On to the Finish

Dear Alice,


We've made it past Mt. Hood, where we stayed in the Timberline Lodge. The Timberline Lodge was great- and none of us went insane (Timberline is where the movie "The Shining" was filmed in 1980.) It was here we met up with our family, who will be joining us on our journey for a week or so in celebration of Mimi and Papa's 52nd anniversary.

We had a great time toboggan riding/bobsledding (one of the two are correct) on the lower slopes of Mt. Hood. All was well until my toboggan/bobsled had some difficulty going down the track, as one of the wheels had conveniently fallen off on a sharp curve. I had to push my way to the finish while traffic accumulated behind me.

We had a wonderful evening at the Timberline Lodge celebrating Mimi and Papa's anniversary.

We stayed  in Astoria, OR after seeing Mt. Hood. We had a great time eating fish & chips. We moved on and saw the beautiful Cannon Beach, which happens to be the end point of Louis and Clark's expedition, and a huge landmark. More about that later.

--Austin Pretsch

Hood River, Oregon -- The Windiest City

Dear Alice,
We have now switched from camping to.. um... hoteling? I'm not entirely sure what word to use. But anyway we have made it to the Colombia River Gorge, the windy border between Washington and Oregon. We've had a great experience--and been lucky all along.  Last night we stayed at the Columbia Gorge Hotel.  It is a historic hotel overlooking the Columbia River from a 208' high cliff.  A stream winds through their gardens and over the cliff to the river below.

I didn't know that the gorge is a giant wind funnel, with 35 mph winds daily as cool Pacific Ocean air is sucked into the Oregon desert via this gap in the mountains.  There are lots of kite boarders and wind surfers on the river.  One kite boarder jumped about 30' in the air - over a ski boat!

One rule this trip is that we stop anytime anyone wishes.  Once we checked out, we visited a nearby lavender farm.    Then we stopped by Alice's Orchard and bought a 10# box of cherries.

Two miles down the road there was a vineyard and winery - so M&D had a late morning tasting - boring.  We hadn't traveled more than 10 miles by noon and then Mom wanted to pet some alpacas.  We learned that alpacas are the small wool bearing animals of the Andes.  Their cousins, the llamas, are much bigger and used for pack transport and guarding the smaller alpacas from coyotes and wolves.  I think they copied their fashion from your cute doo!

On we go to Mt. Hood!

-- Austin

Selway River

Dear Alice,

After leaving the Lochsa River, we moved 60 miles to the Selway River, reputed to be even more beautiful.  It was different - like chipmunks and squirrels - mostly because of the white sand beaches.  This river travels 60 miles through the wilderness (no access at all) and is restricted to a single float trip per day.

We've had some beautiful camp sites right on the rivers...

This is our camp on Meadow Creek with dinner in hand!

After leaving the Selway, we followed the Clearwater to the Snake to the Columbia - all day in the car. :-(  We're short time so we took a short cut through SE Washington and the town of Walla Walla and many miles of wheat fields.  Here we are eating lunch at the Monarcha #2 taco bus!



Chase some squirrels for us.

Love,
Dad

Gone Fishing - Lochsa River, Idaho

Dear Alice,

The past 4 days we've been in Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area of Idaho.   A local guy recommended we visit the Lochsa Lodge before going into the wilderness.  We liked it enough to stay 2 nights in one of their little roadside cabins.

From this convenient base we took a 20 mile dirt road to the continental divide, fishing in an alpine area - Hoodoo Lake.  This is the same area that Lewis & Clark ran out of food for 2 weeks, and Colt Killed Creek marks the spot of one of their meals!

Austin fishing the Lochsa River.

Hope all is well in MEM.

Dad

Biking the Hiawatha

Yesterday we went bike riding; we followed the same route as the Hiawatha. It was a very easy 14 miles, as it was pretty much all downhill. 

Since the Hiawatha used to be a transcontinental railroad, there were many tunnels along the way (9 of them, to be exact.) One tunnel was 1.7 miles long, with no lights. Each biker is required to have a light to see in the tunnels before riding.

This little critter was found at one of the many stops we made to read the "educational signs." Surprisingly, these chipmunks weren't afraid of anything, including big shiny cameras. Its nose actually touched the lenses and they had to be cleaned (I am quite proud of this picture.)

                                                                                       -Austin

http://wallace-id.com/skilookout/taft.html

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Dear Alice,

Yesterday we traveled from the east side of Glaciaer NP to the west side.  We've had lots of rain & wind,  so it's time to move.

 

The route is the Going-to the Sun Road, and it filled with waterfalls, streams, and snow--and tunnels.

Toward the end of the drive we stopped and talked to the driver of this typical tour bus.  Its a 1937 White Bus refurbished by Ford in 2001.

I miss you.  Love,

Ethan :)

Gopher Hunting and Hiking

Dear Alice,

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a wonderful time visiting our friends, the Christaens in Kevin, Montana.   After a wonderful Steak dinner with all of the trimmings, we went gopher hunting!  The gophers lucked out that night, but we had so much fun!   The plains were beautiful-  you can see for miles and miles, and we finished our evening with a spectacular sunset and Shawn's homemade butter rum cake!  So Yummy!

Friday morning we headed for Glacier National Park where we set up camp.   

Saturday morning we started out early and did an eleven mile hike up to Cobalt Lake,  the last 2 miles of our hike was in the snow!

To celebrate Independence day, we set out for another hike. 

Just as we drove out of our campground, we were so fortunate to see a black bear eating his breakfast on the side of the mountain!   As we drove up to the trailhead, the weather turned cold and rainy, so then we decided to take showers and have a nice dinner at the Glacier Lake Lodge-  fresh rainbow trout!!  Yum!

Miss you.
Love, Mom