Thursday, May 23 - Monday, May 27, 2013 (Walla Walla, WA)

Thursday

We had another easy uneventful travel day to Walla Walla, Washington.  The scenery was really pretty, everything is still so green and there was no wind.  So far we've really lucked out driving the gorge and missing out on any strong winds. 

We pulled into the RV Resort Four Seasons around noon.  This is the first time we will be parked on a grass site.  The park is pleasant enough and the gal that checked us in was a wealth of information on places to eat and wineries to check out, she sent us off with a handful of pamphlets.  The weird thing to me is that they have all these ceramic and/or metal animal statues.  We have this big elk right by our front door and slide.  Out another window behind a little white fence, is a bunch of the critters.  I guess we all like different things.  It is not the more scenic of sites, but it was one of the last ones they had available since we are coming up on the holiday weekend.  We are at the front of the park and get to see all the comings and goings.  Here are some pictures of our site.


Side view of our site





notice fake elk by hedge

After we got everything setup and had a bite to eat, we got in the truck and went out exploring the town to get our bearings.  We also had to make a stop at the local Home Depot to pick up a splitter for the faucet, we left ours behind at Maryhill when we got side tracked with chatting with the camp hosts.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Rich had been wanting to see Iron Man 3 and since they had stadium movie theaters here, we decided to take in a matinee showing.  Yikes, even with the matinee time, movies are expensive aren't they?  We decided to see it in 3D.  We liked the movie, but with all the special effects and the action, you are exhausted by the end of the movie.  At home we've been watching some old classic movies from the 1940/50/60's and wow things have changed. 

Friday

The plan today was to check out a couple of the local museums.  After a leisurely start to our morning, we were just getting ready to head out and I was giving Gracie some loves and scratching her ears when I felt a lump.  Uh oh, what's this, eeks it's a tick.  Trying not to panic, I showed Rich and we both had remembered that if you use heat, they will often times back out.  Wrong.....after trying for a few minutes, we got on the trusty internet and found out using heat is the worst thing you can do, you need to just pull them out with a tweezers.  Well out came the tweezers and Rich had to give it quite a pull to finally get it to come out.  Gracie was so good during all this, I think I was more freaked out than she was.  After we got it out, Rich checked to see if it was full of blood and it wasn't, so hopefully it wasn't on her that long.  I spent the next couple of hours on the internet trying to find out what kind of tick it was and if we needed to be concerned about Lyme disease.  We finally decided to take Gracie down to the local Petco that is just down the street and see if they might have any info.  Well come to find out, they didn't have a  vet on site, but I did talk to the groomers and they shared that it is a bad year for ticks because the winter was mild.  So we will be keeping a close eye on Gracie the next couple of weeks to see if she shows any signs of lethargy and not eating well.  For now, we've just said a prayer and pulled out the Frontline Flea/Tick drops which I had gotten from the vet before we left.  I usually don't like to use these types of products but after this episode, I will be using it. 

So because of the tick drama, the afternoon was pretty much shot, so we checked out a local grocery store I had read about online.  It's called Andy's Market and it was such a fun store, kind of a cross between a health food store and a regular grocery store.  They had tons of bulk food/grains as well as lots of nice produce.  We spent about an hour going through the store and came out with a lot of goodies. 



That night we were having dinner and could hear this loud voice over a loud speaker.  There is a park just down the street with a BMX bike track and skateboard park and it had looked like they were setting up for some sort of event.  So we decided to take a walk down there and check it out.  Sure enough, they were having races.  It was fun to watch some of the younger kids ride the track, they even had this three year old little girl who actually rode a small bike around the track, she was so cute, her safety vest had little bumble bee wings.  There was also another group of little kids, they were probably 4 or 5.  The track was quite long and it was amazing that they could make it around the track.  When I was three, I'm sure I had enough trouble just staying on my tricycle, let alone a bicycle.  We didn't get a picture of the little bumblebee girl, but we did get these pics which show what the track is like.

