lake Lenore, Perch Lake 6/27/10

I have never been to this part of eastern WA before and what a surprise! I knew it was farming country and it certainly is that... but there are also amazing rock outcroppings and amazing basalt cliffs. North and maybe a little east of Quincy we drove through Soap Lake, a little village that was once a big "healing waters' resort area, now home to at least two nice rv parks on the water. Further on we drove past Lake Lenore, a long body of water with all kinds of watercraft and swimmers. We stopped at Dry Falls Lake and Perch Lake after a short off-road drive through a state campground. I have never seen so many tents in one place in years! There weren't many (any?) sites large enough to comfortably take our coach size, which reminded me that we haven't stayed in a state park anywhere in a very long time.. Everyone was out enjoying the marvelous sunshine and water access. Perch lake was a very quiet place, with hiking trails going off into the rocky hills. This whole area of cliffs reminded me of a miniature Grand Canyon and areas in Utah. Spring left everything still green and we saw many wildflowers. It was a lovey day for a drive and we stopped at that great produce stand for a great berry shake on the way home. How fun to see more of our own 'home' state .... the big fields of wheat, corn, and grapes as well as cherry and apple trees reminded me of the old American song, "My Country Tis of Thee".... very appropriate with the 4th coming up so soon.... happy trails......

Crescent Bar TT perserve/Columbia River

This produce stand is outside Quincy, WA. We stopped and picked up cherries, corn, and apples. They had all kinds of delectable goodies, most of which we passed on. While we were there, 4 small rigs came into the parking lot. They were all driven by women, and I think I have seen a story about a group of rv-ing women who travel in small rigs, decorated like cowgirls. This may very well have been a part of that larger group. Certianly their rigs were well done.

Well, here we are on the Columbia River with our kayaks.... our first adventure into the water! This turned out to be a perfect 'first-timer' spot; the water is calm, nice beach to launch from, and shade to recover in! We only have to drive about 1 mile or so to this area of Crescent Bar; no trailers allowed in the parking lot, but as we are carrying cartop, no problem. I practised my "stroke from the core" routine.... not a pretty sight, but I'm working on it. I also think maybe I should have gotten a slightly longer paddle but I love the light weight of this one so maybe I'll hang on to it. There is a small island south of our launch beach which we paddled around. Very daring to lose sight of the beach! However, we had no mishaps; it was a perfect day for it, warm and a light breeze. The cliffs across from the beach are as brown as Baja. Green trees and lawn in the park was very nice though! We will be here until 7/2 when we head to Naselle to visit the Petersons, friends from the Baja trip. We plan to celebrate the 4th and plan our next Baja trip! Hope you all have a wonderful 4th...safe and sane! Happy trails.....

June in Puyallup WA

We've had a busy couple of weeks here in Puyallup. We had a hot water tank problem on the coach repaired. We had a fun lunch at Dukes Chowder House in Kent with our friends Bruce and Ronda from our Baja trip . We both have kayaks now and wonder if the weather will ever clear enough to use them! Western WA has been WET!! ever since we got here. We also attended our grand daughter Rachael's graduation from Enumclaw High School on June 14th. I don't have a photo of her as the stage was so far away. We attended a big family celebration for Rachael on Saturday, June 19th. She is already signed up for classes at Green River in the fall. She is training now to be a Starbuck's barrista at the Safeway in Enumclaw. See, the coffee tradition continues in the Koehn family! I also went to the Puyallup Farmers Market in the park. It was probably the only sunny day we've had since we got here. (There is a continuing whine going on here..) The park was full of wonderful flowers, fresh fruits and veggies, as well as some wonderful craft and art. I love the walk from the fairgrounds (where we are parked) to the park and to see all the creativity. I usually pick up our fresh produce for the week there.

Today is Father's Day and we walked down to the Firemens Deli for a good breakfast. Roger will spend the rest of the day watching soccer and golf... Our current plans are to travel to eastern Washington to Crescent Bar TT perserve on Wed. for a weeks stay. THEIR forecast is in the high 70s/low 80s next week. We hope you all are having a good time, good friends, and a blessed family..... happy trails....

