Forts and aTower and Food

We had a busy day. We played pickleball in the morning and went sightseeing in the afternoon. Well, we started the sightseeing trip with a stop at the Goose Hollow Restaurant for a hearty lunch. Dennis and Bob both ordered what was billed as "the best Reuben on the planet" and they agreed that it was a very good Reuben indeed.

We headed on to Lewis and Clark National Park and spent some time going through the museum and replica of Fort Clatsop, which was where Lewis and Clark spent their winter on the west coast.
Lewis and Clark with Seamon


one of the hollowed out boats



We then visited the Astoria Tower which is on a hill and provides great views. Actually the view is great from the hill and even better from the tower. It overlooks the city and the mouth of the Columbia and the long bridge between Washington and Oregon as well as the Cascade Mountains. Even on a bit of a hazy day we were able to see Mt. Rainer and just make out the top of Mt. St. Helen's.This is one georgous tower


what a view from the top


Before leaving Astoria we just had to stop for cones at the great custard ice cream cone stand across from the Columbia Maritime Museum. We each managed to eat one of the delicious filling cones, even after the large lunch we had earlier.

Our last stop was at Fort Stevens State Park. We went to the beach and viewed the Peter Iredale Shipwreck. The rusty remains are what is left after 103 years.

Bob wanted to share this moment one ole wreck with another ole wreck.

A Cheesy Day

We took an afternoon drive to Tillamook which is about 50 miles south of Seaside. Bob and Julie rode with us. It is slow but pleasant trip down highway 101. There are numerous vista Ocean views along the route. The tourist attraction in Tillamook is the famous cheese factory. We went through and got our free cheese samples then went through the self guided tour of the facility, learning a bit about the local operation and cheese making in general. We bought some of the cheese in the store. This was followed by what was the highlight of the trip for most of us at the ice cream shop. The fare was delicious and plentiful. Oddly, Bob declined as a dietary measure. The rest of us spoiled our appetite for dinner, so perhaps it wasn't so bad for our diets either.

Julie makes a good farmer, but don't about
Bob.


Dennis didn't want to be a cow, so here I am.


good shot of the factory.

Ecola Beach

We drove a few miles south of Seaside to Ecola State Park. We were going with Bob and Julie but we decided to take the dogs, so we took Roxie with us in our car and the took their 2 dogs, Odie and Scruffy, with them in their truck. After leaving 101 and entering the park we drove down a small winding road through thick, lush Forrest for about 3 miles. Then we came to the beach.

We had been told that dogs may be off leash if they are under voice command, so we pretended to be in charge and the dogs had a good day. They played with other dogs, swam, ran and generally were having a dog day. Roxie managed to find something smelly to roll in so that she needed a bath later.
Roxie just loving this better than even food.

OH, No, here's Roxie leading the little guys astray.



The beach was beautiful on this sunny afternoon. We watched the surfers, and the surf. A lighthouse and large rocks were in the water in the cove ahead of us.


this was really a beautiful site.


There were a lot of surfers out today

Seaside, Oregon

We are spending two weeks at the Leisure Time Park at Seaside, Oregon. When we arrived on the 15th of September the park was full in contrast to nearly everywhere else we have been this summer. This is a nice park for RVers. All of the sites are full service, flat and easy to get into. There are enough trees to give it a pleasant atmosphere without endangering RV's or getting in the way of setting up satellite systems.

The town of Seaside is charming little town that is as its name implies right along the beautiful Oregon coast. There are a lot of interesting shops and restaurants.

Our friends Bob and Julie are here and we have been able to spend a lot of time with them. They were at La Conner but had to leave a week before we did. There have also been a few other pickelball players here and we have been able to play every day except one when it rained. The weather has mostly been quite nice, sunny and mild.


Bob and Julie returned to Sea Side to travel with us for a bit. Barb and Julie got right into some projects, beading of course, but since there are a lot of fruits around this time of year they decided to can peaches, and they did a great job of it.


Can't wait to eat these, think we will get some ice cream. yum.

Chehalis, Washington

We are on our way to Seaside, Or. and could have made it in one day but decided to take it easy and make an overnight stop at Chehalis, Washington. It was an easy drive of about 170 miles. We anticipated congestion through Seattle but it was not bad at all. The express lanes on I-5 are nice for avoiding avoiding on and off traffic and make driving an RV through easier. We stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Tacoma and made it here early in the afternoon.

We are at the Chehalis Thousand Trails Park. We have now been at most of the Thousand Trails Parks and wanted to see this one which the distinction of being the oldest. It is another very wooded park. The sites are large and the woods make them seem more private . It is a bit easier than La Conner to drive around in a big RV. It has a fair number of amenities including hot tub, 2 pools, 2 tennis/pickelball courts, a large dog run area and a limited exercise room.

Both Mount Ranier and Mount St. Helen's are visible in parts of the park.

Mount Ranier going down the road to the park.




Mount St Helen from the campground.

La Conner, Washington

We are staying at the La Conner Washington Thousand Trails park for 15 days. We came here to see some of our friends who are also traveling in the west. It was a shock when we came to find that our friend Merralee had had a nasty fall that morning while walking her dog and broke her left foot in two places. So Merralee has been housebound(trailerbound?) and Barb has been visiting daily trying to cheer her up a bit.

It is still blackberry season here. Barb has picked some most days and made several pies with blackberries often mixed with another fruit. And Dennis has had plenty of blackberries to put on his cereal or ice cream.

We got here as the annual pickelball tournament was taking place. We got to take part in most events. But we didn't impress anyone with our showing. (Alibi: not playing for 4 months seems to take the edge off of one's game). But the quality of play was great and we met some nice people. There have been enough players to keep playing after the tournament but Dennis has been frustrated that his back problems have flared up again preventing him from playing.

It is a pretty park with scenic towns of La Conner and Anacortes within easy driving distance.

view of the dock area of Anacortes. While taking these photos, a lot of antique cars came to the overlook. Later found out that these were the cars that Oland and Tom went to LaConner to see, oh well at least I got to see them












At the end we had a cookout of our own and had a great time with friends.

The cookout was the first time Merralee got out of the 5th wheel.