Mt Hood Trip

Today is partly cloudy and in the 70's. We packed a lunch and Max & Buddy in the car and drove up to Mt. Hood. It wasn't cold up there and just a beautiful ride. The mountain just sticks up in the sky like all the snow capped mountains around here. They have had a good snow fall this year and will be skiing on real snow until about Sept. We had a tour of Timberline Lodge built in 1930's during depression years. A lot of people were working there for a job. It is quite a beautiful place and alot of craftsmen spent time making it.

Later in the evening we went to a German Restaurant called the Rheilander. The kids remember being there when they were little and we of course had the cheese fondue for old time sakes. We shared a beer and John had sausages and sauerkraut and I had a chicken cutlet and spaetzel(noodles). We've enjoyed our stay here in Portland and tomorrow we leave for Goldendale.

News of Washington Stay

We have spent the last few days here in Goldendale, Wash. with our friends Scott & Doreen. The dogs have had a good time running free in the yard, woods and being around their 4 girl dogs. We have eaten way too much food. Thurs evening we met friends of theirs in the Dallas at the Saloon. We all split a dinner. We had halibut which was very good. John & Scott did some tinkering with the motor home and shot guns and visited. Doreen and I went antiquing and on Sat we went to a Blue Grass Festival and listened to a few different bands. Sun we had a great prime rib roast and garlic mashed potatoes after church. We played alot of golf and played a game of spinners where I led the pack with an all time high score. Not much going on in their garden yet this summer as hasn't been warm enough yet. It was nice weather though only in the 70's most days.

Portland

Monday, Arrived here at Janzen Beach, Portland, Oregon. We found the path on our walk at the full time trailer park at walked along the Columbia River. From this park we hear the airplanes, trains and boats. We are getting use to that noise. We went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant last night. We sat in the bar since they were so crowded and got deal on Margarita's, guacamole, and dinner. It was fun watching the bar tender, manager and waitresses work like crazy to keep up. Don't know how they kept track of everything.

Tues, We moved to another spot just before we had to leave for our boat trip. This will be our spot now until we leave. We had a great lunch and leisure trip down the Willamette River and went under 8 0f the 9 bridges. I saw a bald eagle fly over. A lot of Canadian Geese in the river and saw quite a few babies. Saw the jet boat go by and glad we didn't do that trip. Today it was in the 80's and a beautiful day. We might go to the show tonight.

Father's Day Happenings

Nice day today. Clouds are breaking up and in the 70's. Had bacon & pancakes for breakfast and gave John his card. He heard from everybody else on his phone. We drove over to Newport on the Oregon coast. We found a great little restaurant and had clam chowder and fish & chips. They have a 6 pound burger there. You certainly could share it with alot of people. After that we drove to Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We saw lots of birds nesting on the rocks, some sea lions and a harbor seal. I climbed the 104 steps to the top of the lighthouse. The view was great and the lens was beautiful. A little chickadee sang us a song. The clouds have moved back in but is still nice outside. Had our leftover salmon, rice and veggies.

Monday We are here in Jantzen Beach RV Park in Portland. It is cloudy and in the 70"s again. Seem really humid. Went to Costco and had a hot dog lunch and than drove to see where we board our boat for lunch tomorrow and a ride on the Willamette River and see the sights.

last days at rally

Thur June 16th Since we weren't interested in any of the classes today we went into Eugene and found out where we take the motor home tomorrow to get door window redone. I got my nails done next while John got his pressure multiplier to air up the tires in the motor home and some new door stripping. We had tostado's for lunch at a Mexican rest. in shopping center where I got my nails done. Had a auction and prize drawing before dinner. I won 2 bottles of white Oregon wine and the table potted flowers. We had a big piece of smoked prime rib which was so good.What a great dinner that night. Afterward we had an English couple entertain us with songs, music and jokes about RVing and getting older. They were so good we just laughed all night. Friday we left right after breakfast for Eugene. They fixed the door window and we got a quote for the rest. It is another sunny day and nice drive to Corvalis KOA campground. Saw a sign where they grow grass seed in this country and so my allergies continue. We went to McGrath's Fish House for dinner and had a great Copper River Salmon River Dinner. Sat we woke to grey skies and rain for today. John went into Corvallis to the Napa Auto store to look for some things and came home with his Father's Day present. A really nice set of jumper cables that we can reach car from motor home (just in case we need it) while I took my shower and cleaned up after oatmeal breakfast. We headed to the little town of Scio where we saw 4 covered bridges. The last one was the best and would have missed it if we hadn't stopped at Covered Bridges Cafe for lunch. Did some laundry today and fixed dinner. Tomorrow we head for the beach-lighthouses, clam chowder, steamed clams and hopefully some sun and away from all this grass.