Saturday



Today was suppose to be the best day weather wise, so we had planned a bike ride around Bennington Lake which is on the edge of town.  There are several trails to choose from.  We were going for one that was around 4 miles.  We enjoyed the ride and took some nice pictures, but our one complaint is the trails are not well marked and intercross each other at various points and even with a map in hand, it was hard to tell which trail you were on.  Finally we gave up on the map and I think we ended up riding on a serivce road that went around the lake.  The scenery was beautiful, the pictures don't really capture how green the hills were, but they give you an idea.

West side of lake

East side of lake

Beautiful countryside

View from the top of the hill

deer grazing in field



After we got back to the fiver, it was still pretty early and we didn't want to waste the pretty sunshine, so we decided we were up for another bike ride.  When we checked in, the gal who helped us, told us that if we visited the Skylite Cellars Winery to tell them where we were staying and they would waive the tasting fee.  It was about 4 miles away, so we decided to ride out and check it out.  It was a beautiful ride through the countryside and we forgot the camera, so no pics of this adventure unfortunately.  We found the winery and went inside, the tasting area was very tastefully decorated with a beautiful old bar mirror behind the bar, wish we had that camera.  The lady working was very informative about the winery and the different types of grapes, they sure take their industry seriously, it was very interesting.  We rode off with a bottle of one of their red blends, a 2006 Big Red Hiney. 

All in all we rode around 12 miles today, it sure felt good.

Sunday

We had picked out a Foursquare Church to attend today.  There were two in town, so we just chose the one called Walla Walla Bible Center.  It has been so interesting attending these various different churches.  This church was located in a neighborhood, it was a very old church, again built in the late 1800's, and again, we forgot the camera.  It was very picturesque.  Inside the front doors, they had a rope hanging down that rang the bell in the steeple.  When we arrived and entered the church (we usually like to arrive around 15 minutes before the service starts), there was not a soul around, well this is a bit unusual, but OK.  We went back outside and noticed across the street that they had a church annex, so we figured everyone must be over there, so we just decided to hang around until 10:45.  10:45 came and went and no one showed up, hmmmm maybe they are not meeting today?  Rich decided to give them a quick call before we left and the pastor answered the phone and confirmed they were indeed across the street but were just finishing up Sunday school and would be over to the church in a minute.  OK, we're staying.  I'm glad we did, it was a very small congregation, including the pastor, there were 11 of us.  The pastor had a good message on not judging others and  we both came away with some good reminders/tools when we are tempted to judge. 

After church, we stopped by the fiver and had a quick sandwich and picked up Gracie and went for a drive.  We had decided we'd like to drive to the Milton-Freewater area and check it out.  We saw some cool older homes and lots of pretty farmland.  It sprinkled on and off, so it wasn't a real pretty day out.  We stopped for our Sunday treat - a DQ Blizzard, yummy but not so good for the waist line.  We also fueled up while in Oregon, diesel was considerably cheaper, like almost 40 cents. 

We had a relaxing evening back at the fiver, we took a walk to the park near here, did some reading and working on our blog.  The WiFi here is extremely slow, rats.

Monday

We started our morning out with a little exercise, we have decided to start doing some walking/jogging.  This was our second morning of doing a combination of walking/jogging for 20 minutes.  It's a nice way to start the morning and we have a wedding to attend in two months or so, so will need to look our best.  =)

We spent the morning watching all the weekenders packing up and leaving.  It was nice to be able to stay put.  It was kind of a dreary day with showers off and on.  We had planned to go visit at least one museum, an old Victorian house that they have turned into the Kirkland House Museum.  It was one of the museums we had originally planned on visiting Friday, but didn't make it.  Well, unfortunately it was closed today, bummer, I was really looking forward to visiting, I did get to peek in the windows though. 

Back at the fiver, we just kicked back and did a little bit of this and that.  I made some cookies and did a little laundry and got caught up on our banking, did some research on our future travel routes, etc. etc.  We hit the road tomorrow for some more adventures....stay tuned. 





