the end

end of the trail

Hi everyone, Yesterday morning as we entered California and were near the Smith River visitors center, wepassed a huge fire/rescue staging camp and soon could smell smoke. checked with a ranger and he showed us a map with two fires marked. Our poor state. We made many stops along the ocean and stopped in Crescent City to see the lighthouse and play in the sand. Had lunch by the ocean and on the way thru Eureka, Don sawascrapbook store. Of course Cmor stopped so Donna could shop. First scrap store on trip. Drovr thru Humboldt Redwoods state park Avenue of the Giants. So beautiful

Today, up early so Don could play golf at our campground in Benbow. Drove south until Hwy 1 began and then west to the ocean on a horrible windy road. Down the coast with some stops, includinf fort bragg and the skunk train. Went east again on another awful windy road until 101. And now this tired sock monkey is home and ready for a cozy sleep so I will pass the ipad to Donna. Thanks everyone for reading my blogs. Love from Junior


Hello from Donna. We are  home after 4,631miles. We could have gone to New York and part way back. I want to thank all of you for your great suggestions of what to see and for your emails along the way. I hope you were not too bored with our travels. I thank God for our safe journey and for my wonderful husband who can spend 24 hours with me for 33 days and still manage to talk and make me laugh. He is incredibly patient and I am truly blessed. I hope to see all of you soon and I promise I will try hard not to bore you any more than Jr. and I already have. Much love from Donna

grants pass photos

forgot to tell you, huge ginormous building, Noah' ark was painted with animals and all walls wood grained, even the bathrooms,

grants pass

good morning from Jr and my people. Just a quick blog today before we head south again. We started yesterday with Church at St Pauls. Same name as the Church where my people got married. Good coincidence considering the date. The Priest was from Mt. Angel Abbey and we talked to him awhile before and after mass. We then headed over to Salem to see the state Capitol as recommended by Jim. Unfortunately the government doesn't work on Sunday, so we only saw the outside. I did enjoy seeing the statue of Captain Marvel on the very top. Went to Springfield, Homer's hometown and saw the Simpson mural. Next stop, Eugene and the University Stadium. Wow, they know how to treat their fans really well. On to CottageGrove, the home of old friends. We went to an old Catholic Church that is now a museum. Very nice lady docent. She reminded us of Sharon. Interesting letter from a survivor of the Titanic. We drove around town to see some of their covered bridges, including the last covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi. Therewas even an old suspension bridge that shook more than the one in Vancouver. Cottage Grove is where Buster Keaton made "The General" movie in 1926. We went on from there to Noah'Ark, the restaurant and tabernacle tour. We met Mrs. Noah and she autographed a fascinating book for us, about her Polio experience as a child and how it led she and her husband to build the ark. We had a very good lunch. Last stop of the dY was in Grant Pass to see the 17foot tall caveman. And again, thats all folks, have a great day from Jr.

silver falls

When we got up this morning we went to a brunch here at camp. We sat with a couple that are from Memphis and the husband used to do things with Elvis. They were really interesting to listen to. After breakfast, we made it finally to Silver Falls state park. It was everything Donna expected and more. Everything was green and dark and lush. Ferns and moss everywhere. Wewent to three different areas of the park. We saw four of the 10 waterfalls. It was fun to walk deep in the caves behind the falls. We got to see the backside of water as they say in Disneyland. To see all the falls at one time would be a 7 1/2 mile loop. Donna said she is coming back to do it as soon as she builds her legs up a little. Don did a good job hiking with us. One hike was very steep and when we got down, we couldn't really see the drop of the falls, just the river where it flows over. There was a giant tree that had fallen down at the top and the bushes also blocked our view. I don't understand why they can't keep these  forest a little tidier. I would have taken Donna's camera up on a tree for pictures but she wouldn't let me. She did climb over a fence to get closer but still couldn't see much. She is a lot more careful as she gets older!

