In Georgia, and Safe

It was a wonderful summer in New England, with so many visits with friends and family, as planned. But now we are back in the south, our new home. We hurried back to Georgia in September with the promise that the closing on our home would be Oct. 1. Surprise! Or I guess I should say, no surprise, the builder revised the predicted completion date and the closing won't be until mid-November.  We have been hanging out at Coastal Georgia RV Resort, just 15 minutes from Jekyll Island, and 20 minutes from The Cottages at Jekyll Island where we hope to be living very soon. 

Right now however we are about 160 miles inland, in Ashburn Georgia, at Carroll's Sausage and Country Store (and Georgia Peanut RV park), sitting out Hurricane Matthew in safety.  There was a voluntary evacuation of Jekyll Island and the surrounding area, but we had already decided to leave for a few days just to be safe. (Living in an RV makes it incredibly easy to get out of the way of hurricanes, which is an argument for holding on to the RV after we move into our seaside sticks and bricks home.) The storm is expected to hit Jekyll today, with the worst winds and water levels being at high tide, around 1:30 pm. The predictions I just read are not too dire, with swells at around 15' max and winds at about 30 mph max.  It doesn't look like that will cause too much damage, but we are vigilantly keeping the best outcomes for everyone in our hearts and minds.

While we're sitting out the storm, I'm in my pajamas and in blogging mode, which never seems to happen anymore, so I'd better share a few photos of some of the high points of our summer.  Let me say though, that the greatest moments of our summer, with dear friends and family, will remain undocumented here. It is by no means a statement of their relative importance. 

MASSACHUSETTS

Our first stop was in Massachusetts where we stayed at the Country Aire Campground in Charlemont, near Shelburne Falls and the scenic Bridge of Flowers.

Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, MA

MAINE

Next we spent about a month in Maine. One of our first stops was on the coast, where our friend Mike showed us around the quaint historical town of Castine. We enjoyed a sailboat cruise around the islands off of Castine, where Rick was in his blue mood. 

Aboard the 56' vintage yacht Guildive, out of Castine, ME

Then we met our friends Steve & Wendy at Acadia National Park for a week of sightseeing, hiking and lobster.

Bass Harbor, ME

Bernard, ME

Northeast Harbor. ME

Bernard, ME

View from Park Loop Rd., Acadia NP, ME

While in Maine we also had lovely visits with the Foggs at Mousam Lake, and the Thomas's at Cold Stream Pond, and got rides on both of their pontoon boats! Lucky us. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE

We stopped briefly in New Hampshire, on the north side of the White Mountains, where Honey and I visited this beautiful mountain stream and swimming hole every day to beat the heat.

VERMONT

Now for a great find in Vermont!  While staying at the Moose River Campground in St. Johnsbury, VT, I discovered Dog Mountain, the quintessential dog-devoted experience created by artist Steve Huneck and his wife Gwen Huneck. 

Roadside sign marking Dog Mountain and Chapel

The Dog Chapel was built by Steve Huneck and is designed to give people and dogs a place to remember and honor dogs they have loved. The walls are covered with notes and photographs that people have left about their dogs.

Inside Dog Chapel

Dog Mountain is an immense piece of property with fields, ponds and woods, interlaced with walking (and running!) paths for people and happy dogs. Always open, always free, and always well cared for.

Honey at Dog Mountain

At the Steve Huneck Gallery (also dog friendly) you can purchase the artist's well known work. All proceeds go to the Friends of Dog Mountain Foundation and the upkeep of the property and chapel. Please visit their website.

Inside the Steve Huneck Gallery at Dog Mountain

 While in Vermont we continued our new found enjoyment of visiting state capitols. I believe this one at Montpelier is one of the smallest and is just as special as all the others we've visited. Each one is so unique, yet formed around the same functional government theme. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys have a strong presence here.

VT state capitol at Montepelier, VT

While staying in Brattleboro VT we got to a few great contradances in Greenfield MA, and heard some new "high energy dance music with horns" from a band called Elixir.  It feels so good to see the contradance music and dance community that we love, vibrant with young dancers and musicians keeping the tradition alive and making it their own.

