Jul 20, 2012 - A Rainy Friday

It started raining in the middle of the night, and it has not stopped. When we packed up and went to the dump station, we got poured on. By the time we were finished with what we had to do, we both were soaking wet. Off we were to the northeastern side of Mount Rainier, but the weather did not cooperate. The clouds did not lift, and the rain was relentless. We did not get to see Emmons Glacier, the biggest one on Mt. Rainier. The temperature, however, stayed very nice in the 50's all day long. We chose not to go hiking today because we did...

Jul 8, 2012 - Heading to WA

Heading up Interstate 5 through Portland across the Willemette River and the Columbia River. Portland has a total of 12 major bridges, many of which lift in the center to allow boat traffic through. 10 bridges span the Willamette River, and two cross the Columbia. While these bridges provide necessary travel routes for the city’s commuters, they have also become indelible architectural and cultural landmarks in this fast-growing city. The number of bridges has increased over the years as the city has boomed and expanded. The most common...

Jul 1, 2012 - Silver Creek and Chehalis

As we near the end of our journey, we are humbled by the beauty to be found in the state of Washington. While June is considered pre-season in the Pacific Northwest, we loved driving down roads with few cars, visiting towns without hoards of tourists. We stopped for lunch in Silver Creek at Plaza Jalisco. Doug reminded me that you should never order a steak in a Mexican restaurant as he devoured enchiladas. But my steak and margarita were delicious and Doug was sick for the rest of the day. Antiques are big business in WA, filling...

Jul 31, 2011 - Another day in Vancouver - still no baby

Today we headed back to Vancouver. The "kids" took the boat out so us older folks went to the Columbia River and had lunch at the Island Cafe. It is a little outside cafe on the end of a pier on the water. We ran into Darlene, Dewayne and Mason. What a treat. We had lunch and then George took us on a tour of Vancouver. Still no baby from Chandra. We decided that tomorrow we will head up to Northern Washington and start our Canada trip early. We scoped out a campground near Lynne's house so after Canada, we will come back to Vancouver and...

Jul 31, 2011 - Quick update

This is just a quick update to say more updates are coming. I have not been able to get a connection on my laptop. Maybe later today. We are in Chehalis, Washington on baby watch. Chandra (our niece) was due on the 29th. Scott's business meeting was cancelled so if Chandra does not deliver by today, we will head up North tomorrow and see the baby on our way home. Stay tuned for some good stories and pictures soon.

Jul 30, 2011 - Baby watch

Another cloudy morning but it promises to be warm. We head down the hill to Vancouver to see Lynne and her family. We are all on baby watch. Chandra was due yesterday. Boy is she ready. She is trying to stay cool by sitting in the pool. Poor girl. It got very warm today. George and Elton (Chandra's husband), cooked us chicken and flank steak. MMM, it was very good. I like this camping thing. We are eating great. We decided that we are going to retire and travel around the US visiting friends and family and getting fed. Sounds like a good...

Jul 29, 2011 - Visit with Rich and Carmen

We woke up this morning to gray skies again. It is so dark at the campground due to all the trees and shrubs. What a contrast to what we are use to. Scott's meeting was cancelled so we re-arranged our schedule. The rep that Scott was suppose to meet with, Rich, took the day off and we went to his and Carmen's house in Vader. They have a nice house on 37 acres. It is so beautiful there. They have a large pond, chickens running around everywhere, a full vegetable garden and tons of trees. They treated us to a wonderful meal and conversation....

Jun 24, 2010 - Chehalis

We moved from La Conner to Chehalis, which was the original Thousand Trails. The park was great, with views of both Mount Saint Helens and Ranier, if you looked for them. Deer were wandering around all the time, and we took a day trip to the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mt. St. Helens. It’s a moderate trip, but like the Grand Canyon, you must see it at least once. We attend a pet competition at the park, but Brandi was aloof, and did not participate. She would have kicked their ass’s had she been there. Nice pets, but little talent, and...

Jun 4, 2010 - Chehalis Washington Walmart

The best part of the day was Cape Flattery and the Makah indian museum. At Cape Flattery, you are on a 3 sided rocky peninsula with incredible views all around. To the north, only the strait of juan de fuca is between you and Canada! Its amazing to look across the water and see another country! And...... it was sunny! The Makah indian museum is one of the Smithisnions top 10 in the US. Very nice history of this local, coastal tribe. Worth checking out on the web. Aound Port Angeles, the Hood Canal, and finaly, a very nice walmart parking...

May 9, 2010 - Chehalis, WA - TT

We arrived in Chehalis, WA on Sunday May 9th. We are staying at Thousand Trails – Chehalis preserve. The park is heavily wooded and only a few sites have sewer. We found a nice site with sewer but were unable to get satellite reception or any reception from the aerial antenna. The next day turned cold and rainy so we decided to move to a different site that could receive satellite. If we are going to be stuck in doors for a few days, we need the TV. The new site provided good TV reception but has no sewer. We will need to be very...

Apr 26, 2010 - Left Rainier and getting ready to visit sister

Monday, April 26, left Mount Rainier and drove back to civilization. Cloudy in the morning with rain starting around 2 pm. High temperature of 54. We decided, due to weather predictions, we would leave Rainier and come out to where services are available. We are going to my sister’s home tomorrow and will stay almost a week. We decided not to go tonight just to give her one more night of freedom, before we storm in on her and her husband (who has the VW bus with a peace symbol on the back). Before we left the National Park we took a drive...

Jan 4, 2010 - OES Meeting

Today we are heading out to attend an Eastern Star meeting in Chehalis, WA -- about 2 ours from where we are staying. We took Debi's Mom, Pat, with us tonight also. We took Rt 101 north out of Long Beach, and then cut east at Raymond on Rt 4 over to Chehalis. We gave ourselves about 3 hours to get there and eat dinner, but it only took about 2 hours, so we were able to enjoy our dinner without hurrying. We were warmly welcomed at the joint meeting of Chehalis #3 and Centralia #14's Official Visit of the WGM and WGP of Washington. To explain...