Lewis & Clark Trail - On to Fort Clatsop, Oregon.

There are a lot of pictures to download so please be patient.

Southeast Washington state is filled with apple orchards, vinyards, and fields of golden wheat.
The plains and rolling hills soon gave way to high mountains as we approached the Cascade mountain range formed by active volcanos.

Snow covered Mount Rainier was suddenly visible with all its majesty.

The delicate orange indian paint brush covers the landscape as we drive through Mount Rainer National Park. We quickly note that different flowers grow at different levels of altitude providing an ever changing foreground for the mountain scenery.

There are many places to take great pictures of your Wing with Mt. Rainier in the background.
A lesson in nature's awesome power was reinforced when we visited Mt. St. Helens. The usual scene of snowcapped mountains covered with trees and beautiful river valleys was suddenly changed to a blown off mountain, flattened tree trunks and a river valley turned brown by a raging flow of mud.

Fort Clatsop, 1805-1806

Finally we reached our first real destination: Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-1806 on the coast of the Pacific ocean.

The fort has been recreated by the National Park Service. Schulmpie sees just how austier living was.

Our party, Bob and Fran Frazee and Jerry & Charli Schlumpberg pause for a moment for a formal portrait.
We can't help but marvel at the many facets of the visionary President Thomas Jefferson, the political philosopher, statesman, author of the Declaration of Independance and, most of all, a scientist with an appitite for exploration and thurst for the truth.