The Oregon Trail

The flight was scheduled for 5:15 PM and we were on board and ready to push off at 5:25. Then came the announcement-due to weather in the mid-west we had to take on more fuel as we would be re-routed to a more southerly course which was further so we would need about 15 minutes to complete the additional fuel add on. Fifteen minutes later comes the next announcement- only east and north bound planes would be allowed to take off- all other take-off quadrants were closed but we would taxi out to a holding area and wait. At 7:15 we finally cleared the runway at Newark for the Oregon Trail. However we still had to contend with 100 mile headwinds which brought us into Portland at 11:20 or approximately 3 hours later than scheduled. Waiting for the baggage was a long experience which was made more bearable by the two happy people hugging and kissing right behind us.  Finally at 1:00 am local time, 4:00 AM body time we arrived at the hotel and went off to sleep.

Up at 7:00 am local time or 10:00 am body time. Really didn’t feel too bad and after a short breakfast at the Quality Inn, we headed off to find the Columbia Gorge Historical/Scenic Highway. After a little stop at the Safeway to pick up some things for the road such as a cooler and soda etc we finally found the Columbia River highway through the Columbia Gorge. First stop was at the Women’s Forum Park. The views of the gorge were spectacular even on a cloudy day with threats of rain. For the first time you could get a view of the Crown Point Vista House which is built on a high cliff overlooking the gorge. Many women were water coloring here.

The Crown Point Vista House was built as a rest stop on the highway and was dubbed the $100,000 outhouse. The information booth in this building was staffed by volunteers who really knew their stuff and were most helpful. It is a gorgeous building on the cliff with the road winding around it on the way down to river level. After the Crown Point Vista house we stopped at:

Latourell Falls-Thin narrow falls-visible from road but with a trail to the pool below the falls. We hiked to the viewing platform.

Bridal Veil Falls-this turned out to be a precarious walk for mom as the trail was very rough in spots with uneven rocks-and on top of that it was wet because of rain. To get to the most viewable spot, you had to climb approximately 30 railroad tie steps which were high and uneven. The falls were beautiful. The walk back was mostly uphill and strenuous.

Wankeena Falls-Beautiful tall falls with a narrow drop next to highway. There was a trail there for a place called Perdition but we chose not to go there-by going to Bridal Veil we felt we had been there already.

Multnomah Falls-This was the prize waterfall of the day-tall-upper and lower falls with a viewing platform between the upper and lower falls. It was really spectacular. We stopped for lunch at the restaurant here and had a table with a great view of the falls. There were hummingbirds here coming to a feeding station outside of the restaurant.

Oneonta Gorge-there are falls here but the hike back is too far. View of gorge itself is nice enough. This gorge was like a rain forest with moss growing on the trees and ferns along the banks of the stream.

Horsetail Falls-Last of the falls but beautiful. Properly named says mom. I hate Grey Line as I was taking a picture one of their busses pulled in front and stayed there. I was fit to be tied but what can you do. The bus is bigger than I and the driver was too.

Bonneville Dam-We saw the observation platform of the #1 power station. Bonneville Dam has navigation locks to permit shipping to continue. There is a great concern for the fish here and the fish ladder was very active. Shad were the most plentiful going up the ladder. Seems that back in the late 1800’s someone transported fry from the Atlantic and released them in the river. Now there are millions of them in the Pacific when there were none. The fish count station at the ladder recorded shad as the most plentiful fish. There were also ugly lamprey eels going up the fish ladder.

Fish Hatchery-Saw a 10ft 400lb. sturgeon estimated to be at least 60 years old. Called Herman. He was impressive. You can fish for sturgeon in the river but there is a bracket size limit, I believe it is 24 inches to 60 inches. There were lots of huge rainbow and steelhead trout. The holding tanks also contained many little fry. One of the surprising things was that the tanks did not have any protective covering other than a single strand of wire running down the center of the tank. In Alaska at a hatchery they had meshed wire to eliminate predator access like bald eagles. The guides said that the single strand is distracting enough for large flying predators but that resident ducks jump up on the tank and have meals.

We continued on to Hood River and registered at the Comfort Inn Suites. View from the room is of Mt. Adams in Washington State. Mt. Adams is a huge volcanic mountain covered with snow.

Dinner was at the Stonehenge restaurant, deep in the woods. Back to room at 10:20 pm.

Today was a day dedicated to Mt. Hood. We left the hotel around 8:30 and after locating the Post Office started out on Route 35 south to Mt. Hood. About 2 miles out of town(Hood River) we came to a sign that said-Panorama Point so off we went on the side road winding up a hill to an observation parking lot that gave you a drop dead gorgeous view of Mt. Hood. The skies were mostly clear with some clouds around the summit of the Hood. The mountain was around 30 miles away at this point. After winding through some beautiful orchard country-pears, apples and cherries we took a wrong turn and wound up in Parkdale. We got out of town real quick because we had scheduled a Mt. Hood Railway ride to Parkdale in the afternoon. After re-joining the correct road we rode through the Mt. Hood National Forrest and on the road to Timberline Lodge. Timberline Lodge is a ski resort built during the 30’s (during the depression) by the WPA. It is an amazing building. It was built in 18 months and the construction is inspiring. The outside of the building was used for “The Shining” After taking the tour with a National Forest

Ranger-inside the building- and watching a film on the construction, we started down the mountain-in snow. It was approximately 30-35 and it was snowing on July 3. The ranger said that a July snow is not the norm but does occur. Timberline is at about 5000 ft. above sea level and gets approximately 330 inches of snow per winter. The ski lifts were in operation and the slopes were full of skiers and snowboarders. The ski lifts shut down for a total of six weeks starting in September for maintenance, not the lack of snow.

We drove back to Hood River for a lunch-Taco Bell and then on to the train ride. The Mt. Hood Railroad is basically a tourist railroad even though they pull refrigerated cars to the orchard packers. The Mt. Hood RR is one of only 5 railroads that still use a switchback. They push the train up the hill partway then the train shifts tracks and the engine pulls the train up the balance of the hill. They run two daily trips to Parkdale-1 ½ hours each way with a 1 hour layover in Parkdale. Makes for a nice way to spend 4 hours if it includes a toe show. A passenger had her shoes off and up on the seat between the window and the seat in front of us. The toenails were painted red and she was doing the 10 toe wiggle dance. The railway goes thru the orchards and you could see the pears, apples and cherries on the hoof. Views of Mt. Hood were spectacular on the return trip. At the Parkdale Museum mom got into a medical discussion with the museum clerk and had to listen to a story of every ailment the woman ever had. After the hour was up the train engineer blew the whistle to indicate that the passengers have 5 minutes to get back to the Train. Then the engineer went through the town and into every restaurant(one) and the gift shops(a few) to look for stragglers. When the train departed someone yelled to the conductor that a family of three including a small baby were missing and could be seen running up the street. I guess the engineer missed one. The train stopped and they backed it up to pick up the three. I told mom that if you miss the train you have to ride in a back of a pick-up truck being driven by a one-toothed cherry and pear picker. Good luck in such a little place as Parkdale.

Dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant-Service very slow but then who is in a rush. Food was good.

This turned out to be a most interesting day. Started out rainy, misty and cold and wound up sunny and mild in the afternoon and clear and cold in the evening-but that wasn’t the interesting part.

In the morning we started out from Hood River to Portland to visit some museums, see

Portland-take in some Blues at the Riverfront Blues festival and see the fireworks. All was accomplished but not without its moments.

We stopped at Cascade Locks and it started to rain. There were fishermen there and one of them hooked into a at least 20 lb steelhead trout. It made a couple of big jumps in the channel and then after about another minute or so broke off the line. That was exiting to watch. There were also dipnet stations used by the native Americans but they were not occupied as the salmon run is not until later. We then reversed our tracks thru the Columbia Gorge and saw Sheppherds Dell falls which we skipped on the first time thru because of rain. When we got into Portland the rain stopped and you could see that the sun was going to come back out.

Grotto-this is a religious shrine and park which Mom read about in the Portland travel guide and wanted to see. We pulled into a driveway and were met by an Asian-can’t say Asian-American because he didn’t speak a word of English. Mom asked him about the Grotto and he gave her a- I think you have two heads lady look. Mom asked him again and this time he mumbled something in Chinese, Korean or Japanese. We then saw a sign that said-July 4-Freedom Mass-Grotto. I think every Asian in the world was liberated on our July 4. They were all over the grounds. We then postponed this and went downtown to see the Oregon History Museum but had to settle for the Art Museum because the other was closed. We would have saved $12.00 if the art museum would have been closed-it was a bust.

We needed lunch and spotted a street vendor selling crepes to go. They were delicious and the lady selling the crepes needed to know everything about where you came from and what you were doing. Kind of a nut. Some street kids came by and begged her for freebie food-they were high but hungry. She gave them each a hot dog.

We then needed to find a motel for the evening and settled on the one we used on July 1. It was right across the street from the Grotto. We found out that the motel would drop you off at the train station and pick you up. This was going to be the best way to get to the blues festival and fireworks. After another attempt at the Grotto we found the right place and walked the grounds. Lots of statues and the grounds were very well kept. This was a big business location with a huge gift shop.

We then got on the train for the Blues Festival. For a $5.00 donation to a food bank you could go in and listen to some local talent, some not so local talent and some national talent. On Saturday night they had had Irma Thomas-nationally known-and Charley Musselwhite-another national name. On Monday night Koko Taylor was scheduled. Some of the acts were really good . We rented 2 chairs at $10.00 each as there was no way that we would have lasted the 4.5 hours we had, from the time of our arrival to the fireworks, on our feet. We set down on the grass equidistant from two stages which permitted us to hear both as they were used alternatively. We struck up a conversation with a Susan and wound up getting fed for nothing. Susan and her family had brought lots of cooked noodles and chicken and we dined in style. One of the crowd sights that was interesting was a woman with a huge parrot on her shoulder. We saw her a couple of times. The fireworks started at 10:00 pm and were spectacular. The festival however cranked up the amplifiers very loud and played songs such as BOOM, BOOM, BOOM by John Lee Hooker and Born in the USA by Bruce Something. The finale however was spectacular and drowned out everything. After retrieving my deposit of my drivers license for the chairs we set off for the train to get back. It was a real crush. We finally got on the third train . Some over served person was sitting on the floor taking up a lot of room. Some other passenger asked him to stand up but he refused. The shoving and pushing began but only lasted for about two rounds and a couple of “f” words. After settling down the ride continued and we arrived at our stop to call the motel for a ride. We had a 20 minute wait and observed some more activity:

While calling-some bozo standing about 10 feet from us set off a bottle rocket and instead of taking off in space went under his T shirt instead and exploded. He was jumping around in all the smoke. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly.

Two girls came up to us and just asked-could you give me a nickel please for the phone. Mom came across.

The two girls were standing by the curb and a car stopped in the middle of the road and said-Hey baby do you want to come with us-Great pick up line that didn’t work when I was in high school and I guess still doesn’t..

All in all, a very interesting day indeed.

Left Portland to start towards Astoria and the coast by taking US 30 West. After leaving Portland and the banks of the Willamette River the road followed the Columbia. The views became spectacular with snow covered Mt. Adams-first seen in Hood River- and later a very close and snow covered Mt. St. Helens. We crossed the river into Washington at Longview Washington and drove on the Washington side as the road is right on the bank of the Columbia. We then spotted a ferry sigh and took a ferry across the river back to Oregon. The view of Mt. St. Helens on this ferry was great. It is the Cathlamet ferry.

We continued to Astoria after taking in an overlook at Bradley State Park and drove to Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent the winter on the Pacific. The site is a spectacular location. So peaceful and the grounds are well kept and impressive with 100 year old spruce and fir trees. Huge. These are second growth trees as the original site was cleared for farmland during the late 1800’s. The programs that they put on here were really interesting. The talks were informative, light and involved the kids at every opportunity. The historical staff really had their stuff together.

After this visit we settled into the motel and then took a ride to Long Beach, Washington to see the beach there and also to find a restaurant for seafood. The bridge was over 4 miles long and had no toll on it in either direction. The beach was wide and windy beyond description. After dinner at the Crab Box we went to a lighthouse at Fort Canby State Park to catch the sunset into the Pacific. It was beautiful, but too windy to stay for the sunset. The lighthouse is on the end of a high bluff and the wind was merciless. We left and as it turned out, clouds settled in from the horizon and blocked the sunset anyhow. Some other day.

The weather has been very unpredictable this trip. We are seeing on the evening news and hearing on the radio that the temperatures in New Jersey are in the high 90’s. We are having trouble getting close to 70 on most days except for yesterday when it was close to 80. We are enjoying the cool but would settle for some sun also.

