Roaming Through Retirement




July--On the road Again! July included three thousand road miles, time with family and friends and touring four awesome national parks in North Dakota, Montana and Washington.  This picture was taken at Glacier National Park at an overlook at the end of the trailhead to Hidden Lake near Logan Pass (elevation 6375).

After six weeks in the Twin Cities, we headed west.  Our first stop was Fargo to catch up with Ben, one of Larry's five god sons.	Then on to Bismarck for a week with siblings. Here we are with Jack and Maryann.  They were gracious enough to let us win at Junkyard Rummy.
Most of our days started with a bike ride along the Missouri River. We stopped to take in some deer in the meadow to the right.	Koreen, one of Glorine's nieces, hosted a mini reunion for the Resslers'. Among the siblings are Marlene, Ray and Willie and nieces and nephews Karen and her family from Florida and Ray Jr. from Missouri. Great catching up!
The 4th of July in Mandan means the largest parade in North Dakota.  Here is one of the cooler floats, which joined tons of tractors, horses and marching bands.	We stopped to see Mark and Jodene, Glorine's niece. Mark, Jodene's husband has a new hobby, painting.  This is one of several art pieces he has on display in their home.
Late on the 4th, we went cemetery hopping at the North Dakota Veterans cemetery to visit the graves of Glorine's two brothers and at the Mandan cemetery to visit our parents.	Larry's niece and husband, Nancy and Jeff stopped by to check out our new motor home at KOA campground on their way back to the Twin Cities.
Larry's sister Lil, nearly 92, still resides at her home in Bismarck and keeps herself busy embroidering dish towels for each day of the week.	On our last night in Bismarck, James and Randy, two of Larry's nephews, joined us for dinner at a local pub.  It was fun listening to the shenanigans they used to do.
As we inched our way to the west coast, we stopped to visit Larry's twin, Lorraine in Dickinson.  Come to find out, we are nearly identical (hair color anyway).	Theodore Roosevelt National Park (north unit) would be our second national park we would visit in 2021.  These bison seemed like they were welcoming us as we drove along the park's 14-mile scenic drive.
The park not only preserves one of America's unique landscapes, it also celebrates the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt as America's "conservation president" by creating five national parks and 21 national forests.	As we headed north out of the park, we ran into an entirely different landscape, thanks to the discovery of the Bakken oil field.  This makes ND the 3rd largest oil producer, followed by Texas and California.
One of the advantages of having a smaller motor home was to explore the back roads of America. We hopped on US Highway 2 in Williston, which we took into Washington.	Our second national park was Montana's Glacier National Park bounded by the Canadian border on the north, Highway 2 on the south and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation on the east.
We were hoping our 24' RV would be on the road  "Going to the Sun Road," but it was three feet to long.  So took a shuttle, which made stops, including this spectacular overlook of Saint Mary Lake.	The glaciers off in the distance once covered the entire mountain ridge.  With 'Global Warming' or 'Climate Change' these glaciers are retreating at an exponential pace, with predictions of disappearing by 2030.
In addition to being the 10th largest national park in American, Glacier is the first international peace park, with Canada's Waterton Lake National Park along its northern border.	These protected Mountain Goats, along with Bighorn sheep and other wildlife coexist nicely with hikers and other tourist.  This guy was nice enough to pose for the picture.
The trails we hiked gave us awesome views of the raw beauty of the snow peaked mountains and deep river gorges.	With a 200' drop and no guard rails, the Highland Trail gave us some awesome views of the Park. This trail was a part of the engineering design of the roadway.
This picture was taken on the Highland Trail overlooking the mountain ravine.	As we entered Idaho along Highway 2, we saw that logging interest is alive and well.
We spent the night at an RV park next to Hope and East Hope, called "Beyond Hope" along the shores of Lake Pond Oreille, Idaho's largest and the fourth  deepest lake in America.	The smoke from wildfires were part of our entire trip, but mostly from afar.  While we never saw flames, this bush fire was the closest we got to one of the 41,000 wildfires that have burnt nearly five million acres.
Our first stop in Washington was Larry's cousin Jerry and Mary Barnhardt.  They have a beautiful home on four acres outside Seattle. During their stay with us in Ajijic, we learned they were avid card players.	They took us on a tour of the Seattle area including the Ballard Locks that create a passage from Puget Sound and Lake Washington.  In addition to boats, this waterway includes a ladder for salmon to return home.
Jerry gave Larry a ride in their BMW roadster along the windy and hilly roads near their home. It was quite exhilarating.	Carmen and the grandkids flew into Seattle for a 16-day RV road trip, beginning with a two-day tour of Mount Rainier National Park.
Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the lower 48, stretching over four miles.   Rainer is one of five volcanic peaks in the state of Washington.	The sky was mostly clear, which is very rare for Mount Rainier. We spend most of our time hiking, including Sunrise Trail, the highest point in the park.
Glaciated lakes are filled with pristine water including Reflection Lake which when calm and no cloud cover you can see Mount Rainier's reflection.	The grandkids took some time along one of our hikes to wade in one of the many streams within the park.  It was fun watching them play together.
We hiked along Silver Falls Trail, a four-mile loop that  has a 705 foot elevation gain.  The largest water fall plunges over 40 feet.	We hiked along Box Canyon, a narrow slot canyon carved over the centuries.  Here we are on the Box Canyon bridge with a great view of the deep canyon.
The trails throughout the park were awesome, especially bridges and walkways that spanned rivers and streams.	Our longest hike started at the historic Paradise Inn and included walking through wildflower meadows and snow with stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
Hunter put his boys scout skills to use by sweeping away any debris that could spark a wildfire.  This task was rewarded with S'mores.	Mike flew into Sea-Tac to join us for the Olympic National Park. He brought a tent and air mattresses to extend our limited sleeping space.
Hoy River Rain Forest is one of five tropical rain forests in American.  The rainfall average is 12 to 14 feet, but none today.  The hiking trails are awesome.	Olympic also includes Kalaloch Beach along the Pacific Ocean.  Part of this day was spent relaxing (and napping) in the sun.
Ruby Beach, a few miles up the road, had an entirely different feel.  Haystack rocks with natural tunnels carved from relentless waves made this stop great.	What started off as a sun filled day ended with fog and cloud cover, which is why this place is in the midst of the rainforest.
Our next stop in Olympic Park is Marymere Falls on the northern side of the park.  We hiked nearly two miles, but eventually we got a glimpse of this 90' falls.	The hike to Marymere Falls was mostly old growth forest with lots of steps and some cool viewing platforms.  Here we took a break to take a photo.
Lake Crescent is one of the "must do's" of Olympic National Park.  The lake is 11 miles long and over 600 feet deep and appears more like a fjord than a lake. We rented a paddle board, kayaks and a bike pontoon.	A mile long hike along the Spruce Railroad Trail led us to Devil's Punchbowl, which is a popular swimming hole.  The kids enjoyed jumping from this bridge into ice cold pristine waters below.
We spent one night camping in Sol Duc Hot Springs another "must do" for Olympic Park.  It features five pools with different temperatures ranging from 84 degrees of swimming to 107 degrees for baking!	The most popular part of the Park is Hurricane Ridge. The 17-mile scenic drive up starts in Port Angeles at sea level and rises to over 5,000 feet.  Mount Olympus is the highest peak at 7,980'.
This is the top of Hurricane Hill, which gives a 360 degree view of the Olympic mountains as well as Port Angeles and Vancouver Island.  It was three miles up and three miles back down to the parking lot.	From Olympic peninsula, we caught the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island for $36.00.  The short 40-mile cruise was windy and cold but gave us glimpses of Olympic and Mt. Baker.
Our only night on Whidbey Island was spent at the Blue Fox Drive-In, where we watched a couple of animated movies.  When we got up, we were one of five campers who took advantage of the overnighter!	Whidbey Island is a popular destination because it lies in a rain shadow, where most storms split, going around the island. It has three state parks with lots of hiking trails.
The most famous is the Deception Pass State Park, where we went ocean kayaking.  This is our first time in sea-kayaks.  The seas were calm and our tour guide was awesome.	Our next few days was spent on San Juan Island where we walked Friday Harbor and rented bikes to tour parts of the island.
One stop was a lavender farm showcasing not only their blooming fields but the products they produced, including essential oils.	The seven mile bike ride required a bit of nourishment, so the lavender flavored ice cream was the hit of the day for our family.
While the kids biked back to Friday Harbor, we rode another five miles to Lime-Kiln State Park, which has a light house and the location to view Orcus Whales.  Unfortunately, there were no whales today.	San Juan Island is the site of a dispute with England over who owned the islands. The conflict started with an American killing a pig owned by an Englishmen. After 13 years, the dispute was settled by a tribunal in the Hague.  This picture is of the English Camps.
We took a whale watching cruise on the last day on the island.  On the way out into the channel, we saw Bald Eagle, puffins and sea lions.	With about ten other boats scouring the ocean for whale sighting, we finally caught this one blowing water from his/her blow hole.
We learned that there are three Orcas Whales pods or a family including grandma, kids and grandkids. They live 50 to 90 years and are 40' long and weigh up to eight ton.   They are harmless, intelligent and majestic creatures.	Our last day on our RV road trip was a tour through Seattle.  We stopped at the locks that Jerry and Mary took us to earlier, then on for this picture in Kerry Park, overlooking the Skyline of Seattle.  Another exciting summer adventure!!

July's web page includes July 1 through July 31.