Happy Birthday Canada, USA, Me.............

Mural in Port Angeles where we boarded Ferry for Victoria

Mural of Historic Ferry

Vehicles Boarding the Ferry

Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island is a truly pretty little city. Our RV park, West Bay, is effectively right in town and just a bike ride from downtown. The parking space is just a bit tight, making the back-in maneuver an excellent spectator sport (one I've been enjoying as my neighbors enjoyed mine), but we look out our living room window right at the marina and past that the city. See?

Those things that look like houses are actually floating. The marine equivalent of a park model trailer.

Swing the camera 90 degrees and there's Victoria. It's a 5 kilometer shore walk or a 3 kilometer street bike ride away.

Park fees were on the high side of reasonable but the ferry ride was a bad case of sticker shock - $205 one way. Remember that rain I mentioned in Washington? Not a drop here. It's funny hearing TV weathermen promising an end to the blistering heat wave - 80 degrees during the day and high 50's at night. Not to mention the cloudless skies. We're seeing lots of peeling sunburn on the natives and visiting Germans (lots of'em, they love RVing).  Were entertained that night on TV with a documentary on how Canada won the war of 1812 followed by an hour of Twilight Zone (go ask your parents). We also met a couple of Canadian couples who've just barely started full-time RVing.

Next day we biked into town to get the lay of the land. Everything important is nice and close to the waterfront. You could move here just for the view. Once I hit the Lotto, we'll have a summer home here! We found farmer's market in a park just behind downtown. The very place where this weekend will be a gay pride parade. I'm envisioning cut-down wifebeater t-shirts and rubber boots. Tie dye underwear is selling big in anticipation of the event. Honest! Actually I personally ended up with a beautiful birthday present, a tie-dyed hoodie, plus a jar of fir-tip jelly. Tastes a lot like mint jelly.

 Sunday, road trip. A short one to Sooke, just 20 or so miles up the west coast. One of the new fulltime RVers we met is a retired RCMP veteran. He provided us with a list of must-see's in this are and we dutifully followed his advice. Obviously, he didn't steer us wrong. Our first stop at McGregor Park took us along a half mile or so pier built alongside the shore to a big platform one of the locals was using for Dungeness crab fishing. He landed nearly a dozen while we watched, only one male, the females are illegal to keep. Just a couple of the males would be a fine meal for two. Less than a mile from there is Wiffenspit, blocking a few hundred acres of harbor from the rest of the bay except for a narrow inlet. Nice long walk. Before we left we stopped in at the tourist information office and got more ideas and toured an outdoor museum complete with a relocated lighthouse.

Entrance to McGregor Park

Just a dead tree, honest. Looks great though, doesn't it?

Tourists, view, etc.

I think the pattern on the underside means it's female.

The locals just shrugged. Too common a sight to comment on.

Maybe you heard about the excitement on Canada Day in Victoria. Neither did we until the next day. Seems a couple of homegrown terrorists (convert muslims, way not too bright) tried to emulate the Boston thing. RCMP had tagged them much earlier then busted them in full preparation. Meanwhile we took that 5 mile or so waterfront walk and had lunch in Chinatown (oldest on the West Coast) , found leechee and mangosteen (exotic Asian fruits - delicious, indescribable flavor) plus durian (actually pretty tasty but the odor makes it for enthusiasts only) and finished up the day at a waterside pig roast followed by fireworks.

Our RV park from downtown.

Pretty cool, eh?

Gratuitous sexy statue. Other side is definitely R-rated.

Liz swears everyone who heard we were going to Vancouver Island insisted she see Butchart Gardens. Heck, it's only 20 or so miles north of Victoria. A confession. I was no better there than Liz is at a car or steam tractor show. For sure it's impressive but after a couple of hours of feasting my color blind retinas on one lush flowerbed after another, I pled for mercy. I think Liz was relieved to allow me to wander off to the café while she made sure we got our exorbitant money's worth. The gardens are the legacy of a very rich couple who just didn't know when to quit planting the darn things. When they shuffled off this mortal coil their heirs were only too happy to foist it off on local government and enthusiasts who've been raking in the cash ever since.

