Washington
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8/21 We have arrived at the first of many free campsites. We are now in Quincy Washington, at Leisure Time Resorts Crescent Bar Campground. For those following us it's location is along route 28 north west of Moses Lake. Or north east of Yakima. We will be staying here for a few days before moving on to Ocean Shores Resort along the coastline. Then we will be heading back to the Seattle area for a week in Fall City. We have to do it this way because of the holiday schedule for our free resorts. This campsite is very nice. We sit high above the Columbia River over looking it. A few of the amenities are as follows. HEATED POOL AROUND 90 DEGREES, HOT TUB, PLAYGROUND, TENNIS, BASKETBALL, SPA, FULL HOOKUPS, AND MUCH MORE. There is even gated security, not just anyone can get in here. This is definitely one of the better resorts we have been to. To bad we are here only a short amount of time. That's all for now, we will write more soon. 8/22 Today was a day of relaxing. We did much of nothing. I cleaned the outside of the motor home. The last place in Idaho we were at had a three mile dirt road. Needless to say everything had gotten really dusty. It was in everything and everywhere. We had to wash off both vehicles at a carwash before traveling on Tuesday. Today I used the waterless carwash stuff John Benoint had given me. I have to tell you that stuff really works good. It removed black marks that have been on the motor home since we bought it. And I tried a lot of different things to get rid of them. The home is shinning away in the sun. I'm going to have to order some more of that waterless wash stuff, too bad it's so expensive. He had told me that you could even use it on your windshield and that it works like Rain X. I think I may even try that. Another thing is that a little goes along way. I know he had given me a used bottle that was not filled, And I did the motor home and still have a half of a bottle left. I even used it on the chrome wheels, those are sparkling also. Thanks john! I'll call you and let you know where to send the next bottle. Or we will tell your future wife in a e-mail where to send it. Michelle and the kids spent a few hours at the pool. The kids met some new friends. The came over to play after we ate dinner. Other than that we did much of nothing. On Friday night we may take a ride to the Grand Coulee Dam. It's supposed to be something to see. The have a laser light show at dusk, then they light it up in all different colors. We will see if we feel like taking the 80 mile drive. We are heading out of here early Saturday morning, and taking a 5 hour drive across the state to Ocean Shores. 8/24 This morning we made it to Ocean Shores Resort. So far it's a nice place. We took a drive on the beach with the jeep. Yes, drove on the beach for like 5 miles. That was so cool, we put it in 4 wheel drive and drove around checking out the beach area. We will write more later in the week. 8/26 This morning we went to the beach to ride some horses. We all had a blast, it was really fun. the only thing wrong was it was so foggy out and you could only see 6 to 8 horses in front of you. Zakary and Nikole fit right in with riding. They both looked so relaxed and comfortable riding on them. Zakary's horse was named Little Buddy, Nikole's horses name is Toad, Michelle rode on Butch, and I rode Shadow. We had a really great time. Michelle said I fit right in the cowboy way about riding the horse. Someday when we settle again we are all hoping to have a few of them. later that afternoon everything cleared up for the first time. We headed back to the beach, this time we could even see pretty far out into the ocean. We flew kites, and gathered some driftwood for the evening fire. They people on the beach must of thought we were nuts. We drove along the beach stopping at every piece of wood we could find. The whole back of the jeep was full of driftwood. After we filled the back with the wood we stopped at the local IGA food store and picked up so supplies. After we left the supermarket we stopped for some local clam chowder. A few minutes after we left I was pulled over by the local Police. At first we thought it might of been because of picking up the driftwood. To find out it was because I wasn't wearing my seatbelt. I usually have it on, so I put it on while he was walking up to the Jeep. We he got to the door he laughed at me and told me I wasn't wearing it, I agreed and he then asked for my license. Only one thing wrong there ,I didn't have it on me. It was back at the motor home. He then asked for my information and checked me out . I haven't been pulled over or gotten a ticket in 4 to 5 years. He came back and told me everything was cool and it would of been $172.00, if he was to get me for the no seatbelt and no license in hand. He was smiling the whole time and asked us where we staying. He let me go and told me to have fun while we were in town. Nice guy Thank God. Later that evening, or neighbor and his kids came over. We sat around the fire until 2 in the morning. Time flew by while we were in his good company. 8/27 Today we didn't wake up until around 11 o'clock. I had fixed the shower knob so we could all take showers the night before. I had broke off the knob to pull it from tub to shower while we were in Quincy. After our showers we all headed to the beach. We went to the jetty, and had a really good time there. On the way there we picked up some free wood someone was getting rid of. We also spotted a heard of deer. this area is nice when it's nice out. The locals told us we have had a few of the nicest days of this year. HMMM. Guess we won't be living here. We have a few more days left here to stay then we are headed back towards Seattle. We couldn't stay through the holiday weekend here, so we are moving on to the next site. While there we are planning for a day at yet another Six Flags. Wild Waves Is the name of this next Six flags Park. Locals tell us we will have a lot of fun. It's a water Park with roller coasters and rides. Should be fun. 9/1 Well we've been here at the new campsite for a few days. We are in Fall City, Washington now. The campground is really nice, with lots of things to do right on site. It has the usual hot tubs, pool, sauna, playground, mini golf. It's located only 23 miles or so east of Seattle. So far this is on our top 10 list of campgrounds. The first night here