Oh Canada

This week we drove across the border for a day trip to Vancouver. We haven't been here since a memorable visit in 2002. After loading up the dogs and plugging Davie St into the GPS we headed across the border at Peace Arch crossing. The Canadian customs officer asked three questions. "Where are you coming from", "Are you carrying any guns", and "Are you going to cause any trouble?" He had a little smile on his face for the third question.

After arriving on Davie St, it was lunch time and we were hungry so we parked and walked straight to Hamburger Marys where we knew they had an outdoor eating area so that we could keep Rikki & Luci with us. After lunch, we and the dogs walked the shopping district, relaxed on a park bench at the bay, talked to a very nice vacationing lady from Toronto, and did some walking through Stanley Park before returning to the car.

The town was just getting started for Pride week so lots of activity and we enjoyed the visit. Even after seven years, it was amazing how little has changed. The return to the states took a little more time. About 45 minutes wait compared to 5 minutes coming into Canada.

Like everywhere else in the Northwest, temperatures have been on the rise. At Birch Bay and Vancouver the high temps were only mid eighties, but we finally had to run the A/C the last few days. Its going to be much warmer as we head inland, but we keep reminding ourselves how much cooler it is compared to Yuma this time of year.

We got excited about a 'screen room' that one of our neighbors had outside their rig as a place to relax bug free, so we went to Fred Meyer and purchased one for ourselves. We did a test 'explode' and a 'collapse', but we'll save actual use for our next destination.

Speaking of which, we arrived today at TT-Crescent Bar near Wenatchee. We're about 10 degrees warmer into the mid nineties, but 'still cooler than Yuma.' Anyway, more about our stay here later.

Lynden, WA

The guy in red is a sculpture across the street from our local Blaine, WA post office. Don't have any more information on 'red man.'

We remain in Birch Bay and in fact we just decided to extend our stay here for a few days and not go next to Cultus Lake in BC. We drove up to TT-Cultus Lake today to preview the park and the area is just stunning with a large beautiful lake nearby and a resort like feel. However, the park itself has small driveways and cramped parking spaces. There is some question about whether we would be able to find an open space that would work for our rig. This park is more geared for campers and smaller RV's.

We are now going to stay here in Birch Bay for four extra days and then go to TT-Crescent Bar Resort in Quincy, WA for about five days before running up to Kelowna, BC on August 5th as originally planned. For anyone who has never done it before, park scheduling requires the talents of a choreographer to make sure that mail can be forwarded, hot weather is avoided, and that you do not arrive at a park on a weekend when working people have taken all the good spaces. Crescent Bar is directly south of Kelowna off of Route 97, so it will be straight shot up to visit Robb and Joe.

Another small variable is the fire situation in Kelowna. The news media here in the states haven't been covering it, but the Kelowna area has been dealing with three different large fires over the last week. Two of the fires are now contained, but the third and largest one is still fully uncontained. The fire is northwest of Kelowna and shouldn't be a factor, but it is fire season so we are watching the situation carefully.

Last Wednesday we took the rig down to Bellingham to get our two awning problems resolved. Can't say enough good about Al's RV Parts and Service in Bellingham. They are right adjacent to I-5. They did a good job on both problems in less than two hours and bill was reasonable in both time and rate.

On a separate scenic drive, we found a really nice town nearby called Lynden. According to the local literature about 50% of the inhabitants are Dutch which would explain why the town has a feel similar to Solvang, CA. The homes and landscaping in this town are so well maintained that it's hard to believe that they go through the same winter weather as the rest of Washington. They also seem to have an unlimited budget for 'color bowl's of flowers to complete the 'Wisteria Lane' atmosphere.

I had Strawberry/Rhubarb pie ala mode at a Lynden bakery that has to be the best pie I've ever eaten. It was so 'rich' that I had to forego dinner. Chuck had Brambleberry that was good, but not as good as mine.

In the weather department, we have had mostly sun, a few clouds and the closest thing to rain was a brief drizzle a couple of evenings ago that we almost didn't even notice. We are supposed to have a major warm up the first of next week which is part of the reason we are staying here a few more days. Inland areas are going to be near 100 degrees the first of the week and we've forgotten what that feels like.

I've uploaded a few pictures from Lynden that can be seen here.

First week in TT-Birch Bay

We are very happy with this park and except for a few clouds upon our arrival, it has been sunny and in the 70's all week. Over half of the sites here are satellite friendly, Verizon is at 4 bars and elbow room is above average. TT staff are friendly as usual, as well as our RV neighbors.

Much of this week was focused on chores. Mailing, shopping, laundry, car washing, rig cleaning, rig fixing, etc. Speaking of rig fixing, our little electric awning over the door is dying again. This time blowing fuses. We have an appointment next week in Bellingham to have it fixed. The transmission problem is still gone or in remission. We're hoping for gone.

Saturday we drove to the marina peninsula off of Semimahoo and took the passenger ferry 'Plover' over to Blaine. This approach was a one hour solution to a ten minute problem, but the ferry ride was very enjoyable. As the ferry left Semimahoo, it passed by a floating dock that had nearly a hundred seals sunning themselves including a dozen or more young pups. From the Blaine harbor we walked into town soaked up a children's jazz festival and art fair. Reasonable fun and we 'got the T-shirt.' On the return voyage of the ferry, it goes out in the bay a short distance and come close to the official border with Canada before docking.

Today, Sunday we drove south past Bellingham and checked out two Thousand Trails parks that we are not staying at this trip but wanted to preview for future use. We visited Mt Vernon and La Conner. Both parks are of the heavily tree'd variety that drive me nuts when trying to find a site that will permit DirecTV satellite service. We would likely only use these parks for a short stay or not at all, but now we know.

