View of Entiat River

Picture taken from the lookout. Entiat river.  

Sunrise at the lookout

Brian and Toddi took this picture from Tyee lookout. We were down in our fifth wheel parked at their home. They spent the night on a single sized bed in the lookout - not very comfortable from the sounds of things!  

Brian and Toddi at Tyee Lookout

  

Haystack Rock - Cannon

  

From Oregon coast to Entiat

From Florence, Oregon, we drove north to Cannon Beach and up to Seaside where we spent the night. We then drove to McChord AFB in Tacoma, Washington where we spent two nights. We had a wonderful dinner Tuesday night that was prepared by Bob's grandson's wife, Tara. On Wednesday, we had granddaughter, Nichole, over to celebrate her upcomming 17th birthday. We also hope to see her on Wednesday to take her out to lunch (30th of August).

We then drove via Everett (dentist appointments) to Connie's son's home in Entiat, Washington. Over the last few days, we drove around looking at lots for sale, but didn't find anything that interested us. On Saturday and Sunday, Brian and Toddi volunteered at a fire lookout. Some of our pictures are from the lookout. We drove up to Tyee lookout on Saturday afternoon and had dinner with them. The last 5 miles were on just about the roughest road we've ever travelled.

Today (August 29th) we're headed back to Circle 8 ranch where we'll stay for a week.

Ocean near Heceta Head Lighthouse

  

Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon Coast

  

Bob and baby lion

  

Connie and cute cat

  

Bob and Cougar at wildlife park

  

Oregon Coast

Monday morning we headed south to Eugene, Oregon to visit Connie's mom and dad. We spent two nights in the Eugene area. Tuesday night we went to dinner together to celebrate Connie's 59th birthday.

Thursday morning we drove to Florence, Oregon on the Oregon coast and found a camping place at Honeyman State Park. We're here for 3 nights.

Friday we drove south along the coast to a Wild Animal park that is a favorite of Connie's daugher-in-law, Toddi. We were however setup by Connie's son, Brian. He told us to be sure and buy the ice cream cones filled with animal feed. Of course, when you enter the park, the deer just about overrun you and take them out of your hands. They are VERY agressive.

We had a good time seeing the animals and getting to pet a baby lion and a baby bear cub. Also, got to hold the baby courgar who was about 10 weeks old.

Eugene Oregon fire hydrant

Connie's mom and dad are staying in some college apartments near the University of Oregon (Ducks) for 6 weeks this summer. The fire hydrants are being painted as ducks.   

Sunset Central Oregon Cascades

Near Crooked River Ranch, Oregon  

Our truck and fifth wheel

Crooked River Ranch, Oregon (about 40 miles north of Bend, Oregon  

Connie's son Brian gets a hit

Tournament in Yakima   

Buddy on his back in the cat bed

What a life  

Circle 8 Square dance ranch, Cle Elum, WA

We’ve spent the last week at Circle 8 square dance ranch near Cle Elum, Washington. This is a ranch that was purchased by square dancers about 30 years ago. When the property was first developed there was a wood floor that was taken up and put down every summer. All dancing was outside. Over the years the ranch has been improved to have electric and water hookups and an RV dump site. There is a also a very nice square dance hall and restrooms with showers.

Last weekend was a ‘plus’ dance weekend with two callers. This weekend a Yakima club and a Wenatchee club are here with their callers.

We spent the week here while having our truck fixed. On Monday the truck wouldn’t start and had to be towed into Ellensburg (about 30 miles away). Turns out the truck needed new batteries and a new ignition switch. We finally got the truck back late Wednesday afternoon.

It’s been a pretty lazy week. We did a bike ride on Tuesday along the John Wayne Iron Horse trail - a converted railroad bed turned into a gravel bike/horse trail. The weather has been fairly cool for being on the east side of the mountains.

Time to go dancing. More in the next post.

A beautiful view near Pacific Beach

  

Ocean near Pacific Beach

  

Paul, Carol, & Bob at Pacific Beach

  

Hub of wheel broken away from wheel body, still mounted on fifth wheel axle.

  

Wheel with tire............ minus broken out hub!!!!!!.

  

Pacific Beach, WA

We stayed at McChord AFB near Tacoma, Washington for 8 days. At $7 dollars a night........ Who could refuse! While there we had an opportunity to visit with Bob’s grandson’s wife, Tara several times. She told us that Daniel is VERY BUSY, stationed in Iraq for the second time, as a motor sergeant and platoon sergeant. But we hope this means that he is in air conditioning some of the time. We also made up two goodie (junk food) boxes to send to him. He is getting tuna & crackers, crystal light drink packages, M&M’s, Reece’s pieces, and of course some homemade chocolate chip cookies.

On Wednesday morning, we drove to the ocean to Pacific Beach on the west coast where there is a military RV park. We spent Wednesday night by ourselves, but on Thursday morning our friends Paul and Carol Samuels and Tinkerbelle (dog) joined us. We enjoyed visiting with them, walking the beach, homemade margaritas, and basking in the sun. It wasn’t real warm, but we were able to sit outside next to the fifth wheel in the afternoon and enjoy our margaritas. They spent the night with us and after breakfast they headed home.
While there we discovered a number of smaller new homes being built next to and overlooking the facility toward the Pacific. At $469,000.......we thought we might get two...!!! :)! NOT!!!!!
We packed up as well and were headed to Cle Elum, Washington. However, we stopped to get fuel in North Bend and Bob noticed there was a problem with the tire on the fifth wheel. Turns out the wheel with tire had broken apart from the hub. So, the hub was still in place on the axle. We’re sitting in the parking lot of a Union 76 gas station while we had Les Schwab Tires replace the spare tire which was also bad. We are underway in 45 minutes.

We’re headed to a square dance weekend at Circle 8 ranch. It’s about 4:15 on a Friday afternoon. More in the next blog on our adventures (and hopefully they will be more fun that this particular adventure).