Crater Lake

May 27, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Ed and Charlene loved Crater Lake.

We learned a new phrase today: Crater Lake Blue. One glance at Crater Lake and it is very clear why people use the term Crater Lake Blue. Wow, is it gorgeous! The blue color of the lake is incredibly rich. When people first see it, you can hear them inhale as they are surprised by its beauty. Crater Lake is simply spectacular.

You can see in this photo why the “Crater Lake Blue” is now Charlene’s favorite shade of blue.

Ed remembers in grade school that one of his teachers showed a movie that discussed Crater Lake. Now all these years later, we were able to see it in person. Viewing Crater Lake is truly inspiring.

We learned all kinds of interesting facts. Crater Lake is the deepest fresh water lake in the entire United States. It started when a volcano erupted. A chasm formed in an almost perfect circle around the entire volcano. When the eruption was done, the entire mountain fell into the earth creating an immense bowl. Since the area averages 44 feet of snow every year, the bowl filled with snow and rain water. There is no other source of water for Crater Lake. Therefore, the water is pristine. Tests are run every year to determine the depth of visibility. The average is 100 feet.

Charlene with Wizard Island in the background.

There is one type of bird that is abundant around Crater Lake. It is the Clark’s Nutcracker which feeds on seeds from pine cones. Any seeds not eaten immediately are stashed and those forgotten grow into new trees.

The nutcrackers are beautiful, but noisy.

Crater Lake is definitely a place to put on everyone’s bucket list.

The sides all around the lake are very steep, just like a bowl. It is a huge bowl of the purest water in the country.

This is a panorama of 4 separate photos to fit the entire lake into one photo.

When we got back to our motorhome, we saw an egret walking carefully and slowly in the stream next to us. Beautiful! Occasionally it would stop and swiftly dip its head into the water and come up with something to gobble. We also saw a family of ducks. When we opened the door, the males flew away and the mother stayed with the ducklings which instantly swam next to her under some plants growing over the water.

This egret was right outside our motorhome door. Beautiful!

This has been a wonderful place to boondock. It will be sad to leave this place, but it will forever hold good memories for us.

Klamath Falls, Oregon

May 25, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Here’s an excited Charlene across the spring.

Today was a travel day and we drove from Reno, Nevada, through the north east quadrant of California and into Oregon. We were in several rain storms in California, but once we reached Oregon the sky cleared up and we had beautiful blue skies.

We found a place to boondock north of Klamath Falls. We love our site. There are only two other people in the small campground and we are away from them on the other side of the campground. The extra beautiful feature is that there is a natural spring flowing right next to our campsite. It is beautiful and peaceful. We have the coach positioned so that we see trees and bushes from all our windows.

This is the view of the fresh spring just a few yards from our motorhome. Beautiful!

Charlene loved watching all the animals. To her surprise, she saw an eagle fly past our campsite. It was so unexpected, it was hard to react before it was gone. She also saw red-winged blackbirds, white cranes, swallows, and other birds. She spied a small animal which we thought at first was a river otter, then we thought was a baby beaver but are now pretty sure was a prairie dog at the water’s edge.

While sitting outside by the water, Charlene got cold even though she was wearing jeans. She went inside and put on some sneakers and a sweatshirt. Even with those she was feeling a little chilly sitting in the shade of a nearby tree. (With no sunscreen, she didn’t want to sit in the sun.) It is amazing to think that Charlene was cold on Memorial Day weekend with long pants and a sweatshirt on!

At one stop today, Charlene was waiting for Ed to finish fueling the motorhome and she saw a whole display for the Oregon Ducks. After the initial shock wore off, she said to herself, “We’re not in Arizona any more, Toto!” It’s so weird to realize we are relatively close to Eugene.

Green and gold! Where’s the Arizona red and blue?

Lake Tahoe

May 24, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene at Lake Tahoe

Today we had the opportunity to visit Lake Tahoe, about an hour away from Reno. It was especially nice as the weather was beautiful. We have been in Reno/Sparks for 11 days and it has rained every day. In contrast, today was beautiful with sunny skies and clouds over the mountains.

The drive through Carson City to Lake Tahoe was nice, but fairly steep as we drove up the mountain. Lake Tahoe is known for being very deep and having a rich blue color. When we drove near the lake, we noted that the water was especially clear and was blue. It was very beautiful. Wikipedia says that Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the U.S., behind Crater Lake in Oregon.

We enjoyed a nice hike down to the lake’s edge. As we got closer, it was surprising how clear the water was. Charlene watched three people jump into the water after their friends had their cameras ready to take a photo. They immediately ran back onto the beach!

We have visitors!

May 22, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

John and Michelle joined us for a visit!

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog. Ed had to fly to Philadelphia to present a poster and give a lecture at a professional meeting. Charlene manned the fort in Reno and enjoyed a wonderful trip to a spa that Amy and Neil gave her for Mother’s Day.

On Ed’s return to Reno, we were extremely excited to have John and Michelle arrive for a visit! It has been absolutely fantastic to spend time with them as we have not seen them since they were in Tucson in December while they moved Michelle to Austin.

