Corning, CA

Our drive over the Siskiyou Mountains was uneventful yesterday, in that there was no snow to be seen, except on Mount Shasta, but we couldn't see the top of the mountain.  We did have a lot of rain, with sun breaks mixed in, which made the drive somewhat interesting. 

Dark skies heading south on I-5:

A little while later, partly sunny skies at the Siskiyou summit in Oregon:

After a lunch stop at the Weed rest area, we drove past Shasta City (still no snow) and hit fog when we crossed the final Lake Shasta bridge.

Dave and I arrived in Corning, CA around 2:45 yesterday afternoon.  Corning is a town of about 7500 people, located right on I-5, south of Redding and Red Bluff and a few hours north of Sacramento.  The big draw here for us is the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park which offers full hookups with good, free WIFI for $25/night.  There are no restrooms in the park, however, and no cable TV.  But the sky is open for good satellite reception.  Another draw for us is the casino golf course which is highly rated. 

The food at the casino is notably good, but we haven't eaten at the buffet yet since we like a bargain, and the 2 for 1 senior bargain nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Since tonight is New Year's Eve, the casino is offering a  big party with lots of food and a comedy show, all for the (NOT) bargain price of $140 per couple.  No thanks.  Dave is usually asleep by midnight and neither one of us are party people.  I know, we're boring!

This morning, Dave and I drove around Corning and did a few errands.  I stopped at the Quilt'n Thyme store and bought a couple of items since everything was 20% off today.  The store has an interesting background--the owners are foster parents who have adopted seven of their special needs foster children.  She is a long-time quilter who has made many quilts to donate to hospitals, and he is a former teacher who is also a pastor of a church.  I was surprised and pleased that a town as small as Corning has a quilt store.

Another stop we made was at the famous Olive Pit store.  That store is always busy.  I tasted a few different olives, and then bought my old standby--almond stuffed olives.  It's a fun store to visit.  They also sold California oranges, but I didn't need a 15 pound bag, so I didn't buy any.

Dave stopped at Radio Shack but didn't have much luck there, so after lunch we decided to drive over to the "big" town of Chico which is about 35 minutes southeast of here.  He went to Best Buy and bought a product with the salesman touted, but didn't end up working for what he wanted (omni-directional digital antenna).  See his blog for more details on this "local channels" project.  We'll be returning this product at the Best Buy in San Luis Obispo. 

After Dave's errand at Best Buy, I visited Honey Run quilt store in Chico and finding some bargain fabrics that were 40% off.   I forgot to take a picture of the quilt store, but it was located in a cute, older craftsman-style house.  Different fabrics were displayed in different small rooms of the house.  The clearance fabrics were located in a closet.   After a successful visit to the quilt store, we headed back to the RV and took a walk around the RV park.  The park's RV spaces had filled in again, but there were still a few spots left at 4:30 pm.  This is a first-come, first-served park with about 70 spots plus a no- charge overnight area where RVs and trucks can park. 

We're going to hang around here until Tuesday or Wednesday since we don't have reservations to arrive at Pismo Beach until Thursday, January 5. 

Happy 2012!

We're On Our Way!

Click on Dave's blog to read the details about how our water main got fixed.  The plumber and concrete borer came on Tuesday, a day earlier than we had originally thought and  they were able to install the new pipe all in one day.  That left yesterday as the day to pack the motorhome, forward our mail, stop our utilities, etc.  The rainstorm we had in the afternoon put us in the mood to head south!

After a couple of set backs this morning, which I'm sure Dave will blog about (slides wouldn't come out, step wouldn't come in) Dave managed to fix the problems and we finally left home around 10:10, about an hour after we had planned.  The drive was rainy with just a small amount of wind, and we passed the last hour listening to one of those online Trinity Church sermons that I talked about in my last blog.

We are settled for the night at Seven Feathers Casino RV Park.  There's a new Oregon state rest area here at Exit 99, but we headed up the hill to the RV park after getting gas at the casino.  We paid $3.36 per gallon for gas which included the discount.  We had seen gas much cheaper at a Pilot station at the Rice Hill exit--$3.15 for unleaded, but we didn't need gas at that point. 

The RV park is busy, as it usually is around New Year's, but they still have plenty of sites left for those of us who arrive without reservations.  The sites are a bit high-priced here--$34 after using both the casino discount and a Good Sam discount.  We're going to head over to the casino for dinner tonight and take advantage of the $8.99 rib eye special that's not on the menu.  It's also seafood night, so no doubt the buffet will be busy, also.

