April 22, 2005 –

Headed North up the peninsula this morning to do some exploring and hiking. Travelled up the inland side of the Peninsula with a couple of stops at garage sales along the way. Mom was able to pick up a wonderful rain jacket. Took a short side trip into historic Oysterville – and Dad had to pick up more raw oysters which he would have for lunch. Continued on to Ledbetter Point State Park and Wildlife Refuge. Spend about an hour and a half walking up the beach and across the point on a loop trail. In addition to the usually sea life – saw some very huge and industrious ant piles – with the ants clustering in some form of mating or swarming behaviour – really interesting. The boys were delighted to find a big banana slug in the path – and both had to take turns holding it before setting it down off the path so it would not get stepped on.

Our next stop was to Pacific Pines State Park – for lunch, after a short drive down the beach. Dad figures that between the raw oysters and margarita “cool packs” – it can’t get much better. The day has warmed up nicely – and without the ocean breeze – it almost bathing suit weather.

Continued on to Long Beach – were the kids checked out a kite museum (very disappointing) and Dad checked on e-mail. One of Dad’s colleagues at work is counting down the days till he has to be back – and this has sort of scared him… Unfortunately the system crapped out on him and although he got a quick glance at email he could not reply.

Continued back to the campground to discover that it was close to being full – with the Razor clam season opening tomorrow morning (at about 5:00 AM) for three days. Seems like this little stretch of beach is going to be packed with clam diggers for the next couple of days – so maybe it will be good that we are moving on. However we will try and get up and see a bit of the excitement.

Had steak and monk fish for supper (monk fish although okay was not as good as we had hoped). Mom had gone to the little corner restaurant stand – and although in the process of closing – cooked up a double order of home cut fries to go with our meal. For some reason, that Mom still has not understood – the man who also ran the restaurant packed up and gave mom a bunch of boxes (13) containing beach scene bobble heads. Mom didn’t open the boxes until she got back to the camper – but we definitely will have out supply of joke Christmas gifts for the next few years.

Finished off the evening with a sunset walk on the beach – very pretty. The boys were also amazed to see all the ladybugs on the beach – and they sent time picking them up and trying to rescue them out of the surf. Although this was an overwhelming task – they at one time had more than 20 ladybugs each in their hands and were walking them up to above the high tide mark.

April 23, 2005 –

Up to a cloudy and drizzly day. Most of the people around us were us were up at first light – to go out razor clam digging. Most had their permits in a plastic holder attached to the top of their baseball cap – must be some sort of local fashion trend. Mom and the boys went down to the beach to watch them dig the razorback clams – while Dad got the Motor home ready to go. At the beach most of the clam diggers long aluminium tube with a T-handle that they twisted down into the sand – however there were still a few traditionalists carrying normal shovels. The wind was really blowing and it was cold so we didn’t stay down at the beach all that long.

Headed north up the Mainland through the town of South Bend (with a short stop for some shrimp for lunch). Continued on through Raymond – where the town was decorated with iron silhouette statues of wildlife. Everywhere you turned there were deer, a fox chasing a rabbit, cranes fishing, etc. These statues were for the most part – life size and popped up everywhere. What a neat idea.

Continued across I-5 and into Silver Creek and a really nice RV park. It is heavily treed – and has some great facilities – two pools, hot tub, restaurant, fishing ponds, etc. Quickly set up the motor home – and headed off in the rain to Seaquest State Park and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument greeting center. Spent a couple of hours looking films and exhibits of both the 1980 eruption as well as the rumblings earlier this year. The extent of the devastation in 1980 was overwhelming – outracing even the expert predictions and safeguards that they had established.

The rain did not let up – but we decided to take a nature walk around a marshland at Seaquest Park – which was quite delightful. Many of the marshland plants were in bloom – and the ferns were in full spray. The boys were disappointed that they were not able to see any frogs in the marsh – but found several different varieties and colours of banana slugs.

