SWSP To Lakewood, WA

Mike and Tina’s Excellent adventure Continues…
Sept 6, 2011

The alarm went off at 6:30 AM, unghh, roll over to shut it off and come face to butt with our smallest dog, Punky. Of course, once the kids know we’re awake it’s time to bounce around the bed and say “Woof, woof, grrrr, arff!” (Pet me, pet me, oh yeah, ahhhh).

Well, no point in laying about and so starts another day on the road. Yes, that’s right, on the road. After all we’ve been camping here at South Whidbey State Park since April 13th, but today we are leaving our Camp Host duties behind as we start trekking to our condo in Naples FL.

With our morning wakeup routine over, the dogs walked and fed, we had a cup of coffee and some breakfast. The past few days we had wrapped things up at the park, put things away, washed the cars, put the Mercedes in storage, loaded the kayaks on the car, swept and folded up the outdoor carpet and basically got ready to leave. Everything was in hand to get on the road early.

I fired up the rig to let it warm up and went to pull in the slides… nothing doing. The batteries were dead. With the generator running we gave it about twenty minutes and finally got the slides in – whewww! Then, with a lot of jockeying, toooing and frowwwing we eased our way out of the site and got ourselves pointed in the right direction. we attached the tow dolly and I headed out of the park and up to the entrance where we hooked up the car and headed for Sedro Woolley.

Our first stop was JR’s RV Service to have him check out a couple of problems. We got there about 9:30, dropped the car and disconnected the tow dolly. Since we needed to do something for the next several hours we went into town and mailed a package at UPS then drove out to Riverside Park where we spent a couple of hours walking the dogs, reading and enjoying the warm weather. From there we went back to town and had lunch at the town diner before returning to JR’s.

Dangggg, a Dingggg

They still needed another couple of hours so we went back to the car with our books for an hour then went back to a small park in town to walk the dogs. We finally wrapped everything up at JR’s and were headed for the freeway when I noticed a crack in the drivers side windshield.

Since we were close to the Burlington Camping World we pulled in and had one of their service techs take a look at it. He recommended we research a place in LA where we could get it replaced, call them early and make arrangements to get it done while we were there since we planned to stay in that area for a week to ten days.

With that out of the way and keeping a wary eye on the crack we headed for the freeway for the drive to Tina’s Moms house in Lakewood. Three and a half hours of white knuckle commuter traffic later we pulled into Mom’s driveway, set up the rig and collapsed for the evening.

Miles traveled today, 150. Total for the trip so far, 162 miles. To see our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Maui Vacation

May 27th

The long awaited trip to warmer weather finally arrived. We left our motorhome in South Whidbey State Park at 4:00 AM and caught the 4:40 ferry for the Mukilteo and the drive to the airport. Leaving our car at the "Extra Car" car park, the shuttle took us to our check-in at Alaska Air to check our bags. Twenty minutes later after passing through security, we met Marni, Darren and Emma and had a bite to eat for breakfast.

The flight, though long, was uneventful as we landed at Kahalui Airport on Maui. The sun was shining, soft breezes carried the scents of Plumeria and Bouganvilla as we picked up our bags and made our way to Budget where we picked up our rental car. Then we were off to our lodgings at the Kaanapali Beach Club (http://www.diamondresorts.com/Ka%27anapali-Beach-Club-Photo-Gallery) arriving around 1:00 PM Maui time.

After checking in we changed clothes and headed downstairs for a bite to eat before heading for the pool and beach. It was a beautiful day even though the winds were fairly strong and the surf was running. Later that evening we went into Kaanapali to the Castaway Cafe (http://www.castawaycafe.com/) for dinner on the beach.

After dinner we all retired to our rooms to rest up and get ready for the next day.


May 28th

The sun woke us up coming through our bedroom window. Tina made coffee and a little later everyone gathered in our room to discuss breakfast. We decided to try CJ's Deli and Diner (http://www.cjsmaui.com/). After breakfast we headed into Lahaina for a bit of a walkabout and a little shopping.