One of the things in the photo is prettier than the rest. Guess my choice.

I have no way of choosing among the hundreds of pictures we have of this place so here's a representative sample.

One other thing that day. Our semi-trusty Rand-McNally GPS once again took ill. This time the power cord ran a fever and blew its fuse. Of course this is a proprietary cord and the usual power cords just wouldn't do. Driving past a pawn shop, I had an idea. For a fairly nominal fee we now possess a 2 or so year old Tom-Tom. Nice bright screen, though tiny and it even sticks on the front of our dashboard without being intrusive. I expect the Rand will be resurrected eventually due to its huge screen and RV friendly format, but it'd better realize it has a rival.

Wednesday we again drove to Sooke then continued on to Port Renfrew, where the pave road just.............ends. There seems to be not much of a way up the Pacific coast except by boat. First Nation (Indians) owns a huge chunk of this island and seem to be determined to keep it inaccessible, bless them. Anyway we turned inland there and drove between the mountains to Duncan on the east coast, then back down to Victoria. 150 or so miles and an entire day. Just doing the tourist thing.

Port Renfrew is part of the temperate rain forest, like parts of the Olympic Peninsual. Moss everywhere.

The Harris Creek Spruce. Somehow this Sitka Spruce avoided being harvested and now is a minor tourist attraction.

The lumber business is alive and well here. In 40 or 50 years, they'll harvest in this area again.

Thursday we did some big-time touring without ever getting into the truck. Our retired mountie friend had told us about the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. Claimed you could do it just by bus and ferry. He was right, too. Unfortunately, it's 4 hours by that public transportation and another 4 hours back, leaving essentially no time for sightseeing. Nevertheless, the ferry ride is a nice cheap day cruise.

Major attraction of the ferry ride. Islands, lots of islands.

Yesterday we hit the BC museum in downtown Victoria. That building was a lot bigger inside than out. Since I'm about to be run out of this internet connection, I'll just say if you're in this area be sure to budget a full day for it.

It was tough taking non-flash pictures but couldn't resist this portrait. Johnny Depp's great-great grandpa?

Aand today's my umpty umpth birthday. thanks for all the birthday wishes on facebook.

 

And we're off!

Okay, we've spent the time between Mother's Day and Father's Day back Michigan. Caught up with old friends, covered a bunch of miles, collected (sort of) a patent award and set off all over again.




We visited Dulcie and Kevin Hostetle in beautiful Prince Gallatin State Park in Pennsylvania in May.

Scotty and Nora



Leandro played so well. He also graduated from middle school.

 

Liz finally saw the R.E. Olds museum.

Marching against Monsanto in Flint.

 

Dianna Gale Harrison

We used up a week after Father's Day booking it cross country between Michigan and the Olympic Peninsula in far western Washington State. For those who enjoy cross-country driving (me), it was a hell of a trip. Every hour with a new vista and unrivaled sights. Our second day out, In the western U.P. we saw a bald eagle flying over our truck and a little later, a black bear foraging in a berry patch right alongside Highway 2 and a fox  running across the road. All that and pasties for lunch. The U.P. bled into Wisconsin and Wisconsin bled into Minnesota etc. Once we got into western Minnesota we began a long climb. Liz kept a log of elevations. From eastern North Dakota (not nearly as boring as I'd been led to believe) to Missoula, Montana we climbed from 2000 feet to 6500 feet. One note: even though we spent a bunch on fuel (2400 miles at 12.5 mpg, you go ahead and do the math, I find it too painful) our accommodation bill for the week was $41. Best deal, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota - $5, with a view of the Painted Canyon thrown in for free. Of course we did spend a couple of nights parking with the semis, lulled to sleep by the throb of big diesels. We really hadn't been paying enough attention to our GPS and were shocked to be in downtown Seattle and instructed to turn North (!) straight up toward Canada, then onto a ferry for a $90 boat ride. Next time in this area we'll make a more southerly approach.

