Hostess gift shopping

Tertulia Vineyard -- had a good tasting, paired with dry fruit and chocolate and a tour

We picked up our case of wine as members of the Walla Walla Community COllege wine club. They informed us there was a Grand Opening of Valdemar Vineyard --but it was too grand-- i.e. cars out the wazoo.... so we went next door to Flying Trout and had a good time. Tasting fees vary from $5 (i.e. at the College Cellars) to $10 or even $15 a flight, but if you buy a bottle, invariably, the fee is waived.  The choice isn't that hard, pay the fee and go home empty-handed, or pay a slightly bigger fee, but go home with a bottle of wine for later.  We chose wisely.

We've been practicing retirement DEAR time  (when the kids were at China schools had DEAR time daily:  Drop Everything And Read.)  We nod off in the sun with our novels, or plan Alaska trip with our Milepost or post pictures on our blog. 

Last night we grilled our veggies and made our traditional "mommy popcorn" in the Whirly Pop but with the chili pepper/herb-infused oil that Malindi had gifted us at Christmas. WoW-- Popcorn with a little kick. Olé!  Silly me, I put vodka on my lavender and lemon herbs from Christmas!

the colors of Spring PoP!

 We've gone from the bleak black and grey of winter to the yellows, greens, pinks and beiges of Spring in about 2 weeks. Only weird thing this week was a weather report that said, " Partly sunny and blowing dirt."  SInce when is dirt a weather phenonmenon?  Since all the wheat isn't quite planted and if they till the soil and the wind kicks up, the clouds can obscure the Blue Mountains nearby. And colors! Didn't even mention the array of multi-colored, multi-weighted therapy bands that our Physical Therapists share with us weekly accompanied by unending stretching and strengthening exercises to abate our various orthopedic aches and getting-older pains. Only our pasty skin is still white.

 

 Last weekend we drove east toward Idaho for a little sight-seeing, but mostly because we wanted to picnic somewhere new and wanted to catch up on our audiobook. The sights were more of the rolling hills of wheat fields, now barely planted, but in some places with tiny green sprouts. We were back on the Lewis and Clark trail with a metal sculpture of silhouettes of a camping party, complete with dog and horse silhouettes. (I may have shown you this last fall.) We ended up on a terribly rutted, dirt road, made muddy by the recent rains and floods.  We were not in our new big truck, but our low-riding VW Jetta and had to turn around, spewing mud and rocks in our wake down the hill. On our way back we spotted the 300 foot Jolly Green Giant, etched in rocks into the hillside. Dayton, Washington used to be where all of the Jolly Green Giant asparagus was canned. The area lost over 1000 jobs when the canning plant was moved.

 The picnic back in Walla Walla at Benington Lake was still splendid. Back to the exercises....

the Olympic Peninsula is WET! in April

Walla Walla ferry just coming in--Space Needle right behind ferris wheel

SAT
Judd flies back from Connecticut (two cousins' memorial service) and I pick him up at Pasco airport (for a hotel stay with Papa Johns delivered pizza--a first splurge on a low-carb diet spree.)
SUN
Brief visit to Snoqualmie (biggest in WA) Falls--
Catch Seattle ferry to Bainbridge Island for a visit with Bill Watts (a grade school friend of Judd's from Kittery) and wife Joy and daughter Nikki -- walk to Cooperstown brewery and wine and discover they're all kindred spirits.
Arrive at State Park camp in Sequim ("skwim") --barely sprinkling.
MON
visit historic Port Townsend-- lots of old architecture--raining.
We check out Deer Park campground on the mountain--i.e. Mt. Olympus (7980 ft) with many sister peaks between 5000-7000 feet) --nice drive but campground still closed for the season.
Lunch at The Landing in Port Angeles to get real seafood by the sea.
Camp at Hearts of the Hill --only camping is Loop A-- pop up our camper in the rain; eat leftover chicken -- play: Books, backgammon, cribbage, whist from 3:00 to bedtime in the real rain  
EXCITEMENT:  propane leak alarm goes off  (we had filled up the tank today and *maybe* didn't tighten everything properly.)  It cools right off when you open all the windows and turn on the fan!

TUES
Break camp and drive to find the gate to Hurricane Ridge just opening. We DO have a clear view at the Ridge but Visitor Center still closed.  Lots of BIG snow removal equipment. Driving to Sol Duc Hot Springs we discovered a severe list to port of the truck:  one of the two "air cushions" under the truck,  installed to absorb the shocks of the camper, has deflated and is un-inflatable. Three rogue blue jays try to steal our egg salad lunch while we decide if the hot spring are worth it.  (Victor says they've been commercialized.)  So we drive back to Sequim to "fix the air cushions."  No can do. So we drive, with the list and decide to camp in Sequim since it's already pm.  Dungeness Recreation Area where the wind is OUTRAGEOUS!  I debate taking my contacts out before taking a walk down to the Dungeness Spit. Judd makes an amazing bison dirty rice  (using pulsed cauliflower rice which I pre-prepared!) 