Parking at the south end of town we walked back to the big Banyon Tree in Banyon Tree Park (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/maui/html/sites/banyan_tree.html) where there was a very nice arts and crafts sale going on. We spent an hour there then walked over to the Lahaina harbor marina where a fishing boat had come in and was displaying a huge Yellowfin Tuna and several other smaller Ahi. From there we walked through town checking out the shops on Front Street before heading back to Kaanapali and the pool.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach with pupu's and drinks from the poolside cafe, working on a tan, cooling off in the pool and checking out the waves. For dinner we walked across the street to a little place called "Nachos Grande" where we had a nice mexican meal of Burritos. Walking back to the hotel we went down to the beach to watch the sun set. What a beautiful day.


May 29th

Marni and Tina went grocery shopping this morning while Emma, Darren and I went down to the pool. We went to lunch in our room after the girls got back from shopping. The rest of the day was down at the pool and beach, after all, this was a vacation - heh, heh, with dinner at the poolside cafe.


May 30th

Today, Marni, Darren and Emma were going on a "Quad Tour" at the Kahoma Ranch (http://www.kahomaranch.com/) in the hills above Lahaina. Since Tina and I wanted to go to Hilo Hattie's, we dropped the kids off at the Ranch pickup point for their adventure. Then Tina and I went into town, parked in front of Hilo Hatties with the tour busses and went in to buy some new Hawaiian shirts for me and other goodies to bring home.

Leaving Hilo Hattie's we walked down to Old Lahaina and did some more shopping, finding a beautiful pendant necklace for Tina and and several nice pieces for Marni's birthday. The pendant was made from rose Gold with a curved setting for 1.6 carrets of Chocolate diamonds. The necklace was also of rose gold and even though the piece was deeply discounted, we weren't sure we wanted to spend that much. So we took their business card and said we'd think it over as we'd be in town for another five days.

By now it was time to pick up the kids from their wheeled adventure so we walked back to the car and drove over to the New Lahaina business park. They arrived a few minutes after we got there looking like they'd been rolling in Maui's red dirt. It was time for lunch but they didn't feel comfortable going out like that, so we drove back to Kaanapali and dropped them off at the hotel. I had found a great little place for lunch called "Star Noodle", so we drove back to Lahaina for lunch. We shared an order of Pork buns which was served kinda like a taco in that it was pork inside of a folded bun rather than the usual stuffed bun. Tina had Pad Thai and I had Star Noodles which had generous pieces of roast pork, egg & delicious broth. I couldn't finish both the bun & the ramen as it was just too filling! Definitely worth the trip.

After we went back to the hotel, Tina took Marni and Emma into Lahaina to show Marni the necklace she wanted. Needless to say, while they were ooohing and ahhhing over it Marni spotted a beautiful diamond crusted starfish pendant she fell in love with, naturally. Well, after drooling over the bling, the girls finally decided to forgo the thrill of acquiring some high end jewelery and came back to the hotel where we had a great pizza for dinner, ordered from the pizza place by the pool. And thus ended another beautiful day on Maui!


May 31st (Marni's Birthday)

Today we decided to do some exploring so we drove up to the north end of Maui looking for the blowholes at Nakalele Point. The drive from Kaanapali up past Napili through Kapalua and on to Nakalele Point is extraordinary and is part of the adventure drive around the North end of Maui over to Wailuku. We finally arrived and parked just off the road with several other intrepid explorers and walked down toward the lookout over the beach.

Nakalele Blowhole is the result of the ocean wearing away the shore below the lava shelf. With each wave, water is forced through a hole in the lava shelf resulting in the "eruption" of water similar to a geyser. The "blowing" of the water varies dramatically depending on tide levels and wave action. High tide and strong surf result in the best effects, but we could see the geyser erupting on the point axs the waves pounded on the shore. After taking some photos we decided not to try and find our way down to the point being content to watch the waves crash in sending great gouts of water flying up into the air where the wind caught the geyser and fanned it out in a large spray.

