MAIDEN VOGAGE OF OUR NEW TRAVEL TRAILER ABOUT KILLED US

   We recently bought a new travel trailer and having owned two other trailers before, we never imagined what a learning curve we were about to have. Both of our previous trailers had been purchased while living in Washington State, so now living in the Southwest we had an unfortunate major lesson. Being the maiden voyage on a new trailer, we wanted to stay within three hours of where we purchased the trailer in case we needed to get back  if things went wrong. 

  Hoping to escape the 118° weather we were having, we headed North to a higher elevation only to experience a 105° heat wave in Cottonwood, AZ, where we booked our camp site. We arrived at the check-in time of 1:00PM, and while pulling into the campground, realized there were very few trees to shade our site. This, of course, meant we had to set up the the unit in the heat. My first priority (I thought)  was to get the refrigerator and the AC going  asap to cool things down. I turned on the AC unit, nothing. I tried again, nothing. I checked the circuit breaker box, went outside and checked the electrical cord connection, nothing. Inside the trailer, it must have been about 130° or more at this point. Darren and I had to keep getting into the cab of the truck to run the air conditioner on us. We spent over two hours in the heat trying to set up the trailer. Our hearts sank. We thought we were going to have to pack it all back up which would take another hour to do and come home. By this time, we had started to experience heat exhaustion and both of us were feeling nauseous. My face was magenta red and were were both extremely weak, and had to keep sitting down. My husband decided since we just bought the trailer, we should call the service department and ask for help. The service guy started through the check list of possible answers and it was everything I had already checked. Then he asked, "Did you flip the power switch at the box?" I walked over and NOPE, it had not been flipped on. Now remember, we have had TWO other trailers before this! Really!! We have never forgotten this once. 

   Another crazy thing that happened was that the motorhome next to us couldn't get their electric to work either so they too were suffering with the heat. It turned out the electrical box they plugged into was actually broken and a maintenance worker had to come and replace the box. The park people asked them if they wanted to move sites, but they declined, because they had done all the leveling and hook-ups and were suffering with heat exhaustion too.   

   The lesson we, and I'm sure the couple in the motorhome learned, is that as soon as you pull into a camping site, don't unhitch the trailer or perform any of the set up until you plug into the electrical box and turn on the water make sure everything works. Then once you know all is working, finish setting up your trailer.  

   

Unfortunately, once you have heat exhaustion, you don't just perk back up. We spent hours putting ice on our heads, faces and chests and drank tons more water, all while taking it very easy.

 I'm Back!!

More travels, more fun, and more stories to tell.  In the last few years we have moved from the state of Washington to our native state of Arizona, with a 2 year period of temporary stay in Utah.  There have been a couple more cruises, road trips and coast to coast trips to see family.  Adding to the fun we just purchased our third travel trailer. So happy to have you all along to continue looking through the many different kinds of windows of my life, from home, cars, trains, planes, travel trailer and boats. 

Eight Hours Of Shopping In Falmouth, Jamaica

Norwegian Escape docked in Falmouth, Jamaica

   On our third day of our cruise we woke up in Falmouth, Jamaica, here we had eight hours to spend. I was a little surprised we even went into Jamaica considering they were under marshal law at the time, but later after talking to a sales clerk in one of the shops I understood. This little port is strictly a little triangle shaped shopping plaza, with a guarded gate,and was advised we probably shouldn't go past the guarded gate unless we were on an excursion.

