Vacation Started July 4th

Our mini vacation started with a perfect 4th of July with Mia, Zach, his friend and I attending the Seattle Mariners dismal game.  It was two hours of shear boredom but the pom and parade was cool.  Before the game a color guard brought the flag to the infield while a group of current military unfurled a giant flag in the outfield.

Safeco Field

Once we left the game, we headed over to our daughters house to deliver Zach and his friend and meet up with our son Jeff, his wife and our grandson.  We spent a couple of hours there and had dinner with them and some of their friends.  We didn't hang out for the fireworks since Honey had been home alone since before 11 am and we didn't want her to think we had deserted her.  We got home and she was doing her happy dance.  Not to worried about the fireworks although later when the Federal Way City Fireworks display went off in Celebration park, less than a mile from where we live, she was very upset and so was I.  I was awakened from a deep sleep at around 10:20 pm when the grand close went off and include many explosive rounds.  We finally got to sleep.

Thursday morning Mia and I got up and went to the store to get provisions for our stay at Gold Bar.  We drove up the back route through some small towns on the way up.  It took us awhile to get up to Monroe and we couldn’t decide if we wanted to get donuts and Henry’s or drive on to Startup and visit the Aplen House roadside drive in.  We decided on the drive in and had bacon cheeseburgers with fries and root beer shakes.   Very tasty indeed.

By the time we arrived at the trailer we were both bushed.  We both took a much need nap.  When we got up we went to visit friends returning home around dinner time.  Mia had some wonderful chopped up beef steak and mixed it with onions and on of those oriental style sauces.  It was very good, served with a salad.  I did not each much because I was still full from lunch.

We took a walk around the park and pretty much called it an evening.  I know, boring as heck, right?

Well Friday was far from boring.  We got up early and while Mia fixed breakfast I took Honey for her morning walk.  After we ate we loaded up for a short hike at Wallace Falls State Park.  It is just a few minutes away and we walked up the rail road bed until we came to a crossing that allowed us to connect with the woody trail.  We took the woody trail back to the parking lot.  A quick trip to the store and back to the lot.

Mia and I in the woods

I spent the morning doing our roof, washing the trailer and thinking about some of the things I need to do before I hit the road.  It is warm and the trailer is in fairly good shape, but it still takes a lot out of you to clean it up.   I spent some time on maintenance.  Lubing door locks, hinges, steps, hitch components, checked the battery water level and inspected all the seams and window caulking.  The roof sealant looks very good.  I didn't see any areas of concern.  Around a couple of windows and storage doors I could see cracks in the caulking along the upper edge and down over the side.  I will have to redo the chalking on these four items but after attempting to remove some of the old stuff, I need to find someway to remove the silicone or whatever that product is without hurting or gouging the laminate siding and I am just not sure how to do that.  I'll do some research on that.  I won't be going back up until the week after next so I have plenty of time.

Roof is clean

Had to was the trailer

The remainder of the day was spent cleaning up, enjoying dinner and relaxing in pain.  Oh yeah, the shoulder hurt like heck.

We slept late Saturday but got up and got moving ahead of everyone else.  I had some more maintenance items to get done around the lot and then around 1:00 pm I took a short nap before showering and cleaning up for our big Saturday night event.  We met  up with 11 of our closest friends for a trip to Leavenworth on the east side of the mountains.  It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to drive over and the temperature went from a comfortable 77 in Gold Bar to nearly 90 in Leavenworth.  Granted it is drier heat but it is heat just the same.  We had dinner at a nice Bavarian restaurant in the middle of town

Part of the dinner table

After dinner we drove up to the Ski Hill Theater.  We had to walk from the parking lot up a dirt trail to the steps to the theater.  As we walked up the trail I noticed a nun standing with her hands in her habit at the base of the steps.  She smiled at me and I couldn't help myself.  I said something like, "Wow, that is a first.  A nun smiling at me".  She broke out laughing and I jokingly asked her if she had a ruler under her habit.  She pull out her hands to show me she didn't have a ruler and promptly stated that she was wishing (praying) for an icepack.  90 degrees outside and she, among others, dress in black habits. I kind of felt sorry for them.

The stage

Look at all those nuns

We watched a very good production of the Sound of Music.  The cast used the surrounding forest as part of the props and the building in the picture was moved around an became many different facets of the Austrian life.  It was a good time and every one in our party enjoyed the theater adventure.  We arrived back home (Gold Bar) around midnight and went straight to bed.

Sunday morning we were up and on the rode home early.  I cleaned the truck and took care of some issues around the condo.  Went to bed and slept maybe three hours before all hell broke loose and lightning and thunder hit with hail, sleet and rain.  Instead of cooling things down it just got muggy and sleep was nearly impossible for the rest of the night.

Hope I haven't bored you too much.  I would have posted last night but I had to wait for the pictures to transfer to the computer from the phone.  Sorry about the dinner shot.  Phone cameras aren't' real good in the darkness of an underground restaurant.