I-10 at Van Horn, TX and continued on, through El Paso and Las Cruces, NM, all the way to Deming and the Escapees Dream Catcher RV Park.  Our driving days have actually topped 400 miles, with many in the 380 range.  We're stopping for fuel far too often but at least the prices have been lower, averaging $3.75 for diesel.  And it is freezing everywhere!

El Paso, TX

New Mexico welcomes us

Interstate art!

Crossing the Continental Divide between Deming and Lordsburg, NM was uneventful as the terrain was flat and any elevation gain had been so gradual as not to be noticed.  But we are officially west and the landscape has changed significantly.  We continued on to one of our favorite little southwest desert towns, Ajo, AZ, with another long driving day behind us.  We would normally boondock out of town off Darby Wells Rd., but since this was just for one night and it was very cold, we opted to visit the nice folks at Belly Acres RV Park, and watch us some Sunday night football.

This is getting good!

We briefly considered turning south

At Texas Canyon near Benson, AZ

Just driving into Ajo makes us happy!

Now on I-8

And this brings us to Yuma!