From the Mountains to the Ocean

When I log on to Blogger.com, it tells me my last post was May 28.....well that's not so long, really, is it?  Not yet 3 months since my last post!  Well,  yes, we've put a few miles on The Castle since then, that's true.  We'd just arrived in Colorado Springs then.  This year we were so priviledged to be able to attend my sister and brother in law's 40th wedding anniversary party.

Ann and Bob:

We also got together with Marilyn and Ed Dray, along with Ginger and Jesse Haman over at Mountaindale one afternoon.  Of course there was the routine medical stuff that goes on every year.  We also made a trip up to Fort Collins to see our Granddaughter Elyse, as well as a day in Denver to visit Cameron, Calib and Kellie, along with their Mom, Allie and step-dad Loyd.  What a great family, and all 4 of the grands have grown into such amazing young adults.

As soon as our Colorado visit was complete, we were due at the Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming.  Pat McFall and I were scheduled to teach line dancing, while Jim was assigned to the Customer Service and Transportation teams.

Jim was hard at work every day:

Whew!  What a whirlwind week that was.  Jim ended up staying on the job all day, every day.  Pat and I practiced and taught beginning through advanced line dancers for about 3 to 4 hours every day.  We were really ready for some down time after that week.  But we sure did enjoy visiting with many friends we haven't seen for awhile, plus making some new friends!


After Escapade, we made a visit to Janna and Mike in Montana.  This was our first visit to stay at their place, after being assured that Michael could help us get our 40' Phaeton up that  half-mile long driveway:

We arrived late in the afternoon on a rainy day, concerned that the driveway would be too muddy to navigate.  But Janna assured us it wasn't that bad, so on we went.  Michael was waiting at the bottom of the driveway.  We'd unhooked the car before getting to that point, so he sent me on up to the house in the car, while he got into the motorhome to guide Jim along the way.  Once up the driveway, the last task was to turn around so we'd be facing down the hill for our departure.  That all worked out just fine, and we really enjoyed our time visiting for about 6 days.

Idaho Falls to see nephew Bill and his wife Rhonda was next on our agenda.  They have a big lot east of town with a 50 amp electric hook-up and water, so we were set for a nice visit with them.  Bill is a fire captain on the city's fire department, but he had several days off during our visit, so we got to do some fun things, like floating down the Snake River in a drift boat one day.

One evening, they set up the portable trash can kilns and we got to do some Raku and Horsehair pottery. Rhonda used to own a pottery shop in town and still has several kilns and many pieces that can be glazed for the Raku and Horsehair processes.

While we were visiting them, I took Jasmine to a local veterinarian to have a lump on her shoulder checked out.  She ended up having surgery, so we stayed a few extra days to make sure all was O.K. - and it was.  The lump was not definitely identified, other than to make sure it wasn't anything to worry about.

We had a short travel day leaving Idaho Falls - all the way to Twin Falls, where we spent a few days sightseeing from our base of operations at Rock Creek County Park.  That's a lovely little spot for a few days with very nice walking trails and a great disc golf course.

Our next destination was Oregon.  We stopped overnight at the Caldwell, Idaho Elks Lodge before traveling across the Central Oregon Highway, #20.  That took us to Burns on for an overnight stop, then on to Redmond where we stayed at DeSchutes County Fairgrounds for a week.  Jim spent a couple of days completing the "Ale Trail" in Bend, while I provided designated driving duties for him.

We took some scenic drives, including one hair-raising trip over McKenzie pass, a very twisty-turny road that has some really awesome scenery along the way.

Next along the way was a a stop in Sutherlin, Oregon with a week's stay at Timber Valley, an Escapee's Co-op park, nestled in a pretty valley at the edge of town.  We got some sightseeing done, as well as visiting a few Oregon Wineries, with Jim doing the driving for me this time.

And at last, we've arrived at the coast.  We found a spot at Port Orford RV Village, about 2 miles from the beach.  We'll be here for about a month, doing some beach combing, along with relaxing and catching up on naps and reading!