113 Degrees!

So much for the nice cool part of our trip. Outside Yakima yesterday it was 113 degrees. It was only 100 when we stopped for the night in Goldendale, WA. Phew! Eastern Washington looks like Arizona without cactus until you get to the huge hay farms. Lots of dry rolling hills and heat. We hear Roseville is a lot cooler than we are experiencing. Today we are on our way to Bend where there is a pool and kids and space for the dogs to run.



Our last night in Edmonds, Mom and Gary and I went out to a nice dinner on the waterfront where we could watch the ferry we didn't have time to ride. It is such a beautiful view with the huge expanse of water and the Olympic Mts. in the background. If you have never been to the Seattle area, you really need to see it. Try to get there when the mountains are out. Not easy, but worth the effort.

Gary just spotted 4 antelope in a field along the Highway. There were several deer right outside our RV last night along with a few bunnies, so the dogs had a good time sniffing.

These last two photos were taken as we drove through the Cascade Mountains on our way to Snoqualmie Pass. The dandelions are very healthy at the summit. I could have picked a whole bouquet with long stems.

The Mountains Are Out at the Dog Beach!

What a view! We could see both the Olympic Mountains (in the photo) and the Cascades as we drove anywhere the past few days. I'm glad I got my rain in Seaside so I could see the beautiful views here. If you don't know the area, Edmonds is on Puget Sound.


We've been doing little repairs, etc. for Mom. She and I found an estate sale to browse, got a few little things. Mom loves to check out estate sales (not garage sales). And we did other shopping, like you'd expect. Yes, I found a yarn shop.

Edmonds has a Dog Beach instead of a dog park. Tule missed out on the salt water in Seaside because there was no fence. When we walked toward the water here, she took off and ran straight out into the water as far as she could run, then stood there smiling. Elsie took one look at the slightly bigger waves and balked--did NOT want to go past the foam, but really wanted to be in the water. You can see that eventually they both swam.

I missed my favorite photo op. Tule decided to swim out after a tennis ball, got out quite a way when a big wave came, lifted her up and carried her back to the beach. She just rode the wave like a surfer, smiling her happy smile the whole time. Then she turned around and went back into the water. That's our Tule! Everything is fun!

Of course, after all that we took them back to Mom's for a bath.

One of the neighbors got a new horse and the horse that Mom boards in her pasture spent the whole day complaining. I guess he doesn't like other horses around. He not only whinnied, but made several other unusual noises. Thank goodness he quieted down after dark!

Now we are on our way to Bend, OR to see my brother and his family. At this exact moment we are driving over the Floating Bridge to Mercer Island. Then we will head over Snoqualmie Pass and on to Ellensburg and Yakima. We will spend the night at Goldendale, WA so we can get to Bend early enough to have fun with the boys before we leave the next day. Mom is enjoying the view from the front passenger seat on her first RV trip. I'm enjoying the time to check the computer and knit at the table. We do enjoy this motor home, even after all the problems.

Non stop busyness

It is still fun, but just as busy. Last night we went to see Mom's friends, Buck and Lou--and their gorgeous castle/house with a 3/4 view of Puget Sound. Did a lot of errands with Mom, found the local yarn shop and got some nice yarn on sale. Finished my socks, ready to start another pair. Started out at 8 a.m. with an appointment for Mom at the hearing aid place. Got Mom a new cell phone using their advice--easy to use with volume control. The dogs are having a great time. Gary is finally getting a chance to relax.

That is Ruby on the other side of the fence. Mom dogsits for her frequently, but they haven't let her come over to see our dogs yet. She calls our dogs when they let her out and they go running over to the fence to visit.

Then there is Nootka. He came over to play tonight. The three dogs wore each other out and poor Ruby just sat on the other side of the fence and watched.









The Dontos family came over for dinner (those that were in town). We had a great time telling stories and laughing. They are such fun friends. Mom has great neighbors. Tomorrow we plan to sleep in and relax a bit. Then we will learn how to use Mom's new cell phone. I promised I'd make her cinnamon rolls, so I guess that is on the agenda, too. We hope to find time for a ferry boat ride. There is always something to do!

Now we're in Edmonds

Monday was the big day when Gary caught his sturgeon. Phew! Then after a quick shower the four of us college friends went to do Astoria. We went thru the Maritime Museum. Then we had the fun of the trolley ride. For $1 you can hear about the history of Astoria as you ride the trolley thru town. Then it was off to England Marine where Gary touched bases with another old friend and we bought some odds and ends, followed by dinner at Fultano's Pizza--best pizza you've ever tasted. While Gary was fishing, Barb and I went antiquing--found out we both love browsing thru old stuff. The evening was finished by a rousing game of pinochle where Norm and I beat Gary and Barb.

This morning we got up early so we could "break camp". Then we headed out to Fort Clatsop where we toured the restoration of the fort where Lewis and Clark stayed the winter way back when. After the tour, the four of us met Mike and Julie for a final lunch. We all had fun together and hope to continue this as a tradition.

A long drive then commenced and as we approached the turn-off for Edmonds, the dogs showed signs of remembering where we were going. They love my Mom's place--lots of room to run, birds to chase, a horse to watch and the neighbor's dog to play with along the fence. Life is good here if you are a dog.

He did it!

Today was the last chance for fishing and Gary caught a 18 lb. Sturgeon! He and Mike were both very happy. The photo is Gary's cousin, Mike, holding the only catch after 3 trips out (Gary says it took 12 hours of fishing for him to get this one). He is one happy camper, let me tell you!