This morning we started out visiting the Flavel House in Astoria. Flavel was a sea captain who came to Astoria to sell goods originally destined for San Francisco and the gold rush but found out that other boats beat him to it. He then came up the coast to the Columbia and sold them here instead. He later came back-he was an older man and married a 14 year old daughter of a local hotel keeper. Anyhow he made a lot of money and built a beautiful house hich is something to see. Worth the $5.00 to see it. Flavel was a bit of an eccentric and planted a sequoia tree on his property. This thing is over 100 years old and it is huge. Sequoias are not native to this part of Oregon. One of the artifacts in the house was interesting- a Stangl Pottery piece, a food filter. Stangl was a pottery maker based in Flemington from the late 1800’s through the early 70’s.

After a visit with the Flavel’s we went to Fort Stevens. Fort Stevens is a Civil War fort built to protect the Northwest from backdoor dangers as a result of the Civil War. It was completed and dedicated one day before Appamattox. So much for speed. The fort is

At the mouth of the Columbia River and was fortified during WW II. I was surprised to learn that a Japanese submarine surfaced off of Fort Stevens and fired 17 shells into the Fort Stevens vicinity. There was no serious damage or any injuries as a result. This same

Submarine also carried a sea plane in its hold which was assembled on the surface and sent out with two incendinary bombs to set the Oregon forests on fire. The mission was completed but the Japanese didn’t know that at the time of the attack(Sept.) there was substantial rainfall, fog and mist coming off the ocean which put the fire out without much help from the firefighters. As we left the park, a family of Raccoons crossed the road in front of us-mother and two pups.

On the way to Seaside we stopped to see the rusting hulk of the ship Peter Iredale was run aground below Fort Stevens in a ferocious storm. This occurred in 1906 and part of the skeleton is still there 93 years later.

We then stopped at Seaside where the Lewis and Clark trail officially ends. There is a place here they suspect is the location where Lewis and Clarks sent a party to boil seawater for the salt content. Thus the end of the trail. However it is recorded that Clark went as far as Cannon Beach and beyond to purchase 300 lbs of whale blubber and whale oil. Hard to imagine transporting this back to Fort Clatsop as US Route 101-the Pacific Highway was not finished yet. Seaside is your basic seaside town for tourists. There is every imaginable kind of shop and amusement other than giant rides. It started to rain here and we moved on to Cannon Beach.

On the way to Cannon Beach we purchased about 5lbs of local cherries for $5.00. Boy were they good but we paid the price later as they were gone within an hour. At Cannon Beach we walked the beach to take a look at the rock formations out in the water. They are huge and Cannon Beach is where Haystack Rock is located. It was cold and a little foggy so the quality of the pictures will be questionable.

On the way to Tillamook we stopped at a lot of vista points the most memorable of which was below Oswald West State Park. The road here was on a high cliff with the ocean below. Quite a view on a cloudy day-must be spectacular on a clear day.

When we got up in the morning it was cloudy, cool and showers had just cleared the area temporarily. We started the tourist thing by visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory and taking the self guided tour. Tillamook County is a major dairy area and most of the milk winds up in the factory. This place had a great gift shop which mom had a great reluctance to leave. After I finally coaxed her out we drove down to the Tillamook Naval Air Station Museum. What a fabulous place. The building itself was unbelievable. It was

An old blimp hangar which originally housed 8 blimps for patrolling the Pacific for submarines during WWII. The building is 1072 feet long, 192 feet high, 296 feet wide and covers over 7 acres. The most amazing thing is that it was built in only 30 days. There were two of them originally but one burned down in 1992. Inside the hangar were airplanes-mostly military-including a B-25, a P-51 Mustang, a Messerschmitt fighter, a Spitfire and others. It was an interesting display and we spent too much time in there-this time my fault.

We then drove out to Cape Meares State park to see the octopus tree-a Sitka Spruce that had 8 sub main trunks growing from the main stem of the tree-interesting. Here also was the Cape Meares lighthouse. The views from up here were stunning with rock formations in the ocean that had openings all the way through. At this point the sun had come out after it had been promised to us by the weatherman all week. We then drove the Three Capes Scenic Highway and saw the second Haystack Rock on the coast. This one seemed bigger than the one at Cannon Beach. At Lincoln City we stopped at the Chinook Winds Casino and I lost about $3.00 and mom lost about the same. All video slots that only take bills and the payout you have to recover with a winnings ticket spit out by the machine which you trade in for cash. There were also the usual table games-21 and craps. After Our $6.00 contribution to the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians we drove on down to Newport for the evening. From the motel we went to look for a restaurant called Moe’s. We found it soon enough but the menu didn’t appeal. We then went to the Rogue Gallery and that didn’t suit us either. We asked a local on the street if there were any good seafood restaurants. He pointed to the Rogue but we told him we were looking for more variety. He pointed to a place called Sharks and this was the place. A small hole in the wall with 3 tables and about 8 seats at the bar that advertised-no fried foods. They cooked everything in steam kettles and the food was unbelievably good.

Newport is a fishing community that has converted to tourism. The historic bay downtown area is a bit long in the tooth with gift shops mixed in amongst the fish and chips restaurants and also the fish processing/handling plants. There is a Mexican bakery here.

Today was basically a sightseeing day. We started out at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse Which is controlled by the Federal Bureau of Land Management. This is a beautiful site with three huge ocean rocks below the lighthouse which are covered with nesting cormorants, common murres and sea gulls. Scattered among the other birds are crows who are on the lookout for unattended eggs. The lighthouse is in a spectacular location and is 93 feet tall which is 1/2 of the Hatteras light house which is 208 feet. There are 114 steps to get to the top. I climbed up leaving mom at the base with the binnoculars as mom has never desired to climb one of these things. After spending about 15 minutes up top to my surprise I met mom on the way up. She had come up ¾ of the way and continued to the top. She bought a button-“I survived the 93 foot climb”. I am real proud of her.

