The Road Home

Days 1 – 2, Richland, WA to Burley, ID

Another road trip begins.  We are going home.  If you have followed our blog you know that we have lived many places, and we’ve called all of them home.  But for this trip, home is used in the traditional sense . . . the places we grew up . . . Colorado for me, Michigan for Bob.  The plan is to make a big circular route and along the way we will visit family, friends, favorite familiar places, and hopefully meet new people and see new places.  Through the years we have made the trip from WA to CO many times but this will be my first road trip across the Midwestern US.  Come along for the ride!

The first big leg of the trip from WA to Southern Idaho roughly follows the Oregon Trail.  From the 1840 – 1880’s pioneer emigrants left their homes in what was then the western US and traveled from Missouri to Oregon’s Willamette Valley (some to CA) and faced unimaginable challenges.  They traveled by foot or wagon, faced starvation, disease, and the threat of crossing Indian territories.   One step at a time the settlers crossed the prairies, desert, and mountains.  www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm

Our route mostly follows I-84, which parallels many of the old wagon trails.  The pioneers were headed to a new home, going northwest.  We are headed home, going southeast, opposite of the pioneers.  After crossing the Columbia River at the WA/OR border, the towns click by . . . Umatilla, Hermiston, and Pendleton, a quintessential Western town known for the Pendleton Roundup (www.pendletonroundup.com/)  and the Pendleton Woolen Mills (www.pendleton-usa.com/).

East of Pendleton, I-84 crosses the Umatilla Reservation, popular for the Wildhorse Casino and the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute (www.tamastslikt.org/).   It is the only Native American Museum along the entire route of the Oregon Trail, and honors the cultures of the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes.

We begin the steep climb up over Cabbage Hill/Emigrant Pass/Deadman Pass.  The names are interchangeable.  This was a popular stopping point for the pioneer settlers on the Oregon Trail and fear would often strike them when they saw the descent off the pass down to the valley 2000’ below. 

Lower slope of Emigrant Hill

The original Oregon Trail can still be followed by taking OR Hwy 30 and County Rd 937 down to Pendleton.  Even going up the pass, as we are, is a bit unnerving.  The grade is about 6% and the double hairpin curves are the tightest the interstate highway system allows.  We are thankful it is late summer and we are not concerned with treacherous road conditions.  No matter the time of the year, the pass leads into or out of the Blue Mountains depending upon the direction of travel.  This was the last obstacle of mountains for the emigrants traveling along the Oregon Trail.  For us, it is only the beginning and also a time of reflection.

Every time we have traveled from WA down to CO we cannot help but remember our moving trip from CO at Christmas time, 1985.  We drove in a caravan of three cars, with Bob leading the way to our new home in WA.  Amy, a newly licensed driver of barely sixteen, drove a little Honda hatchback with Shane and their German shepherd mix dog, Clementine.  The weather was horrible for the entire trip and the dog panted so much that the “kids” had to drive with the windows rolled open because the defrost couldn’t keep up.

Topping Emigrant Pass we head toward La Grande, the largest community in the Grande Ronde valley.  We’ve been making this trip for 30 years and for some reason La Grande always captured my attention.  It’s beautifully located at the base of the Blue Mountains with the Wallowa Mountains off to the northeast.  However, today we can’t see a thing!  Washington and Oregon states are burning ferociously and the smoke has filled every valley . . . we’ve also seen the scars from other wildfires earlier in the season.  Our hearts go out to the brave firefighters and the families who have lost so much. 

Smoke filled valley

Continuing along I-84, again parallel to the old Oregon Trail, we come to Baker City, which has a rich history in gold mining and timber.  In the early 1990s those industries had fallen by the wayside and the town made a decision to promote tourism.  It was a good decision . . . the Baker Historic District is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  A few miles east of Baker is the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretative Center, managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  This 500-acre site is well worth a visit.  There are several interpretative exhibits and activities making the NHOTIC a year around attraction, but in the summer exploring the miles of hiking trails is paramount.  There are marked trails, including one to actual wagon ruts that allow you to appreciate the arduous journey made by the pioneers.

