Camping

This is our third camping trip of the season. We like to camp in the mountains or at the coast in the summer time. Mostly for the cooler temperatures. We have some routines we go through camping. Our first night out we always roast hot dogs over a fire and have them with chili. We mostly stay in state parks or forest service campgrounds. We like being surrounded by trees. We started camping with our kids in tents and on our boat. In 1996 we took a cross country trip with them and camped about half the time. As Diane and I got older the appeal of sleeping on the ground got less and in 2003 we bought a pop-up or tent trailer. This got us off the ground but still didn't have a bathroom in it. We enjoyed the open air feel of the pop-up and canvas over our heads. It was also dry in the worst rain. Eventually we got even older and decided to get a full trailer with a toilet and shower. We absolutely love it. We can camp year round, staying warm and dry, and go about three days without hook ups while still enjoying heat, water and showers.

Mt. Rainier, Part 2

This is the view as we got back to the bottom of the Skyline Trail. The meadows around the Paradise Inn are alpine with lots of small, brightly colored flowers in them. 

Finishing our hike. The trail is paved at the start and end of the trail.

Finished!!

Interior of the Paradise Inn. The windows on the right have spectactular views of the Cascades.

This is some of the original furniture in the lobby. All made from trees cut in the park just below the meadow. Most of the timber used in the inn's construction was cut close by. 

 Resting at the end of a great hike. Reading and enjoying the sun filtering through the trees back at camp.

Camping at Detroit Lake

We went camping at Detroit Lake this weekend. This is an older state park and has lots of mature trees and vegetation. The campground is on a lake created by damming the North Santiam River. Since the primary purpose of the dam is flood control they empty it in the fall and count on snow melt in the spring to fill it. Unfortunately there wasn't much snow this winter and the lake isn't going to fill up. 

The top photo shows cars and people on what is normally the lake bottom at this time of year. The second photo shows just how far down the water level is, roughly 30 feet. The third photo is the swimming area at the state park. 

We also took a drive up some logging roads. Logged over once, there are lots of big trees growing and some nice camping sites. 

Detroit Lake is a nice park. A little close to the road but there isn't much traffic at night. It's one of the full service parks with a store, ice and firewood. Some of the best sites are tent only sites with great views of the lake. Like all of the full service parks, the campsites are pretty close but the mature vegetation gives pretty good separation.  

Hospitals

My hospital stay ended up being 3 days. Surgery was Monday morning and got out on Wednesday afternoon. It was interesting to see the technology integrated into the hospital. The hospital has been opened 3 months and was state of the art in many ways. A few rough spots in people and procedures but cool communications and surgery areas. Lots of monitoring equipment with all kinds of alarms. These went off all night long, making sleep difficult. 

The board below is up in the room and keeps both the patient and care team updated as things change. It also had a conventional white board built into it so notes could be written even if you didn't have access by computer. We kept track of the distance Diane and I walked around the floor for surgery recovery. 

Weekend travels

Spent the weekend in Bellingham. Went up for a retirement dinner for one of my drivers but also got a nice getaway with Diane. Had to drive on two detours for I-5 because of closures of the freeway. The first was in Clark County where they were lifting 165 foot long girders over the freeway for a new interchange. The second was in Mt. Vernon, WA because of a bridge collapse. So after a 5 1/2 hour drive we arrived to a pretty comfortable bed at our hotel. 

After a rest and a walk we went to dinner in Everson, WA. Ate at Herb Nieman's Schnitzel and Steak House. This was a great place. The food was excellent. There were about 16 people there for our dinner and we had a great time. I'll be returning to eat there when I make my periodic visits to Bellingham on business. 

On Sunday we headed home and instead of taking the freeway south out of Bellingham, we headed south on Chuckanut Drive along Bellingham Bay. 

We stopped a couple of places to enjoy the view. This is a curvy, hilly and slow drive. At some of the boat ramps they have free life jackets for people to use.

After some more stops to look at the bay, we rejoined the freeway at Mt. Vernon and headed south to Portland.

Bahama Breeze Bar.

Eating out

We first ate at a Bahama Breeze in Ft. Myers, FL last January. Had lunch there and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were pleasantly surprised to find one in the Southcenter Mall in Seattle. Again we had a great time and great food and drink. Or maybe it's the person I'm with that always makes it a great experience. We ate again two weeks ago on our way back from visiting our newest grandchild and it was just as good.