Central Washington State

We've been parked in Quincy, Washington for a few days. We're at Crescent Bar Resort, a big sandbar in the Columbia River, on a lake formed by a power dam. This place must really rock in the summer, but now we're the only campers, paying winter rates. We've got electric and water service, so we're happy.

Bluffs along the Columbia River

Besides the campground on the Bar, there's a Thousand Trails RV ownership park, several condo developments, and a huge trailer/RV park. There's a 9 hole golf course, and a 9 ho;e executive course. Docks and hundreds of mooring buoys attest to the summer boating scene. Two public beaches provide swimming and sunning. Swimsuit and quick food shops fill out the venue. All of this closed for the season, except that the golf course has an honor box on the first tee and several golfers were out enjoying the sun on Saturday.

Blue Heron

We stopped out here to visit Wayne and Mary Jo Lohrman, RV friends we've bumped into several times around the US. We both saw some of Canada this summer, so we compared notes on that. We also showed them our scenes of Alaska, since they're headed up that way next year. Wayne has been picking apples here, just about done with that.

The Columbia ha carved a fairly deep canyon through this part of the country, which leaves a fairly high bluff alongside the Bar. Across the river the land tapers down to the water. The land above is high desert, full of scrub and devoid of trees. The exception is the orchards, vineyards and farms that irrigate with river water. Quincy has several large fruit shippers, along with beans and grapes.

Foliage behind Crescent Bar

About 35 miles north of us are the burgs of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, straddling the river. Consuelo visited a knitting supplier in East Wenatchee to check supplies and get ideas.

Twenty miles east of the Wenatchees on the edge of the Cascade Mountains is the faux German Alpine village of Leavenworth. We took a ride up there with the Lohrmans to shop the town and have some lunch.

Leavenworth has sculpted itself in alpine motif, picked Bavarian designs and names, and filled its shops with Deutchland-like wares. You can buy steins, liederhosen, and european crystal. The food features wursts, German style potato salad, and lots of beer. We enjoyed a good lunch, then visited the stores.

Winter comes here, and it's coming soon. We're out of here later today.

It's Raining... what a surprise!

We've been parked in Hoquiem, WA for 3 nights. It's on the southwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula. I surmise that wood products and/or paper are the major industries here. Hoquiem and her larger sister Aberdeen sit at the inland end of Gray's Harbor, one of the few bumps in the Pacific coastline providing safe shelter for boats. So there's a fishing fleet here, too.

We've been parked in Hoquiem RV Park, a nice campground with good amenities and friendly staff. They have a very good wifi, as campground wifi's go, and I've downloaded some Windows upgrades and checked out some video tutorials on the Adobe site.

Ocean City Beach

It's been raining since before we arrived. Such is the reputation of the Northwest Coast in the US. Right now, the weather forecast has no sun in it for the foreseeable future. The sun came out for a few minutes Wednesday night, so I took off to Ocean City beach, about 20 miles NW of where we're parked. By the time I arrived, the overcast had arrived again. I walked out onto the beach, which I shared with one lonely seagull. IF it had been summer, and IF the sun had been out and IF I got there at noon then it would have been a really great day at a beautiful beach. Only IF.

Consuelo has been busy knitting slippers, preparing to sell a few pair at a flea market in Yuma when we get there. She's had a little trouble with yarn deliveries, as we've been on the move since we left Chimacum. It turned out that the last box she expected arrived the day we left Chimacum, and was returned to the vendor.

I've been busy working on 2010 photo calendars, also to sell in Yuma and online. I've started a web site here for them. I expect to add 3 or 4 more before I finish. I've ordered a new printer from Office Depot to print them, but Office Depot has thoroughly screwed up my order, and may cause me delays before I can deliver. We'll see. I've asked them to refund my money, but I expect a gnat has a better chance of devouring an elephant.

I've also been working on my commercial photo website. Photoshelter offered up a 30 day trial of their custom websites, which I've had up for a couple weeks now. It's a lot nicer than the regular site, but until I sell some photos, I can't really justify the extra cost for style points.