We almost did not recognize John. He has been following some guidelines to decrease meal portion sizes and he has lost 77 pounds!! He looks wonderful. Speaking with John and Michelle has encouraged us to try and lower our meal portion sizes too.

The weather in Reno has been a bit odd. It has been raining a small amount every single day since we have arrived. We have enjoyed the weather being cool, but would enjoy a little time without rain. It sounds like we are used to living in a desert. We’re are definitely not used to wearing long pants and sweatshirts at the end of May.

Reno, here we come!

May 15, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The winning ticket!

After arriving in Reno yesterday, we decided to check out the area. Reno has many casinos and we went to Circus Circus. We walked around and realized there are three casinos sharing the same building so we could barely tell when we walked from one to the other. We went from Circus Circus to Silver Legacy Casino and then on to Eldorado Casino then back again. Circus Circus opened its midway at 1:00 and it was like being at a fair. No, we didn’t play any games. Charlene thinks they’re all rigged to make you lose. We found out the circus acts do not begin until 5:00 pm so that may be for another day. We did find a show for tomorrow night. We have tickets for comedian, Will Durst, talking about baby boomers called BoomeRaging.

As we walked around the casinos for the last time, Charlene spied a penny slot machine and told Ed, “Get ready, we’re going to gamble!” Ed was a good sport and we went to three penny slots. Charlene sat at one machine and Ed sat next to her at another. She took out a crisp one dollar bill and set it on her machine. She offered another dollar to Ed but he said he would rather watch her. We had to search for where to put in the dollar and then Charlene asked which button to push. Ed said either the “one-bet” button or the “full-bet” button. As her smile turned to a grin, Charlene pushed the full-bet button, in essence gambling the whole dollar!

As we watched the wheels go round and round, we watched as one gold bar appeared on the center line, then another, then another, a fourth gold bar appeared and then something else. We were trying to figure out what four gold bars meant with a fifth space filled with…….not a gold bar when we both realized we had won $9.60. Together we yelled, “Stop! We won. Let’s cash out!” The machine spit out a piece of paper showing we had won. We had to ask several people to figure out where to get our cash, and then suddenly we had $9.60 in Charlene’s hot little hand. Now that’s the way to gamble……either lose one dollar or win almost ten! However, we think our big gambling spree has come to an end. After all, we do not want the casino to have OUR money.

Show me the money!

Headed to Nevada!

May 14, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

A nice RV park to enjoy!

Today was a fun change in weather as the day progressed. We started the day in Vacaville (yes cow town) with a beautiful morning and we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. We hooked up the Jeep and drove east on I-80. As we were going through Donner Pass (over 7,000 feet), we found ourselves suddenly with SNOW flurries. It was not sticking on the ground, but snowflakes were dancing all around us. Having lived in Tucson for decades and decades, we cannot remember the last time we were in snow during May.

We stopped at a rest stop and it was 46 degrees outside! Ed ran out to the Jeep to get our coats. Seeing Donner Pass made us think of the families stuck in the snow in the 1800s where they had to resort to cannibalism to survive. The area was beautiful with gorgeous trees, Donner Lake and rivers near the road.

We cruised down through Reno and into our RV park. This looks like an enjoyable place to spend some time. Although a bit cool, we were again quite comfortable in shorts and t-shirts.

map to Sparks

Jelly Beans and Napa Valley

May 13, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Everyone loves jelly beans!

There were several displays of Ronald Reagan and jelly beans. This portrait was made out of jelly beans.

Today we toured the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory. It was quite fun to see how jelly beans were made and how many days it required to make them. Most of the flavors were fantastic, but they certainly had some purposely bad ones too. Yuck! Blueberry, coconut, and pumkin, etc. were nice, but vomit and ear wax were no thank you.

Be careful to not get these flavors mixed up!

Although most of the flavors were fantastic, they had some yucky ones too.

After touring the jelly bean factory we drove through Napa Valley and the Silverado Trail. It was fun driving around seeing the names of wineries we recognized. Grapes were growing everywhere and it was one winery after another along both sides of the roads. We stopped at Sequoia Grove Vineyards and tasted all kinds of white and red wines. We bought 3 different kinds of wine to save for Thanksgiving. Today was very tasty indeed.

Flexibility is key

May 12, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

We are learning all kinds of things while on this RV adventure. Some are unexpected. For example, the need to be flexible is one of the unexpected things we are learning. Charlene and Ed could be described as analyzing everything. Literally everything. So, the need to be flexible flies in the face of their compulsive need to analyze. Too bad, sometimes RV’ing simply requires unexpected changes to plans.

In our latest example, we had requested mail to be delivered from our address in Texas to arrive before we left Coarsegold, California. When we checked the tracking number online, the Post Office predicted our package would arrive by Saturday. However, it appears that someone in Houston put our envelope on the wrong truck and sent it to who knows where. Surprise! So rather than leaving on Saturday and remaining steadfast to our original plans, we had the “opportunity” to choose flexibility and stay a few more days in Coarsegold. We actually loved the time in such a beautiful area which included finding an ice cream shop in Oakhurst.

