Heading back from Monterey, the long way

adawil2002

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Though we left the peninsula on Tuesday August 23rd thought I'd start a thread of our return trip.

We headed North to Petaluma and Casey Motorsports to get Athena's oil changed. While there I asked Sean to check the clutch hydraulics. He found the clutch master was weeping. We ordered a rebuild kit, the inside of the master was filled with oily gritty nastiness. Cindy and I went to a Mexican restaurant across the street for a while to kill some time until the parts arrived. They were delivered at 4:45, Sean rebuilt and I helped re-install the clutch master. We were on the road at 6:30 pm. We made it to Trinidad, CA that night. Putting us a day behind schedule.

24th Redwood Chandelier Drive Through Tree in Leggitt CA. Then a scenic drive through the land of the giants on Avenue of the Giants. We made it to Eureka, CA on the and stayed in a hotel built in 1922 that looked like the one from the "Shining" or American Horror Story, in other words awesome. The only horror show was a local comedian open mike, they should have brought their own crickets...that would have been funnier than the comedians.

25th was Redwood National and State Parks in CA. Took an awesome picture of Athena with sunlight streaming through the morning fog. It's an amazing picture, trust me on that. Then high tailed it to Portland, OR for a few hours with friends then drove up to Castle Rock, WA.

Mt. St. Helens on the 26th, amazing to see 36 years after the devastating eruption. Then visited my relatives north of Seattle. Wish we'd had time to meet up with BMWPete, next time for sure.

27th was an 11.5 hour marathon drive through The Northern Cascades National Park to ultimately drive to Glacier National Park.

28th we drove the Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass then walked to Hidden Lake...or most of the way to it anyway.

Internet connection here in Glacier NP stinks, keep getting errors loading pics, even small ones.
EDIT: Images loaded!

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Andrew, We were a day ahead of you cruising through the Avenue of the Giants and Eureka on our way back to Seattle. You lucked out with uncharacteristically warm coastal weather. It was nice to finally meet you at the show/party. I hope the final days crossing the right half of the country go smoothly.
 
Andrew, you need the cowboy hat! You are THE cowboy- That's allot of riding, safe travels back to the land of large deer with mossy antlers.
 
On retrospect I think the 100 year Monterey celebration should have continued by spending the week at Burning Man in Nevada.
Imagine the Legends E9 participants joining BM as a team, off the grid, in a place where only barter is allowed.
My son is there though I talked him out of driving his E36. People and cars that go to Burning Man are allegedly never the same.
Oh well, a missed opportunity. Maybe next year we create a parallel venue for us called Burning Oil.
 
29th Glacier National Park. Took a walk in the woods on Avalanche Trail to Avalanche Lake. Then drove Athena to the other side of the park on the Going to the Sun Road to see a few glaciers. Went to the Many Glacier Hotel for an excellent dinner. There was storm among the mountains driving back, was able to drive the Going to the Sun road at a reasonable speed and able to do it in 1.5 hours.

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As so many of us have, let me again remind you that you married up :). Cindy is a saint to drive with you all that way without AC! I look forward to a pic with you in a cowboy hat. Safe travels and keep the updates coming!
 
Andrew/Cindy, those are some great pics ( keep posting ). I am sooooo envious and can only imagine how much different it would be to be able to stop when you want (vs when the car makes you stop) and have time to enjoy the country!

Safe travels,

Doug
 
I was just about to ask you for an image of those crystal clear lakes so we can Photoshop a BMW 2002 or coupe in the middle...will be great for those Instagram contests....:)

-Mo
 
30th, left Glacier NP and drove to Yellowstone NP. Uneventful drive between 70-90 most of the day. When we arrived we stopped at Mammoth Village, had dinner, saw mule deer, elk and on the drive to the Yellowstone Lake Hotel saw a wolf along side the road. The wolf sighting was worth the whole trip.

Getting errors loading pictures again.
 
31st August, Yellowstone NP. Went for a walk up Mt. Washburn to the fire lookout tower, at 10,210 feet. Took 4.25 hours to do the round trip. Then we headed to the Tower and Lamar Valley. Had a very close encounter with a Buffalo, I'm talking up close and personal, inches away from us, think he brushed up against the car. Then we headed to the Lamar Valley and made some photo stops along the way of Athena near some cool rock formations.

In the Lamar Valley a herd of 50 or so buffaloes crossed the street around us. So we had more close encounters. Our next animal sighting was a coyote, then a ram, shortly later a black bear and we finally saw an elusive fox about a mile from the hotel.

Still can't load pictures as the Lake Yellowstone Hotel has no internet service.
 
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Excellent pics of Glacier. I've been there many times, brings back fond memories. Thanks!

Breathless anticipation of the Yellowston pics. Are you going to the Tetons?
 
Excellent pics of Glacier. I've been there many times, brings back fond memories. Thanks!

Breathless anticipation of the Yellowston pics. Are you going to the Tetons?

Yes heading to Grand Tetons after Yellowstone on Sept 3rd.

Was able to get a wired internet connection, so I should be able to post pics.
 
Sept 1, Geysers! Went to West Thumb to see the thermal pools and dormant geyser pools. Stopped at Kepler Falls then took a 2.5 mile walk to Lone Star Geyser, where we enjoyed a 20 minute display with 12 people. Here's a link to my slo-mo video,
After the 2.5 mile walk back to Athena we headed for Old Faithful 3 miles away.

As remote as Lone Star was, Old Faithful is completely developed and easily accessible to everyone and anyone. After the 2.5 mile walk from our parking space...joking, we did have to park pretty far away. We arrived in time for the 5:15 Old Faithful display we enjoyed with 2,000 others, the 80 foot display which lasts about 5 minutes from beginning to end.

We had dinner reservations at the Old Faithful Inn for 7 pm. So we walked around the the Visitors Center and looked at stuff in the Museum about the park until it was almost time for dinner. Then we headed to the OF Inn. It is an amazing building and the crown jewel of the park system's hotels.

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