THE ROAD SOUTH

After a fast and furious (for us) two week drive back to Georgia through upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, here we are still waiting out the completion of our condo and waiting out the storm, watching the weather channel, me still in my pajamas.

I sure hope to create another post as we continue our transition from full-time RVing to life off the road, and I hope it doesn't take another hurricane to make me do it.

Adventure on Wild Horse Island, Flathead Lake

Wild Horse Island is the largest island in Flathead Lake and it's relatively close to the south end, where we are. We'd been wanting to get out there since the last time we were here, but couldn't quite figure out how. It's an undeveloped state park with access only by boat. The local boating company's day trip boat is out of commission as a result of a recent storm. The island is probably too far to kayak, then hike for 2-3 hours, then kayak back. It also seemed foolish to drive 20 miles to the north side of the lake where there are charter companies to the island, have them boat 15 miles down here to the island, and back again, and then drive 20 miles home to Polson.  There is no actual docking available at the Island so we were hesitant to rent a boat and ground it on the rocky shore. 

Finally we found Big Arm Boat Rentals and Rides (in Big Arm, a few minutes north of Polson) that has a ride service over to the island and back for less than the cost of renting a motor boat for 4 hours. 

Big Arm Boat Rentals and Rides

It's not a big or flashy place, but the family that runs it is very nice, efficient, helpful and full of local information for the asking.  

The owner, Matt, gave us a ride over in a small motor boat and dropped us of at Skeeko Bay, one of only two places where visitors can access the trails. There is a self-pay kiosk at the trail head. The standard MT state park day use fee seems to be $6. There is also a map posted at the trailhead. You can find this one on the MT state parks website.

After signing in at a day user's register, we headed upland toward the center of the island, past a few wooden structures identified as the Homestead.

At that location we met a large family of Patriot's fans. Because Rick wears a Patriots' hat, he meets a lot of fellow fans. Turns out this family had a special Patriot of their own with them. More on that at the end of our hike. They also pointed out a herd of about ten male big horned sheep resting in the shade down the hill a ways. 

Hiking on up the hill, we got some great views and lots of evidence of wild horses (six of them live on the island now) but no sightings. The horses are here from when the local Native Americans used the island to keep their horses so that other local tribes wouldn't steal them. 

We chose not to take an unmarked extension of the trail that seemed to go up to the peak of the island, where we had read elsewhere that there is an old volcanic crater. We weren't sure how far it was and we felt the 3.5 mile hike was enough. The views from our highpoint were great anyway. You can see in the above picture how dry it is here now.

The trail then turns downward through a ponderosa pine valley that skirts the edges of a restricted area protecting nesting bald eagles.  There were hundreds of pine white butterflies flitting around in the dark green tree branches.  Caught this one on the ground for a few seconds.

The descent brought us out to Eagle Cove, a beautiful little bay.

The shoreline all around Flathead Lake is rocky, usually with small to medium sized colorful smoothed stones.  The water is always crystal clear.

A wiki-up like those in the Pacific Northwest, on one of the small beaches. 

The trail finishes with a final mile along the shore through the trees ending back at Skeeko Bay, where we would be picked up.

And there was the big family from Massachusetts again, vacationing with their patriarch Dante Scarnecchia, who was the offensive and assistant head coach of the Patriots for many years. Rick was a happy Patriots' fan indeed. 

Our day at Wild Horse Island ended with a zippy, bouncy, invigorating ride back to Big Arm Boat Rentals and Rides, on a jet ski driven by the owner's 14 year old son, who didn't know the meaning of "Slow down!"

The Unbelievably Blue Crater Lake

Crater Lake is iconic, like the Grand Canyon. When you see the Grand Canyon, sometimes all you can say is, "Wow, it's really big." What everyone says about Crater Lake is, "Wow, it's really blue." Yes, it is, and in this post with these uncolor-enhanced photos, I'll try my best to rouse that reaction in you too. 

