Washington Weekend -- Water, Water & Water

Friday we rented a canoe and kayaks where we are camped at American Lake here at Ft. Lewis. Holly's dog, Coda, went with us. We saw a couple of bald eagles. You will too if you look hard enough.





































Saturday we met up with our friends the Smiths for a picnic at Lake Sammamish. We went on their boat, then picnicked, then had pizza at their house.








































On the way home the setting sun was lighting up Mt. Rainer, but the picture doesn't do it justice.









Sunday after church Holly grilled some salmon, then we took Coda for a walk at a park along Puget Sound. The Olympic Mountains were in view today.

Boats, Blooms & Battle Beans

On Wednesday, Holly joined us for lunch at Anthony's on Puget Sound in Tacoma. It was great food and great views; not just of the boats, but also of Mount Rainer.
























Anthony's is located at Point Defiance park in Tacoma. They also have some great flower gardens, and an old Hudson Bay Co. fur trading fort. It was a beautiful park and way to spend the afternoon.









On Thursday, we all had lunch together at Ft. Lewis at a coffee and sandwich place called Battle Bean. Then we got a tour of one of Dan' Strykers. Well actually, it belongs to the Army, but it's assigned to Dan.









You can see Carolyn inside the Stryker holding a cup from Battle Bean.












We tried to go kayaking today, but there were no rental kayaks available. We'll try again tomorrow.

Otherwise these two days have just been lazy times with Holly & Dan and the dogs.

We found a tennis ball at the park yesterday, and Coda has had fun with it.

Captain Holly!

This morning we attended the ceremony for Holly to be pinned with her Captain's rank. We got to do the pinning. It was a nice, ceremony outside her work building. Col. Clark who was there when she became Lt was presiding.









Yesterday we attended the Tall Ships Festival in Tacoma. There were replicas of the HMS Bounty, the actual one used in the 1960s movie, and a replica of the Niña. Plus other large sailing ships.










The Niña.













Even Mt. Rainier came out for the show.













We are camped at Ft. Lewis' Travel Camp on American Lake. We haven't tried any lake adventures yet, but probably will.











We learned today that the flat tire we discovered on Sunday morning was caused by a piece of fireworks debris in the sidewall. Not repairable and not covered by the warranty. Bummer. $100 Bummer!

Oh, well, it's just part of the adventure!

Pictures to follow

Saturday we drove with Renata Riggs up into Olympic National Park, and on to Lake Crescent. It was beautiful scenery, even though it was cloudy/fog with a chance of cloudy drizzle. It was well worth the trip, even though we couldn't see the mountains that surrounded us.

We spent the evening in our trailer watching a DVD.

Today, Sunday, we arrived at Ft. Lewis. They have an RV park on post. It is a beautiful tree-surrounded spot.

We left Pt. Ludlow this morning, and just as we were hooking up the trailer, discovered that one of our new tires was flat. Ugh! So we lost a 1/2 hour putting on the spare.

Then we made two shuttle trips to the airport. First to pick up Dan at 2, and then Holly at 6.

So, we don't have time to post pictures now, will try to update that tomorrow.

Fourth of July

We made it to Port Ludlow last night, and we are parked in a very foresty place.

We spent today with our friends David & Renate Riggs. We spent most of the day on the deck overlooking the Hood Canal.


Tonight we watched fireworks from the deck.

For Sale -- Cheap

That should tell you everything you need to know about our trip today! Pulling a trailer is not my idea of vacation.






At the end of the day we finally reached Pendleton, Oregon. We did go to the Pendleton Woolen Mills store. It was too hot to buy a wool shirt, but it was also too expensive!! Even the stuff "up to" 50% off!







But we found a great little restaurant in the old part of town, and the waitress told us about a Riverwalk, so we spent about an hour walking along the river.

We are staying at an RV park that a review on the internet called "Walmart with hookups." It's just an asphalt area with striped lines and hookups. Weird! But we have the airconditioner on, and we aren't driving. So that's good.




Tomorrow on to Port Ludlow, WA to see the Riggs. Another 7-hour drive. Yuck! I wonder if someone would trade me two airline tickets for a truck and trailer?

Did Utah what I taw?

I tawt I taw a bunch of nuthin'










Below are all the interesting pictures that we took today. In fact, they are ALL the pictures that we took today. Utah is boring!!!

We drove a lot on two-lane roads through hours of nothing, except terrible construction zones. Then we had to drive through the Salt Lake City area. Give me LA traffic anytime. In one of the construction zones a big rig locked up his brakes in front of us, and we had to put ours on hard. It was a bit scary, but we made it. Those people are crazy. Speaking of crazy, we saw a Starbucks in the (Mormon) suburb of Sandy, Utah.

Once we got within an hour of Twin Falls, Idaho we finally saw some green. Lots of farms. Lots of huge new dairies. The ones that moved here from Chino.

So we are parked for the night. It was a long, exhausting day. Tomorrow we got to Pendleton, Oregon. I wonder if it will be too hot to buy a wool shirt.