October Tour

Our route through Florida.  We left our home in Ocala, then visited our son and friends in Tallahassee before heading to Indiana.  Of course, we did NOT take the direct route.

Near Jacksonville.  By the end of this trip, we toured 321 official National Park sites.  There are a total of 476 visits to Parks, Monuments, etc. administered by the Park Service and others.

Georgia route.

St. Simons Island, just before a terrific seafood dinner.

Another Monument and perhaps one too many forts.

"Savannah's Waving Girl"

One of many fountains in many squares in Savannah.

  This one modeled after a French one in Paris.

South Carolina route.

Fountain time in Charleston's historic district.

North Carolina route.

Wrightsville Beach.  We spent a week here with several

 of the Pauls in 1975 when Brian was just one year old.

Revoultionary War Battlefield.  Where the Colonial troops

stopped the British and forced them out of the Carolinas.

At Cape Lookout.

Beautiful fall colors on the Parkway.

North Carolina visit to the Smokys.  Of course we hiked 

and toured the Tennessee part of the Park too.

Indiana destination and route.

Judy, Dennis, Chris, Kathy, John, Melissa, and Hanna at Chris' place.

Spreading Nick's ashes in one of his favorite places.

Paul, Steve, Tom, Juanita, Al, Kevin, and Dave at 

Juanita and Al's 60th wedding anniversary party.

Judy's home place.

Judy's brother's crowing banty rooster.

"

My Double Aunt Irene!  After her first husband

 died (Dad's brother) she married Mom's brother.

Nephew, Cory Paul's place in Floyds Knobs.

(Pronounced Floyd Snobs!)

Brother, Chris, saying goodbye before we head south.

Oregon

Our route through Oregon, so far!

I guess you can see that we came off of the coast.

We think we avoided bad weather and will return to

the coast after the 4th of July.

This is Bigalow Hot Spring. 

http://oregonhotsprings.immunenet.com/bigelow.htm

 The setting is great,

as it is on the McKenzie River and National 

Scenic Trail.  http://mckenzierivertrail.com/

However, the spring is really just

a seep where hot water bubbles up through the

mud/sand bottom.  And the water temperature was

only about 98 degrees.  :(

So we opted for a four mile hike to the Blue Pool.

The McKenzie River goes underground for several 

miles and springs forth in a lava flow.

You can probably see that the hike was in the rain forest of 

Willamette National Forest.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/willamette/

The sun broke through the clouds just in time for

 a picture of Judy contemplating the Blue Pool.

The next morning, 

we had much better luck at Cougar Hot Springs.

http://oregonhotsprings.immunenet.com/cougar.htm

Judy is heading to the second pool where the

water temp is about 104 degrees.  There are five

pools and the temps drop 1 or 2 degrees in

each successive pool.  

AAAHHHH  :)

California Delta, Wine Country, Redwoods

Our route through California.  While in Cloverdale,

earthquakes are happening, haven't felt a thing.

Too much wine?

We found a great lunch spot, but almost missed the turn!

. . . . . Thanks for the picture, Faye. . . . . 

National Park # 361

http://www.nps.gov/jomu/index.htm

John Muir's home in Martinez.

John Muir NHS grounds.

Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park in

Richmond.

http://www.nps.gov/rori/index.htm

Rosie's Memorial.  In the several shipyards in the Richmond area,

they launched a ship a day.

  Faster than the Japanese could sink them.

The fastest built was in less that 5 days, from the first weld to

the champagne launch.

Which way to the next winery?

Sonoma County.

http://www.wineroad.com/

Found Raymond Burr's Winery the next day.

Nice wines and a mini-museum in the tasting room.  

Notice the two Emmys he won for 

Perry Mason.

A driving and strolling tour of the Klamath area of the

 Redwood National Park.

Lots of wildflowers.

Common monkey flower.

http://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm

Beautiful!

The strolling tour continues.  Notice my hiking boots.

The small Indian (Yurok tribe) Village of Klamath.

On a short hike through an old growth redwood grove.

These trees are in

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=415

This is a big leaf maple covered with moss growing among

the redwoods.

The is "The Big Tree" in the State park.

It measures 304' tall.

Each tree we could view while straining our necks

seemed to be the tallest.  But they were only the tallest 

until we walked around the next bend.

  Can you see Judy on the trail?

Here is a better picture of her on root tangles between two trees.

In the Lady Bird Johnson Grove there were

lots of flowers.  Fernalds Iris or Marin Iris.

A tall redwood and a blooming rhododendron

 in the foreground.  

This area is home to the largest Roosevelt Elk herd

in California.  We saw the herd walk and graze through

the viewing area.  One even approached our car.

Luckily, a little further up the road we got to see the boys.

Six of the bucks were grazing along the road.  

I did not use the zoom for this picture.

A 5 mile hike on Flint Ridge Trail hold many small

delights.  Here a Leopard Lily among the ferns.

Four of those miles were in an 

old growth redwood forest.

It was the quietest forest we've experienced.

Perhaps one of you knows this beauty's name.

Marin Iris or Fernalds Iris.

Thanks Susan.

A massive redwood burl, we are on the left!

This hike included several "crawls" under fallen trees.

On the trail and on more burls.

Under another fallen tree.  

This one is acting as a nurse log.

Plenty of Banana Slugs.  This one is about 

five inches long.

  More flowers.

 Foxglove.

And more.  Notice the yellowish spider

on a lower bloom.

They come in white too.

I think this is the cultivated flower,

Fuschia.

Our campground.

Edible flowers.

Nasturtium

 They taste a little like radishes.

An evening whale watching at the

Klamath River Overlook.

We saw several but they were too far

away to really enjoy.

We saw elk, raccoon, whale, golden eagle,

and even a glimpse of a bear.  

But, alas, only the grave of Big Foot.

We will continue looking as we cross

the border into Oregon.

As the "new" email said, we are still in CA.

This tree was once (1963) classified as the world's tallest.

When the redwoods get taller than their surrounding

brothers, they no longer need to compete for 

sunlight, so they increase their girth and branches.