Our last week in Washington was spent visiting first with Dave’s brother Tom and his wife Kathy, and then with his sisters, Mary and Jeannie and Jeannie’s son Shawn and Beau his husband.  We had two wonderful meals, and hours spent catching up with them.   Of course since we are all getting older, we had lots of comments about all of us being in our “Golden Years” - snort, snort!

This summer we FINALLY got to stay at the Washington Fair Grounds RV Park in Puyallup. We have tried for several years to stay there, but usually they are so busy with different events at the fairgrounds that there is no sites available while we are in the area.   But this year is different and we spent 5 days in the area while visiting family.      We even drove around as Dave tried to find houses that his family lived in while we were growing up - with very mixed results.   We did find the LAST one where his family lived when we got married.  Another one in town (Puyallup) he thinks he knows which was theirs. The other one up on the hill south of town we never did find.   

We encountered this sign while driving around - the first one we had seen.  Puyallup will likely be buried by the Lahars that will flow when Mt. Rainier rumbles back to life.   While we are now accustomed to seeing the Tsunami Evacation route signs when near the coast, this was a new one to us.  

One thing we did find was All Saints Catholic Church where we were married on that Saturday Morning (9-24-1966) 55 years ago next month.   It was morning and we had to hurry through the service because the parish priest just had to watch Norte Dame play football on TV starting at noon!

So we left Puyallup and turned the motorhome south.  Usually we are leaving from the Centralia area and Sutherlin, Oregon is a 4-5 hour drive.   But leaving from Puyallup adds at least an extra hour, so we stopped for a couple of days in Salem, Oregon.    We stayed at Hee Hee Illahee RV Resort, which is on reservaton land in North Salem area.    Nice resort, well equipped, nice sites, expensive but worth it for 2 nights.   

Given that Oregon is also a wine region, and with a day for exploring, Dave found a winery that offered different wines besides Pinot Noir.   We just aren’t that fond of Pinot Noir.   So after figuring out where it was, we were off to Chemeketa Cellars on one of the campuses of Chemeketa Community College.  Yes, they have a vineyard and winery where students learn about growing grapes and making wine!   We enjoyed the wines and have a few bottles for the winter.

We also have some pictures located here

Next we are headed south to the Umqua Valley area  for visits to some of our favorite Oregon Wineries.