Painted Canyon, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota

The Olympic Peninsula is just another world. Much of the time you're on some island or another without quite realizing it. I've seen about 5 miles of 4 lane divided highway and I suspect that's about all there is. Driving here is an exercise in claustrophobia with narrow 2 lane roads bordered by deep forest right up to the edge. Suddenly, the woods will give way to a little town or an ocean view or a clearing across which you can see the mountains in Olympic National Park. By the way, when I talk about going somewhere or doing something in this area, just assume I added "in the rain" about 2/3 of the time.

Once settled in an RV park we spent the first day exploring Seattle. Chanced upon a free walking tour hosted by Jake, a young entrepreneur. He walked us through the famous Pike Street Market, into the old town then back along the waterfront. That was only a couple of miles so we headed into the city to the Space Needle, again only a couple of miles. The 74 acres surrounding the Space Needle is covered with museums and other attractions designed to drain your wallet with your hardly noticing. This is the home of the Science Fiction Museum, part of the EMP, Experience Music Project, inexplicably centering on Jimi Hendrix. Maybe the endowment by Paul Allen of Microsoft has something to do with that. Anyway, the whole thing is very well done with sections for sci-fi, fantasy, horror and lots of rock and roll. Then came the Chihuly glass exhibit. The man is nothing if not prolific. Thousands of organic looking glass confections. I understand this is not the only exhibit of his. Just another tramp of a couple of miles to a great little British Pub themed restaurant and onto the ferry (much cheaper for just our bodies, minus RV turtle shell) back across Puget Sound.

Seattle Art Museum, Hammering Man sculpture. The arm with the hammer moves up and down all day every day except Labor Day.

Liz messing with monkfish, Pike Street Market

Interesting feature. Every manhole cover contains a map of the city with a gold dot showing your location.

Liz standing in front of the vortex, Sci-fi museum.

A very weird visual effect screen in Horror section of EMP museum. We had a ball with this one!

Just one of hundreds of exhibits in Chihuly Glass and Garden. Opened in May 2012 near the Space Needle.

Next day we started our exploration of Olympic National Park. Since the park is about 1300 square miles, this was just a start. We drove about 40 miles to Hurricane Ridge, way the heck up there, about 6000 feet. Unfortunately the view was the same as from the inside of a ping pong ball. Pure cloud from about 4000 feet on up. Nice drive up and back, just not real photogenic.

Okay, I cheated. This is what we would have seen if Hurricane Point hadn't been socked in.

Tomorrow we rise early and take one more expensive ferry ride into Canada, onto Vancouver Island. We'll spend 10 days there which everyone who's been there tells me is not anything like enough. We'll be out of phone service for that time, so bear that in mind.

And about damn time!

After enduring the entreaties of dozens of clamoring fans (okay, a couple of people casually mentioned wondering what happened to the blog), I`ve finally reactivated this site. What happened? Why did I deprive my fans of their wonderful entertainment? Simple. Living in a retirement village in Arizona, while endlessly entertaining for us, would be dental-chair excruciating for anyone reading about it. I.E. Slept in til 7 a.m. again, played golf again (no, I won't tell the score, far too embarrassing), lunch, a couple hours of pool, or maybe a little more golf, socializing, dinner either in or out or maybe a potluck at the clubhouse, or maybe a hike in the morning and a show in the evening. Bored yet? We weren't, but it's a lot more fun to do than read about.

Our pad in Gold Canyon

Going to Golf in Gold Canyon Nov. 2012

View in Gold Canyon

One of the more photogenic things we did was the guided Wednesday morning hikes, so I'll throw in a representative sample here.



Typical scenery. Our guide, Rokus, a Canadian from Holland would lead us out into the desert around Superstition Mountain for several miles. He`s well over 70 and will walk your legs off.

