Nov 28, 2012 - Day 2

Left Oliver, BC and headed for the border. We were asked one question by Border Guard and that was "Where are you Headed ?? After answering "down South for 5 months" we proceeded to cross. Took just under 2 minutes. Headed to Toppenish, Washington. Stayed at the Yakima Nation Resort RV Park. Checked out the casino and then had an early night.

May 27, 2011 - Toppenish, WA (Day 2) - Murals & Hops in a Unique Town

(Ron Writing) We spent the day exploring the interesting town of Toppenish, WA. It was founded 103 years ago when Josephine Bowser Lillie, a Native American on the Yakama Nation Reservation, sold her land to non-Indians as deeded lots for a town site. She was known as "The Mother of Toppenish". Toppenish is completely surrounded by Reservation land and the ruling council of the reservation can assess taxes on land owners in the town. The owners of these lots, however, have absolutely no representation or involvement on the council. The...

May 26, 2011 - Toppenish, WA - A "Legendary" Seafood Buffet

(Ron Writing) We stayed nice and warm last night but had to leave the trusty catalytic heater running all night. We haven’t had to do that since we stayed in Congress and then only for a few of the coldest nights. We left Bend, OR this morning and continued north on US-97. This is a nice scenic 2-lane highway that’s in good condition and doesn’t have a lot of traffic. It runs through the towns of Redmond and Madras in OR along with several very small towns but really they are few and far in between. Mostly there is a lot of beautiful...

Aug 28, 2010 - Hopping around in Toppenish

We left Bothell and headed roughly northeast to pick up Highway 2, the southern part of the Cascade Loop. Although our destination was actually southeast of Seattle, we really didn’t want to drive the interstates, particularly around Seattle. So we opted for the slightly longer but much more scenic and less crowded highway. It drove "Gypsy", the GPS lady, nuts for quite a while, but we wrestled her into submission eventually. We drove through several small towns, as usual with interesting names (Sultan, Startup, Gold Bar, Index), and made...

Aug 20, 2010 - Toppenish, WA

Toppenish is the headquarters of the Yakama Indian Nation and is known as the city of murals, now having over 70 murals depicting pioneer life in the area. Each year in June the town invites a group of artists to come and paint a wall mural--in one day.

Sep 15, 2009 - Day 54 Tuesday, Sept 15, 2009

Day 54 Tuesday, Sept 15, 2009 Left Tooppenish,WA. about 10:45am traveling I82 in a southeast direction. Passing thru a HUGE valley that has tremendous orchards. Bigger than any we have seen anywhere. This area is known as the tri-cities area. Made up of Richland, Pasco & Kennewick. These are all located in this great valley where the Yakima and Snake Rivers converge to form the great Columbia River, which flows on to the Pacific Ocean. The mtns & hillsides are as brown as a paper bag with NO vegetation except where they irrigate. Believe...

Sep 14, 2009 - Day 53 Monday, Sept.14,2009

Day 53 Monday, Sept.14,2009 A non-remarkable day -- no sightseeing. We slept in 'til about 8:00am. Walked the mile track with Joy & Don. Worked on the computer organizing pics for an hour or so. Helped Don wash lower part of the RV. Went to Legends Casino and ate lunch @ their buffet. The two of us can eat lunch there for about $16. No bad! After lunch we went in search of a fruit stand. Took us a while to find one & then it wasn't a really nice one, but we bought potatoes, apples, bell pepper & peaches. Walked the track again late in the...

Sep 13, 2009 - Day 52 , Sunday, Sept 13,2009

Day 52 , Sunday, Sept 13,2009 Got up 6:30am. Left Gig Harbor,WA.about 8:30am. Drove MH up I15 to Flying J Travel Plaza & left it. Drove Ron & Kathy on to airport on the car. Dropped them off @ airport about 9:45. Their flight leaves 11:30am. Got back to MH, hooked up car & headed out again about 10:30am. Traveled back north on I5 to Exit 143 (Hwy 18) to the east. Traveled hwy 18 to I90. Called Ronald at 11:20am & they were already on the plane, ready for takeoff. We pray for their safety, as well as ours, as we each travel today. They go...

Aug 29, 2009 - Day 37 Saturday, Aug.29,2009

Day 37 Saturday Aug.29,2009 Today we left Toppenish,WA. We have enjoyed this RV park pretty much. We are crossing the Cascades to the western side. Traveling hwy 12, two lanes. This is a scenic road, but also very curvy so travel is rather slow. We eventually intersect with I5 and travel north to Centralia,WA. A fairly small town. We stop at the Midway RV Park, thus called because it is mid-way between Portland and Seattle. We chose this park simply because we did not want to go into the Tacoma, Seattle metro area on the MH. We will just...

Aug 28, 2009 - Day 36 Friday, Aug. 28, 2009

Day 36 Friday, Aug.28, 2009 After we walked Joy around the track this morning, we headed to th Visitor Center. Talked with a very informative rep. at the center. We notice what abundant crops of many differnt kinds of produce are being grown here and inquired how this was so with such arid area. She said it is ALL done by irrigation, and the source of all the water is water that comes down from all the mtns. surrounding them. There are huge orchards of apples, miles of vineyards, miles & miles of hops, (yes, I said hops),like what they put...

Sep 5, 2007 - Toppenish

On the way to Washington we saw Shearer Falls. At Shearer Falls we saw some people fishing in the river. These people were Indians! The Indians were not fishing as we do; they were fishing with giant nets! They were standing on scaffolds out over the waterfall dipping the fish out of the river as they jumped up the falls. We walked out to the edge of the river and looked down at the water. The current was very fast. After that we went up a road that was narrow and winding. The side of the road was straight down. We finally got to the...

Aug 14, 2006 - Toppenish Murals

This afternoon I drove to Toppenish "Where the West Still Lives" to see the historical murals which Eva had told me about. To date there are seventy murals around town on the outside walls of buildings -- and more are planned. Since there was constant traffic and cars parked in front of the buildings, it was well nigh impossible to get uncluttered photos. The Toppenish Mural Society was formed in 1989 as a non-profit organization. Murals cost thousands of dollars each and the Society funds them all with donations and money earned from fund...