THE FINAL CHAPTER (OF THIS TRIP)

We arrive home yesterday after almost 9 weeks on the road.  We saw lots of new places and some places we've been before.  We spent time with family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip.  We drove over 8,000 miles and never had problem one with the truck or trailer.  We will now get ready for our next adventure to Europe in the fall, but first here's the final chapter in this adventure.


We spent our last week in the Eastern Sierras for some hiking in some of our favorite areas.  Bridgeport, Lee Vining and Bishop.  We managed 5 hikes in 7 days but I'm not going to go into great detail.  I'll post some photos with captions of the locations, but at the end of this post we'll explore some really important and interesting findings from our high altitude hikes.  Now for some photos:

BUCKEYE CREEK IN BUCKEYE CANYON NEAR BRIDGEPORT

 E.T. PHONE HOME

IRISES NEAR BRIDGEPORT

EAGLE CREEK HIKE NEAR BRIDGEPORT

PRETTY

WE SAW LOTS OF INITIALS CARVED IN THE ASPENS

ALONG EAGLE CREEK.  THIS ONE FROM 1925!

MORE FLOWERS ALONG EAGLE CREEK

 A WINDY DAY AT LOWER TWIN LAKE, BRIDGEPORT

 WE HIKE ALONG THE TUOLUMNE RIVER IN YOSEMITE

 THE CASCADES

MORE OF THE CASCADES

PACK TRAIN OVER THE TUOLUMNE RIVER

 CATHIE COMING UP THE TRAIL INTO

GAYLOR LAKES BASIN, YOSEMITE

 GAYLOR LAKE

 GAYLOR LAKES BASIN

 LOOKING DOWN FROM 11,000 FEET AT GRANITE LAKE

 YOURS TRULY ABOVE GRANITE LAKES

MINER'S CABIN GAYLOR LAKES IN BACKGROUND

UPPER AND LOWER GAYLOR LAKES WITH

GAYLOR PEAK IN BACKGROUND

A couple of years ago I climbed Gaylor Peak.  At just over 11,000 feet it is just a short cross county hike from the trail leading into the basin.

We moved down to Bishop and after a day of rest, we hiked up to Tyee Lakes.  The trail head is a 9100 feet and the upper lake is at 11,100 feet, so you do the math.  2000 foot gain in a little over 3 miles.

 WATER FALL ON THE WAY UP

 LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST LAKE

 LAKE NUMBER TWO

 UPPER LAKE

 RESTING

SOME OF THE MANY FLOWERS WE SAW ON THIS HIKE

We saw so many flower on the entire trip so in the future I might just do a post with just the flowers.  Now for that exciting information I promised.

I have been a many high altitude hikes, with Mt. Dana at over 13,000 feet my highest climb.  Cathie too has been up there at over 11,000 feet.  We've noticed something that occurs on a regular basis while hiking at these altitudes.  We have numerous bouts of flatulence.  Yes, we fart, pass gas, cut the cheese or break wind.  Call it what you like, but it happens frequently to us at high altitude.  So I was thinking; could it be that the decrease in atmospheric pressure causes the gas inside to expand and be released uncontrollably?

Cathie noticed this phenomenon with me as she usually lets me lead the way, but I also noticed on our frequent breaks that she too suffers from anal audio.  So if this is true could it also be true that when you descend from the heights, and the pressure increases causing the gas accumulated at high altitude to be squeezed out?

I think so, but to prove my theory and perhaps to write my doctoral thesis on the subject I think I will petition the government for a grant to study this important subject.  Imagine the trouble the astronauts must have in zero gravity.  My findings just might save a life.  I figure Washington is always giving away money to the 47% so why can't I get in on the action?  I know my United States Senator, Nancy "we have to pass it so you will know what's in it" Pelosi would support such an important study.  Don't you think?

HOT CONTINUED

After leaving some money at REI we headed to Pike Street Market.  After a 30 minute search for parking we found a spot 3 blocks away.  Although it is legitimate market with fresh fish, vegetables, fruit and the like, it has become a tourist attraction in Seattle.

Between 1906 and 1907, the cost of onions increased tenfold. Outraged citizens, fed up with paying price-gouging middlemen too much for their produce, found a hero in Seattle City Councilman Thomas Revelle. Revelle proposed a public street market that would connect farmers directly with consumers. Customers would "Meet the Producer" directly, a philosophy that is still the foundation of all Pike Place Market businesses.

