Troy, Montana

I know I know, this update has been long time in coming.  Sorry.

We have been busy.  When we left Whidbey Island we meet my cousin Pat near Mt. Vernon, WA for lunch and he suggested that we take highway 2 east so that is what we did.  We were very undecided as to what direction we were going to go and even talked of going in Canada but when we left the parking lot after lunch the rv turned right onto U.S. Route 2 (click blue link) not left onto interstate 5.  So away we went.  Route 2 follows along the Skagit River.

Isn't the water color just beautiful?  It gets its color from glacial run-off.  

Wikipedia says this:  Glacial Milk

Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspended in meltwater making the water appear cloudy, which is sometimes known as glacial milk.

When the sediments enter a river, they turn the river's colour grey, light brown, iridescent blue-green, or milky white. If the river flows into aglacial lake, the lake may appear turquoise in colour as a result. When flows of the flour are extensive, a distinct layer of a different colour flows into the lake and begins to dissipate and settle as the flow extends from the increase in water flow from the glacier during snow melts and heavy rain periods.

As we moved into Eastern Washington we entered forrest fire area.  

We spent a night in the area of Washington's biggest fire ever.  And they get summer rains here so you know, first comes fire then comes rain and flooding.  The weekend before we got here they lost 3 houses to floods.

We had lunch at Grand Coulee Dam. Click blue link for info on GC Dam.

That day we drove across Eastern Washington, through Idaho and into Montana.  

This is the only picture I took in Idaho. US Route 2 is along part of the Louis and Clark trail.

I'm ending todays blog with a sad note.  

Tootsie, moms much loved kitten, died while we were in Eastern Washington.  Tootsie's health had been declining for some time and we knew that she could pass at any moment.  Still we were sad to see her go and we miss her very much. 

From Ghost Girl this is Evie, Joy and Rose kitty saying, thank you for reading and see you later.

Moving on to Whidbey Island

We have left Port Townsend and moved over to Whidbey Island.

The view from our spot in

Point Hudson Rv Park and Marina in Port Townsend

Two of the vessels that passed in front of our space in Port Townsend. 

The ferry we took from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island

Ghost Girl in the hold.

One of my blog readers who lives nearby suggested that while in Coupeville we eat at Toby's.

We did and it was delicious but I forgot to take a picture of lunch till it was to late.

My cousin Kirby and his lovely wife Freda who live in Coupeville and drove us around.

We had a lovely time on the island, it was warm and clear.  I have another cousin, Richard, who also lives on island but he was off island when we were here.  Sorry we missed you Richard.  

While in Oak Harbor I had XM Radio installed in the truck but I had to go off island to a Best Buy to get the unit that would allow me to remove the little XM unit and put into a larger unit with speakers so we could listen to it while in the rv or at home.  So today we went into Burlington to the Best Buy and Costco and Walmart.  We are in Anacortes, WA for next two days, after that we just can't decide where we will go.  We are kind of killing time waiting for the weather to cool down farther east of here.  We'll move on in a few days.

Home unit, playing a song by one of my all time favorite singers Sade.

Until next time, thank you for reading.

Evie and Joy

Don't forget to DREAM BIG!!!

Beautiful Port Townsend, WA

We're in love.  We are in Point Hudson RV Park and Marina.  Wow.  Land yachts on one side and sea yachts on the other side with two restaurants in between.  My idea of heaven.  And all this while looking out on the Puget Sound.  Port Townsend is the gateway to the sound so there is lots of activity, sail boats, motor boats and freighters being pulled by tugs.  What great fun.

The ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

We will take this ferry on wednesday.

It's hard to keep this water girl out of cool clear ocean water.

Look no litter.

Ahh

Some local wildlife.  Sea Otter.

Salad!!!  That's a shrimp on the far side of glass.

I had broiled salmon mom had blackened salmon.

No, we haven't had our fill of sea food yet.  We will be eating out every meal while we are here. Bummer we will only be here two nights.

Now I'm going to do some griping.

I was going to do a whole post about this but I have calmed down a bit so this will be short.

