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This month’s challenge was won once again by Alison, she is really good with birds! Hidden in the reeds were nine Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) in various states of relaxation. Personally, I think they should be called Great Grey Herons, but nobody asked me. The largest of the North American herons, GBHs nest in fairly large groups called heronries. They usually nest in trees or bushes near water. While the heronry that we saw at Edmonds Marsh (in the Puget Sound area) was relatively small, some of these colonies can have up to 500 nests.

Congratulations to Alison for having the first correct answer and kudos to Michael for also finding all our feathered friends!

Revealed photo

Heronry

We had just about a week to explore Olympic National Park. Technically, we had a lot less time than that since Monday through Thursday we could only venture out for a few hours in the evening after our day’s work was done. It truly was not enough time for us do everything on our list; regardless, we had a wonderful time.

I am most familiar with the southwestern side of the Park near Kalaloch and the Hoh Rainforest since I spent two summers working there many years ago. This visit we moved up to a small RV park at the northeastern end of Lake Crescent after spending a night at South Beach Campground. It turned out to be a great location for us as it afforded us access to many short side trips.

The Olympic Mountains have been called a gift from the sea because the rocks that make up the range were formed out in the ocean. The range not only has layers of sedimentary rocks—sandstones and shales that were laid down over a millennium at the bottom of the sea—but it also has basaltic rocks, formed by lava that extruded from underwater fractures in the oceanic crust. Roughly 35 million years ago, as the oceanic plate continued its slow dive under the continental plate of North America, the taller layers were scraped off the top of the oceanic crust. The rock layers were folded, fractured, and thrust up as they slammed against the continental plate—thus forming the Olympic Mountains.

Though the subduction of the oceanic crust led to the formation of volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains to the east, the Olympics are relatively free of volcanism. Two small spots on the west side, Sol Duc and Olympic Hot Springs, are the area’s only hints that hot magma lies beneath the surface. While I had previously visited the undeveloped Olympic Hot Springs, it was my first visit to the mineral waters of Sol Duc. We headed over there on one of the cooler evenings, after hiking to Sol Duc Falls. The hot springs setup was very European with three pools, each one slightly warmer than the next. We bee-lined for the medium temperature one (101˚ F) and liked it so much that we didn’t even try the others. The water had a faint sulfur odor but it was not overwhelming; it was very relaxing.

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This month we have a “Count the Animals” photo for you to decipher. The challenge is to not only identify the animal in question but to guess how many of them are in the picture.

Please be as specific as possible. Good luck!

(Click photo for larger version.)

Instructions: When you think you have figured it out, enter your guess in the comment field below. Be sure to check back next week to see if you were right.

Note: We are returning to our old format of hiding all comments until we reveal all the guesses at once next week. Hopefully it will make for a better Travel Challenge.

The photo has not been doctored; it is the glorious combination of two things, my lack of ability as a photographer and the subjects’ stubborn refusal to be photographed. Happy guessing!

We decided to tour Washington in a clock-wise fashion, starting out along the coast, working our way north on the Olympic Peninsula and then eventually over to Seattle on the east side of Puget Sound. The Olympic Peninsula will always have a special place in my heart since I worked at Olympic National Park for two summers during college. Thirteen years ago, at the end of May, I left the desert heat of Tucson and drove straight through to Kalaloch (pronounced CLAY-lock), Washington. It was amazing: gorgeous beaches, sea stacks, towering trees—there was water everywhere and everything was some shade of green. I fell in love with the place, so much so that I came back the next summer.

Which is why we were heading there all these years later—it really is an amazing place. When we left I-5 heading west we were thrilled to know it would be a couple of weeks before we saw the interstate again. We stopped for lunch in Aberdeen which looks about the same as I remember it. A large lumber mill or two, a railroad, a Walmart, a shopping mall, a slew of small businesses stretching along the highway, and houses—many of them showing signs of neglect. To put it nicely, Aberdeen and the adjacent town of Hoquiam (HOE-kwee-uhm) have seen better days.

