Reno Here We Come!

We left Portland after getting all of our medical things done. We definitely went through the whole regimen. After getting all the clearances, we were so happy to head to Reno to see our good friends, Mary and Paul. They purchased a gently used DRV 5th wheel over the summer so decided to "camp" with us in Gold Ranch. It made visiting much easier. Paul put Tom to work helping getting their rig in ship shape condition. They enjoyed making things work more efficiently and spending many hours talking over the differences between the Excel and DRV 5th wheels. Both agreed that their rigs are good ones. They are looking forward to spending the winter in Hemet seeing what other mischief they can get in to. Donna and Mary spent the time knitting, playing Mahjongg, going to lunch, meeting new friends and getting caught up on all the goings on over the summer. We all went to dinners, breakfasts and lunches together (do you see the theme there?) and also went to the Reno International Chili Cook off. We managed to get in a movie, "The Martian" too. If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it. It's one of those "keep you on the edge of your seat" movies. It's a little long but very good.

After Reno, we came to Ukiah to see Donna's daughter and granddaughter, Beth and Julia. Beth is performing in a community theater play, "Young Frankenstein", the musical. She plays dual roles as a village woman and also as Victor, the old, mad scientist who created the original "monster". We attended the dress rehearsal and she was really great. She sings and dances like a pro - even has a solo. She makes a very good looking old man. What energy and talent! Okay, okay, we're a bit prejudiced, but other people agreed, by the sound of the applause after her solo. She is performing 17 times in total not counting the two dress rehearsals. She has the next four weekends four performances each weekend. On Halloween, she will have two performances - one at midnight! To see a 4 minute clip of her rehearsal solo, click HERE. Part of the reason for our coming at this time was to see her perform, but also to help with Julia as Beth has had rehearsals and many late nights. We are really enjoying spending time with Julia and can't believe how much she has changed just since May when we saw her last. She's eleven now - a "tween". She's very independent, opinionated and stubborn. Just the kind of person who will go far in life! She still needs an adult to spend time with her though, to kind of guide her. We don't call it babysitting as she definitely is way beyond that stage. Just last night she gave Donna a very stern lecture on the "evil McDonald's". Scared the heck out of me! The food pix here are Castilian marinade chicken breast with grilled cowboy potatoes and the other is a taco salad that Julia made for Grandma Donna!!!

On Monday, November 2, we'll be back on the road to go to Hemet for the winter. I think Donna is looking forward to it more than Tom, but we both enjoy our routine there, our friends and adventures. It has become like home to us. We'll get back to water aerobics, dancing, playing Mahjongg and whatever else happens.

Hope all is well with all of you. See you sometime in our travels!!!!

Some Time In Portland!

We came back to Portland again this fall mainly to do our annual health care stuff. While here we sure like visiting with our old friends! Tom and Rita, the activities directors, put on a real nice breakfast for many of the locals here in the park. And quite the feast they served. Eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, juice, coffee and other nice breakfast items. Thanks y'all!!! The pancakes choices were pumpkin, blueberry or original! Yummy.

Our good friends, DuWayne and Juanita that handle the Karaoke in the park are in their mid nineties and have been married longer than I've been alive!!! Wow. They had me up singing about 5 Elvis songs! What fun!

Tom washed the rig, installed a new pop-up in the vessel sink in the bathroom and also installed "puddle lights" on the front sides of the rig. Gives nice lighting when you return home after dark without shining that bright scare light on the side of the rig. It looks a little different but it's very functional.

Donna is spending some quality time with her daughter Sarah. They've gone and got pedicures, day spa and general "girl time" stuff. Having lots of fun.

Tom did a quick and easy Parmesan Chicken and speckled corn on the cob. Oh yes, YUM!!! Something kinda different for us.

