April 30 - Kennewick, Oregon to Missoula, Montana - found this seed pod in Kennewick

London Plane Tree seed pod

Inside seed pod

leaf

London Plane tree

Left Kennewick partly cloudy, windy 13 C - mile after mile of vineyards and apple orchards, as well as grasses, grains and asparagus.  land is prairie but they are irrigating it with the large irrigation sprinklers - the water is coming from?  aquafers perhaps - Lombardi poplars are used as wind breaks for the vineyards and orchards - tumbleweed and sage brush as well as prairie grasses  are seen where ever there is no irrigation - even saw someone who was irrigating his pasture for the cattle.

Driving into cool rainy weather - about 80 miles outside Spokane just grain farming - started to snow as I took these photos

Sprague Lake Washington

Getting away from prairie as we climb up hills - conifers covering hiils, 10 C and windy - sleeting a bit - down hill into Spokane which is surrounded by mountains.  Get through Spokane then into Couer D'Alene, Idaho - climbing up into mountains - 5 C - sleet now snow - mountains here are not like the Sierra Nevada - not as steep, not snow covered, quite a few small communities - mining (silver, lead and gold) and lumbering - and farms along I-90 - have seen historic buildings dating back to gold rush times and lots of old fashioned mine heads that are still in use.  3 C and snowing just outside Mullen, Idaho - snow on trees and beside road - looks like winter - can't see much for falling snow - temp dropping as we climb  0 C then at 4860 feet we hit -1 C!!!!  Going down the snow stops and the temp warms up to 3 C.  Make it to Missoula, check into hotel take a photo from window then we watch the snow clouds move in and it snows - we have accumulation - good thing all Canadians carry a snow brush in their vehicles year round :)

April 29 - Beaverton, Oregon to Kennewick, Washington  -  Cloudy day, small amount of rain, 13 C - headed out around 10 AM to avoid the heavy traffic - Portland  large city, freeway through middle of city, much like the 400 and Gardiner in Toronto, old buildings and impressive new structures. Took I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge - scenery was magnificent and the Columbia River was huge - trees on hills - coniferous and deciduous everything lush and green, very windy so the river had white caps, saw barges on the river, hydro dams, beautiful large waterfalls - hundreds of feet high- beside the interstate

  The further east we drove the landscape became more prairie like - arid looking, no trees, just tumble weed (yes a large one hit the car) sage brush, low grasses, bare rock cliffs and surprisingly vineyards, orchards and grain fields.  There are huge irrigation sprinklers everywhere so you get a patchwork effect on the land - dark green, light green, orchards, vineyards, arid beige ground and rocks.

Photo above shows barges on Columbia River, bridge we crossed to get from Oregon to Washington, orchards and vineyards, railway line - almost got blown off cliff while taking this.

So off again tomorrow wending our way home - the Red River is cresting in Fargo on Wednesday - so hope we can get through the flood zone :)

April 28 continued - lazed around the hotel until mid afternoon then went to visit and have supper with George's cousin - took some photos then headed back to hotel where I am about to start packing - we are leaving Portland tomorrow morning and driving to Kennewick, Washington - will be driving along Columbia River gorge so will see lots of amazing scenery - will also get  glimpse of Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood both active volcanos :)  Hope to have great photos for tomorrows blog.

 These photos show a neighbourhood in Beaverton

April 28 - Beaverton - Well the Hermits on the Move Tour 2013 is coming to the end - the tour manager says we have no more gigs so back to the studio for us.  Will not be going back thru Canada - heading out Northern route   - Spokane to Duluth then home.  One month on the road has been great but the pollen in Oregon  has taken its toll on George - he wants to breath again and not take antihistamines every 4 hours - pollen so bad everything - car( now a nice golden colour) even inside dash -covered in it.  sorry to All Canadian cousins who will miss the Hermits but as Arnie says "We will be back".  More to follow this evening.

April 27 - Beaverton, Oregon - Sorry didn't post yesterday - too pooped to do blog - visited with George's cousin - confirmed she is family via stories, photos and just looking at her - Portland is a beautiful city - trees and flowers in bloom , green lush grass, dandelions already gone to seed, wide streets, blvds are groomed and planted with every kind of shrub, plant and tree - traffic is horrible as the city is big and the road system can't handle the  number of cars.

