Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Blowin' in the wind

Statement as of 1:37 PM PDT on March 31, 2009 ... High Wind Warning in effect until 8 PM PDT this evening... Sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph with gusts of 60 mph will persist through the day and into the evening. Areas of blowing dust can also be expected with the visibility reduced to one half mile or less in places.


Unfortunately strong winds are a pretty normal here in the Lower Yakima Valley. I was hoping to miss the spring wind but guess not! It started howling around 10 a.m. and got progressively worse - highest gust I’ve seen listed on the internet so far is 41 mph.

We’ve been busy with our visiting; Sunday night we went to some friends for barbecue and had a fun visit. Yesterday we went up to Yakima to visit with Dave’s sister and brother-in-law. It was good to see both of them and get caught up. Tonight we are meeting friends in Tri-Cities for dinner. Just lil’ ol’ social butterflies! :o)

Photos: all taken at Wine Country RV Park in Prosser, WA



Sunday, March 29, 2009

Havin’ a good time in the Yakima Valley

Being back in our old stompin’ grounds has been lots of fun so far. We have been out to dinner a couple times with friends and have plans for meeting up with other friends this week. On our way up to Tri-Cities we drove by our old home in Benton City, WA… it looks great. We also made a stop at the Columbia Center Mall for a little shopping.

I thought I’d share some photos showing the interior of our trailer with the new furniture …maybe not real exciting but we are sure enjoying it. You may notice we have no table and chairs, that is because we put them in storage before we started on this journey since we knew we wouldn’t use them. Currently we have the couch where the table and chairs would go which gives us more space for the 2 recliners. Still need to find some sort of end table but this arrangement seems to really work for us.





Friday, March 27, 2009

Prosser, WA

We’re currently at Wine Country RV Park in Prosser, WA. This is the town both Dave & I used to work in, our old home is about 10 miles east of here. After we got set up Dave went into Grandview, WA to get a haircut and stopped by to see some of the guys at the place he used to work. Later we went to our storage unit in Kennewick, WA to store a few things and pick up a few things. While in Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Richland and Pasco, WA) we did a little shopping, a new coffeepot, a toaster and some bedding, grabbed a quick dinner and came back to the trailer.

This morning Dave went to coffee at the 10-4 CafĂ© in Grandview, WA, something he used to do when we lived here. Basically a group of guys get together for coffee every morning before work…he saw quite a few of the regulars and had a good visit with them. Once he got back I went into town and did some banking.

It’s fun to be back after being away for 9 months. There have been a few changes but for the most part it is the same ol’ place. We’re looking forward to seeing friends and just hanging around the area.

The photos are ones I took on our drive from Maryhill State Park to Prosser. The amount of wind turbines in the Columbia Gorge is amazing. I have no idea how much power they get from these but they sure are impressive to see!

Photos
Top: Mt. Adams viewed from the road by Goldendale, WA
Bottom: Views of the wind turbines around Goldendale, WA



Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Back in familiar territory

We are at Maryhill State Park (just south of Goldendale, WA) for the night…a place we have stayed at many times. It’s a really pretty park right on the Columbia River and we always enjoy stopping here.

Our drive was fairly long today, especially with our stop at Junction City, OR to pick up our new furniture. When we were at the furniture store I decided to go with a couple different recliners than what we picked out before. They were a little more money but a lot more comfy!

Today’s post is short and only one photo as my aircard is on “extended network” which is pretty darn slow. I wasn’t going to even try posting a photo, but the rainbow that was just outside our door this afternoon was just toooooo pretty!!

Photo: a rainbow over the Columbia River taken at Maryhill State Park

Monday, March 23, 2009

Moving early

Tomorrow is our last full day here at Whaler’s Rest in South Beach, OR. We were going to stay another week but it has been so wet we decided to take off. One of the beauties of RV’ing… don’t like the weather, move, don’t like the view, move…it’s really great to have that option.

On Wednesday we will go pick up the furniture we bought and move a bit further North. I’m rather excited to get our new furniture in the trailer, it will almost be like having a whole new home.

Photos
Taken around Thousand Trails Whalers Rest in South Beach, OR






Saturday, March 21, 2009

Filling up


We’ve had a couple of quiet typical days here at Thousand Trails Whaler’s Rest in South Beach, OR. Yesterday we did go in to Newport for dinner and picked up some bananas and milk after. We also got some wireless headphones to hook up to the TV so Dave can watch his news shows I don’t have to partake of them! Plus we finally found a wine aerator we have been wanting…it is the Venturi aerator and is not only compact it works pretty darn good. Ron & Marilyn (our friends from Phoenix) introduced us to it when we were at Pio Pico.

Today the park filled up a little more, I am guessing it is spring break time in Oregon Today at least 15-20 RV’s arrived at the park today. Lots of families here now which seems really different after the quiet winter months. Just a taste of things to come!

Photos
All taken March 18,2009 on our walk by Lost Creek State Park, South Beach, OR


Thursday, March 19, 2009

Some sun, some rain

Yesterday was a really pretty day, sunny and very little wind here at South Beach, OR. We took advantage of the lovely weather and went down to the beach in the morning (morning is the best time because it gives Cheye time to dry before night) and had a nice walk along the ocean. Later in the day we took a walk around the park and stopped to check out the exercise room here, it’s pretty impressive. A small room but it has 2 exercise bikes, a treadmill, a few free weights and a 3 station stacked weight gym. There is even have a TV, VHS player and CD player to help pass the time while you exercise.

The wind was back today along with some rain showers. The weather did break long enough to take Cheye out for a few walks around the park. We Wii’d some, computed, watched a little TV and I did a some stitching. A pretty typical day around the trailer.

