***HEAVEN***

Not really, but if there were heaven on earth, this is it - Lake Tahoe. We were blessed with beautiful weather every day in the mid 70's and absolutely no clouds or rain. We visited Fallen leaf lake and the Carson river where Buddy was able to go for a much needed swim. One lucky angler landed an 8 pound rainbow traut on the Carson river just before we arrived. I usually catch one pounders. We took the 50 mile + trip around the lake one day. We ate out a lot; had a great mexican dinner at Chevy's, 99 cent tacos and margaritas at the Montbleu casino, a breakfast omlet at our favorite breakfast restaurant in town, and went out to coldstone creamery for a cool ice cream treat. This is our last night here and tonight I will try my luck at the casino. Hope I can find a poker game as most casino's are phasing them out as the slots earn more money. Went to two separate art fairs and continued our christmas shopping (why wait till December). It seems like less people here than past years, must be the economy.

Campground by the Lake

We arrived here July 17 for 5 days. They have electric or electric + water sites in this park, but we opted for the no hookup sites. The hookup sites are closer together, more traffic noise, and cost $11 more per night. We paid $32 per night which included $2 per night for Buddy (our dog) and $4.25 for the resort fee. This is a City Park and located next to an olympic pool and ice hocky rink which are well used and at an additional fee. We camped here last year and it is close to the casino's and the lake is just across the four lane road. This was our second choice as we could not get reservations for Fallen Leaf Campground. Our site was level, huge, and nestled into a mature pine forest. I could not obtain satellite reception here so we rented dvd's at a local Redbox a few blocks away. We could fit our RV, Tahoe, boat and several tents on this site. 30% of campers here use tents and we like the fact that many campers spend their time outdoors around the campfire with their children and dogs. We were situated in the center of the park away from the main street and other residential street on the other side. Unfortunately, this year they were doing a major construction on the main road along the park and did not start till 6PM until 6 AM. Fortunately, we could close our windows to drown out the noise. I feel it a little pricey, but we are in Lake Tahoe and location, location, location. I rate this park F****.
There is so much to do here. The main draw is the lake which is 12 by 22 miles in width and lenght. The lake is absolutely breathtaking with clear blue blue water visability up to a depth of 67 feet. Fishing is great if you hire a guide. They know where the fish are and at $95 you can fill your ice chest with fish. Without the guide, well you play fish. Water skiing is great, but the water here is very cold, usually not warmer than 68 degrees. If you have a boat, there are great restaurants to pull your boat for a quick lunch or dinner; or just a quick tropical drink. Many trails for hikers and of course the Rubicon trail for off road enthusiasts. For tourists, there are vistas all along the lake to enjoy and the most impressive sight is Emerald Bay in my opinion. There are some 57 rivers & streams empting into this lake and only one river exiting, the Truckee River. They control the flow out of the lake and this year with all the rain and snowmelt they reduced the outflow of the Truckee to a trickle. Usually you can rent rafts which end at a restaurant and bar at the end which is another must, however not this year. And of course, those who like to gamble and enjoy various recording artists or comedians, there are the casino's. We have never been here in the winter, but it is a popular destination for snow skiers with the huge snowfall they receive here each year.

Silver City RV Resort

We only traveled 2 hours to this campground in Carson City, Nevada, but we could not get camping in Lake Tahoe area until tomorrow July 17. Nothing to write home about here but we paid $36.73 for one night. The wi-fi was so slow, I used my air card instead. The sites were very close together and all rock except for two 18" well cracked concrete paths to park your tires on. It was level and had 50 amp electric. There was a covered pool in the park and the staff were very helpful and friendly. The streets in the park were only 10 feet wide and if the park were full I would have great difficulty navigating out of my site onto the road without taking out someone else's RV. I could not hook up to the sewer connection as it was 40 feet away from my connection. I can't think of any reason to stay here for more than one night. I rate this park P**. I was so impressed with this place that I forgot to take any pictures - sorry.

Bordertown RV Resort

On July 17 we stayed at this well maintained campground located 10 miles outside of Reno, Nv. This is attached to a casino and we thought we might be able to park overnight in their parking lot for free. No luck so we paid $36.75 for one night as we had to kill 2 days before we would arrive in Lake Tahoe. The sites were tight but there was green grass and bushes or trees between sites. All sites were concrete slab and all roads inside the park were asphalt. They were level and full hookups with 50 amp electric. Dogs were forbidden to walk on any grass areas but they had a small gated area for the dogs to play. Wi-fi was included and it was very fast. This has been one of the best private parks we have stayed at and I would rate it P****. Aggie checked out the casino while I caught up on the blog.

