Monday - Tuesday, July 29-30, 2013 (Camano Island, WA)

Monday

Our top priority project was to get a sewer connection set up for the 5er.  It involved digging a 30 foot ditch about 2-3 feet deep.  That's a lot of digging let me tell you.  But Rich and I worked as a team and got it dug in about 2 1/2 hours on Monday.  We had a quick bite to eat and then went to Stanwood to pick up the pipe and attachments.  We got back and got started putting it together and got hung up for awhile on our connections.  When the original septic was put in, the pipe from the shop had gotten crushed and the pipe was not completely round.  This caused some headache trying to get a round pipe to fit on an out of round pipe even though we had cut out the crushed piece.  So I was sent off to the store for another rubber type coupler piece which finaly made the connection work. We put in a very long day, but got the pipe laid and tested for leaks.  We had one small leak at that pesky connection that had given us fits, but it was small enough that we were still able to take a nice long shower that evening.  It is so nice to have full hook ups again. 

Tuesday

After our usual morning routine, we were back finishing up our sewer connection project.  Rich was able to tighten the leaky connection and stop the leak so we were able to fill in the ditches.  It's amazing how much work it is to dig a ditch and then fill it in, but it was sure worth it to have the sewer connection and not have to worry about our gray/black water.  Here are some pictures of the project.

Before the pipe was installed

Rich doing some fine tuning digging

Pipe installed



All that's left is covering up the pipe



After that project was finished, Rich worked on cleaning out the shop gutters and I got to go play with some more overgrown bushes.  Since we had such a long day yesterday, we stopped earlier this afternoon.  

For dinner we got to have fresh crab that the kids/grandkids caught last night, it was yummy.  Then after a walk with Gracie, it was just another relaxing evening.  

Tuesday - Sunday, July 23-28, 2013 (Camano Island, WA)

Tuesday

We watched Jessie and Elsie in the morning because Jeff had a meeting and Sabrina was back to work.  When Jeff got home, we said our goodbye's and took off.  I was meeting Jessica at 12:45 p.m. to go out to a flower farm to pick out flowers for her wedding.  Rich dropped me off at Jessica's and went to Cabela's while we went flower shopping - not a bad trade eh?  The flower shopping was very successful, we came away with a nice colorful mix of flowers with the help of Jessica's florist.  Rich just did some window shopping at Cabela's and didn't come back with any treasure's, this time....

Then it was time to head to Camano Island which will be our homebase for the next several weeks.  It was good to be back in our home.  Here is a picture of where it is parked, it is nice and private and once we get the sewer connection set up, will be so much better than any RV park.  Thanks Brandon & Kris! 

Wednesday

We got up and did our jogging routine and then got ready to meet up with Jessica and Garry for breakfast at the Maltby Cafe in Snohomish.  Jessica had been telling us about this wonderful cafe for years now and so for her birthday treat, we were taking them to breakfast.  The food was wonderful and well worth the drive.  The cafe was very quaint and was packed for a Wednesday.  If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend checking it out.

Malby Cafe

Entrance to Maltby Cafe

Me, Rich, Jessica & Garry

 
After we ate breakfast, we checked out Flower World which was nearby.  Yesterday when we were with Jessica's florist, she recommended we stop after breakfast.  This place was amazing, it was gigantic and everything was so beautiful and again, it was well worth the stop.  It was a good thing that Jessica and Garry had an appointment or I could have spent hours and hours wandering through and checking out each greenhouse. 

One of many greenhouses filled with flowers

Biggest fern I've ever seen in my life, it was gigantic

After we left Jessica & Garry, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing some shopping before we headed back home for a nice relaxing evening in the 5er. 

Thursday/Friday

We spent these two days working on projects around Brandon & Kris' place.  They bought their home a year ago and it is a "fixer upper".  We came up last year and spent a week helping them out when they were getting ready to move in.  It is amazing to see the progress they have made in the last year.  Their main project this summer is to get the exterior of the house painted.  So in light of that, I worked on trimming up some overgrown bushes next to the house and Rich tore off an old woodshed that was attached to the back of the house.  Boy, getting rid of that woodshed made an amazing difference in the amount of light that comes into their utility room now. 

