We left Spokane and headed south and then west to our end destination of Seabrook, Washington. We passed through miles and miles of grain, most of it being harvested by fleets of combines.
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| acres and acres of blue and gold |
We decided to break up the long drive by crossing the Columbia River and staying a couple days at Memaloose State Park in Oregon. We'd been there before, in 2016, and found the park nice and the area interesting. During that visit, however, a train derailment and subsequent black smoke and flaming fire caused I-84 to be closed while we were out sightseeing. We had left Sasha and Lewis back in Beluga and couldn't get to them with the road closed so I prevailed on a police officer to PLEASE (I may or may not have been panicking.....) let us through to get to them. He saw the wisdom to acquiescing and led us down the empty highway to the park and our waiting dogs.
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| train derailment fire in 2016 |
Nothing exciting this year, thank goodness. We relaxed in our shady, quiet site and took a drive south to check out the local orchards and vineyards. Along the way we stopped and bought some produce and strawberry/rhubarb jam....mmm.
Mt. Hood was omnipresent, so we took a little detour to drive up to its ski/snowboard area.
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| Mt. Hood watching over Lost Lake |
On the way up the mountain we passed several beautiful waterfalls.
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| the tiny dots are snowboarders! |
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| Pizza and beer at the Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River |
After our relaxing stay we continued west, back up into Washington and our site at the Lucky Eagle Casino RV Park in Rochester, Washington. Beluga would wait there while we drove the Jeep to Seabrook and our time with Jesse, Erin and Annie.
The Casino's RV park was in the middle of nowhere and very basic but was well kept and secure.
The Airbnb in Seabrook was about 65 miles away and we arrived just after lunchtime. What a sweet little house it was! The community is very dense but was layed out in such a way that one did not feel crowded or "on display". Our house had a nice front porch with rockers and a small, fully fenced back yard with a fire pit and hot tub. The landscaping in the entire property was pristine and there were many wide, soft trails leading into the old growth woods across from our front porch. Everything one could want was available, within walking distance. Locally owned grocery store, pizza place, several nice restaurants, large outdoor and indoor swimming pools, pickle ball and tennis courts, a nice pet store (we found something that Taos didn't shred immediately!) ice cream parlor (and an ice cream truck circling daily) bakery, several coffee shops, etc. The homes were all in different styles, but all were perfect - complete with twinkly light porches and private yards.
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| prickly pear margarita! |
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| Guys! did you forget me? Can I come in? Please? |
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| Oh Dave.... |
We had a wonderful time with everyone. Every morning Dave woke early (as is his normal habit) and so did Annie so they got to spend some precious time together while the rest of us slept in. We ate together, walked the town together, drove to the beach and dug together, played together, s'mored together - nice. Here are some pictures in no particular order......
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| Papa babysits Annies babies |
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| where's Annie? |
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| here she is! |
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| my churro delivery truck |
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| Annie was so very careful not to step on Taos feet |
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| the two Architects putting together Annie's new Bluey Lego Family House.... |
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| birthday bike |
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| Yay! |
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| foggy day at the beach |
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| the waves are chasing me!!! |
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| safe |
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| google says "ghost shrimp", what do you think? |
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| Dave drags a tangle of fishing lines/ropes off the beach |
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| first toasted marshmallow |
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| should it be on fire? |
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| Erin contemplates |
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| Dave licks |
It as a lovely time, over so fast. Thursday we drove back to Beluga and Friday morning they drove back across the state to their home in Spokane. You've all probably heard or seen the terrible fire in the Spokane area this weekend, but their home is not in the evacuation area and they are fine.
On our last day in Rochester (tee hee) we drove up to Olympia to have lunch with a woman we've known since she was about 18 months old. She is the daughter of a friend, a woman I worked for years ago, in Rochester (New York). I took no pictures, of course. We had a good lunch and got caught up on each other's lives. It was so good seeing her again.
Today we're in a favorite place - Astoria Oregon. Stay tuned.....
Jesse, Erin, & Annie certainly picked an excellent time to be away from Spokane. We're on day 2 of the Level 3 Evacuation for the Old Trails fire. We have been so fortunate, our home and community were spared the devastation that happened just to the West of us, so many others were not so fortunate and have lost everything. It has been a horrible two days for the people in the path of these fires and it is not over yet.
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