There and Back Again

My art portfolio

2010-09-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Cards, prints etc. can be ordered at http://redbubble.com/ I would love to have you stop by and look around.

Thanks for taking a look,
Diane

June 2010- Camping at Kalaloch with Sydney & Sara

2010-06-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Our annual camping trip with Sydney and Sara was so much fun. The weather report did not look very promising when we left home but we ventured on anyway and we are so so thankful we did!!!!!!

Silly sister fun in the Westy on the way over. There is never a dull moment.

Grandpa is always full of surprises like a quick stop for ice cream or special music from the soundtrack of "The Princess and The Frog" to make the trip exciting.

We arrived at last, and look at the view from our camp spot!!!!!! The trail to the beach is right in front of us.

Camp Westy June 2010- Life is good.

Of course Barbie must also learn to camp. Can this be true, sand and dirt? Where will I shower? I am not sure this is what I call a photo shoot!!!!

Fun in the sand, this never gets boring.

What do you mean there aren't any showers and this is only day 1 of our trip!!!!!!

Of course what is a trip to the ocean if you don't get buried at least once.

I sure am glad I married this guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun in the waves with Grandpa, Grandma can be found basking in the warmth of the sun high above the pounding surf!

Sara and Grandma's sand castle

Westy fun, they are such good readers.

Our sweethearts!

Walking the beach.

Sydney and Sara are such good photographers!

Sara and her stick. She loved this stick and carried it all the way to camp!

Ruby Beach- Our yearly picture at the hole in the rock.

Grandpa's bridge. The tide was pretty high at Ruby Beach so we were not able to see a lot of marine life, but Grandpa did build a bridge so we could go over to some tide pools.

Another chapter in our wonderful Westy adventures comes to a close. A good time was had by all!!!!!!

Fun with Andrea & Janna

2010-06-07T15:14:00.001-07:00

Black Pine Lake Camping Adventure:

Pearl showing off her new canvas!!

Such a peaceful and quite spot.

You gotta have a fire. Is that snow on the ground?

Hobo Stew

The cooks in action.

Andrea and Diane painting on the dock.

Duncan was not so sure about the sudden hail storm!

Bellingham Fun:

Andrea learning her Mongolian

The garden really looks nice this year, a lot of love.

Andrea and I chose to paint and go for a bike ride.

Others chose more exciting things to do with their day. Pearl was going to get a new canvas and what an adventure it was!!!!!!!!!!

Janna is having so much fun here!

B and Janna hard at work.

The top came off easy enough but then the fun began.

Sleep overs are soooooo much fun!

2010-06-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

Being creative with kleenex. The fun never ends!!!!!

The sisters.

Let the show begin.

There is nothing quite like Grandpa's pizza.

A special to order pizza for Sara.

Aren't they just precious!

Cooking with Grandpa. It seems chocolate is always involved.

Grand Canyon Hike 2010

2010-06-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our big adventure this Spring was our Southwest trip and hike down into the Grand Canyon. What a wonderful adventure. We had rain, hail, snow, rainbows and sunshine which made this an adventure we will remember for many years. We can't wait to do it again!

View from the South rim

South Rim

South Kaibab trail- It is hailing as we started out. 7.5 miles to the Colorado river and our camp site.

The rainbows really helped encourage us!

A much needed lunch break.

Finally, the Colorado River in sight.

Hiking out the Bright Angel trail. 9.5 miles out

The "Devil's corkscrew" section of the trail.

Jacob's ladder section of the trail.

Finally we made it back to the rim and quess what, it is snowing!

SunRiver Fun- March 2009

2009-03-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

We went on a mid-winter adventure to Sun River, OR with Stephanie, Pat and the grandchildren, and oh what fun we all had! The house was just perfect with a special kids hideout, lots of toys, a well supplied kitchen, and a hot tub out the back door.

The trails at Sunriver were great for walking and biking.

Sister time.

Cooking pizza with Grandpa is always fun.

Fun in the snow was had by everyone. The cross country sking was spectacular. Stephanie and Pat loved the powder on Bachelor!!!!!!

A curious friend.

