7-29-2025 Graham, WA

We have been in the PacNW for many days now and miraculously, it hasn’t rained on us.  Yet.  Although we did break camp tonight, just in case.  We drove 210 miles to this campground and we could have continued on to Rick (#1 son) and Trina’s house but driving through Seattle these days is a nightmare.  So we split up the trip into 2 smaller segments. 

 

This was a little blessing for me.  Yes, I lived in Washington for 4 years while attending the Dub but my face was buried in books the whole time.  I saw Mount Rainier from a distance, of course, and from 30,000 feet above it, but I never did get to pay a visit up close and personal.  Until now.  The road up is squiggly and windy, twisting through dense forest sometimes limiting speed to 15 mph.  This went on for upwards of 50 miles.

 

At about 6,000 feet elevation, the restaurant at the National Park Inn offered a nice lunch on the outdoor deck.  It was warm, sunny and the backdrop was the majestic, beautiful mountain.  Later, the drive up to Paradise, WA at a slightly higher elevation provided one of those views that make you gasp, “Oh my God!”  Absolutely breathtaking and spectacular.

 

The mountain takes no prisoners, however.  Since records began in 1897, 425 people have died scaling Her Majesty.  The main cause is falls, followed by hypothermia, drowning and avalanches.  Like the ocean, I find Mother Nature mesmerizing but I cut her a wide berth and have a healthy respect.

 

The next day was a lazy day at home in Noobee.  Camp Lakeview is situated on Tanwax Lake.  There is a beach and the water is fairly warm.  I could hear it calling me and my paddleboard.  I actually got about 45 minutes of paddling in the sunshine.  Unfortunately, the lake is open to motorboats and jet skis that create scary wakes and in the end, I gave up.  It was fun while it lasted.  Because eastern WA is experiencing drought conditions, campfires are banned and screaming children wear thin and so, after a couple of days of fun activities, it came time to pack up. 

I'm way out there!
An hour later, my knees
were still wobbly!

I made it up!  Kinda
wobbly, though!

 

We are now on our way to our next stop:  Snohomish, WA for a few Friends and Family Days.  Seattle is no longer the inviting place it used to be.  Vandals throw rocks and bricks off of overpasses, crime abounds and the homeless crisis is out of control.  Pike Place Market was one of my favorites back in the late 70s and early 80s.  Now, it is unsafe at any price.  A sad testament to the current leadership.  We are skirting around to the east, keeping our distance from the decaying city.  It’s always a fun time with Rick and Trina and they are flexible with check-in and check-out times!  A toast to our new hosts!

7-27-2025 Garibaldi, OR Part II

My travel agent (Rob) found a train we could ride a few miles to Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.  Granted it wasn’t very far but any train ride is a good train ride.  There are 3 cars:  An enclosed car with tables that was a dining car way back when, an open-air car with a roof (Apparently, the natives plan for rain at all times.) and an open-air car with no roof, which we chose for this bright sunny day.  The 3 cars are pulled by a steam-powered locomotive, # 25, built in 1925 by the American Locomotive Company, Schenectady, NY.  The romance of the old trains is irresistible.  The tracks wove through dense forests, passed by quaint little seaside villages and then they would emerge and travel along the rugged Oregon coast.  Our guide pointed out an eagle nest where a pair is raising their pups and we saw one flying and fishing but he was too far away for a photo op.

# 25 traveling through a little 
seaside village

Ah, the ocean.  I can see
Japan from here!

The rugged Oregon coast

# 25 blowing his whistle

Lindy and the engineer

 

When we arrived in Rockaway Beach, we jumped off the train and headed to the Sand Dollar for a nice lunch on the deck in the sunshine.  Our waitress, Irena, is a (legal) immigrant from Russia, arriving here on a student visa 25 years ago.  Recently, she waited on a couple and learned they were from Ukraine.  When they learned that Irena was from Russia, they quit speaking to her and stalked out without leaving her a tip.  I tend to believe that Irena has nothing to do with the current conflict in the old country but what do I know?  The Sand Dollar deck is right on the Pacific Ocean waterfront, edged up against a sandy beach that stretched on for miles.  The breeze and the salty air were hypnotic and I was drawn to the water.  I can’t remember the last time I was in the Pacific, or any ocean for that matter.  It was a wonderful way to while away our time until the train whistle announced, “All aboard,” for the return trip.

Rob at lunch looking out at
the ocean at the Sand Dollar

Ah... the beach.  Rob is freezing?

Oh yeah... the beach.  Wonderful.

We met up once again with our friends for a seafood feed and discussed tomorrow’s plan.  These are,

“Garibaldi Days,” here.  There is a parade, there are vendors and food tents and in the evening,

fireworks.  OK, then!  There is always time for these festivities!  The big event in the afternoon was the 

waterball fight, the US Coast Guard vs the Garibaldi Fire Department.  There is a ball suspended from a wire.  The teams shoot their hoses at the ball trying to score a, “goal,” at the opposing teams buoy by sliding it on the wire with the force of the water.  Needless to say, the front row of spectators gets soaked.  I don’t know how the scoring works but in the end the Coast Guard won.  It was a new one for me!  Hilarious!