  Hubby and I decided we should do the majority of our shopping here and get it done with, since that was all we could do. One of our "bucket list items" to purchase on this trip was Cuban cigars, since they have been illegal here in the United States for our whole life, and since they are supposed to be one of the smoothest cigars made, we wanted to see what all the hubbub was about on these and get a few. We purchased our cigars at a store that was nothing but Cuban's! You always hear how cheap things are in the Caribbean, but not always the case, our cigars were $20.00 a piece! I was hoping for half that price. We also knew Rum was another must to purchase here, but we choose to buy the Tortuga Caribbean Rum Cakes instead. We bought a six pack that cost $35.00. My favorite was the rum coffee cake, these are only the size of a large cupcake. When we got to the Miami airport they sold the exact same thing CHEAPER. Another item on our "bucket list" was the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. They gave out samples at the little store we bought it at. The coffee was 16 oz. and cost $45.00!  The funny highlight to this little store was we were checking out the cigars in their cases, and the lady pulled out this big ole cigar called a "Threesome", we started giggling, and then my hubby said, "Well we should have a Threesome, and go to Hell". We all just busted out laughing, because the next day on our excursion we were suppose to go to a place called Hell. 

   Apparently one of  the big things to buy in the Caribbean is jewelry, it seemed that about a third of this place was jewelry stores. One of the ladies we had meet on the ship showed me her $6,000 diamond necklace. It was beautiful. It had a crown of light diamond in the center with smaller diamonds surrounding the big center diamond.   

At the end of our eight hours in Falmouth, we had been there, done that, and completed our little "bucket list" of things to buy in the Caribbean.

TAKE AN EXIT! ANY EXIT AND SEE WHAT YOU FIND!





The trail that leads down to the spit.

   Spit?  Where? What?  I'm embarrassed to say I had never heard of a spit before. Go figure there would be one in the State where we now live. Coming from the Southwest, "spit" is something that comes out of your mouth! Who knew it was a growing piece of sand.

While traveling to Sequim, WA to attend the Lavender Fair, we noticed a exit sign that said Dungeness  Spit. SURPRISE! We would never have guessed this 631-acre refuge was that close to the freeway. When you're just driving along,  you never know what is only a few miles off the road.

This is the longest natural sand spit in the United States, it is 5.5 miles long, extending into the Strait of Juan De Fuca, growing about 15 ft. a year for the last 120 years. Out on the tip is a light house. It's been said that they have seen 200 or more species of birds encompassing this area.

Adjacent to this refuge is another 216 acres of shoreline that you can hike. Only thing is we wished we had found the spit earlier in the day, because we were only able to hike out on it a few miles due to  the tide that was coming in, and it was getting harder and harder to get around some areas on the spit. It's a good 10 mile round trip hike.

So now I know...and you know....and you know, that I know what a spit is. HAH

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?

I have had a really busy and full day. Too pooped and tired to give the story. But here are some pics. So here is the gist of it. Husband, waterfall, slips, falls into frigid water. I try to help him, I slip and fall flat on my butt. Poor teenage daughter with both arms stretched out-one for her dad and one for me. Who should she save first? Hum, hypothermia? Get Dad out first.




Darren running to the truck to get out of the soon to be frozen clothes. His entire body went down into the base of the waterfall.



It used to be said that my guardian angels took tranquilizers in order to keep up with me. Now, I think we have a team of angels trying to keep up with my family.

THROUGH MARGIE'S CABIN WINDOW

This was a view from our bedroom. We could hear the stream and it just made our sleep so much better.



This is the view from standing at the kitchen sink. If you look hard you can see the lake in the background. Washing dishes with this view can be an actual pleasure. SHHHHHH don't tell my family. Hee Hee



View  from the side kitchen window. Is this not beautiful!? You know how when you're stressed, and you're told to go to a peaceful place in your mind to be able to relax? Here it is.



Our first night there, we still had about an hour of sunlight left, so we walked down to see the the World's Largest Sitka Spruce Tree. It was ONLY  .3 miles from our cabin!

As we walked back up to the cabin the sun was just going down, giving the most beautiful  orange -golden sunset. Because we didn't have food with us to have cooked in our kitchen, we walked up to the Salmon House Restaurant for dinner. The portions were so large we took our left overs back to make another meal with it. The food was delicious.

The next time we go, and I mean when we go, not if we go back, we will be more prepared and take our food in with us. The closest food store is back in Aberdeen. The little store at the resort had bread, milk, and cereal and souvenirs, but I would have liked to really made a nice meal or two while there.

