With Geno (Louise’s nephew) coming to our aide by being our “General Handyman Contractor/Painter”, we started repairing and pretty-ing up the rental.  Now I must admit, I was TOTALLY surprised as to the mess our renters left us in, but as I’ve recently found out, maybe a messy divorce is or was the reason and we got caught in the middle.  Whatever it was, we’ve got Geno on the job… 

Now we’ve got one more item we’ve got to face…OUR 50^th !!! 

We decided that what we wanted to do was to gather the family together, grab the Hydrofoil to Victoria, BC. for 3 days of FEASTING, FUN and ADVENTURE !!! 

 After arriving Friday, all of us jumped onto one of those “tiny water taxis” and enjoyed a wonderful dinner celebrating our anniversary at a great restaurant alongside the bay in Victoria.  Then early the next morning we all boarded a van and headed up to Soot, BC. for an afternoon of “ZIP-LINING”.   Our 7 grandkids (hell, they’re not kids anymore 14-21) were the first to get all suited up and head for the practice run and then it was the BIG KIDS turn. 

                Daughters .. Joelle, Leslee, Louise, and Mikleane 

What I quickly found out, is that I’m not great at taking pictures while someone is flying by at tree top levels hanging by a small line, but I still tried.  What was impossible was taking a picture while I was on the line.  Fortunately there was a camera set up for a quick flyby and that’s how I got my picture taken while doing some acrobatics… 

We continued our drive east by going into Twisp for lunch and a walk along the wooden sidewalks.  Even for a weekday in eastern Washington, the town was busy as heck so we continued our drive east with our guest (Louise's mother) riding shotgun on WA-20 looking for a nights stay at the Elks in Omak.  As we pulled up to the Elks we saw that their camping area was full of vehicles, but we still continued inside to find out if they still had any camping available for us.  Well like so many of the Elks Lodges, they are feeling the down economy as much or more than any other business or club so they have opted to lease their parking lot out to the local DSHS.  It was a good idea for them but it left us out.  Fortunately the lady behind the counter at the Elks directed us to the City Park and Fairgrounds.  The Fairgrounds park was the best city owned park we’ve ever been into so we do thank the Elks for their direction.  First thing the next morning we continued on WA-20 and our next destination…Chewelah and a nights stay with Dave and Carol.  Dave and Carol are such great hosts and it’s always difficult to leave after only a night or two.  We’ve got to find time to stay longer. 

A very good friend of ours just received some bad news, so we continued on to Coeur d’Alene to spend a little time with him before heading back to Seattle to receive our rental house back from our long term renters. 

We really had a great time in Darrington and a whole new appreciation for Bluegrass music, but we had to move on or they would have locked the gate on us as the last performer left…  Bonnie and Doug continued back to their home to “MOW THE LAWN” and Louise and I decided to take a journey over a pass that we hadn’t been over for quite a few years…The North Cascades Highway.  This is one of those passes that will be closed most of the winter because of heavy snow fall and a very difficult roadway to keep clear, but when it’s open...amazing beauty at every turn.  It was time for us to see that beauty again and maybe get in a little kayaking as well.  We lucked out and found a campsite at one of the two National Park campgrounds and had double luck by getting a site right on the banks of Lake Diablo.  Within the first hour we were there we had the kayak in the water

and headed out into a breezy lake.  It didn’t slow us down too much, but we did stay close to the shoreline.  We got an early start in the morning and headed out for a hike

 along one of the rivers and then up to a lookout above the lake. 

 Wanting to get another paddle in, we headed back and were in the water paddling into the middle of the lake to see the views that were unavailable to us the night before. 

While Louise and I were in Mexico, at the La Penita campground this last winter, we became friends of George and Liz.  Well Liz plays a mean mandolin and played some wonderful bluegrass music for us every Tuesday night in one of La Penita’s establishments.  As it became time for George and Liz to head back to British Columbia, Liz told us about some of the “Music Festivals” she would be playing in during the summer.  One of these was going to be in Darrington, Washington.  It just so happened that we were visiting with Bonnie and Doug up in Mount Vernon.  Mount Vernon is within an hour’s drive from Darrington and when you are foot-loose and looking for something different to do, it’s easy to get Doug and Bonnie excited and ready to head out for a weekend of camping and enjoying a Bluegrass concert.  We pulled into the festival grounds early afternoon on Friday and were just blown away by how many campers that were already there.  From the roadway in front, you could only see a couple of dozen rv’s, but once you got in, you found someone camping under and around every tree and open space in the 100 acre park.  Not only were they camped there, but just about everyone was either passing a bow over a fiddle or bass,

 strumming a mandolin or guitar, or singing out some incredible bluegrass music.  With the setting for this festival

sitting at the base of “White Horse Mountain” and a full weekend of amazing music, we were bummed that Liz wasn’t able to make it… 

One of the camping locations that we really enjoy going back to is on the banks of the Yakima River that runs through the Yakima River Valley.  So after spending a couple of weeks at the Yakima Elks

(which is a great site to pull the coach into…) and enjoying Leslee’s family (Lena, Vinny, and Leslee) we went down to the river for another week.  This is BLM land so our expenses topped out at $10 a night.  On the second day, we drove off to see a waterfall that we read about last year in National Geographic.  Palouse Falls is a waterfall that drops 183 feet and came to our attention when a kayaker decided to take the plunge off the top for a “World Record” and came out of the water wet and suffering a broken PADDLE.  Well that lasted a whole 2 weeks…  It seems that his record was broken twice in a month, with the standing record somewhere about 200+ feet.  Well for those that haven’t had the pleasure of visiting “The Palouse” in the state of Washington, I should mention that most of it is land that is farmed on rolling hills that not too many years ago was nothing but sagebrush and rattlesnakes.  The falls have been cut through solid rock over many centuries and seem to have come out of no-where coming from a small creek

that soon flows into the Columbia River some miles downstream.  After spending about 1 ½ hours at the top of the falls, and a short hike, we continue our drive.  We stopped off a very small town called Starbuck for a great lunch.  The restaurant was one of those little “Mom and Pop” places, but this Mom and Pop want to sell out and retire.  7 days a week, 12 hours a day is getting “too much” for them so all we could do was wish them all the luck in finding a buyer for this out of the way eatery and continue on our way.  Well with seeing and enjoying the Palouse Falls and having a great lunch at Mom and Pop’s, I saw one more thing that excited me…(although I didn’t get a picture of them), I saw my very first “Longhorn” steer.  These horns were so HUGE that it was hard to imagine that they were real, but real they were.  Next time I will have my camera. 

One of the more important reasons to come back up to the great Northwest is to celebrate TWO High School graduations with two of our grandkids (hell their not “kids” any more but are wonderful young Adults…).  The first celebration took place with Randy, who graduated from St. Maries, Idaho.  We drove down to St. Maries from Coeur d’Alene with Joelle and Amy.  This was the second graduation from St. Maries that we’ve attended and we really enjoyed having the chance to be with Randy for this great accomplishment in his life.  As fast as this one came up, we had to leave and head west to Yakima.  We had another graduation to attend, and that was for Lena.  This is an amazing time in our (Louise and me) lives …Graduating grandkids.  I must admit, Lena was the most beautiful of the two graduating…sorry Randy.  Then it was back to Coeur d’Alene, turn around and head back to Yakima…all of this was for the graduation parties, and parties they were !!! 

We all had a great time although it flew by too quickly. 

Well I’ve got some catching up to do…

We drove the Minnie back up to Portland to pick up our “Toad” and thank Ricardo and Susie for taking such good care of it while we were in Mexico.  More importantly we wanted to stop and visit with them and hear all about their winter.  Then it was on to Seattle to pick up our Endeavor from the storage yard and set up our doctor appointments.  With living in the Minnie for 6+ months and enjoying it, it was even more enjoyable to move back into the Endeavor…now we’ve got to see the Minnie.  Well all it took was listing it with Craigslist and waiting for the phone to ring.  5 hours later we were meeting with a couple, a short drive, and we were congratulating the “new owners” for their fine choice of a new motor home for themselves and their two young daughters. 

18 May 2010

I’ve never even come close to the length of time in-between blogs as I’ve done this time.  Sooo, were do I start…

Our journey coming out of California was partially on California Highway 1.  We drove that winding, narrow, slow highway from just outside of Los Angeles to Santa Cruz.  After leaving the Morro Bay area we headed up to see if we could get a tour into the Hurst Castle.  Just about 5 miles south of the castle, California has another state park that we were able to get into.  This worked out great as we were able to get an 8:30am tour at the castle the next morning and this would give us a quick and close run up in the morning.  The afternoon prior to our tour we got our tickets and took the opportunity to see the I-Max movie of the Hurst Castle.  There is no doubt this is a great story and a good piece of history for the state and the country.  If he was to have tried to live the life-style today with all the women in his life and the way that he treated his family, he would have gone into seclusion I’m sure, but that was a different time and he did build quite a monument to himself that draws a huge crowd year after year.  Louise

and I totally agreed on one thing, the “castle” it’s self was a disappointment.  It was really “cold” inside and made you feel very uncomfortable.  The outside of the castle left a lot to be desired too, but the landscaping

 and the pools…amazing. 

God, with all that money and all the property equaled quite a dream come true for him. 

Continuing on our coast drive we made one more stop for a nights rest. 

We knew that we were getting close to Los Gatos and the home of Laurie and Bob so with a quick phone call we got ourselves invited to stay a day or two.  Our kayaking buddies are great hosts and friends and we were made to feel right at home in their driveway.  We’re hoping to join them on the water again when they make it up north.  From Los Gatos we headed over to take I-5 and made our next stop at the Casino in Redding.  Our last time there we left with just under $150 and this time we (Louise) left with another $100.  Now as we leave Redding, we’re heading into the snow and rain and we’ll carry that with us all the way to Salem, Oregon.  I have a 94 year old aunt that lives here and I just wanted to stop by and see how she’s doing.  Aunt Neola has been a tough lady all her life and being 94 hasn’t slowed her down much.  Then a stop up I-5 to Charbonneau and have lunch with Leroy before ending up our day with a stop in Gresham.  We’ll stay in Gresham with Ricardo and Suzie for a couple of nights, pick up our car that we left with them over the last 6 months, and then head up to the Tall Chief resort. 

24 April 2010

After leaving Indio we headed over to Los Angeles to check out a manufacturer of RV furniture.  I found them online over a year ago and kept them in mind to “someday check them out”.  Their website looks really good and their prices…pretty darn good.  Now let us see just what is what.  We’ve kicked around the idea of either reupholstering or replacing the couch, but with their prices it almost makes sense to look at replacing everything.  Just before noon after pulling into their parking lot and meeting one of the owners, we were given the “grand tour”…  Rick and his partner started this business about 15 years ago and is doing quite well.  There biggest part of their business is home theater seating and then it breaks down to the RV and boat furniture end.  They ship all over the world from this one manufacturing plant and all of their business is done out of a catalog, although they will do custom manufacturing as well.  I will admit I went with a negative mind set but came away quite the opposite…very impressive. 

Now it was time to get the hell out of Los Angeles before the traffic comes to life and we’re caught right in the middle of it…we’re off to the coast, where I had no idea, just drive until we have to stop for the night.  Well we got as far as Lompoc and immediately headed off to find the local Wal-mart for a night of dry camping.  A surprise awaited us as we pulled in and found out that they don’t allow over-night camping in their parking lot like most others…  Well as it happened, we looked across the street and noticed that there was a large group of trucks and 5^th wheel trailers parked together…the carnival was just arriving.  With our little motor home in-between 2 of their big rigs we got away with a free nights lodging.  Early the next morning we headed off for our next stop along the California coast…Montaña de Oro State Park.  We’ve heard how the state parks fill up in California so we weren’t too sure we’d get a spot.  As luck would have it, we found we’re still traveling in the early part of the season and their campgrounds aren’t full yet, but that will be changing soon.

  We had a lot of young families camping around us, and they brought all their “little ones” with them…what a good time for all of us.  For Louise and me, it gave us a chance to take a couple of nice long hikes along the beach. 

On one of the hikes we almost stepped on a rattlesnake !!!  The trail was wide enough for us to have seen it in plenty of time, but our attention was caught by a little lizard scampering away from us.  Fortunately it just wanted to get out of our way more than set up and fight.  It was so close that I could almost count its rattles.  We knew that there were these critters all around us but that was a little “all too close”.  Other than the short lived scare, we had some wonderful sights and adventures along the beach.  From the white shale

to the unusual rock formations with pass-thruogh waterways...

  Life continues to be wonderful.