North To Alaska

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Marsha, If you've never done the Seattle Underground Tour, it's a lot of fun. And be sure to visit Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, a good start for the rest of the park. Fortunately, we've been to the Seattle part of KLGO; unfortunately, we've never been to the Alaska part.

Send lots and lots and lots of pictures. We may never get there live and in person :)  :(
Wendy
 
Thanks for the Seattle tip Wendy. 

I actually made reservations for a 1/2 day city tour of Portland for Friday, then the underground tour of the shangahi (spelling) tunnels for Saturday.  I'll be sure and check the Seattle info.

There are so many Forum members going to Alaska that hopefully you'll have bunches and bunches of photos.

Marsha~
 
Marsha/CA said:
Then we are off to Port Townsend, WA (on the point) and will be there for 5 days or so.    We've not spent much time in either Portland or Seattle, so it should be fun.

Marsha~
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Portland and Seattle are 2 of our favorite cities.  Dean worked for Boeing, and he spent a lot of time in Seattle and never saw the city--just flew in, worked, flew out.  So BMH (Before Motor Home), we spent a week up there.  I'm sure you'll see the famous sights, but a hidden wonder is the Weyerhauser plant in Federal Way, just a few minutes down the road, which has the most beautiful collection of bonsai plants from all over the world, and each is elegantly displayed in its own "frame".  It is my one place I have to go when we are in the area.  I was so disappointed that it was not given a "Gem" rating by AAA that I wrote them a letter.  It is the only time I have recommended an attraction for Gem status.

In Portland, consider the Japanese Gardens at Washington Park.  They are the best we've seen anywhere in the U.S., and I stop at them all. 

You might want to also consider Northwestern Trek in Eatonville.  It is fabulous.

We've spent a lot of time in Portland and Seattle, but know nothing of Port Townsend.  Tell me more...  I gave you the highest highlights on P & S.  If you want more info on Portland and Seattle, let me know.

 
Marsha, I'll be following your thread with great interest.  You are headed up the same way we will be returning.  We have to be in Klamath Falls Oregon the first week of September for DH's 50th high school reunion.  We are looking forward to getting back to the west coast part of things.
I'll keep a lookout in Alaska for the other allegro bus!

Right now we are in Fort Nelson, BC headed for the Yukon.  We will probably stop at Liard Hot Springs for the night.  DH wants to see if people wear clothes at the hot springs.  His best friend in Oregon asked me to take pictures if that is the case.  Let me tell you, knowing that the park is probably full of retired folks headed for Alaska and bears to chase them, I'm not too sure they know what they're asking for.  LOL.
 
On our way to Alaska in 2001, DW & I stopped by the Liard Hot Springs and was planning on taking a little swim. However, since there was a bear swimming in the springs we marked that event off our bucket list.
 
Marsha:

Hudson Point Marina CG has some great views of the Sound but unfortunately the ferry takes you across to Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, From there it is a 75-90 minute drive to Seattle. Optionally you can drive down to Bainbridge Island (30 minutes or so) and take the ferry from there to downtown Seattle.
 
Today, Saturday AM, we took Charlie to a large off leash area to run and play and get some hiking in.  This afternoon at 2:00 we are scheduled to do the Shangahi (sp?) tunnel walking tour.  Let's try to touch base this evening.

I'm emailing you are cell phone numbers.

Marsha~
 
Update:

I have to tell ya, I'm a sunny California girl.  We haven't seen the sun for any length of time since we arrived in Oregon.  I love all the greenery, but I miss my sunshine every once in a while.

On Friday, we reserved a driving van tour of the city of Portland.  It was a 3 1/2 hour ride.  We visited nearly every different section of Portland:  China town, Alphabet town, Old town, and the Portland Rose Garden.  The Rose Garden is outstanding.  This town is busy with bike riders, skate boarders and a wide variety of types of people.  They have a saying: "Keep Portland Weird" and weird it is.  Lots of brightly colored hair, outrageous outfits and street people everywhere.  It gives Venice, California a run for it's money.  There were homeless people on every corner.  We learned about the history of Portland and why its' city blocks are shorter blocks than other large cities.  If you have a shorter block, you have more corners to sell which are more expensive, thus more revenue.  There are several large mountains within view of Portland, so the scenery is beautiful.  We love all the different hardwood trees and flowers.  The "Rhodeys" (rhodendrums) as the locals call them are in bloom, but have been a bit beaten down with the heavy rains we have been having.

On Saturday we jumped up early and found a large (1400 acre) off leash park for Charlie.  He had a ball and we got in some good exercise.  It's always fun to go someplace like this because you get to talk to the locals who have great suggestions and info about the surrounding area.

Later that afternoon we drove back into Portland for the "Underground tunnel" tour.  Tim and I had seen an Anthony Bourdein travel show about Portland and especially regarding the underground tunnels where men were knocked on the head, drugged or just plain kidnapped to work on the ships carrying cargo.  The tour we took, said historically there is little truth to the idea that men were plunged through trap doors in the floor, or pushed through sliding doors in the basement.  The tunnels were built to release water under the buildings when the tides came in and out.  They were also used to transport cargo from the ships and from building to building.  We heard lots of stories of the past and got a good feel of what it must have been like in the port city.

