WOW! WHALES! And.....

Missing the road.  Missing the friends, old and new.  Missing the adventure....well...yes, but there is some adventure at home too.  Two weeks back on the island...and two whale watch trips.

Today was more than adventurous, as we find ourselves in the midst of two families of Transient Orca whales hunting for their next meal.  The kill takes about two hours.  The result?  One Steller sea lion snack for 7 - 10 Orcas.  After all, if sharing,  one 1,500 - 2,000 pound sea lion between calves, juveniles and adult whales, the average is only 150 - 200 pounds of meat per whale.  Not enough for daily calorie requirements!

Leaving the dock today, the report is of two sightings in Canada three hours earlier, and more recently, some Orca whale vocalizations from the hydrophones on the west side of San Juan Island.  Vocals are good....way better than no vocals...but the hydrophones track sounds from many miles away...and which way?  No clue.

Two hours on the water and we must make a decision about which way to go in order to keep within our trip time.  Just as we decide to go north...a boat from Victoria locates Transients Orcas!  And, they are only several miles south of our location!  We're off!

Transient Orca with flipper of prey by the whale dorsal fin!

From a distance we see splashing and flukes flying in the air.  This group of whales is definitely cooperatively working to kill something,  and we wonder....show the young whales how it's done?

Group work!

Cartwheel tail stock slap!

Look to the left for part of the sea lion body.

Steller sea lions

This kill continues for an hour while we watch the hunting strategy of this group of whales.  There are two families here, the T-65's and the T-49B's.  There are several calves joining in and several juveniles as well as adults.  Before we leave, the Steller sea lion floats up on the surface, but no longer moves.  Mission accomplished.  

On our route back to Friday Harbor we cruise by a Harbor seal haulout.   I count over 25 Harbor seals resting on the rocky outcropping.  Such drama happening just a few miles away, and while this animal is on the grocery list for Transient Orca whales...perhaps not today.  

Happy Harbor seals....no worries...right now.

Passing Spieden Island I notice several immature Bald eagles.  They pay careful attention to the grassy slopes of this neighboring island.  Rodents beware!

Immature Bald eagle

Landing gear down....

A stop at another haul out area finds seven Steller sea lions perched on the shore.  There are another six or seven cruising in the water.  Amazing to think about these massive animals being less than a meal for several adult Orcas!

Just "thinkin' it over"....all of it?

Pulling away from Green Point and heading down San Juan Channel, everyone has a little time to think about the "wildness" of this afternoon.  What an experience:  to witness all the beauty and bounty of wild creatures....living life...in their home, the Salish Sea waters.  A National Geographic film, playing before our eyes...and the staging is Real Life in Real Time.  You can't put it on replay...but the memory is forever.

Another great day on the water!

The Road Home...for now

Pulling out of Monument Valley headed for Moab....

It's off on the "long and winding road".... that leads home.  First stop, Moab, UT, home of outdoor sports and the week long Jeep Rally.  Just two weeks before our arrival Moab hosted thousands of Jeep owners and their vehicles.

For us, it's a chance, one more time, to sink deeply into the wildness of this place: back roads, red red rocks and miracles of Mother Nature around almost every curve and corner.

A book I buy has this dedication:

For the Navajo, who have a lot to teach the rest of us about living well in this world.  Their quiet, reverential, and endurng spirit is best captured in this prayer:


Beauty before me,
      With it I wander.
Beauty behind me,
      With it I wander.
Beauty before me,
      With it I wander.
Beauty below me,
      With it I wander.
Beauty above me,
      With it I wander.
Beauty all around me,
      With it I wander.
In old age traveling,
      With it I wander.
On the beautiful trail I am,
      With it I wander.

From First Song of Dawn Boy

Off road (easy) Jeep trail - Sand Flats Rec. Area

OH, the MOUNTAINS!

OH, the SNOW!

OH, the MUD!

..and the mud solution

This night we have an early dinner at the Twisted Sisters Cafe....perfect soup and salad...and beer.  Then it's off to Arches National Park for sunset photography.

Balanced Rock in the evening

OH, the LIGHT!

Back in town at "Baja Midnight" (9:00 p.m.), we grab a cup of gelato at the Moab Brewery and home to bed.  Tomorrow, the road home for REAL.  Goal: Moab, UT to the other side of the Great Salt Lake.

Bonneville Salt Flats....before evaporation hits for August "Speed Week"

Salty?

Yes!  Mucho sal!

Zebra Mussel inspection of vessels at Idaho border!  We're clear!

The Treavelers

Sparky: "They say we're "going home"....I wonder what that campsite is like?"  

Skipper: "HOME!?  Yippeeee!"

And so on we go, from Utah to Nevada in one long day.  Making it through Salt Lake City with all the truck traffic is...well...heart stopping...almost.  Enough said.  I devise a different plan for the next time.  Nan drives the Jeep....we meet somewhere on the other side of the maddness!

Then it's up to Idaho and we pull over to the "All vessels entering the state must stop" place.  Here they check for importation of zebra mussels on boats that have been in any fresh water.  We say, oh, salt water for us....we are cleared.

Zebra mussel inspection crew

Across Idaho and into Oregon to the first rest stop available and here we stop, tucked inbetween trucks for the night.  Best forgotten.