The hot tub was a big success

Stephanie & Pat thought so too!

Birthday surprises.

View from Pilot Butte, Bend, OR looking West. The girls were great on the mile long hike up the trail.

Our last day, time to reflect on our wonderful time together and think about heading home.

October Family Fun

2008-10-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

Home at last; settled in for the Fall and having fun with the grandchildren.

The Artists at work, such concentration!!!!

Sleep overs are just wonderful.........

Grandpa delight!

Helping Grandpa make Pizza and Grandma make the dough.

Apple Picking

Such great helpers!!!!
Halloween Fun.

Some adjustments were needed on this years Halloween costumes. Padme and Princess Lea stood so still while the measurments were made.

More Halloween fun, and such scary ghosts!

Day 19-20, 9/27-9/28, 2008- Oregon coast to home, Woodinville

2008-09-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

We headed north along the coast Saturday morning and were so blessed with the sunny weather. The views were just spectacular!!! We arrived at Cape Lookout Campground around 5:00 and fortunately were able to find a spot. We were able to go for a nice long walk on the beach, but then we ended up cooking dinner in the dark.

Sunday we continued up the coast and at Cannon beach we were able to go for a nice walk along the beach. The weather was just gorgeous. In a weak moment we thought about cutting over to I-5 and driving over to Olympia but thankfully we came to our senses and continued on home via the Hood Canal and the Bremerton Ferry to Seattle. Why would we go any other way?

On the last leg of our travels, we both reflected on all the things we had seen and done in the last twenty days, so many beautiful places and such wonderful memories. A truly charmed adventure, on the road less traveled, 2,204 miles in all. We were true to our goal to stay off of the main highways, we never touched I-5 while traveling through WA, CA and OR. It is good to be home and see family and friends.

Day 18, 9/26/2008- Oregon Coast, Harris Beach

2008-09-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

We woke up to another beautiful day along the coast. Decided to stay another night here and just take in the views and sunshine. Harris Beach is truly a five star hotel. It is definitely our favorite camp ground. Wi-Fi, showers like home with real hot water, and even a laundry. And of course the beach is just spectacular.

Day 8 thru day 17 –(Sep 16-25) At the Lake house or lovingly known as “My Mothers Castle” & North on the coast.

2008-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

Day 8, 9/16/08- We arrived at the Glenhaven lake house Tuesday afternoon and were pleased to find everything in good order. No obvious plumbing leaks, yippee (we didn’t look to close). We always enjoy the beautiful, ever changing views of the lake and Mt. Konocti. We went for a swim and the water was just perfect. We woke up Wednesday to clear blue skies and a beautiful day. Di kept busy trimming bushes and making piles!!

Bruce cleaned the deck and then we gave the deck a much needed coat of stain.

The turkeys are presenting a real problem this year, there are so many of them and their path to the neighbors is starting to erode the steep area by the “water line project”. NOT a good thing. Bruce was quite creative with his beach combing and found some perfect boards to terrace the area. He also put up a “turkey” wire fence to block their path. I must say they are not the smartest of animals, the new fence is causing quite a bit of gobbling as they decide what to do with the new obstacle.

Day 13, 9/21/08- Well I suppose Hot Tamale had to speak up once during our trip, so she decided a crack in the coolant tank might add a little excitement. After all we are close to the vortex of Vanagon doom, N. California. Is this an omen that we should avoid N. California? We are most thankful that we were not on the road when this occurred. Plan still to be determined……..

Day 14, 9/22/08- Bruce was very fortunate to be able to order a replacement for the leaking coolant tank from Go Westy (excellent and helpful staff), should arrive UPS tomorrow, Tuesday, around 2:00 if all goes well. Not a bad spot to be marooned, beautiful view of the lake, running hot water, nice bed to sleep in etc. We are most thankful!!! I suppose this is just a good reminder that when on the road less traveled to hold the travel plans loosely.
Day 15, 9/23/08-Yippee, UPS did their thing and the car part arrived early afternoon. Big smiles on our faces when we saw the familiar brown truck!!!! Bruce did a great job of installing the new coolant tank. Hot tamale is running cool (or at least cooler) again and we plan on packing up and heading up the coast.

