The flowers of fall

At "home" in Colorado, where we lived most of our lives and where we still vote, pay taxes and receive our mail, they have already seen snow and had enough temperatures below freezing that, most likely, the flowers have seen better days. The flowers of fall bloom in September and are mainly chrysanthemums.

Today our "home," the structure we actually live in, is parked in Mesa, Arizona, and the flowers are very different. We spotted one barrel cactus with a few blooms left.



The bougainvillaea is blooming all over the park.



And roses are blooming. By this time of year in Colorado, we would be cutting back the plants and mounding the dirt to protect the grafts so the bushes don't die back to the wild rose roots. Here are a few that we took pictures of today.







Many of the bushes in the Valle del Oro rose garden are planted in memory of former park residents. That makes it special to have them blooming as the snowbirds return for the winter.

What is Home?

The word "home" can mean many different things. I can go "home" to the physical space I live in; or to my "home" town; or to the state where I live or where I grew up; or to the part of the country or the country where I live.

We have been "home" in the United States since we entered Alaska from Canada on June 29. We have lived this whole time in the RV which is our "home" (except for the 4 nights on the ferry). As we drive south and east from the Seattle, Washington, area, we feel we are getting closer and closer to "home." Why? Because of the cattle in the fields.



And the sagebrush.



And the round wheat and hay fields, growing that way because of the irrigation sprinkler that goes in a circle.



The air is getting drier. We have both lived most of our lives in the higher altitudes of Colorado and, more recently, in the Arizona desert. The humidity we found in much of Alaska is not "home" to us.

I am happy to report that the nights are once again dark. Among other things, that means I can see the moon at night. For many weeks, I was never up when it was dark. As the nights got a little longer, we were often along the ocean and the sky was covered with clouds. But for the last two nights, I actually saw a moon in the sky before I went to bed.

We drove from Ellensburg, Washington, to Pendleton, Oregon, then today to Boise, Idaho. That is three states in three days. If you drive on the East Coast, you can easily pass through three states in one day. Out west, where the states are larger, our trip is pretty amazing, especially for us.

Eastern Washington and Oregon have interesting hills, mostly covered with brown grass.



We also saw lots of vineyards, providing a good dark green contrast to the brown.



There are lots of hills to go up and down. And triple-trailer loads are allowed, leading to this sign on a FedEx truck.



Hay is a major cash crop around Ellensburg, where we saw lots of covered haystacks.



Pendleton, of course, is home to the famous Pendleton Woolen Mills. We didn't tour the mill, but we did check out the mill's outlet store. Of course, there were lots of Pendleton clothes, most made of wool. And we don't need those in Arizona. We did enjoy looking at the shelves of blankets.



And, through a window, we saw stacks of different colored yarn and a bright blanket on the loom.





Our RV park in Pendleton sat on a hill and we could look out over the valley and part of the town. Look above the ground and you can see the thick smoke that blankets the area and got worse, the closer we came to Boise. A number of wildfires are burning in Idaho and have been for several weeks. I read a story said they don't anticipate a major storm that could put the fires out at least until after October 1.



Driving from Ellensburg to Pendleton, we saw two mountains. I hope someone can let us know if this is Mt. St. Helens?



And, is this Mt. Rainier?



They sure are beautiful.

Alaska–Day 100

We’re back in the Lower 48!  The Columbia arrived at the dock in Bellingham, Washington, right on time, at 8 am Pacific Time.  The ferry runs on Alaska Time, but when we drove off, we were in the Pacific time zone.

We drove 20 miles to Mount Vernon, where we parked and hooked up and started getting our refrigerator cold.  We drove to a nearby Walmart to restock an empty refrigerator and panty.  Since we buy way more than food there, we ended up spending over $300.  But the same items would probably have cost $100 more in Alaska or the Yukon (if we could even find them there).  So, it wasn’t too bad.

For the last week in Alaska, I cooked according to what we needed to use up, so it is nice to be restocked.

It feels good to be here, off the water, off the frontier, driving on good roads.  It is time to head for home.

Alaska -- Day 64

Our main focus today was to have lunch with one of John's cousins, Ramona, who lives in Homer. We met them at the restaurant at Land's End, a resort at the tip of the Homer Spit. (The Spit is a long piece of land that reaches east from the town of Homer into the south end of Kachemak Bay.) Ramona and her husband, Todd, have lived in Homer full-time for about 50 years. After lunch, we followed them to their house, which has a beautiful view. I took John's picture with them standing on their deck.



This is the view of their front yard and the mountains across the bay. The RV at the bottom of the yard belongs to their son and his family. They are here for the summer.



This sign pretty much sums up Homer. Todd said there are something like 50 fishing charter businesses in the area.



Everywhere you look, there is something about fishing.















This is the small boat harbor. The tide was out.



The sea gulls love anglers and fishing boats. They find lots to eat there.



Not only have the campground owners here at Scenic View RV given us smoked salmon twice in the last 28 hours, last night the wife sent this plate of baked flounder. It was really good.



Here is what I saw last night at 9:30, about an hour before sunset, from the front of our RV.



While we were in Homer today, we visited the Seafarers' Memorial. It is in remembrance of those who have died at sea.



We saw this barge or ship in the bay. Todd and Ramona said it is used to ship LPG, Liquified Petroleum Gas--the kind we RVers use for heating and cooking.



We are parked nearly 50 miles north of Homer. Many RVers frequent RV parks on the Spit. Here is just one such park. We are in a much quieter place.