April 26 - Florence, Oregon to Beaverton, Oregon  (near Portland)  - sunny but cool 9 C - driving up Highway 101 as far as Lincoln city then inland to Beaverton - just putting along the coast stopping to walk on the beach, sit on big drift wood logs, enjoy scenery

Morning fog rolling in on bridge in Florence

Above the incoming fog

Tide coming in

Fog and tide coming in along coast

Mouth of Ten Mile River meets the Pacific

Tide coming in filling tidal pool

Incoming tide and fog

Passed thru Depoe, Oregon the place  for whale watching, sand dunes along coast where you can go sand boarding which I assume is like snow boarding, can ride horses along beach in another area, scenery is spectacular, road is winding giving magnificent views of ocean.  Once we turn inland  just north of Lincoln City everything changes - we East head toward Portland via Highway 18 - Lots of clear cutting on the hills - some hills are almost completely devoid of trees, lots of vineyards, orchards, wineries - also Walnut and hazelnut, commercial blueberry farms - oh yeah and asparagus - Can see Mount Hood off in the distance.  got into heavy traffic and traffic jams the closer we got to Portland and Beaverton - felt like Toronto on the 400 or 401 at rush hour - took us forever to get to our hotel - but we made it  - just a few minutes from the coast the temp rose until it hit 27 C - now back in shorts and sandals for a few days -will be in Beaverton until Monday then heading North to get ferry to Victoria from northern Washington.

Just for fun - signs we have seen-

On outside of really old bar - "Just Bar, No Grill"

On sign outside plant nursery - "We are so excited spring is here we wet our plants"

Sign at Whaleshead Beach

Spotted Clover

 

 

 

 

Above - Photos I forgot to post yesterday


April 25 - Brookings, Oregon to Florence, Oregon - Morning we are leaving  is foggy and cool 9 C - first non sunny day we have had since arriving in California and Oregon.  Left late and had a leisurely drive up Highway 101 hugging the coast - incredible views along way, interesting towns - Port Orford, Coos and North Bend are a must to see - felt like driving on Highway 17N between Sault and Thunder Bay - Florence is a pretty town- watched the tide go out and come in from our hotel balcony.

Florence from our hotel balcony

Bridge

From hotel

April 24 - Brookings, Oregon - another sunny day , no clouds,  warm but windy - our adventure took us to Gold Beach where we saw cat houses, sea lions, great views and had a super lunch.  Then headed back and stopped at Whaleshead Beach.  Taking off tomorrow for Florence, Oregon - further up the coast then on to Beaverton, Oregon a burb of Portland.

Cat houses for feral cats

Gold Beach

Jet Boat Route

Jet Boats

Seals and Sea lions, Gold Beach

Whaleshead Beach

Whaleshead Beach tide going out

Tide out at Whaleshead

On the beach

Tide out

April 23 - Brookings, Oregon - another sunny warm day - we went for a hike along a section of the trail that runs right up the Oregon coast.

Cape Ferrelo

Huckleberry bush

From these tiny cones the mighty Redwoods grow

Whaleshead Beach

After hike just sat and visited - tomorrow will have another adventure

April 22 - Brookings, Oregon  another sunny day , less wind and getting warmer into the mid 70's.  Did a bit of sightseeing - went into Brookings - saw the waterfront and marinas - Brookings was hit by the Tsunami  that ravaged Japan - the marina in the photo below was destroyed and many boats were lost, damaged and sank - one boat from the recreational marina (worth $980,000) was torn from its mooring and washed out to sea and ended up beached half a mile away.

Crab boat

My hair was getting a bit long :) so Pat offered to trim it for me - Don't you just love the Oregon Blow Dryer

April 21 Brookings, Oregon - Sunny, warm with cool breeze - spent another day just hanging out - I cooked lunch and supper- George did computer stuff and we talked and sat in the sun.  tomorrow we are going on an adventure - photos for sure - learning a lot about Oregon, seems that this part of the state is very similar to northeastern and northwestern Ontario in regards to treatment by the gov't - we learned that on our way to Portland we will pass near Mount St Helen and see ash piles beside the highway.  Not sure when we will be leaving here - it is soooo nice and Pat wants us to stay as long as we like :)

April 20 - Brookings, Oregon - Sunny and cool  but sooooo refreshing.  Spent a day just doing laundry and cooking, visiting., took a drive to watch sunset.  These are photos of the home we are staying in - we are in the one bedroom guesthouse to the right of the main house - the two houses are connected by a covered walkway with a lovely garden in the middle - guest house is bigger than our home - wish we could uproot it and bring back with us:)