Day 2 Portland to the Oregon/California boarder.

We were up at 5:30 to get and early start to our day.  Warm weather was the goal and we were anxious to find it.

The view was beautiful and a little different than I have seen it in the past.  Then we started noticing something, this storm had done some serious damage to the trees.  There were broken limbs everywhere.

Then we drove into the part of Oregon that everyone thinks of when you mention Oregon; lush coastal forests, moss and ferns.

these mossy trees look so cool

I want to live on this hill

lambs with their mommies

The next part of our journey took us up and through the mountains to California.  It started to get drier and warmer.

hard to believe there is a ski hill here.  Where is the snow?  I see bug goo but no snow.

that's a hill

the summit

amazing view from the top

drier means warmer, right!

dry landscape with snow dusting the mountains, pretty.

Prince George to Portland, OR

Fraser Canyon, ice in the river

Sun on the opposite mountain

Outside of Hope

Sasha being Samuel's blanket while he slept.

It was -26 Celsius on the drive to Vancouver.  The car side windows were iced up until we stopped for lunch in Hope then they had a chance to thaw.  Cold weather makes for good driving though no snow to worry about on the roads.

We crossed the boarder with no hassle and were on our way through Washington.

I had to borrow this we didn't see one to take a picture of.

We made it to Seattle before it got dark.  Here is a selection of photos of the Seattle Space Needle at 50 miles an hour.

I think this is my favorite

We made Portland in 15 hrs.  They had had a bad snow storm and after all of those hours of driving we almost got stuck in the unplowed parking lot of the hotel. fun stuff.  Bed looked so inviting.

Had to borrow this one too it was dark when we got here.

Hunley

We visited the Hunley it is the first successful combat submarine launched in the USA.  It was used during the Civil War by the South to try break up the blockade in the Charleston harbor.
 Interesting facts-

• the first mission went bad when the captain dived before the hatches were closed.  Five of the nine crew members died.  General Beauregard ordered the sub raised.
  
• Amazingly - a second crew was found who trained before heading out to sea.  They also all perished, the Hunley's name sake was Captaining this mission.  When divers were able to dive to the site of the sunk Hunley, storms had postponed a quick rescue.  They were amazed to discover the Hunley nose down in the mud of the harbor.
• before the Hunley had been recovered the second time a crew had volunteered to take her out again.
• the third and final mission of the Hunley was successful and mysterious.  The sub was supposed to attach a mine to the bottom of the USS Housatonic a Union ship guarding the entrance to the harbor.  The mine was attached to a long metal spar.  The plan was to drive the spar into the hull of the Husatonic then back away reeling out a rope that would trigger the blast when they were safely away.  Alas that was not to be the Spar hit the Housatonic in the munitions storage area of the ship and it blew the mine immediately.  Blowing the Housatonic to the bottom of the harbor.  The shore crew were excited and some report seeing the blue light that signaled a successful mission but as they waited it became apparent that the sub was not returning to port.
• In 1995 Clive Cussler and his crew found the Hunley it had drifted past the Housatonic.  It is thought that the blast knocked the crew unconscious and they drowned with know one to man the air pump.
• the Hunley was powered by eight men turning a crank that turned the propeller.  The Captain sat in the front of the sub and worked the dive planes and ballast tanks
• the sub sits in a tank of clean water with electric current running through it to help remove the years of sea life from it.
• in its current condition if it was taken out of the water it would rust to dust in about two weeks.
  
• it is hoped that in five years the sub will be cleaned up enough to have the exterior sprayed so that it can be shown in a climate controlled room with out the water.

kids propelling a replica sub

actual size of the original Hunley hatch, those guys must have been skinny

What the Hunley looks like now surrounded by water. This picture is borrowed from the web, as you are not allowed to take pictures for the sub right now.

model of the Hunley

Pioneer Model

Pioneer Model

USS Laffey and USS Clamagore

Patriots Point is also home to the USS Laffey a destroyer.  It is open for tours and is quiet amazing to see.  The Laffey was commissioned in 1944.  While operating off Okinawa on April 16, 1945, Laffey was assailed by a massive air strike of 22 Japanese bombers and kamikazes.  Five kamikazes and three bombs struck her killing 32 and wounding 71 of her 336 man crew.  They were able to shoot down 11 attackers and keep the Laffey afloat.  Repairs were made and she was decommissioned in 1975.

can I call her a pretty ship?

USS Laffey

wow just to track stuff

captains tender boat

the bridge

total of kills, not to sure about the islands

more search stuff, wonder if this would help Samuel find his missing pencil?

Replica Vietnam Naval Support Base

Patriots Point has a true to scale exhibit of a Naval support base used during the Vietnam War.  "Visitors are taken back to South Vietnam (1965 - 1970) when the U.S. Navy supported the ground troops and counterinsurgency operations throughout a vast network of waterways.  The primary mission of the "Brown Water Navy" was to block the movement of insurgents and their supplies into South Vietnam."

mess hall

ammunition storage

helicopter

watch tower

gun on the helicopter

latrines

first aid  building and Samuel driving the girls.