After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Arch Rock. As usual it was too foggy to see much. After being there for an hour, we finally were able to see the faintest outline of the arch. I took a picture of the sign on the trail so we could see what it should look like. Then we drove from Oregon into California. We went to Stout Grove. It was magnificent. I have never seen trees so big around, or tall as these. We hiked through the trees for a couple of hours and never got tired of seeing them. We took hundreds of pictures. The "Big Tree" was over 1500 years old. 286 Ft high, and it was 74.5 feet in circumference. Then we drove and ate lunch at the Blue Ox diner. Across the street was a huge statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Then we drove down the coast to Klamath, and drove through a giant redwood. We ended up at the Trindad Head lighthouse. We hiked 1 mile to the top in the fog, and found out that they only do tours twice a month and the gate was closed. So we had to hike back down. Mine and Beth's knees and feet were hurting by the end of the hike down. So we didn't get to see the lighthouse... We are staying in McKinleyville for the night. We played cards and ordered door dash. We are worn out.
Oregon Trip - Day #2 - October 7th, 2026
We ate at McDonalds, then went to Walmart to get some snacks. We dropped off a huge box at Fedex. It was foggy a lot today. It was about 66 degrees. We went to the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It was a 1/2 mile hike through a spooky forest. This is the most photographed lighthouse on the Oregon coast. It was too foggy to see much of the ocean. Then we drove to the Umpqua River Lighthouse. We took a tour and climbed up the 59 stairs to the lantern room. It is the only lighthouse in Oregon that you can climb up. Then we drove to Coos Bay, but it was to foggy to see anything, so we ate lunch at Millers Cove. Then we drove to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. It was SO windy that we could hardly walk straight. It was also very cold, so we turned around and didn't make it to the lighthouse. We drove down the 101 highway and stopped and got some beautiful photos of the ocean right after sunset. We checked into our hotel in Gold Beach Oregon and played cards for an hour.
Oregon Trip - Day #1 - October 6th, 2026
Mandi took us to the shuttle, and we went to Las Vegas. We flew to Eugene Oregon. We had to wait a few hours for Beth's flight. It was fun watching on our google maps to see what we were flying over. We went to a couple of thrift stores looking for a wheelchair (no luck). The hotel had cancelled our rooms, so we had to get new ones. We ate at Texas Roadhouse, and then repacked all these bags. We brought too much stuff. It is in the 70's. I am excited to start our road adventure tomorrow.
St George Marathon - October 3rd, 2026
This morning we got up early to watch Santi (Izzy's boyfriend) cross the finish line for the Half Marathon. 13.1 miles. We cheered him on by the church on the hill, and then drove to the finish line. He got 1st place. We are very proud of him!
Amelia - 27 months old - September 30th, 2026
Amelia loves to be outside when she comes here twice a week. If it is hot she like playing in the water. She also loves to "help" with the yard work. She gets her little rake and tries to do whatever we are doing. One day, she kept messing up all the leaf piles grampy was trying to clean up. It was so funny. He is very patient with her.
Kodachrome Basin State Park - Day #2 - September 26th, 2026
This morning we drove to Chimney Rock. It is out in the middle of the basin. Doug was a tiny dot next to it. Then we drove and hiked the Sentinel trail to Sentinel spire. It was about 1.5 miles.
This afternoon we drove to the Panorama trail and hiked 2 miles to Indian Cave and The Ballerina. The cave had over 100 Petrosomatoglyphs. They are ancient hands carved from the hands rubbing the sandstone over time.
We are worn out from all the hiking these past few days.
Kodachrome Basin State Park - Day #1 - September 25th, 2026
We packed up and left Goblin Valley and Drove to Kodachrome Basin State Park. It was a beautiful drive with so many different colors and kinds of formations. Some of the places we drove through reminded me of what the moon might look like. We actually drove through Capitol Reef National Park on the way. I didn't take any pictures because we couldn't stop the truck. The leaves were starting to change color. The campground here is nice, and the weather is in the low 70's. The only downfall is the price of fuel. We are paying $6.79.9 a gallon.... so hundreds of dollars for this trip!
Goblin Valley State Park - Day #2 - September 24th, 2026
Today we hiked "The Valley of The Goblins". We hiked almost 5 hours. We walked about 5.5 miles wandering around all the amazing formations. There was about an hour that we got "lost" and could not figure out how to get back to where we started. There are so many formations you have to go around. We had to go into a few washes and gullies and over hard to climb hills. There are thousands of Hoodoos. Every shape and size. There are 3 valleys. We never made it to the 3rd one. It is about 3 square miles from starting point to end of valley 3. There are no designated trails, so you just wander wherever you want. We were so worn out when we got back to camp. We showered and relaxed in RV the rest of the day. We took hundreds of photos.
Goblin Valley State Park - Day #1 - Sept. 23rd, 2026
Today we drove 5 hours to Goblin Valley State Park. It is in the middle of nowhere. We stopped in Richfield for ice cream. We set up the trailer in a very quiet and beautiful campground. We drove 2 miles to check out the Valley of the Goblins. It is amazing. We hiked to the Three Sisters formation. It is so peaceful here, and the weather was perfect.
