We had a long weekend, so we took short trip. Originally we were thinking of going up by Sequim to camp, but decided to look at the weather map and the best weather was in SW WA so we decided to go to our old favorite Cape Disappointment State Park. (on a side note, they got 12 inches of snow in Sequim that weekend)



We decided to take the kitties with us. Everyone seemed to be settling in well. Loius is the one on the dinette. He is sitting right in front of the heater fan.



Ginger has a nice cozy spot up on the top bunk



Sam and Ginger could not wait to run on the beach!





Here is a shot of Sam's paw print.



It was beautiful out!



The surf was more dramatic than normal, and occasionally the wind would make the waves do a wispy dance in the sky.



The next day the Coast Guard decided to come out to do exercises and entertain us tourists...
They would start out by lowering down a guy out of the helicopter.



They had dummies hanging off the cliff.



Then they would go back via helicopter over the water to be raised back up.



The whole while there was a coast guard boat off shore.



Back at the camper the kitties were having fun, well, Natasha was anyway...
She discovered going into the basement.



Then she discovered that the cupboards are actually a bunk bed with a nice access area...



Louis on the other hand was content to sit in front of the heater.



The next day the clouds decided to come in.



It was warm, and the surf was up. I was surprised to see the surfers. (there is a strong rip tide here making it dangerous for swimmers) It was fun to watch them though.




Even though there were clouds it was actually a really nice day.



A couple of years ago this life vessel fell off of a ship.



It moves up and down the beach, being moved by the larger storms.



Even though it was a cloudy day, the last sunset was beautiful.

This post is all about our new camper and all we have been doing to it to get ready for camping season...
The kitties like the new boxes.
They especially liked the box that came for the new camper step.
First Louis had to try out the new box...
Then Natasha had to take a crack at it... what fun!

I had a hard time finding a step that would be right for the camper. We decided on this one, but it was too long, so I had to cut off 4 inches.

Most steps drop 5"to 7" this one only drops 3" Which is important since this camper has a basement. note the cupboard door under the camper entrance door. Which adds 10" to the step out of the camper... This means the first step out of the camper was a very long 46"... almost 4'to the ground! (24" to the rack) If you notice the camper step is off center to the right, it is because the sewer connection is under the camper under the left side of the door. (the dump handles are in the cupboard under the door.)
I also found a little step that mounts around the hitch to step on.
We already had the rack, and now it is a lot easier!
The large RV handrail is nice too!

The camper came with hand crank jacks, which got old the first day we had the camper, so we sprung for the electric motors that are mounted at the top of the corner jacks.

Then we had to mount a black controller box up against the front wall of the camper. it has 11 wires. 2 for each of the 4 jacks, pos batt and neg batt plus a phone wire. It was quite the spaghetti mess...

The phone wire is routed to the rear of the camper by the back door. Where the hand control plugs in so you can stand outside the rear of the camper to take it off/ on the truck.

We also got these quick release handles for our tiedowns. They assist in getting the camper on the road with lest muss and fuss. Before we had to use a wrench for awhile to get the tiedowns snug. It was quite time consuming. Not to mention having to stop occasionally to let my hand rest. I also like that I can see the little pin that keeps it closed and the handle in my mirrors while under way. I am planning on getting pad locks in place of the pins that keep them closed.

The next project is the Hot Water tank switch. They put it in a wierd place, right where you go up and down to get on the top bunk. We keep bumping it. On our last trip we turned it on, and the switch must have gotten bumped in the middle of the night because the water was luke warm in the morning, and the switch was off... oops... still have not tested the shower, maybe on the next trip... I am planning on putting it up next to the 110v outlet behind the sink. (I have already run some wires up there for it, just need to get some connectors and drill a hole for the switch.)


Another project we are planning on is we are going to put in a Fantastic Fan. We had one in our 5th wheel and were real impressed with it. We were so impressed that we are going to try life with no A/C in the camper. We have the fan, just need some good decent weather to put it in.

