The Pacific Northwest

Most telegraphic blog post. We have just been either on the move, had terrible wifi, or been just plain busy visiting with so many friends and family on this trip, that the poor blog, well, you know. It's suffered. We will be home tonight, so it'll be time for the Trip Summary, which oughta be a doozy, since so much was left unsaid on the blog. So, I'd best get us caught up to that point, even though I'm missing my brother's pix....


Idaho
Visiting our friend's beautiful property in Sandpoint, Idaho. Too bad we blew out her fuse (oops! Note to self: Turn off the space heater when turning on the microwave....) Also too bad that the weather was uncooperative (45 degrees, heavily overcast morning-noon-night, and raining steadily), but we still liked seeing sandpointidgirl's place. And Bago gave not a fig about the rain. There was a POND, for heaven's sake! And a barn and the woods and and and....

And a whole lotta mud....

Wenatchee/Cascades
Then it was across eastern Washington to the warm sunny orchard town of Wenatchee on our way to the coast Ahh. Here, Bago contemplates the mighty Columbia River.

Then we continued on the last bit of US 2, across the gorgeous and (lucky for us) sunny Cascades. We had to stop at Deception Falls to remember our dog, Ruby, who tried to commit suicide here, by jumping over the stone walls toward the falls. I was on the other side of the bridge when I saw Lisa bent over the wall with the 50+ pound dog dangling at the end of her leash. Had to run back and pull Ruby Dooby back on to dry ground. Goofy dog.... Bago tried no such thing.

Bellingham
Then we reached the beautiful (but then cloudy) coast. We stayed at Larrabee State Park, which no one warned us was traversed by the train tracks--freight and the famous Coast Starlight line. Made for interesting camping....

 But the trails and beaches sure were pretty.

 

The reason for our Bellingham visit was to see our friend and her new Shepherd/Corgi mix, Harper. Bago and Harper share a love of trails and tennis balls. Here they are, excited to be going to the dog park.

Bago makes a new friend (Odie). Bago won this stick contest, and ended up an entirely new color by the end of this visit.

We had a nice cookout/bonfire at our campfire one night (didn't have enough heat to get the dump cake done enough, doggone it), and a delicious dinner with our friend and her BFF in Fairhaven at a great pub. I did some laundry and rested one afternoon so I could shake the sore throat/ear ache crud I had somehow contracted in Idaho. Whew. All better now. Nothing like camping cooties to put a damper on traveling.

Olympic Peninsula

Many more photos to come, courtesy of my brother, but suffice to say that we had a great time visiting my brother and his wife at their beautiful Port Ludlow home. One of the highlights was dinner at Ajax Cafe, famous for its selection of hats that patrons are free to don, and the soap bubble display afterwards. I had some of the best salmon ever (until the next night's Copper River deliciousness).

Some other peninsula sights (with more to be added):

Mercer Island

And then it was back around Puget Sound to Mercer Island and the home of our "faraway close friends" as Dee put it. We neglected to take a group photo at our wonderful Copper River salmon dinner that night, doggone it, but we did capture our hosts and the Korch/Mullins broods with their bug vacuum. Bago thought the creek running through their front yard and the Lake Washington beach just down the road were really swell, too.

On the Way Home
Stopped at a unique RV park in Sutherlin, OR: a former drive-in theater converted into an RV park. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see a movie on that Sunday night. They had just shown one on Saturday, and another was scheduled for Monday, but alas. We had to be on our way.

Our final night found us in hot and sunny Chico, after driving through beautiful southern Oregon and the Mt. Shasta/Lassen viewshed. We were "only" 5 hours from home, but it was 5 o'clock, and puppy and people had had it. So, we pulled into the Almond Tree RV Park (yup, lots of almond trees), got a space, and promptly drove away to make a pilgrimage to our favorite brewer: the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's taproom, for what turned out to be a most delicious meal. And leaving Bago in the RV with the generator/AC running wasn't a problem as the noise was just drowned out by the brewery noise ;-)

Time to pack up the coach and hit the road for home. Cannot wait for a long shower in our big shower!!!!