Sangria, Please!

We had another whirlwind departure of bus, train, and car.  We left Premia de Dalt early, caught the first bus down the hill, then the train into Barcelona, then picked up our rental car.  With 4 of us, renting a car in each country has been the best option.

Across the Border

I didn't realize how much of Ohio is farm land.  For that matter, how much of our country, in general, is rural. There were farms everywhere on the drive from Columbus up to Michigan.

While we were in Columbus we camped at Alum Creek SP and it was an okay campground.  We stayed there a couple of nights and explored a bit.  Diego spent a work day at the local IBM office with a team mate.

Diego and Kavin

Following the Appalachian Mountains

Last Sunday we passed through part of northern Georgia into North Carolina.  The section of the drive following the Nantahala River was very pretty.  We made a stop along the of the river and watched the rafters and kayakers come in.  We passed through an tiny "town" called Wesser and I think that's where we crossed over back in high school when we were hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Nantahala River.......chillly

On the Road Again.....

It has been a while since I have written on the blog.  We had a very nice visit with family in Las Vegas.  Went to several Circque du Soleil show's, thanks to our local connections.  Saw Willie Nelson in concert at the Belagio.  Visited Red Rocks and spent lots of family time.

Cousins playing, no fighting, no playing....can't keep it straight :)

Joshua Tree

Leaving the California coast we headed inland toward Palm Springs to a city called Indio.  This town was picked based on campground and it's proximity to Joshua Tree National Park.

Bubble Gum, Anyone?

A little southeast of our previous stop, we headed to Paso Robles.  We were trying to make our way down the coast and based on campground preferences and a recommendation to check out San Luis Obispo, we ended up in this area.

The campground was a nice little place.  Nothing fancy, but had lots of sun since we had been covered by redwoods at the previous spot we were happy to have it.

The car and camper had a professional bath this week.  They are white again.

Lake "Taco" and the Captain

Our next destination was found in an effort to get as close as we could to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite NP, but not be freezing cold.  The campgrounds were slim pickins, but we found one called Commanche Lake Recreation Area and even though it didn't have many ratings, the other options had terrible ratings, so we took a gamble.  It felt like we left civilization to get to the site, which if you're on vacation is good, but if you living everyday life it is not always the best.

The campground itself was nice and our site was on the lake.  Apparently it can be a pretty rowdy campground in the summer, but for us in early November, it was quiet and peaceful.

That's our camper out there in the distance.  Commanche Lake Rec Area.

Hallow Redding

Made the pass from California's coast inland toward Redding.  The drive was very scenic with a hint of fall colors.

The pass from Arcata to Redding.  Beautiful drive.

NPS Recreation area on our way into Redding.

Redding was a nice change of scenery.  Much drier conditions and lots of sunshine!  The laundry has become my humidity test.  There are so many things that we don't put in the dryer and when I hang them out to dry, depending on our where we are, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes up to 3 days to dry.  In the Coos Bay area I thought they would never dry.  This was a "30 minutes to dry" stop.

Tree Giants

We left the Coos Bay/Charleston area a day earlier than we had planned and followed Hwy101 south. Had a travel day with on and off rain and sunshine.  The air at some times seemed so thick with moisture it was like driving through the clouds.  We were headed for the town of Arcata, CA and excited to see some redwoods.  We took lots of pictures because the views of the ocean and cliffs from Hwy 101 were so beautiful and there were lots of pull off areas.

Columbia River Gorge

We had thought we would stay on the coast heading south through Oregon, but it turned out we needed an airport for Diego, so we decided to head a little inland and check out Portland.  We stayed at a state park about 40 minutes southeast of the city called Milo McIver.

There was an episode of Grimm being filmed just on the other side of our campground.  I don't know that show and wouldn't have even known it was being filmed except that we went on a hike and saw a couple of security guys and asked them what was going on.  The were hanging out near the dam located on the river there.

Hydrothermal Dam near Milo McIver state park.

The Trail Ends with the Goonies

Beautiful drive from Port Ludlow to Astoria.

Bridge from Washington to Oregon

Our campsite was at Fort Stevens State Park, just over the bridge from Astoria, in Warrenton, OR.

The park was very nice.  Well maintained and the biggest state park I have ever seen.  It has over 400 sites and a very nice biking/hiking system that goes for miles.

Lush Coast

Headed back down through Seattle and looped around to the Olympic Peninsula to stay in Port Ludlow.

Port Ludlow

We stayed at a park run by the city and it was very nice.

Port Ludlow campground

Tons of trees and felt very much like a small state park, but was right near the middle of town.  "Middle of town" meaning the one gas station, post office, Italian restaurant, and hair cutter in town.
It was a short drive to several things we wanted to see and the spot was perfect for our purposes.

Do You Like Ninjas?

From Missoula we headed north up to Flathead Lake.  We are staying at a state park called West Shore and it is about 10 minutes south of Lakeside, MT.

Our site at West Shore State Park

Our site is beautiful and just up the hill from the lake itself.  The water at the lake looks like the Caribbean.

The lake from the campground

It is so clear, but the water is fresh and a little chilly depending on how hot the day feels.

Mi-zooooo-la

Next stop............Missoula, MT.

Campground was great.  Lots of shade trees, friendly staff, nice restrooms and laundry room.  They even had a concert one night, but we missed it.

Our spot for the week.  The flowers all over the park were beautiful.

Missoula is home to the University of Montana and quite a happening place.  I love all the activity that the city had going on.  It was a small, big city with every shopping and food option you could want, but had a nice vibe.

Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin

Headed north from Henry's Lake and had all country roads to reach Three Forks, MT.  This town is part of Lewis and Clarke's expedition to discover the west and I read somewhere in town that it was where Sacagawea recognized and was reunited with her brother during the negotiations with the natives in the area for food and horses.

Three Forks is named for the three rivers that converge just northeast of the town to form the Missouri River.  They are the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin Rivers, named by Lewis and Clark after two presidents and a treasury secretary.  From Three Forks the Missouri River flows north and after traveling 2,565 miles reaches the Mississippi River.  The Missouri River is the longest single river in North American and drains about 1/6 of the North American Continent.