The temperature is unseasonably mild (55 degrees right now) and we hope that the warm temps continue until we get through the Siskiyou Mountains tomorrow.  The plan is to head for Corning, CA with an overnight stop at Rolling Hills Casino.

Christmas Surprises

Our Christmas Eve surprise was a major leak in our water main from the meter to the house.  The leak is under some concrete, which will have to be bored out to replace the pipe.  Since it has been Christmas, nothing will be able to be fixed until at least tomorrow (Tuesday).  We were planning on leaving for Pismo Beach this week, but our trip will be delayed for at least a day or two. 

In the meantime, we've been able to use our water as needed and then Dave turns it off in-between uses and during the night.  It makes me realize that I would not make a very good pioneer!  If the problem can't be fixed this week, Dave and I are thinking about turning off the water, which we do anyway when we travel, and getting the problem taken care of when we get back home in a few months.  To all the full-timers who don't own a stick house, this is a problem that you won't ever have to deal with!

On the brighter side, before the water main pipe broke, we celebrated an early Christmas with Tim, Kiersten, and Sophie on December 23.  It's always good to see them and Sophie was delighted to be celebrating her first Christmas.  One of the traditions that we started this year was to read the nativity story to Sophie.  In this case, we used a nativity set, "What God Wants for Christmas", that I ordered from Family Life Today.  It beautifully presents the true meaning of Christmas, along with seven boxes to open, which contain the angel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, a shepherd, and a wise man.  The final box contains a mirror (which Sophie loved) indicating that the gift that God wants for Christmas is YOU! 

Sophie, 8 months

Since Sophie didn't have a box to play with, she decided to play with the tag.

All that activity made Sophie thirsty!

Christmas Eve Dave and I attended a new church, Trinity Church of Portland.  The church meets at the chapel at Western Seminary in Portland and the pastor is Dr. Art Azurdia.  He is on the staff at Western and is a dynamic speaker.  We enjoyed the reverent, traditional Christmas Eve service and decided to attend church there on Christmas Day, too.  What a great service.!  Art  preached about how the true meaning of Christmas is often lost in the midst of the sentimentality of the season.  The true meaning of Christmas can be summed up in eight powerful words:  Christ came into the world to save sinners.   It was a powerful message, and good powerful Christmas hymns added to that message.

We are happy that the Trinity Church sermons are podcast, so we'll be able to listen each week, even when we are in Pismo Beach.  Click on sermon archives to find out how to listen to these fine sermons by Art Azurdia. 

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christmas Lights

One of the minor irritations of the Christmas season is finding replacement bulbs for Christmas lights.  The LED lights are efficient, but expensive.  The white LED lights look like they are blue, not white.  I like the colored LED lights, but again, they are expensive.  I do like the fact that they are not hot to the touch and are safer to use.

I am starting to get used to the energy-efficient bulbs, like the ones shown on the tree in the cartoon.  It remains to be seen if they will last as long as they claim, especially since they cost so much more than the old-fashioned light bulbs.

Don't get me wrong--I am totally aware of the true meaning of Christmas, and the Reason for the Season is not about light bulbs!  But Christmas lights do brighten up the dark, short days during December and are a reminder of the Light of our lives.

Jesus - Light of the World!

John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

 

Home Again

Now I am back from the beach and I have full-time access to the internet again.  But I find that I'm too busy to post much on my blog.  What am I doing, you ask? Well, the usual pre-Christmas stuff added to my new hobby of sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  I still have a few more Christmas gifts to make, and I won't be posting any pictures of my sewing, at least until after Christmas.  I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises, you know?

Sunset at the beach at Cape Disappointment

While we were at the beach, I bought some lovely lighthouse fabric which happened to be on sale.  I got inspired to start piecing a quilt top using the disappearing nine patch pattern.  It's going pretty well, and even better now that I bought myself a 1/4 inch presser foot.   I ordered the new presser foot from Amazon.com and paid less than $4 for it--well worth the money.

Before that I was using masking tape to mark an edge for 1/4 inch seams, and that worked very well until I had to change my bobbin thread.  To open the bobbin case, I have to remove the masking tape.  That gets a bit tedious to do over and over again.  Thus, the new 1/4 inch presser foot is greatly appreciated.

A sneak peek of a piece of the lighthouse quilt

Since Dave and I were at the beach (Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, WA) for two whole weeks, we really felt like we were residents there. I bought my Christmas stamps at the Ilwaco post office and it was great to walk right up to the counter and not have to wait in any line.

