Charlovoix. Taking the way home is a nice scenic view and not too much traffic along the way. One thing you notice when out East, is all the green around you. Coming from CA and AZ this time of year, it is mostly brown.
1/2 hr. cruise which took us into Lake Superior and along the rock formations made by the terrible winters that Lake Superior has. The water was crystal clear and blue green in color when we were up close to the formations. A 37 mile adventure that passed "Lovers Leap, Miners Castle, Indian Head, Chapel Rock and the East Channel Lighthouse. What beautiful colors these formations have because of the different minerals that seep out of the rocks. I have lived in Michigan for 50 years and have never been up here to sight see or see what this area has to offer. It was great to be able to take the time to experience part of the Upper Peninsula. After the cruise, we got a Michigan Black Cherry ice cream--the best of the best!!! My favorite by far. As we drove down towards the Mackinac Bridge, along Lake Michigan, we got out to walk along some of the sandy beaches, put my feet in to te
st the cold water, it was cold, Lake Michigan was a lot more windy and the waves were harder than in Lake Superior. We saw our 2nd bald eagle along this stretch of US-2. Abby got a good run and we talked to a family from Roseville, Michigan on their way to MN where we just came from. We stopped at our favorite Pasties place along the road to get our supply of delicious pasties and smoked fish.
2400 people. Stopped at the Bad River Casino parking lot and had lunch. One good thing about these casinos is they have nice large parking for the RVs. Just past a lake called Serpent Lake, don't think I would want to swim in that lake. hahaha. The sun has finally broke through and it is 86 degrees and breezy.
Ready to stop for the night, we are only about 15 miles from Marquette. Sat outside for awhile next to a campfire. Imagine a campfire in the middle of July!! Temp was about 62 degrees with a wind. Not much along this road, not one I would recommend.
Jamestown. A cute billboard said "North Dakota Commute" and it showed an empty freeway. (Like this pic.) Which is true - we have not seen much traffic this morning. 72 degrees and still overcast, but no rain thank goodness.
for us on HWY. 10 East. We are going to meet him at a restaurant called Perkins, outside of a city called "Detroit Lakes" which is where he lives. Warm and still overcast and humid.
and HUMID!
tiful morning to drive again. The morning's have been very good so far, it is cooler and less traffic and the weather is usually much better storm wise than in the afternoon. We had a good night and no storms. It was suppose to thunder and heavy rain, but it did not happen. It happened earlier, the people at the Park were telling us. Frank could not resist taking a picture of this OLD tree. 
mountains, ND is much more prettier than SD, I think. Stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND to take some pic of the beautiful rock formations - like a mini Grand Canyon. This is called the North Dakota Badlands, which erode 2-4" every year. Eventually this all will be level because of the hard rains and corrosion from the wind. We saw so e wild horsed on the hills and prickly pear Cactus which has a cute yello
w flower on it. They also have here the Bison which they tell you not to approach them--OK I won't. hahahahaha
ck, ND with a nice 78 
degrees and sunny skies still. It's either stop here now or go onto Fargo which is another 2 hours down the road. Stopping now we can relax and get an early start tomorrow. Sat outside and was talking to the couple that pulled in along side of us from Indiana 
going West. Nice chat, they were renting there rig for the first time to see if they would like it. The guy is for it, the woman, has questions, she like staying in nice hotels and eating out. 
ate and as soon as we were done eating, the sun came out and it did not rain again all night.
on I-94 East and on the border of ND. It rained the last few hours and it is suppose to rain tonight. If we don't stop here our next stop would be Bismark, ND and that is another 5 hours! Too far for me to continue. Our temperature has dropped to 60 degrees because of this storm. Seems the storm came through here just before we got here and now the sun is starting to peek through so we went into the little town of Miles City and I just loved it!! Lots of cowboys, big truck with bars on the grill in case they hit a varmit and they are proud of their trucks!! Great paint jobs and very artistic. What a place to people watch. Frank bought a Montana Cowboy Shirt and it looks good on him! I'm not a cowgirl person, so nothing interested me--Eleanor you should be here, saw lots of things you would love! hahahaha. This little town is so "Western". It's nice to stop early and then see what's in the cities around and have a relaxing evening.
