Getting Settled in......

Yesterday we did the Costco thing. Costco is about a block from the airport, but our convertible was already full of baggage and golf clubs, so we went back Saturday. Staples like wine and vodka and a few other things. Actually Safeway is just as good a deal and not so much of a drive.

We stopped on the way back at a nice restaurant next to the aquarium. Split a Chicken Ceasar salad for a nice lunch.

Back at the home stead we went to the pool, dipped and read for awhile. Sue cooked a great dinner and we watched the football came. Got up this morning and after reading the paper went to Lahaina for breakfast. Got there a bit late but found breakfast at Longhi's.

Sue shopped up and down the street, then we went to the Lahaina yacht club for a drink. I used my dads Tacoma yacht Club Card . Nice place on the water. Have to be member somewhere. Sue thought I looked good with a Santa with a skirt.

Back at the homestead again it was cloudy and a bit rain. Did some more reading and went to dinner at a good Italian Restaurant. Back home now reading and watch TV.

Tomorrow is the big day. Number 4. We will be going to Sea Watch a restaurant at Wailea Gold, where we were married. I'm suppose to stay up till Midnight (2am home time) I am going to try. Will report on that later. Till then Happy New year everybody.

Another adventure starts

Well, we are off again. Avo and Cado are doing fine with their new child Guacamole. Sue's seed finally got a root. Well see what the look like when we get back. Jr. is in another pot.





Packing is always fun, especially when most of my shorts were still in the Motor Home. I made about four trips back and forth to Snuffy. Golf clubs were in the hall.

It was a real shocker getting up at 3AM to catch a plane leaving at 6AM. Thank goodness for frequent flier miles and up grades. It's a lot easier checking in First Class. Beverages are better too. It was lack of sleep that made this picture so good.

Anyway we are here in Maui now. Got in at about noon. Came directly to the condo. This is a new place that we will be at for a week. Then we will move to Menenune shores for the rest of the trip. This place is a lot nicer than the place we were at last time here. We skipped Costco will go there today. Did go to Safeway. Gulp. Needed two baskets. Our new kitchen.

Sue is in Heaven. Glass of wine, Great view. No whales yet. It's still early in their season.

Right on the beach. I can hear the waves as I type. Sue is out for her long walk and I am meeting here in a few. She went that way. Down Sugar Beach. I think you can walk about 5 miles. We will try the pool today.

Testing time

I tried to put this on the blog when were were gone. The old laptop just would not do it even when we had good connections. I'm doing a little testing of the blog system now that we are home. This was cleaning up the mess just after Dale Earnhart Jr. crashed. Maybe you should turn down your speakers.

What a last few days

We are home now, but getting here was quite a chore. It all started Sunday when we hunkered down at the Cannon Beach RV Park.

After our Sunday jaunt we went back to the park to ride things out. Our generator worked fine so we were snug as a bug in a rug. I cooked Chile for dinner

The satellite kept coming and going making it sort of hard to watch TV. This happens in high winds. About that time all hell broke loose. 100 mph winds sound like freight trains coming thru. Then the motor home rocks. Snuffy weighs 28,000 pounds but it was still moving pretty good. Lots of trees went down but we were safe. Stuff bounced off the top all night long and into the next day.
Monday was a day of hiding. The winds blew all day and into the night. Sue slow cooked bacon for breakfast. Slow cooking means she took about an hour to do a pound. After breakfast she made cookies. Michell the lady that ran the park loved the home made cookies.

We finally got out Tuesday and went to Seaside to try and get a line of communications, as all the Cell phones were out as well as the power. The Cell tower had blown over. We found about 50 people on the pomade with phones in their ears. Sue got a hold of Jeff and I jot a hold of Tony. Stooped at Safeway for beer. They were on generators. Devastation was everywhere.

On the way back to the park we went thru Cannon Beach. There was this restaurant that said open. The place was named Cranky Sue's, so we just had to stop. We had a sandwich and clam chowder. The food was great as was everything about the place. We even got her Crankieness Sue in the picture. She did her best looking cranky.

Back at the RV park after lunch we meant some new friends. Rick and Sandy Scott. They are from Bend Oregon and now living in their RV for a project they are in charge of in Seaside. We had quite a visit. They were really nice people.



Now how to get home. I 5 being closed. They said there was a 3 hour wait for a flag car on the highway out of Astoria. Highway 26 closed. I said what the heck, so Wednesday morning we headed north. Went over the bridge at Astoria to Washington and headed up highway 101. We tried everything to find out what lay ahead, but nobody talked about 101, so we drove. Trees were down everywhere. The had been cut back to the shoulder so we could pass. Power lines and poles were laying along side the road. Every time we saw a car coming from the other direction we cheered. We got almost got to Montasano where we hit a snag. Guy on the road there said closed from flooding but we could go straight ahead into Aberdeen and get to 101 that way. It was open to Olympia. Yea we made it home about 3:00. The fluffed and buffed Snuffey that looked so nice in Palm Desert now looks like a wreck. He gets cleaned today.

