Oct
27th – Nov 7th...We
finished packing the motorhome in the snow. It warmed up for us the
morning we left - Sunday the 28th.
Levi was in Great Falls for the weekend so he followed Doug &
Fran and us to Missoula. We all had lunch at Hooters and we then we
continued west to Coeur D'Alene, ID. We stayed there for 2 nights at
Tamarack RV park. We drove around the town and took a drive to the
Spokane Valley area where we stopped at Cabela's and Camping World.
On the 30th
we drove through more rain and arrived at Tall Chief RV in Fall City,
Wa around 430p. This park is pretty much in a forest so we didn't
have satellite TV and Doug and Fran didn't have cable!
On
Wednesday we met Micheala during her break at Costco, stopped at
Trader Joe's and then drove with Doug & Fran to Snoqualmie Falls
& Issaquah. On Thursday we all went to Redmond where we drove
around and finally found Microsoft's Visitor Center. Microsoft has a
HUGE area (miles) of many, many buildings. We also made a thrift
store stop. That evening we all met Micheala, Tim, Adriana and
Dillon for a burger at the XXX Drive In in Issaquah. We had a great
time celebrating the kid's birthdays!
On
Friday around noon we headed out for Seattle. We explored Pike's
Place market, the warf and downtown. We took the monorail to the
Seattle Center and walked around in the 'rain'. We met Gene, Tamar,
Gena, Gita and Alexa (Uncle Howard's nieces) for dinner at the
Steelhead diner across from Pike's Place. We had a wonderful dinner
and a grand time spent with friends. Dixie drove home in the
rain...have we mentioned that it has rained everyday since we've been
in the pacific northwest???
Saturday
afternoon we attended Adriana's soccer game at Mt Si high school in
Snoqualmie. More rain but they won the game! After the game they
came to the motorhome where we had Papa Murphy's Pizza and visited!
Sunday
we left the RV's around 930a headed to the ferry in Mukilteo where we
caught the 1030 ferry to Clinton on Whidbey Island. Our destination
was Gene and Tamar Feltons' house. They have a beautiful home on the
southern point that overlooks the bay and the Pacific Ocean. The
outside area has a spectacular view of the water and their vineyard!
We delivered Uncle Howard's camera collection that he willed to them.
We snacked a bit and then they took us to Langley where they own
“The Star Store”...a grocery, clothing, wine and basic store(s).
It was very cool and they carry just about anything you might need
and then some. From there we went to the Italian restaurant above
the store where we had a nice lunch. Once back to the house we
visited, sampled their wines and later ate a delicious dinner. We
finally had to leave shortly after 8pm to catch the 830p ferry back
to the mainland. Whidbey Island is a quaint area with wonder views
of the water! Thanks to Uncle Howard we met some wonderful friends!
(actually Tamar, Dixie and Doug played together a couple of summers
in Hogeland about 50 years ago!)
Monday
it was time to depart for the next adventure. We drove the 110 miles
to Elma, WA which is out of Olympia on the way to the beaches and
Olympic Natl park. Mike & I stayed at Travel Inn RV (one of our
membership parks) and Doug & Fran stayed at Elma RV Park (a
Passport park). We drove to Aberdeen and Westport that afternoon and
checked out the beach, WA's tallest lighthouse, a winery and a crab
cannery. Tuesday the 6th
(Election Day) we drove the Olympic Peninsula (320 miles around). It
was an all day trip over varying scenery and weather. Our lunch stop
was in Forks! We also stopped at Ruby Beach on the west side and
Port Angeles. We even looked up the house of one of Fran's ex doctor
clients. They weren't there but she left a note for them. The drive
down the east side followed Hood Canal so it was a pretty drive right
on the water. Of course we had to have rain off and on throughout
the drive.
We
decided to stay one extra day so we could catch up! We had a
wonderful rib dinner at Doug & Frans and planned the adventure
for the next couple of days!
Thursday
we drove the RV's all of 35 miles to the Walmart in Chehalis where we
overnighted. Today's car drive was to Mt Rainier. It started out a
bit foggy and cloudy. The drive to the park was scenic. We arrived
at Longmire (the southwest entrance around lunch time)....just in
time for it to start snowing! We went through the visitor's center
and then ate our picnic lunch in the car watching it snow. The
ranger told us a place that we may get a good view of Mt Rainier –
no such luck. From there we decided to make the winding, uphill
drive to Paradise. The snow was sticking to the road at this level.
We stopped at a pull over along the way a caught a break in the
clouds and snow and actually saw the edge of Mt Rainier (with clouds
covering a lot of it). We took a few pictures and moved to another
stop at Narada Falls, a beautiful large water fall. It was very
picturesque with the light snow on all the greenery! Once we made it
to Paradise which is the base of the mountain it was very cloudy and
snowy so we didn't see much of anything. We took a different route
back, arriving at the motorhome around 430p. We met Janet Simons
(lived in Turner) for dinner at a restaurant called The Thai Dish.
On Friday we completed our trek through Washington!
