Home Again

We made it safely home this afternoon. The RV is unloaded and ready to be cleaned and the first three loads of laundry are getting done.


Gary decided to take a different route home. Since we stayed on Hwy 99 in Corning, he drove home down 99 thru Chico, past his duck club (where the ducks won last year when he broke his ankle) and past this interesting display in Gridley. These bras all represent donations to the Pink Passion Campaign against breast cancer. Sure did catch our eyes!

The weather was cool for here (in the 80's) so we hurriedly unpacked the RV, then harvested what grew in our garden while we were gone--20 ripe tomatoes, one huge patti-pan squash and two large yellow crookneck squash . I think I'll make patti-pan or crookneck bread for the next trip.

Elsie did her usual dash into her crate as soon as she saw it--and she's still there. The big surprise is Tule hasn't gotten in the pool yet. She thought about it, but decided she'd rather come in the house.

We'll be home for about 10 days, then off on the next trip--to Montana with college friends.

Last night on the road

The raspberries made it thru the checkpoint--they are legal. Phew!









We could sure feel the heat the further south we went. By Redding it was very warm. Mt Shasta greeted us in all ilts glory.
We are staying in a very nice RV park in Corning, enjoying one more relaxing night before we get home tomorrow and unload the RV before the heat hits on Monday.

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

The road from Astoria to Portland is the bumpiest we've been on in a long time, until you get to Beaverton. Sure had our teeth rattling and we were bouncing in our seats. But the scenery is gorgeous--more trees and ferns underneath--can't get enough of these views.

Then a wonderful sight appeared: RASPBERRIES! I have been looking for raspberries the whole trip and here was a roadside stand and they were beautiful and a lot cheaper than we'd pay at home. Bought a flat so I can make jelly when we get home. I sure hope they don't take them away from us at the border. Maybe I should sacrifice a towel and make the juice tonight?

I am using Gary's computer so no photos tonight. So far we haven't figured out how to put the photos from my camera onto Gary's computer. I tried adding a new app to my iPhone and it messed up the tethering capability so I can't use the phone to connect my computer to the internet. I'll get it fixed on Monday when we get home so it will be ready for the next trip.

We're in Myrtle Creek, Oregon tonight. Not sure how far we'll go tomorrow. We'll play it by ear. See you all soon.

Today was an excellent day fishing, but no catching involved. Gary still had a great time with his cousin and there is plenty of fish from the other days.

The dogs and I wandered around the RV park and found more blackberries. Elsie came back to the RV to rest and Tule and I picked enough for some yummy breakfasts for Gary. I got some reading done and a bit of knitting. It was a very relaxing day.

Tomorrow we head out on the road home. It has been a great trip

Over the River and Through the Woods

After another successful fishing trip where he caught one silver salmon, Gary took me on a tour.

We really did go "over the river and through the woods". We drove across the big Astoria bridge and turned left to head through the woods to Ilwaco.



Ilwaco is a cute little fishing town on the Washington side of the Columbia River, very close to the mouth of the river. When I say there are LOTS of fishing boats both in the water and on land here, I am not stretching the truth at all.





This is a typical Ilwaco house.










Then it was back over the bridge. You can see Astoria and part of the bridge in this photo.












To finish off a very nice day, we went out to dinner with Mike and Julie and over to their house for a rousing game of Mexican Train.



I won! Gary lost big time. Fun night! One more day of fishing tomorrow, then we head toward home.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today we celebrated 42 years of marriage. How did we celebrate?



Gary and his cousin caught their limit of salmon. Can you feel me smiling--love salmon!

We wandered around Astoria enjoying the nice cool weather.



Then I got to choose where we'd eat dinner--it was no contest--Mr. Fultano's Pizza! We got there early enough to beat the crowd that arrived about the time we left. Yes, that is a scarf around my neck--when the wind came up the weather went from comfortably cool to Brrrrrr. But I still prefer the nice coolness over heat.

For those of you who think it is only in the midwest where you see "pop" instead of soda, please note what it says on this napkin holder at Fultano's. The NorthWest also calls it "pop". The bottom line says "All you can eat Pizza and POP"



All in all, it was a very nice day.

Peterson's Hauling Service

After at least 14 trips a day up and down these stairs at Mom's (the very stairs where Elsie was injured), we were ready to head out. But before we did we had to load three boxes of antique books that Mom is sending to Britta. The RV lives down in the backyard at Mom's and the house is upstairs.



Then we stopped at South Center in Tukwila to pick up a spinning wheel for Tami #1 (one of my knitting friends). It is filling the far back and back seat of the CR-V along with two Thanksgiving figures about 30" high that Mom gave me.



As you drive south on I-5, this is the scenery between Olympia and Centralia. I love this stretch of freeway--so beautiful.






