Russells on the Road Again

As we started our journey home, we both noted that it actually felt good to be on the road again. We dropped off the rental car on the south end of the island and in about an hour we had driven up to the north end. Our RV, Thor, had made his entrance upon the island via ferry; now he would exit across the towering Deception Pass Bridge.

The bridge is 177 feet high, was built in 1935, and has two narrow lanes with pedestrian paths on either side, just a little nerve-wracking to drive on. Sitting way up in the RV gave us an exhilarating view as we went across and Chris did great driving on it.

Deception Pass Bridge connecting Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands

Chris driving across bridge

Our first night's stay was in Anacortes, Washington at Pioneer Trails RV Park. The campsites were pleasantly arranged around the curving contours of the land instead of the usual straight rows. It was peaceful being nestled under tall trees but it was probably the first time on the trip that we didn't have a view of the sunset. We settled for a nice orange glow in the sky. It was fun watching an episode of House of Cards on Netflix on our outside TV screen with a sleeping bag wrapped around me to keep warm.

Over the weekend we had house guests when Ryan and Meredith drove up from Seattle to experience "glamping" with us. We stayed at Friday Creek Campground in Skagit Valley. The dogs loved playing in the creek.

We've learned that RV parks don't allow tent camping. This place was called a "Campground" and tents were welcome.

Since we had Ryan and Meredith's car we all drove to a little pub out in the middle of nowhere for lunch. I felt like I was back in Texas. We sat outside in the warm sunny weather eating barbecue, listening to country music. There were even horseshoe pits. A pitcher of Canadian-brewed Kokanee beer went down easy.

Around a campfire that night we did the obligatory s'mores and also lit up sparklers left over from 4th of July. Fun stuff.

Sunday was leaving day for us and for Ryan too as he flew to South Korea for a business trip. A fond farewell to Ryan and Meredith and Seattle and off we headed towards Oregon.

Like some sort of mythical creature, Mount Rainier kept popping it's head up and then disappearing as we traveled through Seattle. We also got to see Mount St. Helens with its flattened top from its 1980 eruption.

Mount Rainier

We stopped for the night halfway between Seattle and Portland at an RV Park appropriately called "Midway". This seems like a good place to stop my narration for now.

See you on down the road...

Russells Out and About

A previous post, "Russells at Rest", described our leisure time at the rented house on Whidbey Island. Here are some of the outings we had when we weren't being lazy loungers.

We went to an old-fashioned 4th of July parade. What made it old-fashioned I'm not sure, except maybe that candy was tossed from the floats. I remember grabbing for candy at childhood parades before it was decided that was too dangerous. Over 1,000 American flags were handed out to the spectators and not just the little cheap ones; these were about three feet long. Parading by were oodles of politicians, fire trucks,  and local businesses. Missing (for me) were the horses and I think there was only one marching band. It was definitely more of a small town parade than the Houston variety. I loved it though.

One evening, we picnicked in the park and took in a free concert. Loved that too.

Farmers markets are popular in the area. We bought freshly-made kettle corn, fresh corn-on-the-cob, cheese, and a historical fiction book about the island in the 1920s written by an island native. The author signed my book. We saw several cannabis booths. It is legal here. Chris had to point out to me that the soothing lotion products at one booth contained marijuana.

Mount Vernon Farmers Market

Wineries abound so of course we did a wine tasting. Some of wines are made from locally grown on the island grapes, apples, and pears. It was so cute seeing the Whidbey Island Sketchers group sitting on the pretty grounds doing what they do -- sketch.

The Astros were in Seattle while we were so, naturally, we went to a game. The weather was beautiful that day and the Astros won... perfect!

The Boeing company, where our son Ryan works, celebrated their 100th anniversary during our stay. The Boeing flag was raised on the iconic Seattle Space Needle and we got to attend a huge company event with vintage and new aircraft on display as well as a previous Air Force One plane.

We even got to relive the old days of watching Ryan play sports. He and his wife now play in a city softball league and we were able to attend one of their games.