Day 16, 9/24/08- Drove 240 miles. We landed at Prairie Creek Redwood State Park along the CA redwoods, just north of Orick. What a nice park and no sign of “Deliverance” here. Bruce getting into the true “on the road” mode scavenged three Dundee Brown Honey beers left by the dumpster in camp (gotta recycle good beer, right?). Amazing :) !!!! We heard Roosevelt Elk bugling in the meadow at night. The weather forecast looks good, so we can hike tomorrow.

Day 17, 9/25/08- Well, not sure what I was thinking when Bruce said , “hey lets go on an 11.2 mile hike through the redwoods to the ocean and back.” So off we went down the James Irvine trail and looped back thru the Miners Ridge trail (trail is rated as one of the best redwood forest hikes in the world).
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Prairie%20Creek/Miners.html

It really was a beautiful hike through such huge trees. Bruce was kind enough to agree to walk behind me as cougar bait (I joked that we should paint eyeballs on his butt like they do for tigers in the Indian brush). We did whistle and sing loudly a couple of times when the berry bushes were over our heads and fresh bear poop (lots of it) was visible on the trail. Definitely a charmed day.

Finally we arrive at the end of the trail, feeling every bit of our 56 and 61 years!

We then drove to Harris Beach State Park for the night, just north of Brookings Oregon. Such a great site with showers (the best we have encountered in our travels) and even laundry facilities.

Day 7- Exploring special memories. A visit to the Baccala Ranch near Chester, CA

2008-09-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

After our long hike yesterday we broke camp early, highly motivated by the idea of a nice long shower at days end. We headed to Chester, CA for some great biscuits and gravy at the Cooper Kettle, highly recommended by Stephanie.

We decided to see if we could find the Baccala Ranch where Diane worked during the summers during the mid-late 60's. What a wonderful travel down memory lane!!!! After multiple wrong turns on gravel logging roads, Bruce's persistence paid off. We ventured past a barb wire gate and lucked into meeting Pauline and Mel Corliss, relatives of the Baccala's. They were very gracious and filled us in on all the goings on in the last 40 years.

We eventually were able to locate Soldier Meadows where the main ranch houses resided. Such great memories of a time long ago that I will always cherish. Our plans to make it to Clear Lake were aborted due to our great time at the Baccala ranch and we found a great motel in Chico. The shower was delightful!!!

Day 4 thru 6- Journey into hell and back (Bumpass Hell) and on top of Mt. Lassen

2008-09-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

We woke up to another day of full sunshine, we haven't seen a cloud since we left home!

After a 180 mile drive we arrived at North Summit Lake camp in Mt. Lassen National Park. To our great surprise the camp was almost full, but we were able to get one of the last spots. There are so many trails and lakes to venture out to from this spot that we are sure to come back and do some serious backpacking next year.

We hiked to Bumpass Hell the next morning and what a great hike. Very easy trail and the thermal features were just awsome. We spent the afternoon just reading and relaxing beside Summit Lake.

Thanks to Bruce we were up bright and early the next morning for our trek up Mt. Lassen Summit, elevation 10, 450 ft. Yikes, I must say I was a bit dubious about being able to make the climb. Thanks to Bruce's patience we were able to do the round trip in 4.5 hours.

Day 3- Mt. Vernon, OR to Goose Lake, OR (237 miles)

2008-09-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

After a great breakfast of camp site biscuits and gravy we headed South along Hwy 395. We enjoyed more of the John Day beautiful valley and then progressed into the dry flat lands south of Burns Oregon which gave way to the extraordinary fault blocked uplift of the Abert Rim! This feature is just spectacular!!!!!!!! The Abert Rim that runs for 30 miles is faulted and rises 2500 ft above the valley, the highest such visible fault in the US. We also passed multiple saline or alkaline lakes which were so very scenic. A side note for you rock lovers, we were able to pick up a sample of the Steens basalt along the road which is chuck full of plagioclase crystals. :)

We ended our day camping at Goose Lake near Lakeview Oregon. The lake is an extremely large and very shallow (~8 feet) lake that lies in both Oregon and California. It was on one of the major western US emigrant trails (Applegate Trail).