Finally the end of the story. The blog all stated with Avo and Cado. Well Avo looks good but Codo is shakey.
House is fine and the tile floor is almost done. Now its home for the holidays and time off from the blog. I'll most likely start blogging again from Maui at the end of December. Merry Christmas all from Joe and Sue.

Quack Quack Blow

Been a whole lot of a blustery day. They say that there have been some winds at 107 mph at Tillamook. All we know is that it has been raining and blowing all day. Me being restless, suggested we go to town (Cannon Beach) for breakfast/lunch. Just before we left the power went out as did the cable TV. But then it was back on again. We went to a beach front restaurant in Cannon Beach, but the power was out there. The welcomed us and said they had a small gas grill in the back. This place was just off the beach and the wind was blowing lots. Here is the window overlooking the beach. That was sand covering the window.




Well, we were hungry so we came home and Sue made a great Casidia for lunch. The power was still out. Yea generator. I being restless, we left again about 3PM and drove to Seaside. The streets were mostly closed from weather.




The Shilo Inn was open so we had a rest from the wind. We had drink behind the windows of the hotel. The wind was blowing so hard that the sand was going side ways. As we left we found that they even had a few slots. We left ahead of the game. Outside it was blowing as well.




This was the end of theLewis and Clark trail. Drove back to the RV park and started the generator again and settled in. The power came back at about 5PM. As did the cable. Sue made a great dinner and we are now settled in for a night of TV. The weather is suppose to get really bad over night and into the morning. The third of the storms going thru. Currently it is raining like hell and we have found a few leaks. I would expect if your put a motor home in a shower it would find a leak. I can fix those when we get back. I will be having a talk with Palusbo RV. They are batting 0 for 3 so far.

Hunkered Down

We are now in Cannon Beach waiting for the big storm. Headlines in the Oregonian yesterday. Makes one want to find some place to hide.

It was really good that we got to Lincoln City yesterday. WE went over to the Casino last night. Had a very good dinner while were there. Sue hit her KENO numbers 8,9,and 10. $40 bucks. We both hit for a buck. So after dinner and gambling for a while I think it cost us maybe $20 buck, dinner included. RV park is very nice there. We have been there before.

We left there this morning and had to go over a hill that was covered with snow. Sue didn't like that at all. We stopped at Tillamook Cheese and took the self guided tour. We also had lunch there. This is their packaging line. They were making what looked like the snack bars.

Back on the road it was wet but no big deal. We are now at Canon Beach RV Resort. I was here once before with my first motor home (Wimpy) and my Mom and Dad. I remember mom in the pool. We kind of thing that we will be here until at least Tuesday. The big blow is suppose to come in Monday morning sometime. They have said everything from 40 to 100 mph winds. Would maybe like to stop by Long Beach on the way home. Here is Snuffy hunkered in.

That's OK as this place has an indoor heated pool and hot tub about 100 feet from Snuffy. Good Internet connection. The satellite even works and we can watch KOMO, KING and KIRO at home. Really cool place. So far just a lot of rain and some wind. I'm making Chile for dinner. Maybe I'll post the recipe. Sue got out the vacuum as soon as we arrived. I'll bet there is laundry in the future. Bad part about all this after the last month down south we need lots of clothes to keep warm.

Some days don't go as planned

We got up this morning in Brookings, Oregon. We went for a walk and got a paper at the little restaurant at the RV park. It smelled good, so we dropped of the paper and went back to have breakfast. Sorry, it 10:01 and no more breakfast. Didn't matter that the place was empty. So we went back and cooked our own. It was better I'm sure. However, reading the paper it said "Monster storm heading our way" (The Oregonian) I would guess that everyone in the Pacific Northwest has heard about this storm. The paper here compared it to the October 12, 1962 storm. Gee just what we wanted. We were going to stop in Coos Bay, Yachats, Lincoln City and then Canon Beach. 4 Days. We had some leftovers from dinner last night so Sue fed the Sea Gulls. Remember we need to protect them so they do not infect us.




So we left and passed Coos bay, Yachats was closed so we are in Lincoln City. They have a casino here. Tomorrow we will head to Cannon Beach at which point we will most likely hunker down for the storm. I know a place just off 101 that should be cool and we can drive to town and hang out and see what happens. Only pictures today were when we stooped at Bandon Oregon.



Bandon is a really nice small town with lots of cool shops. We almost bought a picture of a light house with a few old relic boats behind it. Tittled (Sue noted this one, as she has others, but wouldn't let me change them. Humor you know.) "Over the hill" Didn't know where we would put it up.