There have been questions as to how the bathroom is set up in our new camper, so here it is. The sink, shower, and toilet are all in the same room. There is a shower curtain that closes where the door is to keep the water in. The tp is going to go on the bracket on the door, so it will be behind the curtain while bathing. Since the toilet is up a step it makes it taller than a regular toilet.

yet another sunrise shot...
Figure it will be the last good one for awhile... rain in forcast for next 15 days??
thought this was a cute shot of the Western Towhee. It seems Natasha and one occasionally have a staredown...

Took the camper up to the mountains last weekend for a quick overntighter. I picked Suzi up at work on Friday night. We got a pizza from papa murphy's (take and bake pizza) (Joe works there) We baked it when we got up to Snoqualmie pass. It was the best, most evenly baked pizza we have had, we were laughing about going out to the camper to bake our pizza's from now on...

We decided to go over blewett pass to get home. Blewett pass takes you from Snoqualmie Pass (I-90) to Stevens Pass (US-2) It is a really pretty drive.

Saw this gorgeous little bird (Wilson's Snipe)in our 'seasonal creek' aka drainage ditch today. I thought it was a young duck at first when I saw it's size. Thought it was weird with all the cold weather. I did not notice the cool beak until I saw the photos... It blended in with it's surroundings really well!


Also saw this little one (Pine Siskin) at Joe's house I took the shot thru the kitchen screen.

Since we sold the other camper we decided to attempt to put the new one in the carport. We measured when we got the camper and the opening right at the entrance is high enough,
but..........
It didn't quite fit...


Te reason it didn't fit is we have to drive over a tiny hill just before entering the carport, and the truck tire is still on the hill when the camper reaches the entrance.


In figuring out the easiest way to break up the hill I tried pulling the furrow opener up the hill with the little tractor. It worked great, then I noticed a hole in the ground...


Evidently we have been driving over a piece of corrugated plastic with a hollow area under it... There is a small chunk of plastic that got ripped out. hmmm... I think it has something to do with the run off from the house gutters.

Remember we decided to sell our old camper... Well, we gave up for a bit due to the weather. Today was the first sunny nice day we have had for over a month, and 3 people called. One took it! yippee!! :) He didn't even try to talk me down on price. So we got more for it than we bought it for.
He did say that it was alot nicer than what he had been looking at.
I barely got this shot of him leaving down the driveway.

The kitties are finally enjoying their holiday gift of a new bird feeder.

The birds seem to be enjoying it also.

Ok, things are finally getting back to normal. Suzi had a good commute both Thurs and Fri. and I managed to take the majority of our deck roof to the dump.

They even opened the road to Sultan where there was a mud slide. It is only 1 lane traffic, but they have this fancy traffic light.

Ok, if it wasn't for the weather, I would have nothing to say...
I was in Monroe, so I thought I would take a peek at the Skykomish River. The news said mild to moderate flooding. Not nearly as bad as the rivers both to the north and south of us. I have seen our yard with more water just last year.

First I stopped by the Library to see if there was anything down the ravine. There was more than I expected.

Then I stopped by the road to the new off leash doggie park in Monroe.
The doggie park is on the other side of the building in the distance.

After seeing all this I was curious so I went by the Lewis street park which is on Hwy 203 to Duvall. (which is closed before you get to Duvall).
The trial here goes down to a nice grassy park and some winding trails connecting into Al Borlin Park. This is Woods Creek, with the Skykomish river in the background.

I thought I was done, but had to stop by the Monroe Motel when I noticed the water in Woods Creek jumped the levy.


Shortly after we moved here they had replaced the bridge over the creek here.
Thank goodness, I doubt we could have gotten to town with the old bridge. Doesn't look like a nice meandering creek now does it!

Sunday night we got at least 4 more inches of snow. Then it started to melt.
This was Monday.

It has been a roasting 50F, It is even melting in the mountains now... lots of road closures etc from all the flooding.
Yesterday we could not see this fence behind the snow.

These ducks have been hanging around for more than a week now...

Last week I got our little garden tractor back out to plow the driveway. Kind of missed driving the car...

I thought it would only be a day or two longer before we could drive the car, but looks like it was a good thing I plowed when I did. This is what it looks like today. I cannot plow the stuff I left cause it is solid ice now.

Next week it is supposed to get up to 50F though...