Jun 16, 2013 - Happy Father's Day

To all the fathers who may be reading this today. Happy Father's Day! To all the father's of girls...you are your daughter's first love and it never goes away. My father was my hero standing 10 feet tall and always there for me. He loved me with his whole being, he shared in my happiness and cried with me when I was hurt. He read to me at bedtime, he gave me a spanking when I was bad, (in those days we got our butt slapped when we were bad now it would be something to call the police on) and he supported my decisions whether right or wrong....

Jun 15, 2013 - Fun filled Saturday

We had a fun filled day going from one great dining experience to another. We started off our day with a lunch at Jack & Jeanine Markle's home in Ballard, Wa. We all used to work at United together back in the day. I love their home and how they have decorated it. Their son, John, is a bartender so he made the best margaritas (my drink of choice) for us. Jack made a wonderful stew with tortillas to sop up all the great gravy. We had a nice day with them, catching up with their lives, telling them about our travels, and just enjoying the...

Jun 15, 2013 - Touring Washinton

We reluctantly left Port Angeles at 8:00 this morning and headed West to explore the Olympic National Forest. What an amazing place! Everything is so lush and green with lots of waterfalls. The weather couldn’t be more perfect – in the 70’s and sunny. On the way we stopped to admire the crystal clear water of Lake Crescent. This lake is 674 feet deep, very cold, and super clear. We also stopped to see the Sol Duc Hot Springs, but didn’t swim. Instead we took a short hike to the Sol Duc Falls which were gorgeous! We also walked along the...

Jun 14, 2013 - Friday Afternoon

We took off for Best Buy this morning to take my computer in to see if it could be repaired. I definitely need a new battery, as it has been telling me that for over a week, and it is getting quite hot (cause my fingers type so fast?) and the anti-virus is not working most of the time. Oh, yeah, and it runs really, really slow. I have had it for over 5 years and I know the life time for computers is less than that, so I was a bit nervous. Needless to say, my fears were well founded and the repairs would be as much as a new computer. So, we...

Jun 14, 2013 - Seattle Bound!

Going on only 2 ½ hours of sleep, we left home at 4:00 this morning to catch our flight from Tampa to Seattle. The flights were very good and with the time change we landed in Seattle at noon. It’s only 60 degrees here in the middle of the day! We rented a Yukon, which barely fit all our luggage, and started sightseeing right away. We went up in the Space Needle to get an eagle eye view of the city. It is much prettier from the air than down on the streets. Then we took the monorail to Pike’s Market where we were able to watch the men...

Jun 13, 2013 - Time well spent

Today was a great day, as I got to spend time with my sweet daughter-in-law. It is seldom that we have ever spent the day together even when we lived here in Washington. We always would talk about it but for some reason one of us would have something come up and it didn't happen. I enjoyed her company so much. John came back from Elma today and it was good to have my husband and dog back with me. I seriously missed them both. That is it for today, just a nice day spent with two people I love very much. thanks for checking in....I do...

Jun 12, 2013 - Can you go home again?

I had Kelly’s car today so it was time to see the old town. It was strange driving a car after the truck for 1 ½ years. Three things I found out. For one, you don’t need to put that much pressure on the brake pedal…I almost put myself through the windshield. Touchy! Two, the turning radius on a car is much shorter than on a truck. No damage done. Three, when you step on the gas you soar forward pretty quick. I learned to use a lighter touch after almost hitting the car in front of me a couple times. There is one nice thing about the truck,...

Jun 11, 2013 - Relax

John headed out this afternoon with Toby to check up on the trailer for a couple days. Prior to him leaving we went grocery shopping so I could cook dinner for the kids. Boy, one thing we noticed was how expensive food is here in Washington compared to other states that we have been in. Just 2 lbs. of ground beef came to $8.00! That was the lowest price they had. Wow. Made me remember when we were in Wellton, Az. where I could buy a New York steak, for goodness sake, for $3.00. Anyhoo, John left, the kids were at work and I actually had...

Jun 10, 2013 - California RV Problems and Friendly Oregon Encounters

Brookhollow RV Park, Kelso, WA Monday, June 10, 2013 5:30 pm Hi. I’d been doing so well driving my RV avoiding trees and fireplugs and then I had a BAD day leaving Morgan Hill on May 20th. My arm is so short and RVs are so big that I can never reach the box to deposit the check-out paperwork when leaving Thousand Trails RV Parks. I think you’d need at least 6 ft of arm to reach those things. I pulled close to be able to reach it, couldn’t anyway, got out, put the paperwork in from the ground, then got in the RV, carefully checked mirrors...

Jun 10, 2013 - Home with family..Priceless

Yes, it has been a while since I have been on the journal. I appreciate that some of you miss hearing from us, and we thank you. We have been with our children (the ones in Washington State) since Thursday and have been in “pig heaven”. We have had such a great time that I have been kind of lazy about getting on the journal…cause I am pooped at night and the mind goes blank. Does that count as a good excuse? We are staying at my son, Alex and his wife, Kelly’s home. It is a neat townhouse with cute décor. We spent the evening we arrived on...

Jun 6, 2013 - Mt. Walker and the Olympic Pennisula

Today we drove out the the Olympic Pennisula. The Olympic Mountain Range is really pertty. We took the scenic route...along the Pacific Coast on route 101. It's really beautiful because you also have the Olympic National Forest you're driving through. So you have the ocean, the forest and at times, the mountains. Along the way, we saw a little side road with a sign that said Mt. Walker and Scenic Views. So, we took it. It was a one lane road with pull outs (in case there was traffic coming in the other direction). It turns out that it was a...

Jun 5, 2013 - Mt. Rainier National Park

We headed out to go to Mt. Rainier National Park today and there was a coyote walking across the street. We drove SW on Route 12, which was a really beautiful drive. We were driving along enjoying the scenery and there on the side of the road was a huge animal grazing. I told Bruce I thought there was a moose on the side of the road...he said it was probably a horse, but he turned around so we could check it out. It wasn't a horse, it was a moose. We got a really good look at him/her, but it got spooked before we were able to get a picture....