Next we met my sister and brother-in-law in Kelso on their way back to Bellevue from a quick trip to the desert. They were bringing a set of Mom's old golf clubs for my nephew. Since we will see him Labor Day weekend, we got the clubs from them--they are traveling in the front seat of the CR-V.


We finally arrived at a new RV park outside Astoria--the Lewis and Clark RV Park. Gary said it is the most even ground he's ever parked the RV on, so he is happy. Then we were off to get his fishing license and a few groceries. Now it is time to crash after a long day. It is nice and cool here after a record high of 96 degrees in Seattle yesterday. We'll sleep good tonight.

A Taste of Edmonds

It is so nice to have a reilable internet source. Mom and I went to the Alderwood Mall and AT&T set up my iPhone so I can hook it up to the computer to be my internet access. It is so fast and works so well! I'm a much happier camper now.

Mom and Gary and I went down the see "A Taste of Edmonds". It is not at all like "A Taste of Carmichael". The food was the kind you see at a fair (Gary ate a corn dog) and the booths were advertising.



Mom got really tired with all the walking so we sat to rest a bit. Along came a family with a cute baby. I got a shot as she had her first taste of cotton candy. She'd lick it and wave both hands and bounce up and down. She was the best entertainment of the day.



As we drove away we saw this fellow --can you see the huge spikes in his hair? One is broken and flopping over. Right after Gary shot this photo, the guy passed out face first in some bushes. The girl with him took a picture of him in the bushes instead of helping him. Gave us another good laugh.



Downtown Edmonds is not very big--just a couple of blocks in each direction. The city fathers have started a slogan, "Edmonds in Bloom" and lots of houses have gorgeous flowers in the yards. Each major street corner looks like this photo. Absolutely beautiful!

It was a HOT day, 93 degrees. Thank goodness we have a/c in the RV.

Hurricane Ridge

Today was full of riding in the car through beautiful scenery.


First my dear hubby drove us to Port Orchard to see Debbie Macomber's yarn shop. Of course I bought some yarn for Christmas gifts. it is a nice enough store, but the building housing it is wonderful. Gary heard that Debbie's office is upstairs.



After that long drive, we had lunch with the dogs in the RV, then drove up to Hurricane Ridge. What a spectacular view! All the way up there was something new to see around each bend in the road.




Mom needs help walking, especially up hill, but she won't admit to any pain!








As we drove up we noticed a lot of people standing around staring at the parking lot. Then we saw the very tame deer that were happy to walk up close for a photo opportunity.

Tonight Mom and I played cards for the second night in a row--Rummy. We just played one hand at a time and the winner was the one who won the most hands. Well,Mom won't go to bed until she at least ties me. If I am ahead, we have to keep playing cards.

It has been a great trip to the Olympic Peninsula--I recommend it to any of you who like cooler, gorgeous scenery.

Long beautiful day

When we started driving today, we had no idea where we would end up. We thought we did, but we were wrong.




First of all we took a wrong turn thanks to the incompetent navigator and ended up at the Log Cabin Lodge where Mom and Dad stayed many years ago.

Then we drove to the Lake Crescent Lodge, our original destination, and decided to drive on to the Hoh Rain Forest. It was beautiful, but I think we are jaded. The Rain Forest looked a lot like Clatsop County in Oregon where Gary grew up. And the drive was longer, but much like driving back and forth on Woodway Park Road, the street that goes past Mom's house. But for the most part the trees in Woodway are bigger.





This is Gary next to some of the most amazing examples of the hanging moss.







We went past this wonderful sign









and here is a photo of Mom and me in front of the Big Spruce Tree.

The ranger at the rainforest gave me my favorite quote of the day. He had been to Sacramento to see his kids and said, "Sacramento is a great place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit there." Way too true.








Gary thinks I am way too easily entertained, but I totally cracked up when I saw this sign on Maria's Mexican Restaurant in Port Angeles.

Sequim, Lavender and Alpacas

What a fun day--we took the Edmonds-Kingston ferry-quite a feat with the RV and car attached. You can see the dogs helping Gary load the RV and car on the ferry.







It was windy, but beautiful. You can even see a ferry heading to Edmonds from Kingston if you look closely in this windblown photo.










Drove to Sequim, found a very nice RV park and headed out to see the immediate area. First we found a wonderful lavender farm. This lady grows lots of varieties so we could see what is what.








Then we found Happy Valley Alpaca Ranch. This is Bob the alpaca--he contributed the "fuzz" for the yarn I bought. He is also the daddy of the four babies on this ranch. These people are totally in love with their alpacas. The little tour was so much fun. And I'll think of this cute face as I knit a scarf (or something) from Bob's yarn.

Rain!

We got real rain plus a lot of drizzle on Saturday in Astoria! It was beautiful. Went for a drive--saw so many beautiful flowers--this yard was our favorite.

