Sol Duc Resort

It was a long drive to our camp site.  We followed Ben & Erin.  We made several "potty" stops as well as a stop for lunch, grocery shopping and getting gas. It was a long drive up the Olympic Penisula past Port Townsend and the Port Angeles. The Sol Duc Resort is right next to the the Olympic National Forest.  I bought a senior pass - good for life.  We saved $15. We got to our 2 campsites. They were next to each other. They were very nice sites, off from the road and down near the stream. Ben, Erin, Sean (5) & Robbie (2) were in one site with Mark, Missy, Luke (3) and Rachel (1).  Jeanne, Jay and I were on the other. I borrowed 2 dutch ovens and a pack N play for Rachel.

It is a good thing we got all the tarps up because it rained pretty steadily that night.  At least it waited until we had everything all set up.  We stayed dry.  

handy climbing structure

Missy watching Erin taking a break in the hammock with Rachel, mid dinner prep.

Erin made spaghetti with a delicious sauce and Jay made a peach cobbler in the dutch oven.  

Jeanne, Rachel, Robbie, Missy, Luke, Jay, Erin, Ben and Mark.  Not sure where Sean is.

Monday morning

Breakfasst at the hotel was simple.  Then Jeanne and I went on a walk. We were very close to the Tacoma Glass Museum.  It was closed but we walked over the Chihuly Bridge and saw a few othr fun things.

Ben dropped off Robbie (2 year old)  so that they could get organized with their packing.  Soon we will check out and head up to the Olympic Peninsula.  I am thinking that this might be my last post. 

Tacoma - Sunday, Sept 4

Saturday we got the car all packed up, except for the cooler items.  

Sunday morning after breakfast we finished packing.  We left the house about 8:45 am.  Our goal was 9 am so we were doing great.  The drive to Onalaska was uneventful.  Jay drove.  We went directly to Kathleen (Jeanne's sus) and Lloyd's church.  We got there in time to visit a little before church.  Lloyd is the pastor there.  It is a small church and the people were very friendly.  We went to coffee hour afterwards. Then we went to their house.

Kathleen's giant sunflowers

Kathleen and Lloyd in front of theeir home

 Then Jeanne and Jay took us all out for lunch in Chahalis.  We went to a Chinese Restaurant.  We ordered too much food and I ate too much of it.  We went back to visit some more.  We left about 5 pm to go on to Tacoma.  We stayed in downtown Tacoma.  After settling in we drove to Anthony's on Point Defiance.  A very pretty drive.  We got there before the sunset.

(George was able to retrieve some of my pictures so here are the ones I was going to include)

We were not hungry so we just had drinks and appetizers at the bar.  We started with Peachy Drops. 

Yummy with fresh peaches.  Then I had a sauvignon blanc with my shrimp cocktail.

It was an open kitchen so we could watch them cook.  I kept trying to catch them flaming something.  Finally it happen.  The waitress told one of the chefs what I was trying to do and so he staged it for me.

Funny thing.  We were coming here to connect with Ben and Erin.  They were at a wedding Sunday night.  What we found out was the wedding was right next door to Anthony's.  So we had a brief connection with them.  

 

Saw Ben in a tux.  What a handsome dude.  We gave him a lift back to the hotel.  

Jeanne and I ended the evening with a Bailey's nightcap.

Perfect Timing

Everyone got off ok this morning.  Each set going at a different time and a different direction.  Steve and Jennifer left first, heading off to Sacramento airport.  Then Debbie and Joe left to the Santa Rosa airport.  Their flight was delayed like Sharon's had been the night before.  We had breakfast with Jamie, Pam and Linda before they left to go to San Francisco Airport.  Nathan went with them since he was flying out of SFO.  We were the last ones.  We checked out at 1130 am.  Just before checking out we heated up some left-overs for our lunch.

We were being very leisurely.  We thought our flight was at 1:50 pm so we got on the road before noon.  As we were driving a long I checked the ticket and realized that the time had been changed.  It was at 1:15 pm.  Argh.  Can't really speed up on those windy roads.  Luckily Santa Rosa is very small.  We turned in the car, went through security (the one big question they asked us is if we had any wine).  We had time to sit about 10 minutes before they started boarding.  Whew.  Then once we got to Portland, we scurried to the MAX and caught one just before it left.  Giselle met us.  I had time once we got home, to go on a walk with Giselle.  So we lucked out with each of our connections.  

All in all it was a very nice get together.

Gosh, another hot day!!

We tried a different coffee shop this morning.  It was more expensive and the coffee was not anything special.  So instead of having breakfast there Debbie, Joe and I decided on Sam' Social Club for breakfast.  It was one we had unsuccessfully tried to make a dinner reservation.

I had an egg, corn barrata (cheese) dish that was quite good. 

There was a labyrinth close that we walked.  That was fun.

Then we divided up.  Some people went to rent bikes to cycle out to the Old Faithful Geyser of Calistoga.  Steve, Jennifer, Joe, Debbie and I drove out to the Old Faithful Geyser.  

cute baby goat - only 5 days old

Where the geyser is

Note, the evil eyes, Joyce this picture is for you.

here it goes

quite a sight.  

seen one geyser, seen them all

the Chateau Montelane was close so we went so that I could take some pictures.  It was a beautiful place

after everyone got back to the hotel we picked a place for lunch.  Brannan's 

quite the sandwich

quite the mouthful 

after lunch we went back and did our afternoon swim.  Then Jamie and Pam had to take Sharon to the Santa Rosa airport to send her off.

While they were gone we went to one of the wine tasting places, Romeo's.  We tasted enough to each pick a wine we wanted to drink and then we sat outside and relaxed.  Very nice ambiance.

Fun place to hang out

My attempts at an arty shot

Nathan gave me a hard time by taking his picture.  Then we headed to dinner.  

French Creole cuisine.  

heirloom tomatoes, grilled green tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. very good.

steak frites for me.

It is waxing towards a full moon.

Some of us did not have the ice cream after dinner.  Then we went back to Jamie and Pam's and relaxed.  We are not likely to see Steve and Jennifer in the morning.  They will head off to Sacramento airport.  Debbie and Joe will leave around 7 pm to go to Santa Rosa airport.  Hard to believe that our time together is winding down.  Indian, Italian, Californian, American and French foods.  A lot of local wines.  Some tours.  A lot of relaxing by the pool.  Trying to stay cool during the afternoons especially.  Ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream. Hiking, biking ans swimming.  I think we actually did quite a bit.  

Calistoga

A few comments about Calistoga. This is a very small town.  Santa Rosa is the best airport to use.  But during the summer it is very hot.  There are some things to do around here that we are not doing because of the heat or the expense.  One downtown street. Everything is easy walking within a couple of blocks.  About 10 wine tasting places - we have only done 2, hardly any churches.  A lot of places to hike, A lot of restaurants, but some do not handle large groups.  I could not believe the number of vineyards that we passed driving here, one right after another.  Gorgeous area. A lot of hot spring stuff that we have not taken advantage of.  A lot to do here, but I am not sure that I would rush out to try to come here again.