Mt. St. Helens

Coming from the Olympic peninsula, we stayed a couple nights at a rustic campground in the Seaquest state park. About an hour away is Mt. St. Helens, the vulcano that erupted spectacularly in May 1980. In spite of many warning signs as early as March of the same year, the unexpected lateral blast of the eruption took the lives of 57 people and devastated  a large area around the vulcano. Triggered by a massive landslide, the eruption blasted away the entire top and the northwestern side of the mountain, taking away over 1,300 ft of the original height.

Mt. St. Helens erupted sideways, blasting a huge gap into the mountain slope. The haze in this and the following photos is caused by wildfires in eastern Washington and Oregon

Prior to the eruption, Mt. St. Helens looked like all the other vulcanoes of the Cascade range, like for instance this one:


Mt. Hood in northwest Oregon

Even 32 years after the eruption, the devastating results of the blast are plain to see.


Distance: 5 mi. The lake and the forest that have been here before the eruption, were buried under lava, and vegetatiuon did not recover yet.



Distance: 8 mi. Forests were flattened, and nothing survived



Distance: 15 mi.

 

 

 

 

Olympic Peninsula

Back in the US, our first major destination was the Olympic Peninsula in the northwest corner of Washington state, with the Olympic National Park and the only temperate climate rainforest in America.
But before getting there, we had to overcome a big obstacle: Entering the US of A! After waiting 45 minutes in line to get to the immigration officer's booth, he told us our RV needs an inspection for conformity with US agricultural rules. So we parked the RV and waited 20 minutes for the inspectors to finish their investigation, the result of which was that we had to dump the fruit and veggies that we had forgotten about. When we thought we were allowed to resume our trip, the inspector said that we also couldn't take the firewood that we always have in our truck bed, because it didn't have a certificate for the special heat treatment that is required for importing firewood. "Ok", I said, "then we must  leave it here". However, she made it clear, friendly but firmly, that we have to bring it back to Canadian soil - first through Canadian immigration, and then back another 40 minutes in line for US immigration. My "you must be kidding" didn't help much. Can anyone imagine how much I fumed? My question if burning it up right there on the parking lot would be a sufficient heat treatment almost got me in contact with the next law enforcement official. So, we turned around into Canada, made a U-turn a couple of miles later, threw all the firewood in the grass (which I determined was no pollution because it didn't have the heat treatment) and lined up again - the whole process took us over 2 hours!
A nice new experience during the rest of this day trip was a ferry ride that we had to take to get from Whidbey Island to the Olympic Peninsula.
Our campground 20 minutes west of Port Angeles was located inside a county recreation area right at the sea border, with spectacular views onto the Pacific, specifically on the Juan de Fuca Strait that separates the Peninsula from Victoria Island, Canada.



At the Juan de Fuca Strait, with Vancouver Island in the distance

With over 930,000 acres (3.734 qkm), Olympic NP is one of the largest national parks in USA. The main features are a large glacial mountain range in the center, up to almost 10,000 ft, the temperate rain forest mentioned above, mainly at the western slopes of the mountains, and the Pacific coastline. The rain forest gets about 150 inches (380 cm) rain annually and is the wettest area in the continental US.




The center of the NP, photo taken from Hurricane Ridge

 

 

In the Hoh rain forest, near the town of Forks at the west side of the park

 

 

Benjamin at one of the giant spruces that strive in the rain forest

 

Driftwood at the Pacific west coast, close to La Push (well known to all "Twilight" fans!)

 

What a man...

 

 

 

 

From Jasper to Vancouver

It's been a while since I published the last post - technology didn't quite work the way I thought it would. Basically, we have two different ways to access internet while travelling: One is via WiFi, because many private RV parks provide internet access through their WiFi, but usually not inside national parks (obviously you are not meant to be on the computer while enjoying a national park). The other one is with our internet stick which provides internet access whenever we are inside Verizon cell phone coverage - which is not the case in Canada and also not in some remote areas in the US. I thought I could buy a stick and an internet contract with a phone company in Canada, but they require a Canadian address and, worse, a Canadian bank account and debit card. Also, blogging activities were further limited by insufficient connection quality - uploading pictures to the blog requires a pretty fast connection which is often not available. Now we are back in the US, having a decent internet and I plan to catch up with what happened in the last 2 or 3 weeks.

We left Jasper in northwestern direction toward the town of Prince George, the northernmost point on our trip. On our way, we crossed the continental divide one last time and passed Mount Robson, highest mountain of the Canadian Rockies.