On August 17, 1907, Pike Place Market was born. On that first day, a total of eight farmers brought their wagons to the corner of First Avenue and Pike Street—and were quickly overwhelmed by an estimated 10,000 eager shoppers. By 11:00 am, they were sold out. Thousands of would-be customers went home empty-handed, but the chaos held promise. By the end of 1907, the first Market building opened, with every space filled.

A century later, Pike Place Market is internationally recognized as America's premier farmers' market and is home to more than 200 year-round commercial businesses; 190 craftspeople and approximately 100 farmers who rent table space by the day; 240 street performers and musicians; and more than 300 apartment units, most of which provide housing for low-income elderly people. "The Market," as the locals affectionately say, attracts 10 million visitors a year, making it one of Washington state's most frequently visited destinations.

The prices arn't so cheap now as salmon was going for anywhere from $20 to $35 a pound.  Yikes!!!

The Pike Place Fish Market is the most popular attraction.  With fish mongers tossing the fish from the display to a coworker behind the counter for wrapping.


We had some really good Russian pastries at Piroshky Piroshky Bakery.  I opted for the Marzipan Roll while Cathie went for Cinnamon Cardamon Braid.  Mmmmm Mmmmm good.

STREET PERFORMER OUTSIDE THE MARKET

YOU WANT TO BUY FROM THIS PLACE

EVEN THEIR WATER IS SANITARY

Next on the tour was the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field south of downtown.  Lots of planes, most original with a few reproductions thrown in.  The highlight for me was an up close view of a B-17, the Flying Fortress with one of the museum's docents.  As of late I've been reading about WW-II and several of the books I've read were accounts written by either pilots or crew members of the B-17.  Although I wasn't allowed inside the plane, I was able to "look" inside and take several photos.  Seeing the inside of the airship really brought home some of the stories I've been reading about.  Although the plane looks big on the out side, the areas that the crew inhabited were really small.

THE BALL TURRET

One crew member would get inside the ball turret which stuck out on the bottom of the plane.  Once inside the only way out was back through the plane.  The hatch would only open when the ball was rotated allowing the access from the plane.  In it's normal position, while in flight and while operating the two 50 caliber guns, the hatch could not be opened.  A very cramped space, the crew member inside would be laying on his back with his heels in stirrups ( you can see one on the left of the round window).

In the central part of the plane there were two more 50 caliber guns which were fired through an open window on each side of the plane.  With two crew members in this space it was pretty cramped.  Some things you might not have known about the B-17;  Due to the tight spaces, the crew did not wear their parachutes, only putting them one when called to bail out.  (Hence a big problem for the ball turret gunner).  Each of the thirteen 50 caliber guns would fire at a rate of 13 rounds per second, but they only carried enough ammunition for one minute of continous fire.  This was done as a weigh saving measure so they could carry more bombs.  The crew consisted of ten men adding to the crowded conditions.  Of the 12,732 B-17's built, today the are about a dozen still flying.  During the war, 1/3 of the planes were shot down, 1/3 were destroyed in accidents, and 1/3 survived.  At the end of the war the amount of casualties from the B-17 missions were stagering, in fact the life expectancy for a B-17 crew was 14 missions that was how dangerous it was.You can read more about the B-17 HERE.

Also on display at the museum is one of the first 707 Air Force One's and a supersonic Concorde, both of which you can go inside and look around.

For a change of pace, the next day we drove to Tacoma and paid a visit to the Museum of Glass.  Cathie and I have a modest collection of blow art glass so a visit here was a must.  We can only hope for a lottery win so we could possess some of the masterpieces found  here.

 

Besides the collection of works of art, the museum has a "Hot Shop" where you can watch artists creating all kinds of different objects.  A docents explain what is happening as  you watch a work of art created.  You can watch the artist live on this LINK.  We spent about an hour watching in person.

THE HOT SHOP

The next 3 photographs are of the Chihuly Bridge of Glass.   Dale Chihuly is a renowned glass blower and the works displayed on the bridge are all made by him.

We stopped for lunch nearby at the Rock the Dock Pub where we enjoyed the food as well as the view of Mt Rainier.

We finished off the day with a visit to the Snoqualmie Falls which as it turns out was just a couple of miles from our camp in Carnation.