WED
Drive to Cape Flattery-- the tip of the peninsula-- most NorthWest point of the contiguous United States.Stop at Calvin's Crab Hut (but crabs are out of season... no oysters... no sightings of otters or sea lions....YES..eagles and ducks and gulls...and Sasquatch!
Camp at Bogachiel State park in the rain because we're done driving for the day-- chicken & shishito stew inside the camper as the rain is unrelenting.  The drips off the trees are louder than the actual rain....

THUR
We ditch breakfast and eat almonds and tea in the car all the way to the Hoh Rain Forest.  It's raining.  But the moss dripping off the trees is amazing.  Mystical fog. We walk through the Hall of Mosses--tree poems from around the world on the placards. It does seem that the rain lets up a little every time we stop for a walk or making camp.

We stop at Ruby Beach and Judd makes friends with an AT-hiker by virtue of recognizing his hat. We stop at Kalaloch Lodge for a fancy chowder lunch (and to warm up/dry off.) Then a  hour dash, listening to Gone Girl on Audible, to Cape Disappointment State Campground with a view of the Pacific Ocean.

FRI
On the am beach walk, Judd wants to know what a couple old timers are doing with their buckets and wagons.  They're panning for GOLD!  They say anywhere there's black sand, there's gold mixed in, and they have a system where they dig up sand, sluice it down a little homemade sluice box, with a battery set up to pump the water.  They claim, by the end of the day, they'll have some gold.  Huh?  We were just thinking we should take some pans for when we travel through the Yukon this summer.....
We hiked up Cape Disappointment where Lewis and Clark noted the Columbia River falling into the Pacific.  Their Interpretive Center was open and quite good.  We lunched in a parking lot on our way to Seacrest State Campground.

SAT
We were unable to get all the way up Mt. St. Helen's for a view (AND the foggy rain precluded the view) but the Visitor Center was very interesting and the film, accounts, photos of the volcano's 1980 destruction were incredible.  I didn't miss not being able to camp in the blast zone.  Last pic below is from window shopping in Port Townsend. We had a great vacation week and a good deal of practice trouble shooting the camper for our next REAL big trip: San Diego or bust for May!

Sanchez

Planned a 2-day camping trip to christen our little Northstar.  Judd had the packing up chores and picked me up after work Friday.  We dined on some big meaty sandwiches from Andre's Kitchen (of Diners, Drive-in and Dives' fame, right here in Walla Walla.  We only wanted to travel an hour or so and chose a nearby State Park in Oregon.  When we arrived about 6:00ish we found the campground open, but only about 12 camping spaces had been plowed out from the snow.  Three feet-deep snow blanketed the forest and was piled up to 4 feet on the edges of the camp road and camp sites. We decided to drive 25 more minutes to the next State park, hoping for less snow.  Unfortunately, that one was still closed for the season-- no way to drive through the big locked gate.  So back we went to Emigrant State Park and snow camped for the night.  We were toasty and warm in our little camper and practiced setting up the outdoor  camp stove for a bacon and eggs breakfast the next morning.  The coffee sure cools off fast. The worst part of the experience was the noises of the 6 lane highway just .25 miles off the park entrance.

Judd appreciating the Oregon Trail history

new folding table works

We broke camp and decided to go back 30 min down the hill to Pendleton where the green grass was already high and the sun was not obscured by dense trees.   The evening before, we had driven by a big RV resort abutting a gigantic casino, stating how terrible it looked with all the big rigs lines up like a parking lot. We visited the Tamastslikt Cultural Museum to get us til noon.  The center was beautifully arranged and the story of the indigenous people and how they respect and use the land is always hard to hear with all the things "Europeans brought" to improve life.

spring not quite sprung in the mountains

headed down from the Blue Mountains

the vistas are greening up in the valley

 At noon we begrudgingly checked into the RV resort and were immediately  impressed with the lack of traffic noises. We were slotted on the periphery and had a beautiful view of the fields with the snow streaked mountains in the back drop.  We decided we could find merit in a big RV park every few days during our upcoming roadtrips, if we slept highway-noise-free and had need of the laundromat, showers or pool.

can't even see any of those big rigs!

On our evening walk, we circumnavigated the park and I noted the names of the 40 foot big rigs.  Must be someone's full time job to pick inspirational names. We were assuredly the tiniest. We dubbed our little Northstar: Sanchez--named for the frolicking, happy black Lab across the street who routinely greets us on our neighborhood walks. 

That's Judd on the far left

Avalanche

Montana x3

Pinnacle 

No Bo

Mountainx3

Cougar x2

Patriot 

Outback 

Reflection

Jayco x3

Fox mountain 

Bullet

Outbackx2

Pegasus

La Palma

Landmark 

Salemx2

Crusader

Imagine

Island trail

Passport 

Allegro busx2

Winnebagox2

Rockwood x 2

Terry

Hideout

Bounder

Wildcat

Alumascape 

Trailsport

Creekside 

Subside

Reflection

Open range

 Bighorn

Volante 

Artic Fox

Dutch starx2

Via

Terry

Flagstaffx2

Pace arrow 

Cedar creek 

Okanagan

And our tiny Northstar: Sanchez