bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We had a bad night. Roxie woke us up at about 4 AM. She Sat up on my shoulder. Hmmm, I said to Bob I think she wants to go out. She moved and Bob turned on the nightlight. She was sitting at the end of the bed, looking towards the front of the MH. Bob quickly got dressed and took her out.

On the way back in, he did not turn on the light and stepped in a mess. She has loose stools. So he cleaned that up, while I comforted the dogs. Roxie was really upset. We had a problem getting back to sleep, but finally both of us did.

We got up around 8. We went to breakfast at the park at 8:40. They had sausage, pancakes and scrambled eggs for $6. It was basically serve yourself and eat all you want.

We walked back to the MH and worked on various tasks. We have internet  and phone but no satellite. Originally we planned to drive to the North Cascade National Park. But there is not a lot to do there and we will be driving through on our way east on Monday. Surprisingly, my Fodor’s National Parks of the West does not have the park listed. Strange, as Cascade has been a NP for over 50 years.

We decided to go into Concrete, the closest little town. We drove past their Saturday Swap Meet and went to the Concrete Saturday Market. They had one fruit and veggie vendor, one bakery with the money going to the local Blood Bank, and the rest was various crafts. They had some nice stuff. We left and went to lunch at the bakery, 5b’s. We each had an excellent sandwich with carrots and celery. Bob;s came with a very small salad. Both had an oatmeal cookie. Each cost about $9. We stopped a the Red Apple grocery store for some scallions. We returned to the MH and no dog issues.

We had a quiet afternoon At 3 we went to the ice cream social. We were glad we went over at about 2:50. We arrived and there was a pretty long line, inside the family center. We paid $2.50 each for a nice sundae with vanilla ice cream and your choice of toppings. By the time we got our ice cream and went back outside to sit at a picnic table to eat the ice cream, the line was out the door and weaving down the road! Obviously a very popular activity!

We had a quiet evening BBQing some chicken for dinner. The weather was a bit windy, but the temp was in the upper 70’s.  We watched the second to the last Harry Potter movie.

Sunday- We did our usual Sunday tasks. Bob took the towels and sheets to the laundry. His first trip over at 8 AM, he found all of the washers in use. So he returned about 20 minutes later to be able to put in our 3 loads.

We left around 11:30 to drive to Bellingham to Bob’s Burgers and Brews. We were meeting up with our friend Audrey Lamoureux Parks. The restaurant has a breakfast buffet, with fresh, cooked to order, omelets. Plus of course lots of other stuff. Senior rate was a whopping $11! What a deal! We had a nice brunch and sat talking for almost 3 hours, catching up on our lives.

We finally left and went to Walmart for a few items then back to the resort for dinner. We watched the final Harry Potter movie.

Monday- Moving day…. We drove east on Hwy. 20 crossing into North Cascade National Park. It was a beautiful day and a nice drive. We stopped at a rest area as it was time to give Karlie her pills. This was the view.

Our first stop was at the Visitor Center. We parked the MH, walked the dogs, then went into the center. I stamped the Passport, and we wandered thru the little museum. Then we went out to the overlook to check out the view of the glaciers.

We left and continued on our journey, driving east and up, up, up. We went from 260 ft. above sea level to over 5,000 ft. We stopped at several of the overlooks, including Diablo Lake. The picture below is looking towards Diablo Dam. Note the color due to the glacial silt.

Now looking towards the Skagit River.

We stopped for lunch on the side of the road. This was our view.

Scenery….

Then we continued on to Washington Pass.  We drove around a curve and the entrance to the overlook was right there. We could not slow down fast enough, so we continued on. We stopped about a hundred yards further down the mountain and stopped at a wide place in the road to look at the view.

As we were driving downhill from the pass, there was a large KABOOM with the sound of glass breaking. I was driving, so Bob went back in the MH and discovered that the light fixture over the table had fallen off. So what should look like this….

Looks like this….

So when we arrive in Spokane, we will go hunting for new light fixtures. They are 12 volt, so they have to be RV fixtures.

We eventually left the NP and continued on through the town of Winthrop. We called Barb while driving through Winthrop and met them in Twisp. Sid was standing by the side of the road signaling for us to pull over. Gee, right in front of the Quilt Shop. Barb is a quilting fanatic/genius/expert! She does awesome quilting and other sewing.

