End of July

Tonight we are in Idaho.  We have spent the last 2 days in Goldendale, Wash with our friends Scott & Doreen.  First day we caught up on news, met their grandson Brent who is staying with them for the summer while he attends local college, laundry and getting Max medicine from the local vet.  He's better now.  Next day was cloudy, windy and had a few sprinkles.  We drove down the hill to Maryhill and got peaches and tasted local wine.  Had a great barbecue and played a few games of Spinners(a dominoes game).  The guys won both nights.  

Found out that Calif had had an earthquake so had to call all the kids and see how everybody was.  Just minor breaking of dishes and picture frames on the floors.  We seem to always be on the road when catastrophic things happen.  Missed the big quake in Big Bear, the 9/11 Towers crash and now this earthquake.  We have had a nice drive through Washington today.  Left late from Goldendale and had lunch at Preston Winery in Washington.  Tasted a few of their wines, too.  We decided to spend the night here just outside of Spokane before heading to our friends house in Idaho.  Weather is sunny and warm at last but will be 49 Deg. this evening.   

Long Beach, Washington

  Weather here along the coast of Washington, has been typical beach with fog in morning and clear by afternoon.  It has been in the 60's.  We drove to Cape Disappointment=named because the Capt of a ship couldn't find the safe way in to the river and ran aground.  We visited the lighthouse and were sore the next day from climbing the steps to the top.  Visited the state campground and had clam chowder in Ilwaco on the pier.  The next day we drove through Astoria and went to Tillamook, Oregon.  We enjoyed the tour of the cheese plant and the samples.  Had an ice cream=really yummy and did some shopping.  We ate lunch we had packed on the way back home.  Even though a weekday there was a lot of traffic going home.  Max has had his usual traveler's diarrhea=at least it took him a month before he got it.  He's been on a special diet and medicine and is doing better now.  John is certainly glad that he can sleep in now and not have to be getting up at all hours with him.  We discovered some friends from Fantasy Tours trip in our campground and have been to dinner with them at Crab Pot.  Had good seafood there.  Have enjoyed having Pat & Elmon to share dinners, wine and camp fire with.  Sat we did some laundry=it was really drizzly and than went to beach to see the sand sculptures.  They were really fun and lots of kites flying too.  Walked the town and looked for treasures and ice cream.  Ran into our friends Keith & Pat again for lunch at the Loose Caboose.  They leave tomorrow too for a month along the Oregon coast, Pat & Elmon left for Washington to see their friends and we are now in Portland.  It was overcast here but much warmer.  Did some house cleaning to get rid of  forest camping and got car washed=it was dirty from sand and mist.  We  spent the evening with our friends Joe & Colleen's kids here.  Had a great barbecued salmon and veggie dinner and saw pictures of places they had been and where we are going in Michigan. JVP

Long Beach, Washington

We loved our campground in Woodland right on the Columbia River.  We watched the tugs and barges go up and down the river from our front window.  We got our new couch put in and really like it.  After that we drove a short distance to Eagle's Nest Resort in Ilwaco.  There aren't to many people here.  Today was 63 Deg. and blue skies and we drove to Long Beach.  Drove out to see the beach and decided not to drive in the wet sand and get stuck.  Town was quiet but will be busy this weekend with sand sculptors.  We went to a cranberry museum and bog, our blueberry farm wasn't open yet.  Checked out a big hardware store that carried all kinds of interesting stuff and food, too.  Had fish and chips for lunch and while we were checking out the town of Ilwaco we came across a raccoon in the street.  We spent the morning cleaning up the motor home  and if Max and Buddy don't mess it up we should be OK for awhile.  JVP

Sculpin Reunion in Reno

This posting finds us in Woodland, Washington.  We have been busy and haven't had time to write.  Reno was warm and several days were really smokey.  We had a thunderstorm on Mon. and had a little bit of rain.  We spent the first few days at my brother's and got the siding on the house fixed, the Internet back up on his computer and I picked and pitted sour pie cherries to take back east.  Monday John's navy buddy Scott and Doreen arrived to spend a few days with us before reunion.  They were tired after the long drive so we barbecued hamburgers and went to bed early.  We blew up the air mattress and is was OK but Max's snoring was pretty loud.  We took them up to Lake Tahoe and took the Dixie paddle boat out to Emerald Bay.  It was a beautiful ride=the water is so clear and blue and just turns to Emerald green color at the bay.  Heard a lot about the Lake and the scenery.  John enjoyed seeing his navy buddies at the Circus Circus Hotel. The guys visited, remincising about old times while Doreen and I shopped.  Friday we bored the bus at 9 for a tour of the area.  Our first stop was Virginia City.  We went first to the train station and had first ride of the day.  We got to see alot of the mining areas and went through a tunnel to Gold Hill. The train hauled lots of gold and silver out of these hills. Than we wandered the streets of Virginia City had a quick lunch before heading to 