We had one slight mishap in the 5er on Friday evening.  Because we don't have a sewer connection yet, we are having to watch our water consumption.  We had a company come out and pump out the black tank to the tune of $55 - ouch.  So because we had empty tanks, I decided to do a couple of loads of laundry, plus we each had our showers.  Well on the last laundry load, the drain from the washer started overflowing onto the tile/carpet.  Wow - what a mess that was and it took hours to get it all mopped up and dried out.  I guess we won't be doing that again.  It also put the sewer connection project high on the list to get done. 

Saturday

The main event on the agenda today for me was to attend a wedding shower for Jessica in the afternoon.  The shower was put on by her friends from her local church.  It was a nice afternoon with a nice lunch and getting to meet some of Jessica's friends and of course watching Jessica open presents.  =)

 


Jessica at her bridal shower

 Sunday

Today was a special day in that we got to attend the church that Brandon is pastoring and hear his sermon.  The church is called Tidelands and is in Stanwood, WA.  It is a small church that is just getting started and is based on missional communities.  If you click on the Tidelands link it explains the concept in more detail.  We are very impressed with what Brandon & Kris are accomplishing in their ministry.  It is a lot of hard work but also a labor of love I'm sure.  

After church Rich and I drove up to Mt. Vernon to do some sightseeing.  If you recall several months back, there was a bridge that collapsed on I-5 and the story was covered in the major news networks.    Here is a picture of the temporary bridge repair which is a military style repair interestingly called a "Bailey Bridge".

Bailey bridge repair is on the left

Close up of bridge repair

We enjoyed our afternoon of sight seeing and were surprised at the amount of farming that is done in this area. 

In the evening we went with a walk down on the beach with the kids.  It is nice to be so close to the beach and there is hardly ever anyone else on the beaches.

Brandon, Calvin & Cameron climbing a sand hill



They made it to the top



Kris & Kelly looking for pretty rocks



Friday - Monday, July 19-22, 2013 (Maple Valley, WA)

Friday

Today Jessie gets to come home from the hospital - yahoo.  The plan was to leave Camano Island around 1:00 p.m. to get back to Maple Valley before the afternoon traffic got heavy.  The kids got to spend the morning playing and then Kris and I took them down to the beach for a picnic lunch before hitting the road.  Sunshine and a chance to play on the beach for a bit - what more could a person ask for - it really was a lovely day, too bad we had to leave so early - oh well, we'll be back.

We got to Jeff and Sabrina's around 3:00 and Jessie was already home, sitting on the couch when we arrived.  Wow, what a blessing to see the change in her this last week compared to last Friday when she took a turn for the worse.  Jessie has lost 10 lbs and has to be on a high calorie, high fat diet for a while - so we are talking DQ Blizzards, bacon, etc etc - this is not going to be good for my waistline - but we're glad to help out.  =)  

Jessie's neighborhood friends were sure glad to see her back home also.  It was so good to see her back home and around her friends again, even if she was moving kind of slow.  

And yes, we did have DQ Blizzards for dessert.

Saturday

We had a leisurely morning and were able to do our jog/walk routine.  It's always fun checking out the different neighborhoods and the yards.  The neighborhood behind the kids house has even bigger houses and yards, they were quite nice. 

We also got to check out the local farmers market that was held at the girls school.  The only bummer was that we had brought Gracie and we were told that we couldn't bring Gracie in, so Rich wasn't able to check it out.  They sure had a lot of nice veggies and tons of flower vendors.

The afternoon turned into a work party.  Sabrina and I worked on planting the rest of the flowers that I had purchased earlier in the week.  The kids had just had a new sprinkler system installed so we were tucking plants back into their original spots as well as picking up lots of little rocks.  Sabrina put the rocks to a good use and built a dry stream bed/path from a bench in their back yard to their patio - it turned out really nice.  Rich and Jeff went and got a load of compost and spread it on all the flower beds.  When the day was finished, the yard was in top shape and looked very lovely.  Where are the pictures you ask - well there aren't any, we just plain forgot to take some. 

Sunday

We had another relaxing day around the house.  We did take a short family bike ride around the neighborhood.  Jessie went with us most of the way but ran out of steam and headed back early with her mom.  It's amazing to see how each day her energy level and appetite are picking up. 

