Albino Ladybugs and Other Observations

We woke to cold fog this morning - more dense than the last few mornings. Had the furnace set at 65 and it ran several times during the night.  No complaint - we came here looking for cool weather and we've found it.  The fog stuck around the RV park and the coastal areas until it finally burned off about 4pm. Temperature never got above 60 in the park. We wear long sleeved shirts and sweat shirts which makes us look like the tourists we are.  The natives are in shorts and tee shirts.  It's their version of summer and we've not heard a single comment about the weather being cool.  I can only wonder what they would think of the 108 degree temps we left in Reno. They'd think we were crazy to live in such a place. Maybe we are, but we love the sunshine and clear skies.  But we do occasionally seek cooler climes as a respite and to remind us how much we like it in Northern Nevada!

We took a drive inland and north, mid morning, and once we got about two miles from here the sun was shining and it was in the high 60s and low 70s.  Nice.   We went into Anacortes, the largest town on the island, to look for a nice lunch place and to just look around. We found lots of little restaurants of all cuisines which will probably mean a few more trips into town for lunch, oh darn.  We wandered through a couple of antique/junque stores, stopped at the Safeway, for the stuff I forgot at the commissary, and at a fruit stand where I purchased some fresh picked Washington fruit!  Yum!!!  

Once we got back around 3pm, we tried to take Maggie for a walk along the trail but kept getting bumped off by sailors and marines doing their PT jogging.  So, we pulled up a chair on the patio and watched the parade.  So many young people!  So many natural athletes!  So many struggling to keep up!  Of course the squad of marines all ran down to the beach and then did their jog in the surf to show the sailors how tough they were.  Pretty funny.  Roger swears that everyone on the base ran by us at least once coming and going!  There were a lot of joggers!!  So, we waited until after dinner to take our walk with Maggs.  Only old folks on the trail then.  

The RV park has two sections of about 20 RV sites each.  I would guess that probably 95% of the occupants are retired geezers like we are.  The retired Officers are in big motor homes and the Enlisted in trailers and 5th wheels. Just another example of the "division" between Officers and Enlisted.  The other 5% are active duty troops waiting for housing or vacating housing waiting for their transfer date.  The young couple next to us will be headed to Pensacola and then Jacksonville, FL the first of Sept.  They are in a 30 foot trailer with all their stuff (well, half their stuff is under the trailer) and a little girl who is just walking. We hear her running from one end of the place to the other.  Every night some of their friends come over for a BBQ. Tonight there are six couples.  It's quiet, though. No rowdiness, bad language, or other activities you might expect from a gathering of sailors - we are grateful! They are all in their 20s  with the women each hefting a baby on their hip.  Such memories it brings back.  It is so hard to believe we were once that young.  

Photos from our walk tonight:

Looking north to San Juan Islands

Roger and Friend!

Part of the trail that is called "Cardiac Hill."
There are three of these lovely sets
 of stairs.  Luckily this is one we go down!

Albino Ladybug Crossing

Technology Issues

One of the many driftwood "sculptures" along the path.
This one is titled: Joy to the World.

View from the walking path of the campground.

It's Sunday afternoon and the sun is shining after the fog lifted around 10am.  A slight breeze off the water keeps us in long sleeves as it is about 63 degrees.  You can tell the locals - they are in t-shirts and shorts - they think it is summer!!  We are enjoying the coolness!

Nothing really going on to "write home about."  Yesterday we took a quick trip into the closest town and found a frozen yogurt place for our weekly treat. Then the afternoon was taken up by doing laundry.  A real negative about this campground - only two washers for 20+ campsites.  I had a week's worth of laundry, so it took a while. We got in two long walks with Maggie and that was about it for the day!  Both of us finished books and we did a lot of sitting just looking at the view.  Can't get enough of the amazing sunsets.

Today is another quiet day.  We took a long walk this morning before lunch and this afternoon Rog did the vacuuming and mopping.  (We've collected lots of dirt and grass since leaving home.)  So,  now the chores are done and Rog and Maggs are outside in the sun while I catch up with the journal.  Tomorrow we will start exploring. 

We are having some technology issues.  It's amazing how addicted one becomes to instant access to the world so it makes it very frustrating.  Our location has a very weak cell signal - when there is one.  This morning I was texting with our daughter and right in the middle of it, the signal dropped. Yesterday I was trying to attach a file to an email and couldn't even do that - signal dropped.   There is WIFI here and, it too, is iffy - on the phones.  The computers and the Kindles seem to have less problems logging in and staying active, but the phones are pretty much useless - especially Roger's android machine. My iPhone catches more signal - both cell and WIFI - but not reliably.  I guess we are "roughing it."  I'm using the camera now instead of the phone so I can download directly instead of having to rely on a signal of any sort.  

