Friday, October 20, 2017

10-20-17

Today is the last day of this trip.  We left this morning to explore a little west of Umatilla.  We drove to Boardman OR and visited the city park.  There was a covered area with rocks inside carved with old native American petroglyphs.




It was a windy day, which is typical for the Columbia Gorge.  Below is a picture of whitecaps on the river from the window of the restaurant where we had lunch.


In the park outside the restaurant was an old tugboat.
After lunch we visited the Sage Center, which is an agricultural museum we had passed on the highway many times.  It was actually very well done.  They  had a kinetic reproduction of the processing of potatoes from harvest to curly fries.  There were exhibits on irrigation, different crops, dairy production, barge and train transportation of foods and several other interesting topics.  We were glad we saw it.

Tomorrow morning we will head for home.


Thursday, October 19, 2017


10-19-17

This is a very quiet and restful vacation.  Above are the hundreds of seagulls resting in the parking lot of the marina.  

Yesterday we decided to drive east along the Columbia River to find some lunch in Wallula, WA.  It was not more than a half hour from our campground and there was some beautiful desert scenery along the way.

Wallula, itself however, was nothing to write home about.  It consisted of about 35 small homes, an apple orchard and an historic marker commemorating Fort Walla Walla.  No lunch anywhere in sight.


The campground in Umatilla is right next to a bridge.  At night the 18 wheelers use their air brakes to negotiate the downgrade.  Very noisy!  Otherwise, the campground is great. 

Nearby is McNary Dam but we have not opted for a visit.  We have been to the Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam and Bonnieville Dam, so there is probably nothing new for us here.

Gary played golf today and shot an 87.  He was delighted.  This was probably going to be his last chance to play before the rain started.  After golf we went into Hermiston and found a little gem of a restaurant, Walker's Farm Kitchen.  The name does not tell the story at all, it is a gourmet restaurant in a town full of chain restaurants and small sports bars.  (This is not surprising as the area is heavily military and farm workers.)  If the restaurant were mine, I would probably have opted to leave the word "farm" out of the name and would have chosen a different logo instead of the dead pig.
In any case, this restaurant is special.  If it were in Lake Oswego it would be highly successful.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich for adults, which included avocado and bacon and the side dish was shredded Brussels sprouts salad with cranberries and nuts.  Delicious.  Gary had a fresh Cobb salad.  The meal was so good that we returned for dinner.  Appetizer was fried Brussels sprouts.  Very special.  We also enjoyed the art decorating the dining room.






Tuesday, October 17, 2017



Just outside the pretty Umatilla RV Park and Marina are three monuments commemorating the building of the Umatilla Bridge which was completed in 1955.  You can see the old metal bridge in front of the new highway bridge over the Columbia River, which links Oregon and Washington.
We went exploring in nearby Hermiston.  Who knew that Hermiston is a watermelon hot spot? There are watermelon logos everywhere.  Unfortunately, this is not the high season so we didn't get to sample the local fare.
Hermiston is fairly small, but not as small as Umatilla.  There is not too much to see here.  We did find a Cowboy Church, though.
And two metal men on top of an electrical repair shop.  More adventures later.



Sunday, October 15, 2017



10-15-17

We left Lake Oswego today headed for Umatilla, OR.  Umatilla is located on the Columbia River just east of the Columbia Gorge Scenic area which had fierce wildfires a few weeks ago.  In fact, some of the fires are still burning, but out of sight of I-84, which is the main highway running parallel to the river. 

We saw lots of burned areas but were surprised that most of the devastation was out of view, particularly when I-84 had been closed in both directions for over three weeks.  The fire jumped the river and burned significant areas on the Washington side, too.  Multnomah Falls and the road that runs by the waterfalls are still closed as are many hiking trails.  There is real danger from falling trees and rocks in the area.  Above are a couple of the burnt areas we saw.

This is one of the tunnels under a mountain along the Columbia Gorge.

We arrived at Umatilla RV Park and Marina about 2:00 PM and hooked up to the water supply.  We immediately had a sizeable leak inside the Airstream, which Gary was able to fix but all the carpet
pieces are now outside hopefully drying.

The view from our door is lovely.  We thought we would share.