We disconnected the car and Sid joined Bob in the MH. I followed Barb in her car. We went a different way and Bob went in the MH to their 3.5 beautiful acres on the river.

We pulled into their FHU 50A site. They are far enough out of town that the internet and phone service is spotty. We also could not obtain satellite service in their guest site, but hey, who is going to watch TV when you have these views?

Once we set up, we walked over to the river and soaked out feet in the freezing glacier melt water. The dogs are having a great time being off leash and running with Mandy their dog.

We sat outside their rig, overlooking the beautiful scenery. Barb and Sid cooked a delicious meal. We had brought coleslaw and watermelon. After dinner we played Pegs and Jokers. Ladies won!

Tuesday- Barb wanted to cook breakfast for us, so at about 8:30 we wandered over to their rig. She had cooked an awesome Soufflé with raspberries and blueberries. After we returned to the MH, I was doing some laundry. Our mail had arrived yesterday. Wow, my Medicare card arrived! EEEK, that makes me feel old! It starts September 1.

At about 11:15 we walked over to their car and they took us on a tour of Twisp. Twisp is a small town with just a few services. Then we drove about 8 miles west to Winthrop Winthrop is a western theme town with lots of visitors.

We ate lunch at a nice Mexican Restaurant. The food was pretty good! After lunch we wandered through the shops. Barb seemed to know quite a few people!

Barb insisted on taking this picture!

We stopped in some of the stores and looked. There was a very interesting art gallery with some different kinds of pictures. The artist really has an imagination! We also stopped at the glass store. The owner was blowing glass. He had some beautiful pieces. Good thing we live in a motor home and I can’t buy any of that kind of stuff!

We stopped a the ice cream/candy store and each had a kid size ice cream, which consisted of a regular size scoop of ice cream. While we were sitting eating the ice cream, the fire department took off with sirens blaring. They were headed east.

We left town and drove back east about a mile when Sid turned off to drive us up the mountain to the Sun Peak Resort. It is an upscale hotel with awesome views of the valley. We could see Winthrop in the distance. There was a fire, so the view was pretty hazy. We could not see the fire, but it was at the corner of Hwy 20 and Hwy 135, which is the way we will be going on Thursday.Barb looked online later and found that they had gotten it out; yea firemen!

Here are some deer who live near the resort.

On the way back down the hill, Sid stopped so I could take a picture of one of the local lakes. There are no homes on this lake!

Right after the lake, we turned onto a short cut, back to their property. It was a 5 mile dirt/gravel road. We traveled through an area which had a fire about 3 years ago.

We arrived on the road that goes past their land, out of the town of Twisp. We stopped on the road, above their property to take pictures of their land.

Yup, that is our motor home!

In this picture, you can sort of see Sid and Barb’s awning. They are parked right overlooking the Twisp River.

Unfortunately, I could not get a picture of the river. The land on this side of the river is owned by they conservancy, so it will never be developed. Sid and Barb are co-owners of the land. Originally, 42 years ago, four families went together to purchase the land. The guys wanted it for hunting. They built a cabin and hunted for many years. Eventually, as lives changed, the two couples bought out the other two couples. They add a well, sewer and electric. A few years ago a fire took out the cabin and they regraded the area. They have several RV sites.

We returned and Bob worked on trying to clean out the lint in the washing machine/ dryer, which has accumulated. This means that I cannot dry anything as the machine just blinks at me. I can wash, just not dry. I don’t dry a lot of items, only underwear, socks and sheets.

Bob took the front shade for the MH over to Barb and she attempted to sew the outside border back on. It did not work. Her machine kept grabbing at the magnets. Our shades are 8 years old and the sun has destroyed the thread. The material is still in good shape.

The dogs accompanied me over to Barb’s and we went down to the river to soak our feet. Mandy, their dog, loves to jump in the water and catch rocks that Barb throws. Mandy even puts her head down in the water and blows out bubbles!

Roxie got her feet wet, but Karlie won’t get into the water. Our dogs are not going to want to leave, as they can run free here! We had a nice Copper River Salmon for dinner and we sat out playing Pegs and Jokers again. The Guys won!

Here is Barb. What a view behind her!

