If it’s Monday this must be San Francisco :)  .  We got here about 10AM and to our surprise we got into our room right away.  We are about 3 blocks from Fisherman’s Wharf so we headed right to there and our first view of Alkatraz.  It is much closer to San Francisco than I had imagined. I could see why many of the prisoners thought they could swim the distance to freedom. But, of course none of the were known to have made it.  After having lunch at the Wharf we headed on a walking tour of China Town, … Continue reading Trip Log – San Francisco

Yeah, our adventure for today was, as I expected, the jetboat trip down the Rogue River to the Hellgate Canyon.  It was 36 miles round trip and quite a ride. When we got on the boat Yvonne and I chose the front row outside seats.  These proved to be the most adventurous seats on the trip.  As we go started the pilot mentioned that the boat was capable of over 100 mph but he would keep in down to around 40mph while on the river. So before long we were shooting rapids at 40mph!  A little water come into the boat … Continue reading Trip Log – Jetboating…

Today we headed to Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean.  At least for this trip. It was amazing to find a beach of almost a mile long and no people!  We had two adventures today.  The first was to go to a large cave on the ocean where sea lions come to mate.  There were thousands of them there in the cave and along the cliffs. These guys are big! The males are more than 1500 lbs so when they jump into the water they make a big splash. They go all the way to the Artic circle during their … Continue reading Trip Log – To the Pacific…

      Our driving today was along the Columbia River all the way.  The river and the drive are awesome!  It is hard to believe that it is a river because it is so wide. We went through mile after mile of scenic beauty. The three photos I chose for today were from the Bonneville Dam and a waterfall, which I don’t remember the name of. The upper right picture is of the Salmon ladder at the dam that allows the salmon to get to their upstream migration point.  They had a viewing area in the ladder so that … Continue reading Trip Log – The Columbia River is Awesome!!

We left Coeur d’Alend Idaho this moring on our way to Walla Walla Washington. I didn’t see anything too special about Walla Walla but I knew I wanted to say that I had been there!  It is just something about the name that entices me I guess.  We did find two places to visit. The first is Whitman Mission National Site.  Although all they had of the mission itself was the excavated foundations the mission history was very well documented and worth the visit. It was started in 1840, that was before the mass migration via the Oregon trail. The … Continue reading Trip Log – Oregon, we are here….

                      This morning after having breakfast with the locals at the Ennis Cafe we headed to Virginia City Montana.  This was originally an 1870s  silver mining town that is still in use today. Most of the building have not be restored but have been preserved to keep them from  deteriorating. There are probably 50 buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places.  Except for the occasional telephone or electric stuff you would swear you were back in the 1800s. It is just an amazing place! I took almost … Continue reading Trip Log – Virginia City and the dash….

I wanted to make a summing up post about my impressions of Montana. Montana is kind of like the Dicken’s story. “It is the best of the Slow Lane and it is the worst of the Slow Lane”!  I don’t think there are many in the vast majority of the State who let their watches rule there lives. In that regard it is definitely a Slow Lane State. But, with the Interstate speed limit of 75 mph and many of the State roads at 70 mph there is definitely no slow lanes to drive in.  We constantly had the locals … Continue reading Trip Log – After thoughts about Montana..

Since the small motel we stayed at in Ennis Montana last night did not have a reliable wireless network I am going to be making multiple posts tonight. One included here, one about Montana in general, and one about today’s adventures.  But of course you already know that since this is the last on the blog page. If it is Friday it must be Ennis Montana. We made it about 200 miles west of Billings before getting off Interstate 90 to head 50 miles north towards Townsend. The town has a population of about 800 but since there is a … Continue reading Trip Log – Looking for cows in Montana….

This morning we went to Mount Rushmore. It is the 4th time for me and and 3rd for Yvonne.  Of course the mountain hasn’t changed  but the park itself has changed considerably.  I don’t know who privatized it (probably Mr. Bush) but it is now in the hands of a for profit company and it shows.  The parking is now $10 and the dining room which used to be a fantastic view has now been cut up into several different areas and poorly run in my opinion.  The cashier was totally confused on how to charge us since we did … Continue reading Trip Log – In to Billings Montana

            We spent this morning in Pierre SD which is the capital.  Those pictures will soon appear on the http://www.CelebratingMainstreets.orgsite along with some of the other state capitals.  After the capital we went to the South Dakota Cultural Center. They had a very balanced presentation of the State’s history. Since I am 1/8 native American I focused mainly on the Lakota Sioux history. They told several stories about how the buffalo were so essential to their way of life and when the white man came and destroyed them in a matter of a few years it … Continue reading Trip Log – South Dakota still?

                                Today we spent the morning and early afternoon in Mitchell S.D.  Of course when you think of Mitchell you must think of the Corn Palace.  The first time I was there was at about the age of 8 years.  It seemed much bigger then. Yes, it is covered with corn and redone every years.  This tradition started in 1892. This one is the third building on the site. The first was in 1892 and the second was in 1905 and this one was built in … Continue reading Trip Log – The Corn Palace and …

In many church calendars last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. That was a very dramatic event in early church history. Acts describes it as this: Acts 2:1-12 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled … Continue reading Pentecost – What was it all about?

We spent today traveling through the Nebraska countryside between Lincoln and Mitchell South Dakota. With an InTheSlowLane attitude we decided to take the local roads and got underway about 9AM.  About an hour into the drive we were stopped by a “road construction” crew. We sat for about 20 minutes while a road sweeping machine about 1/4 mile away proceeded to clean some dirt off the road. I’m not sure what the dirt was from but it didn’t really seem that bad. We continued to watch as he made trip after trip up and down the road. I guess I … Continue reading Trip Log – Nebraska Countryside

Compared to yesterday, today was very peaceful and we did not spend the majority of it on the highway. We spent the day in Ohama and then settled down in a hotel in Lincoln at 4PM! But we will venture out later to take some pictures and tour the State Capital area. Ohama Nebraska literally knocked my socks off! I was really not expecting much when we got into the city. But now it is in my top 5 of best cities we have visited. Although it is a large city (over 400,000) it has a very attractive small town flavor. It … Continue reading Trip Log – Omaha Nebraska

Here I am at 6AM and up as usual. Yesterday was day one of our western trip. We spent most of the day in the car. We intented to stop at Des Moine but ended up about 200 miles further in Omaha Nebraska. How we got here was kind of comical but didn’t seem so at the time!  Getting to Des Moine was rather uneventful. We saw acre after acre of freshly planted corn in central Illinois and Iowa. We spent most of the day on the Interstate highway as we were trying to get outside of our “home ground”. … Continue reading Trip Log – Miles & Miles