On the way home

It's always a little bittersweet at the end of a trip on the way home, I'm always glad to be headed back for the comforts of home, but it's a little sad to realize that what you have been planning for so long is finally heading to a close.

Last night's show was epic - definitely my favorite evening. Our seats were even better (I'm not sure how it's even possible really!) and we really enjoyed the show.

 

 

The show ran quite late - we didn't get back to the campground until after midnight, and then finished packing up a few things and sat around outside and enjoyed the wind. Went to bed about 1am and then got back up about 730am to finish putting things away and get the RV rigged for transport!

We took off towards home about 845am, so should arrive about 130pm if traffic cooperates. So far, the drive has been uneventful, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed!

 

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Last day at the campground

Last nights's concert was a good one, and the weather was again fabulous! We again had some amazing seats and some entertaining people as well - there was this couple in front of us, she was TOTALLY into DMB and danced with no rhythm whatsoever. And apparently she thought it was a headbangers ball as well. Her "date" was at least 75 years old, and was obviously NOT a big DMB fan, and didn't dance at all. They were quite hilarious, I've even got a little video that I'll try to post sometime of her headbanging.

 

We then came back to our campsite and dug out the camp stove to make some s'mores, since campfires are not allowed right now. Our latest discovery was to use peanut butter cups instead of Hershey bars with the marshmallow and graham crackers. I would HIGHLY recommend it.

This morning was another beautiful one - I don't think we've had as good weather the WHOLE time we were here - the wind is practically non-existent and it is clear blue sky. Even the rain we had in Ellensburg didn't make it all the way out here. A light breeze would have made it a little nicer, but we had lots of tree shade in our campsite and just moved around as it did.

I did get a few photos of the mini with the kayaks on top, so here is one

See, I wasn't kidding! and they never took the kayaks off once, so that was even funnier

This is a picture of our campsite in the morning - the sunny area gets shaded as the day progresses.

We also watched these ladies unpack and setup the biggest tent I've ever seen, and then pack all their stuff back into their car (except the tent) before leaving. It took them at least 25 minutes to set up, and you don't leave anything? Very odd

It's about 415 pm, time to be getting dinner ready so we can take off for the show at 7 or so. And then come back and basically pack up the RV so we can leave somewhat early and head back to Portland area tomorrow morning somewhat early.

 

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How about a post during the Sat concert?

Ha! So we all arrived here about 715 and the wandered into the concert about 8. We made our way down to our seats, and proceeded to chit chat before the concert started, the couple on one side was from Vancouver BC, and the otherside was from Port Townsend. Our seats were fricking awesome, 2 nd row behind the Pit. Here's a few photos!

 

 

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Saturday at the campground!

The concert last night was a lot of fun! Chris' sister Melissa and her husband Ben arrived about 615pm from Portland, and the fancy homebrew in it's own cooler was unpacked and placed in a shady spot next to a tree. I've been told it's quite good, but I can't personally comment since I'm not a big beer drinker. I will take their word for it!

The concert was very enjoyable, we left about 7pm and arrived in the parking area at about 725pm, had a few drinks in the parking lot and made our way inside. Our seats were AMAZING this time, we were in row 20, section 102, dead center. The only disappointment came when the 9 foot tall giant man sat (or stood) in front of me......so most of my concert view was of over his shoulder. I've got a few photos that I will post, but again, they are on my phone which I can't connect to the iPad, so those will have to come later. DMB came onstage about 830, and played until about 11 with a 4 song encore. We then made our way up past all the crazy drunks, and tried to get back out the way we entered.....which for some reason was blocked off? So we followed the crowd and walked around a barrier fence and then trampled another fence and then we were out. We made it back to the campground in 22 minutes from when we turned on the car, which is probably the fastest ever, since parking was such a breeze.

We helped (watched) Ben and Melissa set up their tent, and then headed for bed. What a day!!!!

Today opened bright and early with more bacon (camping food of choice!) and then some cinnamon rolls (mmm, fresh baked!!!) and Ben cooked us all some hash browns, which were crispy and delicious! My mom and Ginger packed it up and left about 10am, headed back for Bellevue and the end of their camping adventures.

I've spent most of the afternoon reading a book and getting caught up on this blog so I can post it when we get to 4G land later this evening.

Chris uploaded his photos to the ipad, so here are a few from last night!

 

 

 

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Day 2, after the fair!

Well, after the torrential downpour, we sat and watched some cowboys rope some calves, and I haven't seen so many white cowboy hats like ever!