Tillamook and Keizer, OR, Elk Lodges

Our next stop was Tillamook, OR as we like the nice Elks RV park located just 4.5 miles south of town in the woods. It's nice, clean and well done park with full service and WiFi for $20 a night for Elk members. There's 21 sites and they plan on putting in 6 more. The weather was very mild near the coast line. We've been to the Tillamook Cheese Factory twice already, so didn't do that again. We did go on the Quilt Trail run. There are over 80 of the wooden quilt blocks painted with different designs in the Tillamook area. I took pix of many but only posted 3 as they get overwhelming. The owners of businesses buy the blocks and have them mounted on the side of their establishment. Pretty cool and different. We did some more sight seeing along the road, where we saw some parasailers just north of Tillamook, near Netarts, OR. On our way back to the park ran into a huge herd of Elk in an open field! Wow! What a sight. They were beautiful. Also saw some "oreo cows" as we call them. They are actually Galloway Belted milk cows. Interesting to say the least. Locals call them belties.

Then on Sept. 8th we celebrated Donna's birthday and our 20th anniversary! Ms. Donna took the day real easy. We went out for breakfast, then Tom fussed over her with flowers, a extra meaty slab of ribs, slaw, corn on the cob. The birthday girl was then treated to a homemade devil's food cake, with milk chocolate frosting. Oh yeah, topped with some cinnamon graham cracker pieces, and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream! A happy girl she was!!!

We now have arrived at the Keizer, OR, Elks Lodge and have a nice pull thru site with full service hook up. We like this lodge because they have a super bar and the food in their restaurant is fantastic. Another clean and well run Elks. Same price as Tillamook at $20 a night. We have a neighbor parked in a motorhome next to us came over to tell me that he's never seen such a pretty sewer set up on a rig. I told him I called it my "Alaskan Pipeline"! Ha.

We'll stay here a few more days, then head into Portland to do our annual medical stuff.

More August Summer Travels

So after leaving Hope, ID we went to Missoula, MT for a couple days. We stayed at a very nice park called Jim and Mary's. Landscaping and club house we super nice. Tom went and toured the Smoke Jumper Base. If you are ever in Missoula this is a must. The base was pretty well vacant as all the guys and gals were out fighting fires, which this area has been plagued with lately. Our tour was given by a wife of a smokejumper of 12 years. Very interesting tour. We also went to the Saturday morning market in downtown and were impressed with the different types of produce. Also the way the folks had their produce displayed was neat. We bought some dragon's tongue beans and Yukon gold baby potatoes. Boy were they good.

Then it's off to Clayton, ID, population 7, to visit our good friends Kriss, Dan and Ms. Koda Bu. Oh my goodness, Kriss was working at the Old Sawmill, where we stayed. She surprised us by serving us dinner on our arrival! Hamburger deluxe for sure. Dan was working a job cutting hay for a friend but got to visit after work. Kriss showed us around the area. Donna and I had no idea that Custer County, Idaho has more gems than any other country other than Africa! And I only thought they grew potatoes! Ha. We went to her parent's beautiful museum. Dan and Kriss have just built a fine retirement home up on the hill with horses and all. They've really put a lot of work into it. My dear dog friend, Koda Bu, was so happy to see us. She's one the best dogs I've ever known. Donna and I had the pleasure of meeting Kriss' parents and dining with them too. What a pleasant visit we had. Thanks guys for all you did for us! Oh yeah, check Kriss' mom's wooden statue.....she calls it "peckerwood"! Now that's yard art!

Off we went to the Grand Tetons. We stayed at the Teton Valley RV Park which was nice. Unfortunately, the smoke was so bad it was hard to get good pix. We did drive through Teton National Park and enjoy the sights. We saw a few animals but mostly deer. The pic of the moose is one our friends Paul and Cheryl took. I borrowed it from them!!!

And speaking of Paul and Cheryl, we were able to meet up with them in Victor, ID. We haven't seen them in 2.5 years. It was so much fun to have them over for drinks and dinner. Oh yes, and we played cards too. That's what old folks too. It was a short, but a fun visit.

The short drive over to Shelley, ID was nice and we met up with our Excel buddies, Randy and Helen. What a nice visit at their gorgeous home. Drinks, appys, and then pizza was fun, fun, fun. The following day we ate at The Firehouse Grill which was good. Thanks Randy and Helen for a most enjoyable visit.