In the late afternoon we all went to see the movie Despicable Me 2 in 3D at the South Center Mall.  Rich used to go to this same mall when he lived up here back in the early 70's, so it was fun for him to see it as it is now.  The movie was cute, the best part were the 3D effects at the end of the movie during the credits.  If you happen to go with your kids to this movie, be sure and stay for the credits, you won't be sorry.

Monday

This morning Elsie had a gymnastics lesson and wanted us to go and watch.  That was fun, it was a small class with just her and two other little boys.  She was so much more coordinated than the little boys.  Do we sound like proud grand parents?  =)

In the afternoon, I took Jessie and Elsie to get pedicures, that was a lot of fun.  It was only the second time in my life that I have had a professional pedicure, I felt very pampered.  It was fun to see the difference in colors the girls chose.  Elsie is definitely a "pink" little girl, she likes anything pink and/or purple.  Jessie went with a neon green, it actually was very pretty and the nail tech added an extra touch with some white flowers.  I chose a reddish color.   It was fun to have some girl time.

It looks like with Jessie's improvement, that tomorrow we will be heading to Camano Island for the next couple of weeks until Jessica and Garry's wedding on August 10th.  It has been good to get to spend this time with Jeff and Sabrina and the girls.   We are glad that we were able to have the freedom in our life to change our plans at a moments notice and come out to help out when needed, one of the benefits of being retired and mobile.   

Thursday, July 18, 2013 (Camano Island, WA)

Today 's project was moving the 5er from Lake Sawyer RV park in Black Diamond to Brandon & Kris' property on Camano Island.  We will be glad to get it out of that park, I'm glad we didn't have to be staying there, it just didn't have a very nice feel to it.  Luckily our close neighbors had moved on so we had some room to maneuver.  It was funny, when Elsie first walked in the 5er, we asked her what she thought - her comment was "it's small".  I guess she's used to her big 5 bedroom house.  =)

We got on the road around 11:00 a.m. and had a nice uneventful two hour drive on the freeway up to Camano Island.  We pulled into the kids place and unloaded Elsie to go play with her cousins while we got the 5er parked and situated.  The boys were a little more "impressed" by the 5er and Cameron the oldest thought the slides were pretty cool when they came out. 

After we got set up, the kids got to play in the swimming pool, they sure had a lot of fun together and I enjoyed sitting in the sun watching them.

Cameron, Elsie & Calvin

The plan for the evening was to take the kids boat out on the Puget Sound for a boat ride and to drop a crab pot.  It was a beautiful, warm and sunny evening. 

Right to left - Me, Elsie, Kris & Calvin

The tip of Camano Island

Everett in the distance

Mt. Baker - it's huge and dominates the skyline

The boat ride was fun and we also rescued a floundering rowboat.  As we were coming back to check our crab pot, Rich spotted a person waving their oars above their head and so we went to check it out.  A man was out in a rowboat putting out his crab pots and the wind and current had come up and he wasn't making any headway back to shore.  It might have been because his rowboat had wheels that he had left on and were causing a drag in the water and the fact that he was rowing stern first and didn't seem like he was at all comfortable in the water.  He was very appreciative of the tow into shore.  I believe his wife was also glad as she was standing on the beach waiting for him.  I'm not sure how he was going to retrieve his crab pots the next day but I guess that's for him to figure out.   Our crab pot yielded one crab and it was a keeper.  We made short work of eating that yummy crab, especially Elsie, she got right in there like a pro cracking and picking her part of the crab. 

Tuesday - Wednesday, July 16-17, 2013 (Maple Valley, WA)

Tuesday

After we woke up and did our morning walk/jog routine, we packed our bags for our stay at Jeff & Sabrina's house.  We got over to their house a little after 10:00 and took over for Claudia.  Elsie wants to go visit Jessie every day in the hospital, so the plan was to take her in the afternoons. 