Ed checked the tracking number on his cell phone Monday morning and it said our package was out for delivery in Coarsegold. We packed everything up, hooked up the Jeep to the motorhome, and drove down to the office to wait for the anticipated delivery.

Normally mail is delivered by 9:30 am, but by 10:00 there was still no mail lady. We waited in the campground office and chatted with the nice office staff. During our conversation we learned that the campground often has families from Germany stay. The campground owner marveled that the children of these families will swim in the pool when the water is about 70 degrees! There is no way we could do this; Charlene needs it at least 80 and Ed prefers 90.

At 10:30 the mail lady arrived and our package was there. Yeah! As we thanked her profusely for the package, she smiled and apologized for being late. “There was a ton of mail this morning,” she explained and we could tell she was sorry she was late. Then she saw our motorhome and wished us a great trip to “wherever you go next.”

As we pulled out of the campground where we had spent the last two weeks, we looked at each other and asked, “So where do you want to go now?” It’s a weird feeling to be driving down the road with no idea where you will be that night. Our only schedule is being in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday since Ed will fly out of their airport to attend a meeting for several days. Boondocking (thanks to our generator and big tanks) is always a possibility. Our memories of boondocking near Lake Mead still bring smiles to our faces. Or would we find a nice RV park with now-unknown amenities.

The decision came down to jelly beans. And not just any jelly beans, Jelly Belly jelly beans!

Charlene discovered a jelly bean factory in the Sacramento area and our plans were set. We could have chosen Napa Valley although it would be a little further than we wanted to go; with its many fabulous world-renowned wineries; but no, our plans orbited around a tiny jelly bean.

How many people in American make their decision of where to sleep because of jelly beans? Probably not too many, but that would be us. We looked for an RV park close to the jelly bean factory and boogied down the road.

A nice benefit is that we are actually now quite close to Napa and Sonoma. Although jelly beans are our priority, we will be forced to check out some wineries too!

While Charlene was driving, Ed was reading on the Internet about jelly beans. We learned some important jelly bean trivia. Charlene was quite excited to learn that in 1998 Buttered Popcorn became the number one jelly bean flavor in America by displacing Very Cherry that had been the number one flavor for two decades. Not many people love popcorn as much as Charlene. However, Ed was relieved that America had come to its senses and Very Cherry has moved back to the top spot since 2003, but only by a mere 8 million beans.

We had forgotten how much Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans. The blueberry jelly bean was created for Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration in 1981 and over three tons of jelly beans were consumed during the inauguration festivities. No doubt about it. We are learning some important facts on this trip! Stayed tuned for more jelly bean knowledge……today we tour the factory.

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10, 2015May 10, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene receives a free chocolate covered strawberry to celebrate Mother’s Day!

Today was a nice day to celebrate Charlene being a Mom to two wonderful people that each have wonderful spouses. We went into Coarsegold to their Farmer’s Market. We bought some wonderful biscotti last week at a Farmer’s Market in Oakhurst and the woman who made it had a booth at the Coarsegold Farmer’s Market today. We told her how much we loved what we bought last week. Today we bought Chocolate Walnut Biscotti and Lemon Blueberry Biscotti. They should be heavenly!

There was another vendor that was selling different goat’s milk soaps. He brought two little goats with him. One goat was 10 days old and one was 6 days old. They were incredibly cute! The 6 day old goat was a little shaky on his legs. Although the goats were being bottle fed, but they were nibbling at the grass in their pen. Charlene enjoyed petting the goats.

Charlene always LOVES chocolate!

After the Farmer’s Market, we went to have Mexican food for lunch. We almost ordered dessert for Mother’s Day, but then Charlene remembered a dessert shop in nearby Oakhurst. Once inside, they were giving away chocolate covered strawberries to mothers. Charlene ordered a chocolate gelato and Ed ordered blackberry ice cream. Both were fantastic!

Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome

May 6, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

View from Glacier Point with Half Dome, along with Nevada and Vernal Falls.

Today was superb! We drove to Glacier Point in Yosemite and enjoyed an incredible view of Half Dome with Nevada and Vernal waterfalls. Everyone seemed to stop and stare at the beauty.

Charlene and others enjoy the view from Glacier Point.

Upper and Lower Yosemite falls from Glacier Point

Half Dome.

Next, we drove to the trail head of the hike up to the top of Sentinel Dome. The final hike up the dome was steep and it was very windy and cold. However, it was wonderful to be able to see almost 360 degrees all around Yosemite.

Panorama composite photo from the top of Sentinel Dome.

The photo is a panoramic merge of 5 photos from the top of Sentinel Dome. It covers about 225 degrees in a panorama. El Capitan is toward the left, Upper and Lower Yosemite falls are in the middle, and Half Dome is toward the right. The white rocks were initially behind the camera.

Fiesta on Wheels

Author: Ed Armstrong