and a good nights sleep. It was very quiet in the parking lot, where there were about 5 of us "Boon docking" it.
us and then saw Abby in the RV and took off. Passing by the Silver Dollar Casino here on I-90 in Montana. We stopped here the last time we came through and they have 50,000 silver dollars all over the bar, ceiling, walls, counters, etc. quite interesting. Crossing into Montana we lost an hour, which I don't like. Frank is my tour guide since Montana is his old stomping grounds. So far this western part of the 
USA from the coast to Seattle and all the way through Montana has been just beautiful.
hey met us for dinner halfway for both of us. Had a great meal and sure was nice seeing them again. Their getting up in the years, but sure enjoy seeing "Sonny". Since the weather was so warm-89 degrees- there must have been at least 200 people "tubing" down the river to cool off. After we had dinner and on the way back to the RV, all the tubers were gone! Of course it was starting get dark and the weather had cooled off about 20 degrees. hah
ahaha Saw a "dust devil" right along side the road, a little too close for comfort. We were glad we got passed it before it decided to come across the road!
9:15 a.m. - Pulling out of KOA, Seattle after a Great 5 days! I love Seattle and what it has to offer. Of course being there during the best weather they have had in awhile helped. The weather now is about 58 degrees and a little overcast, but we can see the sun starting to try and come through. Heading out I-90 East and going through ski country at 3,000 ft in a ski resort here. Just as we drove down the summit, the skies turned
blue and the sun came out and temperatures are rising. A nice drive through the Wenatchee National Forest with all the pine trees reaching for the skies.
Cabela's Parking Lot for the night in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, it's hot-90 degrees and we are tired. Had some dinner then walked through Cabela's and picked up a few things, as usual. The whole evening was a freebe - free RV parking and we used our Cabela's Points for our purchases! Sweet!! Sat outside until the temperature dropped to 69 degrees and then came in.
went down to the Waterfront and walked along Pikes Market, which is an experience like no other. hahahaha. Bought a couple of white peaches which were very juicy and tasty, for $2.00 ea. they should be! On one of the other tours, the driver told us that if we want to remember how the streets downtown, they have a saying: Jesus-Made-Seattle-Under-Protest. JMSUP, believe it or not that is how we got around.Went on the Argosy Lock Tour and I never thought WE would be going through the lock, I just thought we would watch other ships go through them, like we did in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. I sure was surprised when we went through them. After going through the locks, we were picked up by the Grey Line Line tour Bus to take us back to the Waterfront, where we got on our cruise ship. As we were driving back on the bus, we could see that we would be passing right by the Space Needle and that is where we were going to go next. So, instead of going down to the Waterfront, getting our car and then driving back to the Space Needle, Frank asked the bus driver, if he would le
t us off at the Space Needle and we would find our own way back. The bus driver said no problem, and he pulled over to the curb and let us off right in front of the Space Needle. We were so lucky, we walked up to the ticket counter, no waiting in line, went up on the elevator to the observation deck. This picture was taken looking INTO the window from the outside. About an hour 
and beautiful views we went down the elevator and took the Monorail the Space Needle offers to about 3 blocks from where we parked our car earlier. It was amazing how everything fell into place. What a perfect day from start to finish! These last 5 days in Seattle have been a 10 or better on the charts!! Frank outdid himself this time.
e early so decided to drive into Canada. We drove around the city of Surrey and then came back across the Border to the U.S. Going over, Immigration had to walk around our car because there was no license plate number coming up on his computer, probably because we don't have a front license plate and also our spare tire partly covers our plate in the back. Then coming back to the U.S.
