Smelling the Barn

Now that we have turned the beast south, Bill has become affiliated with a serious disease that is known as "Smelling the Barn".

He has had this affliction for years and there is only one cure, home.  No amount of pouting on my part will cure this, so after a month on the road we are rapidly heading to the barn home.  The upside is that once we get home I can start planning our next travel adventure.  In the meantime, here are some photos along the road home from Portland.

Note the bugs on the windshield, gotta keep movin'.

Love these snow flowers, we have them at the cabin.

This is for you, Dani.

Love these metal sculptures.

 

Our last campsite, sigh.

Thank you for following our Pacific Northwest Tour.  We will be staying closer to home for the summer since "Cabin Season" has begun and as it is every year, we have lots on our "To Do" list.  Check back periodically for posts of our cabin adventures and our next road trip (probably in the fall).

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Bill's disease of "Smelling the Barn" does not play well with my disease of FOMS (Fear of Missing Something).
2. Highway 395 is a beautiful drive when it is not windy.
3. It is good to be home!

Birthday and Mother's Day

We spent the weekend in Portland visiting family.  My sister-in-law generously offered her driveway for the beast, but we had to do a little tree trimming before we could park.

Thanks for your driveway Maria.

We always have the best time with Maria and her family and this weekend was no exception.  Saturday night we attended a birthday party for Zafreen's fiance, Warren.

Happy Birthday, Warren!

It was a fun party with lots of laughs and wedding talk.  Warren and Zafreen are getting married in August and her sister, Nadia, is marrying Chad in March.  So many wedding details to discuss.

Zafreen and Warren

Chad and Nadia

Bill was a little overwhelmed by all the talk of venues, colors, flowers, karaoke, food, cake, and tea length dresses.  I think he was thankful that we kept it simple and were married in the judge's chambers with Ralph the bailiff  as our only witness.  It worked for us.

 

Maria, her mother and sister, Carmen.

Maria, the photobomber.

Sunday was Mother's Day and the ladies invited me to join them for pedicures and lunch.  Bill stayed at Maria's with Marley and Abby (Maria's lab) and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  Actually, while enjoying the solitude (we have been together for 24/7 for the last month after all), he fixed a few things around Maria's house, the man cannot sit still. 

Meanwhile, across town we had a wonderful time, so much so that I only took one picture the entire day (and not a very good one).

Thank you ladies for including me in your Mother's Day celebration.  Love you all.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Costco sells flowers at wholesale prices.
2. Pedicures for six ladies takes a little bit of time.
3. Most men don't know what a tea length dress is.

Mustard, Mayonnaise and Ketchup

After successfully navigating the road construction out of Mount Rainier, we just drove a few miles down the road and stayed at a very nice campground at Alder Lake, still no laundry facilities, we are in desperation mode.  There will be a laundromat tomorrow come hell or high water.  In the meantime we will chill outside so we don't have to look at it.

The next morning we hit the road, with renewed determination.  We stopped at Castle Rock, asked directions to a laundromat and settled in.  Two and a half hours and six loads later, I am a happy camper once again.  We continued down I-5 to the Portland area to visit our friends Karen and Ken.

We had a wonderful visit, while they cooked us a fabulous dinner.  It was delicious.  The next day between rain downpours, we headed across the street to meet Karen's horse, Bud.

Literally, across the street, can you see the beast in the driveway?

Marley and Bud getting to know each other.

The stables have a large indoor arena and today there were about eight children having fun with the horses in the arena.

Just before we went back to Karen's house (when the rain let up), we met three special horses, Mustard, Mayonnaise and Ketchup.

We had a wonderful visit.  Thank you, Karen, for the homemade honey and dill pickles, cinnamon bread, fresh flowers and Ken's book.  We scored!

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Alder Lake is a 7 mile reservoir formed by the Alder Dam on the Nisqually River.
2. In Washington if a power company dams a river it is required to develop a recreation area on the reservoir.
3. Clean laundry is a wonderful thing.

Driving Mr. Marley

Another photo essay with Marley:

 

Time to go?

I am comfortable here, plus if your phone rings I can answer for you.

Okay, I need to turn around here, can you move your legs?

That's better.

Where the hell are we?

I have to come all the way back here just to turn around, I don't know why they don't drive with the slide out.

Are those cows out there?

The window feels cool, it must be nice outside.

Where is mom sitting?  Who cares I have the space all to myself.

What do you mean I am not allowed in the visitor's center?

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Marley does not answer the phone.
2. We cannot drive with the slide out.
3. Marley has a very rough life.

Mount Rainier

We spent the better part of the day driving down the Olympic Peninsula toward Mount Rainier, ever on the alert for a laundromat to tame the laundry beast that is taking over the motorhome.  We found a private campground in Silver Spring not too far from Mount Rainier.  Although the campsite was a great price, the washers and dryers were not installed yet. Yet another day of living with that laundry monkey on our backs.

 
The next morning we drove to Mount Rainier and were greeted with our favorite, road construction.  The road from the historic Nisqually entrance to Paradise is under construction until 2016.  The first phase is from the entrance to Longmire which totals about seven miles.  We were warned to expect delays up to 30 minutes.

The visitor’s centers at Longmire and Paradise had only been open for a few days but campgrounds within the park are not scheduled to open until late May-June.  So, except for the construction equipment, we were the biggest thing on the road.  Right now Mount Rainier is basically a beautiful day use area with construction.

 We safely made it to Paradise and enjoyed the spectacular views of the mountain.  Unfortunately, due to the snow the trails were closed.

 

After exploring the visitor's center we turned the RV around and slowly made our way back down the mountain.

That white line is the road to Paradise, oh my!

 
We definitely need to return to Mount Rainer in the late summer or early fall to enjoy the trails, meadows, waterfalls and vistas.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. There are 25 glaciers capping Mount Rainier.
2. Paradise was named by Martha Longmire.  When she first saw the subalpine meadow she exclaimed "Oh what a Paradise".
3. The construction workers were amazed that we would drive this beast to Paradise this time of year.