Day 2 Spray, OR to Mt Vernon, OR. (84 miles) - Journey through time exploring the John Day country of Eastern Oregon

2008-09-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

We left camp in the morning with the intention to drive all the way to Hat Creek by Mount Lasen. We found ourselves so enjoying the beauty of the ranch lands and the geologic beauty of this area that we played all day and only drove 84 miles.

We stopped and toured an old ranch homestead, went through the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center and then decided to go on a 4 mile hike through the Blue Basin trail. We were fortunate to find a very peaceful and cool place to camp just south of Mt. Vernon.

Day 1: Woodinville to Spray, OR (207 miles) - On the Road Again

2008-09-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well the Westy, fondly nicknamed "Hot Tamale" is running cool these days after a some major engine work this Spring. So we are off on our adventure of the road less traveled or (There and Back Again Part 2). We left home on Sep 9th. and drove the back roads to Eastern Oregon and were so happy to be out just going down the road through new and interesting places again!

The windmill farms near Wasco Oregon were a real surprise and so fun to see close up, they are really huge!!!! There are 71 windmills in the "farm" and they are expected to generate enough power for 500 homes.

Traveling along the John Day River, the 2nd longest free flowing in the lower 48 states, was a true delight to our eyes. It flows 218 miles from the Strawberry mountains into the Columbia.

We found a very quiet camp at Bull Prarie resorvoir north of Spray, OR for our first night out. Very restful with only one other camper.

Snowy Day in WA

2007-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a surprise this morning, an inch of snow in our backyard! Fortunately most of the snow was North of us so our trip to the airport this morning went well. Bruce and Beverly are off to sunny California.

I will be toasty as warm inside with a warm fire going and a good book to read. Quite a contrast to the Maui travelers. Enjoy the sun.

Family Fun

2007-11-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

Fun with grandma and grandpa- Mount Konocti Turkey headdresses.

Thanksgiving had extra special meaning for us this year as we reflected on the past 12 months. We were so thankful to have our family with us, good health and a warm and toasty house. The "swans" were in prime form with their rendition of Swan Lake. We were quite privileged to have a private viewing!!!

Sleep overs at Grandpa and Grandma's, oh what fun we all have.

Getting the Christmas tree was a great adventure.

The girls did such a wonderful job of decorating the tree. Life is so good!

Day 16-18: Homeward Bound. Oct 18-20, 2007

2007-10-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

We broke camp early on Thursday and headed North up the Oregon coast. The winds were gusting 30-50 mph which made for some spectacular ocean views.

Bruce was quite busy clutching the steering wheel with all the wind gusts pushing the Westy around and also prudently keeping one eye glued to the temperature gauge. I am sure we were the only folks driving Hwy 101 in a winter storm with our windows down! Our instructions to drive with the heater and fan on full blast seem to be doing the trick as the dreaded red light has not appeared yet on the temperature gauge.

We spent a very rainy/windy night at Beverly Beach State Park Thursday night. I think we were the first campers to break camp by 7:00. The wind was blowing so hard that sea foam was blowing over the road and onto the Westy. The unusual thing here is, we were driving on a cliff about 200 ft above the ocean!!! Ah, the thrill of the road.

We had a delightful diversion in the afternoon as we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park by Ilwaco, WA.

Time well spent, well worth the hour it takes to travel through time with these amazing explorers. The wind had been gusting here on Thursday at 75 mph. We were even having a difficult time bracing ourselves against the onslaught.

Friday afternoon we decided it would be better to camp along the peaceful Hood Canal vs. landing in Seattle for the 4:00 afternoon rush. We camped at Twanoh State Park where we again had a very rainy night, but the Westy did not let us down as we were still nice and dry in the morning. We continued on home to journeys end via the Bremerton Ferry and slipped on home with our minds reflecting on our wonderful adventures, including the ups and downs, over the last 18 days.

There And Back Again, to be continued.............