Lucky for us, the truck has a DVD player in the back seat which thrilled Elsie who was getting a little tired of the hour drive each way into the hospital.  So she was happy to be watching a movie while we maneuvered through the traffic which wasn't too bad mid day.  Jessie was looking much better than when we saw her on Sunday, she had her oxygen tube removed and got her catheter removed while we were there.  It is such a relief to see her improve.  Ever since Jessie went in the hospital last Tuesday night, she has wanted a "slurpy".  Her parents had promised as soon as she was able to have one, they would run out and get her one - well today was finally the day.  It was a big milestone in Jessie's recovery. 

We hung around until after 6:00 before we headed back home.  Of course, the traffic was still pretty bad according to our standards but not near as bad as Sunday night.  It was a relief to be to the house - we are getting our fill of freeway driving. 

Wednesday

Jeff had given me a "free hand" as far as "playing" with their landscaping.  So it was off to Home Depot to see what we could find in the plant department.  I had Elsie help me pick out some pretty flowers to plant - what fun!  After we got back to the house, Elsie and I started planting, she was a good little helper.  We got the majority of the flowers planted before it was time to head off to see Jessie.  Sorry, we forgot to take pictures.

When we got to the hospital room, there was no Jessie....hmmm she must be out walking.  We found her with Jeff and Sabrina out in the courtyard soaking up some sunshine.  Wow, she is doing so much better, so much in fact that they are talking about releasing her either Thursday or Friday.  Yahoo.

We have decided to move the 5er up to Brandon & Kris' house tomorrow and take Elsie and spend the night.  Elsie was excited to see her cousins and was willing to give up a visit to her sister Jessie for one day.

Monday, July 15, 2013 (Black Diamond, WA)

So after our morning jog/walk through one of the neighborhoods near the RV park, we headed up to Camano Island where Brandon & Kris and our two grand sons, Cameron & Calvin live.  They live in the country on some small acreage and we were planning on parking the 5er in front of their shop building, we just wanted to make sure it would fit.  When we were coming for Jessica's wedding in August, the plan had always been to park at Brandon & Kris' place.

Camano Island is about 90 miles from Maple Valley/Black Diamond and lucky for us I-405 was open today but it still was about a 2 hour drive in more freeway traffic.  How do these people get used to this traffic?  We have been spoiled living in Bend for so long. 

We got to the kids and checked out the spot - yep, we should fit just fine.  That's a relief.  While we were there, we got to witness an exciting event in our grandsons lives.  They raised 4 chickens from baby chicks to hens and today they got their first egg.  Boy you should have heard the shout that came from Calvin when he first found the egg - he was more excited than I've ever seen him.  Can you tell from these big smiles?  I've also never seen such tame chickens.

Calvin, holding Boulder (that's the chicken's name) and Cameron with first egg from their chickens

Brandon holding up a chicken to eat huckleberries off the bush.

After our visit with Brandon & Kris and the boys, we called Jessica who was moving into her and Garry's new home today.  We found out they already had all Jessica's things moved, that was good timing on our part eh?  Anyway we got directions and headed her direction.  We found their new home with no problem and got the grand tour.  I was impressed that her girlfriends and her already had most everything unpacked and put away.  Garry will be moving his things over just before the wedding.  This will be a nice first home for the two of them.  I don't know why we didn't think to take a picture, but we didn't.  We got to be their first dinner guests which was fun.  We had a very nice visit and got caught up on wedding plans.

We finally got back to our 5er later in the evening only to find that we had new and very close neighbors and I mean close.  Our slide on the 5er and their slide on their 5er were almost touching.  The guy from the other 5er  told Rich it was a good thing we weren't here when he pulled in because he almost took our bikes off the back of our 5er when he was maneuvering into his spot.  I'm glad we will be moving the 5er to Brandon & Kris' on Thursday.   

Sunday, July 14, 2014 (Seattle, WA)

So even though we would have a shorter travel day of only 168 miles, we were on the road by 9:00 a.m.  We had two major passes we would have to travel over today and we wanted to get up and over them before the day got too warm.  Our truck has plenty of power to get up and over the passes, the engine just gets warm, so we have to keep an eye on the tempature and the speed we are traveling. 

The first pass was called Vantage Hill and the first part of the descent was just 2 miles of 5% grade down to the Columbia River which was beautiful.  I was thinking this wasn't so bad, but then we started the climb up - 11 miles of 4-5% grade.  We just take it slow and steady and up we go and eventually we reach the top.  Whew - first pass done.