Bear Mountain RV Resort

We stayed here July 13 - 15. This was a private park and for $13 per night we got our moneys worth. There was a well maintained pool here and the park was nestled in the oak trees. We had a relatively level gravel site with full hookups and 30 Amp electric. We could not even run one air conditioner without tripping the breaker. The park was filled with homeless people living in tents and old dilapitated trailors. I rate this park P**. We would not return here but we did tour Lake Shasta and the Dam. The Dam had a 1000 foot drop down to the river. This is the largest lake in California with 365 miles of shoreline. Too bad there are no houses on it. Because of all the rain and snowmelt, the lake is only 9 feet below it's peak height. We were lucky to visit during a cold spell as the temperatures were very moderate in the low 80's. Buddy enjoyed swimming in the Lake and romping along the lakeshore.

Silver Spur RV Park

We stayed here July 5 - 8. We toured Portland, Oregon, and Silver Falls State Park from this park. I rate this park P***. We had a level pull through site with full hookups and 50 amp electric. The park had 2 little fishing ponds and was well maintained. The sites and roads throughout the park were gravel and quite dusty. The staff was very friendly and informative. Our neighbors are full timers and spend 6 months per year and spend the winters in Arizona. Silver Falls had 9 miles of beautiful trails with 9 waterfalls. Unfortunately, we left our camera in the motor home this day and missed some great picture opportunities. Buddy enjoyed romping down the trails and we did hike to one waterfall where Buddy could go for a little swim.
Our trip to Portland was quite busy. We first visited The Old Church to see a concert performed by two college educators from Atlanta, Ga. There was a female pianist and a male tenor who sang 12 songs. Most dated back to the 1800's, but he did sing some German and Irish songs like "Danny Boy". It was a free concert and we enjoyed it. This building used to be a church, but now is only used for public functions and concerts. They put on a free concert every Wednesday. We then strolled through a large park in the middle of the city and sampled fruit and vegetables at the local farmers market. The tomatoes reminded me of the ones my mother grew when I was growing up. I would have bought some at $4 per pound but neither Aggie or I wanted to carry them around all day. We then toured the local police museum. There were old hand guns from the 1800's, sheriff badges, and an old motorcycle with side car. It must be a very stressful job as the average chief of police only lasted about 2 years. After stopping for a sandwich, we were off to Washington Park to visit the Rose Test Garden. They evidently test many different blends of roses here. The park is heavily forested throughout the park except where the Rose Garden was located. There was also a Zoo and a childrens museum in this park.

Logging Museum & Pioneer Village

This museum & village was attached to the Collier State Park and only about 1/2 mile stroll from our campsite. One of these log cabins was built in the 1860's and was still occupied in 1955. It is amazing that people still lived in a small 350 square foot cabin with bedroom, living room and kitchen in the same room. No bathroom as those were located outdoors. The best part of this attraction is that it was free. You would not see this for free in California. Check out the huge wheels on this log transporting machine which was used until the mid 1960's. Horses pulled the logs out of the forest and the big wheels assisted in movement over holes and rocks.

Crater Lake National Park

We could not drive around the whole lake as there was still 20 feet of snow on the road at the higher elevations. They can only clear 1/4 mile of road per day. This lake was created 7700 years ago when the volcano collapsed after an enormous eruption. It then took 800 years for rain and snow to fill the lake. This lake is the deepest lake in the United States and average depth of water is 1148 feet. The maximum depth of the lake is 1943 feet deep. Because of it's depth, the lake provides a beautiful dark blue color. We were blessed with warm sunny weather and temps were in the lower 60's around the rim. The wind was calm and the lake reflected clouds and trees from across the lake on its surface like looking into a mirror. There is only one area in the lake where you can walk to the water as it is a steep 1000 foot drop to the surface of the lake from the rim. The lake is stocked with trout and salmon and fishing is allowed from shore as boats are not allowed on the lake except for a tour boat which was not in operation until later in July.