Gary had a wonderful time at his reunion dinner. We got to see lots of his old friends, plus a few relatives. Nice night.

Our next door neighbor at the RV park has MS so used this hand pedaled trike for exercise. Very interesting machine.













We left Astoria by way of the Farmer's Market where Gary splurged on these yummy crunchy potatoes. Of course, I had to help him eat them so he wouldn't exceed his carb limit. hahahaha.


Got to Mom's--dogs were so excited to see her they ran up the stairs to the house. Elsie tripped halfway up the stairs and sure enough, tore the acl in her good hind leg. She saw the vet here and we have the x-ray with us to show the surgeon. She'll be going in for surgery after we get back from all our trips. In the meantime, we'll be using the dog ramp even for the RV. Poor dog. This is usually the best part of the trip for them--they love to run around their private acre, sniff noses with the horse, etc. Elsie is not a happy camper, but is sure being good natured about all this.

Fish!

The tired, but happy fisherman arrived back from a successful salmon fishing trip with his cousin. He caught his limit of 2 salmon, but is taking the retired guy's easy way out--didn't bring his catch back with him, took them to a professional who is cleaning, packaging and flash freezing them for him. It's a rough life.

We've been pretty sure for a long time that Tule the yellow lab is nearsighted--this proves it. She has been trying to make friends with this stuffed dog every time we walk past.













We went for a photography walk and the dogs learned quickly to sit and wait while I took photos of flowers. They look so pretty!


































Blackberries are just blooming and beginning to set fruit here. Sure glad we got to pick some in Medford where it was warm enough for them to be ready to pick.














Russian Thistle like this used to sell for $15 a bunch of 5 at Frederick & Nelson's. They are beautiful, but VERY prickly.






Gary's evening was spent bowling with his HS classmates. I opted to stay home and knit since I will spend Saturday evening and Sunday morning with them. The dogs and I totally relaxed. It was a good day.




Note: This is Friday's blog--due to off and on wifi at this RV park and a malfunctioning aircard, I haven't been able to keep up. I'll try to get another one up before the weekend is over.

Catching up on the last few days . . .

We were out of range for either phone or wifi at the RV park near Newport, so no blog for those days.

We traveled a new route from I-5 to Newport--by way of the Umpqua River.

This was truly a beautiful route to travel--so many trees and glimpses of the river, only very tiny towns--the kind where you can't blink or you'll miss them. Many of the small towns had huge hanging baskets that are flourishing in the cool weather. Gorgeous.

In Newport we were delighted to learn we would not only see Gary's brother and his wife, Alan and Karen, but their middle daughter was there with her 5 year old and 2 week old baby daughter. Gary loved snuggling little Abigail and I had a ball playing with little Alan.


We all met at the Pig n Pancake for a long breakfast (where else can you have fried clams for breakfast?) and lots of visiting. Of course, Arissa and little Alan wanted to meet the dogs, too, so we didn't leave Newport until afternoon.


Another beautiful drive up 101 with a quick stop in Tillamook. The Cheese factory was so crowded we just walked the dogs and continued on to Seaside. After checking into the RV park, Gary bought his fishing license and we had dinner with his cousin and wife, Mike and Julie--always fun.

This morning Gary and Mike are out fishing, the dogs are sleeping comfortably and I am blogging after sleeping in and getting a bit of knitting done. Actually, I got a lot of knitting in while Gary drove the past three days--finished my yellow socks and got started on a Christmas gift. The dogs and I took a nice long walk to the Outlet Mall in Seaside.


The weather here is nice and cool--we love it. The locals say it has been winter-like all summer. They have only had about 2 really nice days during June and July. It is definitely my kind of weather!

A New Record

We started this trip after a really fun weekend with our niece and her family. The boys and the dogs had so much fun our dogs ended up wearing their toenails down so far from all the running around the pool they were bleeding! Now that is having too much fun!

The flowers on our RV table were a gift from them.

We left our house close to on time this morning--nice drive all the way with a spectacular view of Mt.Shasta.



We set a new record today--in all of our many trips north, we rarely see California Hiway Patrol vehicles--today we saw 15 from our house to the Oregon border! Usually if we see one in California we are lucky. Gary kept the RV very close to the speed limit.

We are staying in our usual Medford spot, found lots of blackberries so had to pick some for Gary's breakfast for the next few days. Yummm! Curves is in very close walking distance, so I managed to get some exercise in after I walked the dogs and before I fixed dinner.

Tomorrow we head to Newport for dinner with Gary's brother, Alan. He got word from his cousin that salmon fishing is great--he may get to go on Friday already! Mom would love a fresh salmon dinner when we get to her house.

It was a perfect day for driving--beautiful scenery all the way. Gary loves to point out the various crops to me as we meander thru California on our way north.