Vantage Hill - Columbia River

Soon we were passing through Ellensburg, this is familiar scenery because when we were living in Bend and went to visit the kids in Maple Valley/Marysville/Camano Island we always went up 97 to Ellensburg and then over Snoqualmie Pass.  Snoqualmie Pass was the next pass we traveled over and it was around 9 miles of between 6% grade down to 2-3%.  Again, slow and steady and up and over we went.  Whew, that was good to get those over with. 

We had reservations at Lake Sawyer in Black Diamond, WA which is near Maple Valley where Jeff and Sabrina live.  We got to the RV park and got set up.  We have no pictures of our site at Black Diamond because it wasn't picture worthy.  To date, this was probably the least desirable park we've stayed in, the plus for us was that it was close to Maple Valley.  So after getting set up, we called Jeff and headed for the hospital in Seattle to see Jessie.

Unfortunately, I-405 was closed for construction work and we had to take I-5 along with all the other travelers on this Sunday afternoon.  Yep, we are in the big city - just a couple of days ago, we were in the small towns of Montana - I think we are in for a bit of a culture shock.

I-5 - Seattle area



We got to the Children's Hospital in Seattle and found a parking spot for the dually and found our way to the check in desk.  At this hospital, visitors have to get a guest visitor badge with their picture and date and who they are visiting.  As we were getting our badges, who came walking by but our little grand daughter Elsie.  She was out taking a walk with her aunt because they were getting Jessie out of bed to sit in a chair in the sunshine for a few minutes.  Elsie gave us the grand tour of the hospital (at first we thought she was taking us to see Jessie first and were thinking, we'll never be able to find our way to her room again without a guide- it was a very big hospital).  After our tour, Elsie took us to the family waiting room, where Jessie's other grand parents (Kevin & Claudia) were waiting.  So we got an update on Jessie and all the goings on since the call Friday evening.  Wow, we knew she was a sick little girl, but I guess we didn't realize how sick she really was but she is improving bit by bit.  Today was the first time they were getting her out of bed since she arrived.  It was still hard for her to talk much because she was still on oxygen.  Wow it is hard to see your beautiful little grand daughter with all those tubes connected to her body and to see her little body in that hospital bed and feeling so badly.  We got to sit with Jessie for a little bit while her mom and dad took a quick break for a bite to eat. 

Claudia is staying over one more day before she heads home, so she will stay at the kids house with Elsie on Monday, so we won't be needed until Tuesday.  That works well for us because we need to figure out what to do with the 5er.  So after 8:00 p.m. we headed back home to the 5er.

Now we had been on the road since 9:00 a.m. and expected that by 8:00 p.m. the traffic would be thinning out - wrong......because of the closure of I-405, it was even more crowded than when we came into Seattle this afternoon.  It was stop and go for miles and miles - you can't really tell from the picture the scope of all the cars on the road.....where are all these people going at this time of night? 

We finally did make it back to the 5er that night, after a grueling battle through the traffic and having to take a detour because our exit off I-5 was also closed for construction that evening.  Boy, we are glad we don't have to deal with this kind of traffic much, it's exhausting.  I will leave you with a parting shot of Mt. Rainer which was pretty spectacular with the setting sun reflecting off the snow.

Saturday, July 13, 2013 (Moses Lake, WA)

We got word that we were needed in Maple Valley.  We got a text late last night that Jessie was being preped for emergency surgery and to please pray.  A short while later we got another text that instead of the surgery at her current hospital, that she was being moved to Seattle Children Hospital.  Apparently the anesthesiologist came out and talked to Jeff and Sabrina and said that if it was his daughter, he wouldn't operate, he suggested taking her to Children's Hospital in Seattle for a second opinion.  It's a good thing that Jeff and Sabrina followed his advice and thank goodness for answered prayer.  They got Jessie to the Children's Hospital and they advised against the surgery at this time as Jessie's symptoms were typical for a child with a ruptured appendix.  It looks like they are anticipating her to have to stay in the hospital for another 7-14 days, she's one sick little girl. 

