Bike ride to Puyallup!

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

A nice town that is difficult to pronounce.

A beautiful home along the bike path.

Ed went to a bike shop in Enumclaw and learned all about the wonderful bike paths in the area. The woman in the bike shop recommended starting in South Prairie and going to Puyallup. A person received a gold star from the mayor if they can correctly pronounce the Puyallup town name. No surprise, but Ed did not qualify to receive the gold star. The entire route of the bike path was paved and wound its way through several small communities. It was a total of about 28 miles round trip and Ed survived – barely. Sore legs and sore rear were noted by the end of the mild climb back to South Prairie.

Ed loved seeing all the Christmas trees.

A Christmas tree farm!

A Christmas tree farm was a notable feature on the ride. It was quite large and had a series of trees in different sections of different ages. It was fun to see it. A helpful lady jogging with a baby in a carrier agreed to take a photo of Ed.

A local farm next to the bike path.

Rainier cherries are a favorite!

Another special treat was seeing a local farm. It was exciting because the Rainier cherries are now available! The also had apriums – a cross between an apricot and a plum. This was a brand new type of fruit to someone who has been living in a desert for more than 30 years.

Apriums were a new fruit to discover.

Family and friendship bonds

June 9, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Tom and Ed loved their time together!

It is wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with extended family, especially people that we have not had the opportunity to be with for many years. Nancy and Steve hosted us at a restaurant in Enumclaw when we first arrived and we absolutely loved the time to be with them! We were then able to share a meal with Tom and Adriana before Charlene went to Amarillo to visit Amy and Neil.

Ed went to Duvall and stayed with Tom and Adriana for 3 days. We talked and talked non-stop the whole time. Bonds built years ago while hiking in Zion or skiing in Utah are very strong. We had breakfast at a fun independent restaurant in Sultan and went on a drive all around the area. The growth of Microsoft has brought quite a few people to a series of neighboring towns. The visit was capped off by going to a pancake breakfast held at the Duvall Fire Department. Pancakes are a special treat and these were especially good.

Ed next headed up to Monroe and had dinner with Miles and Kathy and their family. Ed and Miles have been friends since elementary school and it was great to finally see their home. Miles gave a tour around the farm and showed Ed their RV bus they used for a tour around the US. Miles showed Ed the correct way to measure the temperature when cooking chicken and hamburgers. It was sad to leave to head back to our RV. Maybe we will meet again next summer in Massachusetts?

Sunny Day!

June 5, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Mount Rainier in the sunshine!

We were beginning to wonder if we would ever see Mount Rainier again. It has either been cloudy or rainy for several days. However, today is beautiful and sunny and we can again see the mountain. It is simply spectacular to see.

Mount Rainier

May 31, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Mount Rainier is spectacular, but often hidden by clouds.

We are celebrating our arrival in Washington and have enjoyed seeing Nancy and Steve along with Mount Rainier. Yesterday was sunny and we could view the entire beautiful mountain. Today, there were clouds surrounding the top.

Ed and Steve on a hike to see more views of Mount Rainier.

We have loved seeing Nancy and Steve. We had a great dinner together yesterday and sampled some different wines. Ed and Steve especially enjoyed a meal of blackened salmon.

Steve showed Ed the basalt columns on the hike.

Today Steve invited Ed to join him on a hike to see some additional views of Mount Rainier. During the hike they saw lenticular clouds over the mountain. They also saw basalt columns from past volcanic activity. One thing we asked Steve and Nancy about was the “Volcanic Eruption Emergency Route” signs along the local roads. Since Mt. Rainer is a volcano that is only dormant and not extinct, there is a need to direct drivers to high ground. This is definitely not something we dealt with in Tucson!

We love our campsite here as it is very green, spacious, and quiet.

Speaking of Tucson, we noticed the high today was about 100 degrees while here in Enumclaw the high was less than 80 degrees. Nice.

Crater Lake

May 27, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Ed and Charlene loved Crater Lake.

We learned a new phrase today: Crater Lake Blue. One glance at Crater Lake and it is very clear why people use the term Crater Lake Blue. Wow, is it gorgeous! The blue color of the lake is incredibly rich. When people first see it, you can hear them inhale as they are surprised by its beauty. Crater Lake is simply spectacular.

