Winter Excursion 9, Day 256

We slept great last night. We had the cabin door open a little so you could here the wind and the waves all night.

This morning after breakfast we went exploring around the ship. Basically the first 8 decks are bars, restaurants, shops, and casinos. We had lunch and spent a lot of time people watching. Here's our view from the lunch table. That's deck 6 below and we sat on deck 7.

There are plenty of people to see, 4000 to be exact not counting the 1700 crew. The decks above 8 are all cabins/rooms up to 18. This thing is huge!

In the afternoon we watched some of the entertainment. They get the passengers involved in things like paper airplane contests, sexy legs competition and lots of stuff for the kiddos.

We had another great dinner in another one of the many restaurants. This one specialized in seafood, so lobster, clams, fish, and octopus were on the menu!

The girls went to a show and had a good time. The guys went to a cigar bar and also had a good time. We did a little blackjack gambling and got up to $400 in winnings, but lost it all before we turned in around midnight!

After a week of this I'll need a lot of sleep in the camper!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 255

We were up early as we are pretty jazzed about the cruise today. We got to the port around 1045, parked the truck at the cruise line parking area, checked our luggage, and then waited to board.

We were all on \board and enjoying our first mojito by 1300. The weather was perfect so we sat around the pool deck.

The views from Deck 17 were fantastic.

The ship left at 1600, right on schedule. We will be in Juneau, AK Tuesday afternoon. The trip will take around 36 hours at sea. Hopefully there is no sea sickies!

We toured around the ship and tried to figure out where everything is. I'm sure in a day or so we will have it mastered.

We all had dinner at an onboard Steak House. The Surf & Turf was super good. We were hungry after a long day.

In the evening we spent some time in a Karaoke Bar watching Wes. He's actually very good.

We didn't get to bed till around 2300. It was a long, fun, first day. 

 
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 254

After another great night's sleep we spent the day packing up for our cruise tomorrow. We were all packed up by 1300. Here's the backpacks and duffels.

We did a little camp maintenance in the afternoon and then headed out to dinner at a local Irish Pub.

The camper will be left at the Ft Lewis campground, plugged in, so the food will be fine.

We may not have cell and internet access while on the cruise. So there may not be any blog entries until we get back next Sunday. 

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 253

After a 12 hour sleep we got up this morning at 0900!!!!

We had a lazy morning that included coffee and long showers.

Here's Site #207 at Joint Base Lewis McChord Travel Camp near Tacoma, WA.

All the sites here are FHU, but the sewer on this one is broke! It works out OK as we are leaving the camper here while we go on a week long cruise to Alaska.

We did our laundry, (favorite pass time) some camp maintenance, and PX shopping for the cruise today. Tomorrow is pack up day! 

I think a long sleep is in the cards for tonight also.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 246-252

Day 1.

We left Ft Lewis on Saturday morning and drove to Portland airport to pickup Liz & Bob. It was an exciting adventure maneuvering the camper in and out of the Hyatt at Cascade Station. On the way to the Family Reunion we stopped for gas and a bite to eat. We arrived at Camp Lane about 1530 and spent some time setting up the camper.

After setup we said Hi to everyone at the reunion.

The Brian Girard family was in charge of dinner. Ribs, hotdogs, and chicken we on the menu along with all the trimmings.

After dinner Cath and our Grandkids made "crazy cake" in preparation for our dinner tomorrow.

As usual almost everyone stayed up till damn near midnight!

Day 2.

Wesley was the star at breakfast making his signature egg sandwiches. After breakfast everyone scattered to the four winds for hiking, beach time, shopping, and just generally away from camp to explore the area in Florence, OR.

It was our families turn to do dinner. We had Brian's club's recipe for Southern Fried Chicken. We deep fried it in two turkey fryers that Brian had sent to the reunion. While we fried the chicken Chris was cooking the catch of the day in another turkey fryer with water and old bay. The Dungeness Crabs were super good. They caught 43 of them. In a local restaurant they are selling one crab for $70, At that price Chris's catch was worth $3010!

Dinner was fried chicken, mac & cheese, broccoli salad, and carrot raisin apple salad. Crazy cake was for desert!

