Western Washington

Time has been passing quickly…we’ve been in western Washington for almost 3 weeks now and it has gone so fast. Our “campground” is in Dave’s brother’s backyard and is quite nice! Dave has been helping Jim with some projects around the place. One I was involved with was laying sod in a little area outside our trailer…kinda our own little yard…at least while we are here! Cheye has been having a fabulous time running free in the big backyard. Of course the weather is typical western Washington, a little sun, a lot of clouds and plenty of rain. Oh well, we are having a great time!

Photos:

Above - our trailer viewed from the new sod area

Below -

1. The new sod area

2. A rainy day bored dog :o)

An Anniversary

Yesterday marked the second anniversary of moving into our trailer and hitting the road. I'm not sure everyone thought we would last this long, but we are absolutely loving it! Traveling, meeting new people and just enjoying life...what's not to love? I've put together a slide show with pics of some of the places we visited and people we met during our second year as fulltime RVers... hope you enjoy it!

Made it to Washington

What a difference a day makes!! The snow was practically gone when we woke up in Baker City. They had forecast another 1 -2 inches overnight but it evidently didn’t make it! We got on the road about 8:00 a.m. and made it to Dave’s brother’s (Jim) home that afternoon.

We are all set up by Jim’s house and plan to stay a while. It will be fun to get caught up and spend some time with Jim & Kathy and it’s good to be back in Washington.

Photos: Taken while on the road through Oregon

Late stop last night...early stop today

We ended up stopping at a rest area just east of Boise, ID last night to get a little sleep. We hit the road early again this morning with plans to drive to Maryhill State Park on the Columbia River in Washington. Well… this morning about 8:30 a.m. we were just east of Baker City, OR when a little drizzle started to fall which quickly turned into white stuff!! Yep, snow in May! Since we knew Cabbage Hill (a.k.a. Meacham Pass or Deadman Pass on I-84) is not fun even in nice weather (very steep) and with the snow starting to cover the highway we decided to try to find some place to park in Baker City.

We found a Good Sam’s park listed on the GPS; Oregon Trails West. Easily found , pulled in and they happily had a site for us! So about 9:00 a.m. we set up and have been hunkered down watching the snow fall. Looks to be a nice little park.

Hopefully we can head out tomorrow, we are watching the weather closely and keeping our fingers crossed!

Photos

Above: In Utah

Below:

1. My view of Cheye in the truck's mirrors as she enjoys the Utah scenery

2. In Utah

3. This morning as we set up at Oregon Trails West RV Park in Baker City, OR

4,5. Oregon Trails West RV park with about 6 inches of snow!

Left Vegas

Yesterday was a beautiful day to wander the Vegas strip We were there about 3 hours and walked from Harrah’s down to Monte Carlo and back. Lots of people and lots of traffic, we were really glad for the shuttle from Sam’s Town.

After our visit to the strip we made a trip down to Camping World in Henderson. Then it was back to the trailer to start packing up. It was a nice short say in Vegas and we really liked the Sam’s Town RV Park.

This morning we were on the road by 6:00 a.m. and really aren’t sure where we are going to stop tonight. Right now we are on Hwy 15 in Utah almost to Nephi…really beautiful country!

Photos

Left: inside Bellagio's

Below: 1- 4 Las Vegas strip, 5-7 Sam's Town RV Park

Short stay in Vegas

We decided to stay at Sam’s Town RV Park while here in Vegas. Something different plus roomier sites than the Thousand Trails campground. We are really enjoying the location here, closer to 2 casinos (Sam’s Town and The Eastside Cannery) which means closer to restaurants for us... we really don’t gamble… well $4.00 so far! Sam’s Town also has a free shuttle bus to the strip and downtown Vegas so we don’t have to deal with traffic or parking in either area. Yesterday we took the shuttle downtown Vegas, had lunch and wandered around, it was fun!

Our plans are to stay in Vegas just 3 nights, another reason we didn’t mind paying for a RV site. Today we’ll take the shuttle to the strip and see what has changed there. Should be a beautiful day for sight seeing …clear sunny and in the 80’s! :o)

Photos

Above: going over Hoover Dam on our way from Cottonwood to Vegas

Below:

1. looks like the new bridge next to Hoover Dam is complete...the access roads aren't

2, 3. Hoover Dam scenes

4, 5. Downtown Vegas

Leaving Arizona

I’m writing this post as we travel west on Hwy 40 in Arizona. If I write fast enough I should be in an area with enough signal on the aircard to post it while on the road…isn’t technology fun??? We are on our way up to Vegas for a couple days and then we will keep heading North up to Washington.

Haven’t been real busy lately. We did visit our friends Ron & Marilyn in Phoenix last Sunday. It’s always good to see them. I also started walking in the morning with a few of the ladies I met. Normally we walked about 5 miles …a nice stretch of the legs. Besides that we have been enjoying our new trailer and our wonderful RV lifestyle!

I have to say we really enjoyed meeting and visiting with the “Happy Hour” group at Thousand Trails Verde Valley. Such a fun bunch of people! Three of the seven couples are still in the Cottonwood/ Camp Verde area but it sounds like they will all move on in the next few weeks. By the time we all get together again we should all have a bunch of new RV stories to tell! :o)

Photos: all taken at Thousand Trails Verde Valley, Cottonwood, AZ