The waterball fight - The guys in
black are the firefighters, the guys
in orange are the Coast Guard.

Friends Steve and Kathy

At the parade

Rob has a beer and 
watches the waterball fight.

I don't know what this vehicle is
but I thought it was cool!  At the
Girabaldi Days parade.

I need this outfit!

At the waterball fight.

Lindy and the firefighters

Lindy and the Coast Guard winners.

The waterball fight

Prancing horse at the parade

The Coast Guard truck in the parade

 

For the four evenings we have spent here, we have had the luxury of sitting around Jim and Liz’s campfire.  We all laughed, lied and chattered till our eyelids began to droop.  Tomorrow we’ll be on our way to our next campground in Graham, WA.

Nothing better than shucking fresh
oysters and serving them on
the half shell, right Lindy?!

7-25-2025 Garibaldi, OR Part I

In the Fun Facts Department: 

 

1)       The wing span of the Spruce Goose, wing tip-to-wing tip, is a football field plus 6 yards.  Congress funded the project with $18M and Hughes threw in $7M out of his own pocket.  Then, the war began to end, as it were, so Congress decided to discontinue the project.  Hughes refused to quit, as he was wont to do.  Congress told him that if the Spruce Goose didn’t fly, he had to pay back the $18M.  Thus, on the day that the plane was scheduled for a taxi run, Ol’ Howard throttled up, took the plane 70 feet off the water for one mile.  HA!  He didn’t owe Congress a nickel!  Later, many wanted to turn the Goose into firewood.  They sold it back to Hughes for $167,000.  Not a bad return on an investment.  Hughes funded the maintenance of the Goose ever afterward.

 

2)       The SR-71 was originally the RS-71, “Reconnaissance/Strike.”  In a speech, LBJ screwed it up and called it the SR-71.  Everybody scrambled to change its designation to save LBJ’s ass.  They changed it to SR-71, “Strategic Reconnaissance.”  Subsequently, Lockheed was required to make a change to 29,000 drawings and documents.  Your tax dollars at work!

 

Tillamook Bay at sunset

We are set up in a rather nice little park called Tillamook Bay City RV Park.  Tillamook Bay is up the road a mile or two and it’s big, cold and beautiful!  On either side of the bay, there is a long jetty that keeps the fury of the Pacific at bay, so to speak.  Our friends, Jim and Liz, who live half-time in Pahrump, come up to this area (Garibaldi) every Summer, bring the fishing boat out of hibernation and launch out to sea to catch fish and trap crabs.  Yesterday, Jim and friend Steve took Rob out in the boat to drop 3 crab traps and do a bit of fishing.  They sailed about five miles out past the jetties, all the while checking the depth of the water.  They threw 3 crab traps containing, “bait,” into the water and marked the location, “way point,” with the GPS.  Then they went out to a depth of 175 feet and did a little fishing for salmon.  One big one snapped the line, stole Jim’s lure (which pissed him off) and got away.  The boys were fishless.  After a few hours, they sailed back to the crab traps.  Altogether, the traps contained about 50 crabs and 24 were keepers.  Some were thrown back because they were too small, others because they were females.  (Yes, oddly, there are only two genders of crabs!)  Jim was the admiral.  He put Rob in charge of pulling up the second trap.  Rob told me later that he had to pull it up from the depths of the Pacific, thousands of fathoms down!  And then, he had to grasp these monsters!  He told me afterwards with wide eyes, “I had to hold it and the crab stared at me with death in its eyes and it was trying to KILL me!”  Jim was crying from laughing.  Rob is a City Boy.

Rob and Jim out on the ocean

Jim's crab pot

 

Meanwhile, Liz and Kathy came over to Noobee to retrieve moi.  We went for a fabulous lunch at JAndy’s Oyster Co.  I was in Heaven with steamer clams and a glass of fine wine!  Oh my God, they melted in my mouth.  We also ordered up 3 dozen oysters to go for this evening’s appie.  The, “medium,” size oysters were huge, the large oysters were enormous!  The only other time I’ve seen oysters this big was in Key West.  During happy hour, Jim shucked the mediums and some slipped into our mouths raw, others were baked like Rockefeller on the grill.  But the large oysters were not having any part of being opened.  It was nearly impossible, even for a pro like Jim.  He put them on the grill for a few minutes until they gave up and popped open a little but they were still uncooked enough to be classified as, “raw.”  Cut into bite-size pieces, each oyster provided about ten pieces!  It was a completely orgasmic experience.  After oysters, dinner was served:  Buckets of steamed and chilled crab and barbecued butter clams piled with seasonings and cheese.  God thinks I have been a good girl because I’m pretty sure this was Heaven.  Heaven twice in one day.  It just doesn’t get any better than this.  In the end, there was so much divine seafood that this was 3 nights’ dinner for 6.