Maggie seems happy.  She's spending a lot of time in her pen outside and seems content, both there and inside the RV. She has decided the couch, and especially the back of it, is her own personal domain. We really have narrowed down her discomfort to when she's in the truck and the engine is running.  Can she hear something we can't from the diesel engine that spooks her?   

Rog just came running in looking for his binoculars.  He spotted something jumping out in the Strait.  We found it again but still couldn't tell what it was - lots of water splashing.  Still watching for those elusive Orcas!

A Quiet Rainy Day

We promised ourselves a quiet day and that we had!  

It started raining during the night, let up about 7:30am so I could take Maggie out, then started again and rained until about dinner time.  The good news - no leaks!!!! 

We got out to "make groceries", as they say in New Orleans, and then had a nice long walk after dinner.  The trail is 3 miles long - we did about 2 of them.  Part of the path is along the beach but then it goes into the woods.  After the rain there was a slug fest, so to speak.  We saw four kinds of them on the path - each uglier than the last.  Yuck.  We came across one small snake and several rabbits.  All the critters (including the humans) wanted out for a walk/slither after all the rain!

Here's a photo of last night's sunset taken from the rear window of the RV.  It was beautiful, as you can see.  Looking forward to more of them.  

Sunset at Cliffside RV Park - 8/1/13

Wet Dog Feet and a Ferry Ride

We have decided Maggie is a desert dog.  Not only does she not have any grass in her yard at home, she doesn't have wet grass from dew and misty rain when she goes out in the morning to do her business.   This new phenomena has her prancing around trying not to touch it.  With her short little legs and the tall grass she has had a time of it trying to stay dry.  When she squats the grass tickles her butt.  She is so funny to watch and I'm sure she will be glad to get back to dry land!

We woke to heavy fog and misty rain this morning and it remained cloudy and misty until we got to our destination when the sun came out and greeted us to our new home for the next two weeks. 

Waiting for the
ferry ride to start.

The ferry ride was a good adventure and Maggie had her first "cruise."   We got to the loading area and had our lunch waiting for the ferry.  Maggie relaxed and spent the time looking out the back windows - something she

A little tight,
wouldn't you say?  

won't do when we are moving.  We were the first in line, so we got to be first on board and pulled up to the front of the boat.  It worked out well because we were able to sit in the truck with the dog and have a great view as we crossed the channel instead of being closed in between all the other large vehicles with nothing to look at. Since the cost of riding the ferry is dependent on the length of your vehicle we were measured at the toll booth and found out we are a total of 54.5 feet long - no wonder Rog can't parallel park the rig!  It was a tight squeeze for sure.  Very disconcerting.  You can see by the photo there was barely any room between the vehicles side by side.  The other side had about the same amount of room.  

Our Yoda-eared dog totally relaxed and had a great nap for the half hour it took to get to Whidbey Island.  She loves cruising!

We got an excellent site on the row closest to the beach and we have a spectacular view of the Strait.  

Maggs has a great 
view, too, from
her pen!

To the left we can see the Olympic Mountains on the mainland, straight out from us we think it is Vancouver Island in Canada, and off to the right are the San Juan Islands.   I've already taken a bunch of pictures with my phone - even though I have quite a few from last year.    I'm sure I will write more about this lovely place in the days to come and post more photos.  

We had a nice walk along the beach after dinner and sat and watched the sunset.  It's sweatshirt weather and quite comfortable this afternoon and evening.  Hopefully this will continue for the next two weeks.  That's why we are here - to get away from the heat. Tomorrow we stock up on groceries and do some laundry and  then just sit for a while and then enjoy some long walks along the water. We are sorely in need of a couple of down days.  We traveled 5 consecutive days (I know that doesn't sound like much, but it really seemed to sap us.) and really feel the need for relaxation. We are very content with where we are, so doing nothing will come very easy.

Almost there!

Please, no more riding in the truck today!

Another short day today.  We got settled in time for Roger and Miss Maggie to have a nap before we went out for pizza.  Maggie had another day of hyper-ventilating and didn't settle down until about 30 miles from our destination. She wore herself out and decided to hide from the world once we arrived!