Carson City.  We drove by the Capitol Building, legislative buildings, Governor's Mansion and alot of the old historic homes.  Our last stop was the Nevada Railroad Museum.  We got a special ride on the Inyo=a historic steam train that only gets fired up for special occasions.  It was a great ride and the conductor's let the guys ride in the engine.  We drove back on some little roads and saw a lot of big beautiful homes in the Washoe Valley.  Sat was our banquet dinner and farewells.  Our traveling friends=Pat & Elmon arrived Sat and are headed up north with us.  Left Reno early Sun morning and traveled 377 miles to Canyonville and 7 Feathers Resort Park.  It is a really nice park and we went to casino for dinner and a little gambling. Today we traveled 230 miles here at Woodland.  Tomorrow we get our new couch put in the Coach.  This park is right on the Columbia River and we look out our front window and watch the barges go up and down the River.  It is quite cool and windy here and John is loving it.

Lake Tahoe Paddle Boat Ride

Our Friends got here Monday night, and we ate at the Coach. I knew they were going to be tired after traveling all day from Goldendale, Wa., about 550 miles. We had hamburgers that I cooked on the grill. We sat around and caught up on all the news. 

They stayed with us Monday night, so at bed time, I got out the air mattress and pumped it up. We cleared a spot on the floor and made up the bed. The dilemma was where Buddy and Max was going to sleep. We finally decided they would sleep in their beds in the kitchen area. Not far enough away from the guests. Scott said, not worry that their dog, Heidi snores and that Max would not bother them. He has decided that Heidi does not snore. Max kept them awake all night.

Tuesday we went for a ride up to Lake Tahoe and took one of the Paddle boats on an two hour cruise across the lake to Emerald Bay. The lake was beautiful, and ride was smooth. They told of the history of the lake and some of the legends of the lake. The day was perfect, about 78 Deg. and the sky was clear, except for  a little smoke from the fires in Ca. I had fish tacos at the food and bar that was on the dock before we left, they were OK, the ones that I had at Red Robin a couple of weeks ago were better.

We looked around and headed back to the coach in Reno, to get cleaned up and go to dinner. We decided on Western Village, the Vineyard Restaurant. We had coupons for a free drink and buy one and get one free for dinner. Everything was good. We went home and played spinners. They were tired and we went to bed. We changed the sleeping arrangements Max and buddy slept in the bathroom area, we shut both doors, opened the vents and turned on the fans for air, and everyone slept good. We didn't hear Max all night. 

Yesterday we showed Scott and Doreen around Reno and had lunch with Virginia's brother Richard at a 50's diner Virginia street. In the afternoon, we watched a video at the coach had dinner and had dinner here. Our guests decided to go check in to there hotel a day early. go figure! Well that's all for now, we are meeting them at the Circus Circus for breakfast this morning and registering for the reunion this morning. More about that later. JVP

Lazy Reno Days

Monday July 14th

    We sat around camp yesterday and just did reading and enjoyed the cool morning.  Went over to see my brother before he went to work.  Drove downtown and checked out Circus Circus where our navy reunion will take place.  Had dinner last night with shirt tail relatives and Italian restaurant at Harrah's .  Today is finishing up laundry, John wants to check out the new Jetta at the car dealer and than plan dinner for when Scott & Doreen(our Navy friends from Washington) arrive  Yesterday evening was really smoky here.  I finally beat John at cribbage.  He has really beaten me badly for the last 3 days.  Feel lousy this morning=probably getting a summer cold from air being on at night. Hopefully I can kick it quickly.

Reno, Nv.

Here we are in Reno. It was a pleasant drive from Mammoth, about 4 hours. We set up the coach and went over to see Richard. Got caught up on all the news had dinner with him. He fixed Barbecued pork ribs. Good. We sat outside on lawn chairs and ate. Virginia had picked up a bottle of wine at the grocery store. We wined a bit and all was good. 

Our RV Park is in the flight path of arriving aircraft, on the north end of the runway. We could hear the planes come in until very late in the night. It will take a couple of days to get used to that. 

Yesterday, we got up and showered and went back to Richard's house (for those of you who don't know who Richard is, he is Virginia's bother.) Virginia took laundry to be done and I took my computer and we spent the day working around the house and trying to get his computer up and running for E-mail and such. That evening we went to the Grand Sierra for the Buffet. We ate too much. We are going to diet today. The weather has been good here. Not real hot. Oh yeah, Virginia has been picking and pitting cherries off of the tree in the back yard. The tree is loaded, I dont think she has made a dent in the amount of cherries on the tree. 

