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San Carlos to Bainbridge Island

We said goodbye to Loomba-Loomba and 
headed north early on the morning of June 7th.


Loomba-Loomba is not alone in San Carlos!
Our first stop was Bisbee, AZ for two nights.
It's a cute little mining town turned artsy.
Think Madrd, NM, or the Fremont neighborhood
in Seattle:


View from our room at the Bisbee Grand Hotel
Jim was still nursing his sting-ray sting
We HAD to do the Queen Mine tour!


Next stop was Drew's house in Gold Canyon, AZ:

He had just ordered a Tesla so he took us to do
a test drive in the same model. Here is Jim
driving "hands free". It was an amazing car!
These are Drew's girls: Mila, Fiona, Jane and Winnie
(four of our five grand-dogs)
From Drew's we headed to the South Rim of
Grand Canyon National Park, camping at Desert
View Campground:
....a very large elk with a fine set of antlers
.......a horny toad
......and a "wanna be" ranger?!?!
Gorgeous sunrise viewed from Desert View Watchtower
the morning we left:



We then drove Highway 66 toward Las Vegas: 
Stopped at Mr. D's for a burger and a shake....


and enjoyed the Burma-Shave signs.





Las Vegas........






We walked the strip once at night 
and once during the day, and drove
to "Old Town Freemont Street Experience" one
afternoon and that was enough Las Vegas
for us! 

We had reserved a condo for three nights and we
were glad we did. It was our oasis within 
all the craziness. We were able to plan the rest
of our trip with good internet, 
get caught up on emails, get a good
sleep in a nice bed, and do laundry.
One day we did the "behind the scenes"
Hoover Dam tour:




beautiful art deco all around
We then drove to meet
Dave (Jim's brother) in King's Canyon/Sequoia
National Parks. It's at 6500' and it was COLD at night.
The first morning it was 37 degrees when we woke up!

Our campsite at Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP

Nice hikes and amazing trees
General Grant is 3000 years old
It is 270' tall and 107 feet around


The "Mark Twain" stump - it was 1350 years old when it was
cut down




A rare snow plant blooming beneath General Sherman


 General Sherman, by volume,is the largest known
 single stem tree on earth
We stopped in Turlock with Dave to visit his daughter
and family, but unfortunately I didn't
take ANY pictures.

Next stop: Crater Lake NP which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Nice campground and beautiful scenery!
We lucked out on the weather. There was snow, but
it was sunny with no wind, so it wasn't too cold.





                                     

Is this the same ranger from the Grand Canyon?????

From Crater Lake we went to Eugene to visit  
Chrissy's sister, Gretchen, but once again
I failed to take any pictures.

Then we were off to Newport, OR. to meet
Kelsey, Drew, Simon, Amy (niece) with her two
kids and her sisters two kids, and Chrissy's brother
 Tom and sister in law Claudette. A fun "mini" family
gathering for a few days.
The newest member of our family: Crosby
Chrissy's niece's son
I didn't get any pictures of Amy or any of the
 other three kids, but it was a fun, busy time!

Simon was pretty excited about going
to the aquarium
Simon and Grandma inside the Moray Eel Tank

                                                     Couldn't be in Newport without time
                                                   at the beach, but it was windy and cold!
                                                         
                                              It's getting harder each year to adjust to any
                                                               temperatures below 70:)
                                                                         
                                             

We got home on July 1, unloaded the car,
did some work on the front house (new tenant
moving in) then headed to Heyer's in Seattle 
to house and dog sit for ten days while
they are in Ireland with Drew.

We will be heading home on Saturday.
We're ready to stay put for awhile.


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