On the Road Again!

 I'm back on the road again! After a short stop at the girls' house to celebrate the 4th and get a glitch repaired on the motor home  (of course-it's Murphy's Law) I started off to parts North. I don't hurry anymore, so after a couple of days I arrived at Timber Lake day use park, where Gary and Cecile reside for the summer. Gary is working for PGE and as part of their perks they have a lovely fenced in area complete with another site for visitors-me! It's very spacious and very close to downtown Estacada, OR.

 This charming young lady is Gary's niece. She's 14 and visiting the Thompsons' for part of the summer. Her parents will join her in a few weeks. She's lovely-I'd forgotten how much fun it is to have a teenager around.

 One of my favorite activities is a fire-and Cecile provided two beautiful evenings. I remember when we all volunteered at the Headlands State Park in Mendocino-sitting around the fire was so entertaining!

 Now, I'm at Columbia Riverfront RV Park in Woodland,WA. Ray and I worked here for a winter season many years ago. It has new owners and they've made many changes-all good. The view of the Colombia River is so pretty, and there's lots of grassy areas to walk the shores.

I'm glad I stopped on my way to Stanwood, WA to visit Teresa and Roy. I'll be there Thursday....

Alaska!

On June 19th Jeanne and I set sail on the Sea Princess for a 10 day cruise to Alaska! We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco) and it's been years but still a thrill... We'll be at sea for a day, then stop in Ketchikan.

 The Golden Gate...out of this world!

  Skagway has grown quite  bit since I was here (15 years ago). There's another side of the street filled with stores! Skagway sits atop the northern most point of the inside passage and made a perfect strating place for the miners seeking their fortune during the gold rush of the late 1890s.

 Cruising through Tracy Arms is a delight. I am reminded again that no camera can truly capture the blue in the ice flows....

 This is a totem park in nearby Saxton-Ketchikan is only a few minutes ride. There are an awesome number of bald eagles everywhere!

Miss E is Two!

Another special event-Miss E is two! We celebrated with family and a few friends at a place called Big John's- a combination pizza, buffet and lots and lots of arcades.... 

Miss E got some stacking balls-don't know if Miss C is dancing or helping....

But she sure is good at helping open the presents

Now, I'm off to Alaska! I'm going on a ten day cruise-sailing from San Francisco under the Golden Gate!

Graduation!

Graduation cames at all levels and this weekend we watched Miss C, her best friend Mr. P  leave kindergarten, and Long time buddy Mr. C graduate from middle school.

The Moms were so proud!

And, so was the rest of the family!

They were very patient with us as we asked for "one more shot" Their teacher had provided us with a great program. The kids sang four songs, complete the gestures! I hope someone filmed the whole thing.

Easter and the Zoo

Most of you know I elected to come home in April. Kris and Sandi and the babies came over Saturday before Easter 'cause rumor has it the Easter Bunny left some surprises for Misses C and E. Miss E was only interested in what was in the plastic eggs....

Miss E was so adorable1 Miss C remembered last year when EB left goodies all around Grammy's house.

Then we had a serious coloring session....Grammy covers the whole table with brown paper so there's no "wrong" place to color.

 

The following week we met at the Chaffee Zoo in Fresno. I am so impressed with this zoo! It's beautiful, well kept and has a lot for the kids to do. The kids just fed the giraffes! Miss C says its tongue is very sticky...

And, right across from the giraffes were the monkeys..

Mommy and Miss C went into Dino Digs and found a skeleton. Then they re-buried it so another child could discover the bones....

At Storyland we rode the train and listened to some classic tales-including "Alice in Wonderland". It was a wonderful day!

The Pictures!

This is Success Lake-a real find! We learned that the park had been closed for two years, and we were one of the first to camp there. I am having my first fishing lesson: it's fishing, not catching!

We drove to Pierpoint to see what we could see-and this is a flume.Don't know if it's still a working flume or not.

We were told this place would have the best  breakfast and they were right!

And, Jack got to full fill one of his wishes-a ride on a snow mobile! 

As much as we try to avoid snow we have a fascination about it.

Lesson #2 on fishing-I'm getting very good at casting!

travelogue2011#1-We're off!

Well, I tried to download some pictures but without success.....Last year we started out and found a great simple BLM called Bagby-just north of Mariposa. It was our way of relaxing after the hectic packing, leaving, etc. So this year we found a new southern "Bagby" it's called Success Lake and run by the Army Corps of Engineers somewhere between Springdale and Pierpoint, CA We stayed there and looked around and even went to Pierpoint where there's still about 15 feet of snow-sorry I can't include the pictures! We actually got on a snowmobile-Santa's other sleigh...
We finally moved on to Southern Ca and are now staying @ Jojoba Hills-another SKP CO-OP park. I've always wanted to see this place and find it very nice with its best asset a huge pool and 2 jacuzzis! We're staying here till Sunday (there's so many casinos) then will move on to the slabs in Niland CA, then on to Laughlin. Hopefully I'll find another hot spot and it will be easier to download pictures.....