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posted: June 30th, 2016 |
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This page begins with May 26th, the 3rd day of our trip north. We were staying at a friend's house in Kittitas, Washington. We stayed there for two days and three nights and continued traveling again on May 28th. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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Note Well: The photos shown on this month's pages mark the beginning of Kazuya's and my life in the U.S.A. We flew from Tokyo to Medford, Oregon on May 18th, a friend picked us up at the airport and graciously permitted us to stay at their house as long as we needed to. A different friend took us out "car shopping" the next morning and by the end of the day we were the owner's of a 2015 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab, Automatic Transmission, 4 Wheel-Drive with less than 10,000 miles on it. On the 20th we got a canopy put on it so that we would have a place to sleep as we traveled up the Alaska Highway to our home in Fairbanks, Alaska. We managed to kill a few more days in Oregon with friends as we prepared for the trip north and then we headed north on May 24th. We finally arrived at our home in Fairbanks on June 4th.
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| Begin May 26th (Day #3 Of Our Trip North) |
We were in Kittitas, Washington today and my journal entry for today reads as follows.Up at 0615 with Kazuya and go into the house practically immediately. Drink coffee and eat breakfast and then Tony took us to the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility for an hour or two – an interesting Wind and Solar Power facility. Then we continued on to Ginkgo Petrified Forest for a bit, but it was getting hungry time so we went to eat lunch first. Then we went to a Petrified Wood gift shop and admired all of the things made of Petrified Wood. Then we returned to Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park and walked around there for a couple of hours. We took a short trip to the Olmstead Homestead Historic site and looked at it and then we returned to Tony’s house and basically killed time talking together until supper. Nancy made a delicious lasagna, which we really enjoyed. After supper we talked for quite a while and now it’s 10:31 PM and to bed. All three photos in this row were taken at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility. In the first photo that is Mt. Rainier in the background. In the third photo please notice the weird light near the center of the photo. This was very noticeable to the naked eye, but more difficult to capture via digital photos. Nothing has been done to this photo, however, to make it appear as it does here. |
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The first photo in this row is zoomed in to show Mt. Rainier better. The second and third photos have been adjusted to make that weird blue light area seen in the third photo in Row 1 more noticeable. Note well, that I said that these photos have been adjusted to accentuate this weird blue area.
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The first two photos in this row show first, Tony and I and then Tony and Kazuya looking at a Petrified Log at the Gift Shop we visited. The third shot shows a Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus) in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Vantage, Washington.
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We are still hiking around in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Vantage, Washington. The first two shots show Salvia dorrii (Purple Sage) and the third shot shows another Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus).
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And we are still hiking around in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Vantage, Washington. The first shot shows several Mariposa Lilies (Calochortus macrocarpus). The second and third shots show Grayia spinosa (Hop sage). There are so many kinds of sage!
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Continuing to hike around in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Vantage, Washington. The first shot shows several Mariposa Lilies (Calochortus macrocarpus), the second shot shows a Petrified Douglas Fir Log, hiding behind a cage to protect it from thieves and the third shot shows me and Tony talking about whatever.
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Here are two shots taken at the Olmstead Place Historical State Park, Kittitas, Washington. In the second shot note what they call "barn quilts", several farms in this area have a type of quilt painted on them. The third shot shows Sayornis saya (Say's Phoebe). The adults were nesting near the house of our friend and these two fledglings were still hanging around. This photo was actually taken tomorrow morning, but if fits in this row nicely. And that brings us to the end of "Day #3 Of Our Trip North". We traveled only locally today, nothing towards completion of our trip north.
