Arco, ID - an interesting nuclear history

So thanks to my iPhone not resetting to Mountain time (this is now our 7th time zone change since parts of Arizona are on Mountain time and other parts are in Pacific time) we left camp an hour later than I wanted.  But the two hour drive up from Wendell and the "big man" was a nice one - nice clear roads and we drove through Craters of the Moon (where we will hike around tomorrow).  Pretty interesting views  but we wanted to settle in at camp and by 11:00 we were ready to explore Arco.  It was a good call to come up here to camp - we essentially made our "day trip" this morning and we're now 2 hours closer to Yellowstone.  It also doesn't hurt that this is a nice little campground with a nice elderly couple that welcomed us with open arms.  And not once did they mention the rules...

The "sail" portion of the USS Hawkbill -
the nuclear reactors for this sub were built in Arco, ID

Arco's claim to fame is that it is the first town in the United States to ever be powered by nuclear energy.  The army and it's engineers were developing nuclear power just outside of town and for 45 minutes in 1951, Arco was powered by that reactor.  Turns out the Army engineers weren't quite up to the task and 3 of them were killed shortly after the reactor went live.  One of them was actually impaled by one of the fuel rods.  So that reactor was dismantled and as we learned from a Navy veteran that ran the museum in town, Arco (and the Idaho National Laboratory) became a training facility for the Navy and it's growing fleet of nuclear powered submarines and air craft carriers.  Reactors for those vessels were built here and Navy seamen were trained here.

It was remarkable to listen to Harvey, a native of Pennsylvania, as he told the story.  He had served on nuclear submarines and one of the more interesting bits of information that he shared was the reason for the Navy turning to nuclear power in the first place.  It came down to refueling.  To refuel a diesel powered ship is a logistical nightmare so the extended range of any ship that is powered by nuclear energy made it an asset in warfare.  I have to say, it was neat to listen to Harvey.  This was a man who served his country and he wanted to be part of telling the story of nuclear power and the Navy in Arco.  He now lives on 40 acres behind the museum and at one point bred Appaloosa horses there - two of which competed at a very high level in international competition.

So today was a pretty casual day - we biked together for 4 miles going into town and learning about nuclear submarines in Idaho.  After that, the kids got some more pool time, Mommy did laundry (Mommy seems to draw the short straw on some of these deals) and Daddy biked around these mountains to explore a little.  I'm still adjusting to the sense of space and distance out here.  I covered 20 miles today and whenever I estimated the distance between where I was and a point in the distance, I was always woefully short.  My goal was to get to a place called Natural Arch.  I never got there and I'm still wondering why they don't put the mileage on their signs...  I rode down that road to the left of the sign all the way to the mountain range in the distance but never did find it.  Had I not run out of water, I may have put in a few more miles to get there, but I thought it wiser to get back to camp.  Maybe tomorrow...

I thought you might want to see how Annalise approaches downhills on her bike so below is a short 30 second clip.  You'll see why we have been seeking out level ground for her.

Cautious Annalise

Our view from around the campfire

Prineville, OR and a funny little campground in Idaho

Our campground in Prineville was very neat and tidy - the only problem was that our destination to explore (John Day Fossil Beds & the Painted Hills) was almost 2 hours away.  I don't know what I was doing when I looked at this area, but that's way too far to go for a day trip so we hung around Prineville for the day instead.  I had to do a little work on the camper anyway - one of our roof vents refused to close, so I was able to find the part in town and had us fixed up in no time.  While I was doing that, Lisa & Maribeth got the kids ready for a bike ride to a local park where there was a pool.  Since it was 98 degrees out, it was a good call and the kids got their first pool time since Colorado Springs.  Only issue on the ride there was that Annalise couldn't take the heat or the angle to the side of the road so she walked her bike a lot.  Extreme heat and Annalise don't mix very well at all...

The high desert of Eastern Oregon

Once I was done with the roof vent, I rode to meet them but decided I needed to get a bike ride in.  I rode a little over 16 miles into what I could swear was Death Valley - the heat was pretty bad.  Prineville, OR is in an area know as the High Desert which extends across the eastern half of the state.  This high desert area was a surprise for all of us - we all pictured the beautiful coastline and tall pine forests when we thought of Oregon so to find sage brush and barren-ness was kinda weird...
Once I got back from my ride inside a hot blow dryer, we pulled the kids out of the pool and brought them to a little park with huge wooden playground.  Some teenagers were practicing their Parkour which was actually quite fun to watch.  Anyone that can run up the side of a tree and do a back flip is worth watching!