Back to the campground for supper, and then over to the pool and hot tub. It was really enjoyable sitting in the hot tub, in the dark – with the spring rain gently coming down. We will have to see if the weather lets up tomorrow so that we can do some hiking in the area.
April 24, 2005 –

Although it rained most of the night – the morning we clear and sunny. After showers for all of us we headed towards Mount Rainer. It was clear enough that we could see Mt. St. Helens and glimpses of snow covered Mt. Rainer through the surrounding hills. Entered into Mount Rainer and the lushness of the Cedar, Hemlock and Douglas Fir forest was incredible. Stopped and hiked into the Grove of the Patriarchs Nature Trail. The trail takes you down the side of a river – which had overrun its banks with the spring run off – and into an old growth forest. There were giant Cedars and Hemlocks that rivalled the Redwoods in California.

After completing the hike – stopped for a lunch of baby shrimp on dark multi grain seed bread. The Stellar Jays seemed to love it as they sat in the trees over the table – waiting for any scrap that may be left. Headed back to the campground – for a relaxing afternoon – of mini-golf and fishing at the locally stocked pond. Although Keelan lost the fish he had on the line – he still seemed to have a good time. After supper took a hike around the ponds and through the forest surrounding the campground. The boys had fun finding slugs and trying to get a glimpse of the many frogs you could hear around the marsh.

Finished off the evening with a couple of hands of Canasta. The rig is all packed up as we have an early start tomorrow if we want to get into our campground outside of Seattle and still have time to see the zoo. Will also have to see if we can find time to post our website at some time tomorrow as well. It has also hit us that this will be the last posting of our travel log before we hit home (cabin). If all goes well we will be in Seattle on Monday, Moses Lake on Tuesday, and with friends in Creston on Wednesday. Then it will be to the cabin and start the long process of unpacking and getting everything stowed away. Mom says that it will be a combination of spring-cleaning and Christmas – as we have things squirreled away everywhere.

It is our hope to some day have enough time to put together a synopsis of travels – and to clean up our journal from all the typos and things (that everyone has been kind enough to point out), and repost things – with using www.spiritridge.info as our more permanent site and mail contact point. This will make it easier for the friends that we have made along the road to stay in contact with us – and for us to post other news (and maybe start planning our next trip).

April 25, 2005 –

It rained throughout the night – and was still lightly raining when we broke camp. Headed west to Morton and then turned north towards Seattle. As we went up through the mountains – the fog rolled in and the roads got windier. Despite this – we seemed to be able to easily keep up with the traffic around us – wheeling the RV and toad through the corners – most down to 25 MPH.

However as we got onto the interstate at the outskirts of Greater Seattle – the weather started to break and we even had glimpses of blue sky. Pulled into Tall Chief RV Park – outside of Falls City. The park is at the end of a road surrounded by small acreages with large homes on them – define affluent influence. The campground itself is heavily treed – with large sites and lots of things to do. We are parked on a heavily treed ridge – and will not have to bother closing the rear blinds due to the privacy that the site offers.

Set camp up quickly and headed back into Seattle to go to the Woodland Park Zoo – which we had the opportunity of seeing a couple of years ago – and enjoyed. By this time the weather had warmed up to short sleeve temperature – very enjoyable. At the zoo today there were a number of feature attractions that we had to see – baby tigers, the gorilla troupe, the baby Asian elephant. There were also a number of surprise delights – the active armadillos, the Cayman that was trying to get a turtle snack, and the poison dart tree frogs, with their tadpoles in the bromeliads. Closed down the zoo and then ventured out into Seattle traffic (6:00 pm – late rush-hour). We were at a complete stop a number of times – and probably travelled at a snail pace for about 10 miles. (Boy, I would not want to have to deal with this on a daily basis).

Stopped off for a short grocery shop and to get gas. Price was up to $2.63 but have seen it as high as $2.81 today. This added to the fact that the Washington State government – has just passed a 9% gas tax increase to take effect in a couple of weeks. The locals seem to be somewhat steamed over this measure – even though it is supposed to go towards improving transportation routes.

April 26, 2005 –

Woke up to clouds and fog this morning. Mom and the boys went for a morning hot tub while Dad packed up camp.