From Oregon it's a long days drive into Washington in sustained 30k winds with gusts up to 45k!  :(  Ellensburg, WA at the bottom of Snoqualmie Pass, is a welcome site.  But what's this?  The evening brings news that the pass is CLOSED due to heavy snow and ice.  Looking at our options, it seems it's an extra 300 miles tomorrow....and two more days to home?

In the morning, it's one last look at the live cams on the internet for the pass....and a miracle!  At the last decision moment, the pass opens and all restrictions are lifted!  We're on the road in a flash.

2000 feet....climbing to the top at 3,500 ft.

Snow, snow, snow...but a clear road for us!

We make it over the pass in 83 minutes and we're suddenly "on the other side of the mountains!"  

Seattle hard rain

Marysville ...just unsettled weather

Anacortes....it's SPRING here!

On the ferry at last!

Camp Froglanding...it's still here!

We manage an afternoon ferry ride....in beautiful blue sky weather and calm seas.  Letting the dogs out the door of the RV...for the last time this trip...Sparky is waits....what's this?  NO leash?

"People" gate at the driveway invites us in!

Yep, smells right to Skipper....Sparky is in high speed gear running!

What IS this place???  I'm thinking I'm in love!

The green, green, green of the grass, trees and plants makes my eyes blink.  After the red, brown, red of  southern Utah...and the grey of Washington snow and rain...I can't get enough of the GREEN and BLUE.  Wow!

Another winter road trip wraps up.  So many days: 114.  So many places!  So many miles: over 8,000.  So many new experiences and new places.  So much deeper into familiar territory.  It has been an incredible journey.  

We are blessed to be granted safe passage, once again.

I just love those words from the First Song of Dawn Boy....

    "Beauty all around me,
            With it I wander.
     In old age traveling,
            With it I wander.
     On the beautiful trail I am,
            With it I wander."

I guess that beautiful trail is always before me...for now it's on San Juan Island.

A Date With John Wayne!

It must have started when I was four or five.  For my 4th birthday I was over the moon with my very own "Ranch Set" of plastic fences, barn and horses.  Today I have a black and white photo of "Nancy" in her wild west cowboy (no skirts for me) outfit: hat, chaps, boots, and cap guns (2) and holster set, standing out in front of our house, looking for outlaws. (or Ricky, the boy across the street!)

"Nancy" circa 1952 - with double 6 shooters

  So, no surprise I am anxious to get to Monument Valley, not only due to beautiful tribal lands, BUT the very place many wild west movies were filmed...with, no other than John Wayne and some beautiful ladies.

We decide to pull in and stay at least three days at Goulding's RV Campground.  Harry and Mike Goulding built and operated Goulding's Trading Post in the early 1930's.  They knew the local people (Navaho) needed income and they hatched a plan to take the last of their  money, travel to Hollywood with photos of Monument Valley, and the result was a meeting with John Ford, who decided, this was THE place to film westerns.  Lots of them!  In 1938 Stagecoach was produced with many scenes filmed right here!

Steve at the door of John Wayne's cabin - film: "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"

Nan and her date for the stage

Checking out the schedule

Ready to roll in original stage from "Stagecoach"

But wait....Steve is back in the bar with my date!

The Trading Post, living quarters for the Goulding's and the film museum are great fun.  So are the nightly movies played in the mini theater.  We watch "Stagecoach" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon."

Then it's off to the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park with the Jeep to drive the trail among the "monuments."  We unload the kayaks and off we go!

Cowboy caddy....ready to roll

The Totems

The Elephans....see them?  It?  Well...maybe!

Sparky size monument

This 17 mile drive is awesome and we enjoy every turn in the road and every stop to figure out what we're looking at.

Graded road!

But wait!  There are shopping opportunites along the road!  We stop at two different "stores"...but this is my favorite.  Can't leave the tribal lands without helping out the economy!

Jerry Cly at his jewelery "store" 

Whoa!  What a bracelet!  

Little do we know, upon our return "home" we will see a familiar rig pulling into the campground.  It's Paul and Karen...friends from Coyote Beach!  Fellow Pinches!!  We are SO glad to see them.  I basically run down the road with open arms, shouting "Happy hour at 5!"

Happy Hour ....again!

It's a great reunion and we all tell and listen to the adventures since we last saw each other in February. Oh my!

Next to the reservation land is BLM land with a fabulous Jeep road among more...big, red rocks, Valley of the Gods.  Before we drive this loop we go up to Goosenecks State Park for a look down at the winding river, and then a drive up a WINDING road named Moki Dugway.  I'll just say, "We had NO idea!"  Oh, and, "Spectacular!"

Goosenecks State Park ....the view below...far, far below!

Not too near the edge now..

Pretty defined!

The Moki Dugway Road is described above!  And they aren't kidding.  We drive to the tippy top and back, grateful to only pass a few vehicles.  I do all the "looking over the edge" spectating...Steve does the driving, staying AWAY from the edge!

Layers of switchbacks!

Ship? Holland America?

Hen Resting???

Our time in this part of the desert southwest is almost over.  The RV keeps trying to point northwest...and here we are in Utah.  Waking to strong winds in the campground, we know it's time to move on, but not in 50mph winds, gusting to 70mph!  Maybe just one more dinner with Paul and Karen (find those Baja shrimp in the freezer) and one more movie night with John Wayne!

Monuments in the dust storm.....red "air" everywhere!

Moab, Utah, next stop!