So we got up early and got on the road by 9:00 a.m.  It was going to be a long travel day for us and we would be pulling the 5er. We were going to try and make it to Moses Lake which was a 326 mile drive.  We also had our first experience fueling up the truck with the fiver attached, that was interesting.  I'm glad that we usually don't have to fuel hooked up, but I'm sure the first time you pull into the big truck bays it is a little intimidating.  I was out of the truck and checking to make sure that the 5er wasn't going to hit the top of the roof because our bay was a little shorter than the others and this trucker comes flying in with a trailer full of vehicles.  He get's out of his truck and he tells me, no problem, you've got lots of room to spare, we had about two inches compared to his one inch.  We couldn't believe how close the top of the cars were to the roof.  I guess that trucker was pretty confident of what his actual height of the vehicle was compared to the posted height of the roof.  I guess we are not so trusting yet.

We pulled into Suncrest Resort in Moses Lake around 4:00 p.m.   We had called ahead to this RV park earlier in the day while stopped at a rest area taking a break, so we weren't sure what we would get, but my, what a nice park it turned out to be.  It's too bad we are only spending one night.  They have the most amazing swimming pool & hot tub areas.  One of the swimming pools even had a slide.  Unfortunately when we went for our walk through the park, we forgot our camera. 

We had some dinner and then called it a night.  We are getting up early to get on the road before it gets too warm as we have two big passes to travel over tomorrow. 

Thursday - Friday, July 11-12, 2013 (Lakeside, MT)

Thursday

We had a nice short travel day, just the kind we like, it was only about 2 hours.  The scenery was again very beautiful and there was only light traffic.  At Salmon Lake we were about 5,000 elevation so it was amazing how these mountains just seemed to rise up as we drove along.

Swan Mountains

Swan Mountains



Swan Mountains

We got to our RV park with full hookups shortly after noon.  We had a nice pull through site.  We could only stay one night in this site and if we wanted to stay a second night, we'd have to move sites.  Because this park is on Flathead Lake it stays full pretty much through the summer.  We took a look at the second site and decided we would stay the second night.  This will be a first, moving sites within parks. 

Edgewater RV Park

After we got set up and had a quick bite for lunch, we did our usual explore the town.  There wasn't too much to see, since it is a pretty small town.  We did stop and check out a local park with a swimming beach.  It was pretty overcast, though it was still warm out.   So warm that as we were eating our Blizzards, (they have a DQ in town and it had been awhile) there was a bit of a breeze and my melting ice cream was blowing down my arm.  So I had to check out the water and rinse off a bit.  The water didn't seem quite as warm as Salmon Lake, but it was still pretty nice.

Swimming Beach at Volunteer Park





Swimming Beach at Volunteer Park



After dinner we took a walk and checked out the local marina and another county park with a swimming beach.

County park swimming area - notice the clouds have cleared off some

County swimming dock

 Friday

We finally had a place where we could do our walk/jog routine - at Salmon Lake the highway didn't really have any shoulders and the campground loop was pretty small.  We did our walk/jog routine along the lakeshore and got to see all the gorgeous homes while we were at it.  There sure were some nice ones.

We got ready to move to our next site 13.  The checkout time was 11:00 but the folks that were vacating site 13 must not have had a watch.  They didn't leave until about 11:30 and we had someone waiting to get into our old site - oh well, what can you do but wait patiently.

Our new site is very nice - too bad we couldn't have it for more than one night - it is so much more private than the first one.  The backside of the 5er looks out onto a grassy area with a small little pond and then a neighborhood. 

Edgewater RV Park - second site

We got an update from on our grand daughter - looks like she won't be going home from the hospital tomorrow and will have to stay a couple more days.  Her doctor said her appendix rupture was one of the worst he's seen.  Also her white blood count is still going up so we are waiting to hear what they will do next.  Please pray for a speedy recovery for our precious little grand daughter, Jessie.    

We took another walk through town and we checked out the "wet bike" rentals, but they are a bit too spendy and the weather wasn't all that nice to be out on the water, there was quite a bit of cloud cover again today.  We talked about washing the 5er and truck, but there is a chance of showers in the morning so we decided to wait a bit longer, no sense washing it just to have it get covered in road grime again. 

