Day 32-34 ~ Homeward Bound

Coquille River Lighthouse
On Saturday we drove South on the scenic road along the coast. We stopped at the Coquille River Lighthouse. We were able to go to the top and view the surrounding area including the town of Bandon. This lighthouse was decommissioned in 1939.
We continued South for views of coastal rock formations including Face Rock. The fog was rolling in so the picture is not clear, but you can still make out the facial profile.




Face Rock

Sunday morning we strolled Bandon Old Town. We had lunch along the marina - delicious Prawn Basket and Clam Chowder!

We then headed East to I-5 along the Coquille River.

We made reservations at Seven Feathers Indian Casino's RV park. It is very large and very nice with many trees and beautiful plants.

Of course, after dinner, we had to pay a quick visit to the Casino. Although we came out ahead on our previous casino visits, we are now about even.

We have been to four casinos on this trip. In the past 20 years we have probably been to three. Let's hope this is not a new trend!

So now we have a straight 7 hour shot to home.

We will most likely spend the night in Redding and be home tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to read our Blog.

It has been fun for us!

Kathy & Chig

Day 27-31 ~ The Oregon Coast

It is hard to believe we have been gone for so long. Monday we had a relaxing day in Portland. It started with Chig's visit to the local Honda dealer. The Fit battery was checked and again pronounced "dead". This time it was replaced. Finally! I fixed "Taco Dinner" that evening at Kevin & Leslie's home.

On Tuesday we left Portland for a scenic drive to the coast where we traveled South of Cannon Beach on Highway 101 to our Oregon State campground at Nehalem Bay. The highway is VERY narrow and my side of the motorhome felt like it was suspended above the ocean. Our site backed to a large dune covered with trees and vegetation. After setting up, we took a walk to the beach. It was beautiful and expansive with many families strolling, building sand castles, playing in the surf (burrrrr) and flying kites. Later we had a nice fire and enjoyed the outdoors.

Wednesday morning we continued down the coast to another state park, South Beach, just South of Newport. Irene followed us in her car. When we arrived at the park Irene called to say she was still in Newport and had been involved in a minor accident. While attempting to merge from two lanes to one lane, at the approach to the Yaquina bridge, she was sideswiped by a large dump truck. Her car suffered significant damage to both driver's side doors. Fortunately, she was not injured and her car is operable. Not a scratch on the dump truck. The park at South Beach was not our favorite. We didn't like the beach, it was foggy, chilly and there were lots of mosquitos.

The Jaquina Bridge from Old Town Newport

Thursday we continued 17 miles south to Beachside. Our RV had an ocean view - well almost. The fog continued. This is one of our favorite stretches of beach on the Oregon Coast as it is a great place to search for agates. We don't really know what we are doing but we have fun finding pretty rocks, and just maybe, some of the rocks are actually agates. They all end up in our Rock Garden at home.

Today, Friday the 13th, Irene left us to visit with Sacramento friends who recently relocated to Grants Pass. We continued our trip 100 miles south to Bullards Beach. Enroute we stopped for lunch at a nice day use park in the Dunes area south of Florence.Once set up at our site we saw a 3/4 mile trail to the beach. Off we went.

The Sandy Trail

This was not a hike but a trudge! We went up dunes and down dunes then back up again. The path was made up of soft sand - and the mosquitos were back. It was worth the walk. Once we got to the beach we found agates! I even found the energy to make it back to our RV.

Chig filling his pockets with agates.

Day 26 ~ Portland

Kevin & Dane

Yesterday we left Seattle and traveled to Portland without incident! Hoorah! Irene followed in her car. We got settled at the RV park located about 5 miles from Kevin & Leslie's house. We went out for a delicious dinner with Irene, Kevin, Leslie and Dane to del Inti, a Peruvian restaurant owned by their friends Ignacio and Erin.

Today was spent getting ready for Dane's 4th birthday party at nearby Irving Park.

Dane's Party theme was "Transformers". Dane (in the blue Superman shirt) is getting ready to blow out his candles. There were 13 children plus parents and friends. We had morning clouds but the weather improved for a perfect party.
Cory drove down from Seattle to help celebrate.

Day 24 ~ Needing sleep in Seattle

The past few days have been very busy. Irene came and met us at Lake Sammamish on Wednesday. In the evening we headed across Lake Washington on the floating bridge to downtown Seattle. This is a very beautiful place and we have been blessed with amazing weather. We first went to the home of Craig & Deanna on Queen Anne Hill. We last saw Craig & Deanna at the reunion in Gooding. Deanna was in Chig's graduating class. Craig designed their home which was built four years ago. We were treated to a wonderful tour. It has picture-perfect west-facing views of the Seattle area. Later in the evening, we all went to Cory's restaurant, Pintxo, for a relaxing dinner on the back patio.

Yesterday Charlene and Sabrina drove to Lake Sammamish to join us for lunch at the motorhome. This is Seafair Fleet Week in Seattle, and we saw the Blue Angels fly overhead as they practiced for their upcoming performances.

When Charlene left we drove to Bremerton to visit Chig's niece Toni and her husband Bob. They live in a very nice home overlooking Kitsap Lake. Toni's daughter Tasha and granddaughters Deon and Taya, joined us for dinner on the deck. Another evening with perfect weather and eye-pleasing views. Since our last visit to their home eight years ago, they have completed a beautiful remodel.

Today was cloudy and cooler and was a travel day (14 miles) from Lake Sammamish to Kent.

We spent the afternoon at the 11 story Seattle Central Library. Completed in 2004, it is a very unique and interesting building. Chig was very excited to learn there is an entire floor dedicated to genealogy!

