We made our way back to Grants Pass Oregon to visit my sister and her family. Grants Pass is right on the Rogue River, which is a great river for white water rafting, but also home to salmon returning "home" to spawn. We made lunches for everyone and hiked to Rainie Falls (2 miles each way) and we were rewarded by seeing salmon trying to jump up the Falls! Also saw some rafters and kayakers navigate the Falls. The main chute of the Falls is too high to navigate, but there are some manageable side Falls that rafts can run...and salmon can jump! We had stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery on the Columbia River earlier in our trip and saw TONS of salmon "running" to the hatchery...seriously those fish were jumping 5-7 feet out of the water. Seeing the salmon swimming and jumping in their native habitat on the Rogue was certainly worth the hike even if some of the younger hikers needed a lift from time to time (center picture above).
by Joe (dad)
We made our way back to Grants Pass Oregon to visit my sister and her family. Grants Pass is right on the Rogue River, which is a great river for white water rafting, but also home to salmon returning "home" to spawn. We made lunches for everyone and hiked to Rainie Falls (2 miles each way) and we were rewarded by seeing salmon trying to jump up the Falls! Also saw some rafters and kayakers navigate the Falls. The main chute of the Falls is too high to navigate, but there are some manageable side Falls that rafts can run...and salmon can jump! We had stopped at the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery on the Columbia River earlier in our trip and saw TONS of salmon "running" to the hatchery...seriously those fish were jumping 5-7 feet out of the water. Seeing the salmon swimming and jumping in their native habitat on the Rogue was certainly worth the hike even if some of the younger hikers needed a lift from time to time (center picture above).
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by Joe (dad)
We got a good jump on our school day and took advantage of the afternoon time to visit The Grotto in Portland Oregon....officially The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother. What a beautiful 62-acre garden oasis in the middle of town. The Grotto is run by the Servites and is a beautiful retreat for prayer and reflection. I walked the labyrinth reflection circle with Joseph and William and we meandered our way to the center in silence just listening to the quiet of garden. I was surprised how relaxing it was to just wind around the circle and have quiet time. Then we sat together on a bench and philosophized for a few minutes about the various "labyrinths" in our lives and what lies at the center of our "meanderings" in life. Not surprisingly, most of Joseph's "labyrinths" centered around food. We also had the added blessing of "randomly" crossing paths with friends from Colorado Springs while visiting The Grotto. Deacon Dave Ross and his wife Linda happened to be in Portland and came upon us just in time to help us take a family picture....when I heard "can I help you with that picture?", I never expected to see someone I knew on the other end of the voice! Great to see you in Portland! by Joe (dad)
One of my most anticipated sites during our trip was Fort Clatsop where the Lewis and Clark expedition camped for the winter when they finally reached the Pacific Ocean in 1805. We camped in Ilwaco, WA on the north side of where the Columbia River crashes into the Pacific Ocean. We explored Cape Disappointment right outside our campground much the same way William Clark led an expedition across the Cape in November, 1805...well, not EXACTLY the way Clark did it since we drove our truck to the paved trailhead and rode our bikes where they probably had to cut their way through! Then we drove across the Columbia River (on a bridge of course) to Fort Clatsop (pictured above) where the Corps of Discovery voted democratically about where to hunker down for the winter. From the info at the Visitor Center it looks like it rained straight through from December to March 1806 when the expedition departed for their return to St. Louis. I was so inspired to be at Fort Clatsop that I officially completed my first Junior Ranger badge after completing 10 out of 10 activities in the Junior Ranger book. Only 8 activities were required for the badge, but I just couldn't help doing them all (ask Joseph how many he did ;) ). The Corps of Discovery struggled for survival almost daily while our biggest drama is normally where to find the next Walmart (and there's an app for that), but all in all, I like the similarities between our trip and Lewis and Clark's! by Joe (son)
The Trechter Clan has always left a mark, but we, the Fighting Badgers, have taken it to a new level. We first worked on Beach 3 on the way to Olympic National Park. Built to defend a small sand mountain, our first fort was little more than a series of small walls and ditches designed to redirect and contain the sea. However, upon finishing our noon meal, we discovered that our fort had been vanquished by the sea. Seeing this, we hurriedly returned to draw a new line in the sand, and again set to work in our hopeless race against the tides. We were forced into retreat by our misguided general (cough, cough, Dad) and we were whisked away from the scene in our Armored Troop Carrier (also known as a Ford F-350). Still, the Fighting Badgers of the Trechter Clan cannot be long contained, and even misguided retreats cannot smother our fighting spirit. We rode our gear-horses (bicycles, for you outsiders) along the Discovery Trail in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, and found ourselves another beach to fortify. We persevered even as cars raced by us along the sands. Built to