We walked along beautiful hiking trails with huge ferns and towering trees.

We took a ferry to the Olympic peninsula in the northwestern corner of Washington state and visited a small portion of the majestic Olympic National Park. We saw enough to want to come back and experience more of the park's rain forest, mountain ridge, lakes, rivers, creeks, waterfalls.

Near Port Angeles we drove by a place called Dungeness and then enjoyed some delicious Dungeness crab salad sandwiches, crab cakes, and crab bisque for lunch. I definitely had my fill of crab that day.

There is an inlet of water on Whidbey Island called Penn Cove which is famous for its Penn Cove mussels and yes, I ate some.

As you can see, I'm a fan of sampling the local food and drink. The Lavender Loganberry Lemon Drop cocktail made from loganberry liqueur from the Whidbey Island Distillery was fabulous.

We tried to make the most of our three weeks on the island, but we especially enjoyed getting to spend time with family.

Russells' Return Route

As Chris's dad pointed out to us when we had so joyfully arrived at our destination on Whidbey Island in our RV, only the first half of our journey was complete; we've still gotta get this big guy home. Only the "getting here" route had been planned. Shortly after arriving, Chris got busy mapping out our "going home" route. With a sweltering heatwave raging across the country, we are not in a hurry to get back to the horrendous Houston heat and humidity.

While America swelters, we are in the yellow zone, cozied up to our fake fireplace:

A plan was formed to focus our time in the cooler weather of the northwest before heading south. We have the luxury of not having to rush home so travel days will be shorter, averaging five hours a day. We also can spend multiple days at the camping stops which will be nice to not have to pick up and go each morning. After much internet research: checking reviews, locations, and availability of RV parks, Chris formulated our itinerary of 12 campgrounds in seven states over three weeks.

Let's do this!

Russells at Rest

Our three-week stay at a rented house in Washington State is amazingly two-thirds over already. Thor, our RV that safely delivered us to this gorgeous area, is resting comfortably on a grassy lot up from our house. We are also resting, relaxing, rejuvenating.

The first night we arrived, we unloaded the RV and loaded ourselves up in a rental car to drive into town for a delicious dinner at a little place called Glass Alley. After spending five days on the road and in RV parks, it was a such a pleasant change to
- Eat out
- Without the dogs
- Riding in a normal-sized vehicle

The next day we reunited with the kids to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with a mini family reunion. We hadn't all been together since the Christmas holidays so it was wonderful to just chill out and reconnect at this delightful house.

Here are some photos of our rental:

An entire wall of windows overlooks Puget Sound, providing gorgeous views of the sunset each evening. A hot tub perched on a rise in the backyard also allows outstanding sunset-viewing. There is a fire-pit in the yard where we sat around one night for warmth. Hot tub and campfire in the summertime? We wanted to escape the Houston heat and boy did we! It gets into the 50s here in the evenings with 60s and 70s during the day. It's actually a little cold for me but I try not to complain. At least we can sit outside and enjoy the weather with no mosquitos! When the sun is out, it's perfect.

The only negative about the house is the smelly well water that reeks like rotten eggs.  The owners provide plenty of bottled water so its not really a problem.

Anticipating a lot of free time while we were here, I brought books, and knitting needles and yarn in the hopes of learning to knit. Not to worry, though, I've not been bored at all. We spend time either going out exploring the towns and parks around here or we hang out at the house: relaxing, breathing in fresh crisp air, enjoying the view, listening to birds, watching bald eagles and hummingbirds, switching between soaking in the sun and chillin' in the shade, and being thankful for our blessings.

The dogs must think they've died and gone to heaven. They love the cooler temperatures and exploring the expansive yard. They love swimming in the frigid water when we walk down to the beach. They especially just enjoy spending downtime with us.

Deer wander around the island like they own the place. They come right into the yard. We had a mama deer with her two fawns visit us. We think it's so cool whenever we see a deer, but the locals are not too happy about the deer using their gardens for a meal. Rabbits are the other critters that pop up a lot and they really get the dogs excited.

