On to Washington

Hmmm...  kind of a long blogging hiatus.  We've been busy with family for the last couple of weeks, got some catching up to do.

When we left Waldport we drove over hwy 20 to get to the I-5 north and spent a night in Woodburn.  There is a campground there just off the freeway and adjacent to the outlet mall which is the town's main claim to fame.  So it's great if you want to go to the outlet mall, which we did not.  We havent got anyplace to store any more stuff, so anything we buy new means getting rid of something and we didn't have anything we were just dying to get rid of. 

If you are not going to the outlet mall, the Woodburn/Portland RV Park mostly resembles an extended outlet mall parking lot but with hookups.  They failed to mention to us that due to road construction, it was not possible to turn left out of the campground and head back to the freeway the way we came and there was no convenient way to drive "around the block" to get ourselves turned around the right way.  Fortunately, our GPS routed us through the farm country for about five miles and got us back on the freeway at the next on-ramp.  So, we carried on to our next stop which was in Kelso, WA. 

The campground in Kelso was bounded by a dyke that channeled a large irrigation canal through town with a path at the top of the dyke you could walk or bike along.  A lot of folks bicycled by about 5 feet above our windshield.  We went out to a Mexican restaurant called Fiesta Bonita at the Three Rivers Mall.  This was Father's Day but it was only moderately busy.  The food did not taste like California Mex, nor did it taste like Tex Mex, nor yet did it taste like New Mexico Mex but it was quite tasty none the less.  I guess we need a new category called Washi-Mex.  We remember the days when we were doing our internships in Tacoma (MANY years ago) and there were only three Mexican restaurants in the whole Puget Sound area and all of them were terrible.  Back then there was no decent Mexican food north of San Francisco.  Now I guess Mexican culture and cuisine has spread all the way to the Canadian border.  Do NOT try to see if the same applies to eastern Kentucky.  We had some of the worst "Mexican" food we've ever eaten just west of the Cumberland Gap a couple of years ago.

The next day we only drove 75 miles and stayed at the Little Creek Casino near Shelton.  They have a small RV area, about 25 slots, with level asphalt pads and grass in between.  Pretty nice for a casino.  The RV lot is about 100 yds. from the casino doors if you want to gamble, which we did not.  There was a pool we did not swim in and a gym we did not exercise in.  What we did do was eat at their buffet restaurant.  All you could eat for 15 bucks, and the food was actually pretty good.  Good enough that we went back the next morning for the 7 dollar breakfast.  I don't get a lot of  bacon, but when there is a whole pan full just sitting there begging to be eaten, who am I to resist?  So a bunch of bacon, scrambled eggs, french toast, sausage, fruit.  A respectable meal to get us back on the road.

We drove another 75 miles up the last little bit of US 101 (on which we had driven all up and down the Oregon coast), past the Hood Canal to finally arrive at Port Townsend. 

In all that traveling we saw not one sight that cried out "photograph me", so this is a text only entry.  Oh well, we'll make up for it at some point.  More about the Olympic Peninsula next time.