After returning to the hotel we got ready to go to Marni's Birthday Lu'au at the Hyatt Regency. Having special seating we are among the first to enter the dining area. The Lu'au started when we were greeted with a shell lei and fresh mai tais or fruit punch before being seated. While the rest of the diners entered the dining area a local group performed traditional Hawaiian music and several dancers performed on the stage. This was followed by the torch lighting ceremony and the unveiling of the main dish, Kalua Pua'a, pit roasted whole pig. During dinner we were entertained with a Polynesian fashion show featuring the islands most exotic pareaus (sarong) in creative styles.

After a sumptuous dinner and desert the second half of the entertainment proceeded with authentic dances and music of the old Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and Rarotonga culminating with a fire dance and a return of the island princess. It was really spectacular and Marni enjoyed herself immensely!

After we got back to the hotel, Tina brought out a birthday cake and we had our own private birthday celebration, a nice way to end a wonderful day!


June 1st

After breakfast, Tina told Marni that we were going back into Lahaina to take them to Hilo Hattie's. Once the girls , including Emma, were done shopping, we decided to walk into Old Lahaina Town for lunch and to pick up the photos of Marni & Emma with the parrots. The guy with the parrots wasn't there so we stopped at Gold Island Jewelery to look at the necklace Tina liked. While I negotiated a price for the necklace, Marni showed Darren the one she wanted. While she was busy showing Darren, I asked the salesman to give me his best deal on both pieces. We struck a price and Tina told Marni "Happy Birthday"! Marni was blown away but we were happy we could get her a nice piece of jewelery she would enjoy and remind her of her trip to Hawaii.

After we returned to the hotel, Emma and I went and rented snorkle gear and went out to the reef in front of the hotel to get in a little practice in preparation for the next day. We went out twice during the afternoon and I was amazed at how quickly Emma took to it - she's a natural!

Later that evening we went to Moose McGillycuddys (http://moosemcgillycuddys.com/Lahaina-Maui.html) for dinner and to watch the sunset.


June 2nd

Another beautiful day in paradise. Everybody was up early as we had to be at slip 103 in Malea Harbor by 7:00 AM to catch our boat to Molokini. We got there a little early and found a parking spot within 50 yards of our boat, the "Quicksilver", a twin hulled dive boat with upper and lower decks and a cabin with a galley and bar.

After signing in we were shown aboard and given a light breakfast of fruits and juices before heading out of the harbor for Molokini. The trip out to the island took about 45 minutes which allowed us to get fitted with "shorty" wet suits to help us keep warm in the cooler waters out in the main channel. Once we arrived at the anchorage, the dive master had us in the water almost immediately and the five of us spent a half hour or more swimming with the fish and marveling at all the different coral formations and colors.

From Molokini, the captain took us to a place south of Makena called Turtle Town where there are usually lots of big green sea turtle. We saw several as we anchored then it was into the water to look for turtles and check out all the fish swimming in the coral canyons of the reef. Simply beautiful. And turtles too! Marni, Darren, Tina and I came in early but Emma stayed out until the call back signal. She had a great time and saw lots of turtles.

After leaving Turtle town we went in search of Dolphins while having a great lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, a great macaroni/potato salad, fruit and beverages of your choice.we didn't see any dolphins this trip but it was a really special trip with all the family time.


June 3rd

Our last day to play! We walked across the street for breakfast then went next door to Snorkle Bob's to rent gear for the day for me, Tina and Emma. The rest of the day we spent in the water, at the pool, relaxing and just taking it easy. Emma had a great time swimming with Tina and showing off her diving skills as we snorkled in front of the hotel. It was really special to spend time with Emma doing something she enjoyed that we could enjoy too!

Later we went to the Hula Grill (http://www.hulagrill.com/) in Whalers Village Shopping Center. We had an excellent dinner for our last night followed by one last opportunity to get in a little last minute shopping.

