July 23, 2026 - Go to Victoria

 

Title: July 23, 2026 -  Go to Victoria

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking : Car

Trail: Tumwater Falls

Trail head: Brewery Park

Distance: .75   miles ¹

Elevation Rise:  218'
Descent:  219'

Maximum Elevation: 102'

 ^{1Information from plotting on Google Earth}

 

Description:

I got up around 5:20 to find that there was no lightning to report on. After yesterday’s activity, that is good for both the area and me. Me because I can use the early morning hours just to enjoy a few things. For the area, it will give people time to find any fires started in the reporting area.

People and RipTide-now called Toste-started getting up at 6:30. I had my breakfast and then packed the car. Felt pretty proud of myself: everything is below seat level in back. In the past, I have only had a tunnel to look through to see out of the rear view mirror. Lawrence leaves for work at 7:40.

We leave Andrea and Lawrence’s house at 8:45. Andrea is driving and I am in the backseat-this is a rarity. A bit of conversation for a while. I work on a couple blog entries for this trip. When Andrea gets behind a Tesla which does not seem to understand how to drive on a freeway, she notes that you can buy a beautiful car, but you cannot buy driving skills. This will go in my email signature line sometime.

When we get to a rest stop, Toutle River to be exact, I take over driving, but not for long. In about 45 minutes, we came to Brewery Park. Andrea has stopped here and highly recommends it. There is a set of falls, Tumwater Falls. This is the area where Olympia beer was brewed. It is a short walk to the upper falls. There is something about the falls, both something plain and simple-after all it is essentially a fall which was created by a dam-which is a source of refreshment to one's eyes.

Fish Ladder

But we walk further down a path, maybe a third of a mile. Some of the path has metal grates which allows you to look down onto a fish ladder. Andrea notes that when the fish are running, you can watch them as they leap up the ladder. The path is really a loop. We cross over the Deschutes River and come back to the other side. A very pleasant walk. I have marked this as a place to stop for a nice break if we are in this section of Washington.

Just as a note: We had previously walked along Deschutes River in Bend, OR. But this is a different Deschutes River. You do not expect something with that name to have several versions of the river.

I continue to drive. We need to get some bread and stuff. There is a Trader Joe’s along the way which we stopped at two years ago. We stop again. I sent a picture to the family asking do they know where we are? This starts a text chasing which seems to have no end. Finally David remembers the place from two years ago.

Sherri and Andrea crossing the Deschutes 

And along the lines of two years ago, I made the same mistake we made two years ago. The direct road to Port Angeles looks more like a side offramp than something that major. I started off wrong and realized ten seconds into the route what we did wrong then and now. It took us ten minutes to get us right.

I drove for a little ways further until Andrea finished her sandwich. Then she took over driving. I have my usual sandwich. It is another 2+ hour drive to Port Angeles. Andrea gives narrative about the places she and Lawrence enjoyed on a recent trip up here. We make it right when the ferry over to Victoria starts to accept cars. There is an almost two hour wait to load. Andrea finds some fellow Dragon Boat racers and talks with them. I read. We do hear thunder to the west of us and the waters look choppy.

 

 

The ferry has us leaving the cars in the hold and go up to the passenger deck once the ferry starts to move, the effects of the choppy waters is shown . Andrea and Sherri go outside into the wind and wet, Sherri can barely keep upright, Shortly afterwards, She comes back in and I join Andrea. I do not do much better getting out. I am able to navigate by holding onto rails. With a little practice I can go short distances without holding on. Eventually I rejoin Sherri and Andrea inside.

Someplace on the water, we get a message from Verizon. In essence it says that they are switching us over to Canadian carriers, but we can still use data, make phone calls and text.

We had left a bit late and arrived a bit late. The sides of the lanes are so narrow, we have a difficult time getting back into the car. I try to be the one who crawls over the shifter and managed to get stuck. Andrea helps to get me unstuck.

Andrea drives us to the hotel, Robin Hood Inn Room 245. Looks pleasant enough. We have two queen beds with our own kitchen. The room is a quasi-second story. The hotel is built on a hillside, so the slope has us even, even though being on the second level. After we got settled in, we ordered food for pickup from Hecklers Bar and Grill. Andrea and I got a Beef Dip while Sherri had a chicken salad. Enjoyable. I thought I wanted something light, but I ate the whole thing. Shortly after finishing, we went to bed, around 10.

 

Extra Photo's

Little waterfall by trail

Sweat Pea by the Deschutes River

Upper Tumwater Falls

Gary, Andrea, and Sherri by Tumwater Falls

Deschutes River

Gary and Sherri by the fence locks

Entrance to the ferry

Waiting for the ferry

Sherri and Andrea getting a bit wet

Weather on the crossing

More crossing conditions

Father and Daughter

 
Flowers and Plants

June 24, 2026 - Minneapolis, Como Zoo

 

Title: June 24, 2026 - Minneapolis, Como Zoo
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

I slept in until 6:30. Then did my lightning report-none again. I had been waiting until I had a block of time to write up a process for somebody in Stanislaus NF to be able to produce a kmz file. I was able to do that this morning. Sherri got up just as I finished up this writeup. We went down for breakfast when Andrea wanted to talk about our next trip to Victoria. So we talked about when to come back from Victoria and where-there is a ferry to be reserved.

