ErnandJan.com

Well, it has been a wonderful travel season.  We traveled about 7000 miles this year on three trips.  We have returned from Hostfest (pronounced Hoostfest), and we wanted to follow the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Missouri River, so we took Highway 2 from North Dakota.  We stayed the first night in Glasgow at a very nice campground that was completely empty, then pushed on to Great Falls, where we toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which is located on the edge of the Missouri River near the five great falls that the Corps of Discovery had to portage around in 1805.  The drive along the Missouri is just beautiful.  What a river, and it just invites you to get the fishing pole.  The Lewis and Clark center did not disappoint either.  We read through all the exhibits in about two and a half hours. 

Yesterday, we pushed on for nine hours of driving to Post Falls on the Idaho line with Washington, cruising Lookout Pass on a beautiful sunny day with 65 degrees.  The leaves are yellow to burnt orange, so it was fun to see the fall color palette.  We conclude our journal with a summary of thoughts about this past year.  First, we love this RV’ing more than ever.  If we could, we would head south for the winter, but we have to take the coach in for a replacement of our rear differential housing unit.  It has arrived after 120 days of waiting, so we will winterize it on Monday, then move it over to Freightliner for the replacement part.  Then, we will store it for the winter.  We are averaging 10,000 miles during about four months of travel each year, and our next trip will probably be either a trip to the east coast and up to Nova Scotia, or possibly a trip to Alaska, and it depends on how early we can get away.  If we can get away early next year, we will head east and plan to go up the eastern seaboard to Newfoundland.  If we can’t get away in February, we may opt for a summer in Alaska.  Either way sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  We stayed in the west this year because of two family weddings and the oil leak which will now be repaired.  We are looking forward to longer and more extensive travels, so, for Jan and Pepper, we thank you for reading about our travels this year, and join us again next year for more travels with Pepper, the fourth year!

We are heading back to Washington tomorrow, having finished three days at the 30th annual Norsk Hostfest in Minot, North Dakota.  In a town of 60,000, another 60,000 came to Minot from all over Scandinavia, Canada, and the U.S., in over 1800 motor homes, lots of tour buses, well, you get the picture.  At the North Dakota State Fairgrounds, the size of five football fields under one roof, we enjoyed Scandinavian arts, food, heritage, and lots of entertainment.  It was worth the trip.  We met friends, the Looneys, returning from Texas, and tomorrow we head for Great Falls for a one day stop to tour the Lewis & Clark museum.  Before arriving in Minot, we stopped for a day in Bismarck, the capital, to tour the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan on the Missouri River.  Then we drove to Minot taking the scenic tour along the Missouri River, right on the Lewis & Clark trail.  In the winter of 1804, the Corps of Discovery stayed with the Mandans and Hirodatsa Indians during the North Dakota winter at Fort Mandan before heading on westward.  North Dakota has a surprising amount of things to see, from T.R. National Park and Medora, to the Hostfest, and, in November, a huge arts and crafts festival.  We pan to see more things in future trips.  The Hostfest is a great destination for those of Scandinavian descent.  Like one man said, “I’m not Norvegian, but I vish I vash!” 