A couple of years ago we visited Crater Lake in April, when it was still snow-bound. We viewed it from Rim Village, the only viewpoint that was open. It was really blue then too.

This time we wanted to get up close and personal, so we took the "Volcano Boat Tour" around the lake, leaving from the base of Cleetwood Cove Trail, the only way down to the surface of the lake. 

Although Cleetwood Cove Trail is smooth and maintained, with benches interspersed for rest, it is described as moderately strenuous, equivalent to about 70 flights of stairs. I imagine they tell you this not to scare you off, but to be free of liability if you don't make it to the boat on time. I also imagine is prevents some crises on the way back up. 

We heeded the advice offered, and gave ourselves plenty of time to get down to the lake along the very pleasant and scenic trail. As we approached the bottom we spied the three tour boats: the Klamath, the Umpqua and the Rogue, named for the rivers that originate near Crater Lake. 

The boat dock with a couple of service buildings, including a well utilized set of composting toilets, are the only structures built along the shores of the lake, except for those on Wizard Island. More about that in a moment. 

So, can you believe this is fresh inland water? Doesn't it look like Hawaii or the Mediteranean? This is some of the clearest water in the world, and it all comes from precipitation, primarily snow melt. 

We loaded up our boats and shoved off. We were fortunate to have a knowledgable and pleasant Park Ranger as our guide. As we circumvented the lake, she kept us informed of the history, geology and other scientific data about the lake. Here we are passing Lao Rock - that's the large one. 

As we skimmed across the cobalt water, we approached Wizard Island, a smaller volcano within a volcano. 

This end of Wizard Island is a more recent lava flow.  Here you'll see Lao Rock in the background, topped by some lingering morning clouds. 

A little further around the island, the winter shelters for the boats came into view. Although the lake doesn't freeze over in the winter, there are severe storms and high winds that have damaged the boats many times over the years. This history of the boats on the lake is pretty interesting. No boats other than the tour boats and a few research vessels are allowed on the lake.  There are several permanent buildings devoted to research on Wizard Island as well. 

You can see the Crater Lake Lodge in the upper left hand corner above the cliffs. 

Further on we came to the most turquoise section of the lake, and a waterfall. 

One of the nicest things about these Ranger tours is that you understand what you are seeing so much better. Here she explained that this green section of the cliffs used to be up at the top but the whole thing slipped down in a landslide, leaving the bare rocky earth behind it.

We circled around the only other island on the lake, called the Phantom Ship.

It's called Phantom because it often blends in with the surrounding rock, making it disappear. But this day it looked black compared to the other rock.  You can probably figure out why it's called a ship. 

The next shot is just one more untouched illustration of the incredible color of this water!

The standard tour is about 1.5 hours long. There are other options that will drop you off on Wizard Island for a few hours and pick you up later in the day.  Back at the dock, there were more people waiting for the next boat, and some folks fishing.  Although this little building looks just like an outhouse, (heaven forbid!) it houses the water quality research equipment.

Yes, the hike up was strenuous, but completely manageable. There are plenty of benches and shady spots places to rest. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch at the halfway point and took lots more pictures.   It was really hard to leave the beautiful water. 

This is really the last Oregon post. We're in remote parts of north eastern California now and will check in again soon, if and when our internet connection allows.

Magnificence in the Lower 48: Seattle and Gig Harbor, WA

Phew! What an experience Alaska was. The dreams have finally stopped. I think because I caught up with all the posts about Alaska, my mind could rest. I sure miss the wildness of it all, and the constant alertness for wildlife. But to be fair, our experiences in Gig Harbor and Seattle were pretty darn stimulating as well.

Mt. Rainier from Gig Harbor

Our good friends Nick and Cindy were kind enough to pick us up at the airport and once again welcome us in their wonderful home for a few days in Gig Harbor before we moved on. We really appreciated the time to rest and catch up with them and ourselves, plus we had so much fun and felt so comfortable with them and in their home. Cindy cooked some incredible meals for us while we were there; it was a relief to have home cooking again after all that restaurant food. We are so grateful for their friendship and generosity, and look forward to hanging out with them again in Florida, or sooner!

