beaver, evergreen, gem and treasure states and hello alberta 17 june - 1 july

after camping 2 nights in the rogue river valley, we headed to the south of the valley to the oregon shakespere festival capital of ashland, nestled in the foothills of the siskiyou and cascade ranges about 15 miles north of the calif border off of i-5.  buddy met chris and jack when they all worked in rwanda back in the late 90s.  we stayed 2 nights with them and shared lovely meals, walked the artsy downtown area and took a well appreciated hike at the mount ashland ski area (elevation 7,532 ft) with 360 views of oregon and california, including mt shasta, at 14,179 ft and a mere 75 miles south of ashland.  needless to say, we did not attend one of the plays showing in town, just too much catching up to do and not enough time.

jack, christine and buddy

downtown ashland

gravy, buddy, jack and christine on mt ashland hiking

views from mt ashland

mt shasta from mt ashland

closer shot of mt shasta in california

we left ashland northbound for more friends, more fun and another oregon state park.  we met up with some old friends of ours from our burundi/rwanda days.  kathy and ed now live in the south portland area but we were able to meet up with them and their kids, imani and tavi, while camping at stewart state park, on the shores of lost creek lake, 40 miles south of crater lake. we haven’t seen each other since nairobi, kenya while buddy and i were traveling through in 2004.  they brought their bikes, their boat, life jackets for 6 and their double dog hot dog ski tube which we all took turns on.  what a fun day in the sun, biking, being pulled behind the boat on the hot dog, swimming from the center lake dock, and not forgetting the delicious pot luck in site d-20 with imani and tavi’s s’more specialities!!!

ed, kathy, imani and tavi

aly hot doggin' it

buddy, gettin' ready to hot dog it!

kathy and ed

moving north took us scenically pass waterfalls and twisty windy roads to joe and joe’s house in roseburg where we stayed for a night. young joe has been a friend of buddy’s since peace corps took them both to mali in the early 70s and the elder joe, young joe’s father, has lived in roseburg much of his life and just celebrated his 93^rd birthday the end of june.  

mill creek falls

barr creek falls

central oregon drizzle

butte falls

buddy, joe sr and joe jr

oregon is a lovely state, much of the west (which we traveled through) dominated by pine forests and pasture lands.  we managed to stay off the interstate and took back roads through eugene, corvalis, albany and into forest grove, west of portland, where our friends elaine, todd, maya, ramon and their dog, moxie live.  we met elaine in bujumbura back in 92 and we’ve keep in contact ever since.  another fun night with friends.  from there we passed through portland, we had coffee with ralph and his wife, alice, whom buddy hasn’t seen since the late 70s when they were all living in dallas. we pushed westward where we stayed the night with shari and byran on their dancing roots farm in troutdale.  aly and shari have known each other since the early 80s when farming was only a dream for shari.  we were quite impressed as she and her husband have made organic farming a reality…(check out dancingrootsfarm.com to learn more about csa’s, community supported agriculture, and their organic farm.)

oregon farm land

an oregon covered bridge

oregon scenery

oregon crops

oregon scenery

oregon barn

more scenery

todd, elaine, maya and ramon with fresh veggies

elaine's raised beds

ralph, alice and buddy

downtown portland on the shores of the willamette river

a bridge over the willamette

housing along the columbia river outside of portland

bryan and shari

bryan and shari's dancing roots farm in troutdale, oregon

moving onward we took the historic columbia river highway from troutdale to bonneville, a distance of ~25 miles which took us 5 hours with the multitude of waterfalls, our various hikes, many scenic pullovers and the fascinating fish hatchery which is home to herman the sturgeon, the dinosaur fish, and the bonneville damn.  the columbia river gorge highway is in complete harmony with the surroundings, that people come from all over the world to marvel at the perfection of this national treasure.  after our leisurely 25 miles of the western part of the gorge, we moved through the eastern part rather quickly and headed to yakima, wa visiting an old peace corps colleague of aly’s.  linda and roger were perfect hosts and a lot of time was spent discussing african safari’s.

gateway to the columbia river gorge

vista of the gorge

crown point vista house

as above

multnomah falls the 2nd highest year-round waterfall in the nation--620 ft

herman the sturgeon (the back fish) in the bonneville fish hatchery

herman close up--he's about 11' long, 500 lbs and 70 years old

roger and linda

from yakima we moved through eastern washington on a rainy day, spending the night in spokane then into coeur d'alene, idaho then northbound through bonners ferry in the panhandle of idaho all the while moving closer to glacier national park, our final destination before crossing into canada which we did on 1 july 2012.

just before coeur d'alene

pend oreille lake, sandpoint, or

bonners ferry, idaho

entering montana

kootenai river trail

kootenai river

kootenai falls

kootenai falls

swinging bridge over kootenai river

montana views

montana

montana

glacier national park has too many waterfalls, glaciers, peaks and valleys to mention, so enjoy the bit of scenery we provide as we take you to into canada.  an interesting fact i learned about glaciers is the definition of a glacier--it is at least 25 acres, 100' deep of snow/ice and moving...and, back in 1850 there were over 150 glaciers in the park, today on 26 remain and they say by 2030, those too, will be gone.

here is west glacier--

avalanche lake and falls

avalanche lake

avalanche creek

 

lake mcdonald

jurg and rosi, swiss friends, with buddy and aly--we met them in crescent city, ca and again in west glacier, montana

goat lick lookout--on a steep cliff

crossing the cold river

then east glacier/st mary/and 'going to the sun' road

east glacier entrance from the blackfeet res

east glacier lodge

inside the east glacier lodge

2003 fire 

red bus tour--we took one over the 'going to the sun road'--magnificent 1930 fords have been doing this shuttle for over 75 years--the park has a 10' height, 8' width and 21' length/vehicle limit on personal vehicles which can be driven into the park...and as our van is longer than that and since the parks free shuttle service doesn't start annually until 1 july every year, we chose to take this red bus tour...great choice!

posing in front of wild goose island

jackson glacier

rocky mtn goat

going to the sun road

weeping wall

bird woman falls

our tour bus

peace park

snow plowed from the road--20+' high!

sunrift gorge

heading to many glacier, the chief mountain border, waterton township and waterton lake national park (they call glacier 'waterton lake national park' in canada) and into southern alberta.  happy canada day!

lorne and joe, canadian campers we met in st mary

many glacier hotel

chief mountain border crossing

the int'l border

waterton lake national park

prince of wales hotel in waterton lake national park

cameron falls in waterton township

your guess is as good as mine???

waterton township

prince of wales hotel

the canadian rockies from alberta

rapeseed fields in central alberta

banff, lake louise, jasper and the alcan (alaska-canada highway), here we come.  internet access seems slow and far and few...we'll update when we can.  happy canada day and happy 4th of july to all!