Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Geyser & Inn

Wild forest fires in Washington and Idaho changed our

travel plans.  Plan B took us to our favorite National Park.

The town of West Yellowstone is a few blocks from this park entrance.

Bisquit Basin located on the Madison River west loop drive

Colorful mineral pools. Boardwalks take you for a close view.

Sapphire Pool....impressive.

Shell Spring...... boils, bubbles and disappears.

Small geyser 

Waiting for Old Faithful....small puff of steam puts visitors on alert.

Our favorite viewpoint is on the deck of Old Faithful Inn.

The Inn provides benches, tables and chairs for your viewing and snacking.

This is what you wait for.... today...... spouting about every 1 1/2 hours.

The park is located on a giant active volcano.  Water is super heated and in the

case of Old Faithful passes through a small restriction in the rock surface.

The Inn was built during the winters of 1903 and 1904.  The contractor

felt he could move materials faster on snow and ice.

Native logs and rock were used for building materials.

Dinning room busy at lunchtime. 

Visitors on the main lobby floor.  Two upper levels house the lodging rooms.

The lodge opens in June and closes September 

because of the severe winter weather.

The fireplace was built using 500 tons of local quarried rock. 

The clock was hand crafted onsite.

Comfortable rocking chairs are available for visitor's use.

 Special desks for your computer use or in past times to write a letter!

Interesting twisted support beams leads to fourth level called the Crow's Nest.

In past times used by bands to provide music entertainment.

Return trip young elk were cooling off and watching a fly fisherman nearby.

This elk was watching the park visitors taking pictures.

Centralia, Washington and Pendleton, Oregon

Hoquiam, Washington was a good location to park the RV

while exploring the southern Washington Coast.

The town has few attractions as it is mainly a port and logging center.

Moving inland to Centralia, Washington we discovered Fort Borst Park.

The old time pioneer school house.

The park grounds has well maintained flower and vegetable gardens.

Homestead Pioneer Joseph Borst's home.

Fort Borst was constructed in 1856 to store grain for army troops during wars with Chehlis Indians who actually turned out to be friendly.

Note the rifle slots on the second story.

Borst later bought the Fort for $100 from the federal government.

Heading east, Pendleton, Oregon was an overnight stop at 

Wild Horse Casino and RV Park.

This RV'r figured out how to tow both his motorcycle and smart car.

Camping in an Indian Tepee was another option for travelers who paid $25/night.  We saw a couple with 5 children enjoying the experience. 

Westport, WA and Surrounding Communities

Westport is an impressive seacoast town.  

Tourist were enjoying an art festival on this weekend.

The harbor is full of private and commercial fishing boats.

Buy your fresh tuna off the boat.

Fish hatchery protected by nets from the hungry seagulls.

Shoppers looking at the many arts and crafts.

We enjoyed fish 'n chips at this popular restaurant.

Former home of our niece and her family.

Up the coast, Ocean City with a population of 250, is a wide spot in the road.

The community has many nice beaches.

Local oyster business.

Piles of oyster shells show good business in fresh oysters.

At the town of Ocean Shores, fans of the Seattle Seahawk's Football team

enjoy an auto and craft show. 

All the cars painted with the team colors and logo.

In South Bend, WA, we were surprised to find this elegant 

Pacific County Courthouse built in 1910.

The lobby is impressive with this stain glass dome.

The value is set at between $500,000 to a million.

Coast of Washington State

An RV park in Hoquiam, Washington is our temporary home 

while we explore the coast.

After a 28 mile drive to the Coast and south 7 miles,
 we stopped at the 
corner of Cranberry & Turkey in Grayland, WA. 

The community of Grayland is home to Cranberry Bogs operated by several

families that grow and harvest the berries.

A typical bog has a home and pump house with a warehouse nearby.

The cranberries are harvested in the fall 

and sent to a Ocean Spray plant to be processed.

Each pump house has a cranberry grower plaque to identify the family product.

The town gets it's water from artesian wells which is the 

best drinking water in the state.  

Some bogs are diked and flooded for harvesting process.  

Most crops are irrigated by sprinklers.

Bogs are planted in peat.

Ditch wood cribbing is needed because the ground

is soft.  

Farmers use railroad type carts to tend 

their crops.

Mineral rich irrigation water stains nearby warehouses.

Old time dry harvesting picker.

Today's harvesting machine.