More July Travels

July 9 & 10- We spent Saturday in Anaconda most all day watching the boys play softball. They won three but were in the loser's bracket so Sunday was a busy day for them. They played four more games but lost out so were out of the tourney 4 games short of winning it all. It made Don realize even slow pitch is a young man's sport.

July 11 &12-  We drove to Cheney staying at Ponderosa Falls RV Park. This is nice park but nothing going on there. We went to Greg and Donna Wozny's house for dinner. I worked with Greg at KCDA for about 19 years. A little reminiscing about work to  help me appreciate retirement. Not the job, WORK.

July 13 &14- We left Cheney for Alta Lake and space 58 in the trailer loop. Note to self-Don't get site 57. There is a tree in the middle of the site. Tracy, Steph and the girls and Oly and Sadie ( the dogs) were there setting up their camp. We avoided this until they were done. HEE HEE. We had dinner at our site with all. It was a great time with lots of laughs, spaghetti, mac and cheese and salad. Yes there were a few adult beverages as well.

July 15-18- The weather at Alta was weird. It is usually very hot, windy and dry. This time the temp was rarely over 80 with some showers. Don's sister Terry and Krisani, her granddaughter, came in Terry's new motor home. It's a real nice 23 footer. Brother Bob and his kids and grandson Jessie came as well as sister Cheryl, her son Patrick with a couple of his friends. It was real nice to see them all. On the 18th the grandkids wanted to have a squirt gun battle. In all about 6 little ones with Don as the main target. It started with squirt guns, going to water balloons, then to buckets and tubs. From there to a nice swim in the lake. We had some good sunsets when the skys cleared in the evening.





July 19-We packed up in quite a rain on the 19th and drove in a hard rain. When we turned West at Wenatchee  the sky was clear and about 75. Icicle River RV Park is real nice. The upper area sites are paved with great grass and landscaping. Our site, #59, was right on the river which was running high with the rain and snow melt. There were two campers in the park that I knew from working at KCDA. What a great coincidence. Yes Steph their husbands are firefighters.
The river was running about 4 feet higher than last year so was really roaring. We almost had to read lips while sitting outside. The view was great.
Here's a pic of the river running down from our site

We also walked Front street in town. Lots of shops, restaurants, pubs, wine tasting rooms, etc. We had a sampler tray of six of the brews made by Icicle River Brewing and dinner at the Soup Cellar. Then a nice evening at the park enjoying drinks, the river and our fire.

July 20- Today we went on a long walk in Leavenworth along the Wenatchee River. The trail was good with a lot of history and info about the area. Then we went to Icicle Ridge Winery. It was a nice day so we sat out on the deck sampling wines. The house is a beautiful log home made from locally cut wood. We had some nice wines and cheese and bought a nice Merlot. Then back to the trailer for a relaxing afternoon of lunch, reading, and enjoying the river and fire.

Gail had a phone call from her best friend form school, Teddi, so they talked and we will be seeing them this summer.

 July 21- Only 133 miles home. We had a great time on this trip as we have on the others. On the road again on July 31. Thenks for letting us share our experiences. Don and Gail

More July Travels

July 9 & 10- We spent Saturday in Anaconda most all day watching the boys play softball. They won three but were in the loser's bracket so Sunday was a busy day for them. They played four more games but lost out so were out of the tourney 4 games short of winning it all. It made Don realize even slow pitch is a young man's sport.

July 11 &12-  We drove to Cheney staying at Ponderosa Falls RV Park. This is nice park but nothing going on there. We went to Greg and Donna Wozny's house for dinner. I worked with Greg at KCDA for about 19 years. A little reminiscing about work to  help me appreciate retirement. Not the job, WORK.

July 13 &14- We left Cheney for Alta Lake and space 58 in the trailer loop. Note to self-Don't get site 57. There is a tree in the middle of the site. Tracy, Steph and the girls and Oly and Sadie ( the dogs) were there setting up their camp. We avoided this until they were done. HEE HEE. We had dinner at our site with all. It was a great time with lots of laughs, spaghetti, mac and cheese and salad. Yes there were a few adult beverages as well.

July 15-18- The weather at Alta was weird. It is usually very hot, windy and dry. This time the temp was rarely over 80 with some showers. Don's sister Terry and Krisani, her granddaughter, came in Terry's new motor home. It's a real nice 23 footer. Brother Bob and his kids and grandson Jessie came as well as sister Cheryl, her son Patrick with a couple of his friends. It was real nice to see them all. On the 18th the grandkids wanted to have a squirt gun battle. In all about 6 little ones with Don as the main target. It started with squirt guns, going to water balloons, then to buckets and tubs. From there to a nice swim in the lake. We had some good sunsets when the skys cleared in the evening.