Photos
Top: Cheye swimming in the ocean
Bottom: A view of the beach by Thousand Trails Whaler's Rest




Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Our morning was spent inside due to rain squalls and wind. After lunch we went into Newport, OR to Walmart and Fred Meyer’s for some groceries and supplies. It was another quiet day.

We’ve been on the road for a little over 10 months now. I can hardly believe it, the time has gone so quickly. I think we headed north a bit early this year, the weather isn’t the best. I keep looking at the temperatures in Cottonwood, AZ and Jamul, CA (where there are Thousand Trails parks) and see sunny and 70...think we will stay south a little longer next year!

Photos
Top: Cheye in the dog run at Thousand Trails Whaler's Rest, South Beach, OR
Bottom: Our site at
Thousand Trails Whaler's Rest, South Beach, OR

Monday, March 16, 2009

A couple days at the Oregon Coast

Yesterday started off as a very windy day with rain, the kind of wind that makes the trailer rattle. The rain let up a little after lunch and by 3 there was actually some sunshine! We were inside most of the day. Did some Wii, surfed the net and watched a little TV. Mom called around noon and we had a nice chat. After the sun came out Cheye and I went for a fairly long walk around the park.

Today we saw the sun a little more, but the wind didn’t let up here in South Beach. I did some laundry this morning, besides laundry it was a day pretty much like yesterday. We were able to go for longer walks which was nice, it felt good to get outside again.


Photos: Views in the park
Video: When Cheye came in wet after walking in the rain I laid down a towel for her to lay on. I have no idea what she found so interesting about this towel…but I thought it was kinda funny.





Saturday, March 14, 2009

Lots of rain

Wow…rain, rain, rain. Oh, and let’s not forget the wind which made umbrellas impossible to use today. I had read a weather forecast that said we were supposed to have 11 hours of daylight and 10 hours of rain…I think we had 11 hours of daylight and 12 hours of rain. Of course inclement weather is expected at the Oregon Coast but usually there are breaks in it so you can get outside for a little while, not today. Oh well, it’s supposed to be the same tomorrow but then it should let up a bit.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A lot of relaxing

Today we did some reading, computing, had some discussion about where we want to go this summer and did a lot of relaxing after our two days of travel. It was a nice day here, sunny and warm and we did take walks around the park. This afternoon Dave & I went in and picked up some mail we had sent to South Beach and then had dinner at a Chinese place in Newport, OR. On our way back to the trailer we stopped at the grocery store to restock the pantry.

We have enough internet speed here at the trailer to do a little surfing but not enough to post the blog. I’m going down to the lodge to use the wifi connection there, it’s slow but steady. All that to say…don’t be too surprised if I miss a day of blogging while we are here!! :o)

Photos & Video:
Taken yesterday at South Beach, OR


Thursday, March 12, 2009

Oregon Coast


It was a much more expensive trip than usual today…on our way to South Beach, OR we stopped at Countryside RV Interiors in Junction City, OR and purchased some furniture! The furniture the trailer came with didn’t fit us, too small and not very comfy, so we brought regular home furniture. Well, it’s too big for the trailer so we decided to get some good quality RV furniture and saw an ad for this store in the Thousand Trails magazine. Happily we wanted recliners and recliners happened to be on sale! We will be heading back to Countryside RV Interiors in 2 weeks to pick up our purchases… I can hardly wait!

We are camping at Thousand Trails Whaler’s Rest in South Beach, OR. We have been here before and really enjoy it. Our campsite is in a totally different area this time and amazingly Cheye knew right where the trail for the beach access was… crazy dog! She ran and played in the ocean like she had never been away. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach, we aren’t expecting it to stay this way our entire visit but we are enjoying the sunshine while we can!

Photos & Video: Cheye on the beach, taken today

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tri City, Oregon

We made it to Tri City RV Park in Oregon today… this is kind of funny to us because when we lived in Benton City, WA the closest big city area was Tri-Cities, WA! The Tri-Cities in Washington consist of Richland, Pasco and Kennewick, WA . I’m not sure what towns make up Tri City Oregon except this RV park has a Myrtle Creek, OR address. Anyway, it is a cute little park. Very clean, free internet and nice bathrooms with pay showers. So tonight it is relax, rest up and then back on the road tomorrow.

Photos: Mount Shasta was really beautiful today!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Moving tomorrow

Tomorrow we will be on the road again. It’s been a nice week here at Lake of the Springs Preserve, in Oregon House California, quiet but nice. The park is pretty empty even though the weather has been good, I guess people must think it is a bit early to be camping this far north.

Most of what we did today was to get ready for tomorrow’s move. Dave went in to a service station down the road for some propane and diesel and packed up outside stuff. I did some cleaning and arranging what I could inside. Cheye slept, ate, walked and insisted on some scratching and petting, but then that is what she does everyday!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Books and photos

It was a laundry day today. While I was waiting on the clothes I walked up to the Lodge and took advantage of the book exchange. I had noticed a few good titles when we were up at the Lodge for the Spaghetti Dinner so I took some books hoping to exchange them... happily the good titles were still there.

So this afternoon I did a little reading, Dave took a long walk and took a number of photos. We sat outside for a while and enjoyed the sunny afternoon and then bbq’d burgers for dinner. Besides a phone call from a friend the evening was pretty quiet. All in all a fine day. :o)

Photos-
Top: Cheye looking at the view
Below: Dave took the photos of the deer and buzzard, I took the one of the moon



Sunday, March 8, 2009

Enjoyable day

Just not much to talk about today. Besides going for a number of walks we watched part of the NASCAR race and did a little computing. It was just a very quiet enjoyable day!

I posted one of these pictures (below) previously, but today I was culling photos and realized I really should have posted them in a series….so here they are!