Tuesday, May 21 - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 (Boardman, OR)

Tuesday the plan was to take a bike ride on the Columbia River Heritage Trail.  So after a leisurely morning, actually all our mornings are leisurely, that is one of the benefits of being retired.  We got ourselves together and started out, it was a little windy, but not too bad.  The first point of interest was this old retired tug boat.  It was interesting to see one up close.  We have seen a couple out on the river here and they appear to be a bit smaller than the ones we saw on the river at Maryhill.

We continued on, the path was really pretty nice but we got to a point in the trail where it met up with a side road and we lost the trail.  We didn't have a map with us and I couldn't remember how far we had to ride on the road before it connected with the trail again, so we decided to turn around.  Wow, it was a good thing we didn't go farther, we were riding into the wind and that made for a lot tougher ride going  back home.  It was nice to get back home.  Later that evening we were walking in the park and the wind came up fast and we could see our awning flapping in the wind....hmmm it's suppose to retract automatically when the wind reaches a 12 mph and that gust was definitely more than 12 miles, we'll have to check into that.  The evening was just spent relaxing, we must have wore Gracie out because she was out cold.  Isn't this picture cute?

Wednesday we woke to wind and rain, so we pretty much just spent the day inside doing laundry and some cleaning.  Later in the afternoon, it started clearing off so we took a walk around the marina trail.  It was interesting to start seeing the park fill up with a few more rigs that looked like they were here for the long weekend.  We'll be heading out tomorrow to Walla Wall to spend the holiday weekend.  We had another pretty sunset. 

Monday, May 20, 2013 (Boardman, OR)

We woke to a nice sunny morning with no wind. A good day for traveling. We only had a small distance to go today, so we weren’t in a big hurry to head out. It’s a good thing because as we were wrapping up our departure preparations, the camp hosts stopped by and we had a nice long chat. They have been the camp hosts at Maryhill for the last 10 years. They typically host during the month of August, but got a call asking them to cover an additional two weeks in May. They were very friendly and a wealth of information. They were very familiar with Bend as they have a lot in Crooked River Ranch. Too bad we didn’t have more time to visit.

We had a short uneventful trip to Boardman, it took just about an hour. The weather was perfect and there was little if no wind. Rich had been trying to get me to take a shot at driving, but I’m still not comfortable with the idea. I think I’d like to try it out in a parking lot where I could get a feel for how it brakes and turns before I take it on an actual road.

This is a beautiful little park and so very similar to Maryhill except it is much cheaper. =) We have an amazing view of the river and there is no wind. After we got set up and had our lunch, we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and wash the road grime off the fiver from our rainy drive the other day. Boy it got down right hot outside. After we got the fiver and truck washed, we decided to take a tour of Boardman. We stopped and asked the ranger where main street was and he said we’d already been on it. Needless to say there is not much to Boardman, but they do have several banks in town which I found odd since they only have one small grocery store.

Back at camp, we sat outside in the sun and spent some time reading before dinner. We grilled some steaks for dinner and then chatted on the phone with Jessica and got caught up on some of their wedding plans. After that, the park has a nice walking trail so we took a walk to the marina which is next door. It was such a nice warm summer evening and there was no wind and the river was so flat, it was so beautiful. We got back from our walk and I spent some time on the phone with my mom catching up. The sunset was beautiful tonight.

Sunday, May 19, 2013, (Maryhill, WA)

We had picked out a church to attend, New Life Assembly of God in Goldendale and services started at 10:30 so we had a leisurely morning to get ready. The people were nice, when Rich called for the service times, he actually got the pastor’s wife on the phone instead of the usual recording. During the greeting time, the pastor’s wife came up and introduced herself which was nice. She must wear many hats because she was part of the worship team and played the keyboard. If any of you out there like good worship music, go and check out Westside Church in Bend, they have an amazing talented worship team, that is one thing that I am missing from our different church visits.  I like to sing worship music. 

After church, instead of our usual Starbucks treat, and since there wasn’t a Starbucks in Goldendale, my mom had given us a coupon for a buy one/get one free blizzard from Dairy Queen, so we checked out the local DQ and had a hamburger and blizzard. It was yummy, but not so healthy and good for the waistline.