We then walked around the fair, then took off for Fred Meyer to pick up some supplies, and now on our way back to the campground. So, until I get out and get another 4G signal, no more posts!

 

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Day 2, or when I went to the fair

So, after having a delicious dinner last night, and checking out the show of everyone arriving after dark and attempting to put up tents while holding a flashlight ( trust me, it's hilarious!) we headed for bed.

This morning we got up and had a nice breakfast of cinnamon rolls and bacon, before we headed to Ellensburg to pick up some supplies and check out the Kittitas County Fair!

The fair is pretty small, but there are a lot of people here and it's pretty entertaining!

Some horses, pigs, sheep, cows, chickens and even rabbits!

There is a Frontier Village, with some old buildings set up, you can buy a soda,

Pan for gold

Or just get your picture taken with Dusty the donkey!

Then it looked like rain, so we headed for the rodeo arena to find some dry seats and watched barrel racing.

So here we sit, waiting for the rain to clear, while they level the dirt!

 

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Day 1 at the campground

So far this has been a great day! We got up about 9:30am, and then wandered outside to set up our camp. Dragged all the chairs, tables, grill, campstove etc out from the storage area in the RV and proceeded to have some breakfast - sausage and waffles for me, sausage and eggs for Chris. It was the very first use of our new camp stove, and it works awesome! it was nice to be frying some sausage right outside under the trees. I've got a couple of photos of the campsite, and the view

And the view -

And what I am working on - poking holes in the photos from last night. Pretty much finished it up, just in time for our lunchtime cocktail hour!!!!

Just so everyone is aware - I am having difficulty posting these at the campground - we do have wireless service but it's only edge speed, vs 3G or 4G, so it keeps erroring out. I'll take the iPad when we do a supply run, because it gets better on top of the hill.

 

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Looks like we made it!!!

Well, we did finally make it here to the campground last night, it was about 9:30pm. There were several construction sites on highway 97 where it was narrowed to 1 lane with a pilot car guiding everyone through the construction area. Here's a photo of the turnoff right before Toppenish

It got dark pretty quickly after this - couldn't take to many more pictures that would turn out with the iPad, but on the route from Toppenish to Yakima, we hit BUG CENTRAL! It sounded like hail, we hit so many of them. I tried to take a picture, but I'm not sure you can really appreciate how crazy it was.

We finally made it to the campground, and then spent 20 minutes getting the RV into position, and hooked up. Then it was finally time for dinner (hot dogs and corn on the cob!) and some beverages. Here's what the inside of the RV looked like when we got the slide extended out, it's really roomy inside!

I will post some more pictures of the interior tomorrow, once it's light outside it's much easier to see!

While we were eating, we got caught up on the last episode of Deadliest Catch (we missed it somehow, and it was BORING!) and I finished up my photo mounting project before going to bed.

 

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On the road!!!

Here's our first moving picture - we are on 99 headed through Tigard for I-5

Traffic was really not too bad, the I-5 and I-84 junction was a little slow, but the really fun time was in the backup around I-205, I'm glad to see they are adding a lane, because it basically backs up to a complete standstill when it's around 4pm. Ugly, but not any huge problems.....

Vista House! we are definitely on our way out to the Gorge!

Once we made it out to I-84 past town, I decided to make some sandwiches - so here they are, at 55 mph!!!

Then some craft projects, also at 55 MPH!!

Then it's time to cross the river - this bridge is always a little scary when it's windy (lucky for us, it wasn't today!!) We're on a bridge, Charlie..!

Up to highway 97, and through the giant wind turbines (no pictures, sorry!) and here we sit, about 20 miles south of Toppenish, waiting for some road construction...... I hope we make it to the campground before 9pm!!!

 

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Away we go!

So, it's time to go and get the RV! We arrived around 11:30am, and then did some paperwork in the office

I would highly recommend RV Northwest if you are ever looking to rent one. They are locally owned, and their office is over near Beaverton Toyota (for those that remember, it's right across the street from the old promo warehouse)

 

Our home for the next week! Did our checkout and then drove the monster home! Time to load the vehicle!!!

 

As you saw in the prior posts, most of the stuff was already pulled together in the garage, just awaiting our loading. It took about 2 hours to get everything loaded and put away, which really isn't too bad, so about 3:15pm we were ready to get on the road!!! We checked the traffic reports, and other than a little slowdown at the I-5 & I-84 on ramp, it was looking pretty good, so off we went!!

 

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