After our walk around Whalers Village we drove back to the hotel and basically called it a night since we had to be up early for our trip home.


June 4th

Once again we were up early for the trip to the airport. Everything went smoothly - the drive in to the airport, turning in the rental car, dropping off our baggage, getting through security and boarding our plane. The flight to Portland was uneventful (a good thing) as was our flight to Seattle. Arriving at SeaTac we all wnt down to the baggage claim area and got our bags. We were all sad the trip was over but happy to have had the opportunity to spend time together on a vacation we'll all remember for a long time!

Aloha!

To see all our photo albums, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Wednesday, April 20th

Another nice day, no rain last night but still cold - woke up to about 35 degrees out. Even the dogs prance about and want to hurry back to the coach!

I spent the morning working on the computer trying to get caught up on my work for Friends of Freeland and loading Microsoft "Office 360" to start getting a workgroup environment in place for the board. With all the trouble I'm having with SugarSync, everything I do has been impacted. Oh well, it'll all come together soon.

By 9:30AM we were ready to head out so we packed up the dogs, leashes, towels for wet little feet grabbed the camera and left the park. With a stop in Oak Harbor for a Starbucks Mocha, we made good time arriving in the fields outside La Conner around 11AM.

Following the "Tulip Tour " signs we were able to drive past many fields of intense colors ending up at Tulip Town. This is a very large farm with many, many acres under cultivation. They do both wholesale and retail plus there is a large garden shop and gift store.

Walking past the gate and through the entry displays we almost went on a Tulip Wagon Tour through the fields but with the wind blowing out of the northwest, we decided we'd stay warmer by walking around instead. You can see from our photos, there is a wonderful variety of tulips being grown here. the colors range from pearly white to vivid yellows and reds, long rows of pink, purple and orange alongside flowers with mixed colors. Some flowers had little or no resemblance to tulips and displayed multi petal arrangements like peonies, roses or ranunculus. It was quite a treat to see so much variety.

By the time we came in from the fields and wandered through the gift shop it was 1:30PM so we headed for the car, took the kids for a short walk and drove into LaConner for lunch.

We went to a little place right on the slough called, "Waterfront Cafe" (http://www.laconnerwaterfrontcafe.com/).Since it was too chilly for us we sat inside and had Fish and Chips while we watched a half dozen Bald Eagles wheeling through the air over the water, swirling and swooping down to pluck fish from the Swinomish Slough. The food was very good.

Leaving LaConner we crossed over the bridge south of town and drove the back roads over to Deception Pass. Making our way around Similk Baywe passed through several small waterfront communities providing us with opportunities to see different parts of the area. Back on Hwy 20, we crossed the bridge and drove to Oak Harbor where we stopped at Walmart for a few items before returning to the coach and a late dinner.

The rest of the evening we spent relaxing and reading, working on the blog and uploading photos.

To see all our photos, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Our First Week at South Whidbey State Park

Saturday, April 16th

The temperatures have been in the mid-thirty's overnight, warming up to the high forty's in the afternoon. So even though it hasn't rained much during the day, it still is wet out when we work. This morning we started out in campsite #19 and worked our way through the next 11 sites leaving the six utility sites which run through the middle of our loop for tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon, a van full of kids stopped by our site to ask about the group camp. While Tina contacted Ranger Tess, I led them over to the entrance to the group camp, unlocked the gate and we all went down to the group Camp. Turns out they had two vans with twenty kids from Seattle, out for a weekend in the woods. Ranger Tess arrived and we started to clean up the site. It wasn't slated for this until next week, but two hours later we had all the downed branches moved and the area ready for campers. The last thing I did was take the trash cans up to the dumpster and set them up with clean bags. Then after dinner we closed the gate for the night, retired to watch a movie and call it day.

No photos today.

Sunday, April 17th

Once again we had a pretty good day, rain at night with a mostly sunny day. As campers depart, we go to each site, check things out and clean up as necessary, including the group site. By 3pm we were pretty much done so we finished the utility sites, swept out the bathrooms, cleaned up the last debris pile and fixed a post in site 34.