Wagon encampment

 

Wagon wheel

Ontario lies along the Snake River at the Oregon/Idaho border.  I-84 roughly follows the Oregon Trail as it goes into southern ID but there were actually two different routes on either side of the Snake.  Over time, various splinter route trails were established in search of better grass for the oxen and cattle, and safer river crossings.  The Snake River is largely a “canyon” river and there was extreme danger in trying to cross the river.

While the pioneers mostly traveled this route during times of good weather, we remembered crossing the Snake in 1985 during one of the coldest longest winters ever.  The Snake, and the lesser Burnt River were jammed with ice and the temperatures well below zero.  Despite how treacherous our journey may have been I think we were much safer than the emigrant pioneers.

Our travels took a personal detour outside Boise, ID where we stopped to enjoy luncheon with some friends we hadn’t seen for some time.  They are not social media followers so we won’t divulge their names or specifics about their home but let it suffice to say that the afternoon was very enjoyable.  These friends have lived all over the world (former military) and chose to retire in Boise, which says a lot for the capital and most populous city in Idaho.  Combined with the state government sector, Boise has a thriving economy based in food processing, timber, and high-tech.  It also has made a significant investment in the arts and cultural activities such as ballet, opera, and symphony.

Continuing southeast along I-84 we cross the broad plain between the Boise foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the Owyhee Mountains.  While the route continues to follow the Oregon Trail across southern Idaho, today it is better known for the large USAF base at Mountain Home.  The pioneers drove their livestock and wagons across this plain but today we are driving while the Air Force planes fly overhead.

Just a short distance off I-84 is the town of Twin Falls, ID.  When driving into town you cross the Snake River and about five miles east is Shoshone Falls.  The Oregon Trail followed the south side of the Snake River and encountered Caldron Linn, Salmon Falls, and Shoshone Falls.  The Native Americans often traded salmon with the pioneers, a nice roadside treat!

Shoshone Falls, now a power plant

The Oregon Trail continues eastward across southern ID, WY, NE, and KS to its starting point in Independence, MO.  The pioneers traveling from Independence westward to the Willamette Valley, OR had a treacherous 2200-mile trek to establish new homes in the West.  There are several points of historic significance along the way and perhaps we will get to visit some of them on another journey.  But for now, we are turning south at Burley, ID to continue our journey home. 

Same Place, Next Year

Camping was a big part of my life growing up.  My father and uncle would take the boys in our family (myself and 2 brothers) on an annual camping and fishing trip in Michigan, and we always had a great time.  When we got older, my parents sent us to a canoeing camp in Ontario, which was an awesome experience.  Young boys in the wilderness; getting into as much trouble as we could!

Canoe camp

Portage

My brothers dropped out after a year or two, but I continued going into my college years as a counselor.  After the age of 16, the camp would send a select group of 10 young men on a 2 month long trip into the wildest parts of northern Ontario and Quebec.  These are my fondest memories, where we would paddle for weeks without seeing another human being.  A true wilderness experience!

Typical campsite in Canada

After college, I got busy with work and marriage, and got away from camping except for occasional backpack hikes when I could arrange it.  I still enjoyed it, but the rest of my family was not as enthusiastic as I was. 

The Unhappy Camping Family

Then when my son Shane was about 12, he and I started going on our own camping weekend at least once every year.  This was when we lived in Colorado.  We continued to try to do this when we moved to Washington State as well, and he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did when I was his age.

Then our kids graduated from college, and went their own ways, and the annual camping trips faded away.  I moved around to places like Calgary and Arizona, and internationally, while the kids stayed in the Seattle area making their own lives.  Then about 15 years ago during one of the times we were living in Washington again, I decided to revive the annual camping trip with Shane.  This time, our daughter Amy decided she wanted to join us, so it became a real family affair.  Since that time, we have tried to go each summer, but haven’t always made it.  We have a great time when we do, and we have settled on one particular area on the Teanaway River near Cle Elem, WA.

