PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND RELATIVES

Zoe’s daughter, Susan, and her husband have retired and moved from Seattle to Wenatchee in Eastern Washington. Most people think of Washington State as lots of rain but the Cascade Mountains cut the state in two and the two parts couldn’t be more different. The eastern part of the state is dry with brown rolling hills, hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Wenatchee is at the confluence of three rivers (including the Columbia). It has become a retirement area and is the hub for services and stores for several miles around. Susan thought we could park our rig in her backyard because the former owners had an RV back there but people don’t realize just how long 40 feet of rig is. There was a beautiful state park in town with green lawns, full hookups and lots of room. We had a great stay there and relaxed while Susan and her husband worked hard at fixing up their new home.

While there we all went up in the mountains to the Bavarian-style town of Leavenworth. It was the beginning of Octoberfest so we enjoyed the music and the beer.

We crossed the mountains (with no snow, fortunately) and went to see my daughter, Anna, and her two sons near Bremerton. It was pleasant to see how well the boys are turning out. Matt is 20 and studying to be an electrician while working in his father’s shop. Ben, 17, is a senior in high school and taking most of his classes at the college and getting college credits. He plans to be an engineer. While there we visited the Scandinavian-style town of Poulsbo and found a fantastic bakery and had cream tea in a house. We had fallen in love with cream teas in England. They consist of tea, of course, and scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Um, delicious!

We squeezed in a visit to the Discovery Bay Park near Sequim to see our old friends, Jud and Cory. We always have a good time with them. Elk roam the Olympic Peninsula and several come down in the winter to farmers’ fields by Sequim. The road has signs indicating elk crossing that have lights on them. When elk are near, sensors placed on the elk activate the lights to flash. You really don’t ever want to hit an elk.

We continued south to Portland to visit my daughter, Peggy, and her children and grandchildren. It is quite a brood (12) but we all got together at a local Pizza Hut for dinner. We had another great RV park right on the Columbia River.

Finally we headed further south with a stop at a wonderful RV park connected with the Seven Feathers Casino below Roseburg, Oregon. The new park was excellent and they had a shuttle that came around every 15 minutes to take you across the street to the casino. We caught it and went over for a delicious dinner. Then we gambled with our usual $20. After about five minutes, we had $33 and so quit and went home. That’s the kind of gamblers we are.