We got back to the fiver and since it was a nice day out, we decided to take another bike ride. We rode around the park and checked out all the different sites and day use area. It really is a beautiful and well kept park. Their tent spaces are the nicest I've seen. We rode down the road into the little town of Maryhill and all the orchards. It was amazing how some of the orchards went right to the riverbank. There was this quaint old church built in 1888, it looked like it might still be used, but it was hard to tell.  The other building, I just thought was cute.  Rich is the photographer and is very patient with me when I say, "oh take a picture of that". 

We had a nice dinner outdoors and got a few things ready for our departure in the morning.

Saturday, May 18, 2013, (Maryhill, WA)

Another nice day, though a bit more wind forecast for today. Our plan today was to visit the Deschutes State Park and do a bike ride on some trails they have there. We tried to reserve a campsite there but they were booked for the weekend. Once we got there, we found out that they were having an outdoor wedding and so wondered if that might be why the campground was full so early in the season.

We had a nice leisurely bike ride with some awesome views of the Deschutes River. We only did a very small portion of the trail, about a six-mile round trip today.  We stopped and had our lunch along side the trail just taking in the awesome views.  The only wildlife we saw was a heron, geese and deer along the river.

After our bike ride, we decided to walk along the lower river trail and came across this bunch of seagulls just flying around and around. It was pretty to watch and we never could figure out what they were all doing, were they catching insects or just enjoying the air current?  Unfortunately you have to look hard to see the seagulls in the picture, they didn't show up very well but there were tons of them.

Back home after a quick stop at the McDonald’s in Biggs for an ice cream cone, I’m sitting here in the sun and wind getting caught up on our blog. I won’t be able to post it until Monday when we are in our next site. It’s a wonderful life and I feel blessed to be able to share it with my amazing husband.

Friday, May 17, 2013 (Maryhill, WA)

We had a leisurely morning, having breakfast and deciding what to do today. In looking at the weather forecast, we decided to visit the Maryhill Museum. We have driven through Maryhill many times when travelling to see the kids in Marysville or Maple Valley, Washington. We used to make it our "potty" rest stop and it was a good place to stretch our legs. Beings that we were always trying to either get somewhere or were heading home, we had never stopped to check out the local sites.

In all honesty, I thought that the Maryhill museum was actually a home and would be more of a tour type venue, little did I know that it was an art museum. So we got our art culture for awhile. I must say at first it was pretty interesting, but they had so much to see, that after about an hour, it was sensory overload for me. My favorites were the main entry level and the royal section. I think I liked that best because they were items that people in the not too distant past had actually used. I also enjoyed the outdoor sculptures. Here are a few pics.

After the Maryhill Museum, we went down the road and visited the Maryhill Winery. I did a tasting and ended up getting a nice bottle of Reisling. The last item on the agenda for today was to visit the Stonehedge War Memorial. That was pretty interesting. That Samuel Hill must have been quite the interesting fellow in his lifetime.

We stopped at a local fruit stand and got some fresh strawberries and asparagus, yummy. We had a nice relaxing dinner outside. The park is full this weekend. They are having some sort of RV Club rally with all these itsy bitsy trailers, i.e. Scamp and Casita are two of the models that come to mind. We did our usual walk around the campground checking out the different RV’s. We still like ours the best. =)

Thursday, May 14, 2013 (Maryhill, WA)

We woke up to more cloudy skies, bummer as this was the day we picked up our fiver from Guaranty and had reservations at Maryhill State Park. We got a little bit later start than we anticipated and didn’t get to Guaranty until around 10:00 a.m. We had to wait a little bit before our warranty rep was available to go over what they had accomplished and what will wait until we are back in the area in September. We finally hit the road around noon.

Early on, I had always said that I was hoping we could stay away from freeways and not travel in the rain. Well we did both today. We went through a couple real deluges; the positive thing was at least it was washing any remaining salt spray from being on the coast off the underneath and roof of the fifth wheel and truck. The traffic was heavy until after we got past Hood River and then it thinned out and the sun came out. Yea.  Here is a picture of Multnomah Falls taken from the window, the rain doesn't show up but it was pouring. 