Along the Teanaway

Since my background is wilderness camping, I have a pre-conditioned prejudice against established campgrounds with running water and toilets.  I like the solitude of being away from other people.  After trying several different “remote” sites, we have settled on a beautiful campsite near the junction of Beverly Creek and the Teanaway River where we can avoid having any neighbors nearby, and we try to get this spot every year.  This year Shane, Alex, and I went up on Thursday to ensure we could claim our favorite spot before the regular weekend rush on Friday.  Success – no one was there, and in fact there were no other campers at all at a number of sites we passed on the way up there, so we grabbed it and setup camp.  Our daughter, Amy and husband Mike, had to work on Thursday and part of Friday, so joined us around dinner on Friday.

Campsite 2015

 

The weekend included lots of good cooking, some nice walks through the woods and up forest service roads, and plenty of relaxing.  We all like to camp close to the creek so we can listen to the soothing sound of running water, and small waterfalls.  It’s magic for relaxation!  Because of the high fire danger in Washington forests this year, there was a complete burn ban in effect, except for propane stoves, etc.  This put a damper on the night time ambiance, but otherwise was not a big issue.  We understand the reason.  In fact while we were camped there were a number of large, out-of-control fires burning in other parts of Washington.  The smoke from these fires was quite heavy at times, obscuring the views of nearby hills, etc.

The main entertainment this year was watching two Border Collie puppies that Shane and Alex just got (they were 9 weeks old).  They were very skilled at keeping each other entertained, as well as entertaining us.  They would chase each other, biting and rolling around, and everything was new to them – sticks, stones, yellow jackets, old dog poop, etc.  They would be hyper for 15-20 minutes, then crash and sleep for about 15 minutes.  From the time they got up in the morning until dark the pattern was the same.  During our camping weekend, the pups were introduced to collars for the first time, and leashes.  They tolerated the collars OK, but the leashes were a big problem.  We let them just drag them around behind them from time to time, which seemed to help, but there is more work to do to get them used to leashes.

Puppies

Our true wilderness experience has been tempered in recent years by Shane’s tendency to enjoy “comfort”.  Last year he brought a very serious infrared heater fired by a 5-gallon propane bottle.  We teased him at first, but by the end of the weekend we were all huddled around the heater (it was chilly), saying how great it was (except it sounded like a jet engine).  This year he brought a large 3-burner camp stove also powered by a 5-gal propane bottle.  Again it turned out to be very handy and could heat a large pot of water to boiling in about 3 minutes.  He has also spoiled us with a huge 12’ X 12’ open-sided shelter for the “kitchen”.  One final luxury was a propane patio heater with a flame inside a glass tube, which we used to simulate a campfire in lieu of a real wood fire.  Cool idea, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Kitchen

On Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we all broke camp and headed back to our respective homes and our normal lives.  But we left relaxed, refreshed, and ready to face daily life with better attitudes after a fun weekend together.  We all agreed that we would plan on doing it again at the same place next year.  Why change a good thing?

The Family, Puppies, & Miss Daisy

Today We Discovered It's Friday

Bob’s been retired for nearly four months now and one of the first things we realized is we have lost track of time.  Without the structure of the workweek it’s easy to forget what day it is.  Like so many, we have always been scheduled . . . work Monday – Friday, Saturday chores, Sunday make pancakes for breakfast and relax. I always have had my Friday errands of buying gas, getting cash from the ATM, picking up dry cleaning, going to the store, etc.  It was my routine. Now we have all week to do whatever needs done or whatever we want to do or do nothing at all.  It’s a bit confusing at times!

Our post-retirement schedule has revolved around travel . . . are we on a trip or are we home?  If we are on a trip, where are we and where do we need to get today.  If we are home, does anything need to be done today? And, let’s get started planning that next trip!

When Bob retired we took two weeks to get caught up on chores and maintenance of our home and spring yard work.  Then we left for a three week trip down the OR coast, the Redwoods, Napa, SF Bay area, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake.

