Tom Update: He called to say he was standing at the top of the tallest building in St John and was taking advantage of a phone signal from St Thomas. Electricity is still out as are all the phone and wifi towers. He sounded shocked at the devastation on the island and stated how lucky he was that damage to his boat was mainly cosmetic and easily repaired. He said most of the boats belonging to the islanders were sunk, on the rocks, or in splinters. Hardly a building escaped major damage and his apartment building was leaking. Any boats that were still able were being used to evacuate the injured to St Croix or St Thomas. And now hurricane Jose is on the horizon.
It is so strange to do the report on the hurricanes then to sit back and remember a much less stressful time just a few weeks ago as my sister and I traveled up the west coast in anticipation of the eclipse.
So much that is unexpected can happen in an instant to change our lives, alter our course, rattle our security. My life on wheels has been a good counter balance to the daily news (crisis) reports I hear on the radio. But Tom thought living on St John would be stress free. Hmmm.
Jo, Daisy and I spent one night on Whiskytown Lake, one night on a golf course in Eureka and two nights parked at this casino that sits high on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Cher-Ae Heights Casino allows free parking in hopes we would spend money on their machines. Neither of us were so foolish to test our luck but we spent enough in their spectacular dining room to make up for not gambling.
The amazing view complete with sunset was worth the cost of the dinner.
And the parking lot was very quiet considering there were at least a dozen RVs parked there.
Driving through the remarkable groves of redwoods is a spiritual experience. The ages of the trees make me wonder how they have avoided the fires and the woodsmen.
Daisy was enthralled and I knew that if the leash were removed she would disappear in a flash.
Her curiosity is beyond control.
Sister Jo is always complaining about being so short.
Okay, I knew it was a tourist trap but I just cannot resist a 'Garden'.
Yep, she is short.
She opted to stay behind and wait for me (not only is she short, she's also smart). It was an easy 1/2 mile trail through the rain forest and I knew I would at least enjoy the foliage.
Dimetrodon
The replicas displayed in these Gardens are full-scale models of primitive cold-blooded animals that lived 250 to 70 million years ago.
Triceratops
The reptiles had a bit of a 'Disney' look about them but I thought the garden would have been an excellent experience for a 10 to 12 year old child.
And the rain forest was lovely.
Elasmosaurus
Stegosaurus
Pteranodon
Okay, no more tourist traps.
Next stop was Coos Bay where we spent the night in another Casino parking lot. The next day we took in this Museum.
The old navigation lights are so beautiful with all the glass and mirrors.
The museum was not very well laid out, jumping from one era to another without any continuity. There was however, a very interesting section on the history of the Coquille and Coos Indians. It described the massacres of the tribes plus the slaughter of the wild animals, all perpetrated by the newly arriving white men.
"It is estimated that not less than one thousand elk were killed in one year in Coos County alone--for the skins only."
Until 1936, you couldn't drive the length of Oregon's Highway 101 without taking a ferry. The Roosevelt Ferry set sail in 1922 across Coos Bay, back and forth from North Bend to the hamlet of Glasgow. It made trips once an hour carrying a dozen cars at a time. The ferry only ran during the summer, the roads on either bank were too muddy to drive in the winter months.
Enough already. Can we get going?
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