Mount Robson

Barkerville Main Street

About one hour south of Prince George is Barkerville, a historic mining town that was founded in 1861, right after the Californian gold rush ebbed out. The first few pioneers were lucky enough to stumble over gold nuggets in the Baker creek and found up to $75,000 gold in a few days, which is at least 100 times more in nowadays value. Within just a few months, about 30,000 people rushed into the valley in pursuit of similar riches. It his hard to imagine what these people had to endure there, with no food, no supplies, no infrastructure, nothing. After a few weeks, all the gold that could be found in the creek beds was gone, and the rest had to be mined from under the surface, in the beginning from about 50 ft (15 m) deep, and then deeper and deeper. However, the area was so rich with gold, that mining continued until 1974 - of course at an industrial scale, which had nothing in common with the gold panning of the old days.



Aquaeduct, water wheel, pump and elevator for gold mining from 55 ft

Benjamin may have been 150 years too late, but he sure had more fun than most of the poor guys then!

 

From Barkerville, we continued southwest toward Vancouver, taking the Fraser Canyon route through the Cascades, the same way the gold rushers took 150 years ago.

 

Fraser Canyon at the town of Lillooet

In the Cascade Range, about 50 mi east of Whistler, known from the 2010 Olympic winter games

 

Vancouver was a welcome contrast to all the nature we we enjoying in the previous weeks. It is a vibrant and interesting city, influenced by many different cultures, and beautifully located between the mountains and the ocean. It is definitely worth a longer stay than our two days (in a lousy and very expensive RV park, by the way). Here are just a few impressions:

 

Gastown Village in Vancouver, a bit like New York City's Greenwich Village

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

THE MIRACLE

On Friday, August 31 I had a straightforward talk with Manfred to share my concern with him that Ben really misses a friend and companion. I also told him that Ben prays for a dog. Sunday night we arrive in Quesnel, Canada to visit Barkerville (an old, historically significant mining town) the next day.

Monday morning (Labor Day) as we get ready to leave for Barkerville, a cat is joining us outside at our table. Ben is understandably beside himself, he asked us to please not leave right now but wait after he is done playing with the cat. The cat seems to be friendly and tame enough. Ben gets out his chair to sit in but before he even has a chance to sit down, the cat gets all-comfy in the chair. It is a beautiful grey/blue tomcat and I can tell by the smell of him that he is not neutered. After about half an hour we coaxe Benjy to leave with us to go to Barkerville and see a really exciting mining town. He is less than happy to leave and makes us promise to stay another extra day (we planned to leave on Tuesday for Vancouver) so he can spend time with the nice cat. We give in and promise we will stay another day if the cat is still around later in the afternoon. During the day Benjy keeps asking if we think the cat will still be there…On the way back from the fun and interesting day in Barkerville we see a black bear and a moose….but Benjy keeps asking for “his cat”.

The moment we pull into our campsite, the cat comes running to us….and Benjy is in heaven. We feed the cat a Wiener sausage that he gobbles up and Benjy starts wondering if he has no home. I keep promising he probably belongs to the campground and is used to many campers passing through and is just friendly. So we have to stay an extra day and I promise to inquire with the campground host the next morning, where the cat belongs.

The next morning (Tuesday) the cat is still at our place and I walk over to the office to talk to the host. And sure enough, he confides the cat is a stray and had been hanging out for several months now.  When he showed up he was all-bones but the anglers feed him fish so he seems to be doing ok for now. The host has a cat and two dogs and will not consider taking the stray cat in and so far no camper has taken him. Mid-October they close the campground because winter in Canada comes early and then the cat might fall prey to cougars or just starve or freeze to death. More information than I actually wanted to have…L

I take the news home and do NOT tell Benjy because I know what would happen. I talk to Manfred and tell him; and HE (!!!!) of all people suggests we could take him if we are all clear on a plan B if it does not work!!!!!!!! All of you who know Manfred well will know that this is the first miracle. A cat in an RV??? A cat that drives for hours in a car??? A cat in such a small space where we even do not know where to put OUR stuff??? A cat to be kept inside all the time because we change locations every 3 to 4 days??? I think: NO WAY!