Beautiful Crater Lake, OR

We returned home for three weeks and again spent time getting caught up on chores, maintenance and yard work.  Time to leave again!  Our most recent trip was just over three weeks to Alaska. 

Looking for Denali

 Home again for three weeks and what are we doing?  Yes, chores, maintenance and yard work.  

Weeding never ends!

Windows!

Next up is a 5 week cross country driving trip from WA to MI, taking a long way around and back again.  Our schedule revolves around what needs to be done and where we are, not what day of the week it is.

When Bob worked he had an alternate Friday schedule, meaning he worked longer days but had every other Friday off.  It was a nice schedule and he got in the habit of arranging his doctor and dental appointments for that Friday off.  I volunteered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I usually arranged my appointments on Wednesdays.  Now, all we concern ourselves with is scheduling appointments when we will be in town.  And truly, one medical or dental appointment on any one day is more than enough!

On the “lets have some fun” aspect of our life, we used to take in a movie matinee on Saturdays.  Now we realize we can go on a Tuesday afternoon if we want.  Eating out was normally Friday evening or Saturday lunch; now we are leaning toward Wednesday or Thursday evening.  Sunday afternoon drives are more likely to occur in the middle of the week.  Saturday morning runs to Home Depot are generally early in the week, because Bob has the entire week to work on his projects.

Let's Rock & Roll!

Although we often don’t know what day it is, we do usually know the date.  I think it’s our genetic makeup.  Bob’s an engineer; I’m a burned out accountant.  We think in terms of numbers.  So one of us generally knows if it is the 6^th, 7^th, or 9^th and one of us usually knows if there is some obligation on that date.  But is it M, T, or TH?  Who knows?  Not me!

However, we have sort of slid into a bit of a daily routine when we are home . . . sleep a bit later, go out for our exercise, have a leisurely breakfast, check email (and the blog!), housework, grocery shopping or yard work, easy lunch, maybe a nap . . . you get the idea.  Our lives have slowed down and relaxed.

Community pool awaits Le Anna

Bob out for his morning walk.

Our insight into retirement is everything will get done.  We will take care of our home, our yard, and have some fun along the way.  We will plan and take our trips and when we return our responsibilities will be waiting for us.  We have the freedom to do whatever we want, when we want, as long as the money holds out and we have our health.  Today I discovered it’s Friday . . . I think I’ll make pancakes.

Blueberry pancakes!  Yummy!

Ferries, Flowers & Totems

Once again we boarded the M/V Matanuska for our ferry from Petersburg to Ketchikan.  We knew exactly where we wanted to sit for this 11-hour ride . . . in the lounge at the front of the boat so we could see everything as long as we had daylight.  This sailing goes south out of the Petersburg docks, through the very narrow Wrangell narrows, across Sumner Strait, with a brief stop at the town of Wrangell, and then continues south down Stikine and Clarence  Straits to Ketchikan.  This would be our last ferry ride and Ketchikan would be our final stop on this 3+ week’s Alaskan journey.  The first leg of the ferry route would parallel the 32 miles we had driven on the Mitkof Highway, the day before.  It was nice to know what we were looking at . . . or what we might have been able to see if the weather had been more cooperative.  It was raining, again, and visibility was poor.  We felt sorry for the crew mate who had to stand out on the bow of the ship and provided hand signals to the pilothouse.  I can only assume the signals were to aid the Captain in steering down the very tricky Wrangell Narrows.  The channel was indicated with buoys and markers.  It took about four hours to get to the docks at Wrangell, a distance of about 50 miles. 

Bow of ferry 

Wrangell Narrows

Approaching Wrangell

We were eager to see Wrangell, if only from the dock.  Originally we had planned for a couple days’ visit to Wrangell and had hoped to go on the excursion to Annan Creek to watch bear.  However, the normal ferry was taken out of service and we could not rearrange our plans to fit in Wrangell.  We’ll have to hope for another trip and plan on going to Wrangell.