Sue is in heaven

Was short drive today, about 97 miles. We stopped in Crescent City for lunch/breakfast. Was a pretty drive as were were on the North California coast with lots of beaches. Went to the good old Safeway and picked up supplies. Picked up a little more Sea Gull medicine.

We arrived at Boat Basin RV Park in Brookings, Oregon about 2:30. Sue is now in heaven.



This meant and immediate walk. I barely got the RV hooked up and Sue was heading out the door. We walked down a bit to sort of jetty. There were a bunch of cats on the rocks. Seem that there is lady that comes daily and leaves food in a small shelter that has been built. We saw at least 7 or 8 different cats.

A little further around the harbor is a pretty good sized marina that houses mostly fishing boats. One was leaving as we walked by.

There is a Coast Guard Station here where they are restoring one of their 44 foot motor life boats. These boats saved a lot of people over the years. These boats served the Coast Guard from 1963 through 1997. They were replaced with a 47 foot model. They could rollover and roll upright in less than 10 seconds. I'll bet that was a long 10 seconds.

Walked out on the beach and down a little way. I went thru 4 walking sticks before I found the right one. It is a pleasant day with little wind. Temperature is 60 or so.

Sue is now placed on the couch watching Oprah, reading and looking at the ocean in between. She really loves the ocean.

Snuffy is happy but a little dirty now as we passed thru a little rain and that spotted the dust. I need to get a California Duster. They really work. I just hope that the Sea Gull don't poop on Snuffy. We just got him buffed and puffed.

The big buy

Today we left the peacefulness of Calistoga in the upper end of the Napa valley. The parking place here was just a fairgrounds. There was a clunky golf course a nine iron from the motor home. Next year we will try it. Calistoga was fun and it is a nice place to kickback and relax. The drive out of town is over hill and dale. Some tight roads, but not too bad. Then you hit highway 101 and off you go. Couple tight places in the Redwoods. All in all a good drive. We were going to spend the night at a place south of Eureka, but it didn't look too good, so we drove on. This meant that we had to do the Costco thing today.

Being as I myself and some friends have been bitten by rabid Sea Gulls recently we had to pick up some medicine at Costco. Seems that there were some other bites this afternoon. We will try and help them out. This is an old joke. Many years ago my parents had a friend who did not want to talk over the radio on his boat about drinking. Those Sea Gulls were really bad back then.

Arrived at Mad River RV Park about 3:30. We were here last year. Nice place just off the freeway. Sue is cooking and we are hunting for Oprah on the TV. Haven't found her yet.

Lah de dah day

Got up this morning to lovely blue skies and about 50 degrees. By the time I got back from the store (ice and paper) it was almost 60. After some fruit for breakfast, oranges from the tree, we went to town for a walk. Calistoga is not a big city, like abut four blocks long. Lots of little tourists shops. Was a good walk.

We then drove south. I saw a sign about a national historic place. Bale Grist Mill. Seems that this guy in the 1800 built a grist mill for flower and such. Was a really neat place. The were closed but the miller was there. Apparently they still run the mill as part of the park. Big water wheel outside that use to be powered by the stream/creek running buy.
They use to collect water in some ponds. Now the use a electric motor to recycle the water over the wheel, but the wheel still does the work.



Big stones about 4 feet across do the grinding. The guy there was nice and showed us around. Sue bought some of their flour.

By now it was lunch time. so we went back to the Culinary Institute. A place that train Chefs. They have this restaurant called Graystone. This is where the Lah de dah came from.




Had all the frills. For those who know me, they would be surprised that I even tried the taster dish. Yep, I had a steak, Sue had chicken.










Next came Cakebread. This is a winery that some friend told us about last year. Sue loves their Chardonnay. She is happy now, she has her favorite wine.



Now of to Robert Mondavi winery. Frankie Stephens wanted us to pickup a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Sue called her to check her order. Sue tested and we got her bottle.


Now it was off to the Mumm Winery. We are members of the Mumm Club. This means that we get to sample free. They are very nice. Had a couple classes of Champagne. We also picked up our November shipment. They send two bottles every other month. So we were here and got them our self. They have a fabulous art gallery in another building. Ansel Adams and that sort.


Off again to the Andretti winery. This is the one owned by Mario himself. Little disappointed here this time as we are club members here as well. so got to taste win for free, but the December shipment could not be picked up. They just didn't want to work on it. This means it will cost $19 bucks for shipping. We will be ending our membership with them.



Things were going so well. Driving home up the Silverado Tail on the way back to Snuffy. Got within a mile and the road was closed. Had to go over to the other road and I thought that I was back in Seattle trying to get Bellevue at 9AM.


We finally made it and are back in comfy Snuffy watching the Biggest Loser out of Atlanta so we can watch the final of Dancing With the Stars later. All in all it was a really cool day.