We used Sunday as a "relax" day and to have a chance to visit with Linda and Dean Stock who are parked in the same campground.  However after several phone calls we learned they were heading home.  We got in a quick visit, helped Dean unhook, gave hugs and wished them good luck on their trip back home. 

As we were walking back to our campsite, we noticed fluid under the right rear jack....oh boy...what now.  Tim gave it a quick look, but could not see anything obvious.  We got on the HWH website and found an authorized mobile repair guy.  We called expecting an answer machine saying they weren't open until Tuesday because of Memorial Day; but they fella answered and is coming out this afternoon to see what is going on.  I'm sure we could probably limp along, but we didn't want a major problem during our adventure.  Hopefully it's an easy fix....or not...keeping our fingers crossed and little request sent upward.

If it's a quick fix, we will be headed to Port Townsend on Tuesday.

Marsha~
 
Marsha/CA said:
I love all the greenery, but I miss my sunshine every once in a while.
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My parents live in central Oregon where it isn't so green and isn't so wet. They say there's a reason why it's so green on the west side of the Cascades and it's because of rain !

Marsha/CA said:
There were homeless people on every corner. 
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We went on a tour of Portland a few years ago. The woman who was giving the tour told us that there were no homeless people in Portland, that they all go home at night :)

Hope your leak is a quick easy fix and the Alaska trip can continue.

Wendy
 
Marsha,

There is a good RV repair shop just up the street behind the gas station where you turn to get on the freeway.  They bailed us out a couple of times.  oncer required a visit to the park for a jack problem.  They fixed it in a minute or so and wouldn't charge for the call.  Nice people.
 
Thanks Jim,

You are the second person to give that RV repair shop a recommendation.  We are only using this mobile guy because he was listed on the HWH recommended repair people.  But if he doesn't work out, we'll get the one down the street.

Thanks, are you guys getting any nearer to being on the road?

Marsha~
 
Marsha/CA said:
Thanks, are you guys getting any nearer to being on the road?
Click to expand...

Short answer, no.  I see the neurosurgeon on Wednesday and hopefull he will see something in the MRI I had last week that can be fixed.  I am at least having a few good days but still more bad than good.  I am able to do without pain meds although it can be tough at times. 

Somehow I have to be able to travel to Portland in August for a great grand daughters first birthday.  If all else fails, I will have to fly and even then that will be an ordeal unless I improve significantly.
 
Ok...HWH guy just left.  It was a loose fitting, tightened it, billed us and now we are ready to move on to Port Townsend, WA tomorrow!

Marsha~
 
Jeff....we are enjoying Port Hudson,.......even in the rain!

We left Portland this morning around 10ish and drove to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula.  It was a very pretty scenic drive with small houses perched along the shoreline nestled in trees and ferns.  Quaint little small communities with small restaurants/shops.  Lots of RV spots right along the water's edge.  We saw signs for seafood; coffee shops and some small motels.

After the HWH repair guy left on Monday night, Tim wasn't convinced the problem was fixed.  When he put his hand up around the compression fitting that was supposed to be our problem, he was still getting fluid on his hand and some drips on the jack foot.  So he call the repair man back on Tuesday morning scheduling him to return to see what else was going on.  The repairman arrived late --5:30, climbed under the coach and decided to actually remove the fitting to see if it was damaged in any way.  It wasn't, so he put teflon tape around the joint, retighted and this morning at 6 am, no leak. 

I had cancelled our reservation at Port Townsend campground for fear that we had a more serious problem with the jack; but when Tim found everything dry this morning, he felt pretty confident that everything was OK.  At 8:15 am, I called the campground and said we were coming.  I really didn't have worry about not having a space, there are only a couple of campers here with lots of empty spaces.

The drive was really pretty up I5 and then onto 101N.  101N winds along the water's edge, climbs a bit then flattens out coming into Port Townsend.  We had sunny skies as we got closer and could see all the beautiful Olympic mountains, it's a good thing we got a sneak peak because it is supposed to rain for the next 5 days.  It was a slow drive from Olympia to PT, you just could not make a lot of time.

Port Townsend is very quaint.  Lots of old buildings, lots of good restaurants and lots of road work.  They have torn up the main street to rebuild the streets as well as, it looks like. the water/sever drain systems.  However all the shops and businesses are open.  We went to eat at a recommened restaurant tonight and I had hazelnut smothered halibut....it was fabulous.  Tim had chicken tacos which he said were suburb.  Because we are crossing into Canada in a few days, we've limited our liquor supply, so after dinner we did a "beer" run. ;)

We plan to stay here until Monday morning to visit the park, tour Seattle and eat more seafood!!!

Pictures to come, if it's not too rainy.

Marsha~
 
Hi Marie,  I would sure like sunny warm weather where I could actually see things..... ;D  But as my granddaughter's  kindergarten teacher said:  "ya get what you get and you don't throw a fit".  I've taken that to heart.

Where are you guys?  I was thinking of you the other day.  Hopefully you are out RVing somewhere.

Marsha~
 
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