Here is their view including their nice vegetable garden. They also have about 9 humming birds who visit their feeders.

Wednesday- Barb went to teach a class at her quilt shop in town. We took the dogs to the groomers then we stopped at the famous Cinnamon Twist bakery. Bob had a bear claw and I had a peach pecan muffin. We stopped by the quilt store and I gave half the muffin to Barb.

We returned to the rig and Bob set to work on the washing machine. He tried putting water back through, which is what we are supposed to do when the machine clogs with lint. The water leaked into the cabinet below. I was the look out for that to happen. So my Mechanical Engineer thought about it and decided he might try air. Then he had to design a system.

We ate lunch and right as we finished, the gal texted me that the dogs were ready. So we took off back to town. We picked up the dogs. The gal cut them really really short, so we are going to have to make sure they do not get sunburned. Karlie’s face was not done very well, so in the evening, Bob held her and I took a pair of scissors to her face and cleaned up the area. Roxie looks okay, but then she has a schnauzer face.

We stopped at the hardware store for Bob to pick up a plastic ring for the washer. If the water treatment fails for the washer, he is going to try putting air through using the ring. 

Sid came over to assist with the washer and I cleaned out the soap dispenser. Even with stuffing towels in the area where the water leaked, we developed a worst leak. So Bob tried pushing air through. That seemed to work. He ran the washer and the water ended up cloudy with lint which should drain out. Then he ran the washer two more times to clear everything out. We will see how this works. The last time we had an RV tech come out to do this was in March, so it did not last long.

Barb arrived back just as Sid was leaving to go play golf. Barb has a friend in town, Chris, who she had spoken with about the shade. Chris is an upholsterer and she even sews up torn RV cushions and makes boat covers.

So we took all the dogs and ran over to Chris’s workroom. Both of us forgot to take our phones with us, so no pictures. But Chris was awesome and she was able to sew two of our shades. The only issue was the magnets getting attached to the sewing machine. Chris said that the company that makes the Magna Shades probably has sewing machines without metal.

We returned and got dinner ready cutting up the rest of the watermelon. Chris joined us for a nice dinner of ribs,corn on the cob, potato salad and our watermelon. We sat out talking to Chris. Sid arrived back at around 8:30 and ate the leftovers. Last night and tonight the temperature dropped into the 60’s so it became a little chilly sitting outside.

Thursday- Moving day. We wandered over to Sid and Barb’s rig to say good-bye to Barb. She is leaving to go to a quilt retreat. Once she left, we went back to the rig and prepared to leave. We went back over to say good-bye to Sid and pulled out of their lovely land. We hooked up the MH up the road at a wide spot and drove out to Hwy. 20. We turned east and continued thru Washington state. We drove through some beautiful scenery, but it was smoky from a fire in Wenatchee, far south of us.

We stopped at a rest area for lunch. The rest area was at Chief Joseph Dam. Here is some info about this Dam. 

Here we are parked while walking the dogs.

Here is the dam. You can see how the air is holding some smoke.

We continued to Coulee RV Park in Grand Coulee WA.  Dennis, the owner/manager of the park checked us in and took us to our site. He said since we are staying 2 nights, we should plan to visit Dry Falls in addition to the Dam.

So we decided to go to see the Dam today. We set up,  walked the dogs and took off for the visitor center. the Visitor Center is designed to look like a turbine.

We wandered through the visitor center. This is the wheelchair that FDR used when he visited the dam. The lake created by the dam is FDR lake.

We drove around the dam, through the town of Coulee Dam. We went to where the free tour starts. As we were getting out of the car, one of the guides stopped us and said that we could not take anything into the building except a clear water bottle. We had to get rid of everything, including my itsy bitsy purse. So I put my purse back into the car ( they are not responsible for anything stolen; covering their behinds!) We entered the air conditioned waiting room. We were glad for the air conditioning as it was 100 degrees!

The guide did another lecture on safety and what you can take on the tour, and then they ran a movie re-hashing everything they had already said. The guide had asked if anyone had any bionic parts and I was the only one. We had to walk through the metal detectors. Surprisingly, I did not set off the metal detector. Our pocket items were returned to us and we loaded onto a small bus for the tour. They drove us back around through the town, telling us the history, and to the entrance to the top of the Dam.