Day 14-15 –- Westy Almost Fixed, Back to The Lake House, and On to Brookings, Tuesday - Wednesday, October 16-17, 2007

2007-10-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

We finally got the van back on Tuesday afternoon with the leak fixed but the “normal” temperature now at ~ ¾ of maximum. Stephan (Stephan’s Auto Autohaus) said we should be able to make it home (if we were careful, drove slow, and kept the heater on). It seemed we didn’t have much of a choice unless we wanted to spend weeks in Sacramento living in our one set of clothes (Di wanted to travel light). So we decided to head for the lake house and get ready for a trip home.

Wednesday morning we got up about 6:30 AM, got the house all secured, Westy packed, and then began our journey north via the Redwoods. The Westy was definitely running hotter than we have ever seen it so we cranked the heater to high, opened the windows, and kept the eyes glued to the gauge. Going up hills really increased the pucker factor as we watched the gauge go higher yet!!!! The high temps finally gave us the name for the Westy that we have been searching for – Hot Tamale or Tamale for short. We plan to look for a chili pepper decal for the window. After a long day we finally made it safely to Brooking and back to Harris Beach State Park, almost feels like home. We took a nice walk to the beach look out and then settled in for some of Di’s “special” chicken soup, some Oreo bites, and a full bottle of wine (man did we need it). Life is good. Tomorrow we will motor up the Oregon coast and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Day 10-12 – Rainy Day Reading Books, Seeing Good Friends in Sacramento and The Westy Really Burps Bad - Oct 12-15

2007-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

The rain finally arrived in force last Friday at the lake and it remained cool all day. We both spent the majority of the day enjoying a fire in the fireplace and reading library books we had brought from home. A nice way to sit out the storm and it was good to know that the critical plumbing work was done and the hole was nicely covered with gravel, dirt and bark.

Saturday we headed down to Sacramento to see the Honea's, our good friends from the "oil patch" days. We hadn't seen them in a number of years so it was really nice to be able to catch up. Saturday night we went to Emily's high school marching band competition. We both really enjoyed ourselves doing something completely new and it was fun to see all the youthful energy and creativity.

Sunday around 1PM we headed out for a stop at Costco in Sac, then on to Home Depot in Woodland, and then back to the lake house. Our auto GPS mapped us right to Costco perfectly. I decided to check our engine oil (trying to take really good care of the Westy) and noticed that engine coolant was leaking big time (no fooling around this time) so we called AAA and were towed back to Brain and Nancy's. Then it was time to surf then web and find a hopefully good VW van mechanic. I was able to find excellent reviews on a shop within a few miles of the Honea's. I called first thing when Monday they opened and the owner said he could get me in, "sweet" !!! So we called AAA again, had the van towed to the shop, and met with the mechanic. It turns out the Westy's (or Vanagon's) are notorious for cooling system problems due to the weight of the vehicle and engine size. Anyway the shop called later in the morning and it looks like we should have it back today. We will then head back to the lake house and make a decision about where we go next (home or ????).

Day 7-9 – Stormy Weather, Plumbing Repair Success and Fun Lake House Chores – Tuesday - Thursday, October 9-11, 2007

2007-10-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

The side trip to the lake house has been good despite some stormy weather. I was able to get in one swim late Monday after our arrival. The water was cool but refreshing after the anxiety filled journey from Garberville the overheated Westy.

On Tuesday we ventured out to Lakeport for some groceries, hardware supplies, and some time at a WiFi location. We had lunch at Victoria’s Café on Main Street had lunch and did some e-mail and blogging. Nice location but we need to some find something where we don’t buying a meal just to get some internet time.

We checked out the main water line plumbing repair also on Tuesday and decidedly initially that the leak was so minor that we could let go and continue to monitor. The middle of the night brought some well-reasoned second thinking and we both decided that I had better take another stab at the repair. The memory of the wet ground and tree fall at home last winter was still too real. So Wednesday I started the day by re-doing the end of the new piping where I had a galvanized union and following the plastic to metal join instructions that were in the book that John Dolmar lent me. Well after a four or five hours of careful work and some re-piping I had success with no leaks at either end. Wahoo!!!!