You can see in this photo why the “Crater Lake Blue” is now Charlene’s favorite shade of blue.

Ed remembers in grade school that one of his teachers showed a movie that discussed Crater Lake. Now all these years later, we were able to see it in person. Viewing Crater Lake is truly inspiring.

We learned all kinds of interesting facts. Crater Lake is the deepest fresh water lake in the entire United States. It started when a volcano erupted. A chasm formed in an almost perfect circle around the entire volcano. When the eruption was done, the entire mountain fell into the earth creating an immense bowl. Since the area averages 44 feet of snow every year, the bowl filled with snow and rain water. There is no other source of water for Crater Lake. Therefore, the water is pristine. Tests are run every year to determine the depth of visibility. The average is 100 feet.

Charlene with Wizard Island in the background.

There is one type of bird that is abundant around Crater Lake. It is the Clark’s Nutcracker which feeds on seeds from pine cones. Any seeds not eaten immediately are stashed and those forgotten grow into new trees.

The nutcrackers are beautiful, but noisy.

Crater Lake is definitely a place to put on everyone’s bucket list.

The sides all around the lake are very steep, just like a bowl. It is a huge bowl of the purest water in the country.

This is a panorama of 4 separate photos to fit the entire lake into one photo.

When we got back to our motorhome, we saw an egret walking carefully and slowly in the stream next to us. Beautiful! Occasionally it would stop and swiftly dip its head into the water and come up with something to gobble. We also saw a family of ducks. When we opened the door, the males flew away and the mother stayed with the ducklings which instantly swam next to her under some plants growing over the water.

This egret was right outside our motorhome door. Beautiful!

This has been a wonderful place to boondock. It will be sad to leave this place, but it will forever hold good memories for us.

Klamath Falls, Oregon

May 25, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Here’s an excited Charlene across the spring.

Today was a travel day and we drove from Reno, Nevada, through the north east quadrant of California and into Oregon. We were in several rain storms in California, but once we reached Oregon the sky cleared up and we had beautiful blue skies.

We found a place to boondock north of Klamath Falls. We love our site. There are only two other people in the small campground and we are away from them on the other side of the campground. The extra beautiful feature is that there is a natural spring flowing right next to our campsite. It is beautiful and peaceful. We have the coach positioned so that we see trees and bushes from all our windows.

This is the view of the fresh spring just a few yards from our motorhome. Beautiful!

Charlene loved watching all the animals. To her surprise, she saw an eagle fly past our campsite. It was so unexpected, it was hard to react before it was gone. She also saw red-winged blackbirds, white cranes, swallows, and other birds. She spied a small animal which we thought at first was a river otter, then we thought was a baby beaver but are now pretty sure was a prairie dog at the water’s edge.

While sitting outside by the water, Charlene got cold even though she was wearing jeans. She went inside and put on some sneakers and a sweatshirt. Even with those she was feeling a little chilly sitting in the shade of a nearby tree. (With no sunscreen, she didn’t want to sit in the sun.) It is amazing to think that Charlene was cold on Memorial Day weekend with long pants and a sweatshirt on!

At one stop today, Charlene was waiting for Ed to finish fueling the motorhome and she saw a whole display for the Oregon Ducks. After the initial shock wore off, she said to herself, “We’re not in Arizona any more, Toto!” It’s so weird to realize we are relatively close to Eugene.

Green and gold! Where’s the Arizona red and blue?

Lake Tahoe

May 24, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene at Lake Tahoe

Today we had the opportunity to visit Lake Tahoe, about an hour away from Reno. It was especially nice as the weather was beautiful. We have been in Reno/Sparks for 11 days and it has rained every day. In contrast, today was beautiful with sunny skies and clouds over the mountains.

The drive through Carson City to Lake Tahoe was nice, but fairly steep as we drove up the mountain. Lake Tahoe is known for being very deep and having a rich blue color. When we drove near the lake, we noted that the water was especially clear and was blue. It was very beautiful. Wikipedia says that Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the U.S., behind Crater Lake in Oregon.