Needless to say, since 9/11, no one is allowed to drive across the Dam. The citizens of the city miss being able to go out on the Dam, as it had been a popular roller blading spot.

We stopped first at the power room.

This dam is larger and more powerful than Hoover Dam. It also has room to expand and is not working at full capacity. They only run the turbines at night, as they use a lot of electricity and they use stored electric for the area. They talk a lot about the environmental issues. The reason for the dam is for irrigation.

We went back up an elevator and back out to the bus. They drove us across the top of the dam, doing a U-turn and stopped to let us out to look at the dam.

Below, a very small part of Lake Roosevelt.

This is looking down from the dam.

Looking down river. The Visitor Center is on the left.

Water goes out of the dam and uphill thru the pipes to a canal. That canal then goes to Lake Baker which goes past the city of Coulee. There are four towns in this area. Grand Coulee where we are staying, Coulee Dam, where the dam is located, Electric City, which is on Lake Baker and the town of Coulee about 28 miles away. More on that tomorrow!

The tour was about an hour. We returned to the car and drove back towards the MH. We had passed an overlook on the way into town, so we drove past the RV park about 1 mile and drove out to the overlook.

We returned to the MH, relaxed for a bit, ate dinner, watched some TV, and at about 9:40 we left to return to the Dam for the laser light show.

The show was about 1/2 hour. It was okay, but been there, done that…The temperature had dropped to about 88 degrees.

Friday- Since Dennis had told us about Dry Falls we thought we would drive out there early, since it is so hot. We drove along scenic Lake Baker. The lake is formed by the Coulee Dam. Water is run thru the turbines and some of the water is shifted uphill to Lake Baker. The city of Coulee is 28 miles from Grand Coulee where we are parked and the lake goes to the other side of the city.

Once we passed through Coulee, we turned and traveled to Dry Falls State Park. The park visitor center was right on the highway, and is free. We turned left to drive into the parking lot and parked. Ahead of us was a huge canyon.

I walked thru the parking lot and took this picture.

Well, isn’t this interesting! While driving to Grand Coulee from Twisp we had noted a lot of volcanic rock on the hill sides. We noted that there were no volcanos in the area. So now we are discovering why the rock is in this location.

We entered the Visitor Center and climbed a flight of stairs. We entered the museum and gift shop. We stopped in at the movie. The guy who is the host of the 6 short movies was a hoot. One of the moves had a “blooper” where he was sitting on the top of a group of circular formations. He dropped his screw driver down between the circular formations, where it will remain for eternity, and he said “Oh sh….!” (They bleeped it) and we burst out laughing. This was actually the last movie that we had seen in the short series and by this time we were kind of fond on him….the movies were about the various geological formations in the area. 

Anyway, we wandered through the exhibits. This whole story is so interesting! There was an ice dam in Montana, which built up melted glaciers for a long period of time. when the ice dam broke, the water traveled for miles at about 60 mph flooding everything in its path.

 

So the water raged over the land and this lasted for weeks. A geologist came up with this theory and other scientists did not believe it. For 20 years, the scientists argued about this before they came to the realization that this is what has occurred. So they have all now decided that this is what occurred. Here is what occurred with what you see today.

The backward erosion is what has formed the ‘lake’ in the middle of the canyon.

So the water formed the “Coulees”.

So these are lakes are called plunge pools, which are now fed by ground water.

Here is the path of the floods.

We went back outside to look into the canyon. We were standing on top of the canyon and it is hard to even imagine that the water would have been 300 ft. above our heads!

We left and returned. Coulee City is not much, although there looked like a very nice city park for RV’s right on the lake. Here are some pictures of Lake Baker that we took on the way back.

Bet by this time you are wondering just what a Coulee is?  Well, there are valley’s which are V shaped. Then there are valley’s that are U shaped. Then there are Coulee’s which are box shaped. l_l. Yes, this looks like a U, but a Coulee has straight down walls which the U shape does not, then a flat bottom, like this lake, then sharp straight up and down walls like you can see in the second picture above. The walls are formed of basalt.

We returned to the MH, walked the dogs, then went to lunch at a local  restaurant called Flo’s. It was just okay. We stayed in in the afternoon as the temp was over 100.

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