After a visit to the interpretive center which describes the flora and fauna of the area we drove to the Devils Punch Bowl which is a depression in the shoreline carved out with a single entrance/cave to the sea. At high tide, this fills up with water and resembles a bowl. We saw some huge kites-I mean huge along the shore. Back in Newport we settled for a Chinese lunch. I ordered a whole rock cod and mom ordered a Chinese seafood combination stew in a clay pot. Both were excellent. Some people were eating outside and one woman came back into the restaurant to get something. While inside we watched a seagull land on her plate and scarf up a large piece of fish from the dish. It left with it and swallowed it on the adjacent roof. We then visited the Wood Gallery which is a store specializing in wood carved and wood produced items. All the items were works of art. One of the interesting items was a Porshe engine which was made entirely out of hand carved wood parts-all rare and hard woods. Only the spark plugs and distributor and carbuerator were metal. It was certified that this thing was run once up to 3000rpm’s. They were asking $12,000 for it-over 1000 hours of work-it was a beauty.

From Newport we headed south to Cape Perpetua-saw the Devils Churn which is a narrow inlet carved into the basaltic volcano lava rock which makes noises and splashes water on the incoming tide-awesome site even though it was low tide. After Cape Perpetua we witnessed some sleeping seals at Strawberry Beach. Further down there are the Sea Lion Caves which are caves at the bottom of a headland inhabited by seals and sea lions. You can take an elevator for $7.00 to go down and see the critters up close and personal. The guide books warn of peculiar odors from the droppings and the locals confirmed that the odor was not pleasant. I didn’t fly 3000 miles to smell seal crap.

From the seals we proceeded to Heceta Head Lighthouse. It was about a mile walk up an inclined trail on the way up which mom and I made without too much trouble. The view from the lighthouse was spectacular. I climbed the fence to get a better shot of the lighthouse and was rewarded with a slip and a fall and a bruised elbow for my mischief. Sure glad not to feel like I am 60.

From Heceta we proceeded tp Florence, Oregon for the evening. Dinner at Moe’s in the old town on the waterfront.

Since we stayed at the Money Saver Motel in Florence there was no complimentary breakfast so we went to the Blue Hen Restaurant listed as the most popular breakfast stop on the Oregon Coast. It was an interesting place and the food was great. Mom ordered a biscuit and was surprised with a biscuit measuring 5” square and 3 inches high.

We set out to Coos Bay from Florence and stopped at the Oregon Dunes National Park.

For a stretch below Florence there are no headlands backed up by basaltic rock so the sand dunes take over. They are huge and vast. European beach grasses have been planted after 1900 to stop the sand movement but with aerial surveys have determined that the beachgrass has taken over and only 20 % of the area was free of the grass. The park service is now removing large sections of the grass to let it go back to the way it was before the grass. Last year 70 acres were cleared with bulldozers.

At Reedsport we spotted a sign -Elk Viewing Area- we said sure there are just like the millions of moose we didn’t see in Newfoundland. Were we fooled. There in front of us were at least 50 majestic elk with huge racks. There were even some cows with calves. It was a very pretty and serene place.

We stopped at the Umpqua river Lighthouse and the museum. Interesting place but we didn’t wait for the lighthouse tour as we were on our way to Coos Bay to get a look at the tall ship-Endeavor-a replica of Captain James Cook’s ship. It is an Australian venture and the crew is spending the summer on the west coast.. There will be tours of the boat on Saturday but we will not be there. When I returned from taking pictures there was some guy talking to mom - all about Oregon and the Coast. We had a time getting away from him. When I mentioned that we had to be in Crescent City, California on Saturday night a drunk a few feet yelled out, nobody around here gives a shit about Crescent City. Anyhow the Endeavor is a ship with three masts. I talked with a crew member and asked him how many computers aboard. He said at least 7. That’s 7 more than Captain Cook.

After a stop at the Myrtlewood Factory-shopping opportunity-we drove to Port Orford.

Port Orford is a town of 1000 right on the water. The town isn’t much but it is in a beautiful setting with the huge rock strewn ocean in front of you. We saw more rock formations here than anywhere else up to now. Moms friend in Coos Bay said that the Oregon Coast from Port Orford down to Brookings is really pretty and that it is possible to spend a week just in this section. We will have to do it in a day.

After taking a walk along the spectacular beach and walking thru rocks with openings in them we took a ride to Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The outline of the lighthouse looked impressive on a craggy headland in front of us because it was shrouded in fog and the wind was blowing cold. We didn’t walk out to the light as we would have seen nothing.

On the way back we stopped at the Pioneer Cemetery. There were 6 stones-the last burial was in 1903 and all of the inhabitants of the cemetery were born in some county or other in Ireland. Strange.

After Cape Blanco the fun really began. We drove down to the harbor to see the boats as we had read that at Port Orford there is no formal harbor and that the boats are lifted out of the water with a crane and put on rubber tired trailers for storage on the dock. We got down there and sure enough there were many large commercial size fishing boats on trailers on the dock. I struck up a conversation with a local and asked if he was going fishing. He said crabbing so I brought mom over to witness the catching of some dungeness crabs. The guy-Charles-baited the net and chucked it in. Charles chucked, hmmm. During this time mom started a conversation with the woman with Charles and naturally assumed that it was Chuck’s wife. Not so. Within 5 minutes mom had Mary’s whole life story. Mary had been married before for 34 years and gotten a divorce. Shortly after she had married again and after 3 years her second husband died. She was then working at the same place with Chuck in California. One day Chuck said he was retiring and going to Oregon to live. Mary said that she had always wanted to go to Oregon so they both sold their houses and moved in together 15 years ago but neither one of them wants to marry the other as the loss of social security benefits would be prohibitive. In Mary’s words when someone asks her about marrying Chuck she says she would never marry an old worn out man like Chuck. Chuck says he would never marry such an old bag.(These are quotes-we ain’t making this up.) Mom also met Dorothy who was down the dock with her twin 9 year old gransons. After 8 granddaughters she had finally gotten some grandsons. Mom also met Margaret and her husband, Bob, who explained to Mary that they were late for the crabbing because they had spent the day having wild sex.

All this in about 30 minutes. Chuck explained about crabbing and showed me how to work the net basket and how to bait it, how to measure the crabs and how to tell the difference between male and female crabs. You can only keep the males but Chuck in the half hour we watched was bringing up plenty of legal size but illegal to keep females.

While we were watching the crabbing a commercial fisherman came alongside the dock.

After unloading his catch which consisted of vermillion, black snapper, coppers, ling cod and sea trout. Looked like a good catch. Chuck also explained that yesterday-July 8 had been Oregon’s annual halibut fishing day for the commercial fishermen for 10 hours.

Chuck said that there were some fish unloaded over 200 lbs each but that the 10 hour annual day was it for halibut. Private individuals can catch halibut but they have to have a tag to keep them. Sure enough, after the unloading of the catch, the crane hoist was lowered and the boat was picked up by means of big ropes and raised the 20 some feet to the top of the dock and placed on a trailer with big rubber wheels. The boat was then moved to the parking area. Quite and afternoon.

Dinner at a local seafood restaurant-good halibut. .

The coast south of Port Orford was fogged in when we set out for Gold Beach. Thus 28 miles of the coast was not visible. It cleared some when we arrived at the Rogue River outlet to the sea. There were seals swimming in the river right in front of us on the jetty.

We then went over to the visitors center and looked for some other adventure. The guide books said that a ride along Rogue River was worth a look. The guidebooks were correct.

We took off on a winding road along the river to the town of Agness which is 35 miles from Gold Beach. The scenery from the cliffs looking down on the river was awesome.

This part of the road runs thru the Siskyu National Forrest. The ride to Agness took over an hour. Agness is a little town with a comical sign-Elevation 185, Population-Small.

Agness is right in the middle of the Oregon Pot Growing Zone and as evidence the store sells Hemp Bracelets and also Hemp Lip Balm. Just a hint of what the local economy is about. The General Store provides a seedy Outhouse for the tourists that make the 35 mile trip-just a way for them to laugh at fools like us. We didn’t use these modern facilities but went rather to a local resort/camp restaurant where the facilities were better but not by much. The entire round trip took 3 hours including the “P” search.

After returning to Gold Beach we took off for Brookings along some of the most beautiful coast we have seen on the entire trip. The Sebastian Overlook was gorgeous but the winds on top were Hurricane Force. We later saw the Arch rock and also Whalestail.

All of the formations were spectacular. At Pistol River we saw a lot of windsurfers out in the water with their sail craft. At one overlook while I was out on another trail Mom ran into a couple who had come up from the trail on the other side and said it would take over an hour and a half to make the round trip up and back. I had already decided that this trail was too long and was heading back. Mom then ran into another couple where the girl said to her boyfriend that it would be romantic to walk down the trail. The boyfriend said that he had had romance last night and didn't need it just then. Things you hear people say.

We then arrived in Brookings and started to look for a motel. Mom spotted the Checto Inn with a sign that said historic hotel with an ocean view. I went to check it out and two old gents on the porch said that it was no longer a hotel but a residential care facility. Imagine mom trying to get me into a nursing home on vacation. We finally found a local non-American run establishment. The bathroom had no soap in it and I had to tell the desk clerk twice that the room had no soap. The other disaster was that I spilled the water contents of the cooler on the rug in the room. Oh, well.

Dinner at O’Hannrihans-great lingcod. Tomorrow on to California and then north to Crater Lake.

After breakfast at Mickey D’s(first fast food breakfast of the entire trip so far) we took off for the longest drive of the vacation so far. Approximately 230 miles in one day. We crossed into California and drove down to Crescent City where it was foggy. My camera quit in need of a battery and it was quite an ordeal to find a lithium replacement in Crescent City. Good old K-Mart. This settled we started up Route 199 towards Grant’s Pass, Oregon. This road skirts part of the Jedediah Smith State Redwood Park and the redwood trees were magnificent. We stopped in a few places to admire the groves. Further up the road was a Redwood National Park information center and we stopped.

I inquired if there was something we could do in the park over a short period as our main objective was Crater Lake The guides steered me to a 5 to 10 mile stretch of Howland Hill Road which is a gravel road leading thru some awesome stands of Redwood. The road is not bad and easily passable by car. We stopped at Stout Grove and took the ½ mile trail around the grove. There were very few people there and it was absolutely quiet and beautiful. The road led us back to route 199 and followed the road along the Smith River. The river was fast with rapids and high canyon cliffs with a road at the edge. . We saw a camper trailer and car decorated with every kind of religious saying on it. “The Pope is an anti-Christ” “God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.” There were many others on it.

The further inland we got the hotter it got. I stopped for gas in Oregon Caves Crossing and the temperature was in the 90’s. Something we hadn’t seen since leaving on July 1. However there was no humidity attached. Before we got to Grants Pass the road picked up the shore of the Rogue River which was as beautiful here as it was the day before on the road to Agness. Lots of activity on the river with kayaks and floats. Approximately 30 miles from Crater Lake the road goes thru the Rogue River National Forest. The road is lined with tall pine trees-beautiful. Towards Crater Lake the trees get scruffy most likely with the snow load that gets put on them here. Crater Lake averages 44 feet of snow per year. You heard me-feet. As we approached the upper elevations there was still snow on the sides of the roads where the plows had blown snow.

We arrived at the lake around 5:30 Pm and made an 8:30 dinner reservation. The east rim drive is not open yet because of the snow so only the west rim will be ready for exploration. We stayed around the Crater Lake Lodge for the evening. It is a gorgeous place. Our room is on the 4^{th floor lakeside. The lake is about 6 miles wide and is about 1000 feet below the lodge. The lodge is at 7100 feet above sea level and the surface of the lake is 6176. The lake is on the average 1500 feet deep and at the maximum 1932 feet deep. What a gorgeous place but they could do without the mosquitoes at 7100 feet..}

Up at 5:00 AM-first time on vacation up that early-to witness the sunrise over Crater Lake. Big Red came over the mountains at about 5:30 AM with a beautiful glow all over the sky. Not withstanding the early rise did not get down to breakfast until 8:00 AM.

On the way to the gift shop we spotted a group of Model A Fords parked along the rim parking lot. One of the cars was making a funny noise while the owner was washing the windows. I inquired about the clicking noise and was advised that the noise was coming from his electric fuel pump as he was transferring gas from the rear tank to the front tank. The car also had a sticker on it that said “1982 World Tour”. Further conversation revealed that 4 Model A’s had set out from Minneapolis to New York had been airlifted to England and then had traveled thru Europe Yugoslavia to Greece and Turkey where the cars had been put on a ship to Alexandria. After a trip to Jordan and a failed attempt to go to Jerusalem they had returned to Alexandria and were looking for a boat to take them to Bombay India. No boats were available and they had to dig up $20,000 in cash to pay for an airlift to Bombay. Having accomplished that they drove across India and then airlifted to Perth, Australia. They crossed Australia in 5 days to catch a special 747 outfitted to carry passengers in the upper part of the 747 and the cars in the lower section along with other freight.-to San Francisco. From there they drove to Minneapolis to get to the Model A drivers convention. Nice conversation and an interesting tale. After a prolonged visit to the park gift shop we listened in on a ranger talk at the Rim Village ranger station. The rangerette was going thru her spiel about volcanoes and the formation of Crater Lake and the surrounding area. About 3/4 through her spiel one of the women quietly walked up to the rangerette and told her that her fly was open-she was wearing slacks. Undaunted and without missing a beat the rangerette zipped up her pants and kept talking. Just a little side. After the talk we struck up a conversation with a woman who it turned out was running the gift shop. She had spotted a marmot in the snow and was asking the ranger-what it was. The gift shop owner said that the shop has a pine marten living in the walls which is chewing through the walls as fast as they can seal up the holes and visiting the candy displays during the night. She has been advised by the Park Service that the pine marten is inits domain and can not be disturbed or trapped-even with a humane trap. Maintenance keeps trying to seal up the holes but according to the shop person, the pine marten is sometimes coming down the stairs when she is going up the stairs into the shop.

Crater Lake is kept open in the winter up to the parking lot at the gift shop in Rim Village. The Lodge is closed after October 21. There are snow tunnels leading into the rest rooms at the parking lot and also a snow tunnel lake viewing station for those brave souls that come up to the rim in winter time. A snow tunnel is nothing other than a oblong section of heavy duty corrugated galvanized pipe which permits the 44 feet of snow that Crater Lake gets to pile up on it yet allow an individual passage to where they need to go.

We picked up a picnic lunch-two sandwiches to apples and some drinks and headed to drive the West Rim as far as we could. The pullout views of the lake are spectacular. The cobalt blue water of the lake is spectacular. There is a trail that leads to the lake surface-Cleetwood Trail-named after the first boat launched in Crater Lake. This is a strenuous trail one mile with switchbacks-about a mile in length to get the 700 foot drop. I walked about 5 switchbacks just to get a flavor and decided that I really wouldn’t want to come back and try this all the way down as Mom was waiting in the car and it was super hot today. One person described it as 1 hour down and 6 hours up. One of the rangers said that she had a friend who ascended it in 15 minutes. Mom said -sure and she probably had only one leg and a crutch.

After doing laundry at Mazama village (everything is a village here) we returned to the Crater Lake Lodge at the Rim Village to Rest up for dinner. We decided that we would stay at Crater Lake for just one more day and check out on Wednesday instead of the original plan of Thursday. There are two things prompting this decision-#1-snow-almost all the trails are snow covered and impassable. The east rim drive is still being dug out from the past winters snowfall and not passable for cars or humans. #2-mosquitoes-they are everywhere 24 hours a day. Reminds me of my Chincoteague Island days. The ranger explained that the mosquitoes are basically snow mosquitoes that lay their eggs in the snow. After the snow melt in August they would be mostly gone.

This was basically a veggie day for us based upon our previous go-go days. It was good to not have to worry about moving out, finding another motel etc. I took a hike on the other semi-passable trail, the trail to Garfield Peak. The climb was strenuous and was open for about ¾ of its length to the top of the peak called Garfield. I took 2 hours for the hike and made it up to the point where the snow covered the path. The blockage was at a point where the perpendicular to the trail was very steep and attempts to cross the 50 feet of snow would have been very dangerous. One slip and you would not stop for about 100 yards. Wise decision by the park to block it there. I planted one foot into the snow just to leave a mark and my shoe would only penetrate the snow by less than one inch. It was mostly frozen.

We then took a ride to the Steele Visitors center to view the video on the formation of the lake and hear about the legend of Skell(good spirit) versus Llao(bad spirit). Skell won in the end but not before Llao blew up the mountain. We also tried to take a small hike on Godfrey Glen Trail but again were stopped by a snow mass and flowing water from the rain melt. On the way back up to the Rim Village we spotted a column of smoke in the distance and were advised later by a ranger that there was a new forest fire about 35 miles from the park. The fire was not big and not expected to develop into much of anything. After a quick lunch and a stop at the rim to feed the golden mantled ground squirrel with bits of bread and also feeding some to the Clarks Nutcracker we returned to lodge to plan our next move after Crater Lake. The Clarks Nutcracker is a sizeable bird with a very strong beak which it uses to crack the pinecone from the White Pines. We learned more about the Clarks later.. Taking a short break before dinner we decided that on Wednesday we would drive back north to Washington and get ready to visit Mt. St. Helens. This famous volcano was not on our original plans but since we were now leaving Crater Lake a day early we could visit this location.

After a good dinner at the “all you can eat buffet” for $9.75 each we drove back to the Steele center for the evening program. The program was a slide show put on by a young female ranger (early 20’s) who spent the past winter at Crater Lake. Mom and I both agreed that it was one of the best programs we had ever witnessed at a National Park.

She started out by asking for 6 volunteers from the audience and naturally the kids in the audience were willing. She then broke them out in 2 groups of three and selected a leader for each group. She had a bag in front of each group and stated that the bags contain everything that is necessary to survive a winter at Crater Lake. The object was for the two members of each group to go thru the bag and dress the leader in the proper way to survive the winter. The kids of course dug right in and started to throw everything on without thinking about order. Thus the sweater was worn over the heavy parka. Socks were first put on hands and then when the gloves were found were worn over the boots. It was a scream. The ranger then went into the slides about what winter was like in Crater Lake. The slides were fantastic. She showed the depth of the snow as it was building up. The animal life that remains and how it survives. The ground squirrel hibernates for 8.5 months and must get the reproduction cycle as well as feeding itself to survive the next winter in 3.5 months. The squirrel cuts it heartbeat to 4 times per minute from the normal summer beat of 140 times per minute. The body temperature goes to 38 from the usual 97. Porcupines remain active all winter as being bark eaters they always have food available. Only the elevation of the dining room table moves up as the snow gets deeper.

The most remarkable fact about the animals was the data on the Clarks Nutcracker. This bird remains in the park all winter and does this with a keen sense of memory. During the summer months the Nutcracker breaks open the White Pine cones and has stored the seeds all over the park. According to the park studies, one bird will store the seeds in numerous high places for later retrieval. (20,000 to 30,000 places per bird.). The preferred food of the Nutcracker is the White Pine Cone and the range of the bird generally follows the range of the White Pine. She had fantastic shots of the lake in winter. One of the most amazing series was a series of shots she took at the lake on a night with full moon. The shots looked like they had been done at daylight. It was quite the program.

When we got out of the program the weather was finally what we expected at Crater Lake. The temperature outside was in the low 50’s. At last a temperature suited for 7100 feet above sea level.

After breakfast we checked out of the lodge but not without excitement and a final fulfillment of my karma with the front desk. One of the clerks at the desk was a young Chinese girl who spoke very broken English who had a habit of concluding sentences with “No”. Such as the statement that the “Laundry is at Mazama Village, NO”. Unless you got used to it real quick you couldn’t figure out if the Laundry is at Mazama Village or not. Throughout our stay whenever I needed a question answered she was the one to attempt an answer most of the time. When checkout came guess who had the pleasure of presenting my statement. She started out “Mr. Buza you have a big bill, no”. I guess she meant a big bill yes. I asked how big and she quoted $618.00. I said that that was too high as I already had an idea of how much the bill should be. The fun then began. It turned out that they had calculated in a Thursday departure and left the extra day in. I asked that this be removed and the clerk called for help. After another clerk couldn’t figure it out the manager stepped in and after tickling the keyboard came up with a $317.00 price. I thought it over and stated that I liked this price but that they were screwing themselves out of at least $150.00. After some more keyboard work we finally settled on the correct amount-$468.00. this process took about a half hour.

When I got outside Mom was talking with a man we had met on the elevator on the way down. This is the second time on the trip that a strange man had started conversations with mom when I wasn’t around. Is she trying to tell me something? :>). Anyhow it winds up that this guy is vacationing, with his wife, and is from Allentown, Pa. Nice guy. Works for the gas company as a meter reader. I thought he was a teacher.

We left Crater Lake at around 9:30 am and made one last attempt to spot Mt. Shasta in California at a distance of 100 miles. On Monday, Shasta was blocked by smoke from the forest fires and I didn’t expect to see it today but there it was, a little fuzzy but visible just the same. Shasta is huge- I believe around 14,000 feet. We drove through the pumice desert which is a large desert area filled with the remains of the Mt. Mazama explosion 8000 years ago. Trees and grasses are starting to make a headway but for the most part it is still a desert. According to the information at Crater Lake the depth of the ash and pumice is 200 feet in some areas. This is understandable given that the height of the mountain removed when Crater Lake was formed was approximately another mile of mountain.

After visiting Diamond Lake resort for supplies-soda etc we continued towards Rosburg.

We stopped at two beautiful waterfalls on route 138. Clearwater Falls and Horsehead Falls. Route 138 follows the North Umpqua River for over 50 miles. The Umpqua is a beautiful white water river that originates in the Cascades and empties into the ocean at Coos Bay. The scenery was spectacular as we wound our way down along the river. Many rafters and khaiakers could be seen on the river.

Lunch in Eugene. We saw a strange sight we don’t see in the east. A triple semi. It was a very long rig. After passing thru Portland at rush hour we settled into the Super 8 in Kelso WA. I estimate we drove approximately 320 miles today.

I celebrate my 60th birthday on the road, like it has happened a lot in the past years. We drove up to Castle Rock to see the Cinedome Theater version of the 5/18/80 eruption of Mt. St. Helens Volcano. We are able to cash in on my birthday right away as I was able to save $1.00 on the admission price because of my age. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award in its category. It was done real well and really gave you a feeling of being right in the middle of the eruption. The sound track is loud and the theater also had seats that shook with the noise.

We then went to the Mt. St. Helens Monument Visitors Center to get admission passes for the sites that had fee access. $ 8.00 per person-my bithday didn’t help here. The center also ran a movie about the explosion and the continuing re-birth of the area around the volcano.

The Mt. St. Helens National Monument has 6 major attractions within the designated area:

Main Visitors Center-well done movie and lots of information about the history of the area before the eruption, the events leading up to 5/18/80 and the events after that date.

Sediment Containment Dam.- This was a small area with a ½ mile round trip hike to view a dam that was set up by the Corps of Engineers to after the blast to catch the huge volume of silt and ash prior to entrance into the Cowlitz River and the Columbia River.

One of the major problems for years after the blast was the continuous sedimentation of the main waterways below the Toutle River. This dam did the trick by permitting the water to go thru but backing up the silt into a large area which can be cleaned without spoiling the river below. There was a small gift shop here which had major interest for mom. She bought a lot of things here.

Hoffstadt Visitor Center-at this center Mt. St. Helens becomes clearly visible with distinct features. That is if the mountain is not covered by clouds. Today it was clear.

There were helicopter tours available here for $89.00. I chose not to go. There was an elk viewing area here but there were no elk to be seen. Reedsport, Oregon was better.

Weyerhouser Forrest Learning Center- This was a great place to learn about the re-forestation of Mt. St. Helens. It is amazing to see how much of the area has recovered even though the majority of the area is still devastated as a result of the blast. This was also a great place for kids to touch the animal exhibits, etc. A really neat place. It also had a film on the eruption as well as a nature film on the elk of Yellowstone. The view of the mountain was still quite a ways off. Looking down into the Toutle river basin you could make out Roosevelt Elk with binoculars. There were many.

Clearwater Ridge Visitors Center- This was a huge viewing center with another film presentation. This center did not talk about the eruption as much as it did about the re-generation of the area. There were ranger talks here and the one we heard was very good.

Davidson Ridge Visitors Center.-This was the granddaddy of them all. The center is named after John Davidson who was a reporter standing on the ridge now named for him. On the morning of 5/18/80 Davidson’s last words relayed by radio were-“Vancouver, Vancouver-This is it, This is the big one” Davidson perished in the explosion as he was only 4.5 miles from ground zero. Trees in direct path of the blasts were ripped out by the roots or snapped off for at least 10 miles. Davidson didn’t stand a chance only 4.5 miles away. The visitors center is on the same spot where Davidson was. The view of the open crater was very distinct here. You could see the dome which has now grown to 1000 feet above the crater floor over the last 19 years. Since May 1980 there have been 19 lave building eruptions on St. Helens - the last in 1987. The dome was steaming in numerous places. It is still hot up there. This center also had a movie which was similar to the Cinedome film. After the movie, the curtain in front of the theater was raised and you could look into the dome of the volcano. There is an excellent trail up to other viewing areas. The view is of total destruction. You could see the end of Spirit Lake and the silt deposits in the Toutle river bed which are said to be over 600 feet deep some spots. Awesome is the only word that can describe it.

The ride back out of the park is awesome. At one point your car is even with the lava dome and you look like you will drive right into it even though it is miles away. This was a special day for me.

A short description of the events-

March 1980-earthquake activity starts on the mountain.

March-May17,1980. A eruption in April 1980 opens up a crater on the tip of Mt St. Helens. In addition on the north face an ominous bulge starts to grow on the side of the mountain. Bulge is growing at rate of 5 feet per day over a huge area. By time of explosion bulge is 450 to 500 feet high. Officials start evacuating residents in an area defined as a red zone. Harry Truman-83 years old refuses to leave Spirit Lake.

On the morning of 5/18/80 at 8:32 am the 500 foot high bulge slides down the mountain into Spirit Lake. The removal of the bulge triggers a huge volcanic explosion which is like taking a top off a shaken soda bottle. Resulting explosion blows down trees for miles.

Heat of blast melts ice and glaciers on the mountain which slide into Spirit lake and the mess starts to move downstream. Harry Truman is never found. 56 others also die including Davidson a reporter.

The west the USA is filled with amazing scenery and characters. One of the things we saw while getting back to Kelso for the evening was private bus-probably a residence with a trailer behind the bus. The trailer had “TATOOS” printed on it in big bold letters. I had never seen a traveling tatoo parlor before. Another was a sign on a storefront in Longview, Washington “Body Piercing-$49, Nipples $69” Kind of reminds me of the milepost we saw on 101 in California-“Fort Dick” 1 mile..

Dinner at the Rusty Duck in Longview, Wa. Great restaurant, good food.

This was our last full day of vacation, which we decided to spend in Portland. We started out by going to the Oregon History Center. This museum was closed on July 4 when we wanted to go see it and get a sense of what we were going to see. At that time none of the brochures said that it was closed for the holiday. We told the person at the desk that we had been there on the holiday and had been dissapointed that it was closed and that the brochures made no mention of the fact. They wanted to let us in for free but we told them that we were only bringing to their attention that there was no mention of the closure in the brochures and that we were willing to pay full fare. The museum was cone very well with history of Willamette Valley and Portland as the featured exhibits. There was also a room depicting the influence of Uncle Sam on Oregon. More than 50% of the land in Oregon is under federal control. The influence is pervasive. If you listen closely to conversations throughout the state there is a definite anti-government sentiment in the state. Just like home but more pronounced. There was an interesting display of Portland at the turn of the century when the mayor-Mayor Bradley enlisted the aid of the KKK to help in the police function as there was a shortage of funds to pay the police. Interesting.

The case showed a couple of KKK hoods and the photograph had a couple of white sheet guys in hoods standing amidst a group of policemen. One of the cases had a sign that read-“Police Revolver and Holster” only there was no revolver or holster. I asked the guide if the gun had been removed because of the recent “anti-gun sentiment”. He said no that the gun had been stolen. He said they would never bow to Political Correctness at a museum. I guess the KKK hoods and photographs lend truth to his statement.

After the museum gift shop was visited and purchased, we had a spot of lunch-crepes on the street from the same vendor as we had on July 4. Mom then spotted the Mother Goose Craft Shop and we simply had to go to see it. This was a shop similar in content as the Wood Gallery in Newport but larger selection of wood items and also lots of pottery.

Some of the rocking chairs sold for $3000. Rock and roll out your money. While in the store at around 2:30 pm we heard a loud noise in the store. We paid it no mind and didn’t know until the next day that at 2:30 there was a 3.5 Richter scale earthquake in Portland.

After the store we drove out and settled into a motel close to the airport to straighten out our luggage for the mornings trip home and also to make sure all things on the return trip.

Having settled this we drove out to Crown Point Vista House to visit one more gift shop but the item that mom had spotted-Tall Trees made out of copper cut into tree shapes was not there anymore. We secured some information and we will call back to see if we could get it.

For dinner we drove back into Portland downtown to McKormick and Schmicks Sea food house to finally try the dungeness crab. They had only one full crab so Mom was elected to dispose of it. I had the crab cakes. It was an excellent restaurant. One last ride towards Mt. Hood thinking I would catch the sun reflecting on the top of the mountain but the mountain was hiding in clouds. Mt. Hood is a beauty.

One last ride past Honey Suckles Lingerie Modeling shop with the boarded up windows and the parking lot in the rear of the building. The sign said models available. I have never seen so many adult stores, go go joints than I saw in Portland..

Of to the airport at 5:30 am to return the car to Alamo and then wait for the 7:50 departure of flight 106 to Newark-the non-stop that almost wasn’t nonstop. Waiting in the long line at curbside to get rid of our numerous bags-Mom shops. A guy taps me on the shoulder and asks me if he could go ahead of me as he has a 6:15 departure. At this time it is 6:00 am and I am really ticked. I said no. He said that there are children involved and couldn’t I help him out. I said no, I asked him why he couldn’t get up earlier to make sure he got there in plenty of time. I got up at 5:00 am. He said there were children involved. The kids were around 8 and 10. Hardly changing diapers or getting bottles ready. I was really ticked but mom said let him go. When he asked the woman in front of me she said absolutely not. She was carrying two infants. One was three months old and the other was under two. He then charged off to go inside the airport. If you miss the flight because you are not there on time by your own choice-that is the price for being stupid. Miss it once and you will never be late again. We then went over to the Continental ticket counter to get our seats. The outside bozo was getting taken care of but was getting a lecture from the Continental person about being at the airport at least one hour before the flight. We were able to have our seats upgraded to first class. As Mel Brooks says- It is good to be king. (Platinum frequent flier from my job of 1998.)

All was great on the flight until we got to a little bumpy spot. The captain said that Illinois through Ohio were experiencing some bad weather and that Cleveland was not letting anybody go thru the Cleveland control zone and that we might have to land in Chicago for fuel. We circled over Michigan for a while and then the captain said that Kennedy in New York had ceased all departures west because of the weather. We skirted Cleveland and according to the captain were headed to Buffalo rather than Chicago for additional fuel. We arrived over Buffalo and you could see Lake Erie. One side of the plane got to see the falls but not our side. The captain then said that ATC had confirmed that there was enough fuel on board and that we would be heading straight into Newark.

The delay was one hour compared to the 3 hours on the way out. However the limousine company had been advised at 3:00 pm that the delay would be two hours and thus we had to hunt for our driver for over an hour.

Arrived in High Bridge at 6:30 pm. Hot, steamy and muggy. However it was a great vacation.

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