We finished our previous trip with our last stop at Poulsbo on the Kitsap Peninsula.  It was a wonderful six week trip down through Oregon, over to the Oregon coast, up the coast to Mt. St. Helens and Mt Rainier, then up the Hood Canal to Pt. Townsend, then back south to Poulsbo.  We returned home for five days to help Ted and Jess move to their new home in Duvall.  They are nicely settled in with their three cats and are back to work.  Wedding, honeymoon, and fun over for now!  We reloaded the coach and set out for Hostfest in North Dakota.  This is our fifth day on the road.  It’s mostly been travel across Washington and Montana, and we are in Dickinson, N.D., catching our breath.  It has been stormy including a terrific electrical storm last night.  Looks like we are in a race with the weather to get up to Minot to enjoy the largest Scandinavian festival in North America, which starts on Tuesday.  We are meeting Scandinavian friends, Jack and Judi Looney, to attend three days of festivities.  It’s all the size of five football fields under one roof!  There will be lots to see and, of course, eat, entertainment, etc.  This is just a three week trip out to Minot and back to Washington before the mountain passes get snow, and, hopefully, we’ll make it back through Lookout Pass and over the Continental Divide before the early storms hit.  Jan has that blissful glow now that we’re back in North Dakota.  She loves the open plains (how many times has she told me, “now this is where you can really ride horses!”) and the wheat fields.  We have seen a herd of antelopes, about a dozen of them, charge across the highway right in front of us causing us to hit the brakes and get excited, lots of wild turkey, ring necked pheasants, and a huge buck deer in the cemetery where Jan’s dad is buried.  We were pretty close to the deer; he bounded along and easily cleared the fence.  This is hunting season, and there are a lot of pickups on the road with orange vested guys with rifles looking for the deer we enjoyed seeing.  Pepper was in squirrel heaven in the campground in Miles City.  She forgets to eat and do other familiar duties when squirrels are around.  She sits and goes into that stare, quivering, salivating, but not moving a hair while they chatter and scold her from the branches.

What a charming little town of about 7,000 with surrounding communities of Pt Townsend, Pt Angeles, Kingston, Bainbridge Island, Pt Gamble, etc.  We even saw a man netting salmon today from his fish farm.  Amazing!  Poulsbo has an abundance of bakeries and eateries!  Why?  Could it be the Scandinavian hospitality?  If you come to Poulsbo, you must have Barnaby Bread!  We’ll be back in Kirkland on Wednesday, re-load on Sunday, and leave on Monday for Montana and North Dakota.  We plan to attend the Host Fest in Minot in mid-October.  Hopefully we won’t encounter any snow!!!

Ted and Jess move into their first home together this weekend.  What a year it’s been for them!  His condo sold quickly while they were honeymooning in Hawaii.  They spent several weeks taking care of our house while we traveled.  Jena and Josh are in the middle of combining 2 households.  What a job!  Jeremy continues at U/W this year, starting on his MBA program.  We’re so proud of his efforts to finish up that degree!  Deb is back to school teaching at Chief Sealth in southern Seattle.

Today we moved the eighty miles north to Pt. Townsend, where we are safely ensconced in our favorite campground, Point Hudson, which is right downtown Pt. Townsend.  At the end of Main Street, the Port of Port Townsend has a beautiful marina and small RV campground, right on the point of water looking at the Whidbey Island ferry.  From this point, one can see all the way from Mt. Baker to Mt. Rainier on a clear day.  It was a nice, quiet but drizzly day to drive along the Hood Canal.  We thought we should cross the country in 100 mile segments!  It would take a little longer, but it’s nice to just drive a couple of hours or less and call it a day!

Hood Canal, 61 miles long, 1 to 4 miles wide, a 600-foot deep body of calm SALT water, is actually a FJORD (one of only two in the lower 48 states) carved by glaciers about 15,000 years ago back when global warming was young.  Thank you, global warming!  The west side of Hood Canal is undeveloped along Highway 101.  The little ‘burgs’ are simply wide spots in the road offering for the most part, a hamburger or maybe a coffee drink.  We’re stopped in Hoodsport for 3 nights on our way to Port Townsend.  Today, we’ll drive over to Belfair, located on the southern hook of Hood Canal and explore the Farmers Market and some antique shops recommended by our friends, Patt & JJ.  We’re within 2 hours of home, just far enough to get away!