Both towns sprang up at the eastern end of Grays Harbor as the timber industry flourished towards the end of the 1800s. In the early days there was a plenty of money floating around in the hard working, grungy, rough-and-tumble little towns. Before the Great Depression Aberdeen was bustling, as thiry-seven mills processed tree parts. Though both towns settled down and became more respectable, neither place ever saw that kind of money again. The early timber industry clear-cut vast swaths of forest without replanting and soon there was precious little timber to ship out. Fittingly, Hoquiam is a Native American term meaning “hungry for wood.”

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Our travels across the country in an RV have certainly been amazing. We’ve been able to visit with friends and family on both coasts and some in the middle. We’ve explored some of this country’s most fascinating historical spots, most gorgeous natural areas, and even some of the quirkiest little places along the way.

As we drive along we dive into the local culture as much as time and money allow. Part of the experience is in the food. Even though most good-sized towns have all the same chain stores and restaurants, America is not as homogenized as some people might think (thankfully). Since we are both ever curious by nature, sampling the native fare is part of our explorations. (If you poke around a bit on our website you’ll find some recipes for a few of these tasty treats.)

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Our time in Oregon is officially over, we are now exploring Washington, the only state in the country named after a President. The name first came into use in 1853 when Washington Territory was split out of the existing Oregon Territory. Originally much larger, Washington Territory included parts of what are now Idaho and Montana. Washington was reduced to its current size when it was admitted to the Union in 1889 as the 42nd state.

The state of Washington shares much of its early history with that of Oregon. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Oregon Country was at one time claimed by both the Spanish and British empires. In 1775 Captain Don Bruno de Heceta claimed the area for Spain, but Spain was too busy in the southern part of the continent to establish much of a presence. In 1778 Captain James Cook sailed the coastal waters, followed shortly by several other British sailors. The Spanish also sent more ships north and in the 1790s the north coast became quite crowded with British, Spanish, and American ships. All three of the countries were hoping to find the rumored Northwest Passage, since it was widely believed that whoever owned the Passage would dominate world trade.

The British soon forced Spain to leave the area, which left the fledgling United States as the crown’s only competitor. As it had done during the Revolutionary War, Britain underestimated the young country. It just so happened that in 1792 Captain Robert Gray, an American, was the first to discover and successfully sail up the Columbia River. Unluckily for the country, Gray, a merchant sailor, neglected to claim the watershed, and British captain George Vancouver immediately sent one of his men to claim it for the crown. Yet Gray’s trip gave the U.S. a claim to the area based on “right of discovery.” In 1811 another American merchant strengthened the U.S. claim with the establishment of a small fur trading post in Oregon Country, called Astoria.

Through skillful negotiations the U.S. not only bought vast holdings from France—the Louisiana Purchase in 1803—but also Spain’s territorial rights to the northern section of the continent in 1819. All that remained in the way of “Manifest Destiny” was Britain, whose primary occupying force was the Hudson’s Bay Company. HBC, which operated with government authority by rights of a royal charter, had no interest in giving up their fur-rich territory that they called the Columbia District. An 1818 agreement between the two countries allowed for joint occupancy of what the Americans called Oregon Country. HBC officials attempted to thwart American settlement of the region by over-trapping the area’s fur-bearing animals and by forbidding HBC trading posts to do business with them.

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I don’t know if this has ever happened to any of you but sometimes I feel like I get into a cooking rut. I seem to rotate through the same ten recipes for dinner. Thankfully, Lance isn’t picky and he never complains.

Determined to shake things up a bit I started flipping through some cookbooks that my dear Aunt Paula so generously gave me. I was almost done with the second cookbook, having found a few new recipes to try, when this little gem caught my eye. It was such a bread basket, no nonsense cookbook that it took me completely by surprise. I just had to share it with you. And if you ever whip this one up, I’d love to know how it turned out!

Elephant Stew

1 medium-size elephant
Salt and pepper
2 rabbits (optional)

Cut the elephant in small bite-size pieces; this will take about 3 months. Add enough gravy to cover. Cook over a kerosene fire for about 4 weeks at 465 degrees. This will serve 3800 people.