No weird sightings today.  We had beautiful wild orchids and wild blackberry bushes along I-5 but once we turned off onto US101 at Olympia it became a forest of cedar and pines as we slowly wound our way north along the western edge of the Hood Canal. It is another one of those two lane roads that is a beautiful drive - if you aren't the one doing the driving!  The Olympic Mountains were shrouded in clouds and we could see fog in the bay but we had dappled sunlight as we drove along the Canal.

We drove 166 miles today from Kelso, WA to Sequim, WA.  We have reservations tomorrow on the Port Townsend Ferry to cross over to Whidbey Island where we will stay at the Cliffside RV Park on the Naval Air Station near Oak Harbor.  We will be there for two weeks overlooking the Strait of Juan De Fuca and doing some sightseeing in the San Juan Islands. 

Well, Rog is at it again - playing Mr Fixit.  For some unknown reason the lights on the outside of the trailer decided to turn themselves on and are stubbornly refusing to go off.  After a few hours of  troubleshooting, the problem was "resolved" by removing the bulbs from the fixtures. DUH!! All last winter we had "0" problems with this coach and now, it's becoming a daily occurrence   While the problems are pretty much minor, they are frustrating.  It may be the "internal" warranty clock on this coach is sensing expiration next month.  

A Good Day!

It was a better day today than yesterday!  The naproxen worked on my back, Roger drank lots of fluids yesterday, and the dog was only hyper half of the day!  Can't ask for any more than that!

We figure Rog was dehydrated from the first day.  It was so hot, he had to work outside to fix the stabilizers plus all the other stuff he had to do for first day out and wasn't drinking enough water.  Yesterday he said he drank enough water that "my kidneys ought to be entitled to get sea pay." That's an old Navy expression!! 

Maggie hyperventilated the first two hours on the road.  She jumps right in the truck so that isn't a problem, but once the engine starts she starts panting and shaking.  After our lunch break she was much calmer and even relaxed enough to sleep.  Slow but steady is the progress!   

Lunch Break in the parking lot

Had to have lunch in a shopping center parking lot today.  The rest areas in southern Oregon are not RV or truck friendly.  Since Roger hasn't perfected parallel parking with the rig (think about backing into a parking place with 38 feet of really big trailer attached to the back end of a truck), we had to bypass the rest stops.  It worked out well, though, as we had a whole back row of empty parking spaces with some shade to enjoy our noon time repast. 

Weirdest thing we saw today:  A really old Subaru painted a rusty orange/brown (or maybe it was rust).  Affixed somehow to every square inch of paint were Barbie dolls!  Seriously!  Arms and legs all over the place.  All states of dress and hairdos.  Hundreds of Barbies.  On the roof between the rails of a luggage rack were at least a hundred, hair blowing in the wind.  It was a man driving!!  Absolutely crazy. 

Lots of rolling green and gold hills in the southern part of the state, then leveling out to farms in the Willamette Valley.  The most impressive sight was as we crossed the Columbia River, Mt. Hood was clearly visible off to the east.  Those volcanoes in the Cascades are just incredible, particularly on a clear day when you can really get a feel for the enormity of these mountains!

262 miles today.  Canyonville, OR to Kelso, WA.  Weather was perfect.    It's taken three days for us to go what most people drive in one.  We don't start til about 9:30, stopping for Maggs to pee, half hour for lunch, and we arrive around 3:30.  Like Rog says, "I got no where to go and a long time to get there."   

A recap from the first journal I tried

Yesterday: 

New Shoes

Day one of the trip - Sparks, NV to Weed, CA.  212 miles on two lane roads that Roger hates and I love because the scenery is super.  There is still snow on Mt. Lassen and on Mt. Shasta. Beautiful! 

We stopped at Honey Lake Rest Area south of Susanville, CA for lunch and there was a guy there shoeing horses!! The two gentlemen apparently meet there when it's time for new shoes because they live 180 miles apart.  It wasn't something you see every day in a out of the way rest area.  


Maggie is not a happy traveler.  She shakes and shivers and hyperventilates the whole day in the truck.  We have put a little bed on the console and buckled her in and she just doesn't like it at all.  She alternates between her perch and my lap but never stops shivering.  

Long first day, though, despite the relatively short distance.  First days always are tough - have to unpack and put things away and Rog always gets to fix something when we set up.  This time it was the rear stabilizers that didn't want to come down and for some reason all the handles on the cupboard doors rattled loose and some fell off.