Okay, before I forget, I wanted to let you know this resort is three hours from Seattle, WA, three and a half hours from Portland, OR, and only two and a half hours from Tacoma, WA. Also, here is their website in case you would love to go experience this yourselves. http://www.rainforestresort.com/

Now for tomorrow, let me just say it has a potential for hypothermia, possible chance of "help I've fallen down and I can't get up", and once again another moment of "We could have won a million with America's Funniest Home Video's".

ARE WE THERE YET?

Continuing up the coast we decided to go to Ocean Shores. Here you can actually drive on the ocean shoreline.  You had the waves rushing up to you as you drive along. We saw where you could rent horses to ride along the beach. People were riding mopeds up and down the beach too. Hundreds of cars, RV's, and camp trailers were parked and people were setting up camp for the weekend right on the sandy beach itself!

The sun was shining with clear blue skies and kids were running and playing in the sand. Beautiful bright colorful kites of all shapes and sizes were whipping in the windy sky.

"I want to ride a horse on the beach", I squeal. My husband's says "Me too". Our youngest daughter informs us she only wants to "pet" a horse. And our other daughter is like "I don't want to do any of that, I have to keep myself injury free, for the military".

There was an anonymous vote to rent mopeds and do the touristy thing, like riding them down the beach and back. Because of the time of day, we decided to go get our hotel room first, and then go out and have some fun.

RAIN FOREST RESORT VILLAGE



We went to three different hotels. NO VACANCY. At the last place, the front desk was turning away so many people that they had actually called a 25 mile radius to find anything open or available. Nothing. They suggested maybe we go over to Lake Quinault and see if they had anything. It was an hour away! Turns out that this weekend was not only Presidents Day Holiday, it was also some big clam digging event.

Totally disappointed, we knew we would figure out something to do over at  "Lake Quinalut". Besides, we where on an adventure and our plans had no plans.



As we are approaching this place we realized it was part of the rain forest. My goodness it was so spectacular. Even in Feb. Darren had called ahead to the Rain Forrest Resort Village and found the last cabin available and we took it.



As we drove up, tired from driving all day, hungry, we walked into the store where you check in and were greeted by the most welcoming woman you'll ever meet. Her name was Julie, she was so informative and gave us all kids of maps of the different trails to hike. We asked her alot of questions about the area and she was so sweet answering all of them.



 When we opened our cabin door, the fireplace was already on welcoming us. This place was the best surprise of a great adventure you could ask for. We suddenly were not tired at all. And there was much we wanted to do. 

 We had a two bedroom cabin. Look how nice these beds are! 



CHECK OUT OUR JACUZZI !



Tomorrow, I'll show more pictures and of course another moment in our trip that will tickle you. Because, we all know that wherever we go things happen!






TOO BIG OF A TRUCK-FOR A LITTLE DRIVE-THROUGH

 So off we go on our trip. We decided to drive over to the coast and go check out the town of Aberdeen, WA. When we arrived in Aberdeen, it seemed to be a good time to stop and get some tea for a little pick-me-upper. A Starbucks Coffee Shop was right off the road there.  Turning into the drive-through I actually had to back up and try to straighten out, to fit into the lane. First I thought maybe I had taken the turn to wide, and that's why I didn't fit. Now you have to know, I drive a BIG 4-wheel drive Silverado  full-size, 4 door truck. It is big and lonnnnnng. Anyway, as soon as I entered the drive-through lane it immediately had a 90 degree left turn where you placed your order. So I just figured I was a BIG truck I could just drive up over the curb to reach the speaker box. Of course, my husband sitting on the other side is saying things like "stay to the middle of the curbs, and don't drive up on the curbs you might hurt the wheels. But, at this point, there was two cars in front of me and now two more cars behind me! I had to keep going. It was so sad I just started giggling. When the lady took our order, Darren was trying to give me directions on how to drive through this obstacle course.