Another short drive took us to Soda Springs, ID where our Hemet, CA winter friends, Stephanie and Gary live. Again the folks showed us all round the area and we ate and drank like there was no tomorrow. Check out Gary's '55 Chevy Suburban. Pretty cool, huh? We got to see the geyser in town that goes off every hour on the hour! A trip to Hooper Springs was interesting with the springs and the covered bridge. Then we went to the Chesterfield Townsite, an old Morman settlement from the 1880's that is really neat. Many of the houses, churches, and stores are restored to original condition. Awesome sights. Part of the Oregon Trail passes through this community.

After that, we went to the Mountain Home, ID Elks Lodge RV park. Great place to park for an overnight or two and since it's only $10 a night with water, 50A service, and a dump! What a value. So happens the Lodge was having steak night. It was great and reasonably priced. Of course, Tom did something stupid.....left his camera in the restaurant! Duh. It's being sent to me and I should be back in business in about a week.

On our way to the OR coast we stopped to spend the night in Burns, OR and stayed at the Crystal Crane RV Park. The kewl thing about this place is the Mineral Hot Springs Pond. It is kept at 101*F and is real therapeutic. Tom soaked it for over an hour. His skin was smooth as a baby's butt and old bones felt pretty good after driving a long day. Well worth the trip.

Currently we are in Newport, OR staying at the real nice Port of Newport RV Park. Right near the water with paved PT sites. Full service for $40. a night. Our next stop with be up the coast to Tillamook, OR.....you know the cheese town!

Sorry for the windy report with so many pix....I got behind and we've had lots of activities!!!

The Hoot Owl Cafe, Ponderay, ID

Yesterday our friend and landlord in Hemet invited us to the Idaho famous Hoot Owl Cafe for breakfast. Man does it live up to it's reputation. Large portions and fresh local natural ingredients and reasonable prices. This place has been here for many years. Donna and I split a veggie omelet with hashbrowns and pancakes. Yummy! They have a Redneck Eggs Benedict which is "everything plus the kitchen sink" with gravy, chili and cheese over it!!! OMG heartburn! I love the signage in this place. On the way home Ron had us stop to view a huge ant pile. This thing was like 3+ ft. high. Supposedly the ants that live here are only in Idaho. Regardless it is huge.

More Things Around Hope, ID

Ron took Tom out for a day of site seeing in the area. We checked out the Cabinet Gorge Dam and found a group of old cars along the side of the road, so snapped a few pix. There was an free running spring on the side of the road. Folks come with truck and trailers and fill with this great tasting water (we got a little bit). One old man told us that he'd been coming there for 60 years. Then Ron took me into an area called "Beyond Hope" where there were lots of multi-million dollar homes and property. There, we saw, lots of deer and turkeys (check out the one pic where the deer is looking at us in the car - look up in the background and see about 20 deer and 10 wild turkeys!). Also lots of "yard art". One thing that really stuck out was a German guy's compound. No one really knows what the guy does but his property is secure and he has several mailboxes with various departments written on them. Hmmmm. Anyway, the piece of stone you see is a chunk out of the Berlin wall! Wow. Interesting. Ron also took me to a bar called Toby's Tavern in Noxon, ID. This place has the bar inlaid with Susan B. Anthony silver dollars, also all kinds of junk on the walls and tables. Unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday. Then in the evening we went to a pizza place called the "Ice House", also an interesting place. Pretty good pizza. Out front was an osprey's nest with a couple of babies in it. All in all, a helluva day! Thanks Ron.

Hope ID, Jeb & Margaret's Trailer Haven

We made it to Hope to join our friends, Ron, Gene, Gary and Lynda. What a lovely area which is on Lake Ponderay (40 miles long). Gene gave us a great boat ride on his pontoon boat. Check out the neat castle along the banks. Found a great place to "pick ur own" blueberries. We went down the lake to eat on the "Floating Restaurant". It was very classy and the food was super. We are off to a great start. Happy hours have been plentiful at Gary and Linda's deck.

LeMay Auto Museum and Leavenworth, WA

So Tom finally got to attend the infamous LeMay Auto Museum in Tacoma, WA!!! Click here to link you to over 200 pix of the beautiful iron. This fairly new museum is first floor at ground level and 4 below ground. A total of 500 cars. Tom made about a 6 hour tour of it, boy was he in high cotton. We also had a very nice visit with our Excel buddies Rob and Cathy which included a dinner at the Black Angus Steakhouse.