defend Mount Rainier, our Fort MacDuff was a masterpiece. The nearly impregnable forward wall was backed up by a still larger wall that defended the southwest side of Mount Rainier from the tides that skirted around our forward wall. We erected a wall on the northwest side as well, complete with a network of ditches. But as the tide rose, it became clear that our walls could not hold, and we set to fortifying the Mountain itself. We constructed a stupendous barrier of sand, and for nearly twenty minutes we held on, digging holes when the water receded, always increasing the size of our wall, until it grew larger than the Mountain it protected. But the sea had a will of its own, the waves grew, and we threw our bodies in the line to shield the Mountain from the sea’s fury. The next wave though, struck with such fury that it climbed our Final Wall, and the courtyard around the Mountain flooded, and then the walls burst, and we watched in horror as the Mountain was carried off, broken, by the tides and we emerged from our battle covered in the sand of our fortifications, our work destroyed, but our warrior spirit never broken! by Joe (dad)
It’s hard to visit the Pacific Northwest and not be drawn to the water, so we ventured out on a tour boat to see what we could see. We were not disappointed -- we saw a harbor seal about 30 seconds after we cast-off and ventured out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca to find LOTS of Orca Killer Whales! There are several families, or pods, of Orcas in the Strait and each day starts a fresh search to find out where they are hanging out. One pod had been sighted about 10 miles further out from where we were, but one of the folks on our ship spotted a closer pod and we came upon at least a dozen Orcas swimming around heading toward Seattle (in search of Starbucks?). There is a network of tour boats and our captain got the satisfaction of calling out this new find to the rest of the boats, but we had about 20 minutes to watch the Orcas by ourselves before the rest of the whale paparazzi appeared. Did you know that true whales have a dorsal fin in the back 1/3 of their body? The dorsal fin on Orcas is more in the middle and they are not technically whales…they are the largest mammal in the dolphin family! We also found a couple of humpback whales and followed them for a bit, then went back to tracking the Orcas. We also went by Race Rocks on the Canadian side of the Strait to see the hundreds of sea lions and seals sunning on the rocks. Found a group of dolphins on the way back to Port Angeles too. Amazing day of discovery seeing these big animals in their native habitat! by Joe (dad)
While this isn’t a surprise to Washingtonians, there is a “Banana Belt” in Washington State and what a great surprise for us to find it and stay here for most of a week (we’re in Sequim, WA, but it’s pronounced “squim”). The Banana Belt is so-named because it is nice and sunny here most of the year, unlike much of the rest of the Northwest which is know for overcast skies and rain. The Banana Belt is at the north end of the Olympic Peninsula and gets lots of sun because it is in the “rain shadow” of the Olympic Mountains. The rain clouds come in from the Pacific Ocean, run into the Olympic Mountains and drop all their rain, leaving the Banana Belt nice and sunny. Then the clouds pick up more moisture over the Puget Sound and dump it on Seattle and the surrounding areas. by Joe (dad)
There are 19 active volcanoes in the Cascade Mountain Range....Mt. Rainier is the second of the group that we have hiked on so far (Crater Lake, OR is the other one). Found a nice trail from the Sunrise Visitor Center (on the north side of the mountain) to Frozen Lake for about a 2.5 mile hike. Everyone worked hard on the hike as evidenced by the snoring from the backseats on the drive back and the requests for early bed times! We also learned about "lahars" or great volcanic mudslides...we JUST missed the last major one by 5,600 years. The Osceola Lahar was a doozy lowering the peak of Mt. Rainier by about 1,000 feet and flowing destructive mud all the way out to the Puget Sound (about 60 miles away). We were most grateful for the sunshine after a few days of overcast skies and rain. Just in case you were curious, the overnight low at the summit of Mt. Rainier was 18 degrees the night before our hike. by Joe (dad)
One of the best things about making a trip like this is the opportunity to see world through our kids' eyes....which leads to comments that flat out crack you up. We have opened up the music repertoire on our ipod a little bit since the start of our trip and we have a few classic tunes from Foreigner and Bon Jovi that the kids enjoy. One of Mariana's favorite songs is "Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner. Just like all the other kids, she makes it known when she has a request and the other day she took advantage of a lull and blurted out "can you put on Juice Box Hero!" Of course the truck erupted in laughter and even though Mariana had no idea what was so funny, she took great pride in cracking everyone up! Another classic quote from Mariana came after a bike ride. Her bike attaches to my bike, so Mariana doesn't have to pedal to get around. When we found the Libby Dam in Montana, it was a great 2 minute ride DOWN the hill to the base of the dam, but it was more like a 15-minute ride back UP the hill. I pride myself on being a good rider, but it does take some effort to pedal uphill for the both of us. So we get back to camp and Mariana dismounts her bike and stops to look up at me and deadpans "dad, why are you all sweaty?" Maybe one day she'll get to pedal uphill for two :) ! |
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July 2015
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