We will be hitting the road tomorrow, either toward Libby, MT or Maple Valley, WA depending on whether or not we are needed to help with Elsie, our other grand daughter. 

Monday - Wednesday, July 8-10, 2013 (Salmon Lake, MT)

Monday we packed up and were on the road by around 10:00 a.m. for our travel to Salmon Lake State Park.  We were ready to see some new sights, but we also enjoyed our time at White Sulphur Springs.  Other than when we were in Bend at Crown Villa, this was the longest that we have stayed put in one place since April.  We've been in Montana since June 6th, also the longest we've spent in one state since we started out in April.  The funny thing is our 5er has actually been in Montana longer than we have since we left it sitting for that week that we ran back to Oregon. 

We had a nice drive to Salmon Lake State Park, we arrived around 1:00 p.m. This is the second state park we've stayed at in Montana and it was a very nice, well kept park.  We were worried if we would fit in our site or not, but by backing our back wheels up to the curb and hanging the back end of the 5er over the curb, we had plenty of room.  We like our site, the only thing we notice is the road noise as we are pretty close to the highway.  We have gotten use to next to no traffic being in White Sulphur Springs for so long. 

Salmon Lake State Park

 This site is electric only but there is a water spigot next to our campsite so we were able to fill our tank with freshwater.  We'll have to use a dump station at Seely Lake when we leave.  We can see the lake through the trees, but this part of the campsite is up on a hill, so the sites are not next to the water.  There are only two sites that sit next to the water but they don't have electrical connections and they are in a different area of the park. 

After we got set up, we pretty much just relaxed.  I must say, I've never seen so many black flies before.  I tried to sit outside and read, but got tired of slapping the flies away.  We walked around the park but were on the look out for poison ivy as there were signs posted saying it was in the vicinity....bummer.  The camp host assured us that it wasn't in the actual campground but down along the lake shore in a few spots, but of course when you know it's around, you think you see it everywhere.

Tuesday

The plan for today was to drive into Missoula and have Rich get measured by a tux shop so we can call the measurements into a tux shop in Marysville for Jessica's wedding. 

It was a pretty drive into Missoula.  We have passed through Missoula a couple times on this trip but always via I-90 and it looked like a nice city.  Thank goodness for Google Maps on our I-phone.  I don't know how we would have found this tux shop without it.  We have definitely been using our I-phones alot on this adventure.  We got Rich's measurements and were on to our next stop.  We found this store called Good Food which is a lot like a Whole Foods in Bend, but much bigger.  Their bulk food section was huge.  It was fun looking around and we ended up with a few items but that is one thing about living this lifestyle, we try and just buy what we need or use within a week or so.  We just can't haul all that extra weight around as well as we don't have the space to store everything like you do in a house.  I come from a family that likes to stock up and have the cupboards full, so this has been a change for me. 

Our next stop after Good Food was of course, Costco.  We had a few more items that we wanted to pick up there that we didn't get at Good Food.  Then it was back to Salmon Lake, we liked Missoula.  It was easy to get around in and the area around Costco reminded us of Bend, with all the shopping - Target, Old Navy, Petsmart to name a few. 

Once back, we just kicked back the rest of the afternoon.  We took a walk around the park and I started on my Sudoku puzzle book.  When we were back in Oregon, my mom got me started on the easy Sudoku puzzle in the newspaper.  When we were in town I decided to pick up a puzzle book - it's good for the brain right?  Well it's also very addicting.  I'm liking the easy section of the puzzle book, I can actually get a puzzle completed.  I did three in one sitting.

Wednesday

Well late last night we got a text from Jeff that our grand daughter Jessie was in the ER with appendicitis.  We tried calling for more info, but we have such spotty cell service we couldn't connect, thank goodness the text messages were going through.  Jessie is scheduled for surgery sometime this morning so it was a long morning waiting for the news that the surgery was finished.  Jessie came through fine, but her appendix had burst so she will be in the hospital until Saturday.  We are praying for a speedy recovery for Jessie.