Proceeded east – up and over Snoqualmie Pass – and immediately the clouds lifted into a beautiful sunny day. Continued east on I-90 and stopped at Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Although the Interpretative Centre is currently – it has a great picnic area overlooking the Wanapum Reservoir of the Columbia River. Below you could see the basaltic columns and on the far ridge the silhouettes of the Wild Horse Memorial.

The Interpretative Centre also had a collection of re-located Petroglyphs that were originally situated on the basaltic cliffs prior to the reservoir being flooded. At one time these Vantage Petroglyphs were over 300 in number and were considered the best examples of petroglyphs in Central Washington. Outside of the Interpretative Centre were many large pieces of petrified wood displayed around the grounds. Some of these pieces were over 5 feet long and several feet around.

After exploring the area and eating lunch – drove two miles up the road – to the Trees of Stone trail – and saw over 26 examples of large petrified trees on the sage covered hills. The temperature had risen considerably – probably in the 80’s – and looks and feels like we are in Arizona (without the Saguaro). It is somewhat hard to view this area as an ancient forest (with Maple, Elm, Spruce, Walnut, Gum and a rare example of a petrified Ginkgo tree – for which the park gets its name) with the barren sage covered hills. It’s amazing what climate change can do. The petrified trees are left in the ground and uncovered and protected by big iron grates. In one of these holes – Dad stumbled across a rattlesnake – but it slithered into a crevice before the rest could see it. After viewing the rest of the trees – we quietly went back to where the snake was – hoping it had returned – but no luck.

We continued to travel east through the Columbia Gorge and on to Moses Lake. The campground we booked at is just off the interstate – and although it is not very busy – those that are here seem to be interested in fishing the lake. The campground has a boat launch and marina – and a private walkway to Blue Heron City Park – with a picnic and beach area.

Dad headed off to do a last minute grocery shop while mom and the boys caught up on some work and enjoyed the sunshine. The temperature gauge in downtown Moses Lake showed that it was 86 degrees at 6:00 pm. – almost too hot for this time of year. Dad was not successful in finding a WiFi connection (except one at an exorbitant price) and therefore the journal did not get posted. Will have to try again tomorrow on the way through Spokane. They have posted ”a weather advisory” for Spokane and the Idaho panhandle for tomorrow with winds up to 50 mph – so it could be a long trip home.

April 27, 2005 –

By the time we got up this morning – the winds had already picked up and were blowing tumbleweeds through the campground. The sky to the west was hazy with all the dust that was in the air and the temperature had dropped steadily since about 5:30 this morning.

Started off towards Spokane – fighting a strong headwind most of the way. In those places where the farmers had recently ploughed their fields the dust was so bad that you could hardly see. The wind was a constant force out of the northeast – unfortunately that was the direction that we were going. The hundred miles between Moses Lake and Spokane ended up using more than a half tank of gas and we were barely able to keep the rig going 55 MPH.

After reaching Coeur d’Alene and turning north, the wind reduced and it was more comfortable a drive – however the temperature kept dropping. By the time we reached Bonners Ferry – we were scrambling to find jackets or sweaters to keep warm. (Dad had to stop for his customary chicken gizzards at “Three Mile”). Continued north to the Canadian Border – and were waved through after two cursory questions (despite Mom having worked for several days preparing lists of all the things we had bought and were bringing home – part of us wanted customs to search our rig – so it could help us find all the things we know we have but have squirreled away and not seen for many months).

Continued into Creston to spend the night with the Ostendorf’s and get some visiting. Immediately saw that BC was in election mode with various party signs along the road. Dad was very disappointed to see that we were in Silly Season – as it makes work more trying – and figures he should have stayed away a month longer).

Had a great steak supper and spent most of the evening talking while the laptop randomly cycled through the pictures we had taken on the trip. We quickly came to realize that we had to do a final edit of our pictures, as the number is just overwhelming – and it was amazing that Lisa and Keith could sit through that many without nodding off. Oh well – another project for the winter nights.

