Back in the Sac (home away from home)

We fought through the smoke and landed back at Sandy and Arny’s house at 2:30.  They don’t live that far from the Interstate, so when we got off the freeway, I rolled down the windows and watched the sleeping dogs go from sleep, to sniff, to sniffing a lot, to coming up onto Marcia’s lap all within a minute’s time.  As soon as we drive into the cul de sac, they go wild…more Bubba than Skruffy.  By 3 pm everything is hooked up, I am sitting down catching my breath, and mom comes through the back door.  From there until after 8 it is all family time.

   

After Arny’s BBQ of Tri-Tip sandwiches, it is time to break out all the goodies we brought back.  Sandy got her pick of three of the four Moose Munch we brought.  Arny got three different Grilling Sauces, including the Raspberry Chipotle that he seemed the most pleased with.  Mom and Dad got matching coffee/soup mugs which say, “Mom” and the other says “Dad”.  Also got mom a selection of dipping sauces and the Pretzel Sticks to dip with.  Told her that she was bound to get some visitors over the next few weeks and she needed something to offer them.  Patti, who showed up after dinner, got two bags of Cashews.

Arny’s mom loves Ice Cream, and we bought some Tillamook Hazel Nut & Salted Carmel Ice Cream for her…remember, this is the same place we got the box of “Lemonilla Tillabars” that Marcia liked so much…and we KNEW sister Sandy would die for them too.  So as I was going out to the RV to get Arny’s mom Euleda’s gift all I said was, “Your gift is from Tillamook and it is real cold.”, which perked Sandy’s ears up for sure.  I come in with the Ice Cream behind my back and say, “Here you go…”, and it was Ice Cream…and I think my sister’s heart dropped just a little.  Sand asked Euleda if she was going to share her Ice Cream, and Euleda quickly and promptly said, “NOPE!”  Not bad for 90 years old.   “Oh yeah”, I say, “We need to get you that empty box of “Lemonilla Tillabars” so you can ask the local grocery store to stock them.”  And I go back out…and get a box of “Lemonilla Tillabars” in a bag and hand the bag to my sister….her eyes pop out, a big smile comes over her face…”There are BARS in this BOX!”   Yep, we sure pulled one over on her in a good way.  I KNOW she won’t be sharing her bars, that is for certain.

Our four week, 1,800 motorhome mile, 1,000 HHR mile, three State and one Canadian Province road trip has come to an end.  Did we like it?  WE HAD A BALL!!!!  Although we did not make it to Alaska this year, everything we did on this trip was also part of the Alaska trip…so that felt good.  The Motorhome did very well, with only two minor problems which will be addressed over the next few weeks.  Since one of these problems, a portion of an outside mirror coming off TODAY, within 100 miles of the end of the trip, we certainly feel good about our motorhome’s performance.  Thank goodness I saw that the mirror was loose, and pulled it off before it flew off and broke…so it will be an easy fix.   For now, it will continue to be family time leading up to, and after mom’s breast cancer surgery.  Also, if all goes as planned, my three kids will be in the area for Labor Day week…and I am hoping to get to take them all to dinner while they are together. 

If this happens, it will be the first time we all got together since May 2013 when Ryan graduated from the University of Arkansas.  I have seen each of them a few times each since then…but not all together…I hope everything works out so this happens.  With Ryan flying into Salt Lake City, and Stephanie and he driving to California, they will be able to stop and say hi to Mom and Dad too, which will be real special for them….especially since it should happen just two days after the surgery.

How Do You Say It, Without Rubbing It In?

It is 72 degrees, and what is that thing that Marcia is eating?

WOW, never seen anything like this…is that YELLOW stuff LEMON by chance?  (By now my sister Sandy has to fuming!  It is 102+ in Citrus Heights, and her sister-in-law is rubbing it in by eating a LEMON Ice Cream Bar?)

   

Remember to click on the images to get them bigger and readable

A Tillamook “Lemonilla Tillabars” no less!!!   I think we might have just lost our free parking place in the backyard!  We can hear her now….”Arny, burn those ramps!”  (we have to get over her curb using wooden ramps or we might break our black tank lines like we did two years ago)

Thanks to our friends and fellow bloggers Ron and Barbara whom we met in Port Angeles, they suggested staying at the Port of Tillamook RV Park, which is total dry camping for $12 per night.  Right now there are five other campers, four RVs and one tent.  No frills, little noise, and only five miles away from Lemonilla Tillabars, I mean, the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

   

A look around us shows very few campers, lots of room, grass for the dogs, and I think we will have a peaceful night.  But all is not good..for one, those Lemonilla Tillabars only come three per box and I am going to be LUCKY to get more than the two bites I got off the first bar.  Second, when we were here in 2012 we found some Lemon Cheese at the Blue Heron…so we went there for lunch, but alas, no Lemon Cheese this time.  Third, since it is only 5 miles away I KNOW Marcia is going to want me to go back and get more bars….but our freezer can only handle so much…

Back in 2012 we spent a few days in Tillamook, including a tour of the Cheese Factory.  (Picture above was taken back then.)  If you want to see what one can do in Tillamook, visit our blog back in time at these two posts:

Three Capes Scenic Drive - Tillamook Oregon

Tillamook - Air Museum, Cheese Factory & a Waterfall

(Just remember, we did not have a good camera back then, so the picture quality won’t be very good)

Marcia was busy busy busy with the camera on the drive from Long Beach over to Tillamook.  Here she got a picture of the Columbia River as it meets the Pacific, with Oregon faintly visible over there somewhere.

The Astoria–Megler Bridge from the North side.  This is one long bridge, over 4 miles long, with a height of 196 ft. clearance at High Tide…it must have been low tide because it looked a lot further down than 196 feet.

This is a view from the north looking south not even a mile into the crossing.  The north end passes over non-navigable waters, so is much lower.  The bridge first opened in 1966, and is undergoing a massive repainting.

Now we have been climbing up, and about to enter the southern portion which goes over navigable waters…very large ships, oil tankers, freighters, pass under it.

Over 7,000 cars, on average, go across the bridge every day.  On the south end the road makes a full circle to allow cars to go either towards Portland, or towards the Pacific once they cross over the bridge.  As one who gets a bit queasy looking down from high places, crossing a bridge like this does not bother me because I am not near the edge.  Even looking out a window from let’s say the 24th floor of a high rise is fine…as long as I look out and not down.

   

One thing about traveling along the coast of Washington, Oregon and even California is that there is green, lushness all around.

And the ocean views of the Pacific are unreal…like this one which shows a bit of the marine layer holding on before it burns off for the day.

As we get closer to Tillamook, we come to Tillamook Bay, which has a sandbar running through a major portion of it along US 101.

The views along this stretch of the road are just wonderful…

   

And the community capitalizes on the view with train rides.  This is engine 25 of the old McCloud Railroad.  Back in July Marcia and I went to McCloud California and I wrote about the history of this logging town, including their vast railroad that included the states of California, Oregon, Washington,and Idaho.  Visit our post McCloud California, A Nice Little Town to see a map of this huge lumber railroad…this Engine was part of that railroad!

We get one more look of Tillamook Bay, then we roll the six more miles inland to Tillamook.  Tomorrow we plan to make Newport…Nancy (see yesterday’s post) told us of a good seafood place that we want to give a try…nothing fancy, just great food.