About 10, we left our room to go to the Como Zoo and Conservancy. Once again the street numbers got me. But thanks to Google Maps, I was able to quickly get turned in the right direction. We picked up the bus at Washington and 3rd Streets. This would be the 3A bus. The driver seems to know everybody who gets on the bus and is a genuinely enjoyable person as she interacts with each new rider.

 

 

 

We get off at Como Regional Park and then walk over to the Zoo entrance. Unlike many zoo’s, entrance is free. They rely on donations and some big donors I think. Many of their animals reside indoors. I suspect that is because the winters here are bitterly cold and some of these animals, maybe most are from warmer climates.

The first building we go into concerns primates. They range from spider monkeys to large gorillas. When we exit the house, we see a couple zebras galloping around. I am suspecting that the female may be filing a harassment suit against her partner as she kept making hee-haw donkey noises.

I would guess that about 20% of the exhibits were empty. Not sure if it was just a matter that they were rotating animals, cleaning stalls out or if they did not have enough animals to fill them. Sometimes a whole building would be this way.

We go through the African Hoofed Stock house. The giraffes were the ones here. About this time Wendy asked about Winter pictures from various trips around Grant Grove. I sent her a giraffe picture.

Onward to lions and tigers and bears. Well the latter would need to wait for a little while. Both the tiger and lion, singular on both, were resting in their areas. They seem to live a life of ease, or maybe boredom.

The Fresno-Chaffee Zoo used to have polar bears. But our climate was not good for them, so they got moved. But the Como Zoo did. I suspect this is what Sherri really wanted to see. There were two polar bears in one of the areas. One spent the majority of the time in the water with the other joining the first a bit later. Inside the building there was a third polar bear. He was rather old and did not interact with the others. He had his own pool to play in.

Gary with a plastic garbage eagle

Our final exhibit was the Aquatic Animals.That would be not only fish, but other swimming things-there was a separate seal area. But we only saw a nose once. We saw puffins as well.

By this time it was about 1. We found a place to have lunch and plot out what to do next. There was a bird area, but as I was writing this up, I saw that it was a seasonal exhibit. With that, we decided to move on to the Conservatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferns

We spent about an hour and a half in the Conservatory. One of the more interesting things about this Conservatory is that it is one of the few remaining glass-domed gardens in the United States. The first area dealt only with ferns. My thought was that Andrea and Lawrence would love this section. Another section deals with herbs and spices and plants used for medicinal purposes. One lady saw me peering up into a tree and wondered what kind of fruit was up there. I said it was star-fruit. But this was not answered on the basis of any superior knowledge, but because there was a tag on the tree.

The most extensive area was the Japanese garden. There were a couple of signs which I noticed. First it said that Japanese gardens, unlike western gardens, try to look natural without the uniformity which you see out of Europe. From what I could tell, these gardens looked more planned and placed. While there was a certain amount of unkemptness in some places, it did not look random nor chaotic. 

 

The second sign said there were six elements which a Japanese garden consisted of: water, bridges, paths, stones, plants and ornaments. Notice that all are plural. The ornaments include the stone lanterns and statues. These gardens did have that.

The entrance into this garden is through settings with bonsai trees. In Atlanta, it seemed like there was an emphasis on the decorative qualities of these trees. Here, there is a diversity of types of trees, ranging from Dawn Redwoods to figs.

We then wander the garden paths-and there are paths,-It is pleasant and relaxing to stroll along the paths. Isn’t that the purpose of these gardens? I wonder how public these gardens are in Japan? Or are they private gardens? They must take a lot of effort to set up and then maintain. Do the workers get to enjoy the sense of well-being from these gardens? OK I am probably over-thinking this. I did enjoy just walking through.

We make our way out of the Conservatory, stopping at a few places which we skipped earlier. Then there is the gift shop which has a magnetic attraction for Sherri. I am able to resist and take up my customary spot on a bench. What to do next is the discussion? Do we eat? It is only 2:30. Go back to the hotel and veg? Walk the SkyWay? We talked to a guy at the visitor services desk. He suggests that walking down to Lake Como would be nice. It is a place of beauty.

So that is what we do. The walk down there is nice. My legs get tired from standing when we are at places like zoos or museums or gardens. They feel much better when we are able to walk at a moderate pace. And that is what we do. We see a pavilion with a deck and observe the lake from there. Then walk along the side of the lake for a while.

By this time, we are starting to get hungry. We are not interested in park or zoo food today. There are some places of unknown quality about half a mile away. But none seem interesting. So we walked to a bus stop-I misread where the stop was, so we walked a bit further. We catch the 3A bus back downtown.

While looking at Google Maps, I see an interesting sounding place with reasonable reviews called the Crooked Pint Ale House. We stop there and have our dinner of Pub House Burger-I think this is a stuffed burger-and a cowboy burger. The server paid the right amount of attention to us, with the right amount of company to enjoy her, but not intrusive. Then the food was very good. Glad we stopped in.

Afterwards, we made our way to our room and vegged for the rest of the evening. Showered and talked about what to do tomorrow and all. Of course we showered. Then went on our Wednesday night family Zoom call before going to bed at 10.

Extra Photo's