April 28, 2005 –

Up this morning and after saying good-bye to Lisa and the kids – as they headed off for work and school – had a leisurely breakfast and packed up for the hour drive back to the cabin. The kids were happy to see the cabin again – and after taking in an initial small load of stuff – searched through the cabin to ensure that their treasures were all still in place. Despite the cabin having all the furniture from our house crammed in it – it felt very spacious compared to what we were used to. Spent the early part of the day unpacking food and getting the water and heat turned back on. Ended up with a leaky value in the shower, which required that we go into town and get a replacement so that we would not unnecessarily drain our limited supply of water.

While we were in town – the boys got a chance to walk with Mom to their old school just as it was getting out and briefly see some of their friends – while Dad stopped by his work for a few minutes. The kids were somewhat disappointed to hear that Keelan’s class has its maximum limit of kids and therefore he will not be able to return to that school (nor will Mickey as we don’t want to deal with two schools). The kids took this better than could be expected – given the work that they had done to stay in touch etc. It seems somewhat ironic that they can not make an exception for the 6 weeks of school that are remaining – especially given all the volunteer hours and fundraising that mom and the boys did for the playground equipment – (and the boys will not even have the benefit of playing on). For a school that say it has a commitment to its children – you can see how far it goes – especially when they knew how long we would be gone for – and knew exactly when we would be coming back to the area. We will have to start a search for a new school next week – after checking in with the home schooling liaison.

Spend the rest of the day slowly trying to clean out the Motor Home (it will probably take another couple of days to complete). After supper we sat down to a bunch of boxes and bags that had been stored in the roof top carrier – which we haven’t been into since San Antonio. As we were opening and sorting through the stuff – it sort of felt like and looked liked Christmas with each box revealing another surprise.

The kids tumbled into their beds late this evening – but continued to comment about how much room they had (although they are in bunk beds). Maybe sleeping cross ways on the upper berth (with all their stuffed animals and treasures) was getting a bit crowded for them.

Mom and Dad also got to bed late – after going through and sorting the mail that the Epp’s were nice enough to collect for us. The mail revealed a number of surprises including bills related to the Air Card – which we were told we would not be charged for the last several months – plus a couple of large bills ($1100) related to roaming charges while using the Air Card in the States that were not to occur. Sorting this out will go on a list of things that we will have to do in the next couple of days (such as Cabin Insurance, getting insurance on the car, preparing and submitting our taxes, finish cleaning up the Motor Home, etc). However for the moment, it’s probably best that we do not jump to quickly back into the hectic pace – and remember the saying we saw on the Keys “Carpe Manana” – Seize Tomorrow.

Therefore, after ensuring that our waterbed had gotten back up to temperature – snuggled in with a drink to sip on – and will ease into this other stuff tomorrow, or the next day, or the next….

Although there is a part of us that is glad to be home – and seeing friends – there is sadness tonight, as we look out the front window and see the moonlight reflecting off the motor home. For each of us there is a part that would like to continue with the Odyssey that we had started – and feel that we may truly have some “wandering” genes in our makeup. (For those of you that were sceptical of our little journey – yes we are still happily together and there are no bodies buried along the road, and yes it is possible for Dad to slow down). Our journey has taken us over 32,000 km or 21,000 miles – and by our count we have gone through 9 provinces, 27 states in three countries. For the next little while we may have to satisfy ourselves with shorter holidays – however have decided that Dad will check into the deferred leave program that his employer offers and see if we can do this again in another 3 to 5 years.

To the people that have followed along with us on our journal (old friends and new ones that we have met along the way) – thank you for your encouragement and support. It seems funny – but in some ways the travelling has brought us closer to some of you as we have shared this experience with you.

To the fellow travellers that we have met along the way – thank you for making us feel so welcome – and for sharing with us your secrets along the road – you have made the trip very full and rich for us. Again please let us know if you are going to be up in our part of the world, as we would love the return the hospitality that you have shown us.

We will be signing off the journal for now … but will try and put some time into the Web Page in the future – that will serve as both an information and contact point for us. So until then the Wanderers are back home at Spirit Ridge.

Take care, stay healthy, and be good to each other.

Pat, Deb, Mick and Keelan.