070923-OREGON COAST 1

Sunday, September 23, 2007

As we bid farewell to the great state of Washington, we enter Oregon and head for the beautiful coastline.

At the most north west tip of the state, just outside of Astoria , is Fort Stevens State Park.
It is large, green, woodsy and handicap friendly. The sites are level and well planned and easy to hook up. Peter is already in explorer mode as he stands by the door waiting for it to open, much like a skydiver waiting for the green light, ready to jump.

Oregon, like many forestry states, is known for their state parks, over 200, and we plan to visit a few more along the coast. Their rates are reasonable and accommodations are comfortable.

After a couple of days at Ft. Stevens, we took a slow scenic drive and enjoyed the beautiful coastline. There were many areas of the coast highway (101) that were great for stopping and enjoying the view (Peter calls these message centers), but some of the small towns were not easy for us to park and stroll. One place in particular, Depoe Bay, “The Smallest Harbor In The World”, seemed like a great place to stop, but we couldn’t find a place for the beast.

The is an obvious absence of Wal-Mart Super centers along the coast but we found a replacement in the form of casinos. They are Vegas-like, but not as large and not about to give Nevada any cause for alarm, but they are RV friendly.

We stayed a couple of nights at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, and enjoyed some buffets and a little gambling. Peter was especially impressed with the buffet when he found out it was all you can eat, and he kept nudging me to go back for more of the beef ribs.

The Evergreen Air Museum was about 40 miles inland (McMinnville), but we were anxious to see its main attraction THE SPRUCE GOOSE. You might recall that it was originally displayed in Long Beach, California, next to the Queen Mary, for a few years, and then was gone. I did manage to see the Long Beach exhibit and it was very memorable, so I was happy to see that it had been resurrected to its former status of spectacular. Its new home is a massive and beautiful hanger with a glass wall to show of the plane in a majestic setting. The hanger is as long and wide as its main attraction, and still manages to display about 100 aircraft on the floor space below it. Pretty impressive.
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Peter met a new friend in the gift shop, Lucia, who has 5 dogs of her own. Peter insisted on a picture with her. What a babe magnet he is.

Halfway back to the coast, we stayed over night at the Spirit Lake Casino. After dinner, I thought I’d try to win some of my money back that I left at the Chinook Winds, but they must have seen me coming. Perhaps the next casino will be luckier.

Flash and Sasquatch

070915 Washington-NW

Saturday, September 15, 2007

In the past few weeks we have covered a lot of ground.

We stayed at a nice RVP in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Lovely setting, on the lake, with a small sandy beach that reminded me of Marina Del Rey, California.

Soap Lake, Washington

The town is about in the middle of the state and this Western Horizon RV Park is a couple of miles north. The setting is terrific. It is a small park, situated on an outcropping of land that juts into the lake so it seems like you’re on an island. There are lots of trees to provide shade and the roads are paved, a WIFI is set-up (although a little on the weak side) and the weather is comfortable with no rain in the forecast.

All of the staff was very kind and helpful and so we want to thank them for making our visit pleasant.
Linda, the park manager, Volunteer hosts – Robin and Blaine and Laura – activities.

Snoqualmie Falls had a nice OLD RAILROAD museum and across the street from there we stopped in an old fashion barbershop for a haircut for $10 . The best I can say about it is ,,, my hat fits looser and it will grow back.

On the way to Bellingham, we had set our sights on what sounded like a great place to visit:
The Wings of History Museum” in Bellevue.

This we will file under: We will not be fooled again !

We had the place pinpointed on our Microsoft Map Program and confirmed on our GPS unit. As we neared our designation, we became a bit suspicious that we were in middle of a remote residential area. Sure enough`, we had been skunked again.

From now on, I promise to call in advance to confirm addresses, directions and hours.

We stopped in Everett to drop off the Batmobile for an estimate on repairs, but the mechanic was not around so we left it, knowing we had to return south later on and could pick it up.

We arrived in Bellingham on Sept 1 and parked the Beast in an RV park and stayed at Joe’s house in his guest bedroom for the week. What a strange and delightful change to sleep in queen size bed. and Peter did not even share it with me. For some reason, he preferred the floor.

We spent most of the time catching up on each other’s life since last we met and had some good meals and did a little sightseeing.

While running through my address book, I remembered that an old classmate of mine from medical school lived in Seattle. Howard (Flash) Roth, a Canadian, was one of guys I hung out with and without getting graphic (to protect the innocent and the marriages of many) we did manage to have an active social life in Cleveland which was partially obscured by the introduction of alcohol at various times.

We were fortunate to catch him, since he and his wife Kathy were flying to Toronto in a couple of days.
WE arrived at his house, on the fairway of a golf course, had a few beers and went out to dinner as Kathy sat by quietly while we reminisced about our school days and then took turns bringing each other up to date on our past 30 years. It was great. Howard is one of those people who remain distinguishable and recognizable throughout life. You know what I am talking about. You hear their voice on the phone and you know who it is, and when you meet them in person, they look like they did before. He was and always will be “Flash”, a nickname he acquired as an antithesis of his manner.

Since they both had to be at the airport the next morning by 7 AM, we called it an early night, and Peter and I retired to the Beast which was parked in front of their house. When we awoke, they had already departed by taxi and we fired up the Beast as well and headed south.

By the way, we did remember to stop and pick up the Batmobile. I decided not to fix it there, and so we just packed it away in its Batcave compartment.