Potato Parkerhouse Rolls

Happy Thanksgiving to all! My mom passed away in May. Listed below is one of her favorite recipes that she passed down to me.

Heat to boil: 1/2 cup milk
Remove and add: 1/4 cup shortening or butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes
Stir mixture until well blended and then add in order:
1 egg
1 package yeast
Stir until yeast disappears, then add 1/2 of 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat, then add remainder of flour, mix, and turn out. Knead lightly, forming ball. Cover with cloth and let rise until double. Punch down and roll out and cut into 3 inch rounds. Top each with a dot of butter and fold over and place on baking sheet. Cover with damp cloth and let rise. Bake 10-15 minutes in 400 degree oven.

Enjoy!

Home Again

What a difficult journey we had trying to get home to Wenatchee. After having a fairly uneventful drive to Baker City, Oregon we found out how hard it was to get the rest of the way home.

There was a big storm in the mountains north of us so we stayed an extra day at the RV park in Baker City. We went to dinner and out to a movie on Monday night. The movie was 'Unstoppable' - the newest Denzel Washington movie about a runaway train. The movie was great - we both really enjoyed it. Tuesday morning we headed north with 4 sets of chains. We knew we would have to chain up both the truck and the fifth wheel. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get the 4 chains on - two on the truck and two on the fifth wheel. Bob did most of the work and would have to get back inside after just a few minutes outside because it was so cold. Once the chains were on he stopped several times to check them out and tighten them up. It was a mess as we couldn't drive faster than 25 miles an hour. We finally made it about 100 miles and when we were past the two passes we removed the chains. By then it was after 3:00pm. We stopped for fuel and Bob discovered that we had lost our tail lights on the fifth wheel. So, we decided we needed to stop for the night again. We were so much hoping to make it home, but with another 170 miles to go it was just too far in the cold and dark.

So after spending Tuesday night in an RV park in Hermiston, Oregon (about 30 miles south of the Tri-cities in Washington) we drove home - arriving about 11:30 in the morniing. Our fifth wheel is unloaded. The laundry is mostly done and we're glad to be here!

A fine looking rig

Death Valley 

Borax Mining in Death Valley

We all remember 20 Mule Team Borax right? 

Bob at Mosaic Canyon

Death Valley 

Mosaic Canyon

Death Valley 

Wily Coyote

Death Valley 

Death Valley

 

Almost Home

We're on our way home from California and Arizona. This has been an interesting trip. After dancing for 4 days in Indio, California, we drove to the Fountain of Youth RV Park and Spa down on the Salton Sea. The park was the friendliest park we have ever been in.

We went with 3 other square dance couples - two from Oregon and one from Washington state. One of the couples from Oregon - Loyce and Wendell Mann were familiar with the spa as her mother-in-law used to live in the park. We stayed for 4 days. We square danced to Johnnie Preston on Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening. We played shuffleboard, went in the spa's, had $2.00 tacos at the local VFW, had pizza at the park's karoke night, and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

But,all too soon it was time to head for home. We decided to detour through Death Valley as we had never been there. We wish we had had more time to explore the park, but now we know we would like to go back. We did a hike through Mosaic Canyon. It was very windy, except for when we did the hike. Otherwise, we might have stayed another day.

Our drive north has been good, but cold and snowy in some places. Highway 95 which we have mainly driven is a great road. We're now on I-84 near Baker City and plan to be home today.

Disneyland Tea Cup

 

Autopia ride at Disneyland with Grandpa

 

Hudson swimming at Palm Creek in Arizona

 

Tea Cups at Disneyland

 

After a loooonnnnnng day at Disneyland !!!

 

Disneyland with Goofy

 

Photo board made by Connie and Toddi

 

Salton Sea, California

Wow - a whole month has passed since I posted to the blog. It has gone fast. We left Washington state the morning of October 31st to drive to Arizona. We arrived in Casa Grande on November 2nd. We stayed a week at Palm Creek Golf and RV resort. We had a celebration of life for my mom who passed away on May 18th. It was very nice. My dad had lunch catered into the ballroom at the park. We had 17 family members there.

On Tuesday, November 9th we drove most of the way to Disneyland. We stayed two nights near Riverside, California. On Wednesday we did a day trip to Disneyland to enjoy it with our son, Brian, and daughter-in-law, Toddi, and grandson, Hudson. Hudson had a good time but was pretty tired by the end of the day.

Thursday we drove to Indio, California which is near Palm Springs. We attended a 4 day square dance festival there. It was quite nice - we stayed right onsite at the Date Festival Fairgrounds.

This morning we drove to the Fountain of Youth Spa along the Salton Sea. We're with 4 other couples and plan to square dance here Tuesday and Wednesday. Friday morning we'll head back to Washington.