In early November, Dave and I went on a day trip to Wildwood National Recreation Area along Highway 26 East, one of the roads that lead to Mt. Hood in Oregon.  The recreation area is free for those of us with the national park senior pass.  It's a fun place to go for a walk, and this time of the year the paths were virtually empty.

The Salmon River

Moss-covered tree

Now I just need to stop sewing and get my house cleaned, put the tree up, write my Christmas cards, etc, etc.  That's the goal, anyway.  ;-)

I'm Deprived...

...of internet, that is.  Dave and I are staying at Cape Disappointment State Park for a couple of weeks and there is no cell service here, which means no internet.  Even with an antenna booster, we can't get much of a signal.  If I want to take my computer to the jetty I can sometimes get a marginal signal.

So rather than drive myself crazy trying to keep up with my blog as well as read others' blogs, I'm just going to forget about the internet for a while.  How did we ever live without it?

I brought my sewing machine along to the beach and it's working out great.  I can use in on our dinette table, except when we need to use the table for meals. ;-)  I'm still learning how to quilt and working on small projects like potholders and table runners.  The quilt store in Long Beach (Boardwalk Quilts) is very nice and has a good sale going this weekend.  All my small projects seem to require lots of fabric. ;-)

At home I have made use of youtube videos to help teach me how to quilt, put on binding, etc.  Guess what, no internet here at the park.  Did I mention that?  So I have to either remember how to do the projects or invent my own way. 

It's true that the weather has not been too great while we've been here.  Today we are in Seaside for the day, and the sun is shining.  Yay!  Despite the storms, we always have a good time at the coast and stormy weather makes for good wave watching. 

We did not have to leave the state park for Thanksgiving.  A site opened up in our loop, so we moved to that site for the rest of our stay.  The wind was strong on Thanksgiving Day, so the trip across the Astoria bridge would have not been fun in our motorhome. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Now, on to the leftovers!

Our temprary ocean at view at Seaside, where I was able to post this blog.

Upcoming Plans

First, here's a correction to my last blog.  Dave's father served in the Army Air Corp, not the navy.  Thank you to "anonymous" for pointing out my error.

Daughter-in-law Kiersten's parents are visiting this week all the way from their home in Alaska.  This is their first time they will see granddaughter, Sophie, who is now seven months old.  Our younger son, Jonathan, has to work on Thanksgiving.  Never fear, we saw Jonathan as well as Tim, Kiersten, and Sophie this weekend for an early Thanksgiving celebration.

Dave officiated his very last football game of this year on Saturday.  He had to travel to Centralia, WA for an eight-man play-off game.  Dave doesn't have a Tacoma Dome game this year, so now we are free to leave for a trip.

On Monday we will arrive at Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, WA.  We'll be there for two weeks but we have to leave during the Thanksgiving weekend because the park is full.  During that time we'll head over the bridge to Astoria, Oregon.  There's a free craft fair in Seaside on Friday that I want to attend.  Then next Sunday, it's back to the state park.  One of the reasons the state parks (not just this one) are full during Thanksgiving is because many seniors (like we do) take advantage of the off-season senior rates of $6 per night for full-hookups. 

Originally we had planned to go to Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, but canceled that part of the trip when we learned that Jonathan was available to visit us in Vancouver on Friday.  In the meantime, Dave got assigned to the playoff game in Centralia on Saturday, and I had another chance to visit Tim, Kiersten, and Sophie even though we had just seen them last Sunday.  I never pass up a chance to see sweet little Sophie (and her parents)!

Less than a month after we get home from this trip to Cape Disappointment, Dave and I will head south for our 2 1/2 month snowbird trip to Pismo Beach, CA.  We hope to enjoy some good weather during our stay in Pismo. 

During our current trip, we'll no doubt have rain and cold weather, but we still plan to have a fine time!

Sophie is dressed for winter wonderland.  She can now sit in a grocery cart.  She's scooting around on the floor and beginning to crawl on her knees.  Thanks for the picture, Kiersten!

Freedom is Not Free

Thank you veterans, today, 11/11/11, and every day.  And a big thank you to those who are currently serving in the military.  A special thanks to my husband, Dave, for his service in the air force during the Vietnam era, and to his late father, John, who served in the navy during WWII.