Well that is it for now, it is Sunday morning and Virginia is up we have a lot to do today. Scott and Doreen are coming tomorrow for the Navy Reunion and they are going to stay with us a couple of days before it starts. JVP

Last Day at Mammoth

Today we got up at 5:15 AM and got to our fishing spot by 6.  We fished at Lake George and got 12 trout some of which were pretty nice.  John caught the first 2 fish of the day.  It was kind of hazy this morning so lake wasn't as pretty .  Elmon showed us Lake Mary and the campground where they use to camp.  We had showers, lunch and a little nap and ready to go.  We did some shopping at Von's the only grocery store here and looked in a hardware store.  We ate dinner at the trailers with our friends-Troths and Manes. Our campground is pretty full as many of them are here for the jazz festival so hope we can squeeze out of our spot tomorrow morning.  Only have a short drive to Reno=quess it will be hot and smokey there.

Lazy Days in Mammoth

Monday we went for a ride around June Lake Loop.  June Lake is such a beautiful emerald green color.  Stopped in campground on north end to visit with our friends working there for the summer.  Nice to see them again=they came down today and had lunch with us since it was their day off.  Enjoyed the beautiful scenery around the Loop.  We had a picnic lunch along the way.

  Tuesday we went fishing at Mamie Lake.  Got up and left by 5:30 so we could get a nice spot.  Spent about 3 hours and came home with about 10 fish most where little.  John did catch a few-that's him underneath the hat.  Got home, took showers and had a little nap.  That afternoon we went to the show and saw Hancock which was pretty funny.  Had a fish barbecue  that night and they were very good.  Weather has been in the 80 and very nice.  Our campground is filling up with people coming for the Jazz Festival this weekend.  We visited the new visitor center too which is across the highway from us.  Enjoyed sitting around a campfire and relaxing evening.  

   Wed was a little warmer but guess the whole West Coast has gotten hotter.  Did some reading and knitting today before Denny & Mary came.  We had pizza and salads for lunch.  It is getting more cloudy in afternoons but no rain yet.  Tomorrow is another fishing day so early to bed and early to rise.  Picture #1 is our campsite here in Mammoth, Picture #2 is Twin Lakes, Picture#3 is John' s fish at Mamie Lake, Picture #4 is June Lake

here in Mammoth

 We arrived here in Mammoth this afternoon.  Had pancakes and  eggs at Kathy's with everybody and said good-bys.  We have had a good time with family and friends.  Last night we had a barbecue of tri-tip and chicken, and home made ice  cream.  John got to shoot with the guys twice.  It is much cooler here and are ready  for that as it has been toasty in Bishop. The picture above is of John's brother Bud, wife Betty and that's me in the center.  We took a ride up Bishop Creek to Lower Lake.  We camped in this area when we were much younger.  It has changed alot but still beautiful.  JVP

Sunday July 6

4TH of July

Yesterday was a good day. We went shooting in the morning while it was cool. We took the hand guns and blasted some sporting clays from a distance. We shot the 22, the 45 and Bud has a 22 revolver buntline special, that was fun. Today we are going to shoot the shot guns. 

After shooting we had lunch at Kathy's and went for a ride up Bishop Creek to South Lake, very pretty.I am going to try to post a picture of it. We stopped at the store and had an ice cream, came back to the coach and took a nap. 

Around 6 PM we left for the airport and the fireworks. We had a tailgate party, and pot luck,  we grilled hot dogs and ate potato salad. The weather was great, could not ask for a better evening. The fireworks were spectacular and someone had the local radio station playing the patriotic songs. Very moving. All in all it was a great day, fitting for the 4th of July. God bless America. JVP

Bishop is Hot

We left about 10:30 am yesterday and drove to Bishop. A nice drive but long. I am not used to driving the bus. My back was bothering me. The drive got hotter and hotter as we got closer. By the time we got here it was 103 Deg.  We got our spot and got settled. Went over to Kathy's to see who was all here and to visit. She had dinner waiting. Very nice, Italian food. The rest of you missed out.

For those of you who don't know what we are doing here in Bishop, we are at a family reunion and will be here through Sunday. Well Virginia is now up and I have to get busy. We are going to go see the Bristlecone Pine forest. this morning. JP

Leaving Home for another adventure

We are anxious to hit the road. It is Tuesday and we are leaving tomorrow. Maybe have breakfast with the crew tomorrow and then off we go. I am just starting this blog so it will get better as we go.  JV