we used the time to explore the grounds. I am really glad we got to come see this place. Ocean Shores campground was kind of disappointing. This place doesn't compare. It's very well kept, and we really like it here. Zakary had to try his hand at the mini golf, he really enjoys putting around the ball. That boy could play all day, if we would let him and if it wasn't so far from the site. Michelle and I got to play a few games of pool, they have two tables. Later that first night here Michelle and I sat around the fire before heading to bed. It's been great having fires at night again. On Saturday Nikole and I took a wood whittling class here at the campground. That was a lot of fun, I learned how to carve faces into wood sticks, and using a limb as part of the nose. I can now incorporate the faces into the walking sticks that I've been working on. I think I am almost ready to try my carving talents on a what they call wood spirit faces. Next Wednesday Nikole and I are going back to learn how to carve owls sitting on top of the sticks. I can't wait to try it. After class we all had hamburgers with all the fixings, potato salad, chips, 2 cookies and a can of soda for $3.00. What a deal, and they we really good. After lunch we drove into Seattle to see some of the sites. On the way back we stopped at a place called Fred Myers. It's sort of a upscale Wal Mart, with more. You could even get wood, like 2x4's and other construction things there too. Crazy because the Home Depot was right next door to it. But you can't get food for the week at Home Depot, so it was a good stop for us. This morning Sunday we went to another great church. It is located 10 minutes away in a town called Issaquah. Chuck Miller had written to us and told us his sister lived or still lives there. Great little town. They have everything there. Even a drive up Starbucks, love that coffee. It seemed like a upscale town with expensive homes, 280,000 plus. The Assembly of God we went to was really nice. They have 3 Sunday morning services, and one at night. They are also on the radio 3 times a day. The pastors message was about 9-11 and the cross that is still on site were the towers once stood. He has been to ground zero several times, and knows a lot about the experience of being there. It's hard to believe it's been a year since then. I can still picture that morning in Mexico very clearly, and how we all felt at the time. I still thank God everyday that the plane us men were on wasn't used in the attacks. I also thank God for my fellow brothers in Christ who were there with me, and experienced what I did. Later in the afternoon Michelle and the kids went swimming. I went and got some wood for the campfire. Michelle and I ended up playing scrabble by fire light. 9/2 This morning we all headed for Wild Waves Enchanted Village. It's the smallest Six Flags that we've been to so far. It actually was very disappointing. It was very crowded and only in the low 70's, so the water park was cold. They only had about 10 to 15 rides total. We ended up riding three rides and the kids went to the water park for a few hours. We must of only been there for about four hours. Before we went to Six Flags we went to KRISPY CREAM DONUTS and STARBUCKS for coffee. Has anyone ever eaten a KRISPY CREAM DONUT ???. WOW WHAT A TREAT !!! When we went by later in the day the line to get in was around the building. This afternoon it also started to rain. The locals say this is just the beginning of 8 long months of rainy dreary weather. So that's why there is a rain forest here. Hmmm now I get it. Thursday we head back into Oregon. We are headed for Seaside Oregon, and we will spend another week on the beach. We are going to stop at three campgrounds while in Oregon, all of them are along the coastline. Tuesday and Wednesday I think we will be spending time in Seattle. We were thinking of going on a whale watch cruise. The Space Needle is also in the plans. But who knows we can change those plans at anytime. 9/3 This morning Michelle started home schooling the kids. Later in the day we all went into Seattle to find a AAA office, we needed some more travelers checks. After our trip there we headed for the Space Needle. That was pretty cool. Our tour guide was from Massachusetts. It was a great place to view the city from. The guide pointed out a lot of the surrounding buildings. We could see the new Seahawks Stadium and right next door was where the Mariners played ball. From up top in the Needle you could over look the bay area also. It was very interesting that the 600 foot Needle would be under water if it was in the bay, that's how deep it was. On a clear day you could view Mount Rainer from up there too. 9/4 This morning I got to take another wood carving lesson. I carved two owls. Too bad we are leaving, the carving guy would of taught me a lot. The kids had their second day of home school. After lunch we all went back into the city and headed for the Science Museum. I have to say it was almost if not better than Boston's. I will say it, It was better. We really needed more time than what we had, but it truly was a really neat and cool place. I think we all had a really good time, and it was some what educational for the kids too. After the trip to the Museum, we headed for the Seattle Seahawks new Stadium. We had a few Coke cans that we handed in towards free tee-shirts. Right next door at the Mariner's Ball Field there was a game going on. We headed over across the street to spend a few minutes there. As we were headed back to the Jeep I found a lower box seat ticket. To bad it was bottom of the 8th and Seattle was losing. After leaving the city we headed back to the campground to get ready to leave in the morning. We drove around where the campground is and explored some of the Microsoft Executives homes are. There was this one home that has a life size statue of this famous cowboy riding a bucking horse. We heard the statue alone was worth over 200,000. You should of seen the house. WOW !!!. WE also spotted a few deer walking around before we got back. I kind of liked the Seattle area. To bad they have a ton of rain. Hopefully we will get back here someday. You really need to have a good high paying job to afford your home though. Thanks to all the new people we meet while in Washington, you all made it fun to be here. We will be in touch with many of you. And please email us, keep in touch. 9/5 GOODBYE WASHINGTON........ |