Where did summer and fall go?

It is now November 12, 2017 and a lot has happened since our last blog
 post on June 9.  The major event was the birth of our granddaughter,
 Lily, on July 29th. After Lily was born we decided to stay home until
after Christmas so we would have a bit more bonding time
 with both Lily and Simon.

We also sold our last rental house in Wenatchee and bought a used

Sprinter camper van. It's been great fun.

We've done several trips in it and we are loving it!

First outing: Yelvick's on Hood Canal with Tom and Claudette.

Then camping with the kids at Cottonwood Campground

 on the Entiat River in Eastern Washington. They rented

the Forest Service Cabin and we had the Sprinter:

The next camping adventure was to the Oregon Coast

and the Cruiser's Campout near Florence.

We spent two nights at the Cape Lookout

Campground on the way to Florence:

Our campsite at Cape Lookout CG

Nice hike out to the end of Cape Lookout

The Cruiser's Campout was very fun. It's for past
and current cruisers who have some connection to
Puerto Escondido. We knew many, but not all. This was
the second or third year, but our first. It was
very well organized with lots of fun events, but
not TOO structured (which wouldn't fly with
most cruisers!).

Nightly bonfires at Sutton Campground

In October we did a six day Olympic Peninsula Loop Trip:

Starting from Bainbridge Island the weather was so good

 and the air so clear we decided to head up to 

Hurricane Ridge for a short hike and to check out the view.

We could see Victoria looking north! 

It was so refreshing after such a smokey summer.

Not much snow on the Olympics at this point.

 The second stop was to see the Elwah River after the
successful removal of the dam and the restoration
project.

  We then met Tom and Claudette at the Salt Creek
Campground on the Straits of Juan de Fuca:

 Heading to Sol Duc the next morning we stopped
in Joyce to hit the store and have breakfast
at the Blackberry Cafe.

It was a beautiful drive up the Sol Duc River
to get to the Campground. The fall colors
were spectacular - something we have missed
since we left for Mexico in 2010.

It rained at Sol Duc so we made an early get away
to the coast.

Breakfast at Rialto Beach.

A visit to La Push.

Tom and Claudette left to head home and we
camped at Mora Campground on the Quillayute River.
The next day we headed up the Hoh River

 and found this great campsite.
The weather was cold and clear-
exceptional for this area.



It's fairly unusual to have a sunny day in the rain forests
of the Olympic Peninsula. We really lucked out.

We stopped at Ruby Beach for a walk on the beach.

We got a great campsite at Kalaloch right on the ocean.

 It started raining the next day and we headed
home with a stop at the Lake Quinault Lodge.

Lake Quinault Lodge 

Besides our time camping we've used the Sprinter
for our second bedroom and bathroom on our property
on Bainbridge and also at the kids house when they've
 had a full house.

Shrimp feed on Billings' dock in Port Madison.
Joel and Judy from Santa Cruz came for a visit.
They've known Jim longer than I have!

Our Canadian cruising friends Bob and Giselle. They've also known
Jim longer than I have!

Dinner cruise over to Miller Bay on Tom and Claudette's Panga

Ready for the eclipse at the kids house in Auburn.

A three day trip to an Ocean Shores condo to 

storm watch with the kids:

Halloween in Auburn:

Now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving
and Christmas before driving south to
San Carlos, Sonora,
Mexico on December 28th with Jim's new
Paddle/Surf Board lashed to the roof: