Going North

June 2

On the way across Washington we stopped at the Columbia River on the west side to visit the Gingko Petrified forest visitor center.  The winds were horrendous and so we didn’t do much outside, but inside we were able to learn about the various lava flows and how the wood was petrified millions of years ago.  Most of the way we had very high winds buffeting the camper and truck – poor mileage I’m sure.

We arrived at Ken and Krista’s house around 4 pm after taking some time to get permission to get on base.  That evening, after a WONDERFUL Chicken Marsala dinner Ken and I went to Cabela’s where I was able to get my fishing license for one day.

 June 3

Ken, Nate and I got up at 3:30 AM for the 2 hour drive down to the Columbia River where Ken had hired a guide to take us fishing for Steelhead.  We had our first sunny, warm day and it was gorgeous on the river.  We did not catch any fish, but in some way it didn’t matter.  We watched an Osprey attack an Eagle that got too close to a nest site, we saw several Great Blue Heron’s lots of Cormorants, and many different ducks.  The river was calm and the sky and cliffs beautiful.

It was a great time to get to know Nate better and to talk with Ken.  The guide, Mike, was a nice guy, a little overbearing at times, but we still liked him.  We got back to the house around 6 or so after being on the water for around 9 hours.

Marty had a relaxing day – she did some laundry, shopped for necessary groceries for our trip, read and walked around the base with Krista and Abbey. 

June 4, 2011

After sleeping till nearly 7AM we had our coffee, watched Nate play some warfare game, then went out for bfast with the Kamper Team.  We left the restaurant around 11, fueled up and headed North.  We are on the way to Abbotsford, BC to visit Korea friends, Sid and Jenny Byma.  We arrived there around 3 pm after an uneventful ride.  However, once past Seattle traffic the scenery turned spectacular!  We could see snow covered Olympic Penn. Mountains which eluded us back in ’76 when we drove to Hurricane Ridge and camped in the Hoh Rain Forest.  At that time we were not at all sure these mtns existed since there was so much fog that we could barely see the car ahead of us.

Last night we took a bit of a tour of the Abbotsford area – saw Mt. Baker in all of its splendor, crossed the Frasier River and was amply fed by Jenny…., the dinner was great and the strawberry shortcake very tasty. 

June 5, 2011

Went to church this morning and heard my friend Nathan Elgersma preach – encouraging sermon and challenging.  Then Sid and Jenny invited him over for lunch since Ardie (his wife) was gone for the weekend.  We talked for about 2 hours and then he and we needed to get going.  We left S and J at about 2:15 and drove to the town of Hope, and then North toward Prince George.  Tonight we stayed in a Provincial Park in the Thompson River Canyon after driving along the Frasier River most of the afternoon.  The park is beautiful – Skihist Prov. Park.  There is no electricity, but the beauty and the quiet make up for it.

Today was sunny and warm – we had gorgeous views of the mountains with slightly cooling temperature this evening.  With such awesome views today, I wonder if AK will be more of the same, or if we’re in for more beauty still??  How much beauty can we really take in without becoming numb to it?  If we lived in this area, would we eventually hardly notice the snow covered peaks and the contrasting green pines, spruces and cedars?

For the first time on our trip we had a campfire!  It is looking more and more like rain tomorrow, but it would sure be nice to have a few more days like this! 

Columbia River in background with Gingko Petrified forest in foreground.