We did go swimming in the lake this afternoon.  It was so nice to be in fresh water swimming, it brought back memories of my childhood, swimming in our pond and the North Fork.  Gracie was with us part of the time and she would come in the water until it hit her belly and then that stopped her.  I tried to get her to swim out to me, but she wasn't having anything to do with that.  When she was a puppy, I took her in the hot tub a time or two and she could swim, so she must be waiting for that hot water. 

After we went swimming, we took a drive to the Seely Lake area to check out the dump station and a couple of the other campgrounds in the area.  The other campgrounds were not near as nice as the one we were in and they did not have any services like electric.  None of the campsites were located on the water and most the time, you couldn't even see Seely Lake.  I'm glad we stayed at Salmon Lake.  This area is where they filmed the movie a "River Runs Through It" and it is definitely a beautiful area.

Other than reading, doing some Sudoku puzzles and getting updates on our grand daughter, Jessie that was our day.  Tomorrow we head for Lakeside on Flathead Lake.  I'll leave you with some pictures from our stay at Salmon Lake State Park.

Salmon Lake

Looking North - Salmon Lake

Little cabins dot the shoreline - Salmon Lake

Salmon Lake - that lodge was on an island in the Lake, you had to boat over to it - the boathouse is on the right. 

Swimming in Salmon Lake

 

Sunday, July 7, 2013 (White Sulphur Springs, MT)

Today was a pretty laid back day.  We got up to sunshine and did our walk/jog routine, had a nice leisurely breakfast and then headed to church.  We attended the same church we did last week, Mountainview Community Church and we liked it as much this week as we did last week.  They had a young high school girl that was water baptised during the service which was pretty cool.  The church was really packed today, they had to set up some folding chairs, I don't know if the young lady had a lot of family attending to celebrate her decision or if there were just a lot of travelers passing through because of the 4th of July holiday.  We saw a couple of folks from our campground at church.

After church, we came home had some lunch and relaxed for awhile.  Rich talked to his sister Connie on the phone - (hi Connie) and then plan was to head over to tour the "Castle House".  We had started to do this tour a couple days after we first got here but that was the day that we had the funnel cloud storm and so headed back to the 5er instead of taking the tour. 

We have no pictures of the tour because they don't allow photography - not sure why, but they don't.  If we would have done this tour first, I probably would have been more impressed.  The house was amazing with the oak woodwork and moulding, but it's story is kind of sad.  The gentleman that built it only lived in it 10 years before moving to California for health reasons.  His son sold it for $500 in the early 1900's to a local ranching family and they only lived in it for 5 years and then they turned it into a boarding house.  In the 1960's they turned it into a museum.  The house just feels sad and still kind of neglected, it needs some major care and love.  The house is furnished with miscellaneous local Meagher County antiques - so there is lots of "stuff" in it and some of the rooms are not set up as they were originally intended - like the bathroom is no longer a bathroom - it just had some antique stuff in it that didn't even relate to bathrooms.  Our tour guide seemed a bit distracted - her cell phone kept ringing and she kept answering it and going off and having a conversation with her sister.  I'm glad we took the time to visit, but it wasn't as amazing as I thought it was going to be.  Here's a picture of the exterior that we took a couple weeks ago.  The house has a basement which is the first level of windows you see, and then the main floor and the second floor which had 4 bedrooms, the bathroom which is no longer a bathroom and a music room.  The entry way into the house was beautiful, the woodwork was cherry and had a beautiful staircase to the second floor.  The bones of the house were still there, it just needed some love inside.

Castle House

After the tour, we came back and Rich got a few things put away outside in anticipation of our move tomorrow.  We can't believe we've been here so long - it's been our longest stay in one spot since we left Bend.  It's been fun exploring the area but we are ready to move on.  We'll leave you with some shots of the scenery from the campground.  The wood cut outs the owner makes in the winter time and has them all around the campground. 

We were trying to capture the sunbeams shining through the clouds

And one last sunset picture - the sunsets here are incredible - this one was so luminous, it looked like it was lit up within - it was amazing - the picture doesn't do it justice.

Sunset over the Big Belt Mountains

Sunset reflecting off the clouds

Our next stop is a state park so I'm pretty sure we will be without a WiFi connection so it will probably be later in the week before we post more of our adventures.   Until then, be safe and God Bless.