May 4

SOLTESWEB.NET ALASKA TRIP 2005 - MAY Page 4

Tuesday, May 17 - Driving

No bears. We had hoped that we could continue on Rt 89 through Lassen Volcanic National Park, but the road was closed due to snow. We turned back on Rt 89 at a point near 6000 ft where there was a snow height marker that went up to 234 inches! So, we continued west on Rt 36 to Red Bluff (305 ft above sea level), north I5 to Redding , then west and up again on Rt 299 towards the lakes. We drove through the little historic village of Lewiston on Lewiston Lake, then continued northward on Rt 3 past Trinity Lake to a small Forest Service campground on the side of Rt 3. Although it rained all day, the drive was quite nice. It's 40° out now at 6:30 p.m. Will there be snow tomorrow? We're hoping to drive on Rt 3 to Yreka, but we have to climb over the Scott mountains to get there.

Wednesday, May 18 - Etna

It rained all night, and continued all day. Fortunately, it didn't get colder during the night but as we continued north on Hwy 3 and climbed over Scott mountain, we found ourselves in slush (first picture). Over the mountain, we saw this rainbow.
In Etna, we met with Glenn Johnson, a cousin of Patty that she had not seen for about 40 years! He runs a music and mining store. We had dinner with Glenn, his wife Judie and daughter Deshea and visited with them at their home in the valley between Etna and Fort Jones. I'm sorry we didn't take pictures of the family. (Glenn, if you send me one, I'll include it here.)

Thursday, May 19 - Yreka

We saw this home priced at $968,000., and were interested, but no amount of arguing with the gentleman could make him change his mind about the price. He just wouldn't budge.

Stopped at a coffee house in Yreka to upload more of the website and receive email.
We stopped to look at the gold nugget collection at the courthouse ($1 million worth; only a fraction shown here).

Mt Shasta, Crater Lake NP, Mill Creek Falls

That's Mount Shasta from I5 outside Yreka. We crossed into Oregon, left I5 at Medford, and started our way up Hwy 62 towards Crater Lake NP. We bought two new M/S tires for the rear of the truck. New shoes all around. Decided to stop for the night at Mill Creek where we took a small hike to see Mill Creek Falls, Barr Creek Falls and the Rogue River.

The Rogue River is running fast and high because of the recent rains. We heard today that Yosemite was closed for a while because of the flooding, just a day or two after we were there.

Friday, May 20 - Bend, Oregon

We drove up Hwy 62 past Crater Lake (snow on roads, 37°, decided not to go there), and then towards and up Hwy 97 to Bend, the biggest town in central Oregon. A nice drive, but the day turned to showers again beginning about 2:00 pm. With the temperature about 50°, it felt quite cool and we opted out of hiking to spend some time in Bend shopping. We spent the night in the Wal-Mart lot after shopping at Fred Meyer's and Columbia outlet store. We were surprised at the Fred Meyer store - bigger than any Wal-Mart superstore we ever saw!

Yellow Oregon grape flower on left, then bachelor button.

Saturday, May 21 - Three Sisters

Our first crock-pot meal (other than the bean soup earlier). 3 lb stew meat, 1 envelope dry onion soup mix, 1 can Italian stewed tomatoes, carrots, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Cooked a while at high, then add 1 can sliced potatoes and keep on low for the rest of the morning. We put the crock pot in the sink while we were driving to catch any spills (there weren't any), and ran it through the inverter. (See however, May 27 for an update.) Thanks to Mel and Nyla Brown, our SOWER friends, for the idea.
Beautiful clear morning. We stopped at the Newberry lava fields visitor center north of Bend, and had fun chasing a chipmunk until he stopped long enough for a picture. We saw the Three Sisters mountains, so we decided to drive to Sisters before returning to Hwy 97. Also got views of Mt Hood and Adams, but not good enough for a good picture. A pretty town. Back on 97 through Redmond, we drove north until we came to the Columbia River, then headed west to a state park campground on the river - Melamoose (named after an island in the river used long ago as a burial ground).
We are wimps! It started raining again (seems every day about 2:00 pm lately), and the locals are in shorts and short sleeved shirts. We are fully clothed with jackets and carrying umbrellas!

On the way (lots of rain):

Sunday, May 22 - Columbia River, Multnomah Falls

We spent the day on the Columbia River Gorge. We turned south on Hwy 35 to look at Mt Hood, and got some great pictures. Came to a small Baptist church at 10:55 am just in time for service!