Without text...

because the pictures show it all!

all pictures: Lake Quinault, Quinault National Forest, Washington

Americana!

Sooner than I had expected, there was a chance to blog again, so I grabbed it with my both hands... as promised, the American flag, to be seen all-over and on lots of items, like this buffalo in West Yellowstone (from a placemat in one of the restaurants, I understood that it has Theodore Roosevelt's face on it)

On the eve on Independence Day, from some houses in Ocean Shores, Washington...


now this must be a very familiar sight for you American readers, but being a Dutch lady I really liked these flags and the way they are decorating the porch

in bouquets in the supermarket

and this splendid war bonnet in Buffalo Bill Historic Center in Cody, Montana where I also took pictures of clothing of Native Americans, which I think you will like. I keep that for later though.
Thanks again for coming by!

Washington

Selfportrait!! Has nothing to do with Washington, but was taken yesterday during a lunchbreak. Don't I look happy??!!

This is the Pacific Coast near Kalaloch, on the Olympic peninsula. We stayed a couple of nights on a wonderful campground in the National Forest there, at one of the most beautiful lakesides!

My collection of Americana pictures is growing fast, not too difficult with these Independence Celebrations everywhere. In one of my future posts I will show more about that, it is so funny, nearly every house has the American flag flying, I have never ever seen a people before that is so proud of its country...

This is one of the mountain rivers where we camped, it is in the eastern part of Washington, along the Lewis and Clark trail. There was a lot of info available on this historic trail, quite interesting!

And finally: these are the Rattlesnake Hills near Richmond, it is almost Idaho there. And the climate is more desertlike, we were told that this area is the most Northern part of the Mojave desert in California, very hot days and cool nights.

Today we are in the vicinity of Puyallup, where we will meet our son who is flying in from Holland. We look forward very much for his company, as you may understand.

Well, from here: hope to see you again on my weblog soon, I will try to keep in touch! We are heading for Canada now, British Columbia and Alberta, after three weeks we will be back in Montana for our travel back home!!

Yellowstone National Park

Unbelievable!! So many people waiting for this famous Old Faithful Geyser to erupt, every 90 minutes . In about two minutes all was over...

we saw men fly-fishing for the first time in our lives! (though this one seems to enjoy his morning coffee)

huge, kind of prehistoric animals, these buffalo. We learned that a few days after our visit a lady was thrown in the air, when she was making a telephonecall from a payphone and was unaware that the buffalo was approaching her... scary!


by now we know the difference between geysers, mudpots, paintpots, fumaroles and such. But it is all about steam, and it generates a stunning, but beautiful landscape.

in one of the general stores in the park, I spotted this fleece blanket and you will understand: the color was mine! It is a kind of fake Native American motive, but I liked the overall design, though we certainly do not need it in our motorhome.

Hi there!

Just a week ago we visited Yellowstone National Park. We spent a good three days there, which were really beautiful and impressive. Saw (pronghorn) Antilope, Buffalo, Deer and even Bears. It was very funny: wherever you saw a lot of people alongside the road, you could be sure that there was game to be seen. This way we happened to see a Grizzly, so we were told (I still have my doubts...) and on the last afternoon a Brown Bear, of which I'm sure! We liked the landscape so much, with the rivers running throughout the Park and the beautiful mountains! But as for us three days were enough, so we left the park on the west-side and continued our way via Highway 191 to Bozeman (Montana), then went eastwards to Billings, where we had some businesses to do. Right now I blog from Richland (Washington) and tomorrow we will probably arrive somewhere near the Westcoast. We're halfway our trip today! Blogging is more difficult than anticipated, mostly because of very poor connections and being to busy travelling, setting up camp and cooking etc. We really are busy all day! But: I've made tons, really tons of pictures and one day or the other they will come by on this blog, be sure of that.

Crossing the Rockies from West to East

I don't remember where this exactly was, but some place in the Rockies

these turquoise beads will be turned into a necklace when I'm home again!

during these two months travelling I am collecting as much pictures of signs as possible, I'm on the lookout for them all the time

it was cold here, certainly for folks from the Caribbean

Some more Santa Fe pictures, finally!

We visited this museum

these are coyote fences, they surround most properties

the Zia sign can be seen in many forms and places, read more about it in this post

Harry's Roadhouse, a curious and famous place to eat...

On the road...

I'm very sorry, but uploading pictures does not work in all these wifi-places we visit!! Frustrating but true... So without pictures today: we travelled across the Rocky Mountains from West to East, had our motorhome serviced in Denver and went on yesterday in Northern direction. Had a stopover in Casper, Wyoming. Right now we are in Cody, where we will visit some museums tomorrow and then continue our travel to Yellowstone National Park. I look forward to it very much, it is one of the highlights of our 8 wk- journey.
Some things that amaze me (a foreigner) visiting this country:
- lots of people seem to live on campgrounds: huge trailers, with everything you may need aboard: it has nothing to do with camping (as we European are used to do), people hardly get outside their trailer!
- I'm shocked by the amount of very, very fat people. Plus the quality of food some big supermarkets offer. You really have to search for healthy stuff. Of course by now we have discovered businesses like Trader Joe and Wholefoods( or is it Wholegoods?), but even there you can hardly find one kind of bread without sugar (or sweets) in it.
- the fact that also very old people work! I see people everyday that in Holland I would only see walking behind a rollator, but here it seems that people just work on. I don't know if they really have to, but one side of it could be, could be I mean, is that they are not feeling old so soon as people do in our country. In Holland when you are about fifty, you're made a future problem, and by that attitude you almost feel old. I hate that!
- and last but not least: most people are so friendly! And that is a truly lovely experience, I must say.
Well, that is it for tonight: I'm going to take a shower and dive into our cozy nest.
Hope to see you back soon, and to show you some all American eye-candy!