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.