Centralia, Washington

Don’t you love the name Centralia.  In pioneer days, Centralia was the halfway stopover point for stagecoaches operating between the Columbia River and Seattle.  Another old town with history in it’s homes and buildings. 

We are staying for a few days, to have work done on the MH.  It needs a new parking brake, which is not a simple as it sounds.  We can’t just get a replacement parts, we have to have an upgrade.    

We are staying at a Moose Lodge here in Centralia for $10.00, and that is with electric and water, pretty good price.  Our first night at the Moose Lodge we had company, a very nice couple from the area, stopped by to say hi. 

Wish I could remember their names, but they have slipped my mind at the moment..or maybe it was the wine.

Monday we did laundry and a little shopping.  Centralia has a outlet mall, Mike just loves outlet malls and shopping. 

  

 

Tuesday after we dropped off the MH at Brazel’s RV repair at 8am we went to Mount St. Helen’s.

According to the weather man this whole week is going to be rain.  We wanted to see Mount St. Helen’s, and as you can see it was cloudy and Rainey.  Glad we went, it was still a beautiful site. 

The repairs on the MH is a 2 day job so we had to spend the night in the MH in the shop. 

        

The old braking unit and the new air pump.                                                           

                            

Our home for 2 days and a night.  Sure felt odd sleeping inside a building, but you do what you have to. 

Brazel’s  finished up with the parking brake on Wednesday, so the MH was drivable.   They have to replacing  wheel bearing and seal  on Friday.  

Grants Pass Oregon

Friday April 20th 2012

Guess what, we woke to another day of rain.  We did stay in an RV park last night, Village Camper Inn, only $16.00 with our Passport America membership.  Mike was a little slow this morning so we got a pretty late start 10:45.  We left the coast today and are traveling inland on highway 199 to Grants Pass Oregon, about 80 miles north.   About an hour on the road the sun came out, what a gorgeous day.

  

Traveling the Redwood Highway, so much to see.

                                          

Loved the name of this motel, which was also the name of the town.  Mike thought it might be fun to take a ferry near the town of McMinnville Oregon.  The ferry was way to small for a 38 ft MH.

                                                                  

We stopped in Portland for breakfast at another Dinners, Drive-Inns and Dives, Arleta Library bakery and Café, just a tiny little place.   What a friendly place, and the food was outstanding .  Mike had sweet potato biscuits and gravy,  I had cream bouclé french toast.                      

Mike got some sunsets pictures at the Wal-mart in Grants Pass. 

 

 

Onto Crescent City California

Thursday April 19th 2012

Another travel day, once again we woke up to rain.  It rained all day yesterday and the day before and the day before that.  I think we are growing moss on our backs and mushrooms between our toes.  That’s must be the reason I posted the picture of my feet so I could show you the before and after pics.

   

We traveled Highway 101 to Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway, with all the old growth and then back onto 101.

Finally we saw some Elk, there were signs everywhere stating Elk crossings but never saw any until today.  In the first picture some Elk lying down in the field.  The next picture the deer did not realize they were in an Elk area. The third is just a really nice picture of the ocean when it’s raining.

   

I guess if you live in the northwest you work rain or shine.  Passed many road construction workers today. 

We took a side trip thru another old grove redwood forest along a river.  I just can’t believe how green everything is, but what do expect with all the rain they have. 

 

Mike thought if he had his picture taken next to the big old stump he would look like he lost some more weight, not so.

I just finished reading Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. A very interesting book, an erotic romance. Not for everyone, but I liked it.  I have never read an erotic romance before and not sure I would again, although this is a trilogy and I may have to read the other two books. 

Our Last Day At Blue Lake Casino

Wednesday April 18th

Mike lost the last of his $10.00 with my help, but not a penny out of pockets.  With the price of gas who can afford to gamble. 

We really did not do much today it was raining and chilly.  Went to the town of Arcata for lunch.  Stopped at a little sandwich shop and had some very over priced food.  It was not bad, but it sure wasn’t worth the price they charged.  It took 35 minutes for our sandwiches and we were 2 of 4 people in the place.  That’s okay because we had a good time.

After lunch we drove around town and checked out some of the historic homes.

  

Once again I have no idea what any of these flowers and bushes are, but they were worth taking pictures of. 

After a trip into town it seemed like a good day just to read and veg in the MH. 

The Redwoods National Park

We are staying at the Blue Lake Casino in their parking lot, no hook-ups just free parking, that is if you don’t go into the casino and spend your money.  They did give us each $10 in house money to gamble with.  Mine was gone in less then 5 minutes and Mike still has his and more. 

  

Of course it is raining again today and all week, nothing like driving in the clouds.  We stopped at the visitor center to get some information at what to see in the area, and while there we walk along the beach.  Loved the sign for the sneaker waves, took me a minute to get it, like usual.  There was another sign about hazard tsunami waves.  That one scared me, but no earthquakes came our way.

  

One of the most scenic redwood areas to see is Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  Forty years ago I was thru this area of Oregon and California, and I just don’t remember the trees being this majestic.   

   

It never stopped raining which made it very nice as far as people were concerned, we were the only people in the forest.  Very quite and peaceful. 

The flower on the left is a Trillium, thousand of them in the forest.  The Trillium is part of the Lilly family.  They seem to grow in very moist areas, we have them at the lake (Big Balsam Camp and Resort) in MN in the summer.  In fact it is illegal to pick or transplant Trillium from public land in the states of Michigan, Minnesota and New York..  Okay more then you ever wanted to know about the flower.  I just had to show off some knowledge, it is one of the few flowers I know anything about.

 

I’m sure there are many trees larger then the ones we saw, but these were pretty impressive.

  

Drove through the town of Orick not far from the casino we are staying at.  Lots of carvings made from the burl of the redwoods. The only wildlife we ran into were some geese, and they were not happy we stopped to take their picture.  They honked until we drove away. 

Redding to Blue Lake California

 

We packed up and left Redding our usual time about 10, the bedroom slide cooperated no problem.  We are heading to another casino parking lot, Blue Lake Calif., up highway 299.  No rain but very overcast.

The road started out pretty ruff, the cupboard doors came open things were air born in the MH nothing was safe.  The kitty’s went into hiding, afraid of the flying projectiles.  After the first few miles the highway was pretty smooth.  It did take 6 hours to drive the 139 miles, it was the curves and switchbacks, up and downs, over a few mountain passes and some pretty steep grades.  Not my favorite drive.  If you have the least bit car sick this is not the road for you.

  

Every mountain road needs some repair.

  

The drive was beautiful the scenery was unbelievable, and you had plenty of time to see everything.  I don’t think we ever got over 40 mph. 

  

There were plenty of places to pull over on the side of the road to take in the scenery.

My feet posed for this picture.