July 19-We packed up in quite a rain on the 19th and drove in a hard rain. When we turned West at Wenatchee  the sky was clear and about 75. Icicle River RV Park is real nice. The upper area sites are paved with great grass and landscaping. Our site, #59, was right on the river which was running high with the rain and snow melt. There were two campers in the park that I knew from working at KCDA. What a great coincidence. Yes Steph their husbands are firefighters.
The river was running about 4 feet higher than last year so was really roaring. We almost had to read lips while sitting outside. The view was great.
Here's a pic of the river running down from our site

We also walked Front street in town. Lots of shops, restaurants, pubs, wine tasting rooms, etc. We had a sampler tray of six of the brews made by Icicle River Brewing and dinner at the Soup Cellar. Then a nice evening at the park enjoying drinks, the river and our fire.

July 20- Today we went on a long walk in Leavenworth along the Wenatchee River. The trail was good with a lot of history and info about the area. Then we went to Icicle Ridge Winery. It was a nice day so we sat out on the deck sampling wines. The house is a beautiful log home made from locally cut wood. We had some nice wines and cheese and bought a nice Merlot. Then back to the trailer for a relaxing afternoon of lunch, reading, and enjoying the river and fire.

Gail had a phone call from her best friend form school, Teddi, so they talked and we will be seeing them this summer.

 July 21- Only 133 miles home. We had a great time on this trip as we have on the others. On the road again on July 31. Thenks for letting us share our experiences. Don and Gail

July travels

7/5 We left Kent this morning with Anaconda, MT as our ultimate destination. We stayed in Osburn, ID at the Blue Anchor RV Park. It is a real nice park with only 31 sites. It is a home site for people with real fancy ATV's they use to explore old mining roads, camps and other sites. I was told they travel upwards of 100 miles per day. Sounds like a lot of fun. The people parked next to us were bicyclist who rode tandem bikes. Like fancy "bicycles built for two". This sounded like fun too but a lot more work.

7/6 Left Osburn going to Anaconda. The weather was very nice in the 80's. We arrived in mid afternoon and got settled in at Fairmont Hot Springs RV Park. A nice park about a block from the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Quite a posh facility with two large swimming pools, one with a 350' slide. They are heated by 150 degree water from hot springs. Yes the water is cooled with well water to a comfortable temp. There are also several hot tubs and spas, a very nice restaurant and a golf course. We are here to relax and visit friends from here and Kent, some of whom are playing in a big slow pitch softbal tourny Don played in until 2005.

7/7 Don played golf at Fairmont with some friends. It was hot when we started but got windy and rained on us late in the round. There was some lightening too. We went out to a "family style" dinner and ran into some friends from Kent and Tri Cities we hadn't seen for several years. That night, about 1:30AM, the wind came up so we had to go out and lower the canopy so it didn't get torn apart.

7/8 Don played golf again but at Old Works in Anaconda. It is rated as one of the top 10 public courses in the country. It was a nice day except for some of the golf part. Later we went to a softball game in Anaconda and then back to the park for dinner. It was a good night to hang around the trailer for the evening. Tomorrow more softball and whatever we want.

July travels

7/5 We left Kent this morning with Anaconda, MT as our ultimate destination. We stayed in Osburn, ID at the Blue Anchor RV Park. It is a real nice park with only 31 sites. It is a home site for people with real fancy ATV's they use to explore old mining roads, camps and other sites. I was told they travel upwards of 100 miles per day. Sounds like a lot of fun. The people parked next to us were bicyclist who rode tandem bikes. Like fancy "bicycles built for two". This sounded like fun too but a lot more work.

7/6 Left Osburn going to Anaconda. The weather was very nice in the 80's. We arrived in mid afternoon and got settled in at Fairmont Hot Springs RV Park. A nice park about a block from the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Quite a posh facility with two large swimming pools, one with a 350' slide. They are heated by 150 degree water from hot springs. Yes the water is cooled with well water to a comfortable temp. There are also several hot tubs and spas, a very nice restaurant and a golf course. We are here to relax and visit friends from here and Kent, some of whom are playing in a big slow pitch softbal tourny Don played in until 2005.

7/7 Don played golf at Fairmont with some friends. It was hot when we started but got windy and rained on us late in the round. There was some lightening too. We went out to a "family style" dinner and ran into some friends from Kent and Tri Cities we hadn't seen for several years. That night, about 1:30AM, the wind came up so we had to go out and lower the canopy so it didn't get torn apart.

7/8 Don played golf again but at Old Works in Anaconda. It is rated as one of the top 10 public courses in the country. It was a nice day except for some of the golf part. Later we went to a softball game in Anaconda and then back to the park for dinner. It was a good night to hang around the trailer for the evening. Tomorrow more softball and whatever we want.

Yosemite

May 26-Drove 317 miles to Yosemite Lakes RV park. Nice sunny day for a long drive. The RV park is pretty nice. We have a great site beside a creek. The place is filling up fast for the long weekend. Relaxed around the park and met some nice fellow campers.

May 27- Got up at 6AM to go to Yosemite National Park. We were told to go early to avoid the crowds. Glad we did. It was about a 35 mile drive to the center of the park. A bear crossed the road on our drive in. What a beautiful place. Gail had some memories of going there when she was young that were rekindled. She saw the area where she and her family would tent camp.
We saw everything- Half Dome, El Capitan, 3 Brothers, Glacier Point, The Cathedral and Leaning Tower, all rock configurations. The waterfalls were as spectacular-Bridalveil, Yosemite, Ribbon, Silver Threads. Many more because of the amount of rain and snow this year.
It was a sunny day up to about 65 in mid day.
Here are some photos:

This is Yosemite Falls. It is actually two sets of falls. The sound was a thundering roar virtually wherever you were because of the volume of water this year.


Three Brothers. This is a great set of peaks named Eagle Peak, Middle Brother and Lower Brother. All are over 7000ft tall.


Bridalveil Fall is really spectacular. This was taken looking across the Merced River. The Peak right of the falls is Leaning Tower, named for that reason.


Then there is El Capitan. It is 7569 ft and ominous. It was such a clear day there were climbers on it. It takes one person two days to climb the face. Imagine sleeping in a sling hammock on it.


Another shot of  El Capitan with Half Dome in the distance. It is the sharp peak on the right between the trees with the white patch of snow.


And finally the Cathederal.


May 28- It rained really hard most of the afternoon and into the night so we did some tenter watching. Poor souls in the pouring rain. We went to explore the area but at $5.20/gallon for gas we didn't last long.

May 29- Another not very nice day weather wise so we stayed in camp and enjoyed not having to be outside.

Yosemite

May 26-Drove 317 miles to Yosemite Lakes RV park. Nice sunny day for a long drive. The RV park is pretty nice. We have a great site beside a creek. The place is filling up fast for the long weekend. Relaxed around the park and met some nice fellow campers.

May 27- Got up at 6AM to go to Yosemite National Park. We were told to go early to avoid the crowds. Glad we did. It was about a 35 mile drive to the center of the park. A bear crossed the road on our drive in. What a beautiful place. Gail had some memories of going there when she was young that were rekindled. She saw the area where she and her family would tent camp.
We saw everything- Half Dome, El Capitan, 3 Brothers, Glacier Point, The Cathedral and Leaning Tower, all rock configurations. The waterfalls were as spectacular-Bridalveil, Yosemite, Ribbon, Silver Threads. Many more because of the amount of rain and snow this year.
It was a sunny day up to about 65 in mid day.
Here are some photos:

This is Yosemite Falls. It is actually two sets of falls. The sound was a thundering roar virtually wherever you were because of the volume of water this year.


Three Brothers. This is a great set of peaks named Eagle Peak, Middle Brother and Lower Brother. All are over 7000ft tall.


Bridalveil Fall is really spectacular. This was taken looking across the Merced River. The Peak right of the falls is Leaning Tower, named for that reason.


Then there is El Capitan. It is 7569 ft and ominous. It was such a clear day there were climbers on it. It takes one person two days to climb the face. Imagine sleeping in a sling hammock on it.


Another shot of  El Capitan with Half Dome in the distance. It is the sharp peak on the right between the trees with the white patch of snow.


And finally the Cathederal.


May 28- It rained really hard most of the afternoon and into the night so we did some tenter watching. Poor souls in the pouring rain. We went to explore the area but at $5.20/gallon for gas we didn't last long.

May 29- Another not very nice day weather wise so we stayed in camp and enjoyed not having to be outside.

Waldport

June 10-We left the depressing RV park in Coos Bay a day early and drove the 85 miles to Waldport, OR. The park here is on the Alsea River just out of town. We are the only traveling campers in the park. The rest of the rigs are people living full time or in town working and staying in the park. This seems to be the way it is fr us. Chinook RV is a real nice park and the owners are very accomodating. We walked around Waldport after we got set up checking out the local businesses. We needed ice and it was free if you spent $10 at a mini mart so I bought a book and a candy bar. Here are a couple pics of the park.


June 11-Went to Depoe Bay to wander around. The fishing charter boats were in so we watched the cleaning and packaging of their catch. Of course we had to wander through numerous gift shops. It's a wonder they all stay in business with so many of them competing. Then up to Salishan to look for a Butter Boy. No luck. Then to some beaches for beachcombing. We found a few agates and unusual rocks. Gail has been collecting rocks on our travels so we added to these. It was a beautiful day with little wind. Went to dinner at the Flounder, a tavern in Waldport, that has great burgers. We had a terrific sunset at our camp that I will share with you here.