Tree climbers spotted in Prineville, OR.  A very rare species...

A beautiful sunset on our last night in Prineville

So our stay in Prineville was a comfortable one and we met a handful of very nice campers that shared their travels with us and listened to ours.  One of the nicest things about camping is the people you meet next to you - always helpful and fun to talk with.

Pulled off on the John Day Scenic By-way

So today we set off for Idaho!  Potatoes be damned, the Olsen's were coming to stay for a few days.  The next three days are actually "layover" days waiting for our stay in Yellowstone.  We got an earlier start today (which we vowed to continue for the rest of the trip) and were treated to a really scenic trip along the John Day River.

Green fields to the left - desert to the right

VIDEO - JOHN DAY SCENIC BY-WAY

This scenic by-way is a lesson on water.  Along Rt. 26 in Eastern Oregon, life clings to the river - venture more than a quarter mile from the river's edge (sometime less) and you are met with lifeless, dry earth that only seems to support sagebrush and the occasional stand of Western Juniper.

We arrived to camp a little after 5 pm which was great timing for dinner.  But sadly, this is one of those stops that we quickly shortened to one night once we got here....  Note to self - if you are greeted by a dude that is 3 times the size of a camper, keep driving.  This place is really an RV sales place that happens to have a campground right off of Interstate 84.

You could sit in this hand located next to the "pond"

So while it was easy to get to, it is quite frankly, a dump.  When I checked in, the owner must have said 5 times that EVERYONE in the camper must read the rules.  A full page of rules.  I then got to hear a short political rant (I didn't bite) which was clearly aimed at seeing where I stand.  Must have been the New York plates...  I think the New York plates also got us placed as close to the dump station as possible despite the fact that there are no other campers in our row of sites.  We're also staying indoors since I could swear that when I go outside I'm in one of the horse stalls at Scarlett's barn back home.  There has to be a lot of horses around here somewhere, but we haven't seen them and we're not going to look for them either.  And in the, "you can't make this stuff up" category, I had to get a picture of that big dude at the entrance so I walk up and this little terrier kind of dog comes shooting out at me from under a Toyota SUV, all stealthy like.  Weird thing is, he's barking, but no bark is coming out.  I've never seen anything like it, but Maribeth tells us that some people get the "bark" removed from their dogs.  Really?  How cruel is that?

An abandoned car in a camping site is never a good sign...

Right after that, the owner appears on a quad and goes off to monitor his campground that has all of 4 campers (including us) registered for the night and he has to stop and talk to me.  I try to keep it simple with the weather and everything is "A-OK at our site" (minus the horse manure stench) and he answers with, "And Obama's still in office" as if if the heat is actually the President's fault.  Why do these kind of people always want to have a conversation with ME?  So we're only giving this guy $24 for the night (we were supposed to be here for 3 nights) and Maribeth got us reserved for the next two nights at a KOA up next to Craters of the Moon.  We'll be leaving at 7:00 a.m.

Hopefully the kids won't cost us $250 before morning....

Almost forgot - we hit the 5,000 mile mark in Mountain Home, ID!

Day 25 - 26: A day to relax and a day to make the turn...

Our last day in the Redwoods was a day to just sleep in, regroup, take care of some odds and ends and relax at camp.  The girls found some friends next door to us and spent the day wandering around camp, playing tetherball and tag with all the kids at the playground.  Our neighbors also had a ridiculously adorable 13 week old King Charles Spaniel puppy that, of course, kept the kid's attention for hours.  Tisha - don't even START!!  Gigantibeast  and most of the bikes got a much needed bath and our clothes got a much needed washing.  I'd post pictures of the laundry but that wouldn't be nearly as exciting as a sparkling clean Gigantibeast, lol!

The puppy and a bike being washed in the background - yes, Laryssa got the neighbor kids to help.

Gigantibeast - clean at last!

