How I Spent My Summer Vacation

It took a little time to get back to Vancouver from Mexico this year... I mean, what's the hurry?  We like to stop at National Parks and get our passport stamped and collect the odds and ends that the gift shops have to offer as well as see some of the park.  Some days we cover 150 miles while others we might go 350 miles.  When I was younger I thought nothing of pounding out 600 miles or more in a day but now, towing a trailer and being more or less retired, 150 - 350 miles is just fine.

We stop to see shows in Las Vegas, since it's on the way.  We do not even move along every day.  This year, too, we have Abby the boat/RV dog to think about as we go.  She likes it when we are somewhere for a couple of days and walk her a bit more.  On the road she stays in the kennel cage all day and even with frequent stops it is clear at the end of the day when she gets back into the travel trailer that she knows where home is.  Stopping at Emigrant Lake near Ashland, Oregon was fun since our friends, Ken and Linde, are camp hosts there.  

As summer went along we stayed first at the same RV park in Hazel Dell in Vancouver but then decided to spend a month at a park in Fairview on the other side of the Columbia river near Portland.  That park has more trees and grass and other than the fact that it is a longer way to a lot of the stuff we do it was great getting to know a new place... a new area.  There was one dinner we went out to there where they serve a specialty of chicken and dumplings over looking Oxbow Park along a river.  It was great and relaxing (even a little spendy) but well worth the visit.  Watching the people floating down the river on inner tubes was reminiscent of the Salt River activity in Arizona... very relaxing just watching. 

The scooter came out of storage in Florence and has been a good way to get around.  That leaves the truck for Sandy to have a freedom that I know she appreciates.  The scooter is a wonderful way to get around as long as I can find a way to avoid the freeways.  Obviously, if I have get across the Columbia I have to pop up on the freeway to get onto the bridge.  Over-all the scooter goes about 60 - 65 mph but the bridges top out at 55 mph so it's not really a problem.

For a bit we left Fairview and went to Mount Rainier national park for four days then on to Cathlamet, Washington for the Sea of Cortez Cruisers rally.  That's a yearly ritual that has the Linen Sisters ( a bit of a story for another time) playing cards ("sorting the laundry") for the fours days of the get together.

After that it was back to the Hazel Dell park.  Just before we went to Cathlamet we met up with Sandy's realtor friend Nancy and started looking around at houses and duplexes.  That led us to spending a lot of hours looking at all sorts of properties with the idea that perhaps there was something there for us.  A couple of days ago we made an offer on a house so we will see how that progresses.  The banks these days are reputedly pretty non-functional so it may keep us here in Vancouver a little longer than we would normally be.