More pictures of the Pacific Ocean

I had to get the oil changed on the truck today, 8/29/11. I can not believe we have put 16,000 miles on the truck since we left Florida. After the truck was taken care of we took a little ride north of Tillamook. The little towns along the road reminded us of the small towns along the coast you see in Florida. The views are really fanastic and we can not wait to move on south tomorrow to Myrtle Creek and see more of this wonderful coast. 

The Wienermobile
 I wonder if this is the one that sold on Barrett Jackson?

Made it to Tillamook, Oregon

We left Mt. Rainier and headed to Tillamook, Oregon on 8/27/2011. It is exciting because we were going to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. The campground is a couple of miles from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which is the second largest tourist attraction in Oregon. You can view the making of cheese, get some free cheese samples and then get some of the best ice cream made by Tillamook. 
The town can smell of cow manure as they need a lot of cows to produce the cheese and ice cream, but it isn't a strong odor and is rather nice!
On Sunday we took a short drive over to the Pacific Ocean. Wow what an ocean!! It is just like we imagined with the tall cliffs surrounding the water and the rocks protruding from the ocean floor. Also it doesn't take long for the fog to roll in and cover a cliff or rock that you saw 30 minutes ago. There are several beach areas that you can get to, that will allow you to enter the water and take walks. Very few people enter the water as it is very cold. We also saw the Cape Mears Lighthouse that is being restored and 3 Arch Rocks, both wonderful. At the Cape Mears Lighthouse there is a tree, the Octopus. It is 46 ft. in circumference, 105 ft tall and between 250 to 300 years old. We have never seen a tree like this before.
Someone told us of a place to eat in a small town down the coast called Roseanna's Cafe that had the best clam chowder. Well I love clam chowder and had to try it. Boy was it good!!  I had the best cinammon bun on this trip, so why not try and find the best New England Clam Chowder? Another mission, I hope I succeed!!

The last 2 mile hike at Mt. Rainier

After our almost 4 mile hike to Comet Falls we decided to hike up Skyline Trail. A very steep trail that gets you close to Mount Rainier. The trail had many patches of snow and was very slippery in some steep grades. There were alot of people on the trail and we ended going up a little over a mile. The sights from that hike were amazing. I took alot of pictures but they don't do justice to Mt. Rainier. The snow being on the trail is rare at this time of year. It doesn't look like it will be gone before more snow falls in the next several months. We really enjoyed Mt Rainier and never thougth it would be this magnificant. What a great 2 days of hiking!

David is back in Kuwait after another mission in Iraq. It was his last mission and he will be leaving for Germany in the next week. There is also a wonderful young lady, who can hardly wait for him to return:)) Thanks to all who have prayed for him and let us remember there are so many others still in harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan that can use our prayers.

Mt. Rainier in 8/26/2011

Had to go back and hike the Comet Falls Trail. The hike to the falls is 3.9 miles and has an elevation gain of 900 ft. It is one of the largest waterfalls in the park, falling 320 feet into Van Trump Creek. This was a great challanging hike with lots to see. Comet Falls was really something and the closer you got the sound became much louder. A lot of water falling 320 ft. will do that. You get close enough to get sprayed from the water hitting the bottom rocks. The most fantastic view though was the rainbow at the bottom of the falls. What a site!! The hike was really great and if you visit Mt. Rainier make sure you see Comet Falls.

Visiting Mount Rainier

What a great place we found Mt. Rainier to be. Suzanne and I weren't sure what to expect but this place is really fabulous!!  The trees and the mountain provide some of the most beautiful views imaginable. Not to mention some very neat hikes taking you to some spectacular waterfalls. I really love to hear the water rushing from a waterfall. Such power!! We stopped at the Longmire Museum and Wilderness Information Center to get some tips on the best and important things to see. They told us of several hikes which would let us see some great waterfalls and give us some breathtaking views.
The first hike was the Wonderland Trail which was a little over a 2 mile round trip to Carter Falls and Madcap Falls What a wonderful hike and the falls were fantastic. The weather was picture perfect and being on the trails with the sun shining made for a great hike. Everything is so green and the trees are really big.  After this hike we went to the main visitor center at Paradise. The view looking up to Mt. Rainier is really something to see. We took a hike up to Myrtle Falls, about a half mile up and it was really wonderful.  There was even snow on trail, hard to believe it was August 25th. Another waterfall, Narada Falls was right off the road and the spray got you wet but the rainbow at the bottom of the falls was fantastic.

Made it to Mt Rainier and the state of Washington

Left Fort Langley on Wednesday 8/24/2011 and headed for the border, which was only 15 miles from the campground. We were excited about getting back to the lower 48!! The border crossing went quickly and the only thing they asked about was firewood. Not one custom agent has asked to see the vaccination papers for my dogs. I don't think he even saw them. In the 4 crossings, we never spent more than 1 minute with an agent before we were told to move along and have a nice day. I guess we don't look like the shady type:)) We decided to take I-5 thru Seattle and since it was around noon we didn't get in any real traffic. The trip to Ashford and the Mounthaven Campground which is only 2 miles from the entrance to Mt. Rainier went easily. We did stop at a Super Walmart for groceries and supplies. Boy was it nice to get the cheap prices again. We will never complain about the prices in Florida or any of the lower 48 states. We really like the Mounthaven Campground and the beautiful huge trees and watching the black tail deer.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver

While visiting Vancouver we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge is not that far from the shores of North Vancouver and really in a residential area. The suspension bridge is 450 feet long and is far above the Capilano Canyon floor. Since 1889 tens of millions have visited this spectacular bridge. There is also Treetops Advnture which is a series of carefully engineered cable bridges suspended between high tree platforms that reach as high as 10 stories. The walk gives you some fantastic views from high in the trees. They have a relatively new Cliffwalk, which is some 300 feet above the canyon floor and has a 20 inches wide walkway hanging out from the cliff. It again gives you some fantastic views of the mammoth trees and canyon below. Overall we had a great trip into the city!!