www.michele-denis.com

Home   Archives   Links   2010   2011   2012   Français
January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December
1 to 15 April 2012   16 to 30 April 2012


Sunday April 1st , 2012


Here is our site, not very big.  This campground is mostly for seasonal campers.
  

Did not do much today.  The weather is blah!  So, to the heated indoor pool we go.  The water is nice and then we went to the hot tub.  Darn!  The hot tub is the same temperature as the pool.  After 15 minutes, I went to the shower to warm up.



Monday April 2, 2012


We travel back on the road, we came from a few days ago.  There was one point of view that was interesting because you could get close to the rocks where the waves are breaking.
The waves enter this canal between the rocks and move up pretty fast.
  

On one side of the canal, there is a "blow hole" and when the waves hits it the right way, it is just like a whale blowing air when they come to the surface for a breath.
  

It is so pretty to see the waves breaking on the rocks.  Never the same way, but always pretty.   
  

Here I am waiting for a wave.  The people on the right photo actually got wet from one of the waves.  Very dangerous place to be.
  

Such a nice scenery.


On our way back, we decided to stop at Ona Beach and go for a beach walk.


By the look of the trees you can tell the wind is strong and mostly coming from the ocean.
This is not rock I am standing on, but very hard sand.
  

Another easy day, but with so much beauty.  Even if I really like to watch the waves, I think I would get tired of the noise after a while.



Tuesday April 3, 2012


Today the sun is shinning, time to take a walk in historic part of Newport.
Nice tavern, I really like the sign above the door.
  

What a neat thing, a bike to lock your bike on.


This street has a lot of murals.  All are very beautiful and so much details in them.
  

We can hear some weird sounds coming from further down the street.  The closer we get, the louder the sound.  Finally, we got close enough to see that they were coming from sea lions.  One of them was very vocal.
  
  

They are California Sea Lions.   The  reason they have their nose in the air is to relax their neck muscles.
A really nice street, lots of small boutiques and restaurants.



Wednesday April 4, 2012


We leave behind Newport head toward Astoria.


Some of the things we see in our travel.  Like Santa!


In almost every town and cities we go thru, you have those little espresso drive thru.


This one is neat, just like the signs on the side of the road.


Some more sceneries.
  

With all the rain we have been getting in the past few week, many roads were damaged.
  

Highway 101 is the coastal road, but at times it goes inland for 10 or 20 kilometers.  Another espresso shack.
  

Too bad the weather is not sunny, it would have been much nicer.  An other tunnel in 2012!
  

We are getting anxious to see the sun more than a few hours every few days.  We are tired of the rain.



Thursday April 5, 2012


As far as campground goes, this one is very sad looking.  Mostly permanent resident and the place is falling apart.
But I love the little lake with the dock.  A good coffee and then off to Astoria.


Astoria is not a very big city.  The information center recommended a visit to the Astoria Tower to give us a view of the city.
The road to the tower.


The tower of Astoria has the history of the area all around the tower.  A view from the top of the 164 steps.
  

A view from the top.
  

Before we take the trolley tour, we stop for lunch at Bowpicker.
Specialty?
Fish & Chips.
Here is the menu, only one item to chose from.  This is the only place in Astoria where the fish & chips are made out of tuna.
Notice the hours!
   

Here is the famous place...
  
  

Only two people can work in there, a cook and a cashier.
The best fish & chips we ever had.  The fries are soooo goooood, nothing is greasy.  If you ever come to Astoria, stop at Bowpickers for fish & chips.  It is worth it!


After this great meal, up on the trolley for a guided visit of the waterfront.
  

For only $1 per person, you can't beat this tour.  The guide is really good.
Here is the only beach in Astoria, no kidding!


A really nice little city, we will be coming back.



Friday April 6, 2012


Our site with only 15 amp, water, but no sewer.  Pretty trailer trash, but at $18 a night and for only two night, it works for us.  We are on our ways to a campground close to the Mount St-Helen.


Our first floating house on the Columbia river.


Longview is an industrial town, mostly forest related.


Half way across the Columbia river, we enter Washington.


Stuff that happen to us!  On the highway they have this big sign that tells us an information center for the state and for the volcano is coming up.  We decide to stop and get some information. Once we are close to the info center, we can see there is no room for large vehicles even less for a motorhome towing a car.
Darn!
So we continue on the road we are on and find ourselves in a dead end!
We had to unhook the car so I could do a u-turn with the motorhome.
The campground is not too far so we did not re-hooked the car, Michèle followed me with the car.


After setting up at the campground, we went to the Mount St-Helen welcome center.


Ouppp!  I forgot  that it is colder here and some of the interpretation centers are closed for the season because of the snow!
Back to the welcome center, it is very well done.  A very good display of what happened back in 1980.
  