We left Crescent City with one major objective still unfulfilled - dipping our toes in the Pacific!  Quite honestly, we are calling our stay in the Redwoods our "Fall camping trip" since it stayed in the 50's most of the time.  We weren't prepared for the chill and no one wanted to jump in the ocean - and if you know any kids that are ages 6-12, you know it must be cold for them to not want to go swimming in the summer.  So instead of taking a more direct route up into central Oregon, I opted to take the 101 north up the coast so we could see the Pacific and find a place to get to the beach.  It was a beautiful ride - a little twisty and not the fastest way, but well worth it in the end.

Our lunch stop at a rest area on the Oregon Coast

4 little Olsen's head to the ocean

Shoes off!

Annalise in the Pacific Ocean!

Happy girls!

Annalise and Scarlett see a dead sea lion.  I knew I smelled something...

Graeme opted to stay dry so he only touched Pacific sand

Getting back to the parking lot via beach grass tunnel

The McKenzie River

Dead trees on Rt. 126 in the Willamette National Forest

Our ride through Oregon was a good one.  Everything was lush and green and we saw the timber industry in full tilt - everyone was napping, but I saw the biggest lumber mill operation EVER before we made the turn east at Florence.  Once we made this turn at Florence, it hit me that we're heading home.  Of course, not directly home but we're now

 past the mid-way point of our Odyssey and I'm realizing that I could do this full time in a heart beat!  But we have a lot to still enjoy and we will do just that!  The Oregon coast is beautiful, but the Oregon woods are equally impressive.  We traveled for quite awhile along the McKenzie River and it was clear and clean...  Sadly as we reached the Willamette National Forest, something has killed many trees.  It looks as if insects have been the culprit since we didn't see much evidence of fire.  The visual effect of these dead trees made for a stunning landscape, nonetheless...  And as we neared camp in Prineville, OR seeing the bikes casting shadows on the road in front of us was just another reminder that we have made the turn to come back east...  For so many of our trips from one campsite to another, the sun has been setting in front of us.  Now it will set behind us until we return to Long Island.

Of course, no sooner do we get set up at camp here in Prineville and the frogs are making a racket across the road.  It takes Scarlett all of 2 minutes to catch one and now he's hopping around our campsite somewhere... Just kidding.  They played with him for awhile and then returned him safely to the pond.  Where he's joining in the chorus of ribbits...

2 Days at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Day 1 (or Day 23 of this Odyssey)

This is at sea level - Klamath point was several hundred feet above sea level

So our general plan for the last 2 days was to head to Prairie Creek to explore some trails that wander through the redwoods, as well as the elk herds; and hopefully see whales at the Klamath Point Overlook.  There is a resident herd of Roosevelt Elk that populate the park and a resident pod of gray whales that stay close to the opening of the Klamath River to feed on shrimp, krill, etc.  Day 1 was not at all promising on the whale front - the fog that rolls in off the ocean was as thick as pea soup and seeing the ocean was an impossibility in the morning on the way to the park and on the way back to camp.

Maribeth's powers of resourcefulness with her iPad came in very handy again when we wondered if there were any "drive-thru trees" close by.  Turns out that there are only 3 such trees in existence (they are rather frowned upon due to the obvious lack of respect for the redwood) and one just happened to be in Klamath - right on our route to Prairie Creek.  Sure, it's a little hokey, but to stuff Gigantibeast through a tree was something that just had to be done!

Of course the kids had to pop their head out of the sunroof!

So after successfully driving through a tree, we headed off to explore the Cathedral Tree Trail and Big Tree at Prairie Creek.  I asked a Ranger about Big Tree before we hiked - it turns out that it is the 3rd largest Redwood in California by width at 21.7 ft.  We all agreed that the Boy Scout Tree was wider, but the Boy Scout Tree is officially a "double" and Big Tree is a single redwood.  Scarlett and I both agreed that they could have come up with a more original name for Big Tree...

Under Big Tree - being Big Goofballs

The kids around the remains of a burned redwood

The Cathedral Tree Trail was an amazing trail.  The name Cathedral comes from the appearance of many of these trees.  Forest fires encourage the redwood to sprout another tree right next itself in case the fire destroys it and the number of fires over the last 2,000 years in this particular area has meant many groupings of 3-7 trees.  When you are next to, or inside a group of trees there is a distinct feeling that you are in a cathedral.  We loved this trail!

A large, toppled redwood root system

Thank goodness the kids could get these trees out of our way!

