Friday, April 1
10:30 am – left Flying J after topping off the fuel. Had lunch at La Grande Taco Bell, and stopped at Grocery Outlet. Stopped at Hermiston Pilot to fuel up. Note to self: don’t stop there again. Saw Steve and Nichole B at Hood River rest stop –worked with us several years ago. Had baked potato and salad at Wendy’s in Troutdale. Filled up fuel at Loves. Wasn’t crowded (unusual).
Planned to stop at I5 rest area for night. Too early – 8 hour max stay. Tried nearby state park, not open.
Dark now, and starting to rain. Went on to Longview to stop at Walmart. What a joke. Took us about an hour to find it. Turns out Longview is quite a bit bigger than we thought. Garmin had us going in circles 3 or 4 times, then took us to an old location that is no longer a store. Asking locally pointed us in the right direction, and finally had to ask Garmin for Home Depot, knowing Walmart was close by. Who would have expected it to be on the truck route through town – that we usually take but didn’t because we were looking for Walmart. Pretty good laugh for the day. So 12 hours after starting, we stopped for the night. Lot of rain and wind during the night.
Saturday, April 2 – Happy Birthday to Christopher
Pushed on to Astoria, and Fort Stevens. Went up to overlook at the PTI (our nickname for the Peter Iredale shipwreck which remains on the beach 100 years after the wreck). Sharon fixed us breakfast there at the beach. Extremely windy, some rain, some sun, cold.
Sheriff stopped by and asked if we wanted to leave peaceably. Told us they were bringing a body up to the parking lot that had washed up on the beach. The Coroner couldn’t access the beach. He said we could stay in the lot and might not want to look out in that direction. Much later came to say they were finished. We’ll have to look at local news to see what that was about. Just part of the action we have a habit of running into when we are out and about.
We got our usual campsite #114, and 3’s got 112 right next to us because their usual 165 in back of us wasn’t available.
Sunday, April 3
Got the news from the care home that Mom is not doing well today. Not responsive. Tracy went out and thinks Grandma knew she was there.
Went down to the outlet mall in Seaside. Couldn’t find anything we had to have in Black and Decker, Kitchen Store, or Totes. Not really in a mood for shopping. Went to Costco and Fred Meyer where Don bought a pair of jeans because he only brought the pair he was wearing! 3’s were able to move from #112 to #165 so we are back to back in the sites we like best. That way we can walk through their site to the good bathrooms and showers.
Shirley called at 7:45 PM Pacific time to say she had a call from the care home to inform her that Mom had passed away 45 minutes earlier. They said they could not get us by phone. Had been on a lot of calls today to the care home and family.
Monday, April 4
Heavy rain all night, and did not let up all day. Spent some time at the Maritime Museum in Astoria. We were there a few years ago, but wanted to see more than we had time for previously. It is a not-to-miss site. We got our first stamp in the Lighthouse Passport book there! (Columbia Light Ship)
Went to a new fish and chips place in Astoria and had Halibut and Salmon with fries and coleslaw (quite expensive but good).
Stopped by a building that had a sign saying “steam locomotive repair shop”. Open but nobody there. It would have been an interesting stop.
Next stop was Fort Clatsop just out of Warrenton. We got our first 4 stamps in the National Parks Passport book there. We are on a roll!
Tuesday, April 5
Spent a lot of time at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The self guided tour and the sample line are not to be missed. We had lunch there and then got ice cream to top it off. Excellent. Then we went over to Cape Meares to get a lighthouse stamp but they were closed today, so we’ll have to save that stamp for later. It was too late to stop at the Cannon Beach History Center for the “Terrible Tillie” lighthouse stamp, so went back to camp.
Wednesday, April 06
A lot of sunshine today. Got some good pictures of the two campers while having breakfast at the beach by the PTI.
Went back down to Cannon Beach to get the “Terrible Tillie” lighthouse stamp. Successful this time. Watched a little kite flying on the beach. Then went across the Astoria bridge to the Cape Disappointment area. Terry went up the hill to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive center and got us the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse stamp. We all walked out to the North Head lighthouse, but the gift shop was still closed for the season, so no stamp available. We’ll have to come back for that one. Ate fish and chips at Buoy 9 in Hammond.
Thursday, April 07
Have to start home today. After stopping to put fresh water in the tank and dump the gray and black water tanks we ate breakfast at the PTI. Wanted to go to Johnston Ridge Observatory on Mt St. Helens, but it was snowy and closed. The road does not open until sometime in May (the anniversary of the eruption). We headed south on I-5 to Vancouver, and found our way to Fort Vancouver. There we got five new stamps in the National Parks Passport book. How cool is that? We were surprised that Fort Vancouver is so large. It was begun by Hudson’s Bay Company and later became an Army post. We stopped at the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch, then started looking for a place to stay on I 84. On the way we stopped at Multnomah Falls which was running quite fast this time of year. We first stopped at Cascade Locks and safely went under the 12 foot clearance overpass into the camping area – it was closed. We sailed right past Memaloose State Park that was open and had campers. Then we went down the road to the Dalles Dam which did not allow camping, so we went to the park below John Day Dam and found a spot that worked for us. It’s very dark and few people around. We are locked up tight, and expect to be safe.
Friday, April 8
After a clear, cold night very close to the train tracks, we got up, had a banana, and headed east on the freeway. We stopped for fuel at Boardman, and then went on to the Taco Bell and the Grocery Outlet in LaGrande. Arrived home about 3:00 PM. Mostly it was a nice trip!
