Sunday, July 22, 2012

Lynn Baker

I have said this before and all you Rv'ers will certainly understand, we are so fortunate to live this life style so we can be so flexible and mobile. We were told Jim's bother Lynn's cancer, he has so valiantly fought for 14 years, was finally winning the war on his body. We arrived in April and as shown in the above picture, he was still up and about, fighting the fight with chemo treatments. We enjoyed spending time with him and his wife Lila, the worlds best care taker! Lynn passed away on July 3rd at home with all his family surrounding him. Lynn was a very soft spoken quiet man always with a fantastic positive outlook. He really will be sorely missed. But always remembered. We love you Lynn.

OLYMPIC PENINSULA

We haven't been to the Olympic Peninsula in over 12 years. We started in Gig Harbor, then stopping in Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Port Ludlow, Port Gamble, Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles and out to Cresent Lake. We enjoyed exploring the towns, noting any changes since we were last there, some are just alittle more populated but overall not too different. We really did like getting some bike rides on the Discovery Trail between Sequim and Port Angeles. On the down side we couldn't get up to Hurricane Ridge due to the weather. Unfortunately it has been pretty wet here so that has been curtailing some of the things we enjoy doing. We did meet some Boomers along the way (Margie & Tom) & always enjoy that fix, sharing stories & catching up.

LAKE SAWYER, BLACK DIAMOND, WA

FAMILY FUN

ANOTHER TRIPLE D DINER

LUNCH AT VOULA'S OFFSHORE CAFE
WE ENJOY TRYING OUT PLACES FEATURED ON DINER'S, DIVES & DRIVE INS
WE SHARED A PULLED PORK EGGS BENEDICT, UNFORTUNATLEY WE WERE SO HUNGRY , FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE. BUT IT WAS VERY GOOD.

Monday, June 18, 2012

HELL’S CANYON

After we left Joseph we headed east over Hwy 39 to Hell’s Canyon. Stopped at the overlook for the views but honestly were a little disappointed that you can’t see the river from that angle. We continued down the mountain to Oxbow where we found a delightful Idaho Power Co. campground called Copperfield with hookups for $16.00 a night. The next day we headed up river to the Dam. Along the way we passed another Power Co. park on the river, saw a vacant spot, paid for it then continued on. When we got to the visitor center at the Dam we signed up for the afternoon Jet Boat ride. We took the 2 hr tour. Great fun!

Oh look out everyone I got to steer the Jet Boat!!!!

This campsite at the Hell's Canyon campgroung is right along the river but can’t see it too well in this picture. Very scenic and peaceful, enough space for any size rig.

MOSTLY IDAHO

We left Manson after doing some work on our house and visiting with Jim’s brother for 2 weeks, we stayed at the Mill Bay Casino at night, they offer 8 campsites with free power. The weather was good, we did have two trips to Wenatchee where we took advantage of the great bike path along the river. Great 12 mile loop! We headed out for a trip through Idaho, based a lot on bike trails we want to ride. Unfortunately the weather sucked! It just kept raining. We stopped in Spokane at the Elks. We did get one 18 mile bike ride in on a cold sunny morning along the Centennial Trail. And Jim found a community center to play pickleball a few days. We finally decided to go south towards Boise as that was where the sun was shining. We headed south stopping in Lewiston & Clarkston ahhhh the sun was shining!!!

On the Lewiston side of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers is a fantastic 11 mile ride(one way).

Further south

We went south Hwy 129 th then Hwy 3 out of Clarkston . This is a fantastically beautiful drive. I've heard it's referred to as the Rattlesnake Hwy. I quess I see why. No problem in our 25 ft. camper, but would not want to take a big rig.

Joseph WA

Joseph sits in the north east corner of Oregon. We had heard about this little town at Wallowa Lake from good friends Laurie and Odel. It just intrigued us so after many years we have finally arrived. They weren’t exaggerating. The town is charming, a nice mix of not too many gift stores, several art galleries, quite a few restaurants. Walking down the street one can’t help but be impressed with the many bronze statues on every corner.

Wallowa Lake a scenic glacial lake. At the south end sits a year round State Park with 121 full hookup sites. It’s a full service park with yurts, showers, laundry etc. Surrounding the park our 3 private RV parks, some cabins, water bumper cars for the little kids, horse back riding, and a tram that takes you up 8000 ft.