The ferry continued toward Ketchikan and we decided to stretch out on the lounge sofas and catch a few winks.  We were surprised that it was pretty comfortable and the rumble of the engines soon had us asleep.  It was nice to catch a couple hours of rest before we entered the Tongass Narrows, the last stretch to Ketchikan and docked about midnight.  Fortunately, our hotel was literally across the street from the ferry docks so we were able to walk over and check-in with no delays.

After a good night’s rest we took the motel shuttle into downtown Ketchikan and immediately saw three large cruise ships in port.  The shuttle driver called it a 3-ship day and told us tomorrow will be a 4-ship day.  We later learned the day after we leave will be a 5-ship day.  The local newspaper, Ketchikan Daily News, (www.ketchikandailynews.com/) gives the cruise ship schedule daily including the ship’s name and the passenger count.  Ketchikan is small, maybe 14,000 people but that number will jump by 3100 – 9300 on any day this week.  The weather was not very cooperative during our visit; it rained.  But apparently that is pretty normal for Ketchikan which gets about 150" of rain/year!

Liquid Sunshine!

Like most of the other towns up and down the Inside Passage, Ketchikan is a fishing town.  It calls itself the Salmon Capital of the World.  There are indeed lots of salmon swimming upstream where they will spawn, lay their eggs and then the females die.  I wonder what happens to the males?

Ketchikan Harbor

Fishing boat

 Creek Street, now a popular eclectic shopping area, was once known as Ketchikan’s “red-light district”. During Prohibition this district was also busy with bootleggers who supplied Canadian whiskey to the working houses along Creek Street.  Much of the town was built on wood pilings over the water and Creek Street is a boardwalk along Ketchikan Creek; it’s a great place to watch the salmon spawning.  According to a sign on Dolly’s House, the men had much in common with the salmon.

Infamous "working house"

Men & Salmon!

Creek Street

Fish Ladder

Salmon & Bald Eagle on Ketchikan Creek

Look carefully - salmon spawning

Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of standing totem poles.  South of town is Saxman Totem Park and north of town is Totem Bight State Park.  Both these locations have many totems that are re-carvings of poles that have decayed and fallen over.  The renewed interest in carving the totems is a result of the CCC in the 1930s when funding paid for the Native elders to teach their skills and traditions to the younger generations.  In the central part of town, the Totem Heritage Center houses 19^th C totems that were rescued from nearby Tlingit and Haida villages.  We spent most of the day visiting these totem sights and enjoyed reading the history and meanings of each.  There are several types of totems, used for different purposes.  These include story totems, family heritage totems, mortuary totems to honor special people, heraldic totems used to support buildings, and shaming totems for wrong-doers.  The Native tribes take great pride in being able to honor the traditions and skills of the totem carvers.  The efforts to preserve the culture are worthwhile and a real treasure to the Alaskan community.

Add caption

 

 One of the more beautiful aspects of our Alaskan trip has been the wild flowers painting the landscape.  We’ve enjoyed seeing flowers and flowering shrubs throughout the state.  We’ve also noticed that gardening seems to be a popular pastime.  Walking around parks and neighborhoods we were always noticing flower boxes, beds, and baskets.  I suspect everyone goes all out over the very short growing season.  Beautiful!

Honeysuckle

Delphinium

Peonies

Columbine

Goat's Beard

Fireweed

Ketchikan is our last stop in Alaska.  Both of us agree we wish we had booked the non-stop ferry from Ketchikan to Bellingham, WA but instead we are flying from KTN to SEA on Alaska Air.  It will be nice to get home, and tomorrow is our son’s birthday so we will get to celebrate with him.  However, the ferry system has been such an enjoyable experience for us we wish we could continue traveling that way.  (www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/)

Our Alaskan and Yukon journey has come to an end.  We flew 2109 miles, drove 1933 miles, spent 37 hours on ferries, and were gone 3 ½ weeks.  We appreciate having seen new places; the scenery amazing, the wildlife impressive, the history interesting and the best part of any trip is always meeting new people.   We met a couple from SC (near where we lived 2007-11) who commented, "Isn't retirement great?"  He's right!   Our retirement is not just in sight . . . we are enjoying it.

Me and my bearded man!  July 2015