Today (Thursday) we spent the day filling in the water pipe hole, cutting firewood from beach logs, and general yard maintenance (Diane always enjoys the chance to clip, rake, hose off things so she was in heaven). After the morning’s work we both read and then took a short nap, it felt so good to be able to do that in the middle of the day. After the nap I started to work on the roasted lemon chicken for dinner. My kind of fun.

Day 6-7 – The Westy Burps and We Detour to The Lake House- Monday-Tuesady, October 8,9, 2007

2007-10-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well our journey southward into California proved to be interesting. Our rough plan had been to stop at Patrick Point State Park near Trinidad. The AAA camp book made it seem nice with sites near the ocean. The reality turned out to be quite different. Only one campground loop was open and the sites looked to be hacked out of the berry brambles. The bonus was the potential fellow campers we saw that evoked strains of the banjo music from Deliverance. We both felt an uneasiness that said we should hit the road and move south.

We finally arrived at a really nice campsite in the middle of the Humboldt State Redwoods State Park at the Burlington Campground. The peace and serenity of the campground was just what we needed. The next morning we hiked the Founder's Grove Loop. It was an incredible glimpse into a part of our world that reminds us how tiny and insignificant we humans can be compared to trees as old as 2500 years. Truly awe inspiring.

Back on the road we headed south for another beach experience at Fort Bragg or Mendocino. Not so fast. We had a bit of reality introduced into our trip when the Westy decided to overheat and start dripping more oil than normal. We were in Garberville at the time and seemed to be surrounded by decidedly unfriendlies. Given we that we both had acid stomaches we decided it best to head to the lake house to regroup. Good decision on the weather front also as it looks like a major storm has set in for several days at least.

Day 5 – Onward to Californ ia– Sunday, October 7, 2007

2007-10-07T11:40:00.001-07:00

Well after a wonderful two days at Harris Beach State Park we are off to California. The weather and the beach views were beyond belief with seastacks, arches, and brown pelicans. We will definitely be back if it is only to experience the outstanding hot showers !

Day 3 – Onward to Brookings, OR - Friday, October 5, 2007

2007-10-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

It is Friday morning and we are headed out for another day of Oregon Coast vistas. The quasi-destination for the day was Brookings, Oregon. We figured that we needed to be settled in early due to the higher volume of weekend campers. The coastline scenes continued to be beauty beyond belief with exception of a US 101 stretch that veered inland, still a peaceful relaxing drive but less scenic than the ocean. We arrived in Brookings at 3:30 (sunshine and blue skies and started looking for a place to stay. Our hope was to find a place that had showers ( by now we need one), maybe WiFi, and close by access to a laundry mat. We first checked out some local RV parks but after one look at all the road slugs parked on concrete we decided to head back to Harris Beach State Park. This turned out to be a very good choice because the park is beautiful, has hot showers (wahoo, they felt good), has WiFi which we are told works if you try it by the park building, and best of all has an incredible beach area complete with sea stacks and tide pools. We spent the evening getting our clothes washed, enjoying the campfire and making some phone calls. Dinner was “interesting” – good salad with homemade vinaigret, really bad Tasty Bite brand Pad Thai (tasted like spicy spaghetti O’s), and leftover homemade apple sauce (got rid of the icky Pad Thai taste).

Day 2 – Cruising the Oregon Coast - Thursday, October 4, 2007

2007-10-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

We hit the road at about 9:30 AM and set out to explore the central Oregon Coast. This is the concept of motoring really came into play. We stopped throughout the day to enjoy the outstanding scenery. It is hard to believe that someone (Governor West) in the early 1900’s had the foresight to save so many miles of the Oregon for all of us to enjoy. Truly an American treasure.

We made an early stop for the day at Beachside State Park near Yachats. Most of the prime campsites were reserved but we managed to find one that was private and had an ocean view. After getting the Westy all level and arranged we took a nice long beach walk and then had a dinner of smoke salmon fettuccine made with some of the canned salmon we had purchased in Ilwaco. Ahh, life is good !!! We took in a beautiful sunset and then settled about 7:30 in for another long night in bed. This is probably the best sleeping that both of have had in longer than we can remember.

Day 1 – The Journey Begins – Wednesday, October 3, 2007

2007-10-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

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.