Goings on in Silverdale, Washington

Aug 14th  Weather has been beautiful here in Washington. .Next day I didn't feel good so Bob, Laurel and friends went to reunion. We kicked back here and they got back late.  Sunday we drove over to Marge and Harry's kids home in Brainbridge Island.  We had a great BBQ and nice to meet their family.  The rest of this week after Bob & Laurel left we have been helping to pack up the house so they can load the U Haul on Thursday and head for Idaho.  Today we went and saw the Under Sea warfare Museum which was about the newer Missile submarines.  We had lunch at Olive Garden and went to Costco and looked around.  House is looking pretty empty and we have had a good time sitting up here in the hills, looking out to the Sound and enjoying our new friends.  Tomorrow we will move to a camp ground in Polsburo since our tanks are full and we might need some air for our doggy since it might get up to the 80's  or so.

Washington

Aug 11th  Silverdale, Washington  We didn't get away from Eugene, Oregon where we had windows done until about noon.  We went out for breakfast and waited till we could go.  It was a noisy night with lots of trains passing right across the street.  We drove as far as Centralia, Wa. and spent the night.  I did laundry and we just relaxed and had a good nights sleep.  Got up early and arrived here at home of a friend of Bob & Laural's (long time friends of ours from Idaho).  The house here is huge and beautiful and it has been sold as of today and new owners move in in a week.  There isn't a lot of furniture here but they do have some personal stuff to move out.  We had quite a time getting the motor home backed in their long driveway but we did it and are hooked up to electricity and water although we certainly don't need air conditioning.  We have the cool breeze off the sound and foggy in morning.  We took the ferry over to Seattle and drove through town on a Friday going to Bob's Family Reunion close to Kent.  The skyline was so pretty and a couple of cruise ships in port.  It was good to see Bob's family and had spaghetti for dinner in his great nephew's property.  Buddy is still doing good, we are glad we dont have any medical emergencies to worry about with him. I am carrying him in and out of the Coach so he dont fall.

Redwoods & Eugene

Aug 8  We arrived here in Eugene yesterday and today are having 3 windows repaired.  It is foggy and cool here this morning and sun will be out later.  We so enjoyed our time in Trinidad, Ca along the coast.  We could hear the sea lions barking out in the ocean from our camping spot.  We took Buddy with us and drove and walked through the redwoods.  They are such magnificent trees.  They are so tall and wide you just can't see all of it.  They call the trees cloud sweepers.  We saw a large herd of elk right along side of the highway.  We drove into Crescent City and had lunch and than headed back to camp.  The next morning we drove down to the pier and walked on the beach.  The sand here is grey.  We saw a couple of Boston Terriers there and really made us think about whether we would someday get another one.

Wine Country and Beyond

Friday Aug 3-4th  Friday we got up early and headed for Napa to do the Wine Train.  They gave us 2 tastings of wine and then we boarded the train.  We had a gourmet lunch, I had steak and John had salmon and we shared.  After that we went a few cars down to have coffee and desert and watch as miles of grape vines and winerys went by.  The train was slow, food great and after a while you've seen enough of the vines.  But glad we finally did it.  We came back to camp, had a whopper jr. and went to see Ice Age 4, which was cute.  Today we arrived via 101 to Trinidad, Ca  on the coast where the redwood trees are.  We had fish & chips for dinner and clam chowder.  It is quite cool and misty out this evening.  We walked along the pier and checked out this small town.   Tomorrow we will go exploring and then head to Oregon to have a few coach windows that are foggy fixed.

San Francisco and the Napa Valley

We arrived here in Novato, just north of the city about 30 miles on Tuesday. We have a favorite RV Park that is in a good position for us to visit both SF and the Napa Valley. We went back in the city for dinner at our favorite Italian Resaurant, Pasquales, close to the Golden Gate Park. We have been going there since we were in High School. Same people own it. Decided to come on back home instead of going to the marina for Ice Cream. Oh, I forgot to tell you we took a short cut up from San Jose on Hwy 280 which went through the middle of SF on 19th ave. with the Motor Home. That was interesting, one thing though we save the $25 fee that we would have had to pay going across the Richman Bridge. Yesterday, we hung out, Virginia had her nails done, then we headed north to the Sonoma Valley to check out the Winerys. It was a great day.

July 30 2012  We have spent the last 3 days in Pismo Beach at our Family Reunion.  We had nice cool weather which everybody loved after the heat at all of our homes.  The farthest traveled from Utah and we had around 95 people come.  We spent the time visiting, eating, horse back riding, walking in the sand dunes and on the ocean beaches, wine tasting, golfing to name just a few.  Our room was great for serving and cooking food and we all fit for our meals.  We were one of the last out of camp after saying good-bys to rest of family and headed north for our summer trip.  We spent the night here in Morgan Hill which is near San Jose.  It was in the 90's here today, quite a change from our 70 's beach temp.  We plan to make it as far as Seattle and Idaho before coming back.  We will try to post every couple of days to let you know our whereabouts and what we are doing.  Buddy is doing Ok.  He doesn't make it up or down the stairs so we are carrying him in and out but he likes his walks and was very curious as to what was going on with all the families and dogs at reunion.

Minnisota

We wanted to avoid Chicago area so went through Joliet and visited my 94 year old Aunt. She is doing great and so good to see her again. She was so surprised to see us. Than we were off to Minneapolis for a few days. We are staying at Mystic Lake Campground called Dakota Meadows. We are parked side by side with our doors facing the common grass area. Riley(Pats cat) and Buddy have enjoyed being outside with us when we are home. The weather has been in the 80's and not so humid so we can sit outside. The casino although not new looks like it is and really nice inside. We ate in the buffet and one of the restaurants and both had good food. We spent yesterday at the Mall of America. It is a huge complex of stores although most have fall clothes out and didn't find much to buy. Pat was able to get some shoes and so did John, clothes and shoes don't have sales tax. What a buy! We plan to go back later while we are here and see a movie. We have decided to stay here a few more days as we have a really nice camp spot and weather is bearable and lots to do and who knows when we will be back to see this area.