Kammeyer Korner

We woke up to a beautiful day!

We enjoyed getting to know our Innkeepers as we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of baked apple with nuts and whipped cream followed with hash browns, scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, strawberries, OJ and cocoa. We were comfortably full as we drove away from the B&B and headed toward Entiat to spend the day with John, Anne, Titus and Ginny.

John and Anne live on a mountain that looks down on Mad River. You can hear it bubbling and flowing over rocks and watch as the sun shimmers and dances across the water. It is very tranquil. We were able to visit for a short time before heading down the road where it appears everyone in the town of Ardenvoir (which is where they actually live.) turns out for the parade. Everyone who wants to be in the parade is allowed a spot. They do this every year, on the second weekend in April. It seems every Harley rider for mikes is aware of it; their motorcycles line the street.

The parade was fun! It was great to see Ginny right at the start and out front playing her flute. She looked great! Among other things in the parade, we saw old cars, and a very old but perfectly restored double-engined John Deere tractor.

Not only is there a parade, but there are people at stalls selling books, jellies, jewelry, tamales, or whatever they feel like selling. We bought some Concorde Jelly and Apple-Cinnamon Jelly. After the parade, the kids games started. One was a pile of wood shavings and kids had 3 min to find as much money as they could. They did this through several age groups so it took a while. The older woman who does it every year needed someone to act as the 'timer' and She designated James as such. She told him she would look for him next year and was surprised when he told her we lived in Portland.

We went back to their home for lunch and another short visit before heading toward Chelan where we did some window shopping. Later, we went to Westside Pizza for dinner and topped that off at Lakeview Drive-in for a soft chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cone. It was a very enjoyable day.

Our weekend is coming to a close; we will head to Wenatchee tomorrow for church and home after sacrament meeting. We are glad we could come visit John, Anne and family. The weather has been perfect, and we have enjoyed staying in Lake Chelan; we had not been here since we were kids.

1) John and Anne at the parade.
2) Ginny at parade playing her flute.
3) John and Anne's home
4) Lake Chelan
5) John, Anne, Ginny, James and Titus at Lakeview Drive-in.

We left this morning for the 5-hr trip to Wenatchee where we met up with John and Anne and had an enjoyable visit and lunch with them at Olive Garden. Afterwards we drove to the high school that Titus and Ginny attend and met up with them there.

We had a short visit with them, and then they headed toward Entiat and James and I headed toward Lake Chelan and Chelan House Bed and Breakfast. Below is a picture of our room, it is very nice with a mini kitchenette. The second picture is the house we are in. We walk through that gate and we have a private entry into our room through the door at the far left.

We drove into Manson and visited Fromaggio's cheese/wine/gelato. We tasted a variety of their cheeses and then shared a gelato--chocolate hazelnut and fig custard. Both were very good, but the fig custard was our favorite.

The last picture is of the view from the room we are in. We are having a great time! It is such a beautiful day and the sun feels so good as it warms our faces. It is quite windy here today.

James arrived home at 5 PM yesterday after a great trip where they battled head winds traveling down and back. (I think James is the common denominator here--we ALWAYS have headwinds!) they had snow, sleet, and sunshine with temperature ranges between 23 degrees (Going over Hood) and 100 degrees in Death Valley.

The first picture is the Charcoal kilns by Wildrose Peak near Death Valley.

The second picture shows the intrepid travelers when they reached Corbett after 2700 miles in a week!

The last pictures are of Edmonds Beach. I LOVE going to Edmonds Beach! Of course I grew up in Edmonds and this is MY beach. We would go down to the beach as a family, we watched the fireworks over Puget Sound here for many years, we rode the Kingston Ferry countless times and in high school we would skip out of school and have lunch at the beach, or just sit. Mom and I drove down here last night--it was beautiful!

Mom and I are headed to the movie, 'Monument Men' now--can't say I have gone to a movie at 0920 in the morning. Tonight we are going out to dinner with Bob and Marianne. I will head home tomorrow morning sometime between 0900-1000. I have had a fun time with my mom!