We pulled into Maryhill State Park, just over the border of Washington around 4:00. We had reservations here through the weekend; it will be nice to stay put for awhile after our drive today. It took us awhile longer than usual to get set up in our site because we had to transfer so much stuff out of the pick up back into the fiver. We had taken our laundry and some bedding to wash at my mom’s and then our duffel bags and our cooler. We knew that we would be at my mom’s for awhile, so had to clean out our refrigerator of anything that would spoil during that time. When we were at mom’s, we had taken a trip to Costco, and stocked up on some items. It felt good to finally get all setup and unpacked.

This is a very pretty park, lots of nice trees and pretty green grass. The honey locust trees are blooming right now so there is a nice soft perfume to the air. We are right on the river, so see the barges and hear the trains going by. There is a lot of train traffic, but we are getting used to the sound of trains. In Bend at Crown Villa we were not far from the train tracks and then in Lebanon, there was that small train that went by once a day.

We had a simple dinner and went to bed early. We were beat.

Monday, May 13 - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

 

Rock wall I cleared of fern and vinca vine



Rich working on arbor



We had three days to finish up some projects for my mom before we were scheduled to hit the road again, so the three days were pretty much work related. I was helping mom get caught up on some yard work while Rich finished up the arbor project and some other miscellaneous "honey do’s". My dad and mom had built this rock retaining wall many years ago and over the course of the years, fern and vinca vine had covered it so you could no longer see the rocks.  I though that all their hard work shouldn't be covered up, so many hours later, this is a small piece of the rock wall that I got uncovered.  There is much more left to do, but that is another project for another time.  The first two days we had good weather for working outdoors, not too hot and not too cold or rainy. Wednesday, we weren’t so lucky. It poured. Because we had to get our projects finished up, we couldn’t let the rain stop us, so out we went into the wet drippy outdoors. Oh well, you do what you need to do to get the job done. Like I’ve said before, I’m very impressed and proud of my mom for how she is able to keep everything around her house so well kept on her own. The woods tend to creep in rapidly.
To celebrate the completetion of our projects, mom treated us to a Chinese dinner at the local Chinese restaurant. They do quite the business, the place was packed.  Thanks mom for a nice treat.   After our dinner we went home and watched the final performances on American Idol.  We didn't have a favorite since we haven't spent much time watching this year and we probably won't have TV reception tomorrow night to see who wins, oh well. 

Saturday & Sunday, May 11-12, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

I got a nice surprise Saturday morning. My youngest daughter Stacy and our grandson Gunner stopped by in the morning. I hadn’t seen them since last Thanksgiving. We had a nice visit and we had a lot to catch up on.  I also got to have some fun shooting some pool with Gunner.  We also got to meet their two new small dog additions to their family, Paco and Little Miss. They sure are cuties. I unfortunately wasn’t thinking and didn’t get any pictures.

After Stacy and Gunner left around noon, Rich and I just spent a relaxing afternoon hanging around and enjoying the sunshine on the deck and I started catching up on our blog.

View of the pond from the deck

Around 3:30 we got a call from Rich’s daughter Jessica, she’s engaged to be married – congratulations! The wedding will be August 10^th, in Arlington, Washington so that will be worked into our summer schedule for sure!

We were invited to my brother Rob’s house for a BBQ, so we took a nice roundabout drive through the countryside to get there. It sure is pretty country when the sun is shining. We had a nice visit with Rob, his wife Kelly, and their 3 daughters and some friends of theirs and my mom. We also learned some new BBQ techniques for the Traeger BBQ. We had never tried BBQing hot dogs on the Traeger, our favorite is rib eye steak, but boy the Traeger sure adds some nice flavor to hot dogs. Rob also grills big onion chunks on the Traeger for hamburgers, those were amazingly good too. Rob & Kelly’s twin daughters, Amanda and Allison are graduating high school this June and Amanda is the salutatorian for her class– Wow! That’s pretty cool. They are two smart girls those two. It was good seeing everyone and again, the camera didn’t make an appearance, so no pictures to share. We’ve got to get better about pulling out the camera.