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| End May 26th, Begin May 27th (Day #4 Of Our Trip North) |
We were in Kittitas, Washington again today, the final day, and my journal entry for today reads as follows.Up at about 0600 with Kazuya at Tony’s house, kill a bit of time and then go into the house. Check e-mail and so on on my phone and then we eat breakfast and slowly get ready to go to the Yakima River Canyon Area. Tony drive us to Umtanum Creek Recreation Area and we hike up some creek there in search of a waterfall, but Tony had never been there before, so we hiked until lunch time, stopped and ate lunch and then continued on for a while longer and finally we give up due to running out of "going this direction" time and we headed back. We got back to the house at about 4:10 PM and then soon after that we left again for a restaurant where we had a birthday party for Kazuya and Ellie, but 99% Ellie and only 1% Kazuya. That was nice because Kazuya wanted to be sure that he did not steal any of the thunder from Ellie's party as her 5th birthday was more important to her than Kazuya's 37th birthday was to him! Then we returned to the house and had another birthday party for both of them. For a 5 year old Ellie received a lot of presents - times have changed since I was 5 years old!! Then we had a small party for Kazuya, a cake and some small presents, but it was also kind of surprising. Then we ate cake and ice cream, talked a bit more and then Kazuya and I both showered and did a tick check as Tony found nine of them on himself!! We found one tick on Kazuya and none on me. Tony, Kazuya and I talked in Tony’s garage office and he gave Kazuya a nice Gerber Pocketknife – same as mine! Now it’s 10:00 PM and we’re going to sleep – we’re leaving tomorrow morning early. The first photo in this row is an Icterus bullockii (Bullock's oriole) which we saw while hiking - WOW! The second photo shows Tony and me crossing a foot bridge at the start of the hike up this Umtanum Creek Recreation Area Trail. I believe that this is the Yakima River here at the start of the trail. The third shot shows a hillside and the outlined area shows the area of the next photo. |
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The first shot here shows the outlined portion of the previous photo. The second and third shots show what I think is the Yakima River near the start of the trail we are hiking on.
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The first shot in this row shows Philadelphus lewisii, the second shot shows Penstemon speciosus (Showy Penstemon) and the third shot shows Kazuya hiking along the trail.
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In this row the first shot is once again Penstemon speciosus (Showy Penstemon). The second shot is Rosa nutkana (Nootka Rose, Bristly Rose or Wild Rose) and the third shot shows a Ribes aureum (Golden Currant).
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Here is a shot of Tony and Dan'l (me) hiking along and that is followed by two shots of some small caves in the hillside.
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The first shot here is a specimen of Ribes cereum (Wax Currant or Squaw Currant). The second shot shows a tree which was felled by a beaver and the third shot shows an OLD apple tree which was most likely planted for a homestead which was here in the 1920's or so.
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Here is another shot of that OLD apple tree shown just above. The second shot is again Philadelphus lewisii and the third shot is Collomia grandiflora (Large-Flowered Collomia).
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Here is the final shot from the hike in the Umtanum Creek Recreation Area - an unknown, but very interesting flower. That's followed by two shots of a very smiley Kazuya and the cake that Tony and Nancy provided for him for his 37th birthday! WOW! Does he look happy or what?! And that brings us to the end of "Day #4 Of Our Trip North". We traveled only locally today, nothing towards completion of our trip north.