Kayaks in WA

Well, as you can see, we have Kayak Man.... we picked up the kayaks on Monday, 6/7/10. Nice sunny day. Today is Wed. and it has been raining ever since! The kayaks are wet, but we are expecting the Flood!... right here in the rv park. You can see what's coming from the clouds in the second photo. It just got darker and darker. Today we've had sound along with the water, big thunder claps... very dramatic. We attened grand daughter Sharon's 15th birthday party on Sunday. All of the grandkids are getting so big! Roger can't understand how they are getting older, and we are staying the same...Grand daughter Rachael is graduating from Enumclaw high school on Monday the 14th. I certainly hope it stops raining by then. Then there is a big family party for her on the 19th. So we have some busy times ahead. We hope Rhonda and Bruce make it to Kent so we can meet up again... they are friends we made on the Baja trip.. so maybe we will celebrate getting together with tacos or seafood! Ah.... those were the days.
Happy trails....

Back home again in Puyallup 6/10

Meet our great grandson Davey William Thomas, almost 6 months. We were so happy to meet him in May. He is one happy baby, not afraid of strangers and loves to bounce! I cannot believe my camera battery died after just 4 photos, but fortunately his mom, Vienna, had her camera. Now we are waiting to see what she got.

We are "home" again in Puyallup, WA. We left here 9/3/09; we travelled from Washington state to Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, down to Baja California and back to Arizona and then west to California, Oregon, and Washington. I added up the miles today and we travelled 8, 598 miles this trip! The trip to Baja was on our 'bucket list', just like our trip to Alaska. The coach has held up remarkably well and we blessed it with new wood flooring, 2 new recliner chairs and tossed the old round table. We also got mundane things like new tires and had the front wheel bearings serviced.. what ever..... lol If you've been reading the blog, you have seen our photos from along the way.

Now we have a high school graduation for our grand daughter Rachael to attend and doc appointments to keep. We look forward to seeing our WA friends and family. Oh, we also have to pick up our new kayaks in Tacoma.... busy busy busy. Meanwhile,

Happy Trails.....

Glee and Roof Rack=busy week

Well it's been a busy week or so. Last Sunday we went to Phoenix to see the stage musical production of "Glee", of tv fame. There was a huge crowd at Dodge Theater and all ages were represented. One of the great things about the program "Glee" is the diverse cast and this was represented in the audience too. We were not the only ones representing the "older" generation! We were all probably outnumbered 100 to 1 (or more) by teenage girls, and all of them seemed to have some kind of fancy phone/device to take photos of themselves, their friends and anyone else that moved! Those little white screens were everywhere! If you know the tv program you will remember Will Schuster, the Glee teacher, and cheerleader coach, Sue Sylvester... they were there via video screens, doing their part to tell the 'story'. We enjoyed the show very much. This was their opening for the tour and we got the full treatment.

Today, Friday, we went to REI and picked up paddles, life vests (pfd's) and roof rack for the Jeep, to start our outfitting for the kayaks. Then we came home and ordered kayaks and equipment to fill out our requirements for our paddle adventures. We have researched, Googled and read about as much as we could take in, stewed over and over, "should we, should we not," !!! Well, we done did it, and we're glad! We will pick up the kayaks at the REI in Tacoma when we returned to WA. I must say, we were impressed with the service both in the store and on the phone today. Look out Los Barriles, we'll be ready to BOAT!!

We expect to leave Casa Grande mid time next week, if the packing up of coach goes well. Can't wait to live on those new floors and chairs.. mean while, Happy Trails..

Sedona and trip home to CG

We had a good visit in Sedona. We took a Red Jeep tour into the backcountry that was informative and we saw some beautiful country. We also did some offroad Jeeping on our own, though nothing as adventuresome as the Red Jeep tour. Our driver was a real pro. The drive back to Casa Grande gave us our first real 'dust storm' experience. South of Phoenix, we could see the dirt/dust and feel the winds. Traffic slowed down fast for an accident between an 18-wheeler and a small compact. I am sure this was probably in part due to the very low visability in the area... tho traffic kept right on moving. Further down the road, we almost came to a standstill. You can see in the photos what we were up against. Very dangerous, and then a few miles down the road, it cleared enough to proceed home safely. Today the wind is gone and skies are blue. All I could think was, there goes the farmers topsoil, off to New Mexico!
The gentleman with the cowboy hat was our driver for Red Jeep. Roger has mostly recovered from the bronchitis and was able to really enjoy our last few days there. We're back in Casa Grande now for maybe 2 weeks before heading north. Flower and cactus are in bloom here and the park is pretty well empty of the snowbirds now. The park has a very quiet feel to it. We are quite content.

Happy trails....