Saturday, August 26, 2017

8-26-17

What else can I say about this?  I have named it but will not print the name here as the second word is Truck and the first word rhymes.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

e
8-23-17

I wasn't going to write tonight until we went to lunch at Blondie's in Shelton, WA today and I saw the sight above.  I have never seen two potties side-by-side in a public bathroom before with no divider between them.  The main door of the bathroom locked, but I am still baffled by this.

We are enjoying our time at Little Creek Casino and RV Park, run by the Squaxin Island Tribe.  This place is really in the middle of nowhere but it is beautiful, clean and many people find their way here every day.

Yesterday Gary played golf at the attached course, Salish Cliffs Golf Club.  He said the greens were the best groomed he has ever seen.  The course costs, unfortunately, $97 a round.  That is a little much, especially for this part of the world.

I have been binge watching a show from the BBC, Call the Midwife.  It is set in the 50s and is about an Anglican order of nuns (never knew there was such a thing) and nurses who deliver babies and take care of an impoverished London community.  It seems so authentic and I am really enjoying it.

We bought the truck yesterday and today the various wired-in toys, like the radar detector, were removed from the car and put into the truck.  We take delivery tomorrow.

Monday, August 21, 2017

8-21-17

On Saturday, we were so lucky to see our old friends John May and Bill Porter, who we know from our days with Travel Professionals International.  They are still in the travel business (we sold our agencies in 2000) and they had flown from Gainesville, FL to Portland with a group of about 150 to see the eclipse in Madras.  They promise to come back in the Spring.
On Sunday we left for Shelton, WA to escape the eclipse madness and enjoy a quiet week.  We were traveling north but the traffic going south to see the event was unbelievable.  There were many places where the cars were not moving at all.  We saw an RV on its side, which we have never seen before.  Gary thinks they must have been speeding.  In about 3 hours we arrived at Little Creek Casino and RV Park, which is associated with Salish Cliffs Golf Club.
Here is the native fountain at the entrance to the park.




These pieces were all outside the Golf Club.
The RV Park is small but very nice with concrete slabs and large grassy areas between RVs.  The dogs are happy.  

On our way into Shelton to visit the local Starbucks, we saw a Ford dealership.  More about this later.

We had dinner in a nice restaurant in the casino.



Gary and I were able to see the eclipse today from the RV Park.  It didn't really get dark but it dimmed a bit.  Joli, Phil and Macy watched from Portland and Joli said the sky was eery.  I was glad we all got to experience it.

Gary has been talking about replacing our SUV with a pickup truck for a while, mainly for safety reasons.  My reaction, which I have now learned never to say again was, "Over my dead body."  So, of course we went back to the Ford dealership today and will pick up our gray F-150 on Wednesday.
 The eclipse wasn't completely over when we arrived at Ford, so I brought my glasses with me.  I shared them with our salesman and, before long, twenty people were outside with us sharing the glasses.  That was the most fun we had all day!
For some reason, the Ford people have a statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox on parade trailers. 

We were at the dealership for hours, which I hate, but I shouldn't have to go back.  Gary can take care of the rest.

These are some of the Native American objects decorating the beautiful casino.  It is much larger than we expected with six or seven restaurants, activities and amenities.  Gary will play golf tomorrow.



Thursday, August 10, 2017

8-10-17

Yesterday we traveled north from Florence to Yachats to see what we could see.  The scenery is spectacular along the edge of the continent.  It is still very smoky here but you can see how beautiful the dunes are.


 Hecate Head Lighthouse is one of the most photographed in the country.

Yachats is a very small town.  We saw most of its sights within a half hour and had a great seafood lunch at the Luna Sea Fish House.  Love the name!

One of our favorite things was the sign below.  There seemed to be no reason for it at all.
Gary has been able to play golf twice and is hoping for a third round tomorrow before we head for home on Saturday.

I was wrong about the statue of a "seal" in front of the Three Rivers Casino.  It is one of a set of Stellar Sea Lions found around Florence, and we also saw one in Yachats (pronounced Ya Hots) yesterday.  Stellar Sea Lions are found all along this coast and there is a place called Stellar Sea Lion Caves where you can see many in their natural habitat.