If more are expected, 2 rabbits may be added, but do this only in an emergency; most people do not like hare in their stew!

Submitted by Trudy Proffitt to Butter ‘n Love Recipes published in Pleasanton, KS.

We figured it would be silly to be so close to the end of the Lewis and Clark Trail without visiting it. During our summer travels in 2006, we followed part of the Corps of Discovery route from Portland east into Montana. Our interest in their amazing journey had been roused by the celebration of the 200th anniversary of their trip.

We left the Portland area on Highway 30 which follows along the southern bank of the Columbia River. At 1,243 miles, it is the longest river in the Pacific Northwest. The river had long been valued by native peoples who used it for transport and as a source of food. It was the river’s potential transportation possibilities that caused four countries to claim it as their own.

In 1513, when the Spanish explorer Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean in Panama, he not only claimed the entire ocean for Spain but all the land that touched it. That’s a mighty big claim. Spain did little to enforce their claim to the northern coast of the American continent. Their settlements were concentrated in what is now Mexico and the American Southwest. By the mid-1700s word reached Spain that Russian fur traders were invading their “territory.” In 1775 Spain sent Bruno de Heceta north to survey the area and report on the activities of the Russians. It was during that voyage that the mouth of the Columbia River was sighted and first officially recorded in history. A skirmish further north along the Washington coast left Heceta short-handed and he was unable to explore of the river. His name for the area didn’t stick, though Heceta Head in Oregon is named after him.

I must interject here that I have very little information about Russian activities in the area. I would imagine that with the amount of time they spent plying those coastal waters, they probably sighted the mouth of the great river. It seems they were content to collect their furs and leave—apparently they did not harbor the same dynastic, empire building desires as other countries.

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Portland began as a small clearing near the confluence of two rivers, the Columbia and the Willamette. The location was prime—not only were waterways the highways of yesteryear, but the Willamette and nearby Tualatin River Valleys were conducive to agriculture. Also, the Pacific Ocean (and therefore the rest of the world) was only a boat ride away via the Columbia River. The eighty mile trip was a relatively short but rather dangerous one since the river often raged into the ocean. At the mouth of the river was a shifting and treacherous sand bar which has capsized many a boat.

Portland’s two founders were originally from the East Coast and they were having a hard time deciding on a the name for their new settlement. In 1843 they felt their town needed a better name than “The Clearing.” Both men wanted to name it in honor of their respective hometowns, one was from Boston while the other hailed from Portland, Maine. The town’s name was decided by the fairest method the men could think of: a coin toss. Today the Portland Penny is on display at the Oregon Historical Society downtown.

We hail from a dry, arid place in the Southwest—perhaps that is why we like Portland so much, all that water! Our activities during this visit to The City of Roses centered on water. We made two trips out to the rugged coast, camped alongside both the Tualatin and Columbia Rivers, hiked along the Salmon River, and attended the Waterfront Blues Festival along the Willamette. Even with the powerful draw of all this water, the best part about Portland is being able to visit with our friends, Lisa and Gino.

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Wow, either this month’s Travel Challenge wasn’t as tough as I thought it might be or we have some wonderfully smart readers. (I prefer to think the latter.)

Congratulations to Nancy, Denny, and Martha for supplying the correct answer.

While we were in Rhode Island last summer I was able to dive into Nathanael Greene’s story by visiting his house. He truly gave his all in the fight for American Independence. Despite his pacifist Quaker background, Greene played an important role in the Continental Army. He held General George Washington in such high esteem that he named a daughter Martha, and a son George Washington.

Heavily in debt after the war, Greene moved his family from Rhode Island to a plantation in South Carolina. Greene and his wife, Caty, worked hard on the land hoping to turn a profit but Greene died within a year. Caty struggled on eventually receiving restitution from the U.S. government for General Greene’s war related expenses. Caty hired a tutor to help with the children’s education which is when Eli Whitney was introduced to the cotton ginning process. And the rest, as they say is history…

Thank you to everyone who participated!