Our 45th Anniversary Celebrated in Las Vegas

We are not big fans of Las Vegas, having only been there twice before, but heck it was our 45th anniversary and we wanted to do it up with good entertainment!! We had heard wonderful reviews of The Jersey Boys, and wanted to see this musical play up close and personal. And we were not disappointed.

The story is a true based story of four blue collar boys from Jersey trying to make it in the music world. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their 40 year friendship through the ups and downs.
We we were very impressed by the entire show, their acting, the story line and the music was fantastic. Of course we grew up listening to this stuff, but it was so interesting to us to go "behind the scene" so to speak. We would recommend this play to those who like good old time 60 music and a good storyline.

Finally Yosemite National Park

We have traveled south from Oregon for 8 years, but we are usually too late or way too early to visit Yosemite National Park--but not this year. We made it a point to spend some time here at a park that has until now been elusive to us. We stayed at the Escapee Park, Sierra Nevada in Coarsegold, CA just a few miles from the south entrance to the park. We took the Jeep and explore south to north, west to east and now know that we did not give ourselves enough time to truly explore this most wondrous of this national park.

Not just a grand Valley...but a shrine to human foresight, strength of granite, power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra. Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, we discovered deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and so much more. We found this and more…beauty, tranquility, history, hiking trails, and photo opportunities everywhere we turned.

The history includes that the Ahwahneechee lived here for generations, followed by the arrival of Europeans in the mid-1800s. The rugged terrain challenged many early travelers, with just a few—only 650 from the mid-1850s to mid-1860s—making the journey to Yosemite Valley by horseback or stagecoach. By 1907, construction of the Yosemite Valley Railroad from Merced to El Portal eased the journey, thereby, increasing visitation. Today, 3.5 million people enter the park’s gates to explore and it is now necessary to protect the fragile environment from those that just want to witness this beauty up close and personal. We learn from the stories of those who walked Yosemite’s trails before us, allowing appreciation of their lasting footprints that led to conscious preservation.

The Oregon/California Coast

1. Traveled south on Hwy. 101 from Winchester Bay toward California. The weather was at the peak of goodness.

We stopped at several waysides, overlooks and sightseeing vistas--wow oh wow--what a great decision on our part--truly a wonderful bit of "eye-candy" for us.

South to California

We haven't been able to travel Hwy. 101 this far south for several years, but have always wanted to again return to enjoy the Redwoods, the history of the area, and of course revisit Eureka so that we could again partake of the goodies at the Samoa Cookhouse, the last surviving cookhouse in the West, continues the tradition of serving, lots of good good - as advertised--lumber camp style. They serve

breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all family style and found that we never leave hungry! The you can take a step back in time while visiting the onsite Historic Logging Museum and gift shop full of relics and photographs from the old logging and Cookhouse days.

Winchester Bay 2011

 We decided on our way south we would again head to Winchester Bay--Crabbing

Nirvana for those who love crab in any recipe or just by itself, which is my favorite. This year the crabs are just waiting to be caught, and thankfully several friends have caught over their limit and willing to "gift" us with their overages:)

Since both Frank and I love crab, we are more than willing to accept their gifts. We now have several pounds frozen in our freezer awaiting the next tasty meal to be consumed by us, family members and/or friends who also love the taste of fresh crab.

The weather was truly beautiful. Sadie (formally our daughter's pet) is now on our journey, and seems to like the adventure. We parked on the bay and were fortunate to be able to sit each night on the bay over looking the marina.

RV Classic Outing in Tokeland WA

Our site was oceanfront, the weather was wonderfulland the weekend was full of activities that we had not done before. We went to a new museum,,http://www.nwcarriagemuseum.org/ --learned about  the "horseless carriage" era --so very interesting.