spruce goose and seattle here we come

Wednesday 5th August 2015

After a full on day on Tuesday being delayed and spending the day at San Francisco we had a bit of a late start to the day.  By the time we left the motel it was close to 10 am.  We had about 30 miles to travel to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum to see the Spruce Goose.  Once we arrived we entered the museum and it was awe inspiring.  This aeroplane was so big it was hard to fathom.  It was built in the 40's and today it is the biggest plane to ever fly.  The wingspan is larger than the A380.  The difference here is it was completely made of wood.  Howard Hughes was the builder and designer and he piloted the plane on its one and only flight.  If you are ever in Oregon you need to come and see this monster.  There was also lots of other planes to see and another complete building devoted to space travel.

Another big draw card here was the 747 on top of a building that is a water park.  The 747 is the actual water slide with the tubes going through the plane.  There is also a second 747 just parked up out the front on the lawn.

Once done at the museum we had about 330 kms to drive to get to Seattle.  Stopped at Denny's for dinner on the way along with some DQ blizzards to get us through the drive.  Got to Em's house around 10.30 pm.  It was great to see her after 9 months.  It was now bed time after such a long day.

wombat sees the spruce goose

inside the sg

cool plane

our tour guide

tail end of sg

army jeep

dc3

motors on the sg, 4 each side

photo of sg before its flight at long beach ca

Hughes h-4 hercules 'spruce goose'

747 on display

me under the 747

wombat taking a look

space shuttle cart

water slide park

gondola at portland

driving through portland

portland and multnomah falls

Tuesday 28th October 2014

portland oregon

lots of fog and cloud

vista point lookout

latourell falls

multnomah falls

me on benson bridge

multnomah falls lodge

crater lake

road to crater lake
more snow as we get higher

some roads closed

clearing the snow at visitor centre

snow fight

throwing snow

entrance to the park

snowing, how beautiful

Sunday 24th April 2011.

Today we leave Medford and head to Crater Lake to see if this year we are able to actually see it. Last year we stopped off here and could not see anything because of the fog. The morning was raining and a bit overcast but appeared OK. We set off with a two hour drive to the lake. With about half an hour to travel the road turns off the main and you head up the mountain. A few minutes in and the road get snow on the sides etc. A few more minutes in and the road is totally covered in ice! We continue on and it starts to snow fairly heavily, thank god we have a 4wd this year. As we get closer a snow plow meets us on the road who was flying along, I thought he was going to run into us. We get to the top and the place is deserted and they are clearing the snow from around the visitor centre and it's totally overcast and snowing. There was no way we could see the lake even though we were only a few metres from it.

We turned and drove back down stopping at the park entrance to throw some snow around. It was then back in the car for about a 5 hour drive to Ontario Oregon which is where we were spending the night. We arrived at Ontario at about 6.30pm which was now 7.30pm as we had crossed into mountain time. Tomorrow we head to Salt Lake City.

medford oregon

our Mustang

road trip!

Shasta National Park

snow covered mountains

ski boats on the lake

Sunday 30th May 2010.

Today we travelled north and headed into the state of Oregon, we have actually stopped at Medford. Our route took us through some really scenic national parks. We stopped off at Shasta National Forest near Shasta Lake. Due to the long weekend here there were stacks of people everywhere on boats and jet skis. It is amazing but there is a fair amount of snow about this area and on the mountains. Some of the roads are still closed until at least July which is well into summer.

Spoke to Hertz today about our noisy car, we are swapping it over on Monday but they are not sure if it will be another Mustang.

Heading to a place called Crater Lakes tomorrow morning which is like the Blue Lake in Mount Gambier but bigger. Should get some good photos of the lake and scenery.