With sun in the sky and temperatures hovering around 50 degrees we decide to hike down to the beach with the dogs. The trail head is only a 100 yards from our site and the trail winds back and forth along the hillside, crossing a stream before dropping down the bluff with a series of steep stairs. Reaching the beach, the kids were let loose to run around. It was very nice with the tide out about half way and several other people walking along the sand. Naturally Wicket found something to roll in. By the time we got there she had finished getting all scented up - turns out it looked like some sort of intestine from a large shark, probably one of our native six gills which can grow to over 18 feet in length. Wheeuuweee, just what we needed, a dog fish - heheheh! After an hour on the beach we returned to the coach, cleaned the dogs up, had dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie (no TV reception here) and reading.

To see all our pictures, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Monday, April 18th

Another beautiful morning so we were up and at it by 9:30AM. I took the cart and went up to the office to see what was on this mornings list. I had no camp sites to clean, so I figured I'd replace a camp site post. But first I had to repair the post hole digger. There were two in the shop, both with one handle. So I took the oldest one and tried to take the bolts out by undoing the nuts. No luch, they were rusted solid. An hour later I had managed to hacksaw through three bolts to free up one good handle, remove the remains of a broken handle and find new nuts and bolts. Two hours down and I was able to reassemble one good post hole digger.

With that done, I went to site 31 and dug out a new post hole. Using some stakes and a hand maul, I got the post secured. With that done I stopped for lunch. After lunch, I went back up to the shop to find some rope and a ladder. Right across from our site was a small Madrona tree that needed to be pulled back out of the way of bigger rigs. After finding a stable position for the ladder, I got a rope secured around a large Douglas Fir tree and ran it out to the Madrona. With Tina's help we got the small tree pulled back and double tied off to the bigger tree.

While we work around the camp we frequently get stopped by people driving through so we spend some time answering questions. Today we met a young couple from Wisconsin out walking their Labrador, "Penny". They were staying for a couple of days on their way to Vancouver Island, part of their month long 'road trip'. We suggested they check out site 29 as it is secluded but close to the trails.

No pictures today.

Tuesday, April 19th

No rain last night but it got really cold. Punky usually has me get up by 6:30AM, so after I get done with my morning routine, dress and get them outside for their morning walk it's usually no later than 7AM. In fact we had to get the big oil filled heater out last Thursday so we don't use up all our propane in the first three weeks. anyway, it's cold enough in the morning that we don't go out without gloves and bundled up in our winter coats. But by 9:30 it's usually over 40 so working is okay, you just have to be dressed for it.

We went and visited with Ranger Tess to see what else she wanted done - start cutting back the dirt overspill that accumulates over the winter on the edge of the road and whatever needs to be done on the trails. So while Tina went around the camp with some cleaner and rags cleaning off the park rules signs staplet to the site tables, I took a flat bladed shovel and started reclaiming 6 to 12 inches of roadway, and trimming the bushes along the sharp bends so they don't scrape the sides of the rigs.After geeting a good start, we broke for lunch.

After lunch, Tina went to town to do some shopping and get her nails done. I grabbed a shovel and some pruners and headed for the beach trail. I trimmed up a big tree that had fallen across the trail so people could get under it without getting a sharp stick in the eye. Then I spent three hours doing ditch clearing so water coming off the hill would run down and collect in the ditch before cutting across the trail. Most of it was dried leaves and forest debris, but there were several small slides that needed to be cleared and re-trenched, salmon berry bushes to cut back and lots of general clean up. Later I took the dogs for a walk to the beach and took a couple of rolls of TP to the outhouse just above the stairs. That pretty much took care of our day. With nice weather being forecast for tomorrow, we decided to go visit the Tulip fields.

No pictures today.

Thursday the 14th

We spent the day relaxing and walking around the park with the dogs. Spotty showers all day and very cold. We got the electric heater out to supplement the propane furnaces.

