Roving Reports by Doug P: 2021-9 Tillamook Oregon to Washington State (friends visit)

2021-9

Washington State

Vancouver Washington
Lacey Washington
Shelton Washington

Hood Canal Walk, with Chris and Tom

Campground: Tillamook Air Museum, Airport, Oregon Coast. $15 dry camping. Excellent water available, self check in. Nice Open spaces across from the Air Museum/ small airport.

Campground: Street Parking at Elaine and John’s home, Vancouver. Awesome community with great neighbors and manicured landscaped lawns.

Campground: Driveway parking at Sandy and Erics home, Lacey. I even had a 30 amp hookup. Another beautiful neighborhood. The town of Lacey is truly a tree city and the homes are surrounded by stunning manicured landscapes, flowers and trees.

thanks to Sandy and Eric, 30 amp service
as well, wow.

Campground. Little Creek Casino, Shelton. Full hookups. Passport America half of part of the week, weekends full price along with Good Sam discount. $18 to $32 average. Paved sites, grass between sites, cheap laundry and price included cable tv.

Note: free rv parking available. But check in with hotel to get approval and windshield pass.

just before the park filled up
with lots of Rv-ers

What a whirl wind of visits with so many Rv friends who live up here in the North West. Elaine and John, Sandy and Eric, Christine and Tom, Paul and Sharon, and the best of all Bell, Chris’s mom. What a gem.

I’ve been traveling full-time for 16 years and each year, I’m filled with joy over the life long friends I’ve met along the way. They say a person is lucky to have one or two close friends. I think I hit the jackpot. Rv-ers are the best of the best. What a joy to visit with them all.

I won’t bore you with my highlights visits. Except maybe one… just a little later in the post.

Hood Canal, nature walk

Portland crossing the Columbia River into Washington.

Tillamook Air Museum

Tillamook Air Museum
Housed WWII Air Blimps

I left the gorgeous Oregon Coast, but before leaving, my last stop was the Tillamook Air Museum. It has a super large hanger built in WWII to house 6-8 Blimps. They were used to escort ships out to sea on the lookout for enemy submarines, all along the Pacific coast. I was interested in the architecture/building but was overwhelmed as I toured this massive structure on Memorial Day Weekend. Being one of the first visitors of the day, I was a quiet, humbling experience to view the planes, miniature displays of the weapons used by the Nazi Army to concur so many countries. There was something about the displays and the day that just about overwhelmed me. Outside the huge hanger is the Mini Guppy, a large transport plane that could carry very large cargo around the world. Later, a much larger Guppy plane would be built and it was used to transport the Mini Guppy to Tillamook!

Tillamook Air Museum
Very large Blimp hanger

hanger under construction

inside the Mini Guppy airplane
designed to transport very large equipment

I worked for the Navy Simulation Training Division
In Orlando for 32 years

A flight simulation trainer

view inside the VERY large hanger

not too many historic planes

one display after another, documenting
all the countries the Nazi's invaded

a mini blimp inside the hanger

Vancouver Washington

Vancouver River Front walk

Columbia River front dining
with Elaine and John, what a wonderful day
to be outdoors

Crossing the Columbia River at Portland Oregon, once considered a model city with tons of public transportation and beautiful parks, it has succumbed to the ravages of constant protest marches and the homeless on what seems like ever street. The highways overpasses in particular are crowded with tent cities. An overwhelming sight for someone like myself since I often avoid large cities.

On the Washington Side, Vancouver Washington, Elaine and John give me a brief tour of their expanding modern town with a walk and lunch along the river. Much less burdened by the homeless situation, it is still present as the local Tv station reported on a large homeless encampment along one of the freeways had been torched and burned to the ground the day I was in Vancouver. Please note, I have no answers for even suggestions. It’s just such a sad situation overall.

Lacey Washington

Heading up to Lacey, I had to take the back roads, as I was expecting to stay stay at one of two city parks along the way. Unfortunately they were still both closed due to Covid but at least I was able to stop at one in the small town of Tenino. It’s city park has a swimming pool made from an abandoned quarry said to be 100 feet deep. The pool was closed with a large fence surrounding, so I wasn’t able to get any good pictures, but what an awesome concept. Even from my viewing spot, it looked cooler than all get out with it’s large square cut stone blocks, cascading down one side of the quarry. A waterfall tumbling over a collection of stone blocks.

you have to look closely to see
the walls of the quarry and waterfall

Small Town America, Tenino Washington

no need for flower pots in this town

My visit with Sandy and Eric was like visiting a botanical garden, except it was the entire town. Wow, what an awesome community.

a neighbors yard, seen on our walk
around the community

Sandy and Eric's pretty home
so welcoming

Shelton, Olympia Peninsula Washington

Onto the Olympia Peninsula for a weeks visit with Friends in the area, but I have to touch on a drive we took to visit Bell, Christine’s mom. She’s 90ish but what a spirit and joy to be around. Still gardening, tons of flowers, a vegetable garden (only half the size it used to be) and lots of fruit trees.

Bell's awesome flowers surrounding her home

and vegetable garden

largest agave plant I've seen
usually seen in the desert type communities

what a charming old green house

Bell and her friend have become detective sleuths in their local community. Spying on a neighbor who appears to be collecting old junk, couches, tires, et-all, making money for hauling it away. Then holding it until the weekend when the dump/recyle station is closed and dumping it all, who knows where. Speculation is that he’s dumping it illegally in the Olympia National Forest somewhere.

Bell, detective in training.

Bell showed me her badge a friend gave her, during their sleuthing operations. Binoculars in hand, cameras at the ready. One even followed the suspect truck filled to the hilt with trash, but couldn’t follow once he pulled into the forest on a logging road. And never saw him come back out on the same road.

Oh, and Bell has been featured in the local papers as well, but not for her sleuthing expertise, not yet anyway. But for the very large agave plant on the corner of her lot. What a massive and beautiful agave that she and Bill plant almost 25 years ago.

Well, visiting friends, enjoying a bit wet Olympia Peninsula with all it’s beautiful water ways, canals and rain forest, it sure has been an enjoyable visit.