they made us pull over to the side, roll all the windows down, checked out the car and then they let us continue. With no front plates and 2 rifle looking things sticking out of the front (for towing) they probably thought we had a "James Bond" car. hahahaha. We visited George and Sharon and they made us a delicious BBQ lunch. Another beautiful
sunny day again. About 3:00 p.m. we headed back down towards the outskirts of Seattle to a town called Redmond where we met up with Frank's niece, Kristilyn, her husband and their two children, Charlie-8yrs. and Nora - 6 yrs. Had a GREAT time with them and saw their "house in progress". they are remodeling it themselves and have done a lot of work since they
bought it just a few yrs. ago. Charlie and Nora are very friendly, excitable and great kids. Made us laugh a lot and just loved Abby. Kristilyn is a Family Lawyer and her and two other lawyers are starting their own firm, so it was nice that she could take some time off to be with us for a few hours. Turns out they live only about 1 hour from the KOA Campground where we are staying. A long day but well worth it.
hat took us on the Seattle City Tour. We were driven all around Seattle and past the Space Shuttle, Waterfront, Lake Union where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed. This is the picture of the house used in the film. I did not know that Seattle boasts the First Starbucks and Nodstrum among having Amazon.com corporate offices here. Saw Bill Gates place, Pikes Street Market, tasted the best
Mac and cheese at Beecher's which was just as good as the recommendation! Saw Quest Field and Safeco Field, amazing structures they are. Had an amazing tour guide that really explained what we were seeing in depth. After the City Tour we went on a Harbor Cruise around Elliott Bay for one hour, what a relaxing time that was. The weather couldn't have been
nicer, with
clear blue skies and bright nice warm sun, with a temp of 77 degrees, another relaxing and unforgettable day. We have been lucky with the weather so far. Back to the RV about 5:00 p.m. sat outside for awhile, had dinner and off tomorrow for another full day.
8:30 a.m. - Up and ready to leave for Oregon with a beautiful morning again today. We had a nice quiet night and we stayed up a little late, but oh well, that's life. There are rain clouds high up, not hitting the ground yet. It is 75 degrees and overcast.10:30 a.m. - Crossed into Oregon with a pleasant temp. of 75 degrees
and still partly cloudy. It has been a nice drive so far, very relaxing with lots of foothills and winding roads. We are at 3,000 feet right now and seems like we climb up a thousand feet then go down hill and then climb up again and then curving roads, etc. The fine for littering here in Oregon is a hefty $6,500!!! We just passed a sign that said at the top of the summit it is 4,310 feet and it is the highest elevation on I-5. 
p for and RV. I guess it pays to go to the truck stops to get this done, we keep forgetting how much cheaper and they know what there doing. Our cars cost this for an oil change! Nice thing about Oregon it is against the law for you to pump your gas, you have to have an attendant do it for you.
guess this is very unusual for it to be this warm here. They say 85 is usually hot. This is not the way for us to go again. There is way to much city traffic and congestion. Live and learn I guess. We are 53 miles from Florence,Or.
10:00 a.m. We left Lyle and Elaine's after a great night sleep and a good morning. It is another beautiful morning with perfect temperatures. 68 degrees and sunny blue skies. Sure is nice sleeping in the country.
blue skies. It smells so good with all the Redwoods. Mt. Shasta which we can see very good from the highway has lots of snow on it. We have had so much rain that it sure made everything green and the higher mountains still have snow. It looks like icing on top of that ole mountain!
st Western Tree House, both AAA approved look like good places to stay if your not camping. Arrived at the KOA campground with a warm temp of 90 degrees and we are parked in the pines. We got our lounge chairs out and relaxed a bit then drove into town to see the little stores and boutiques. We took a little drive to get some pictures of Mt. Shasta and sure got some good ones. While we were on our drive a small cub about 150-200 lbs dashed out in front 
of our car from the wooded area next to the road!!! Frank had to slam on the brakes or he would have at least nicked her. It happened so fast it was all Frank could yell was "BEAR!". What a shock it was, we laughed on that one. We then went home had a nice dinner and then sat outside under the stars until 11:00 p.m. It was such a beautiful night. 
