Friday, August 25, 2017 A Birthday and Mayfield Lake

Today I woke up early enough to call my sister Pam and wish her a Happy Birthday. Then I rambled around awhile, walked the dogs and had breakfast. It didn't seem that we had much on our mind to do today - so we watched some TV. I'm pretty sure I dozed off a bit. Then we had a light lunch and loaded the dogs for a short ride. We went to the Ike Kinswa State Park. We toured one of the Campground loops then parked the pickup. There was a lovely shaded trail alongside Mayfield Lake, the dogs loved it and so did we!

The water is so clear and has such wonderful shades of blue and green - depending on how the light strikes it. I can never get enough of these mountain lakes.

We crossed the road and saw a beautiful swimming, fishing, kayaking area to enjoy. The water just sparkles. The area reminds me of Lake Pend O'Reille in Idaho, with its steep mountain on one side. The beach area also reminds me of the one at Farragut SP in Idaho.

This is a beautiful State Park you should check out if you are in the area. We got back to the RV and watched TV - the Seahawks vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, a pre-season game - the Seahawks won. We had supper and walked our dogs around the campground. It was a nice little walk. Then we left them in the RV and tried to update some apps on my iPad and iPhone at the campground wifi - no success. Back to the RV and just hanging out! Information about the Ike Kinswa State Park -from Washington State Parks website: Mayfield Lake is a reservoir established by the construction of Mayfield Dam. Prior to construction of the dam, the Tilton River joined forces with the Cowlitz River within this landscape. The dam, designed to forge the energy of this river confluence into electricity, was originally proposed in 1948. After 15 years of legal struggles, which ended in a U.S. Supreme Court decision, it was constructed and became operational in 1963. In this same year, Washington State Parks began to manage recreation along its shorelines. The original name of the park was Mayfield Lake State Park. However, in 1971 the name was changed to Ike Kinswa State Park in honor of Ike Kinswa, a well-respected Cowlitz Indian who lived along the shores of the rivers’ confluence. Over the years the park has grown in popularity as a camping and water recreation destination in central Lewis County. I gathered up our snacks for the trip to Mount Rainier NP tomorrow! I turn the magic 62 and am going to buy my Senior parks Pass for $10 before the price increases to $80 on the 28th of August. Tomorrow I celebrate my birthday at the National Park! Woo Hoo! That's it folks!

Thursday, August 24, 2017 Lunch & Laundry

This is the view looking west from our campsite.

Well we sorted and loaded the laundry. Then drove to the Campground laundry room - no luck - not enough machines available. So we decided to drive to Mossyrock because I thought I saw a laundromat there - we are in small towns in this area. This is a lake near the campground.

So we found the laundry and went in to check it out - a lady said only certain machines worked and then someone else came in with a lot of laundry so we decide to forget this place. We went down the street to the Pantry Cafe and had lunch. Steve had his cheeseburger and I had a very nice taco salad! Yum! We picked up those little advertising papers and I saw a laundromat at Morton. Off we went. This was a newly renovated laundry with new machines. We had a beautiful view from the laundry.

I walked down the street and took pictures of two really pretty trees.

We got done and returned to the RV about 3:00 or 3:30 PM. I took pictures of our view from the entrance of the RV Park when we arrived back. Mount Rainier is in the background of one of the pictures.

WOW! The blog is caught up!

Wednesday, August 23, 2017 Planning and Scouting the Territory

Today was a slow day. fIrst we walked the dogs. Then we started figuring out what is next! I got a reservation closer to Mount Rainier National Park- We will move there on Sunday. I extended our stay here through August 26 (my birthday, which will find us traveling to the National park to get my Senior Park's Pass for $10. They go up to $80 for the Lifetime Senior pass on the 28th of August. I'm getting mine as soon as possible! Either the 26th or 27th! If you are eligible - you should get yours also - that way you can get free entrance to National Parks and I think half off camping too. Then we will head to Oregon on August 29th to Fort Stevens SP where we will stay until Labor Day is over. Steve is getting free days (10/month) at Oregon State Parks, since he is a DAV. Such a great program, plus we are now set through the Labor Day holiday. We may stay about 5 more days in Oregon state parks moving south on the Oregon coast then we will head home about the 10th of September. I feel so relieved that we have a spot reserved through Labor Day. Now we can continue to relax and enjoy the trip! After getting these arrangements made we took a short drive to see the country. We saw some beautiful lakes here - Mayfield Lake and Riffe Lake. I will get pictures later (I hope). We saw a logging truck leave the forest and saw Mount Rainier peek out! I guess it is a rare sight at times. We returned to the RV for a late lunch and nap. We watched some TV and I worked on the blog - Still behind.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017 Moving back to the Mountains

Today we move back to the mountain. We are taking a different scenic route - traveling 101 then joining WA 4 headed east, then north on I-5, then east on WA-12 again. We saw these dairy cows at Rosburg, WA. Then we crossed Gray's River.

Some more beautiful pictures of tree-covered mountains.

The sky was a little overcast so some of the pictures are not great. They call it the marine layer (we call it mist, fog). We passed a lovely State Park - Skamokawa --where I would love to stay on another visit- it looked so peaceful.

We passed some other nice rivers then we were right on the north bank of the Columbia River. A mighty river - big and wide!

We stopped at Walmart and got some supplies at Longview. I got a new Fitbit for my upcoming birthday, mine seemed to poop out. Then we joined I-5 for about 30 miles 0 in a traffic jam moving about 21-28 mph or at a total standstill. We went faster on the two lane roads.

This is the view at the entrance to Thousand Trails paradise - quite a beauty.

This place is dusty - but we got a site where we have Dish TV and a cell phone signal - so that is great!

Monday, August 21, 2017 Eclipse Day (near the path of totality)

Today my sister Pam called me at 7:30 AM. I got up at 8:00, got dressed and we took the dogs for a short stroll. Then since we didn't buy eclipse glasses we decided to make a pinhole projector out of a Ritz Cracker box. Ok we did that and went outside about 5minutes oil 9:00 - The lady behind us had her camera set up on a tripod for pictures. She had the solar filter for it. She said she had extra eclipse glasses and let us use them. It was great! You can really see what is happening when you are wearing them.

Of course, Steve looked cool in his eclipse glasses - I might have looked a little frazzled. By the way - the pinhole projector worked - but not great. Also, we were all concerned that we wouldn't see much due to the marine layer (fog). But it lifted and we saw the eclipse with the glasses. The pictures I took - just look like a cloudy sun.

It was great - we visited about travel, Thousand Trails, and the eclipse. It was so nice to make a new RV friend. She also writes a blog, does geocaching, photography and other stuff. Plus she has been to Alaska! I want to go there sometime. Her name is Nancy Kissack and her blog (which is very well written) is called: Kissack Adventures, you can google it to see her awesome eclipse and kite festival pictures. We had fun visiting with her and watching the eclipse. Next we took the dogs to the beach and messed around - but it was pretty windy and cool so we went back to the RV. Steve is holding black sand.

Then I worked on the blog and had a nap. When we got back up we went for ice cream (even got the dogs some). Then we went for a walk near the North Head Lighthouse - the Discovery Biking and Hiking trail is there. This trail goes around the Olympic Peninsula - and is paved. If you like to hike or bike - Washington has lots of opportunities for that.

Oh yes, that is Poopsie showing you how to investigate a tree! These trees out here are not small - they are huge! I fixed supper and worked on the blog again - still behind 5 days. I have no idea when I will get caught up.