We left Seattle and headed south to Portland where we paid a visit to our old friends Dave and Linda.  The first night we went out to dinner but optied for a BBQ at Dave's and Lindia's for our second night.  We hadn't seen them in about 10 years so it was great to catch up on the latest.  Dave promised to pay a visit to San Diego this winter.

While in the Portland area we checked out  a couple of the falls in the Columbia Gorge.

CAMPING NEAR DAVE'S

We are currently in Reno and this is where the "hot" in the title comes in to play.  98 degrees today and the same expected tomorrow.  A big change from all the rain eailer in the trip.  Probably not much acess to Internet for the rest of the trip, so the final chapter won't appear until after we arrive home in 10 to 14 days.

Till then............... 

THE RAIN QUIT, NOW IT'S HOT

It's been over a week since I last posted on the Blog.  I'll try catching up with what's been going on.

We crossed the Cascades on the North Cascades Highway raining most of the way.  There are supposed to be some nice views along the route, but not for us with the low clouds and fog.  When we arrived in Oak Harbor, which is on the Island of Whidbey in Puget Sound, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Whidbey is an island because of a narrow strait between it and the mainland.  You can view Deception Pass by either walking across the highway bridge which crosses it or from a nearby beach.  We opted for both views each of which are pretty spectacular.

Continuing our sightseeing we took the ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula and the town of Port Townsend.  The Washington State Ferries ply the waters of the Puget Sound and the San Juan Island with 22 ferries.  At about $30 for a round trip it's well worth the cost considering that the non-ferry option is a 225 mile road trip around the southern in of the sound.

We paid a visit to Fort Worden State Park where when the kids were young we went camping.  The old fort with it's gun emplacements and officer quarters still exist.  Part of the fort has been converted to a campground while the officer homes which surround the parade grounds are available as vacation rentals.

We spent sometime walking around the town then after lunch caught the return ferry to Whidbey Island.  Next we stopped at Fort Casey another army fort taken over by the State Park Department.

 Located on Admiralty Inlet, Fort Casey was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the 1890s that three forts, Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Flagler on Morrowstone Island and Fort Worden at Port Townsend, were built at the entrance of the sound with huge guns creating a "Triangle of Fire." This military strategy was built on the theory that the three fortresses would thwart any invasion attempt by sea.

Designed as part of the massive modernization program of U.S. seacoast fortifications, construction on Fort Casey began in 1897. In 1901, her big guns on disappearing carriages, which could be raised out of their protective emplacements so that the guns were exposed only long enough to fire, became active. However, the fort's ammunition batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed. The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the subsequent development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack. In addition, the development of battleships designed with increasingly accurate weaponry transformed the static strategies of the nineteenth century into the more mobile attack systems of the twentieth century. Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War I, where they were mounted on rail cars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.

Two of the fort's 10-inch (25-cm) seacoast artillery guns on their carriages were salvaged in the mid-1960s from their final active duty location at Fort Wint on the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay.  The guns showed visible shrapnel scarring from the effects of the Japanese bombings in the Philippines at the opening of World War II.

HELLO?  (NOT CATHIE)

THE GUN BATTERY



ADMIRALTY LIGHT HOUSE AT FORT CASEY

 

After 4 days on Whidbey Island we figured it was time to start heading south.  Not by much though as we stopped in the Seattle area to see friends Mark and Lynn.  Lynn had worked with me on the USS Midway, but upon Mark's retirement they opted to move to the Seattle area to be close to their daughter.  They moved into their new home a month before our visit and as their first guest we were treated with a great lunch and a tour of Edmonds their new hometown.

We managed to push ourselves away from the table and found a place to camp in a county park in the small town of Carnation.  Out in the country, but close enough to the city for a visit which we did the next day.

First on the itinerary was a stop at the REI Flagship Store to return my hiking boots.  While hiking in the snow in the Tetons, the left boot leaked soaking my foot.  The right boot was fine, it was as though the Chinaman who did the waterproofing missed one.  Anyway the boot were exchanged for new ones with no problems.  REI had a very liberal return policy letting you return an item at any time for any reason.  That was until the next day.  Now items purchased may only be returned in the first year.  Of course we had to buy more stuff while we were there.

REI ENTRY

Our tour of Seattle will be continued.......