When we could finally tear her away from the park, we went to Evergreen Golf Course and rode around with Don as he played. It was avery good day for all of us. My people received lots of good wishes via emails. We playedsome games of rummicubes and are ready for showers and bed. Pleasant dreamsfrom Junior and his people. PS. The little tiny blue spot in the cave waterfall pictures is Don.

party

Good morning everyone. I forgot to tell you all, when we got back to camp last night, there was a banana split party going on. No charge for the first one. I think I overindulged. I'm so cute, they gave me lots of bananas and ice cream and they had every kind of topping you could imagine. I better hike a lot today. hugs from Junior

Oregon City

Junior here again, I am trying to get caught up, but I am having problems with Donna.I don' think she is being exactly honest with me. We got up today and it was a little overcast. Cmor took us to Oregon City. We saw the Willamette Falls and Locks. Didn't take the tour this time. We went next to Saint Benedict Oregon to the Mt. Angel Abbey. I might as well take my people home because I don't think I can top what we saw in the Abbey Museum, down below the beautiful Church and Monestary, Many stuffed animals, collections of various items from around the world, and also many Church vestment and other items. But then the best thing of all, THE WORLD'S LARGEST PIG HAIRBALL!. Can anyone top that? There were even some smaller hairballs in front of it. I mean, sometimes I even surprise myself on these wonderful adventures. After I calmed myself down from all the excitement, we went on to see St. Mary's Church. This is becoming quite the religious trip and we are not even in Europe. I keep thinking of Tom saying, ABC. Another boring Church.

Now here is where things with Donna started getting strange. We went to the Oregon Garden. Just as we got there it started to rain. We had lunch and it was still raining. Donna told me I had to stay with Cmor because she seems to think I get Grumpy when my stuffing gets wet. It stopped raining almost right away but they didn't come back. When they finally did, Donna walked in and said, well that was really disappointing,  We drove down the hill to the Frank Lloyld Wright house but they were setting up for a wedding so we couldn't go in. We did walk around the outside. It seems to be a lot smaller than the other Wright houses we have seen. This town of Silverton is similar to Leavenworth. It has a German base and Buildings are painted with designs and there are a lot of beer and sausage places. My favorite is Frank n Steins. We saw the statue and doghouse of Bobby the wonder dog. He got lost when on vacation with his family and they had to go home without him. He walked almost 3000 moles in 6 months to return home. Another great story to look up. One of Donna' main reasons for this trip was to see Silver Falls State Park, so that is where we went next. Unfortunately, there were no campsites available so we are now camping in Silverton . Back to the park tomorrow. Donna just told me that since I did two blogs, she would finish this one so I could go to bed early. She isn't very good about fibbing and I know something is going on but I am tired so I will pass the ipad to her and get in my cozy nest. Goodnight from Jr.

Hello everyone, this is Donna. I hope you are enjoying Jr's blogs. Had a great day today and got to talk to my brother Bob. He arrived home yesterday to his Son's home and Monday they Are going to Reno to get into their appartment. I will see him in a few weeks. I am so glad he is safely home. Now the reason I am finishing this. We had to leave Jr in Cmor because of the rain. When we got into the Gardens it stopped but I didn't want to walk all the way back to the parking lot incase it rained Gain. We took a tram around the gardens and Don and I actually preferred them to the Buchart Gardens. They weren't as overwhelming. They were much more realistic and still as beautiful. They had one garden, of 25 that was just for Children that Jr would have loved. Silly plants, bathroom fixtures and a bed filled with plants. Trees shaped like flowers and whales and other things. There was a model train that Ed would have liked. We kept pushing the button so it would keep moving.The trees around the trains were actually miniature size. We got some great ideas for Ed's layout. When we got back to Cmor we didn't make a big deal about the garden so Jr wouldn't get upset. I won't let  him see the pictures. We are slowly moving south now and have no idea what Jr has planned. He said he doesn't think he can top the hairball. He might be right. While we are having a great time, I do miss all of you. Sweet dreams until we see younagain at home. Hugs from me.