Have you ever been to Disneyland or an amusement park where you drive the little cars, and they have bumber rails on the outside of your tires? Then in the middle of the track runs a line of metal that if you aren't staying in the middle it will force you back to the center? Well, that is how I felt, minus the metal rail in the center of the road. But, because there was a curb on each side of my tires I just kept hitting them!!! And once again just as my tires were finally on the ground, here was ANOTHER 90 degree turn! So I had to go up over the curb with my right front tire, and as soon as it dropped back down on the pavement, my back left tire went up over the curb, by this time I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! My eyes were watering like I was crying, and I couldn't stop laughing.  So with my back left tire on top of the curb I had to keep pressing on the gas to get my back right tire up on the curb too. Have you ever seen a truck straddle a drive way before?

By this time, my teenage daughter's in the back seat were laughing, yet mortified at what the people around us were thinking but I was laughing so uncontrollably that by the time I finally made it to the window to get our drinks, I couldn't even talk. It just happened as I opened my door I saw the occupants faces in the car behind us, and they were laughing as hard as I was which made me laugh even harder. I actually was holding my stomach because of the pain. The poor girl at the window didn't know what was so funny, but she started laughing because we were all laughing and couldn't talk.

Once the truck was straight again I was able to drive on out of that poor place.  I did however, leave them with major tire tread all over their curbs and some good hardy laughs. I bet they wish they had a camera to have shot this and then sent it to "America's Funniest Home Videos'.

Now you all come back, ya hear. Because, this trip just kept on getting better, and better, with more surprising adventures.

ROAD TRIP



Guess where we went this weekend?

 We decided to do a three day weekend road trip. There was to be no planning on where we were going, how long we would stay in any one place or make any plans. It was suppose to be "let's see where the wind blows us".

Now to pack for such a trip. What do you pack? The Pacific Northwest has a very diverse weather and landscape from the ocean coast, to rain forest, Mt. Rainer, desert, lakes, and rivers. This time of year we have snow, rain and sometimes even sun.

For me, who had a father as a scoutmaster, and all my flight training, I knew to pack for all scenarios and always "be prepared".  So which of these shoes do you think I packed? Huh? Yep, it was all three pairs. And I have to say it turned out that ALL of these where needed.

As always, life is an adventure, and where ever I go things happen. So come on back and I'll finish telling you the story and where we ended up going. But for now I need to unpack those shoes and get to bed.

WHAT? YOU FORGOT THE CAMERA!

On our third day, we hiked Diamond Head. As we are hiking up the mountain, I asked Katie to get her camera out so we could take some pics. Rustling around in her backpack she looks at me kinda funny and informs me, "I forgot the camera." WHAT?!

Thank goodness at the top of the mtn you could buy these certificates. This is my only proof that I made it to the top!

What a view it was from the top. The trail to the summit was hard for me, I didn't eat breakfast. Didn't drink enough water either. Climbed in the middle of the day. DAH ! But I made it!

If you click on the doc it will enlarge for you to read it.

After getting down from Diamond Head, we decided we needed to go over to Hanauma Bay for some snorkeling. We got there at 3:00 p.m. and found out that, it is free after 3! So we saved $60.00! Yeah!!!! We had our own snorkel gear and all the beach stuff in the back of our car. (Just in case we ever wanted to hit a beach we saw as we went around the island.)

We snorkeled for about 2 hours, and decided we had had enough. Now, if you are smart, you would pay to take their bus back up to the parking lot. Oh no, NOT MY Family. It was "come on mom let's just CLIMB back up this hill to our car." TOO MUCH CLIMBING IN ONE DAY!!!!!!

Here comes the kicker!! When we got back to our beach house, Katie FOUND the camera in her backpack. Appartently it was in a side pocket she hadn't looked in! Not one pic on that day. And, I didn't hear the ocean at all that night. Slept like a baby.

I'M BACK!

Leaving on a jet plane.

We took our family to Hawaii for our summer vacation this year. What fun we had.