I wanted to add a bird's eye (drone) view of where this camp is located in the Oregon Costal Range.

Once again sleep didn't come for anyone much before midnight!

Day 3.

Today was another day of exploring for most folks. Only us Old People stayed in camp and yakked all afternoon long down memory lane!

The Gemmel Family made dinner. Italian pasta with various sauces. There was a fabulous Tiramisu for desert.

And once again sleep didn't come for anyone much before midnight!

Day 4.

Today was the wine tour for 15 of us! Brian rented a 15 pack van which he and I picked up early this morning in Eugene. We loaded everyone up at 0900 and drove the 97 miles to Bethel Heights Vineyard.

We had a great time on the drive.

Here's a group pic with the vineyards in the background.

We had a super nice vegetable salad and fresh sourdough bread for lunch and then had an hour or so of wine tasting. The wines were really good and I think everyone purchased a few bottles or a case or so! 

It was a great trip. We had a nice tour of the winery, learned some of it's history, sampled their ware, and all in all had a wonderful time.

We drove back to camp with me as the DD. I had no wine at the vineyard! Hard to believe..LOL.

We got back to camp in time for dinner and it was the Jim Girard Family's turn. We had ham scalloped taters and some salads. Along with the best appetizers so far! As you can guess we tend to eat well at the reunion.

It was also family photo night for the Boss Family.

We take this shot every reunion by the biggest tree in the park.

And it was group photo night also! Here's the whole clan!

The girls!

The guys!

And once again, as usual, sleep didn't come for anyone much before midnight!

Day 5.

Most folks just hungout at camp today. After 4 days of the festivities us old folks are tired or should I say exhausted!

Some folks went to town, the kids (teens) did some swimming in the stream, there was card and game playing in the lodge, and there was a little cleaning up for the last day in camp, but clean up was not fun as the industrial dishwasher broke today! It was paper plates and plastic silverware for dinner.

Liz was in charge of "leftover night" and I have to say it was good. Chris had been fishing today and caught us three really nice salmon.

After dinner it was the traditional "talent show night" put on by the kiddos and teens. It is always a hoot and the Gemmel Girls put on quite a show with their routine.

For anyone that wants to see more pics of all of our reunions here's a link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/g1iV4SdAPHuJoSJ18 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST TO THE ABOVE SITE!!

Day 6.

This morning came early after days of craziness. We had to be out of camp by 1100. We did good! When clean up was all done and the Camp Host cleared us we were out of there by 0930. The Camp Host gave us a compliment; "it was cleaner than when you arrived".

We drove Liz & Bob back to the Portland Airport (Hyatt Cascade Station) and then headed north to Ft Lewis campground. I'm sure we will sleep like hibernating bears tonight! It's been a fun week!   

 
    

Winter Excursion 9, Day 245

I'm doing this blog post a day early. I usually wait until the morning after and write the blog with my morning coffee. We will be leaving here tomorrow for the Family Reunion. We pick up Bob and Liz around lunch time in Portland, so we will be leaving early. It may be a few days before I can blog again as there is usually no internet/cell access at the Family Reunion Camp.

We did all of our shopping for food/booze/beer/wine and such today at the commissary and Class VI. We got everything on our list except for cocoa powder and had to drive off post to the nearest Safeway.

We got some takeout pizza for dinner and sat outside for most of the evening. We plan on hitting the road around 0830.

All is well in the Boss Camp!  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 244

I got my ears lowered (haircut) this morning and Cath had an appointment at the hairdresser. In between we managed to finish all the laundry.

Once again we spent the late afternoon outside. The weather has been perfect and is forecast to stay that way.

After our dash across the country Ft Lewis campground has been a nice relaxing five days. I wish we could say the same about the area, but it is a crowded, hectic, busy area. We could never live here. We decided we will probably never be back here again and are planning on a different route to any future Family Reunions! 

One more day here then off to the Family Reunion. 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 243

We spent most of the day in camp. Cath did some laundry and I continued to spruce up the truck.

We did venture out to Wally World for a few supplies. As I've mentioned before the traffic was horrible.