We enjoyed a nice hike down to the lake’s edge. As we got closer, it was surprising how clear the water was. Charlene watched three people jump into the water after their friends had their cameras ready to take a photo. They immediately ran back onto the beach!

We have visitors!

May 22, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

John and Michelle joined us for a visit!

Sorry for the delay in updating our blog. Ed had to fly to Philadelphia to present a poster and give a lecture at a professional meeting. Charlene manned the fort in Reno and enjoyed a wonderful trip to a spa that Amy and Neil gave her for Mother’s Day.

On Ed’s return to Reno, we were extremely excited to have John and Michelle arrive for a visit! It has been absolutely fantastic to spend time with them as we have not seen them since they were in Tucson in December while they moved Michelle to Austin.

We almost did not recognize John. He has been following some guidelines to decrease meal portion sizes and he has lost 77 pounds!! He looks wonderful. Speaking with John and Michelle has encouraged us to try and lower our meal portion sizes too.

The weather in Reno has been a bit odd. It has been raining a small amount every single day since we have arrived. We have enjoyed the weather being cool, but would enjoy a little time without rain. It sounds like we are used to living in a desert. We’re are definitely not used to wearing long pants and sweatshirts at the end of May.

Reno, here we come!

May 15, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The winning ticket!

After arriving in Reno yesterday, we decided to check out the area. Reno has many casinos and we went to Circus Circus. We walked around and realized there are three casinos sharing the same building so we could barely tell when we walked from one to the other. We went from Circus Circus to Silver Legacy Casino and then on to Eldorado Casino then back again. Circus Circus opened its midway at 1:00 and it was like being at a fair. No, we didn’t play any games. Charlene thinks they’re all rigged to make you lose. We found out the circus acts do not begin until 5:00 pm so that may be for another day. We did find a show for tomorrow night. We have tickets for comedian, Will Durst, talking about baby boomers called BoomeRaging.

As we walked around the casinos for the last time, Charlene spied a penny slot machine and told Ed, “Get ready, we’re going to gamble!” Ed was a good sport and we went to three penny slots. Charlene sat at one machine and Ed sat next to her at another. She took out a crisp one dollar bill and set it on her machine. She offered another dollar to Ed but he said he would rather watch her. We had to search for where to put in the dollar and then Charlene asked which button to push. Ed said either the “one-bet” button or the “full-bet” button. As her smile turned to a grin, Charlene pushed the full-bet button, in essence gambling the whole dollar!

As we watched the wheels go round and round, we watched as one gold bar appeared on the center line, then another, then another, a fourth gold bar appeared and then something else. We were trying to figure out what four gold bars meant with a fifth space filled with…….not a gold bar when we both realized we had won $9.60. Together we yelled, “Stop! We won. Let’s cash out!” The machine spit out a piece of paper showing we had won. We had to ask several people to figure out where to get our cash, and then suddenly we had $9.60 in Charlene’s hot little hand. Now that’s the way to gamble……either lose one dollar or win almost ten! However, we think our big gambling spree has come to an end. After all, we do not want the casino to have OUR money.

Show me the money!

Headed to Nevada!

May 14, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

A nice RV park to enjoy!

Today was a fun change in weather as the day progressed. We started the day in Vacaville (yes cow town) with a beautiful morning and we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. We hooked up the Jeep and drove east on I-80. As we were going through Donner Pass (over 7,000 feet), we found ourselves suddenly with SNOW flurries. It was not sticking on the ground, but snowflakes were dancing all around us. Having lived in Tucson for decades and decades, we cannot remember the last time we were in snow during May.

We stopped at a rest stop and it was 46 degrees outside! Ed ran out to the Jeep to get our coats. Seeing Donner Pass made us think of the families stuck in the snow in the 1800s where they had to resort to cannibalism to survive. The area was beautiful with gorgeous trees, Donner Lake and rivers near the road.

We cruised down through Reno and into our RV park. This looks like an enjoyable place to spend some time. Although a bit cool, we were again quite comfortable in shorts and t-shirts.

map to Sparks