 

Rokus and Mike


I have literally hundreds of these pictures and will gladly inflict them on any one of you who ask. If I were you, I wouldn't take the chance.

Okay, this was an event. Snow on Superstition Mountain!

The time from mid-October to the first of March passed all too quickly. We'll be back this fall, already got the reservation.

We left Gold Canyon March 1st, on our way to take care of pressing business in Kentucky. On the way we spent the night visiting a nephew in Austin, Texas.

Nephew Bruce and son Ben

Bruce's wife, Ellen and Ben

Automotive paint on fiberglass rodeo sculpture in Austin art museum.

We spent a couple of days in the Austin area and then headed North to Missouri and visited with son Zach. Again just a quick visit and off again to Kentucky. This was not a tourist kind of thing. We had to evict a tenant and get a house in some sort of shape to sell. No picnic on any count. We did find a reasonable accomodation at a campground in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. The eviction took over a week and then the fun began. Okay, the roof leaked in one area of the house, so they considered that to be a perfect crapground for the many dogs they'd managed to accumulate. Turds from fresh to fossilized 6 inches deep in places. After shoveling out the worst of the mess we contacted a real estate agent to see what we could get out of it. He quite graciously refused to even consider listing it and advised us to just put up signs declaring for sale by owner. Color us discouraged! However, we took his advice and within a day were approached by several people, some even somewhat sane and reasonable. One of the first prospective customers were Chris and Tanya Howell. Liz enlisted the help of their sons and friends to get the roof back in shape. Before we knew it, Chris was ramrodding the project and seriously contemplating ownership. Within a couple of days, they'd made their offer and we accepted. Not that that was the end of it. Now came the paperwork. It turns out it is indeed possible to do all that without professional help, you just have to learn everything the pro already knows. Many rounds of tentative paperwork and searching the net and calls to county bureaucrats, revising paperwork, rinse and repeat. Somewhere in here I ought to mention the weather. Frigid! Rain and snow. Everything we had vowed to leave behind forever. Next year we're staying in Arizona til April and then investigating south Texas and the gulf coast til the north decides to warm up.

Daughter Megan lives nearby so we made many trips to see her and growing faimly. It grew once more while we were in the area with the newest grandson, Enoch, her sixth (!).



Megan on March 18, 2013

Asher and Kitten

Genesis

Canaan

Solomon

Solomon



Ninevah, Austin, Skyler, Canaan



Usual busy life in the Ward house. Megan holding newborn Enoch, Skyler, Ninevah, Canaan, Genesis.



Enoch was born on April 9 (also great grandpa Richard Thelen's birthday). Photo on April 12.



Mike and Enoch

After 5 whole weeks in Kentucky, we wandered over to North Carolina to spend a week with Liz's gracious mom, Irmgard. First time we've stayed in someone's front yard. Interesting.

Irmgard, Liz and Mike on Pemberton St.

Irmgard and Liz in 5th wheel

Liz's sister Lorie and nephew Will with Liz in Durham, NC

 

Since we have a timeshare membership we decided to treat ourselves. We're now ensconced for a week at the Lakeview Golf Resort in Morgantown, West Virginia just south of the Pennsylvania border.  Two bedrooms, three baths. The living room has as much space as our entire trailer. So what do we do?  Complain about how far away the bedroom is. Nice golf courses, though.

Henry Clay Industrial Furnace from 1837 in Cooper's Rock State Park, West Virginia

We visited the Cooper's Rock West Virginia State Park and saw the Henry Clay Industrial Furnace.

View from Cooper's Rock

 

On Cooper's Rock Lookout

Liz here. Mike asked me to read his blog and I added pictures. I loved Gold Canyon and played golf every afternoon with "Cow Girls" once I realized they played 7 days a week. The Healthy Eating   Group was my second most favorite. I quit eating dairy after thinking more about food.  I learned to play Pinochle and we played most Tuesday nights. The pool is gorgeous and I went to water aerobics on Fridays. Yoga teacher, Leigh Morton became a dear friend and a huge reason to return there this November.