In the meantime Benjy talks to some neighbors and learns about the cat…they obviously talked to the camp host as well….he comes inside to tell us the news and immediately says we have to rescue the cat and keep it. So Manfred suggests we sit down and talk this through….miracle! Benjy seems to be speechless because he did NOT expect his Dad to seriously consider it. There are so many unknown factors: First, the tomcat is NOT neutered! That is a no go! He seems to be tame enough but has he ever lived with humans? Does he know how to use a litter box? If not, how do you train him? What if he hates driving in a car (like 99% of all cats)? What if we cannot keep him confined to the RV and he constantly tries to escape? We open the RV door approximately 50-100 times a day (no kidding)! What STRESS to try to keep him inside! We have seen others traveling with cats, but mostly in motor homes which is a different story because the cat is always in the same place, driving or not! Who can answer all our questions? There are no travelers with cats in the campground.

First, we give the cat a test drive, pack him in the car (without crate, just a leash that I got at Wal-Mart) and drive to the Canadian animal shelter to ask some questions. He behaves well enough…he does not love it but he is not going berserk either. At the shelter they look at him, confirm he is not neutered, has ear mites and needs vaccination if we want to take him into the US. He is probably young and might be part Russian Blue. They call a vet for us and we make an appointment for him the next morning (Wednesday). Poor boy, here we consider to, excuse me, “cut his balls off”, have his ears cleaned, a shot given and confine him to a small space! We want to try to keep him inside that night (vet said no food or water after 8 PM the night before surgery) and see how he might behave being confined at night! He walks all over the place at daytime and snuggles up wherever the likes it. So far he has not run off, even after giving him a “test drive”! We feed him yummy cat food at about 7:30 PM and off he goes! The moment the door opens he escapes and is not to be seen anymore! Benjy is devastated and we all go to bed without seeing or hearing him anymore! But the next morning he is back! (Clueless as he is J)

We re-consider but then decide to follow through! Off we are to the vet! We still can let him go after surgery and recovery! While he is at the vet, Benjy and I are buying a crate and litter box.

We pick him up in the afternoon and after he wakes up from anesthesia he really goes berserk!!! We cannot keep him in the crate; he tries to jump through windows and just wants to run!!! First Benjy starts crying, seeing that we cannot do this to him, feels all guilty and bad and is really, really desperate and devastated! I see the same thing and start feeling really bad for the cat and especially for my son who is in much distress! So I start crying as well! What a desperate sob party, I can tell you! So Benjy and I are already grieving but decided to let him go and in comes Manfred and says “no way”, we said A now we have to say B and follow through! We will give it a try as discussed and can change the plans later if needed! That is so Manfred!!!

But did he really just make a case keeping a stray cat??? In an RV, or exactly in a 5^th-wheel and therefore also in the truck when we travel? Did I hear this correct??? Ben and I are willing to give the cat up (well under tears) and he says “no way” ???

That is a miracle!

Also, while the cat that Benjy named “TOMMY” was at the vet, a new camper pulled up in the spot beside us, in a 5^th-wheel with a truck pulling the RV. They get a crate out of the truck and in it is …… A CAT !!!

Miracle over miracle! Exactly what we needed: people who travel in a 5^th wheel with a cat! And again Manfred is the one who talks to the people a long, long time about Tommy, traveling with a cat, how to train him etc. Those people have had cats they traveled with all their life and gave us tons of valuable tips and information! This is why Manfred was so confident that we just have to follow through!!!

He strongly believed Tommy will be fine, he will easily adjust and he will be happy as well! Where does this man get his confidence and insight from? I have no clue! I am the worrier…I always see problems and reasons why things does not work!

And Ben just knew it was answered prayers! He knows that God just send the cat along to be his friend and companion. He never ever doubted it for a minute! And I am just speechless! I guess I have to admit that Benjy is right! Tommy adopted us for a good reason… He does travel very well, walks all over the car, sits with Benjy, cuddles with me, sleeps for hours under the seat. He will go in the crate if needed (like when we had to go through customs coming back from Canada) or when we get ready to leave and have to do the last clean up and hitching process. He just waits patiently until we are ready for him. He loves his new home, our RV. He sits on the sofa and looks out; he sleeps under Manfred’s desks or in Ben’s bed. He cuddles and snuggles and just loves and enjoys being with us all. He does not like to walk at a leash but he won’t fight it. He sits outside with us, curls up in “his” chair, plays with toys and Benjy. It almost seems as if he is thankful that we rescued him. And, he is BEAUTIFUL!!! And he has the calmest and most loving soul I have ever seen in a cat! I guess we all, including Manfred, fell big time for him !

By the way, the vet said Tommy is approx. 2 years old. I do not know if he really is part Russian Blue but if you google the personality of Russian Blue cats, he fits quite well…J

Here some pics! Update on Tommy and us to follow!

