Ohio Turnpike

While it costs more than any other toll road we traveled, it provided far more service to the traveler than any other turnpike or freeway we were on.  The Ohio Turnpike provides a method for the traveler to cross the entire state and never have to exit the roadway.  For us, with four axles, it cost nearly $35.00 to cross the state.  At no time did we experience and congestion on any part of the turn pike.

Service plazas provide gas, food, and shopping as you cross the state.  Some even have low cost parking places for RV's that have electrical for $20.00 per night.  It's free if you choose not to use the electricity.  And the RV spots are away from the main truck parking making it much quieter than most truck or rest stops.

There are toll roads all over the eastern part of the country.  Some require you to stop and pay while others have automated toll booths.  Some just read the license plate and send you a bill in the mail.  EZ-Pass seems to be the choice for most of the states in the east for folks to pay a lesser amount.

Washington state has decided to toll the hot lane (HOV) on I 405 from Bellevue to Lynnwood leaving those who don't wish to pay the extra toll to sit in further highway congestion.  I would think it would be much easier to toll the whole road and build a better highway system that can take on the extreme traffic that we have.

September 11

I am not likely to forget the morning of September 11, 2001, the day that brought a new kind of war to the shores of our country.  I was at work early, in north Seattle.  At the time, I was working for Auto Nation and running the parts departments of two of their Nissan stores.  I was hungry so I left and went down the street to the Albertson’s store to buy a couple of donuts.  On my way back to the Nissan store I heard the news on my car radio.

I went into our waiting room and turned on the television and found myself fixed as the news unfolded about planes crashing into buildings high above the New York skyline.  I sat hypnotized as I watched the twin towers burn and then collapse.  News of another plane taken down by the passengers had saved a majority of the Pentagon, though portions of it were still damaged.

Someone had declared war on the United States of America and we had no idea who.  We later learned of terrorist and their cells creating havoc that early September morning.  We have lived in threat of another terrorist attack at anytime. 

I for one, will never forget.

Labor Day Weekend

This past week I smoked some St Louis style pork ribs and flank steak in the smoker.  Both were absolutely fantastic.  This little smoker does a great job both as a smoker and as a grille.  We have been in awe with how well it operates and how easy it is to clean up.

Years ago when Seattle had the Kingdome I went to what I thought would be my last Seahawks game in a stadium.  At the time I was an alcoholic and I thought the crowd at the game was out of control.  Some folks spilled their big King Beers and it ran down the steps soaking my jacket and everything else under my seat.  My daughter had an extra ticket for last Thursday's preseason game with the Oakland Raiders so I though what the heck.  I attended the game with them and came away with no better opinion of the crowd than years before, and I was sober this time.  Unfortunately while there are folks who go to watch the game and have a good time there is a large contingent that come to drink and end up spoiling the game for others.  While I had a great deal of fun with my daughter and her fiancee, I doubt that I will be attending any further professional football games in the future.  Go Hawks

Sitting here in the travel trailer listening to the rainfall from above.   It isn’t uncommon to have holiday weekends turn into water fest weekends.  Seems we can have drought but somehow, on most long weekends, we end up with rain.  Right now it isn’t just a light rain it, has been coming down pretty hard for the past several hours and the wind has picked up some adding another interesting element to the tree laden forest that makes up and surrounds our little oasis.  You get used to it but it can be brutal with four people with only a 26’ travel trailer.

Our granddaughter came up with us yesterday and the day was fairly nice.  She visited with friends in the park that she hadn’t seen for some time and was home pretty early and in bed.  Last night our grandson came up to join us and as always on long holiday weekends there was a dance and Karaoke function at the ballpark.  The kids wanted to go while we visited with friends so we let them go have fun.  They were home and in bed by 11:30 pm and all was right with the world.

Mia and I plan to spend the week in the park as we are scheduled to go to membership next Sunday to seal the deal on the new trailer and membership.  While we expect to get keys and everything finalize we won’t get the opportunity to enjoy the new place till later in the month.  We have plans to do the Western Washington State Fair on Monday the 14^th with friends so we’ll sign the paperwork, hand over the check, get the keys and books and head home.  When we come back up the next time we will stay in the new trailer and begin the process of moving everything of our old lot to the new one.  There is a shed that needs some paintwork on the inside before we can use it.  I’ll show you what I mean with pictures before I start the work. 

September could be a very busy month for us.

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.

Question

Is there anything that a person can do or say that won't piss off someone, somewhere?

Big Storm

Mother Nature is rampaging through the great Northwest with heavy winds and huge amounts of steady rainfall.  August is early for a storm of this magnitude.  Our trees are suffering drought conditions and still have a majority of their leaves, leaving them vulnerable to wind gusts, and that is what happened all over the Puget Sound area.  Whole trees ripped up by the roots and dropped like nothing.  Two people are dead and hundreds of thousands are without power throughout the area.

Local News Pic

Local News Pic

Local News Pic

Local News Pic

The trace amounts of rain made it to eastern Washington but the strong winds that went with it did little to help the fire fighters get control over the wild fires.  The Okanogan complex fire is now over 300,000 acres burned and only 23% contained as of 6 pm Saturday evening.

Washington Wildlife Pic

The good news, the Seahawks won their first preseason football game with a 60 yard field goal in the waning moments of the game.  The Mariners, who fired their General Manager on Friday, won a close game against the White Socks last night.

