Wednesday & Thursday, July 26 & 27, 2017 Daily Life in the RV

Wednesday Today - a trip to Walmart. I talked to all my sisters. Also I ordered Austyn's Birthday presents online. Then there was a nap. I fixed Orange Chicken, Rice, and salad for supper. We walked the campground a few times. This was just a regular day with no big excitement! Some days that is OK! Thursday Today was started with a nice long walk with the dogs. It was cool and overcast, perfect for walking. Next - get Austyn's birthday card mailed. So we drove to the post office and mailed her card. Guess what I spied? A Bakery - Yum! Steve & I went in and started checking it out. Lots of lovely looking baked goods! So I chose a chocolate chip cookie and Steve got an oatmeal raisin cookie. We also got a baguette to take home. The cookies were to die for! Yum! Before we got here Steve stopped and took a picture because he saw the loch ness monster (tide was out).

Then we drove to Larrabee State Park. Washington's first state park. We walked down a steep hill, some steps and under the railroad tracks (tunnel), then down a steep trail - The beach area looked crowed or rocky. So we stopped and climbed back to the top, pausing to watch a train go by.

Here is a barn with lots of wood ready for winter!

After we got back to the RV I finished a book in this series I've been reading. Steve took a nap. More dog walking and just sitting outside enjoying the cool weather.

Tonight we watched Night Shift, a summer TV show I really like. It doesn't come on until 10 PM and it's over at 11 PM (Pacific Time). Next is news so we go to bed later, which is not unusual for me --I love to stay up late, but that means I get up last also - Oh well! I am not "the early bird that gets the worm". I have had trouble keeping up the blog because of poor cell signals or poor wifi. Sometimes we have neither. It takes forever to upload pictures. And the blog is just not fun without pictures also I don't always want to write and so I just want to write a little and upload lots of pictures. Another problem is blogspot.com. I used to have a great app on the phone that would let me insert the pictures into my blog easily. That app no longer works and now I have another app that doesn't work well either. So I have to connect the phone using the cord tethered to the iMac and download the pictures then upload them to the blog. A much more tedious process. It's so much easier to use Facebook. I am penning this at the lodge, Mount Vernon Thousand Trails - the wifi is pretty slow but useable.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017 - Moving South

Here are some really small pinecones Steve found!

Moving south to our next spot today!

OK - today I got up about 9 AM. We didn't really start getting ready to move till about 11 AM and we were out at Noon. We drove about 45 miles south to Mount Vernon Thousand Trails. We got registered in the office and then we unhooked the pickup and went on a hunt for a site that allows us to get satellite TV. We thought we found one, moved the RV and tried the dish - no luck. So Steve and I got back in the pickup and went looking around for a different site -- slowly -- speed limit is 5 mph (due to the dust). We looked and got lost (turned around, by the way, my sense of N,S,E,W has been absent since Birch Bay) looked some more. These sites are heater skelter - poor planing, some roads are one way, some are two way - a mess - finally moved over to Row A and decided on A67. Then back to the RV at 5 mph. I drove the pickup, while Steve drove the RV at 5 mph - finally got the RV to the site--that took us two (2) hours to get this part done (longer than it took to drove down here). I am extremely frustrated with the way this Thousand Trails thing works - main benefit is cost savings. Ok we tried the dish it took forever but finally locked on! We have TV again! Yea!

Also finally got a call back from the famcamp at McChord AF Base, Holiday Park Famcamp - Tacoma. WE can stay there 5 nights at $25/night (great deal). We have to stay out of the Thousand Trails system one week after being in for about 3 weeks. Oh Happy Day that will be fine with me! I am really beginning to dislike Thousand Trails. WE paid for Dish for RV and haven't been able to use it at very many of these Thousand Trails parks. Also on a positive not: We can receive packages (meds or RV parts) here and we are less than one mile to the Skagit casino.

There is also a Speedway nearby, we might go to the car races again. Anyway, we got set up, had some lunch and then sat outside - lovely temperature in the shade, trees everywhere, and ferns. That is why it is hard to get satellite TV.

We walked the dogs and they are really happy to be here because there are rabbits to chase (but they can't catch them). We went to the Casino for a bit of free play and a light, late supper. Home for a dog walk and Tv! Yea! Today I about lost it with Thousand Trails.

Monday, July 24, 2017 Crossing The Border

Today's objective: Cross the border into Canada! First we walked the dogs and got them set up (Buster in cage, Radio on). Unloaded the firewood from the Pickup. We also got our passports out and some extra money. Then we found a carwash to wash the pickup-it was dirty. The GPS didn't work in Canada - no maps uploaded for Canada I guess. We used the iPhone - google maps. We were in line quite awhile to get into Canada - they asked how we got here (drove the RV & Pickup);What were we going to do? - sightsee & eat lunch; How long would we be staying? - a few hours; What did we do for a living?; Did we have any alcohol, tobacco, or firearms? NO.

Then we stopped at the visitor center and convenience store. WE saw this really cute little MG at the Visitor Center. Next we drove to White Rock (beach spot, running over with tourists like us). We looked at tourists, the beach and shops.

We figured out how to pay for a parking space. Then we had lunch at the Boathouse. It is owned by Landry Seafood from the USA. Our food was excellent. Then we went back to the truck and got back in line to cross back to the USA.

It took awhile. The guy at the gate asked us if we had anything to declare - No just %5 worth of souvenirs - no problem. He wished us a good day and we were back in the good ole USA. Peace Arch again!

Here is a ghost billboard - I googled it and found out it is a work of art. It was installed to make a statement against billboards cluttering up space. You can google this - I did.

We returned to the RV, rested, walked the dogs and watched a movie.

Sunday, July 23, 2017 Beach and Harbor Time

Great day, Sunny but about 70 degrees - Love the weather. We tried to figure out where to stay on our week out of Thousand Trails -I have some ideas. We bought a zone pass to use and you can stay so many nights then you have to be out one week. After 30 nights - then you pay $3.00 per night. We got 2 zones for the price of one - so the cost is good - it is saving us money. We have not been perfectly pleased with every location. Sometimes the kids on the bikes drive our dogs nuts (and we go nuts because of the dogs!). Sometimes the sites are too close. Many places have too many trees and you can't get the Dish satellite to work or there is no cell signal-but who cares, we are roughing it smoothly, right?

Today we did Laundry After that I fixed us a late lunch. Next we took the dogs and went to the beach. We looked at shells, driftwood and seaweed. Zoey loves to try to bite the waves and seaweed. The tide was coming in and I was afraid she would slip out of her collar, or swallow too much sea water and get choked or get taken under by a wave (she is very short). Anyway it is all the things any mother worries about for her kids when they go to the beach. Doesn't matter, Zoey loves it! It is fun to watch her enjoy it!

Then we drove back to Blaine, WA and the Harbor and Marine Park and walked with the dogs.This was such a great evening - we saw lots of boats, some really expensive looking yachts and also enjoyed listening to the birds. The beach and harbor are so relaxing - we really enjoyed it!

And of course we saw beautiful Mt. Baker in the distance on our return.