2dodges2go

June 30, 2012

June on the Oregon Coast

Crossing the dunes to the beach at Oregon Dunes NRA

There are a lot of parks along the Oregon coast where there are either spectacular views or beaches (or both!) I scheduled us to stay at parks along the coast for a little over a month. You'd think that someone who'd lived around Puget Sound for as long as I have would have picked some month besides June. (I will admit that it didn't rain every single day...)

Lost Creek State Park

Eagle on bluff at Ona Beach SP

Rocks at low tide at Ona Beach

Japanese tsunami dock washed ashore at Agate Beach SP

Tidepool around rock

View form Cape Perpetua viewpoint

Seal Rock

Yaquina Bay Bridge

Arcadia Beach

Stagecoach Road at Hug Point

Churning waves at Devil's Churn

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

I took lots more pictures! If you'd like to check some of them out, click on any of the links below.

Lost Creek State Park Agate Beach State Park

Ona Beach State Park Cape Perpetua Scenic Area

Seal Rock State Park Yaquina Bay State Park

Arcadia Beach State Park Hug Point State Park

Cannon Beach

June 12, 2012

6/2/12 - Oregon Caves NM

Time for another cave tour—this time at the Oregon Caves National Monument in (guess where?!) southern Oregon. The tour is only half a mile, but it takes 90 minutes.

The Visitors Center is in the 1924 Chalet, and the Chateau was built in the early 1930s.

This cave is different from most caves because it’s a marble cave, not limestone. Marble's prettier--whoever heard of anyone wanting limestone flooring, but wouldn't this be nice?

A river runs through it. It’s called the “Caves River” inside, but it’s name changes to something else outside. I think that’s where they got the idea of changing street names at intersections which, incidentally, drives me nuts!!!

Our tour guide guided us through the caves, pointing out the standard stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, columns, draperies and a bunch of other stuff I forgot already.

Oh, wait! I think there's flowstone too!

There are places that are pretty low. I've been thinking that George should start wearing his bicycle helmet in caves. He always manages to conk his head someplace.

I really liked the story about the Ghost Room. Apparently one of the early tour guides was a practical jokester--and he did all sorts of scary ghosty stories and pranks in this section of the cave. We saw it from the top, then went down into it. From above it does look a little spooky.

And here we both are at the cave exit.

On a ratings scale 1-10, with Mammoth at 2 and Carlsbad at 9, I suppose I'd give this one about 6.
There are more pictures at this link. Oregon Caves NM

May 31, 2012

5/31/12 - Lassen Volcanic NP

They say it's all about timing...and our timing to visit Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California has been absolutely lousy!

The first time we saw Lassen Peak was in November, 2010, right after we started our trip. I think they closed the roads in the park as we drove past on I-5. This year we arrived on May 31st. The main road from the north was only open 10 miles to the Devastated Area, and only partway from the south. They were planning to open the whole road the very next day, but we had reservations at a campground in Oregon.

Lassen isn't a park I'd heard about before this trip. The last eruption was in 1915, and there are still active volcanoes there. There are hydrothermal areas and smoking fumaroles, like a mini-version of Yellowstone. The part of the park I really wanted to see--trails to Bumpass Hell and Sulphur Works--was still under 8' of snow! We didn't have snowshoes with us...actually we don't have snowshoes at all.

We checked out the Loomis Museum and the 1929 Seismograph building , then drove as far as we could.

We stopped for pictures at The Crags, Hot Rock, took a hike around the Devastated Area. On the drive back, we stopped at Manzanita Lake and Reflection Lake, then walked the little Lily Pond trail through the Chaos Jumbles.