Sunday - Mother's Day
To all the mother's out there - Happy Mother's Day.  I got another nice surprise visit from my oldest daughter Amber.  It was great catching up with what's going on with her also.  I don't get to see my daughters that often, so it was a special weekend in the fact I got to see them both and have nice long visits with them. 

Other than visiting, we didn't do much and had a pretty relaxing day.  The only work that was accomplished was that Rich finished removing the posts from mom's garden.  After dinner  Rich and I took Gracie for a walk through the woods which we have been doing almost every evening.  It is always so peaceful and relaxing to walk through the woods. 

As I was sitting here tonight working on updating and posting our blog, I could start to hear the rain on the roof, looks like we might be having some rainy weather the next day or so.  We'll have to see how that affects our outdoor projects.  God willing, if everything goes according to plan, the missing parts for the fiver will show up Wednesday and be installed.  Then we'll hit the road on Thursday for points unknown.  We'll keep you posted. 

Friday, May 10, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Today was another beautiful day. We are just loving this weather. Today the project was to work on the back yard area. My dad had built all these beautiful rock retaining walls which through the years have gotten covered up by plant foliage. My goal was to start removing some of that foliage so the walls would show up again. But I got sidetracked from the wall project because there were lots of ferns that I got started trimming to try and tidy them up. Boy, where did the day go, still have a ways to go.

Rock retaining wall project

Another rock wall shot

Rich fell a viney maple tree for my mom and worked in her garden removing some old posts from the ground. My Mom has this thing for viney maple trees so the fact that we could take one down was quite the accomplishment.  It really opens the area up and Mom was happy. 



Viney Maple Tree felling project - see white stumps at bottom right of small tree

Mom worked on getting another of her flowerbeds planted. We got a lot accomplished today.

Thursday, May 9, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Today was the day to start some projects around my mom’s. She does an amazing job keeping up her home/yard all by herself, I’m so proud of her because it’s a lot of work. Today we started weeding and planting in her front flowerbeds. Of course, yesterday when we were at Costco we got a flat of impatiens and a couple of nice perennials to go along with some other flowers she had purchased on Tuesday before we got here. I don’t know how it could take all day, but it did. I guess that’s the beauty of retirement, you don’t have to get everything done in one day. It sure takes the pressure off.

Rich went to Salem to donate blood at the Red Cross, he is a regular donor. It was a beautiful enjoyable day had by all.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 (Mehama, OR)

Well today is my 54^th birthday. Funny I don’t feel 54, I guess that’s a good thing. We had a lazy morning having breakfast and chatting with mom. We decided to take mom and head into Salem for a late lunch and to run some errands.

We had a very nice lunch at the Olive Garden (thanks to our co-workers for the gift card). We visited the local Trader Joe’s and Costco. Two of our favorite grocery stores. There was also a stop at Home Depot for a little repair job at my mom’s. While at Home Depot, I couldn’t resist looking at all the pretty flowers they have out. Have you all seen those hoses that shrivel up to nothing when there is no water in them? They had them there and got talked into trying it. The reason we liked it was the weight issue, it weighs next to nothing and anything we can do to keep the weight down in the fiver is a good thing. My mom got one too.

I got a nice surprise once we got home. Unbeknown to me, Rich arranged for two of my brothers who live nearby to come by for birthday cake and ice cream. So I got to see my baby brother Jer and his two kids, Brandon and Carley. His lovely wife was working out of town and not able to come, sorry to miss you Tasha. My brother Jay and his gang showed up too, his lady Lisa and her daughter Melanie. I can’t remember the last time I was with my brothers on my birthday and got to hear them sing me the "Happy Birthday" song. That was a nice special treat. Thanks Rich and mom.



Mom and Carley cutting birthday cake



Brother Jer, me, Lisa and Brandon



Brother Jay



Being serenaded by the family



Me, Mom, Melanie, Brandon, Lisa, Jay, Jer & Carley