Friday the 15th

We had our Camp Host orientation this morning with Ranger Patty and Ranger Tess and received our golf cart and tools. We now have three manuals – Host, Safety and Money Handling for when we sell firewood or work at the small camp store.

After meeting with Rangers Patty and Tess we grabbed our new Park Volunteer vests, put on our Volunteer hats and set off to work. We started out in campsite #1, raking up all the deadfall and branches, cleaning out the fire pit and sweeping off the table. Bigger branches went into the woods to become compost while the smaller stuff was raked to the side leaving each site fresh and looking well tended. The last thing we do is to put a small rock on top of the fire pit grill to signify that the site was ready for use.

We worked our way through the first 18 sites which brought us to our site, half way through the 36 sites on our loop. Tess had brought me a replacement faucet for our site, so I took a few minutes and replaced it so we could have full pressure. The old valve was leaking pretty badly. Once that was done we turned on the water full pressure and had good water in the rig, especially for showers!

Once that was done, I spent half an hour putting tool holders on our personal park vehicle which we call our "Wog Wheels", so named in honor of our LA friends Don and Diane. By this time we had put in over nine hours.

We need to work a combined total of about 5-6 hours a day to meet our 28 hour a week requirement. Tina made a great dinner and except for having to go close the park gate at 9PM, we settled in for the night.

To see all our photos, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Moving Out and Moving In

The next three weeks we dedicated as much time as possible to packing all our personal belongings and taking them to storage. Cleaning the house, working on things that needed repairs (septic alarm, driveway, dryer vent, lawns, etc.).

Wednesday, April 13th

Today we were all done packing and storing and loading the motor home as well. With nothing left to do at the house, we waited until afternoon when the WhidbeyTel workers were done for the day (they are working along our one lane road putting in fiber cable).

Pulling out of the driveway we drove down to Freeland – me in the motor home, Tina in the car. While I filled the propane and fuel tanks at Skagit Farmers Supply, Tina did some grocery shopping across the street at PayLess. Then we headed over to South Whidbey State Park where we will spend the summer as Camp Hosts.

As is typical in most northwest state parks, the road in was built when the biggest thing to come into the park was a small camping trailer. The road twists and turns, winding through old growth forest, between huge trees leaving little room for a driving mistake when your rig is over forty feet with the bicycle rack plus towing the buddy trailer for the car. I scraped by several bushes but finally made my way to the camp host site.

After disconnecting the trailer and with excellent instructions from Tina, I was able to get the rig into the site, leveled, slides out, connected to power, water and septic by 6:00 pm, just in time for dinner! And it wasn’t raining!!

But by ten o’clock the temperature was down in the 30’s, the rain was coming down and it was all together a nasty night out. Fortunately we were prepared for it and put an extra blanket on the bed.

To see all our photos, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

House Lease and Victoria

One week later

Back home on Whidbey again and I’m doing my email one morning. I got an open request from some people I know who are looking to rent a home. They mention some terms, so with the market for sellers being what it is we sent them a note asking if they’d like to look at our place.

They came over and we talked about the possibility of them buying our place on a lease to own agreement. They really want to rent for now, so we made some agreements and invited them to dinner so we could sign a lease agreement.

With a lease signed, we had about a month to move all our personal stuff into storage, which was fine, except we had all sorts of personal commitments, like Tina spending a week at her Mom’s to visit with sister Denise who had flown in from Wisconsin, a three day weekend in Victoria with Denise and sister Shanda, Chamber of Commerce meetings, Friends of Freeland meetings, etc.

Monday, March 27th

Back from our weekend in Victoria – we had a great time. We did lots of walking around town, visited the Empress Hotel, Chinatown, Buchart Gardens, Craigdaroch Castle. We also walked to Cook Village for lunch at the Irish Pub, visited through Beacon Hill Park and walked along the beach and along the inner harbor.

To see all our photos, click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski