On the Road Again & Again & Again: April 2016

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Birthday Build with Habitat for Jerry!

Jillian gave Jerry a Build with Habitat for his birthday. We invited several friends and bam! We're pro's!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Almost Home... Stonehenge in Maryhill and a Beautiful Evening at the Columbia Gorge Hotel

Today's ride was much more leisurely... We watched as the geography again continued to change... We are now in Oregon and still trying to keep it secret from Jillian... so far so good! We hope!!!

The hills are dotted with the fir/pine trees we love. The Columbia River runs wide and smooth. Still have some of that desert like quality of Eastern Washington and Oregon... but, gee... we love this area none the less. It is equally as beautiful as where we have been, but, in a different way!

We stopped at a place noted for the replica of Stonehenge in England being built right here in Maryhill, Washington. When it was built here, the gentleman that built it intended it to be a monument to those who died in WWI. So it is a replica of the famous sight in England in appearance only.

Got to our beautiful hotel... It's on the registry of historic buildings. Also on the registry of being a very expensive room for us. You see, I made RSVP's for LAST night... not tonight. Therefore, since we didn't show last night... we got charged for the room. Yup... so we are paying twice: one for yesterday and now one for today... Felt rather silly... Jerry was very patient.. me.. well, let's not go into that. Once all settled down, we walked the grounds and are feeling much more relaxed!

The hotel is up from the river and we have a lovely view. We even saw a couple paddle boarders paddling their way down a very calm river tonight. The falls here are called Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, a good Indian name... as a matter a fact, the hotel was referred to by that name in the beginning. They are quite lovely and the sound of the water cascading down to the river is so soothing... so much so, Jerry is laying next to me on the bed snoozing away.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Let's Go to Twin! Twin Falls, Idaho... Darren's Home Town!

So, we spent the night in Logan, Utah.. nice little town... I guess.. we walked a bit, geocached and had a great meal at Jack's Firewood Pizza... what made the meal special, the manager let some guys/gals come in to play... was great jazz.. and then, some of their other buddies who play were there... It was great... a bit loud for dinner out, but still fun. Very, very, very good instrumentalists!

In our efforts to surprise Jilli and Steve, we left Logan and drove to Baker City, Oregon. Our plan is to get home about a week earlier than they are planning... excited to see their reaction. But, back to the trip... Twin Falls, where Darren's from and his family still lives, has a couple really interesting sights.

The first is Shoshane Falls. The Snake River tumbles over rocks... and is controlled by dams further upstream. The full spring thaw was not yet in gear, but, still, it was a pretty sight.

Next we went to the Perrine Bridge...A bridge that allows BASE jumpers any time... Oh my gosh... we saw them, and shook our heads... They are as crazy as the Rock Climbers we saw in Zion.

Tried a new way to heat our leftover pizza... the back shelf of the car ... guess what... didn't really heat it either... Those good old days of using your car to cook are over I think!

This is the first bridge we saw over the Snake...not THE bridge we came to see

Down to the canyon of the Shoshone Falls

Looking opposite the falls...

Now here's the mother lode... the Perrine Bridge from underneath... traversing the Snake!

Caught this guy after he already leapt...

This guy flipped as he jumped... but alas, I didn't have my camera on in time...

But I got this one....

Facebook Took All My Pics!... Not Really! Just finding not enough time to blog on this portion of the trip!

Well, not really, but internet has been so dicey as we are traveling, Facebook seems to be handling things for me easier. We've been touring the National Parks in Southern Utah. The beauty of each park is so different... yet one thing in common... stunning rock formations... reaching up to the sky. We've walked trails, stopped at view points, & drank lots of water. So far, this retirement business is quite fun... but a bit tiring. We miss our little Oliver who's with Jillian and Steve. Guess we miss them too!!!

Anyway... just a couple pics today here... from the parks... We've seen wild turkeys, deer, rabbits, and mountain goats. Have some pics of the animals, but more emphasis on the scenery. Some critters get skittish and the photo's end up blurred.

We also got a bridge picture... a nice gentleman helped us with that. We've taken some selfies along the way and again, folks volunteer to take a pic of us with our camera. Now, we also do the same for others. Selfie sticks are nice, but when one has a bigger style camera, they're not so useful.

Zion

Rock climbers!