The emotional side, third post:

Ok, it has been a while since my last post! We have been in Canada for 3 weeks and since we spent most of the time in the National Parks (Kootenay, Banff and then Jasper) we were quite often without Internet (we actually still are...even with being back in the US). The parks were gorgeous! I think I said this before; but the majesty of the mountains, the color of the lakes, the endless forests and the incredible wildlife (yes, we saw bears…..black and grizzly) are incredibly beautiful! What a treat that we got to see all this beauty!

Our happiness about the incredible wilderness (by the way: not much traffic….Manfred liked that a lot J ) got a bit damped by the pretty high prices for almost everything. Campground fees, gas/diesel, groceries, restaurants, souvenirs…all were way more expensive than in the States. So shopping, even for necessities was no fun at all.

We are now almost 6 weeks into our trip and I have to admit that the last 2 weeks were not too much fun “mood wise”. Surrounded by beautiful nature … and we unfortunately started to get onto our nerves (which had nothing to do with the nature and all with our different personalities and ideas of how to spend the time and of course the tight space we live in).

David, I had been thinking about you a lot J ! You gave me two month, right? I started thinking that you (though annoyingly) might be right!

Manfred had very precise ideas of when, where, how long and which way we all (!) would go hiking….Benjy really started to miss friends, play dates and social contacts and I needed MY space. I had/have the hardest time to never being alone anymore….

My original idea from having peace, time and quiet to meditate and study completely fell apart or to be exact, never ever actually surfaced at all. So I am frustrated and not the most patient wife or mom anymore. And I probably have been naïve to believe that this would be possible in the first place. Many days we travel for hours, the days we do not travel, we explore or prepare the next days trip.

I am homeschooling, I have to do laundry, buy groceries and cook meals. I underestimated the time all those things take, especially preparing the next trips. We often research for hours to find THE (!) RV park, the one that is in beautiful nature, has hook-ups and is conveniently located. Then we also have to research the route in detail because it is very, very stressful if you accidentally take the wrong route with a big rig like ours and you, for instance, have no way to make a U-turn, or no gas station with diesel for the next 100 miles. We already encountered several of those situations and believe me: that is no fun at all. Usually finding the actual campground is the tricky part; finding the right road and taking the right turns is trickier than you might think (remember, the options to turn 60 feet around are limited). And do not believe that our navigation system knows its way…oh no! If we would have relied on that one as our only source I would be most likely writing from Timbuktu right now.

So, not much “Silke-time”! BUT: spending time with my only son 24/7 is priceless!!! On a normal school day he used to be gone for at least 7 hours and often for more than 10-12, depending on after school classes and play dates. Now I have the chance to really connect with him, the home schooling gives us time to talk and to explore, I newly discovered how he really “ticks”. The talks we sometimes have on our hikes are so wonderful, stunning and hopefully life forming! I just love it and consider it my biggest blessing yet!

We are also finding out that 3 never seems to be an easy number in relationships. What works fine are all combinations of 2: Manfred and I, Ben and I and Manfred and Ben. In those combinations we ALWAYS have a good time. If it is the 3 of us our interests seem to clash and we start fights in all of the possible above combinations of 2.

So the solution seems to be, instead of always doing everything in threes, we should start doing more in pairs. That also gives the 3^rd person a breather and time in quiet and solitude.

Which brings me to the problem that Benjy does not need quiet and solitude but a friend and play date. Hanging with his parents gets old after some weeksJ

This seems to be developing into a problem. He starts getting irritated and complains daily that he misses his cat so much and he wants a dog! We see almost every RVer having a dog or cat and we are the only ones without a pet the complaining goes!

Benjy told me that he prays daily, sometimes more than once, that his Dad will allow him to have a companion, preferably a dog. I know that this would need a miracle to become true but encourage him to keep praying because we all know and trust that God works in mysterious ways.

Follow the next post about THE MIRACLE!

Jasper National Park

Jasper NP is the last one of the Canadian parks we are visiting. It is also the largest one and has the richest wildlife. We were lucky enough to see elk, wapiti, black bear and grizzly - before the backdrop of the grandest mountain scenery one can imagine.



Black Bear



Grizzly Bear




That's what is called a "wildlife" jam...

                                          








Maligne Lake

Why do they smile so happily?



Because they took the cable car instead of hiking!

The Icefield Parkway

The Icefield Parkway (144 mi, 232 km) links Banff and Jasper national parks and is considered by many as one of the most beautiful roads in the world. It ows its name to the Columbia Icefield and boasts pristine mountain lakes, ancient glaciers and broad sweeping valleys. See for yourself:

At the tow of the Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield