-June 27, 2008-
-Friday-
Started from home at 10:30 AM . Stopped at Redding for lunch. Ate lunch at Chevy’s. We stopped at Oregon welcome center and got some Maps and places to see. We inquired about Kalmath Falls and it seems the falls are dormant and there is nothing to see. So we headed to Fort Kalmath directly. There is no Gas or food near Fort Kalmath except for small shop , So we filled up the tank at Kalmath Falls and took some food for dinner. At 7.00 PM reached Aspen Inn at Fort Klamath . It is 23 miles south of Crater lake on the way to crater lake. We checked in and rested . The Inn is beautiful, but no AC. There are lots of mosquitoes outside. Recommend to reach the Inn when there is plenty of light and don’t go outside after it gets dark . We did not have any mosquito repellents, so had to be inside all the time.
- June 28, 2008-
- Saturday-
Crater Lake , OR
Second day of the trip : woke up in the morning and headed to crater lake at 8:30 AM. On the way to Crater lake we saw lot of cattle grazing. It is a beautiful drive up to the crater lake. On the way we saw Annie falls and the pinnacles. As the Annie creek cut through the canyon, the pinnacles are visible. Pinnacles are the gas vents where the volcano gases escaped after the lava settled and solidified the ashes from the volcano. As you go closer to Matzma Village you will see Annie Creek restaurant and gift shop. They have breakfast buffet and they have Pizza for breakfast. We did not feel hungry. Had a banana and milk for breakfast and drove to Crater lake Vistor center. My son (11 year old) – Jayanth enrolled for Junior ranger program and we saw the film about crater lake and what the Indians belief of spirits and how the crater lake was formed. The lake is formed after Mt Matzama exploded, the 20,000 ft mountain collapsed in th middle, creating this lake. There is no streams in or out of the lake. The water in the lake is formed due to snow and rain. IT is so blue in color because of its depth. It is 7000 ft deep. After Jayanth received his Junior ranger badge, we drove on the west rim of the lake. The east rim is still closed due to ice. The best time to go to Crater lake is in August and Early September. It is unfortunate that we could not go on boat ride to Wizard Island which was formed after the major eruption, bubbled under the water and grew and grew and finally exploded to form a small island closer to the west rim of the lake. The boat ride takes you from Cleetwood Cove trail to Wizard island. The visitors then hike to the crater on top of wizard island and down into the crater.
After taking few pictures on the rim, we went to hike cleetwood cove trail ( All boat riders need to hike this trail to get to the boat) . It is 1.1 mile trail with 11% inclination. Going down was pretty fun. We spend sometime at the water. There are lot of mosquitos and big red ants. Wear long sleeves, and have mosquito repellent . The hike back up is very hard, but we did it in 50 mins. Crater lake is beautiful
Then from crater lake all exhausted, drove to Florence for 4 hrs to Holiday Inn and check in for the day.
-June 29, 2008-
-Sunday-
Florence and Sand Dune city, OR
The next morning at 8:00 a.m. We ate breakfast at Holiday Inn in Florence. Around 8:30 a.m., 2 miles south of Florence there is sand dune city. We went for sand dune adventure ride. Sandland tours give sand buggy rides and we went to them to take a ride. They had 30 min ride and a 1 hr ride. 30 min ride is fast and exciting up and down the sand dunes. 1 hr ride is a 10 mile sand dune ride of which 8 miles are in the dunes and 2 miles in the beach. It is slow and leisurely paced. We had so much fun feeling the wind in my face. They had ATV’s and MX’s, but we did not ride them. You need to be 16 to ride an ATV on sand dunes. In another 4 years Jayanth said he will come back for a ride.
After we finished the sand dunes adventure around 11.00 AM we went to the Sea Lion Caves the largest cave in the world. Sea lions cave is 15 miles north of sand dune city. We went down 35 steps and walked 1500 ft to get to a elevator which took us down 200ft to the sea lion cave. It is a real cave. This cave is formed millions of years back by sea water eroded the center where north-south fracture and east –west fracture of the molten lava rock met. You see the different layers of the lava rock in the cave. The different colors of the lava rock suggest that there are different times the magma got solidified. Oregon sea lions are called Stellar Sea lions. They are big and fat. They weigh approximately 2900 pounds. They are lot of sounds and you can hear them echo in the cave. We also saw a skeleton of a stellar sea lion displayed in the cave. It may be 2000 years back fossil. We also saw different sea lions from California, Washington. They come here in summer and head back to southern California for breeding in August. In the cave there is a lighthouse watch point. It was very foggy today and we could not see the light house from the watch point. Black-white whales which eat warm blooded sea lions are once spotted here. We did not see them today. The cave is also home to different kinds of birds like Pigeon Calmohot, (black bird). We saw both these birds today. There is a sealion lookout point as well where you can sea lions if there are outside the cave. We did not go to the look out point, as it was foggy. Overall it is worth to visit once if you are near Florence.
Our next stop was Oregon City near Portland. On our way we ate lunch at Jack in the box. In Oregon City we went to visit End of Trail interpretive center. They have exhibits describing what happened on the Oregon Trail and how the trail was formed. We reached this center at 4.00 pm just in time to catch the last screening of the Oregon Trail movie. Then we spend some time going through the exhibits. They had the wagon that was used during the trail creation and also interesting thing I saw was the heavy iron shoe they used to put on prisoners, so they don’t escape when in a wagon. They have a show also which we missed, acting out the journey through Oregon Trail. We took some great pictures. Oregon City is called End of Oregon trail city. This trail is different to Lewis and Clark trail. On our way back we will try to catch Lewis and Clark trail at Astoria if possible.
At 5:30 we started from Oregon City to Seattle, Washington and stayed in Red Wood Inn. Ate dinner and slept for the night.
-June 30, 2008-
-Monday-
Seattle, WA
In the morning we went to the Future of Flight. There is a company called Boeing. There they make different types of airplanes for flying around the world. There we got our tickets for a tour. We first went to see a movie about how Boeing 747 is made fast forward in 12 minutes. The new jet being build is the 787 airplane called the Dream Liner. The name comes from the dream of the making travel comfortable, efficient and economical. To make the 787 they had to get all the parts from different countries. We went on the bus were the guide took us to a building where he showed us how 787 is build. As it is a new plane, they are building the plane from scratch. Once this plane is build and tested, then the parts will made in different countries and then brought to Boeing here and assembled. They will put the parts together in 3 days and it is rolled out the door!!! Unbelievable!!! . It is the first jet lines to be launched with largest number of orders (900 are already ordered till date). It costs 160 million. It carries 54000 gallons of fuel, So it can fly point to point and does not need fueling. They then showed us how to get the parts of the airplane to make a 787, the Dream Lifter.
After 12:30 a.m. we went and ate at Subway. we ate Onion Teriyaki Chicken sandwich. We then picked up my cousin brother, Bobby. After that we went to the Museum of Glass. There they showed us how they make glass. First they heated the glass to 2400 F and then bought it out of the oven and then shaped the glass by again heating up the glass as needed. If the temperature falls below 900 F, the glass will break. So the artists keep the temperature above 990 F while shaping the glass. Once they are done, they keep it in a oven which will gradually bring the temperature down, so it does not break. It is amazing, how much work goes into making glass art in so much of heat. We also went and saw the galleries of art showing different pieces they had. Some of the pieces were amazing. It is worth a visit. The tickets are 8$/person.
After that we went to Seattle downtown to see the Space Needle. we were so hungry; we found a Greek restaurant in downtown and had dinner. Jaynath had Chicken Gyro andI had Calamari. Then we went to the top of the space needle and we saw the whole city and I even saw my car. It was easier to see what was around. Space needle is only 500 ft high. Space needle was build as a landmark for Washington. Sienna Tower is 1800 ft high. The ticket is 16$/person for observatory deck. Also next to the museum is Science fictional robots museum and Music experiment project museum. We did not have time, so we did not go to those museums. Also there is a fun park next to space needle. Space needle itself was not worth the travel. If you add all the other museums and if you like these type of museums, it is worth the travel. Of course Seattle downtown is beautiful like any other downtown. We passed by Pike Place market, but did not have time to explore. Next time, will pay a visit to pike place. Then it was 8:030 PM so we dropped of Bobby and traveled from Seattle, WA to Vancouver BC, British Columbia. We went to Ramada Inn on Kingsway in Vancouver mainland. We got there at midnight and went off to sleep. Waah! What a busy day it was!
-July 1, 2008-
-Tuesday-
Vancouver mainland, BC
At Vancouver the next day my friend, Rajiv came to the Inn to meet us. After he came we went to the place called the Capilano Suspension Bridge almost 20 minutes from the Inn. This is West Vancouver. There we got our tickets. It is 25$/person and kids it is 8 $. We entered the place and got a map and they also had a way for getting a passport. Jayanth earned the passport! All he had to do was go to a certain place and see what was there and learn what happened and why is there a bridge and get a stamp. We went on the bridge across the river with a beautiful sight. It is made of wood and reinforced the bridge with metal ropes to hold lot of people of the bridge. As we went to the middle of the bridge it was swinging a lot. we had lot of fun trying to balance without touching the ropes on the side to hold on to. we were able to balance on the swinging bridge. On the other side we went on a treetop adventure where it was bridge from tree to tree. After that Jayanth felt dizzy, so took some rest and ate a pretzel at a restaurant near the bridge. We then went back on the bridge. I learned a fact that it can hold 3,999 people on average on the bridge. As today was a special day (Canada day) , they had a trivia of Canada’s history and how ever answered correctly got to spin a wheel for a prize. I just observed some people do that. It was fun. They also had a birthday celebration for Canada. They cut the cake at 2.00pm. I was not there for that, as I had to get lunch and head out on my next adventure. I got my passport (certificate that says I cross the world’s largest suspension bridge) and then left that place. I then went to Swiss Chalet restaurant for lunch. There I ate Chicken on a Kaiser which was like a taco.
After that we went to Grouse Mountain. There we got tickets and went on a sky ride from the ground to the top of the mountain. The tickets were 35$/ person and 16$ for child. The ride was awesome. We went from the bottom of the mountain to the peak of the mountain (4000 ft) in 5 minutes. On our way up there we saw the timber wolves. They are white in color and they lied on the side of a walking trail near the parking lot. After we got off the sky ride on the mountain, we then went for a lumberjack show. It was really funny that I enjoyed. It was a 30 minutes show where they showed what lumber jacks used to do way when B.C came into existence. We went on the Screaming Eagle Chair lift. It was just a ride to and fro on the lift, but had awesome views of Vancouver downtown and lions gate. After that we were on our way to watch bird show, we saw the grizzly bear. There are 2 grizzly bears Grindle and Cooler who are adopted when their mom’s died in June 2000. It is a brown bear and around 700 pounds. We saw only 1 of the grizzly bear. While we are seeing the lumber jack show we saw few people doing Para sailing. It is wonderful. I need to be little older to do this ride. IF you are at Grouse Mountain, and interested in adventure, this is a fun ride you should not miss. It is 190$/ person. They also opened a new ride Zip Liner. It is another adventure you should do if you are here. It is 40$/person. Jayanth and I played in snow that is still there on the mountain and then they were about to close so we ate some ice cream and left the place back on sky ride back to parking lot. As it was Canada day, we wanted to see fire works, but both the bridges that go to Vancouver downtown where blocked due to accidents, so the` traffic is backed up a lot. So we went back to Kingsway and went to Jumbo Grill restaurant. It is Indian restaurant with South African touch. The food was very good. We then went to the hotel and Rajiv left.
-July 2, 2008-
-Wednesday-
Whistler, BC
Next morning, I slept into the afternoon as I was tired. We left at one o’clock to go to Whistler for ATV tour. At one o’clock we just took our bags and went into the car and spent 3 hours going to Whistler. It took us a long time to get to Whistler because of construction for 2010 Winter Olympics. They are expanding the road to 4 lanes from 2 lanes. It is usually a 2 hr drive to Whistler, but it took us 3 hrs. After getting there we hard time getting parking. So we parked in day lots. Then we walked to the hotel, Hilton where there was a van that took us to the place where the ATV’s were driven. Then we did the paperwork. The cost of this ATV tour that we took is 125/person. We took the tour with black comb ATV Tours Company. It is a 2 hr tour including the ride from to the Whistler Village. They also have 1 hour tour for easy riders. The 2 hr tour included going to the creek, up a steep slope and also bush wacking. We then put on our goggles and helmets. We then started the tour at 5 o’clock and we started going on a smooth surface and then started going up the mountain. I did not drive because, I was not old enough so I sat in the back of the ATV and my mom drove. My dad drove on the single rider ATV. We went on rocky slopes, up and down the mountain. We went in swamps also and took short stops. We drove with a guide. We went bush wacking and it was fun wacking through the bushes as we rode the ATV through them. That is best part of the tour. I loved the ATV tour and I recommend the tour to kids like Jayanth or adults like me who like adventure, if you are planning a trip to Vancouver or Whistler. Please plan ahead as the slots fill-up fast in summer. Recommend calling and making a reservation. The last trip is at 6.00 PM at some of the tour companies. Some end at 5.00 pm. After we finished the ride we went back to Whistler village.
Whistler village is beautiful. There is no vehicle traffic. It is a village with restaurant and shops. You can only travel through the village on foot, skate boards or bicycles. There we went to souvenir shops and I saw a dirt track on the top of the mountain. Some kids are doing dirt bicycling. One of the kids got hurt and the ambulance came to take care of the kid and they closed the dirt track.
The mountain is named whistler because western hoary marmots that live among the rocks whistle on the mountain and that is how the mountain got the name. This is where 2010 winter Olympics are going to be held. I got some 2010 un-circulated coin collection as a souvenir. After having dinner at the village we headed back to Vancouver for the night. On the way back, there was an propone tanker spill on the road, so the road to Vancouver is closed. We waited on the road for 2 hrs. I slept in the Jeep we are driving . The road reopened at 12:30 AM and we drove back to Vancouver. All of us are so tired, we just slept . Next day we are going to Victoria by Ferry in the morning, so wanted to catch as much sleep as possible.
July 3, 2008-
-Thursday-
Victoria, BC
Our ferry was at 10:30 AM from Tswazzane Bay to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. We left the hotel at 8:00 AM and we reached the port at 9.00 AM (morning office traffic). You need to plan ahead during morning rush hour. We then checked in and drove the Jeep to the lane to be ready to be boarded on the ferry. While we are waiting to be boarded, we went to a souvenir shop and bought some souvenirs and boarded the ferry. It took 1hr 45 minutes to reach Swartz bay. Recommend making reservations ahead during summer. We made our reservations with BC ferries. It was my first experience on board a Ferry. It is exciting. While on the ferry, we enjoyed the view of the Islands as we passed by. There are so many islands that made up Vancouver and I did not know that before. We passed San Juan Islands on our way to Swartz Bay. As we were about to reach Swartz Bay, there was an announcement, requesting drivers and passengers to go to the cars and be ready to leave. We then left the Ferry and drove to Buchart Gardens. On our way there, we had our lunch at Smithy’s family restaurant. The food was good. They had sandwiches, breakfast, soups, salads, and stir fry. I had Stir Fry and Mom had their Soup and Sandwich. Dad had their special pancake breakfast. IT was good. Try this out. This is on your way to Buchart Gardens. You cannot miss it.
We went to Buchart Gardens. These Gardens where originally created by Jennie Buchart in 1904. Previously it was a limestone Quarry and she landscaped it and created the beautiful Buchart Gardens. The Gardens had sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Italian Garden and Mediterranean Garden. The best I liked in the sunken Garden. They have different flowers and it looked just beautiful. It was breath taking to see so many flowers in one place. They also have live band and the garden is lit up in the night in summer. They also have fire works on Saturday’s in summer. Check their website for events and plan accordingly. We could not go for the evening show as we drove to Victoria from Buchart Gardens at 5:30 PM and I was already tired after walking through the gardens. The price for Buchart Gardens is 26/ adult and child is 6$/person. I would say it is worth it if you like scenery and flowers. I don’t like flowers and gardens in general, but still as Mom wanted to go, I went with her.
We checked into Holiday Inn at 6.00 PM and then washed and relaxed for 30 minutes and headed to Victoria downtown. Victoria downtown was wonderful. We walked on a draw bridge and looked at how the draw bridge operates. Then we walked back to Belleville St (Government Street). On the street we saw some performers, performing different types of art- Juggling, Still standing. One girl was dressed as cow girl and stood still. Another performer is performing juggling act. We also saw Empress Hotel. It was huge. We did not go in though. We then saw the Wax museum and BC museum. If you are interested in museum’s there are different museums and you can spend a whole day in downtown strolling through the streets. They also have bike tours and horse carriages to take people around the downtown.
After that we came back to the hotel and went to a restaurant in the hotel. The food was not that great. We had Linguene and Jayanth had fish and chips. It was 11.00 AM, by the time we went to the room and we just slept off.
- July 4, 2008-
-Friday-
HOH Rain forest , WA
Today is a special day for USA. It is its 232nd birthday!! In the morning we went on a ferry from Victoria to Port Angles. We reserved the tickets through MV Coho ferries. When we entered ferry boarding area, we got out and stretched for some time before they did the customs check. For ferries leaving from Canada to USA, you need to be there 90 minutes before departure. For the customs they asked us if we are taking any food items and asked to show our passports. It was 9 o’clock when they did it and so we waited for and 1 ½ hours before boarding the ferry. I took some pictures of some seaplanes. Then I saw the ferry and so we turned on the engine of the car and boarded the ferry. We then boarded the ferry and it was so dark that we were like in a tunnel. We went up stairs and ate some breakfast while the ferry went out of the harbor. We then went to the top floor and saw a cruise ship passing by. I then went to the front of the ship. I had a hard time going there because the wind was pushing me back. At the front they had ropes to anchor the life boat. Inside the ferry they had cushion seats. It was fun. After an hour we were off the ferry and went to the U.S. customs. We then went to the Hoh Rain Forest on high way 101 west. It was a 2hr 30 min drive. On my way there I ate Subway onion teriyaki chicken sandwich. There is a entrance fee of 15$/ vehicle. It is an 8 miles drive after the entrance to reach the visitor center. This forest gets 114 centimeters of rain in 1 year. The forest has 3 different kinds of fir trees. Hemlocks, Douglas Firs and Spurces. There is moss all over the trees. It reminded me of ghosts. We also saw nursing logs and how the new trees grow from the dead bark. There was a maple grove where the maple trees are huge. We saw trees blown down because of winter storms as these tree roots were not deep enough. We went on two trails called Mini Trail and the Hall of Mosses. There were creeks. We saw a deer, a bird, a squirrel, and some tadpoles. There are couples of other trails too. Hoh River trail will take you long the river and to a water fall. IT is a 3 mile trail. We did not go on that trail. After going on the two trails, and completing an activity booklet, Jayanth earned my junior ranger badge. Then we went all the way to Seattle to go to the hotel, Red Roof Inn, because that was the only hotel available. The ride was 31/2 hrs drive. Recommend finding an inn or lodge near Olympia or forks for that night. On our way to Seattle we saw fireworks from the car. There were lots of fire works going on in the city. We could see all off them when approaching Seattle. We then watched the fireworks on TV. We then ate dinner in the room and slept off.
-July 5, 2008-
-Saturday-
St. Helens, WA
The next morning I got all the suitcases packed up in the car. We then went to Denny’s for breakfast. There I ate some pasta. After going there I went to St. Helens. At St. Helens I went to the visitor center to know what happened in 1980. What I learned was that volcano erupted sideways. It was very interesting. We went to the ranger talk where the ranger told us what happened before 1980 eruption and what happened after the eruption. We then went to the 13 minute movie to see what happened when St. Helens erupted. It was like a blast. The erruption is different to what you must have seen in Hawaii. Hawaii erruptions are lava flows that burst and flow out . Mt. Helens has volcanic erruptions, but the lava is a think paste that it forms lava domes and the lava does nto flow down. When the vent of the lava dome is blocked, the pressure builds up and it errupts. It errupts with lot of ashes. 1980 erruption ashes impact was left all over the world in 2 weeks from the time of erruption. We then went to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. We were at a elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level and was the closest view point to see St. Helens.It was the place were Johnston sat to see what will happen of the eruption. He was brave and his last words on the radio were “Vancouver, Vancouver this is it”, he then died. For his bravery they named the observatory after him. This observatory is at the 56 milestone on 504. It took almost 1 hr 30 mins to drive here from the first visitor center. When we went there we saw another movie "Message from top of the mountain". This is a must see movie . It is 16 mins long and it shows what happened when the erruption happened. After that we went for a look a St. Helens. It was covered with clouds we couldn’t see much of the crater, could clearly see the mud flows and pyroclastic flows and the spirit lake full of logs ( It is no more a lake) . There are trials that take you to the crater. You need a permit to do back pack hiking all the way there. Check out their website for permit details. There are other trials that are open . We went half way on the trial and came back. It is spetacular view of the volcanic legacy and the landscape the erruption changed. We then went to the Forest Learning center were they showed us how they repaired or replanted the forest again. We then drove to Days Inn in Eugene where we slept off. Before going there we ate dinner at Applebee’s.
-July 6, 2008-
-Sunday-
We drove all day on Sunday from Eugene . It took 8 hrs to reach home. We stopped for lunch at Burger King on the way . We reached home at 7.00 PM.