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| End May 27th, Begin May 28th (Day #5 Of Our Trip North) |
Okay, we're back on the road again today. My journal entry is as follows.Up at about 0605 with Kazuya at Tony’s place. Pack our stuff and move it all to our pickup and then go into the house and eat breakfast, do toilet stuff and then we say our goodbyes and leave Tony and Nancy’s place at 8:03 AM. Go back to I-90 and take it to US 2 and then to I-5 to Sumas, Washington. Wait in line at Canadian Customs for about an hour, finally get through without being hassled and continue on. Customs only wanted passports, truck information and asked a couple of questions. Continue on to Emory Creek, buy some hard cider and snacks and then go into Emory Creek Campground. Pick a spot, prepare our camper, cook, eat and now it’s 7:30 PM and soon to bed. We bought some Canadian money today, but for tonight I'll calculate expenses as US$1 = C$1. It rained most of the day today and we took only 26 photos all day as we worked our way up to the Fraser River Canyon in British Columbia, Canada. The first shot shows a scenic shot and you can just barely see the Fraser River below the highway. The second photo was taken in our pickup canopy as we were preparing to sleep. And that brings us to the end of "Day #5 Of Our Trip North". We traveled 320 miles (515 km) today, mostly in the rain. It was not a very fun day. |
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| End May 28th, Begin May 29th (Day #6 Of Our Trip North) |
Now it's May 29th, the 6th day of our trip north. My journal entry is as follows.Up at 0500 with Kazuya. Drink coffee, prepare breakfast, eat, do toilet stuff and then prepare to leave and leave at 7:10 AM. Pass through Cache Creek, 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Lake la Hache, 150 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel and more. Get to Prince George at about 4:10 PM and continue north for around 10 or 12 miles and stop at a wide spot along the road at 5:00 PM. Prepare the camper, cook, eat supper, talk, do journal and now it’s 7:31 PM and soon we’ll be sleeping. In this row all three shots were taken as we drove along the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. |
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All three shots in this row were taken as we came close to Merritt, B.C., Canada. You can see amazing scenery, an old church and the highway with the Merritt sign.
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The Fraser River is that nice river down there in all three shots in this row. In the first photo notice how long that freight train is. It seemed like we saw one of these long freight trains, headed either north or south, at least every 20 or 30 minutes for most of this portion of the drive.
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It seems like the first shot in this row is the final one which was taken from along the Fraser River. In the second and third photos we are only a short distance south of Prince George, B.C., Canada.
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Now we have stopped for the night at a wide spot along the road about 12 miles north of Prince George and Kazuya was walking around searching for flowers. Obviously he found some too! The first two shots here show Indian Paintbrush and the third shot shows a violet. This unknown violet is NOT the plant with the hairy leaves - study the photo for a moment and you will see that.
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The first and third shots in this row show that unknown violet again. The center shot shows the hairy leaved plant.
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Here are two more shots of that unknown violet. The third shot shows the leaves of a kind of Lupine. There is a drop of water in the "cup" of each leaf, which makes it a very interesting photo. And that brings us to the end of "Day #6 Of Our Trip North". We traveled 416 miles (669.5 km) today. The weather was pretty nice all day long.
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| End May 29th, Begin May 30th (Day #7 Of Our Trip North) |
Now it's May 30th, the 7th day of our trip north. My journal entry is as follows.Up at 0510 with Kazuya. Drink coffee, Kazuya prepare breakfast, we eat and then get back on the road at 6:15 AM. It was quite foggy for about 30 minutes or so and then okay. Stop at an information center and take advantage of their free Wi-Fi to check e-mail and so on. Then go to a store and get some camp stove gas, groceries and also change some money. Continue onward and keep going until 5:00 PM and then pull over at a wide spot about 40 miles south of Fort Nelson. We saw a bear today, but nothing else. Cook supper, eat, relax and now it’s 7:27 PM and we are drinking our bottle of hard cider, eating a snack and soon we’ll be sleeping. The first shot in this row shows the fog we were driving through as we started the day. The second and third shots show some river and some fields as we passed through B.C., Canada between last night's stop and tonight's stop! |
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The first shot here shows an old forest fire location which we passed by on this date. The second and third shots show that we have some snow beside the road and also in the distant hills. We're getting into colder country now.
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WOW! This area has enough people so that they actually have a school bus! The second shot shows another forest fire location. Note that the power pole looks new - must be that the fire destroyed the power (or phone) lines too! The third shot shows where we pulled off the road to camp tonight. There was enough snow on the ground here (although you cannot see any in this photo) so that we were able to gather enough to be able to have cold bottles of hard cider tonight.
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We saw this single bear track in the gravel right beside the rig and Kazuya took some shots of it. Note that both of these shots are of the same track. There were a few others, but none as clear as this one. And now we are at the end of "Day #7 Of Our Trip North". We traveled 456 miles (734 km) today. The weather was pretty nice all day long.
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| End May 30th, End Page 2 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation of this incredible road trip adventure. |
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