Now we are off for Astoria sightseeing and dinner at the best pizza place in the world. We are having a great time with friends and family and perfect, cool weather. What a trip!

I Got My Wish!

We had the most beautiful gentle rain last night, started just before dark. So peaceful, pretty and refreshing. I got to walk the dogs in the rain! Can you feel the smile on my face?

After one night in beautiful downtown Warrenton (a suburb of Astoria, known for the only Costco on the coast), we moved to a beautiful RV place in Seaside where we were greeted by Gary's college roommate, Norm and his wife Barb. We have not stopped talking except to sleep.

No fish yet, but we got lots of clams on Saturday, early in the morning. Gary and his cousin, Mike, used to dig commercially in H.S., in the surf. Mike still digs clams a lot, but Gary hasn't been out for 30 some years. Found out it is hard work! Notice the photo where Norm and Gary actually cooked the clams, too. Then the three of them ate 30 fried clams! I think Gary ate 20 of them by himself. He sure loves fried clams.

Dogs had a ball, as you can see in the photos. Julie and Barb enjoyed dogsitting while I took photos.

Then Norm and Barb and Gary and I went to the Scandinavian Festival. Saw my old friend, Judy and her sister, Bonnie in costume. I wish I knew more about how to rearrange photos on this blog, I'd like to put words by each photo, but can't make that work. Enjoy the photo of the raising of the Maypole at the end of these photos.

We had a good laugh when filling the RV up with gas at the Warrenton Costco. Several people who were filling ordinary size cars with gas rambled over to peek at our total to see how much it cost to fill the RV (you don't want to know!)

On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever!

It was a beautiful morning in Newport--low of 43 degrees--great sleeping weather.
We had a good visit with Alan and Karen (Gary's brother and his wife). Their yard is so beautiful!

As we left Newport we passed a beautiful new resort near the ocean with a dark tile roof--covered with seagull poop. There was a large rock nearby in the ocean that had a LOT of seagulls roosting on it. They should have chosen a lighter colored roof.

In Lincoln City we saw a "blow your own glass" shop. You could make your own glass float. Looked like fun.


Everything was so beautiful today. It was clean from all the recent rain and very green. I could have taken photos of the scenery all day (actually did take several but won't post them all here). One little glitch, as one drives along the Oregon coast hiway 101, these tsunami signs show up a lot. Kind of scary.


And there was Gary the cowboy--just before we got to Tillamook after leaving Newport, we passed an old farmer (looked to be about my Mom's age). His barbed wire fence had fallen down and his 6 cows were standing there looking intrigued. Just before we passed, a guernsey got out and started trotting along the road. If he went after it the other 5 would get out. There was a fellow in front of us on a recumbent bike that looked like he was going to help, but the cow started going faster. Gary to the rescue! He sped up a bit, got ahead of the cow and nosed in toward the shoulder, cutting off the cow's path. It stopped and as we drove on, the bike rider appeared to be closing in. Phew! Felt pretty sorry for the old farmer, but there was no room for us to stop. Dogs thought it was really exciting to see a cow trotting along the roadway (or maybe they thought it was a big dog?). Sure wish we had a faster camera. By the time I turned it on, it was all over. Would have been a fun photo.

Got to Astoria about 4 p.m. where they were having a heat wave--about 65 degrees today! Everyone but us was in shirt sleeves--we had jackets on. But it felt great! Had dinner with Gary's cousin, Mike and his wife Julie and their son Nick and his friend. They had a great day fishing. After dinner Gary bought his fishing and clam digging license. Tomorrow he will join them--here's hoping for a sturgeon! We'll keep you posted.

Day Two

I'm afraid to put it in writing, but if it is jinxed, Gary already jinxed it in phone conversations last night. Everything worked in the RV! Levelers went down just fine, had hot water, has gone into gear every time. First trip we had everything working on the first night out! I guess it can happen. Here's hoping I didn't mess things up by mentioning it.

We stayed in a very interesting place last night just North of Grants Pass, OR. It was a beautiful site. Lots of trees and space, nicely mowed, nice and cool. But we were by far the newest rig there. The rest looked like they'd been there 20-30 years. The people were interesting, too. All younger than us--pretty rough looking, some with no teeth. The 911 sign is at the entrance to this place, which shall remain nameless. Kind of scary. We were glad to be on our way this morning. Other than the skunk that came through a little after midnight, it was a nice night to have the windows open and cool off, got down to 47 degrees. Great sleeping weather. Now we're off to Newport and our favorite place to stay. Hopefully we'll take the dogs to the beach this afternoon in the nice cool weather. The high is supposed to be 56 in Newport today. My kind of weather!

The photo below shows typical scenery on the route from I-5 to Newport. So beautiful--could look at these views forever. And the nice, cool weather doesn't hurt, either. It was a high of just under 60 degrees in Newport today. Hmmmmm, so nice compared to the heat. Tomorrow we head for Astoria.

On The Road Again--June 2008

We left Roseville at 10:30 this morning (June 17) and are heading to the Pacific NorthWest yet again.  It really is our favorite trip--we get to see many relatives and such beautiful scenery. And, best of all--we get to cool down and possibly even see some rain (my personal favorite part of the trip).  

Several people asked for us to blog again.  They want to see if we actually get to use our levelers and other parts of the RV--successfully--for the whole trip.  So here we go--we'll document our trip and you'll get to find out first hand if we really make it the whole way up and back without a hitch.  We plan to be gone until July 2 or 3.  I'll try to post every day, or at least every time we head to a new location--or if Gary catches a big fish.  

Wish us luck!