A Change in Plans

Dave and I planned to take one more short trip to Maryhill State Park this week.  We've been having some frost warnings this week, so I called the park to see if they had turned off the water hookups.  Sure enough, they had turned them off for the season on Monday.  Last year they turned them off on November 1, this year, on October 24.  It all depends on the weather.

So we changed our plans, and instead of heading east, we headed west.  The parks along the coast of Washington and Oregon rarely have to turn off their water because their weather is milder.  We wanted to go somewhere that was only about two hours from home, so we decided to go to Astoria, Oregon. 

Site A8 at Lewis and Clark RV Resort, Astoria, OR

Our favorite RV park in Astoria is Lewis and Clark Golf and RV Resort, just south of town.  It's a nice park, but even better, it's one of our 1/2 price Camp Club USA parks.  We are staying for three nights, and the price for a premium (golf course frontage) full-hookup site is $22.50 per night--a little higher than our $6 Washington State Parks, but not too bad, especially since there's a lot to see and do in Astoria.  We also paid $2 per night for WIFI, which used to be included in the price. 

The weather was beautiful when we got here on Tuesday, and Dave played the nine-hole golf course that afternoon. 

The golf course, as viewed from our site

Wednesday the weather was drizzly and cloudy.  We took the 20-mile drive along Highway 101 south to Cannon Beach.  We took a picnic lunch and ate in the car while we admired the Pacific Ocean from Tolovana Park south of Cannon Beach.  I could have sat there all day!  After lunch I visited a quilt shop in Cannon Beach.  I'm not ready to buy much yet, but I enjoyed looking at all their fabrics and supplies.  The store had a wide selection of Japanese-style prints and patterns. 

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon

Today (Thursday) the weather was beautiful.  We drove to Youngs River Falls, and after than we visited Astoria Column.  For some reason, even though we've been to Astoria quite often, we had never been to Astoria Column.  Dave made it to the top of the column but I chickened out.  The views from up there are magnificent, even if you don't climb the 164 steps up to the top.  The price is right, too, only $1 for parking and the parking pass if good for a whole year!

Youngs River Falls, located 10 miles south of Astoria

Astoria Column, built in 1926

Dave waving from the top of the Column

We came back to the motorhome to eat lunch, then headed out for a bike ride.  I had heard about a path from Warrenton to Hammond, but we could only find bits and pieces of the path.  Oh well, we had a nice ride anyway, even though it was a bit cold and very windy by the time we got going. 

The Astoria Bridge that crosses the Columbia River, as viewed from the Column

Another view of the Columbia River, looking across to Washington

Tomorrow we need to head back to Vancouver so Dave can referee his last varsity football game of this season.   After this weekend the teams will have another three weeks of play-offs, then it's on to the state play-offs for the teams that make it that far.

All is Well

Dave had quite a scare Monday night.  He was refereeing a junior varsity football game at Camas High School and tripped over a player's leg.  He went down hard, and landed on his forehead.  He was treated by the on-site medic who was concerned that he might have suffered a concussion.   No concussion, but Dave's little finger was jammed but not broken.  He was deemed well enough to continue the game about 15 minutes later.  By Wednesday, Dave was well enough to go golfing, so I knew he was on the mend.  If you want to see the fall, the incident happened to be captured on videotape.  Watch the white hat referee in the middle of the screen--that's  Dave.

On Wednesday, we babysat our 6-month-old granddaughter, Sophie, during her first overnight visit away from her parents.   They brought Sophie to our house, along with a bag of her stuff and her portacrib.  She went to sleep at 7:20pm, so it was an easy night of babysitting.  Sophie woke up briefly at 11 pm, but by the time I was beginning to make a bottle of formula for her, she was asleep again.  She slept until 8 am, which was later than I expected.  When I went in to get Sophie out of her crib, she greeted me with smiles.  What a good way to start the day!  Mom and dad came to get her around 11 am and after they left our house felt very empty and quiet!

Sophie--6 months

Sophie modeling her long-johns from Yellowstone.

I started a new hobby of re-learning how to sew.  My Kenmore sewing machine was over 30 years old and didn't work, so I bought a new Brother XR4040 sewing from the online Costco store.  A week later, the UPS man delivered my new sewing machine.  After learning how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine, I was able to sew some sample scraps later that evening.  What fun!  Everything worked well.  I haven't experimented with most of the 77 electronic stitches, but I've used the straight stitch (even though it's hard for me to sew straight!), the zigzag stitch, and the blind hem stitch.   My ultimate goal is to teach myself how to quilt. 