Rally News

June 14th I was up at 6:30 this morning. It is cloudy out and not real warm. John went too a few seminars on tires and batteries and I went to Pampered Chef and Oregon wines. Than we went into Guaranty RV for their Tues. hamburger and hot dog lunch. We looked at some other brands of Rv but nothing interesting. We got the car washed while we were in town. We had a great Italian dinner tonight with Caesar salad, bread, 7 layer lasagna which was so good and rosemary chicken. We played card bingo with couples instead of 4 and I won one game and 2 bottles of white Oregon wine. We walked around the park for our exercise. We are meeting a lot of other people and have found a few to hang out with. My allergy's are just driving me crazy=can't remember ever having them this bad but others here are complaining too.

June 15th We have been busy eating here. Had good breakfasts and dinners. Today has been cool and windy. I wore my jacket most of the day. Today we went to the Country Coach Factory to see what is going on there. I guess they will start making coaches again with hefty down payments and on order. Pretty sparce there=not busy like before. They did give us a nice lunch, wine and sodas and looked through the store but didn't find anything we needed. Next was our tour next door to see Premier Rv. Alot of Country Coach employees working here now. They seem to be selling Motorhomes and have storage facilities and do some service work. They had BBQ for us but most of it was too spicy for me. Than on to Oregon Motorcoach Center which Bob Lee (the original owner of Country Coach) has with his son-in-law. It is a really nice service center and more of Country Coach's guys work there now. We had cookies and coffee there. Not much going on this evening kind of a kick back night.

Country Coach Rally

We had a leisurely breakfast on Monday morning the 11th and left 7 feathers RV park around 10. We got diesel at the casino for $4.14 and headed for Harrisburg just outside of Junction City for our Country Coach Rally. This is suppose to be a resort but spots are close and not much ammentities other than a big club house and nice view of the Willamente River. There are alot of grassy fields around and I am allergic to something here as my eyes are itchy, watery and just keep sneezing and blowing my nose. There are 75 Country Coaches here all makes and years and from all over the US, Even from Florida. Making new friends-John met a pilot this morning and we sat at a table where 3 of them were in the Navy. We had a great BBQ dinner with ribs, brisket and pulled pork and an open bar of wine and beer and soft drinks. They had a country band afterward but music was too loud and most of us left and went outside to enjoy the evening and walk around.

Arrived in Oregon

Spent Sat fixing sprinklers and cutting down weeds along the sides of the house in Reno. I walked down to the grocery store and back so both of have had plenty of exercise for the day. It has been in the 80 today but later in the day got windy and a lot of dark grey clouds around. We went to the Atlantis (a casino in Reno). We were going to have the buffet until we found out it was $30 apiece now. So much for things being bad in the economy but than there weren't alot of people there eating. We went to the restaurant and had a good dinner and than bid my brother good-by and headed off to bed. We have a long drive ahead tomorrow.

Sunday June 12th we are here in Canyonville, Oregon at Seven Feathers Campgound. It is one of our favorite camping places. We drove 386 miles today. We had a beautiful drive and saw alot of deer run across the road through the forest. Got here and set up camp and took a rest and listened to the rain. We walked around camp and took pictures of the rhododendrons. We have never been here to see them bloom and they are so pretty even if the rain took alot of the flowers off. Also found the Alpenlite group here for their rally. We saw Claudia, the Newners and met Pat & Caroline in the Casino. (Friends of ours). Tomorrow we may have sprinkles again and only have a couple of hours to drive to be at our Country Coach Rally in Junction City.

Our trip for 2011

Well we are on our summer trip for 2011. We left June 9th after having breakfast with the shop crew-our kids. It was cloudy and cool=what they call June gloom in Los Angeles. When we got out to Lancaster/Palmdale the sun was shinning. We had lunch along the way in Red Rock Canyon and arrived in Bishop, Calif for our first overnight stop. We had a BBQ with Kathy & John (Johns brother Bud's half sister). It was their first BBQ of the year and was nice to sit outside and catch on family news and discuss reunion plans for next year. We are in Reno this evening visiting my Brother and doing some house jobs. It was another beautiful day with white puffy clouds floating around. Haven't taken any pictures yet but it was a beautiful drive through the forest around Hwy 395 . The mountains still have snow on the tops.