June 12-We went back to Newport to see if we could find a way to walk the North jetty. We found a trailhead so set out across the beach to the jetty. We walked as far as allowed. The way was blocked by very large boulders. We returned to the truck and went to Old Town Newport for more site seeing. More fishermen with their catch, restaurants shops. WE FOUND OUR BUTTER BOY! We're going to use him tonight. Then back to camp. It started raining so it's a good time to work on the blog.
We leave tomorrow bright and early for about a 300 mile drive home. Thanks for following us on our trip. We go out again on July 6 to Montana, Alta Lake and maybe more.

Waldport

June 10-We left the depressing RV park in Coos Bay a day early and drove the 85 miles to Waldport, OR. The park here is on the Alsea River just out of town. We are the only traveling campers in the park. The rest of the rigs are people living full time or in town working and staying in the park. This seems to be the way it is fr us. Chinook RV is a real nice park and the owners are very accomodating. We walked around Waldport after we got set up checking out the local businesses. We needed ice and it was free if you spent $10 at a mini mart so I bought a book and a candy bar. Here are a couple pics of the park.


June 11-Went to Depoe Bay to wander around. The fishing charter boats were in so we watched the cleaning and packaging of their catch. Of course we had to wander through numerous gift shops. It's a wonder they all stay in business with so many of them competing. Then up to Salishan to look for a Butter Boy. No luck. Then to some beaches for beachcombing. We found a few agates and unusual rocks. Gail has been collecting rocks on our travels so we added to these. It was a beautiful day with little wind. Went to dinner at the Flounder, a tavern in Waldport, that has great burgers. We had a terrific sunset at our camp that I will share with you here.



June 12-We went back to Newport to see if we could find a way to walk the North jetty. We found a trailhead so set out across the beach to the jetty. We walked as far as allowed. The way was blocked by very large boulders. We returned to the truck and went to Old Town Newport for more site seeing. More fishermen with their catch, restaurants shops. WE FOUND OUR BUTTER BOY! We're going to use him tonight. Then back to camp. It started raining so it's a good time to work on the blog.
We leave tomorrow bright and early for about a 300 mile drive home. Thanks for following us on our trip. We go out again on July 6 to Montana, Alta Lake and maybe more.

Coos Bay

June 8-156 miles to Coos Bay. Our park is very clean and quiet. Too quiet. Too many seniors and too many rules. Charleston is to the West and there are parks on the ocean. They are Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, Simpson Reef and Cape Arago. We drove to these to get an overview of what we can do later. We saw hundreds of seals, sea lions and other creatures of that ilk. It is pupping time and they were very noisy.
This a rock with hundreds of them making quite a ruckus.


June 9- We went back to the parks area and parked the truck at Sunset Bay. We started at a trailhead that took us through forests and to vistas of the coastline. Walking through the forest with the sun streaking through was wonderful. There were some redwoods on our walk. One had a base that was about 10' with six other trunks sprouted from it that were the size of a large fir tree. The views of the coastline were equally impressive. Here is a taste of what it is like.


We hiked about 5 miles on these trails. So much to see-all spectacular. At the end of the hike we returned using the road. We took a trail into another forested area. It was quite a steep climb after all we had covered. Don went about 3/4 of a mile up to look at some WWII bunkers. They were very overgrown. With the return hike and all we went about 6 miles. GREAT DAY!! We love hiking trails.

Coos Bay

June 8-156 miles to Coos Bay. Our park is very clean and quiet. Too quiet. Too many seniors and too many rules. Charleston is to the West and there are parks on the ocean. They are Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, Simpson Reef and Cape Arago. We drove to these to get an overview of what we can do later. We saw hundreds of seals, sea lions and other creatures of that ilk. It is pupping time and they were very noisy.
This a rock with hundreds of them making quite a ruckus.


June 9- We went back to the parks area and parked the truck at Sunset Bay. We started at a trailhead that took us through forests and to vistas of the coastline. Walking through the forest with the sun streaking through was wonderful. There were some redwoods on our walk. One had a base that was about 10' with six other trunks sprouted from it that were the size of a large fir tree. The views of the coastline were equally impressive. Here is a taste of what it is like.


We hiked about 5 miles on these trails. So much to see-all spectacular. At the end of the hike we returned using the road. We took a trail into another forested area. It was quite a steep climb after all we had covered. Don went about 3/4 of a mile up to look at some WWII bunkers. They were very overgrown. With the return hike and all we went about 6 miles. GREAT DAY!! We love hiking trails.