Last Friday I said Aloha (not good bye) to all of the wonderful Boeing Everett Safety, CSCHA and Environmental staff and began the start of a whole new book in life called retirement. You gave me a special send off that I will never forget.
Diane and I have been looking forward to the day when we could begin our road trips around America. Well the day we have looked forward to for so long is now finally here. We are leaving a little later than planned because Diane’s mom took a fall last Saturday and broke a few ribs. We got her into our very special family doctor (Dr. Cotton) on Monday and also arranged extra care for her while we are out of town. She was doing better as of Wednesday so we decided we could hit the road.
We took off from our house 8:30 A.M. in what I would call a bit of organized chaos. All in all we managed to get most everything done on the many list we had been keeping. First stop was at Steph and Pat’s for donuts, coffee, and some fun grandparent time with Syd and Sara.
We said our good-byes around 10 AM and started down the road in the Westy. Our plan was to head down to Olympia and then cut over towards the Washington coast. After we turned off I-5 we decided we were officially “motoring” which means we had no specific destination and no schedule. The drive was beautiful with mixed clouds, a little light rain, and some sun. The scenery was beautiful and the back roads offer a glimpse of our country that reminds you of the richness, beauty, and peace that you can still find if you just get off the beaten path.
Our first road meal was at the port in Ilwaco where we stopped at the Imperial Schooner and had fried seafood and cold beer. The scenery with the boats in the harbor was beautiful, the service was outstanding, and the food was good enough.
After lunch we headed back down US 101 towards Astoria, Oregon. Based on a recommendation from Kyle (Thanks!), we thought we might try Fort Stevens State Park for our first night. After a stunning drive over the Columbia River via the Astoria Bridge we arrived at the park at about 3:30 PM. We did get briefly lost but thanks to our new auto GPS (Thanks Tanya and Brian !!!!) we got back on track right away. After settling into camp (nobody else on our loop) we started a nice fire, took a walk to the beach, and the settled into the Westy for the evening. It rained really hard during the middle of the night but was basically blue skies when we awoke the next morning.
Diane and I have been looking forward to the day when we could begin our road trips around America. Well the day we have looked forward to for so long is now finally here. We are leaving a little later than planned because Diane’s mom took a fall last Saturday and broke a few ribs. We got her into our very special family doctor (Dr. Cotton) on Monday and also arranged extra care for her while we are out of town. She was doing better as of Wednesday so we decided we could hit the road.
We took off from our house 8:30 A.M. in what I would call a bit of organized chaos. All in all we managed to get most everything done on the many list we had been keeping. First stop was at Steph and Pat’s for donuts, coffee, and some fun grandparent time with Syd and Sara.
We said our good-byes around 10 AM and started down the road in the Westy. Our plan was to head down to Olympia and then cut over towards the Washington coast. After we turned off I-5 we decided we were officially “motoring” which means we had no specific destination and no schedule. The drive was beautiful with mixed clouds, a little light rain, and some sun. The scenery was beautiful and the back roads offer a glimpse of our country that reminds you of the richness, beauty, and peace that you can still find if you just get off the beaten path.
Our first road meal was at the port in Ilwaco where we stopped at the Imperial Schooner and had fried seafood and cold beer. The scenery with the boats in the harbor was beautiful, the service was outstanding, and the food was good enough.
After lunch we headed back down US 101 towards Astoria, Oregon. Based on a recommendation from Kyle (Thanks!), we thought we might try Fort Stevens State Park for our first night. After a stunning drive over the Columbia River via the Astoria Bridge we arrived at the park at about 3:30 PM. We did get briefly lost but thanks to our new auto GPS (Thanks Tanya and Brian !!!!) we got back on track right away. After settling into camp (nobody else on our loop) we started a nice fire, took a walk to the beach, and the settled into the Westy for the evening. It rained really hard during the middle of the night but was basically blue skies when we awoke the next morning.
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