Cheese, Elk and Redwoods

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A trip to the south of Klamath. Little town of Loleta. Ma and Pa Cheese factory. This was the "by hand" operation. Very small...more like what it used to be before the big Cheese factories like Tillamook. Cheese (34 varieties) was very good.











We were ready to declare that there is no such thing as an Elk...based upon our emperical evidence while traveling down the coast...with warnings every 10-15 miles. Elk crossing. Never saw one. But our faith in what is to be was restored as we drove a new coastal drive this afternoon. We didn't see the herd everyone talked about. But, we did see three Elk. They DO exist!!!









The trees in this section were similar...but seemed to be less "disturbed" by intruders than the previous section we saw on Tuesday.




The roads were much better, as you can see.

The Klamath Coast Line

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 We took a ride to the mouth of the Klamath river...and what a view of the coastline from there. (By the way, we're staying at an RV park in Klamath.)

We were told we might see sealions...or even whales. But we're thinking it was too cold for us...it was probably too cold for them. We really need to move south. :-)

Redwoods in Northern California

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Paul Bunyon was exceedingly popular in folklore in the US. We first saw Paul, as you may recall, in Bemidji, MN. And heard of him again in Idaho. And now that he has reached the West Coast with all of the Redwood trees, he is about 4 times as tall as we first viewed him in MN. Guessin' he had to grow a bit to deal with all of the Redwood trees.



This first tree is called the family tree. It might be difficult to see...but in the upper left...and the mid right there is a new tree growing out from the parent tree. We saw many trees that were growing out of a fallen parent...which had just enough root structure alive to support the new tree.
And how high do they grow...200-300 feet or more. Seems as though you cannot see the top.

The trees are exceedingly Huge...and sometimes several trees grown right next to each other out of the same root structure...seems like a wall.

Jean is only standing about 10 feet in front of this tree. Incredible size.
We took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain. Didn't see many BIG trees on the way up...some of the trees that were saved on the bottom of the mountain date back 3000 years - but this area was logged in 1950...and many of the redwoods at this higher altitude had ONLY a diameter of 25-30 inches. (Still big.)

Our gondola.

And the view of the ocean from the top. :-)

And so you ask...How big is big? Two arm spans didn't really cover the diameter, did it??

As we drove through the northern redwood forests...you get a better view of the size of the trees. The "smaller" one immediately to the right of the car is probably only 7-800 years old.

The roads through the forest were "interesting." It just wove around through the trees...little corners here and there to get around the big ones.
Some roads were JUST wide enough for one car.


We're guessing that the diameter of this tree is somewhere between 15-18 feet.

And we had the opportunity to drive through a tree. Didn't have any problem with our little car...but we followed a minivan...which didn't have a problem, either.

The Wave

Monday, October 25, 2010

We had lots of rain...and then a little more rain. Ron had an appointment for the RV to do the 500 mile checkup on the transmission rebuild...and Jean had a hair appointment. {the hair was starting to look tacky...if you know what I mean.}....The RV checkup service person told Ron...with all of this rain...the cool place to be is out on the beach and watch the waves. They're incredible. Well...as you can see...they are!!!

Just wouldn't want to be too close to these.

It's interesting that all down the coast, we see signs that say"tsunami danger." Some of these areas are only 20 ft above sea level. If there is any ocean floor earthquake...you can bet the tide will come in...in "an instant" at a level of 10-12 feet, or more.

Ron's fishing trip

Friday, October 22, 2010

Once again...we caught a beautiful day. Started out early...as Ron had to be checked in by 7:30 for his fishing excursion in the ocean 20 miles out from Coos Bay.

It was a 5 hour excursion...and he caught his limit of Black Rock Bass and Blue Rock Bass.
Jean was going to join the group as a "rider"...but backed out...too chilly at 7:30 a.m. Turns out it was a good choice for her to stay back. The swells were running 9-10 feet. Ron got a little queasie...but one of the other guys got sick.

Jean's picture taking skills have something to be gained...but she did catch Ron coming up the plank with his load of fish.

The resident filet expert prepared the fish for taking home for $5. a person. Can't beat that.


It so happened that there was an inspector to greet this group when they came in - to make sure that all of the fish were long enough...and weighed enough.



All in all...We had at least 5 pounds of filets to bring back to the RV...we had a great fish dinner tonight...and have 6 more waiting for us in the freezer. :-)

A day in adventure land

October 21, 2010

Oh, my, what a day it has been. We missed the sealions yesterday because of the fog. So...we got up early this morning...and we wanted to miss the afternoon fog that always rolls in.

A gazillion sealions. Elephant sealions, harbor seals, and Stellar sealions. The barking is so loud, you might imagine that you were at an "unattended" dog kennel with a hundred hungry dogs. As I told Jenn this morning...the amount of sealions is so great it looks like you opened a giant can of smoked oysters and dumped them on the sandy side of the reef. They just frolic and flip and flop all over each other to get to where they want to go. Got to be several hundred just on that shore...and more out in the water.

We also had the opportunity to see the Lighthouse that was obscured by the fog yesterday.

But, the highlight of the day was our dunebuggy ride through the dunes of Oregon. We were scheduled for a 1:00 tour. (half hour) We started at about 1:15...and got done at 2:25. The owner of Spinreef was our tour driver...and we had the ride of our lives. I think he was having as much fun as we were (since our tour was amazingly extended) - spinning us up and down the dunes...and we were eating it up...The dunes stretch @ 60 miles along the Oregon coast. (Who'd a thunk there would be sand dunes in Oregon.) The weather of the Hawaiian pineapple ocean currents...the effects of the Humboldt currents...and the north Alaska currents...and the silt from rivers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota...all contribute to these sand dunes...as well as periodic debris from Japan and Hong Kong.

The picture above shows 10 miles of dunes viewed from a highpoint on our tour.

Cool dunebuggy, don't cha think?




And Rich, our guide, at the end of the ride. What a ride!!!!

Foggy afternoon near Coos Bay

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

OK. So here we are. Feet in the Pacific Ocean. Gotta love it!!!!

At this site, we were supposed to be able to see the light house...and to see the sealions. WE sure could hear them. Bark, Bark, Bark...but once again. The fog was not our friend. We're going to try to get out there again some morning before the fog comes in.

Could we pass up a farmer's market? Probably not. We got there a bit late...pretty picked over...but we came away with "maters"...and a couple of ears of awesome corn on the cob...and a couple of jalapeno's for Ron. :-)