At Home

Looks weird, At Home. But that is how it feels and we are glad to be here. We spent several days at the RV park before putting the rig in storage, busy days.

We are now in the pattern of most retirees, exercise, errands, assorted projects. Nothing to blog about... until Tuesday.

Introducing Wally!

Russell started shopping the shelters and rescue agencies. There was a pattern: find the right dog, leave, think about it, go back, dog is gone. Heavy sigh. At the Vegas Animal Shelter I refused to leave and think about it. We were leaving with Wally, and he is the best choice. He is a dachshund/terrier mix; long, low, squirmy, weighing in at 15 lbs and full grown at about a year old. It has been noted that his white hair matches his owners. He is quiet, mostly, and well tempered. He is house trained, mostly, and will be a perfect RV dog.

The Trip to Vegas

We left Seattle heading south on I-5 to Vancouver, WA on the north shore of the Columbia River. This park was so nice and so much less expensive than we had been paying, (they took our Escapees card!) that we decided to stay a week. This gave us time to visit Portland, just south of the Columbia and allow the temps to drop a little in Vegas, well we could hope for that anyway.

The park is within walking distance of shopping, a real rarity for RV parks which are usually a little remote. The Seattle park also had shopping close by. Another commonality of the 2 parks; blackberries. I had thorn scratches and insect bites, but also a bunch of great berries to show for my efforts. We are still eating the berries that I froze. We also rode our bikes and walked the river shore and downtown Vancouver.

RV neighbors recommended the downtown farmer's market, a weekly event. On this weekend the area was also the scene of the annual Komuricon convention. Komuricon, we found out, is a group that follows Japanese anime characters, comics and games. The attendees dress as their favorite in colorful and creative costumes. It is a mostly young group, but not exclusively. They were playing games in the park, shopping and posed quickly for cameras. We enjoyed the show, music, shopping and lunch in the festival type atmosphere.

We took a day trip to Portland, OR. Our primary destination, Powell's Books. We enjoyed the shopping and people watching at the largest book store around. We walked several miles through town and decided that Portland is indeed weird. We enjoyed it more the first time we were there. The trip back north was grueling. All roads lead to the single bridge that crosses the river. We bailed out and ate dinner on the south shore.

We continued south on I-5 through Oregon and into California. This is a pretty drive, mostly through rural and suburban areas. Just north of Mount Shasta we turned off  the interstate to cross the northeastern corner of California. this is the shortest way to Reno. The 2-lane road was beautiful connecting 2 volcanoes, Shasta and Lassen. We just caught a glimpse of Lassen, but Shasta was obscured by smoke. There had been a number of fires in the area that were still smoldering. We stopped in Susanville on the eastern side of the mountains.

The second day we entered the desert created by those lush mountains of the previous day. In Reno we picked up the Truckee River and traveled along it for awhile then headed more south to pick up US-95 that takes you to Vegas. We were surprised by Lake Walker. This beautiful oasis is a deep and wide natural lake fed by the Walker River. We passed through the towns of Hawthorne, the largest ammo storage site in the USA. Nellis AFB stretches from Hawthorne to Vegas, it is massive! But the road was long and we kept driving to get to Vegas. We plan to retrace that path in October to actually stop and see a bit more.

Western Washington State

We made 2 stops on Washington's Puget Sound, first north to Bellingham then to Seattle. The trip to Bellingham included fruit stands, bike rides and a day trip to Vancouver, BC. We enjoyed the towns of Ferndale and Lynden, suburbs of the larger city as well. Lynden is near Mount Baker, a snow-capped volcanco peak that watches over the valley. We drove up during a bike event. Our car was working to make the steep grades, we were most thankful to not be peddling. Actually, the free fall  trip back down would have scared me too. We took a short hike and picnicked next to a series of small lakes that were crystal clear and beautiful.

We enjoyed several bike rides, but the hate we have long held for out bike carrier grew with each trip. We finally bought a new one that is so much easier to handle, what took us so long? Each ride was unique and eventful, through town, forest, coastline. The one common element was UP. I don't do UP very well, so trips were fairly short, I'm afraid.

We drove to Vancouver to see my cousins and have an early dinner prior to their Alaskan cruise. We walked downtown and enjoyed the street performers on a Sunday afternoon and got to walk a bit in Stanley Park with dinner at the Fish House. We got dessert at the water-side market. The border crossing was eventful coming and going. It seems that border agents are suspicious of Texans. We are all "gun toting" apparently; well Russell is actually. Anyway, they searched our car on the north bound trip and we must have passed. South bound, the agent asked to see our 45's. He believed us when we told him they were at home.

We stayed at an interesting park in Seattle near the intersection of I-405 and I-90, easy access to just about everything. We spent time at the Bellvue Mall, movies, shopping, food, art all together. We also met up with the Rutherfords and walked downtown, including Pioneer Square and the Market. The Rutherford's have gotten out of RV mode and had rented a house across the Sound in Bremerton. We spent a day bumming around the University of Washington area. Another day we enjoyed a drive to Tecoma and the shoreline at the southern end of the sound.

This trip, from the time we left Vegas in May, has been one of breakage. In Bellingham, we had to replace the RV alternator. Russell found a great truck service shop that took good care of us. In Seattle Russell's computer gave out. Office Max saved that day. A nice lady, Pam, was able to recover and transfer all of his data to the new unit. So when talking about our next stop, we decided that home was a good destination.