Jim opening the giant oysters!

JAndy's is a restaurant and 
big nursery.  

Kathy, Liz and Lindy 
in the JAndy's Nursery

Jim got one of the huge oysters open.

JAndy's Nursery

Baking the butter clams with
spices and parm

Yum!  A huge bucket of crab!  Three
evening dinners' worth!

Seafood fest!  Yum!

7-21-2025 Salem, OR

I forgot to tell you a story!  Sometimes, our campsites are narrow, so narrow that in Twin Falls, ID, we shared a patio with our neighbors.  Naturally, we wound up chatting it up and found that these folks are from Port Washington, WI.  Many of my ancestors on my Grampa Kraus’ side settled in that area when they immigrated from Luxembourg.  My Great Great Grampa, Philip Gonwa, helped build the St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Dacada (population zero unless you count the souls in the cemetery across the road).  Dacada isn’t even on the map.  I mentioned Dacada to Christine, our neighbor.  She said, “Dacada?!  That’s a church and a cemetery!”  I told her that most of my ancestors lie in peace there, the Gonwa and Kraus side of my family.  She said, “Oh, I know many of the Gonwas!”  So that’s the news from the It’s A Small World Department.

 

On Sunday, Mike wanted to take a drive out to the ocean and have oysters on the half shell at one of his fave places, The Schooner.  The route wandered past many farms and fields, then twisted sharply and dropped downward for many miles amid the dense, tall conifers and even denser ferns until finally, we emerged onto the broad sand beaches of the Pacific.  We desert rats jump at any chance to see water but the vastness of the ocean takes our breath away. 

Mike's cute shy pup, Willow

Oysters at The Schooner

Three Arch Rocks

Rob and Mike at The Schooner

On the beautiful COLD beach

Mike & Willow

Three Arch Rocks is behind me.

 

Mike is a great travel agent!  The Evergreen Aviation Museum was next.  After a long journey from Long Beach, the Spruce Goose, aka Hughes’ Flying Boat, is now on its final pedestal in McMinville.  I have seen this masterpiece before but no matter how many times you see it, it stops your heart.  It is ENORMOUS in spades.  And it actually flew!  Unlike Long Beach, at this museum you can go inside and for a small fee, tour the cockpit.  Howard Hughes was a modern-day Leonardo DaVinci.  A genius.

Little DC3 and the tail of the Goose

One of the many nav stations in the Goose

Looking aft.  Check out the relative size
of the man standing to the right.

The huge Flying Boat!

One of the buildings at
 Evergreen Museum from the road.

 

Howard Hughes seat in
the cockpit of the 
Spruce Goose
(Officially, the Hughes
H4 Hercules)

There are two branches of the museum.  The first building houses displays dating from the Wright Brothers all the way to Viet Nam.  Included in this is an original DC-3 and I took a particular interest since my big sister was a stewardess on North Central’s DC-3.  They invited us to step inside.  The structure was almost comical to me… tiny little frames and longerons and square windows.  It held 21 passengers in 2-1 rows.  Everything was so basic, simple and foreign to me after having worked on monsters like the DC-10 and C-17.  I could almost bend the edges of the aluminum with my fingernail.  But even though production of this plane ended in 1942, there are still a few DC-3s in the sky.  It was Douglas’ version of the Sherman Tank.

Inside the DC3

DC3

 

The second building is mostly about the space race of the cold war era.  The USSR vowed to bury the USA (for reasons that remain a mystery to me) and the displays include Russian satellites and MiGs.  Lots of rockets and early space vehicles.  But the coolest thing I couldn’t wait to see was the SR71 Blackbird.  It was designed in the late 50s to early 60s and looks like it came out of the imagination of someone who draws the cels in space age comic books.  Lockheed’s Skunk Works and Kelly Johnson really outdid themselves with this one!  Its first flight was in December, 1964 and now, sadly, all 32 that were built are retired.  After many hours exploring we were exhausted.  It was time to head home for a delicious dinner featuring wagyu steaks courtesy of Mike.

I plagiarized this excellent
photo of the SR71

There are no more SR71 tires
available anywhere.  But you
can own this one, still in
its original wrap, for $10K!

The beautiful Blackbird

Rob standing behind one of
the Blackbird engines.

 

Tuesday was a workday for Mike.  It was also a workday for us.  Even on vacation, there comes the time when we must do housework, the laundry and change the bed.  Oh… and work on a few mechanical problems.  We are still struggling with a slide problem and had a mechanic out to work on the issue for a couple of hours.  Rob spent much of the next day on our ladder studying.  Next stop:  the hardware store and a repair that we devised.  At this point we are still on schedule.