Then it was another short trip over to Leavenworth, WA a wonderful little Bavarian town high on the hill. This town makes you think you've gone over back in time to the Scandinavia. We parked at the Sun Country Golf and RV Resort in Cle Elum (klee elum), WA, just down the hill from Leavenworth. The next morning as we left town we stopped at the world famous Cottage Café. Lumber jack sized portion with pastries to die for!!! We split and the veggie omelet and hashbrowns filled each of our plates. And it was very good quality (nice and greasy)!!!! Yum! Off to Spokane we go!

More Chimacum, WA

Couldn't resist the pic of the Iowa chop, marinated with "Naked Rub" and cooked to perfection!!! Yum for sure. A few more shots of things in the park. The forest pic is near our site on the way to the off-lease dog park. The downed trees with branches growing out of them are called "nurse logs". Mother nature sure has a way of taking care of herself. Lots of yard decorations and someone did a little serenity garden. Kinda neat. We also have a park near by which is a multiplex that has a soccer, baseball, and disk golf field. There was a cool big fish on a trailer parked there. The last pic is us all dressed up to go out to celebrate our friend's 50th anniversary.

We are leaving this lovely area tomorrow, and heading to Lakewood, WA to visit friends, Rob and Cathy. Tom will also take time to see the Lemay Auto Museum in Tacoma.

Chimacum, WA and Surrounding Area

Not a whole lot of news this week. We went out to the Indian Casino, 7 Cedars, and found it pretty nice. Tom played the penny slots and after 2 visits to the casino, netted about $40.75 profit!!! After eating at one of their restaurants that took care of that!!! I took a picture of the little light house they had out by our clubhouse, for our friend Cheryl. Speaking of Cheryl she sent Donna a very nice beaded cardinal to go in the window. Thanks! Our SKP park has some very nice folks in it. We've gone to some of the activities/socials and really enjoyed them. They have one older gentleman that really stands out. He's 92 years old and there ain't much he can't do. I took a pic of him "packing" the trash in the dumpster! Our neighbor said he welded a crack up on his water heater tank on his rig and did a great job. He runs around the park like a daylight burglar. Ha. Our daughter and GD took a Southwest Airline plane trip to Louisiana to visit friends. Here, Julia looked into the cockpit to check things out and the Pilot (female) got up and invited Julia to sit in here seat. Wow! While seated, the male co-pilot, told Julia the pilot was the boss of the plane. Julia was VERY impressed to say the least. Wish I could have seen that! And lastly, we went to visit an area famous hamburger joint. It's called "Fat Smitty's" It's one those small place that only take cash. You have to bring a dollar a person to hang from the ceiling or posted on the wall. When things get full, the bills are donated to a children's charity. So kewl. We've seen places like this in our travels. When we went to check the place out we had just eaten at the casino, so we plan eating there soon. Not cheap, but they sure looked good. Hope your summer is a good one. Until later.......

Our Time with Rob and Cathy, San Juan Islands, etc.

Our Excel friends Rob and Cathy came up to Anacortes and spent three fabulous days with us. We did some sight seeing, ate out, and we did chicken and ribs at our place. They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with us. We also went to Mt. Erie where we saw a nice view of the San Juan, Islands, Mt. Baker, and overlooking the town of Anacortes. Weather was super as usual and we had such a great time. Rob and Cathy are so laid back they are up for just about anything. What fun we had. Can't wait to see them again soon. After they left, Donna and I took a ferry ride to the San Juan Island and spent the day sight seeing. Toured the Whale museum, and learned a lot about them. Then took a shuttle the island to just check it out in general. What a nice day.

Just outside of the Indian Casino near Anacortes, there were firework stands. Check out the Breast Cancer Awareness one. Funny and something for a good cause. Proceeds went to the fight against breast cancer.

Our friends Paul and Mary sent Tom the wild and crazy pink Cadillac T-shirt from the Pink Cadillac Diner in VA!!! Pink t-shirt and red wine, now there's a pair! Then my sister, who knows Donna and I are nuts over hippos (we used to collect hippo stuff when we were in our stick and brick). She was heading a tour at the San Diego Zoo and found this fabulous t-shirt. What a great gal. Hippo t-shirts are kinda hard to find, too . Thanks T!!!

Closing up and leaving Anacortes was hard as we loved it alot. Road the ferry from Coupeville (I keep saying Coupe de Ville!!!) to Port Townsend to come to our new home for the month of July, Chimacum, WA. Tiny town, in between Port Townsend and Sequim, WA. We're staying at the SKP Coop park of Evergreen COHO. Nice, older, well groomed park with large sites. We believe we'll like it here. More adventures in a day or two. Hope all are enjoying their summer, so far.

Anacortes Dog Show

So then we head over to the dog show. Not the biggest show we've ever seen, but one of the most fun. The one dog in the pix is a red Australian Shepard that's so beautiful. This dog reminded Donna of her childhood dog "Rex". It brought back lots of fun times for her. Another dog that really got our attention was the black and white dachshund, especially the one with the all white face. Very unusual. The owner said they quit breeding these dapple colored dogs as they have way too many health issues (heart, lung, and numerous diseases). Check out the dog that dressed up to be a "Chia dog"!!! He won first place in the goofy dog gig! Click here to see a clip of the "doggy dash". It hard to see but they plant a tennis ball in the backboard that the dog has to get in their mouth. This is so much fun to watch. We are waiting for our Excel friends Rob and Cathy to show up on Monday afternoon. They stay for 3 days!! Yay!

Anacortes, WA Mount Erie and Farmer's Market

Today we went to Mount Erie which is just a few miles from the park. Not a big deal, but the view was very nice. However, the trees blocked the view so some of the pix didn't take well.

Then off to the Anacortes downtown Saturday morning farmer's market. We picked a few items and snacked on a few when we got home. I forgot to take a pic, but we got a large cinnamon bun that had lots of cinnamon, walnuts, raisins, and butter cream frosting. OMG!!! Of course, we split it. The weather was perfect at 68*F. Next we head to the dog show. See the next post!

More Anacortes and the Area

We're doing a little day trip here. We went to a park, on a hill, that overlooks the marina and downtown area. What a view. Then headed south to the Deception Pass Bridge on Whidbey Island. Here we got lucky and got to see a tug pulling a bunch of logs upstream. Check out the tug on the side of the load keeping the load straight. That's a lot of logs, my friends!!! Then, back downtown to check that area out some more. The murals on the side of the buildings sure add to the character of this cute maritime town. Wow. To end the day we stopped in the Gere-A-Deli restaurant for a Panda Bear chocolate treat (chocolate cake with butter cream topping) and a side of real vanilla ice cream. OMG! Yes, we split. The sandwiches looked fabulous, so the plan is to go back and do that in a day or two!!!! Big thanks to our good friends Ralph and Cheryl for the great recommendations to consider while visiting here. As usual, you are spot on!

More Anacortes - Water Festival - Car Show - Yacht Ride

It's the next day Sunday and back to the Water Festival and another car show. This time it's a classic car show. You can link the pix here. Donna and I went on a free yacht ride today. Seems the local yacht club here do this every year at this time. We were very lucky to get a very nice couple that gave us an hour ride around the area in their 70ft yacht named "Liquid Assets" and they gave us refreshments and muffins! They feel its a nice way to give back to the community. Feeding those two big block Chevy engines ain't cheap. I was so impressed, I promised to "pay it forward" for their hospitality. We did compare the similarities of boats and RVs. Clearly "money pits" no question! They sometimes stay out in the yacht for a week or two. What a wonderful and beautiful day!

Anacortes, WA

So we made it to Anacortes, WA and it is beautiful here. A little overcast and rain when we arrived, but now it's perfect. 72*F and sunny. Our RV Resort is very nice. We made it in time for the Water Front Festival, which is the typical food, entertainment, and car shows. The pix of the mini donuts are for our special friends Ralph and Paul. They go crazy over these things! That and anything that has to do with food! On Saturday, Tom went to the festival and the all Corvette Car Show which was very organized and a lot of fun. Here is the link to the photos of the Corvettes. Enjoy!