Brother XR4040

Respite at Maryhill State Park, WA

Dave has a few days off from officiating football, so we drove out to Maryhill State Park to spend a few days.  Now that it's October, Dave's Senior Off-Season Pass is in effect again.  We paid $50 for the season, which lasts until May 1.  The pass allows us to camp at any Washington State Park for $6 a night if we have hookups, and camp for free if we don't have hookups.  It's a terrific deal, but alas, the pass is only available for Washington residents 62 and older.  This park costs $28/night without the senior pass.  We like to use the pass as much as possible in October, because many of the inland parks turn off their water beginning November 1, and don't turn the water on again until March or April. 

Maryhill, located along the Columbia River,  is only two hours east of where we live in Vancouver, and it's one of our favorite parks.  This time of year the park's campground is first come-first served.  We arrived at 4:15 pm on Monday and had no trouble finding a nice big pull-thru where we were able to get a satellite signal.  This park has a lot of large trees, so some sites are more satellite-friendly than others.  Cell service is 2 bars of 1x Verizon service, but that's enough signal to be able to (slowly) use the internet from the comfort of our motorhome. 

Dave woke up this morning with a cold, so we didn't do much today.  Mid-afternoon he felt a bit better, so we went for a short drive east on Highway 14 to John Day Dam.  There were signs pointing to a COE park called Celilo Lake, but when the paved road ended, we turned around and didn't find the park.

John Day Dam

We also saw some buildings that looked abandoned but with several nice signs that indicated that the buildings were aluminum plants.  We spotted some salvage aluminum and a few cars in the area, so maybe that's what was going on.  Don't you hate it when you can't quite figure out what's going on?  That was us today.

Aluminum Plant--abandoned or not?

A view of the Columbia River east of the dam

Two forms of transportation along the Columbia River

We made a quick stop at the Stonehenge War Memorial, which is located just above Maryhill State Park.  It's a fun stop, with a great view of the orchards and vineyards which, with the help of irrigation, grow in this somewhat desolate terrain. 

Stonehenge

A closer view of Stonehenge

A view of the fertile valley below Stonehenge 

Visiting Multnomah Falls and the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway

Our sister-in-law, Pam, visited us a couple of weeks ago.  She lives in the Sacramento, CA area and is the wife of Dave's brother, Terry, who passed away from cancer in December, 2008, at the young age of 57.  One of the places we like to take visitors is for a ride along the Columbia River Gorge, culminating with a stop at Multnomah Falls. 

The Columbia River Gorge area runs between Interstate 84 on the Oregon side, and State Highway 14 on the Washington side.  The Historic Old Scenic Highway is located just to the south of I-84.  The old highway was built between 1913 and 1922 and is now a historic landmark.  In 1926 the road became part of the then-new United States highway system, US Hwy 30.

There are several waterfalls and scenic areas along this route, all of which are now part of the Oregon State Parks system.    First we stopped at Chanticleer Point, also known as Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint.

Pam poses at  Chanticleer Point.

Our next stop was Crown Point, where we visited Vista House, a memorable landmark along the Historic Highway.  It was built in 1918 as “an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite.”

Vista House

The western view from Crown Point.  That steam/smoke in the very top of the photo is the paper mill in Camas, WA.

The eastern view.  That's Beacon Rock in Washington way the distance in the top middle of the picture.  You can also see I-84 down below.

After paying our respects to Vista House, we left Crown Point and traveled further east along the old highway.  This scenic area has lots of places to stop along the way.  Don't try taking a big motorhome on this highway, though--it's quite narrow in spots. 

The historic old highway is a scenic drive.  This route is popular with bicyclists.

We skipped some of the waterfalls that aren't visible without a hike, and stopped at Latourell Falls. 

Then it was on to our destination for the day, Multnomah Falls, the highest waterfall in Oregon, and the second highest in the nation.

We hiked up the paved path to the bridge above the bottom part of the falls. 

The hike continues to the very top of the falls, but we took our pictures from a  little ways past the bridge.

Looking from the bridge back down to the main visitor area.

Dave, Pam, and I enjoyed eating lunch at the historic lodge at Multnomah Falls.  The lodge was completed in 1925.  Besides the restaurant, the lodge contains a state park information center and a gift shop.

My photo of the lodge, taken 9/19/11

Below is an online photo that I found of the lodge, showing the fall colors, and the waterfall in the background.

We in the Portland area are lucky to have this scenic area located near enough to enjoy on a day or half-day trip!