Back at camp we sat outside enjoying the 70 degree weather. We are hoping it stays like this!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 242

We left camp around 1030. First stop was for gas. The price of gas here is the highest we've seen since we started this trip. It's $4.39 on post! 

Next stop was the car wash. The truck was filthy, dusty, and bugs smashed all over the front. It now looks new again.

We went to the Ft Lewis commissary for a few items. We were totally impressed. It is one of the nicest commissaries we've ever seen. 

In the afternoon we headed to a local brewery for a little refreshment and some soft pretzels.

Back at camp we sat outside and enjoyed the shade. It's been a fun, relaxing day! 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 241

We left Liberty Lake around 0830 and started the 325 mile drive to Joint Base Lewis McChord Fam Camp near Tacoma, WA.

We started seeing some more snow capped mountains just to the west of Spokane, WA.

We got this view of Mt Rainer just before we crossed the Columbia River.

This is I-90 going down into the Columbia Gorge.

The drive was not too bad until we got off of I-90 onto Rt 18. This was about 50 miles from our destination. That last 50 miles took over 2 hours. The traffic in the Seattle-Tacoma I-5 corridor is horrible. We saw two accidents and had numerous stops and slowdowns. After 275 miles of interstate this 2 hours of traffic was nerve racking to say the least.

We finally got to our campsite. It is the same one we were in 6 years ago with Jacob.

It has lots of shade which was nice as temps are hovering around 90. We will be here for five days.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 240

We did absolutely nothing today! It was relaxing!

We did manage to play a card game in the afternoon.

We did get a few pics of some of the local residents.

Here's a nice whitetail.

Look close (zoom in) here's a nice young moose.

We are off to more points west tomorrow.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 239

We left camp at 0800 and drove 140 miles to Dayton, WA to visit Cath's sister, Maggie, and her husband Bob. It was a nice drive on the backroads through eastern Washington. Along the way we saw deer and even a moose!

We had a fun visit with Maggie and Bob. They took us to lunch at a great bakery in Dayton. The sandwiches were delicious.

We left around 1500 and drove back to camp.

It was a fun day!  

Winter Excursion 9, Day 238

We left Lolo, MT around 1000 and made the short (197 miles) drive to Liberty Lake Regional Park Camp Ground southeast of Spokane, WA.

We stopped at a rest area on I-90 to eat lunch. This rest area looked very familiar, think Deja Vue. We thought about it a few minutes and realized we had stopped here with Jacob on the way to the Family Reunion 6 years ago!

After gaining an hour, we're on West Coast time now, we arrived at our campground around 1330.

Here's Site #6. It is very unlevel fore and aft! Notice the truck.

The campground was almost empty when we arrived, but was full by dinner time. It's a small campground with around 20 sites.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 237

We slept in this morning and then had a nice breakfast. We did a little camp maintenance and relaxed.

We took a short drive to Lolo Hot Springs. The landscape scenery was beautiful, but the Hot Springs are just a ski resort that is for the most part closed right now.

We played some cards and then headed out for an early dinner.  Lolo Creek Steakhouse is famous in this area. It opens at 1700. We got there at 1645 and there was already a line to get in when it opens. I would guess by 1715 every table was occupied and there was a waiting list for folks still outside. The food and drink was excellent. Here's a few pics.

We had a good time and a great meal!

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 236

We went into town this morning and did a little shopping and got some propane. On the way out of TSC I got this pic of Fire Station #5 in Lolo. Cath's niece's husband use to work there. They have since moved back to Oregon. We sent the pic to Cath's niece. We all got a kick out of that!

In the afternoon we drove the 2 miles to Fort Fizzle Historic Site Picnic Area. I've been wanting to fly the drone and this was the perfect place. There is a short path to the stream. Looks trouty to me!

I did get the drone in the air.

There were two young guys having lunch at one of the tables. We said Hi and asked if they minded that we fly the drone. This started up a conversation. Seems this guys are Firemen in this area and they know Cath's niece's husband and had worked with their daughter. If that was not coincidence enough one of the guy's father was an Army Helicopter Pilot and an 

OH-58 Maintenance Test Pilot.

BTW. All the pics except the fire station and the stream pics were taken with the drone.

Back at camp we sat outside and watched all the new campers coming in for the night.