I heard from James last night and he said they had left that morning and due to snow in the passes they decided to head into Nevada and up that way. They cut across and were coming down a pass in Oregon--yes, it was snowing--when James ran out of gas. This was surprising because his is the bigger tank. He had to wait on the side of the road while the other guys rode the 4 mikes into a small town--the only town for miles--only to find that the gas station there was closed! They beat on the door and the kind people there allowed them to fill up their tanks and Kirk had a 1 gallon gas can they took back to James. They were able to make it to Burns in that and James filled up this morning.

Since he will be home today, and he seems to be, and has said, he is having a great time, I asked him, 'Why are you coming home from your vacation two days early?' His reply after a short pause, 'It's Thursday isn't it?' I said, 'No, it's Wednesday.' That surprised him. He said, 'Well, I guess that is a good vacation if you can't remember what day it is!'

Today I got this picture. He said that the mountain passes all have 6-10" of new snow. (I suggested they go to the auto store and get chains for the tires...and some more wheels, like training wheels.) So they are headed north to I-84 and then west the ought the gorge. He will be home today.

In other news, the Porsche sold yesterday. James has wanted to sell it to be more prepared if there is an emergency, or downturn in the economy. We have had that car for 9 years, it was very sad to see it go. We thoroughly loved and enjoyed that little car. We are happy that the man who got it was as thrilled about it as we have been. He is a judge from Klamath Falls--I hope this means he will take real good care of it. Aaron handled the transaction for us and we are grateful to him for that.

I am up in Seattle with my mom. All is well here, I will be home in Saturday.

I didn't hear from James last night--they were at a campground in Mesquite Spring and had no cell service.

Yesterday they were at a racetrack where the rocks move around seemingly on their own, he thought it was 'very cool'.

Today they went to Furnace Creek. When I looked it up on the Weather Channel it said it was 90 degrees there--and that was before noon!

Tonight he stays in Emigrant Campground and then they start their three day trip home--I think, unless their plans have changed! The plan was to take the coastal route last I heard, but it also depended on weather.

James had dinner last night at a place in Beatty, NV. He tried to send this last night and it wouldn't send. Here are George, Rennie, James and Kirk.

Today they rode through Titus Canyon. He said the scenery is beautiful. The next picture is James and Kirk coming out of Titus Canyon.

The last two pictures are: From Dante's View down to Badwater and Zabriskies point.

He is having a great time! Tomorrow they leave for a different part of Death Valley where they will camp for two nights.

Our friend Rennie invited us to his cabin in Bend to spend some time with him as well as his son, and mom, sister and her husband that were visiting from Amsterdam and England. We arrived Saturday morning and immediately headed to Mt. Bachelor for skiing. The temperature outside was 36 degrees and and the weather was beautiful! We found it was more like Spring skiing. Rennie, his sister Trixie, James and I had lots of fun skiing.

The next morning after church, we took a walk along the Deschutes River. It was interesting to see the ice floating downriver. We watched and listened as it pulled more ice down from the ice built up along the side of its path. As we watched it being carried further downstream, it piled up, forming a dam where the water rushed underneath and then hurried around the bend.

Later we went on a long ride on bikes--I have only been on a single bike once that I can remember in the past 20 years. I much prefer the tandem.

Monday we drove back toward Mt Bachelor to go snowmobiling. Since there isn't a lot if snow, I wondered it we would be able to do it. We came to an area that had enough snow for us to enjoy ourselves. We had a lot of fun, James and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group a couple times, which was frustrating--since we didn't know where we were or where we were going. We are grateful for cell phones that connected us back up. The area we were in was gorgeous with the mountains and snow. This was only the second time I have been snowmobiling, but I think I will enjoy it.

We enjoyed some English dishes we had 'English Fry-up' with fried bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers. This was served with toast, pancake and sausages. For dinner we had 'Bangers and Mashed'. It was all very good. And we enjoyed getting to know Rennie's family--hearing about their lives in Amsterdam and England. His mother 'Caroline' lived during the war and we listened to her war stories; what her life was like from 1939-1945. We can tell it still effects her deeply.

Today, under cloudy skies, we took another long beautiful walk along the Deschutes River--which had thawed since our last walk. We were grateful for the scenery around us. After lunch we headed west toward home as a light rain started to fall.