Happy Trails with Mike & Ellen Taylor

Well, we're a little behind on our blog--busy with matters at home, and staying at campgrounds with weak internet signals. Glad to be in touch again! The picture above shows Mt Saint Helens in the background; this is as close as we got. It was quite a drive to get close. A helicopter ride would have been the way to really see the volcano, but that was just too expensive! That's the Toutle River Valley; notice all the ash still in the valley. We only vaguely remember the 1980 eruption, so it was very interesting to read all about the eruption, both the geological events leading up to it and the drastic changes that came afterwards. We ate lunch at a wonderful restaurant, which is where this photo was taken.

From our campground at Castle Rock, WA, we also took a long and beautiful drive to the coast. The scenery was just as you might imagine: steep wooded hills, sunwashed,narrow, shingled houses, lots of boats docked in the bays, high capes with incredible views. We really enjoyed the drive, especially seeing Astoria, where the fun "Goonies" movie was filmed!

From Castle Rock we headed south, with the sober thought that we had turned toward home. We spent a few days on the central Oregon coast in Florence, and again got to enjoy spectacular drives. There are many, many lighthouses, of course, and we've gotten pictures of a few of them. We are also happy to be back in the cool weather! We've learned that in this part of the country, fog has to be really close to the ground to be called fog; otherwise it's "marine layer." Every morning there's a marine layer on the coast!
http://picasaweb.google.com/TxMike3

Today we moved south to Cape Blanco, at Port Orford, just a little north of the California border. There are many state parks with hiking trails which we hope to explore. Our 39th anniversay is Saturday, and the campground owner has recommended a restaurant right on the coast, where we can watch the boats and enjoy the view while we eat. Looking forward to that, and to more adventures these last few weeks of our trip!