A great example of Cathedral Trees

Daddy climbed up into this set of redwoods - I'd guess I'm up 20 feet or so.  The outside of one of the trees in the center of this group of 7 trees was badly burned, but still alive.  It was pretty cool to climb up and just feel the enormity of these trees.














So after our hike, we headed back to camp.  Scarlett had been back in that 3rd row on our way to Prairie Creek talking about a sign she saw for "salmon jerky" so on the way home we stopped in to get some.  Turns out that "jerky" is really smoked salmon that is smoked by the local Yurok tribe.  Delicious stuff that we purchased in three flavors: sweet, garlic, and peppered.  We had a couple samples and now they are safely stored in the refrigerator to be pulled out for a special occasion...

The fog that just wouldn't let us see from Klamath Point Overlook

Somebody had a busy day...

We ended the day with new neighbors next to us back at camp who have two girls - both of whom played with Laryssa while Scarlett, Lisa and Maribeth hit up the local Walmart for necessities.  It was quite the marathon shopping event - we didn't see them until just before 10 p.m.  Maribeth swears we should just get stock...  Just shoot me if I ever have to spend 3 hours in a Walmart.  The stuff that Mommy does for us to keep this trip on track!



Day 2 @ Prairie Creek - The Ride

The fog was again too thick to see the whales at Klamath Point so we headed right to the Ossagon Trailhead in Prairie Creek where Maribeth, Laryssa, Scarlett, Graeme & I biked the Ossagon Trail.  The trail would be too difficult for Annalise so she and Mommy rendezvoused with us at the end of the trail which she could drive to.  From the trailhead we descended over 800 feet to sea level (took a wrong turn which ended up on the beach - that doesn’t quite work with any kind of bike) to a prairie where Roosevelt elk spend much of their time.  

Laryssa & Scarlett take in the Pacific Ocean after our wrong turn

Laryssa riding on our trail that ran along the edge of the prairie

We had seen the Roosevelt elk further away at the Visitor Center yesterday, but today we had no idea we would see them here.  I have the best 9:00 video of everyone following me (my Go Pro was attached to my seat post facing backwards to be able to video the kids riding behind me) when all of a sudden in front of me were two good sized bucks


standing stoically with an entire herd – 40 or so elk including smaller bucks, does and nursing calves.  The kids took notice immediately – a ride that descended quickly and crossed a number of streams, including more than a couple crashes instantly turned serious in their minds.  As they looked at the herd, they realized that this was a group of animals that were large, outnumbered us, and were not behind a fence like we are all so used to seeing at zoos…  Caution was an important thing and things quieted down behind me considerably.  The elk in the picture above (near the center) appears to be far away due to the Go Pro's wide angle, but he was less than 50' from us.

I've posted the video of the kid's reaction to seeing this elk herd on YouTube.  Here's the link:

An Elk herd surprises us

While we were riding, Mommy & Annalise were hiking Fern Canyon, where scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed.  Pretty neat place!

After lunch, Maribeth & I biked the trail in reverse.  The good side of that deal is that we were able to see the elk herd again and I have some great video of them on the prairie.  The bad side is that we had to bike up that ascended 800' over a mile and a half.  Once we were about half way up, we realized the kids' wisdom in opting out...

And our ride home was successful on the whale front!  There was a lone gray whale feeding very close to shore and we were able to see him come up for air a few times.  The down side was our elevation - we were so high up that the whale was a little hard to see, much less photograph.  But at least we got to see one.

Walking Amongst Giants - Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park

Scarlett & Laryssa in front of the Boy Scout Tree - our first hike in the California Redwoods

We took our first hike in the Redwood National Forest and it didn't disappoint.  The size and grandeur of these trees can't be caught in a picture, but I gave it a shot.  Today's hike was on the Boy Scout Tree Trail in Jedediah Smith State Park.  To get there we drove along Howland Hill Road, a narrow dirt road that travels right through the Redwood Forest and it's tight, weaving path had awe around every corner.

It wasn't long before we found a place to park next to a Giant

It's no wonder that Steven Spielberg picked this forest to film the Ewok scenes in Return of the Jedi - it really is as if you are on another planet.  And how this tree that we all fit in is still alive after being hollowed out and burned on the inside is still a mystery to us.

All three girls on a downed Redwood

Graeme decided to climb

Maribeth & Graeme on the trail

Even the clover was big

And purple underneath

A fern bigger than Annalise

As if Annalise weren't small enough!