Reno, NV, Ukiah, CA and now Portland, OR

Well, it's been almost a month and time to make another post!!! We made our travels as planned and outlined in our previous post. Went to visit Paul and Mary in Reno and all usual they showed us a great time. After a few days we went over Ukiah to visit with Beth and Julia. What fun and a nice visit we had!!! Got to see Julia and Beth in a play they did. Then a drive up to Portland where we've had a super time visiting with old friends in the park. Rita and Tom (the activities directors) had a pancake, bacon, and sausage breakfast in our honor! Wow! Tom, of course, did about 3 songs at Karaoke night. Oh boy! We had our new found Excel friends, Marc and Cheryl and did a little happy hour at our rig and went out for a fabulous meal. They are super folks and we plan to keep up the get-togethers for sure. We'll leave here on the May 29th and head up to Puyallup, WA to meet up with more new Excel friends. While we love our winter park and people a lot, it's fun to get moving again. Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA

Today we went to see The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA (near San Diego). It was nice but we think we are just a couple weeks too late for the really nice flowers. This place is right next to a little airport that houses some vintage military planes and they were flying today. One pic in the slideshow is a B17 Fortress!!! Wow, what a beautiful/sweet sound that guy emits. Not pictured was a B24 Liberator. Today was a major "Red Hat Ladies" function so we saw a lot of them for sure. Was a nice day trip. ON Friday, Tom got out the turkey fryer one last time to do some chicken wings to take to happy hour. About 45 wings dredged in lemon pepper seasoning (a little EVOO, butter and real lemon juice didn't hurt either!!!!). We are beginning to pack up from our winter time extended stay home and get ready for travel. We're leaving here on 5/4 and heading to Reno to see Paul and Mary, then over to our GD and daughter's home in Ukiah, CA. Eventually we'll go to Portland, OR and then up to northern WA and see some more of the Olympic Peninsula. After that we'll have to figure out what else we'll do this summer. We hope you have a great summer! Be well.

Mountain Shadows 2015 Variety Show

It's time again for the variety show in the park and Tom decided to take some time off for a change. However, Donna jumped right in there and acted as the M.C.!!! Donna did such a good job, which included introducing the skits and filling in time inbetween the skits/acts. She got lots of accolades from the audience for her great performance. What fun she had. As you can see from the pix the stuff was pretty funny. Not bad entertainment for $2. Ha. Tom also took some video clips of a few acts. Click here to see Dave playing the spoons. Click here to see Don doing a Johnny Cash song. Click here to see the little people skit. Fun was had for all.

The Living Desert in Palm Desert, CA

The Red Hat Ladies had a outing to the Living Desert on Thursday and spouses were invited. The Living Desert is a nice combination of a botanical garden and a zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect with very little wind. Everyone found the place to be a great experience. Tom was especially impressed with the animal hospital. The place was pristine and very high tech. We got to experience a cheetah having a physical checkup and some dental work done. After awhile we took the shuttle so we got to see almost all of the park. Tom got a really good pic of the long eared owl. If you ever get to go, it is well worth your time.

Next week is our Park Variety Show and Donna is the M.C. We'll try to do another write up on that event. Stay healthy and have fun!!!

Fried Turkey Party

I know, its been a long time since we posted, but we've been BUSY!!! On 1/14/15 we went to visit our Canadian friends, George and Mary, that were in Casa Grande, AZ to go to the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale, AZ. Tom and George spent two days at the auction and had a blast. Here's a link to many cars we saw there. What a rush!!!

On 1/28/15 we had about 16 folks to our place for a turkey fry. Many of our friends had never had fried turkey....can you imagine? Ha. Everyone brought a side dish and Donna helped Tom with all the rest. Again we had lots of fun. The turkey was a great hit! Here's a 10 minute condensed version of the video we took of the turkey frying process. Thanks to our neighbor Jerry who did the video. Well done!

We continue to enjoy great weather here in Hemet and having lots of fun!