Our bicycles made the journey with us, riding on the rear of Thor. When Chris couldn't find the key to the bike rack, we were worried the bikes would have to stay hitched up the entire time. Luckily, after turning the place upside down, the key was found in the pocket of his Day One shorts. Chris is making good use of his bike, cycling twice along a pleasant 30-mile loop of the south part of the island. I've yet to venture out on my bike; too hilly for me. I do enjoy walking the hills in the neighborhood. Too bad I forgot my Fitbit charger so I'm not getting credit for the steps. Oh well.

We like the small-town feel of this place. The locals are so friendly and happy. I met such nice people at St. Hubert's Catholic Church (I know, Saint Hubert?) I stayed at the coffee social after Mass for about an hour just chatting it up with locals. At the grocery store, there's always friendly conversation with the cashiers going on. Today, I was thrilled to be present to hear the news that Dave's grand-baby is on the way! Dave works at the store and I had heard him discussing earlier in the deli section that he was waiting for the word any minute. I don't even know Dave but I sure got caught up in the excitement. This place just makes me happy too!

Russells Wrap Up the Roadtrip - Day 5

Day five: As soon as we hit the highway this morning, there it was: glorious Mount Rainier shining through our freshly cleaned giant windshield, beckoning to us to finish our journey northwestward. Today is the day we make it to the house we are renting on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound.

It's incredibly windy as we drive along today. Chris is getting quite the workout controlling this beast.

I'm using our road atlas more and discovering there's all kinds of interesting things printed on the map that you don't see on the iPhone app. Not far from where we are driving is Stevens Pass ski resort where Ryan and Meredith ski. And south of Tacoma I see the Lewis - Mc Chord Joint Base where Chris used to live when it was just Mc Chord Air Force base.

Our final day of driving took us along stunning terrain. We passed through the Cascade mountain range (according to our handy atlas). Low-lying clouds were trapped in the valleys where tips of mountain peaks were sometimes peeking through.

As we entered Seattle, we crossed the Lake Washington bridge that Ryan ran on in last year's Seattle marathon; a great view and nice memories of watching Ryan.

The dogs have calmed down a lot since Day 1 when they spent the entire time panting. Now they are relaxed enough to sleep almost the whole time we are on the road. They have the daily routine down, plus it's not quite so crazy hot. It's nice to have access to power outlets while we move so I can run a small fan pointed at them in the back of the coach. We can't run the air conditioner back there when we are traveling and Captain Chris doesn't allow them to be up front with us. He runs a tight ship.

After navigating the Seattle traffic, we approached the ferry entrance to get to Whidbey Island. There is also a bridge to access the island but it would've added over an hour to the trip. In proportion to the 2400 miles we drove, that doesn't sound that bad, but who wants more driving at this point?

The line to drive onto the ferry was backed way up the road and it wasn't clear which lane was for the waiting vehicles. So this part of the trip got a little stressful. We realized we had missed the back of the line, but it's not that easy to turn this beast around. We ducked into a side street, which turned out to be narrow and hilly, and found an area to turn around, which may or may not have been someone's yard. If it is their yard they really should remove that large rock that we got stuck on. Anyway, we finally made our way back to the main road and turned right to slip in the line. Only, that wasn't cool with the people we cut in front of. So more turning around fun on a little neighborhood side street, and this time all the way back up the road, where now a sign has been conveniently placed to specify what lane to be in.

Chris handled the stressful situation well and skillfully maneuvered us through the ticket booth, and onto the ferry via a very narrow lane. After a nice calm float across the Sound, we were on the island! We picked up a rental car and convoyed to an amazing house overlooking Puget Sound. After unloading, Chris backed the RV up the hill and parked it in a lot on the property. Whew! Time for a break for Thor and us!

And so ends our five-day trek; now our three-week stay begins. Let the adventure continue!