We toured through Mt. Rainier National Park yesterday, entering from the south and exiting on the Nisqually west side.  Some interesting facts.  Mt. Rainier is part of the Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes that circle the Pacific Ocean and account for half of the active volcanoes above sea level in the world.  It did have eruptions in the early 1800’s.  It is so big at 14,410 feet that it creates its own weather patterns.  It can have weather as severe as the highest peaks anywhere in the world, and that makes it dangerous for climbers from time to time.  At one time it was 16,000 feet but was reduced 5,700 years ago by an eruption that sent a 100 foot high wall of mud like a wall of cement all the way to Puget Sound.  The towns of Kent, Sumner, Auburn, and Puyallup are built on top of that flow.  That’s a large blast zone!  It also gets over 600 inches of snow each year and has 26 glaciers.  Yesterday it was pretty bare on the south side at this time of year, except for the glaciers.  If the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, the road to Paradise is paved with new concrete and is lined with maiden hair ferns!  We visited Paradise, and it looks like you can make it to the top of the mountain in a day, but that is very deceiving.  It is still 10,000 feet to the summit from Paradise.  A new visitor center is taking shape there, which will be beautiful.  We could go on and on about this icon of Washington state, but you get the picture.  It’s a one of kind landmark with which the beautiful state of Washington is closely identified and always worth the trip. 

http://picasaweb.google.com/ernandjan/MtRainierSept122007 

We stayed a couple extra days in Kelso to wash the ocean salt off the coach and get MaGuire’s Three Step wax on the coach.  We like to get the coach deep cleaned and waxed at least once a year, and we had some nice weather, so this was our maintenance stop.  The coach looks great, everything is gleaming, so we’re ready to move up to Randle tomorrow as a base to visit Mt. Rainier National Park.

August, 2004:  We had booked a 14 day cruise through the Scandinavian Fjords aboard the Marco Polo.  We flew into Copenhagen, boarded the ship there, and cruised through some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire world.  I cannot express how it felt to be sitting on the deckchair as we coasted through a fjord.  I can only say I was in such a peaceful frame of mind that I felt I had come home!  Crazy, I know!  Norski roots are deep!  Both of my maternal grandparents (Elen & Julius Stenbak) emigrated from Norway to the USA when they were small children.  It was indeed a privilege to visit the “home country”.  I’d go back in a heartbeat!  I have posted an album of about 40 photos out of more than 200.  ENJOY!  UFFDA! http://picasaweb.google.com/ernandjan/NorwayFjordCruise2004

Today we visited Mt. St. Helens, zipping up Highway 504 about fifty miles to Johnston Ridge viewpoint.  From this observatory, you have a direct view into the crater from only five miles away, and it’s awesome.  The dome has rebuilt, and is stil smoking.  On May 18, 1980, two major earthquakes the previous two weeks shook the interior of the mountain creating new vents for the magma to explode through the top and creating the largest landslide in recorded history, cascading three and a half billion cubic feet, a large chunk of the mountain, over the ridges and down the Toutle River, forming an ash cloud 80,000 feet high that went around the world in two weeks.  If you stacked all that material on one football field, it would be 375 miles high!  Today, 27 years later, they have reforested the mountains with Noble Fir and have built a beautiful highway right up to the observatory point.  The best part of the trip is the highway; a beautiful, wide, two lane highway that smokes you right to the top.  You don’t have to hit the gas or the brakes much on the way back to stay on the speed limit.  Coast down the mountain at 70 mph with your left hand resting lightly on the steering wheel, and if you have Toby Keith turned up loud, that’s good too, and your sensory experience is complete if you have a latte in your right hand.  You can’t help but think about those caught on the highways when the mountain exploded and raced to get away from the super hot, pyro cloud that roared down the valley at 150 mph.  The points that are now observation centers were hit by an explosion that leveled the forest for many square miles.  Designated as a National Volcanic Monument (this designation probably got the federal monies to build the highways and visitor centers) in 1983, it is well worth the trip to see this mountain that blew its top up close.  It has had eighteen major explosions in its 4000 years, and each one has made its height a little less.  It isn’t done yet, and the smoking dome shows the potential of all the peaks in the Cascade Mountains, which could become active volcanoes under the right conditions.