After these two visits we drove onto Whidbey Island which has some great scenery and a couple of nice beach towns including Oak Harbor. The bridge getting you on the island from the north is a definite Kodak moment and a number of pictures are included in the album link at the bottom of this post.

We have been going for a walk each evening. Modest exercise, but better than none at all.

Heard that Yuma had a 'haboob' yesterday afternoon with winds in the 50 to 70 mph area. The sandstorm was followed up with a little bit of rain, but it was mostly about wind and did some modest damage in the downtown Yuma area. Called our good friend Andy and he graciously drove over to our house and checked to make sure there was no wind damage. Apparently we are in good shape and according to Andy the worst part of the storm was in the main part of Yuma rather than in the Foothills.

My mind was suggesting to finish off with, "That's the way it is", but this doesn't seem like the right week to steal that line.

More from Birch Bay next week and see the following web photo album for pictures from this week: Birch Bay - Whidbey Island Pics

Enumclaw wrap up

On Friday, Kenny drove us up to the Sunrise area of Mount Ranier National Park which is at the 6400' level of the mountain. This was a perfect day for this as it was sunny with only a few wandering clouds near the mountain. Even in the summer not every day on the mountain is sunny. In fact, some parts of the mountain get more than 100 inches of rain per year. From Sunrise, you become even more aware of the size of this mountain that includes 26 glaciers. In addition to the 'vista' outlooks, Sunrise has a substantial visitors center with many informational exhibits. There are also seemingly hundreds of hiking trails that would be fun to investigate on a future trip.

We were there at the right time to be able to join Ranger Brian on one of the two daily guided short walking tours to Emmons Glacier Vista. From him we learned more information about Mt Ranier and the local flowers and wildlife.

On Saturday, Kenny and Scott invited about a dozen friends over for an afternoon barbeque. We enjoyed catching up with old friends Chuck, Jerry & Bill as well as making many new friends. Great conversation and the food, that included burgers, fresh salmon and other good things, was delicious. The view from the patio down the valley to the Green River provided a great backdrop.

On Sunday morning, Kenny made us all a Bacon and Egg breakfast. The eggs were fresh from the chicken coop and more flavorful than any grocery store eggs. Later we visited brother Danny's home and Kenny's mother's home. Everyone made us feel warmly welcome on these visits.

Moreover, we can't thank Kenny and Scott enough for how they made us feel at home and we really enjoyed the visit.

We left on Monday morning for Birch Bay, WA. More on Birch Bay later. The following link has some additional pictures of Mount Ranier and the Saturday BBQ: More Pictures Here.

Enjoying Enumclaw Washington

We got to enjoy a few fireworks on the Fourth at Ocean Shores, but the the omnipresent clouds and mist reduced the enjoyment level somewhat. The seaside weather continued cloudy and rainy as we left Ocean Shores on Monday.

We stayed two nights at Midway RV in Centralia to get us closer to the Tacoma Dome so that we could attend the American Idol tour at that facility on Tuesday night. The concert lasted over three hours with a short intermission in the middle and included the top ten finalist from this years competition. Chuck and I are big fans of Adam Lambert and not surprisingly enjoyed his portion of the program the most. A few pictures of the venue are included in the picture gallery at the end of this posting.

On Wednesday morning we headed north for a visit with Ken and Scott at their beautiful home and grounds near Enumclaw that includes a stunning view of Mt Ranier. They have a 10 acre farm with a big barn and numerous goats and chickens. Next to where we are parked is an enclosed grassy pasture area that our two dogs have claimed as their own. They are having great fun chasing each other around for hours in their private dog's paradise. Ken and Scott are winter visitors to Yuma, where we met them last year. Again, some pictures are included in the gallery at the end of this posting.

On Thursday we went and visited friends Chuck and Jerry at their Enumclaw home. Chuck and Jerry are also Yuma snowbirds. They also have a farm environment with horses and chickens. We spent the afternoon eating Washington cherries off the tree and relaxing in conversation on their patio . Their property also has a great view of Mt Ranier.

It is Friday morning and the excitement for the day is that Scott just picked up his new Infiniti G37S hardtop convertible. The car is beautiful and has features that I didn't even know had been invented yet.

Since leaving the coast, the weather has improved dramatically and we are looking at 70 degree weather and sunshine so it looks like summer may have finally arrived for the northwest.

Pictures from the Tacoma Dome and Ken and Scott's home are available here.

Go fly a kite!

After starting out with two basic kites, we traded one back to the store for a 'stunt' kite, which we have been having lots of fun flying. The stunt kites can be controlled to go right, left, up, down or whatever including looping all the way upside down and around.

Chuck has been having a lot of fun with this and has the record amount of time, 20 minutes, for staying up without crashing into the sand. We'll have to see if Yuma has the necessary wind to fly these back home as well as they fly here on the seashore.

We've been spending a lot of time on the beach, flying kites, or walking the dogs. They really look forward to their beach walks. Went to the Quinalt Casino Wednesday night for their prime rib buffet. Great food and great value at $9.95.

Good friends Chuck and Jerry came by yesterday afternoon to check in and we went with them to a different beach area where dogs are allow to be turned loose. Kind of a dog park at the beach.

Our park filled up almost to capacity yesterday for the long weekend. Lots of of american flags and they have a decoration contest coming up tomorrow. For tomorrow evening, the nearby casino which is said to set off good fireworks that we will be able to see either from our rig or out on the beach.