We are at the trailer today and I wish I had the bigger trailer to be in.  It is cramped inside the travel trailer and when you can’t go out without drowning it makes it a pretty rough day.  We haven’t popped for a dish for television so we have to depend on local air TV.  We normally have a few channels but when you add the wind and rain coupled with the clouds the air TV just doesn’t seem to do it.  We try to read but end up nodding off.

Our grandson, Zach, arrived around five last night and spent the night with us.  He hasn’t gotten up yet and I can’t say I blame him as the deluge continues to pound the area.  He wants to take a hike to Lake Serene just up Highway 2 but I am not certain if he will go or not.  Safety has always seemed to be his first concern so perhaps he’ll head home instead of going off into the woods.

Honey absolutely hates the rain and wants nothing to do with going out for walks.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

Just A Little News

It is 5:00 o’clock am on Saturday morning and I can hear the rustling of the trees as the wind gusts pass through them.  There is a light rain coming down at the moment.  According to the weatherman we have a pending storm moving in on us today with high wind and rain.  If this weather pattern continues across the state we will likely be looking at increases in the size of the current fires that are eating up the eastern half of our beautiful home.  While rains can help fight the fires, high winds only excite the blazes.  While we need rain due to the drought across the state, it might not be a good thing if it comes with the predicted winds.

Mia and I have been living in our travel trailer most of this year both on our trip and since we got back.   We have had some discussions about the travel trailer and we have both come to the conclusion that we probably won’t travel with the trailer anymore.  We had to try the RV lifestyle but it isn’t for us from this point on.  In fact, yesterday I put an ad on Craig’s List for the trailer and the membership at Gold Bar Nature Trails.  We are going to sell the travel trailer.

That being said, we still like to come up to Gold Bar and spend time enjoying nature and relaxing with friends.  To that end we discovered a park model unit for sale on a different membership lot and we are now in the process of purchasing that unit.  It has much more living space and we can still come up and enjoy our family, friends, the vast wilderness and the facilities.

Our grandson Zach is coming up to spend a couple of days with us.  We will likely feed him and he will be off to take his hikes.  We won’t get to see much of him but I hope we have time to make some plans for a trip to Montana later next month.  He and I will drive over and spend three days in Glacier National Park.  He has a couple of hikes planned and wants to do some fishing.  I want to go back to Polebridge for some Huckleberry Bear Claws while he is out climbing.

There have been no other developments recently.  Other than the stock market sliding we consider ourselves pretty lucky.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

Selkirk Loop, Part Two

After the quilt shop we hopped on down to Crawford Bay.  A small village made up of artisans with products from hand woven clothing to hand made brooms.  There are a couple of pottery shops and a blacksmith shop as well.   Mia visited the woven products artisan and ended up purchasing a beautiful shawl.  We spent a hour or so going through the shops and had a great time talking to all the folks who were busy making their specialties.

As it was getting close to 3:00 o’clock p.m. we took off to locate our next destination, a bread and breakfast called Wedgewood Manor.  I liked the pictures that I saw on line when investigating this trip and thought it would be fun since we have never stayed in a B&B.  Ends up, this place has history.

 

The view as you enter

The original stove sits on the porch

Gardens are beautiful

The gather area for guests

Our room

Our private patio

Our fireplace compete with Honey's water dish

The entry to the house

Spectacular gardens everywhere

Beautiful view from breakfast on the covered porch

Built in 1910 on a fifty acre site with views of the Kokanee glacier this charming English style manor was the dream of Senior Commander James Matthew Harrison and his wife, Lady Lucy Caroline Wedgewood.  In the 1880’s during a stop over Senior Commander Harrison traveled to the area on a hunting and fishing trip with friends.  He was so taken with the area and the ruggedness of the landscape that he decided that he and his family would retire to the area after his Royal Naval Service.

Commander Harrison had three sons and two daughters.  One son died of scarlet fever before they left England and two of his sons, both serving in the Royal Navy, stayed behind as he packed up his daughters and wife and headed to their new home then called “Freckleton”.  Both of his daughters married local men and the house on the property next to the Manor was built by one of their husbands.

In World War I, the family was devastated by the loss of both of the sons who had remained in England.  Both were killed in action.  To immortalize his sons Commander Harrison built a little church just up the hill from the manor.  Unfortunately Mrs. Harrison died quite suddenly in June of 1919 and the church became a memorial to her as well.  Commander Harrison died in June of 1926 and both are buried next to each other on the property.

The host and hostess of the place are amazing.  Honey was welcomed with open arms and there were other very friendly dogs for her to play with.  She was allowed to wander the property and the house without restriction.  The manor is a beautiful, quaint English style house with beautiful woodwork and no televisions in sight.  They have wi-fi so you aren’t completely isolated unless you want to be.  We had an amazing stay, slept the best we have slept in some time while in the Commanders study that has been turned into a lovely room.

Sadly we had to leave the following morning and after enjoying a wonderful breakfast made for us by the hostess, we were forced to hit the road for our next destination, Spokane.  We made several stops along the way as we worked our way across the border and down into Idaho to I90 and across to Spokane.  As we got closer to Spokane the dense smoke got thicker. 

We spent the night at a Quality Inn and made footprints for home the next morning arriving back at the trailer at around two in the afternoon.  It was a quick but very enjoyable trip for all of us.

 

Sunset thru the smoke in Spokane

Sunrise the following day with more smoke in the air

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.