At Nick and Cindy's suggestions we took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle one day to hang out downtown and to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Seattle Center "under" the Space Needle. What a great recommendation.

Bremerton (above) is one of our favorite places to observe marine life.  Under the marina is home to multiple varieties of invertebrate sea creatures. Below you can see different kinds of sea anenomes and crustaceans clinging to the sides of the floating dock. 

We also saw sea stars, jelly fish, and this cute little guy swimming around. Maybe it was 5 inches long.  I'd call it a sea taco, but I think it's a nudibranch. Flabellina trephina would be my uneducated guess. (Who knew there was a Sea Slug Forum? You can find anything online.)

I'm usually more than camera shy, but Rick managed to get a shot of me enjoying the ferry ride and the beautiful weather we had for it.

As we docked in Seattle, another ferry just like ours was pulling out.

Although we've been to Seattle before, we haven't really given it enough of our time. We aren't so comfortable in cities, and tend to avoid them. But with directions and suggestions from Nick and Cindy, we felt more confident. Walking from the ferry to the Space Needle was a perfect way to see some of the highlights of the city.

Passing through Pikes Place Market is a sensory extravaganza - in good and bad ways.

In case you didn't know, or couldn't guess - this is the Space Needle

The Space Needle is just one of the most visible components of the Seattle Center, a campus of museums and other attractions, originally constructed for the 1962 World's Fair.  Chihuly Garden and Glass is one of the permanent exhibits on the campus. 

Most readers will have some familiarity with Dale Chihly's work, as he is one of the most prolific and well placed artists in the USA. His works are often featured in botanical gardens, arranged  dramatically among the plant life, mimicking and complementing their organic forms.

In this collection, much of Chihuly's work is displayed chronologically in more a traditional gallery setting, surrounded by black walls and strategically lighted to emphasize color and shape.  The first gallery is the Glass Forest, from the 1970s.

The next room also features Chihuly's personal collection of Native American baskets and trade blankets, the inspirations for his works called Cylinders (two photos below) placed strategically in the same space.

The next collection, the Sea Life Room was one of my favorites, and echoed our experience earlier in the day in Bremerton. Here were Chihuly's vessels topped with black and gold sea life forms such as these turtles and octopi. 

After being in the somewhat understated black and gold of the Sea Life Room, the colors and dynamics of the next room were almost mind blowing. There was a total traffic jam at the entry way, with people taking pictures or just being silently stunned by their first sight of the presentation.  I hope you can see why the Mille Fiori is the show stopper.

It kind of reminds me of Pikes Place Market, now that I look back on it. The next room had two wooden boats in it, one filled with glass spheres called Niijima Floats and the other with what Chihuly calls Ikebana Forms, inspired by Japanese flower arrangement. Like so many of his works, the wooden boats reflect images of Chihuly's childhood home in Puget Sound.

The next gallery displayed about five of Chihuly's Chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. This one is in my favorite color.

On to the room holding some of his Persian Forms. Elsewhere they were displayed in smaller, flatter forms en masse in a glass ceiling like this... 

...but sometimes the Persian Forms are these very large containers. 

The apogee of the exhibit was the Glasshouse, right below the Space Needle.

Chihully loved glass conservatories, and has exhibited his works in many. Here he designed his own to house one of his grand "exotic plants."

We exited the Glasshouse into the gardens, and strolled through a more dense and finely integrated version of the Chihuly garden displays we have seen elsewhere. Unlike others, this garden was designed and created to permanently compliment his work, rather than to simply display it temporarily, resulting in a more dense and integrated effect. 

A large sunburst centerpiece of the garden:

What a beautiful day. It seemed to be woven together with some kind of grand aesthetic intention, from the abundant sea life in Bremerton to the flowing organic forms of Chihuly; from the colorful and exuberant sensory experience of Pikes Place to the magnificent intensity of Mille Fiori.

Was it art reflecting life, or life reflecting art?