Back at the motorhome, I went on Skype and guess who was there?
My good friend Dave from Cold Lake.  What a pleasure it was to talk to Dave and catch up on stuff from Cold Lake.
  

What is going on?
We look outside and see hail falling from the sky?
Just a little bit and it melted right away.
  

A busy day.



Saturday April 7, 2012


Another "What is going on?".
Frost on the car and grass?
  

Photos of the campground and our site. It is a very nice place.
  


If you look closely you see bicycles on the antenna tower!  Never saw that before.


More photos.
  

A very nice campground and our site has a beautiful view of the lake.

The sky is clear and the temperature is warming up nicely.  Lets not waste time and head to Mount St-Helen.

WOW!  And we are not close yet.  Impressive!
  

All the trees you see were blown down by the blast from the volcano in 1980.
You can still see some of the ashes and rocks at the bottom of the valley.
The volcano erupted 30 years ago.


We never taught, we would be next to this much snow!
  
  
  

This lake was formed after the eruption on Mount St-Helen.


Back at the motorhome, I do some reading outside while enjoying the sun.


We sure pick the right day to visit Mount St-Helen, the sky was crystal clear and we could see everything.
What a nice day!



Sunday and Monday, April 8 and 9, 2012


We are not going anywhere today.  Just a nice fire and a good book. Ahhhhh!


The photo is not like the real flower, the flower had purple on the tips of each petal.


The temperature is in the low 20s.


Time to wash the motorhome, it sure needs it.
  

After dinner we were watching tv and when we looked outside and saw two deers
  

A really great day!
(Monday was pretty well the same except a little bit of shopping.)



Tuesday April 10, 2012


Time to move again.  Ferndale, here we come!


The campground has a propane filling station.  Not too expensive either, only $0.79 per liters.


WOW! I have never put that much propane before.  Close to 58 liters.


Bye bye Silver Lake.


I guess he did not get his loan and he is not happy!


Lots of BC plates on the way back to Canada.  I like the little sign in the back window.


What?
Day and night, you had a choice before!


The Cascade range in the distance.


Never saw a "no hitchhiking " sign like this one before!


Sometimes Michèle takes photos that surprises me.


Finally home!


The last few day were great!



Wednesday and Thursday, April 11 and 12, 2012


are going today, well home as in canada!  we leave behind the campground at around 9:30 am and stop for a last coffee.>
  

Filled up the motorhome before the crossing of the border.  Less than an hour later, we are back in Canada.  At the custom, the custom officer ask us just a few questions and we are on our way in less tan 10 minutes, including the waiting time!  Welcome to BC!
  

Driving across Vancouver went well regardless of the road construction.


Once at the ferry terminal, we only have to wait 30 minutes and in we go.


We are in the lower deck with the trucks.  Very beautiful scenery.
  

Our ferry is the Queen of Cowichan.  Built in 1976 in Victoria, she can carry 360 cars, including 12 semis.
Our cruise ends in Nanaimo on the Vancouver Island.
  

The closer we get to Comox, the darker the sky is.  We ended up traveling under the rain for more than half of the way.
Luckily, the rain stops once we arrive in Comox.


We leave the motorhome at the Walmart and we went straight to Jérémy and Danielle's place.
  

Sure was nice to see Jérémy and Danielle again.  Boy did we miss them.
We spent the night at Walmart and tomorrow morning we will be shopping for a campground.



Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, 2012


We spent the morning visiting campground in the Comox area.  We finally took the one on base, Tee Pee Campground.
Mostly because it is the closest to Jeremy and Danielle's place. The cheapest and closest to the inside passage.
Here is our site in the campground.
Nice site with 2 services (water and electricity) and they supply the "honey wagon" to empty your used water tanks.
  
  

Jérémy and Danielle are visiting us and they even brought firewood for the campfire.


Two beautiful and sunny days.


Jérémy and Danielle spent some time with us on both days.  That was really nice, we love them both.
We are getting set up for the next 3 months.  Kind of nice to slowdown.



Sunday, Monday, April 15 and 16, 2012


Sunday is a laid-back day.  I went for a nice walk on Air Force Beach.  Saw an eagle on top of a tree.


Jérémy came and we went in town for a little shopping.

After he left, I did some cleaning up.  On Monday, I fixed a small water leak on the fresh water hose.
  

Michèle has taken a photo of me my pj, I do not like it when somebody is outside in his pj!


I really like our site and we are slowly making it home. We really like our site and we are slowly making it home.

until next time.

Life is good...





    
Province Visitée  États visités
© COPYRIGHT 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MICHELE-DENIS.COM


Document made with KompoZer