The state of Washington has the worst signage of any state that I've been in and I've been to most of them.  We drove all the way to see Mount St. Helens only to get near the visitors center to find it closed. This was on a long 50 mile road.  We went even though it was cloudy and rainy thinking that oh well the visitors center will have postcard and pictures and tons of info and such.  NOT.  Grumble grumble 

Devastation area from the May 18, 1980 eruption. 

WTF

That's all. 

 We are going to hang around cousin Kirby's area, Whidbey Island, and see about having a satellite radio installed in the Rv.  I'm going crazy, some might say crazier, without music to listen and sing along to.

We picked some black berries the other day and did some baking.  Yummmm

Dream BIG!!!

Meeting a New Found Cousin

We left the coast for a few days so we could see my friend Joy in Ryderwood, WA.  As luck would have it she was called away right when we had planned to see her but I wasn't going to be deterred. Mom and I drove into Ryderwood, which is at the end of a short state road.

Road going to Ryderwood, WA

The community center where there is coffee and donuts on weekdays 

and on weekends music where Joy's partner David plays with his band.

Corner store.

Joy's house with pretty lace curtains.

From there we drove south to Kelso, WA for the night.  There isn't any thing special about Kelso except it is about an hour from Portland where, the next day, tuesday we drove in to have lunch with my cousin, Carol.  We found each other on ancestry dot com.  Our great grandfathers were brothers.  We shared (well she did) pictures of her side of the family.  

Mom and Carol.

Finding a parking place in downtown Portland was no easy feat. But I managed to find two spots on 12th street only 5 blocks from her really cute apartment that is an old building.

Carol's apt. is on the 4th floor of the same building where Jakes Seafood Restaurant is.

Salmon with Horseradish sauce, garlic mash potatoes with green beans. 

After lunch we got back on the freeway and came back north to Kelso for the night.  Tomorrow we will head back to the coast via hwy. 12.  Tomorrow night we will be back near Aberdeen, WA. where will continue our trip north up the Olympic Peninsula.

One last picture.  A few of you requested a picture of 'Ghost Girls' ghost markings.  They are hard to get, the light has to be just right but I was able to get a shot of part of them.

Ghost Girl is a 2001 Winnebago, Minnie

Until next time.

Thank you for reading and all your comments are appreciated, even though I'm not around to answer them.  I do read them and I know someone is out there reading.

Mom and I have put 12,00 miles on our RV.  Yeah!!!

We Are in Hoquiam, WA

We are staying in the Hoquiam River RV Park right on the river complete with two river otters. Very cute but not able to get pictures of them.  But we were able to get a picture of a bull Elk.  I have to tell you, everywhere we go, no matter what state we are driving in, we see signs for ELK.  But after seeing at least a 100 signs we have only seen two herds, one in Colorado(when my camera was broken) and the herd that lives north of Eureka, Ca.

This bull was very far away that is why this photo is a little out of focus. 

But you get the idea that he is a big boy.  

He is one of the Roosevelt Elk herd north of Eureka, CA.

Our favorite fish shack on the fishing pier in Port Orford, OR

And just so you don't think that I'm exaggerating about it being a shack, here is the big picture. 

Note rear end of 'Ghost Girl" on left.

There is nothing more beautiful that the Oregon Coast.   But there are hazards to the area.

Just so you know where to go.

And let's don't forget about the stuff that is making its way here from Japan.

But it is very beautiful.  Lots of fresh water lakes next to the beach.

Lots of wild flowers still blooming. These are Sweet Peas and white Queen Ann Lace.  But Cleome are in bloom as well.  They look very etherial.  You can see them up ahead and it looks like a purple cloud, but when you get there they are so spaced out that a picture just doesn't do it.

And this is the Hoquiam River where we are tonight.

Today we also went over the bridge at Astoria, OR. Here is link to wikipedia all about it.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria%E2%80%93Megler_Bridge

It's a very beautiful and long bridge connecting Washington to Oregon.

We are going to spend two days here and then make our way east to Interstate 5 and go south to visit my friends who are living in Ryderwood, WA.  and then onto Portland to visit my new found cousin, Carol.  Internet has been very hit and miss.  Often not where we are parked for the night so not always able to post but will when I can.

See you in a few days.

Evie and Joy plus our kitties Rose and Tootsie.