This evening we again went to Pintxo. Then Cory joined us for Pizza and Beer at Calozzi's Italian Kitchen ~ it was very good! The evening ended with a visit to Cory's apartment where we saw our granddog Lucy and grandcats Cloe and Chelsea. We made it to the rooftop deck just in time for a spectacular sunset and more views of the city.

Day 21 ~ Evening

Monday morning we were on the road once more. We left our wonderful RV site in Wenatchee heading to Chig's sister Charlene's home in Marysville, WA, just north of Seattle. Since planning our trip, I had been looking forward to visiting the town of Leavenworth. We would be passing through the town enroute and planned a stop for a few hours. The former logging town was tagged a "welfare town" during the 50's and in the 60's started a plan to transform the town into a Bavarian Alpine Village to attract tourist trade. The town is now a thriving destination. Unfortunately, as we approached the town, I told Chig to turn on the wrong road and it took us over one hour to find a place to turn around. We ran out of time and continued on our trip to Marysville without a stop. The reward was the stretch of road starting with miles of rolling apple orchards and later large stands of pine trees. We travelled over Steven's pass along a canyon following the Wenatchee River. The beauty was breathtaking. We will save Leavenworth for another trip.

Chig's brother Keith and his wife Alice took the ferry from Kingston to meet us at Charlene's. Keith's son Ron, Charlene's son Jeff, Leanne and their two children, Sabrina & Quentin also came to visit.


Back row:
Chig, Jeff, Keith, Alice

Front row:
Me, Charlene, Sabrina, Quentin




Charlene's second son, Todd, works as the lead facilities engineer for the Space Needle. Monday night he met us for a special needle tour.



Here is a picture from the observation deck.






Then the tour became very special. Todd took us in the bowels of the space needle. We climbed up a flight of stairs, then ladders, through a hatch to the very top roof. The interior felt like we were in a submarine, 600 feet in the air. On the very top roof, I took this picture of the needle.
Chig & I stayed very close to the center of the roof. Cory joined us for the tour and was comfortable standing at the roof's edge. The sky was clear and the view was spectacular.






This commercial picture was taken before went to the top.

Todd, Charlene, Me and Cory.

Today we moved closer to Seattle to Vasa Park Resort on the shores of Sammamish Lake.

Our Honda battery quest continues. On Monday morning Chig went to the Honda dealer in Wenatchee. They confirmed the battery has dead cells but did not have the right replacement in stock. I called ahead to a dealer in Everett and confirmed they had the battery. This morning Chig took the car in and they tested the battery 4 times and said it is fine. By the time he drove back to Charlene's it was dead again. We may wear out our jumper cables before we make it home. There are definitely frustrations when traveling.

Day 19 ~ Evening

Wenatchee Confluence State Park

We are staying at a very nice state park. The sites are manicured and there is plenty of room between each RV. There is a 10 mile bicycle trail that goes through the park and across the river at two points. This evening we walked along the river to the beach and boat ramp.







The park is at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia rivers. Our weather has been very nice but the surrounding skys of this entire area are heavy with smoke. A fire started in a nearby canyon on Friday and has now burned over 1500 acres. The resulting haze reminds us of the skys in L.A.
The scenery in this area is a stark contrast to the beauty we found in Northern Idaho. Here the hills are brown with few trees.




We started our day with a visit to Auto Zone where it was confirmed, our battery has dead cells. With only 10,000 miles on our car, we will be making a visit to the dealer tomorrow for a replacement. We headed to Lake Chelan, about 40 miles north of Wenatchee. It was one of the busiest areas we have visited on our trip. We tried to eat our lunch in one of the lakefront parks but there were no available parking spaces and every table was taken. The water was full of toys, boats and people. We headed up the East side of the lake to the town of Manson. We ended up eating our lunch in the car in the parking lot of Blueberry Hills Farm. We then went into their restaurant and each had a piece of pie (1 mixed berry and 1 apricot). The view was beautiful but the pie did not hold a candle to my sister Irene's pies!

On our return drive to Wenatchee we made the last stop of the day at Ohme Gardens. They are perched high on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River. The gardens were started in 1929 and have meandering stone paths throughout many acres of plantings.

Here we are at one of the bluff overlooks at Ohme Gardens. The Columbia River is in the background.

Day 19 ~ Morning

Steamboat Rock ~ Banks Lake

Friday was a travel day heading towards Wenatchee, with an overnight stop in Coulee City. At noon, we met Chig's 2nd cousin Stacy for a nice lunch in Spokane. In Coulee City, we stopped for the night at a city park along Banks Lake, a water storage lake, south of Grand Coulee Dam. Chig's first cousin Shery works at the dam and recommended the evening laser light show.

The 27 mile trip to the visitor's center followed the shore of Banks Lake. The amazing rock formations caused by glacial flooding and volcanic activity included Steamboat Rock.

Grand Coulee Dam is instrumental in providing flood protection and controlled irrigation along the Columbia River.

Chig was named after his Aunt Frances and Uncle Raymond Chigbrow(Francis Raymond). Raymond worked as an inspector at the dam for over 30 years.

At 10:00 p.m. the light show started. The 11 flood gates were opened one by one. The show took place against the white backdrop of the water spilling over the dam.

Although we have experienced great weather, during the night on Friday, we had heavy rain & very loud thunder.

On Saturday morning we met Shery and her husband Quincy for breakfast and had a very nice visit.

Our trip continued to Wenatchee. On the way, we stopped in Waterville and visited the cemetery where my maternal Great Grandparents are buried. They arrived in the U.S. from Canada in 1893 and moved to the Wenatchee area in 1900, where they lived until their deaths.
The battery problems with our tow car continue. Les Schwab - here we come!