Collier Memorial State Park

I rate this park F****. This was an Oregon state park and no reservations were accepted which was great for us as we stayed 3 nights, July 9 - 11. We had full hookups, 50 amp electric, a nice level asphalt pad, and two large pristine rivers only steps away from our site. Aggie loved being in the tall pine forest. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were very thick and kept us inside the first two nights. We stopped by a local grocery store and bought some 98% deet which really helped. Also, no satellite or internet reception from our site which made for some early bedtimes. We toured crater lake from this location, a separate post. Went to this really neat little church, (Our Lady of Mount Carmel), which has no Saturday evening mass and only 9:00 AM mass on Sunday. This free standing church only seated maybe 150 people and I think better than 50% were visitors, like us. We also toured an outdoor logging museum and pioneer log cabin village (a separate post) which was adjacent to the state park so we only had to hike ½ mile to it. Buddy enjoyed the hikes and swimming in the 42 degree spring fed river. There were hundreds of chipmunks in this campground and Buddy enjoyed observing them, but I don’t think he cared for the mosquitoes. We met several people in this campground who were on there way to the Good Sam Rally in Redmond, Oregon.

BUSTED!!!

No I did not get ticketed, but 20 minutes out of Silverton, Oregon, our motor home was setting off alarms. The engine was overheating, the alternator light was illuminated, and the motor home started to lose power as we climbed this hill. I suspected the fan belt and sure enough it was loose. It seemed to be intact, but I could not even reach it to tighten it. Thank goodness we had cell reception and we contacted a mechanic in town just a few miles back. It turned out to be a serpentine belt tensionor. We sat on the side of the road for over ten hours while a new part was being ordered and delivered from Portland. Since we were unable to get camping reservations that night we just drove about 100 miles and spent the night in a rest area.

Mill Casino RV Park

We arrived here on June 28 after a short 4 hour cruise along the California and Oregon coast on highway 101. It had rained all night and we drove in and out of fog along the beautiful coastline. The mountains meet the sea with huge rock outcroppings extending out of the sea. This highway rises to 1700 feet from sea level. So you are constantly climbing hills and downshifting to slow down the other side of the hill. Not good for the gas mileage. While gas prices are lower here in Oregon, diesel prices are about the same as California. We stayed at this park last year, but did not publish our stay on the blog. This park has full hookups with 50 amp service. We are only 100 feet from the water on Coos Bay and the casino is just a five minute walk from our site. There is an indoor swimming pool and 2 spas in the casino hotel which were immaculate. We have use of them while we are camping here in the RV Park. The casino also has free camping outside the park for up to one week. We have sunshine and blue skies today, but windy and 66 degrees. I would rate this park P****. They have fenced off an area for a dog run since our last visit and Buddy enjoyed it along with his other little friends. I am using their included wifi. The whole campground is asphalt with a 3 foot strech of plants between sites. Cable TV is also included (about 40 channels). Today is filling up for the 4th of July weekend. We may have to move back to the outside parking area tomorrow if no one cancels. That is fine as Aggie washed all our clothes while here. No poker at the casino so I will save my gambling for Tahoe on our return trip.

More Baby Pics

We finally arrived June 28 at our main destination to see our new granddaughter and also our son & daughter-in-law. We visited Danika & Jamie from 3PM to 5:30PM on June 29 and Matt visited our motorhome after work. I may be a little prejudiced but this is a really cute baby.

Klamath River RV Park

We arrived here on June 24 for 4 nights. I must say that this was a very friendly park. Every evening campers sat around the community campfire and the campground host also joined us. This was a very peaceful park located on the Klamath river just 3 miles from the coast. Although they advertised some 50 amp sites, I did not see any and we had 30 amp, which was fine as the temperatures were in the upper 50's and low 60's during the day. This was a membership park but also accepted the general public. I was a bit irritated because of all the extra fee's. There was a $3 electric surcharge per night. The waterview sites were an additional $5 per night. Wifi was an additiional $2 or $4 per night (brochure quoted $4 and campground host thought it was $2). There was an additional fee of $3 for extra people above 2 per site. Also, it is against the rules to wash and dry clothes in your motorhome or use electric heaters in your rig. However, they provided washers & dryers for an additional fee. We met some great people here and our neighbors were visiting from Europe for a six month holiday which they do every year. Even though there was no swimming in the river in the campground and there was no pool or spa I rate this park P***. We would stay here again even though it was very expensive for a membership park.

We only took one day trip to the coast to let Buddy run free on the sand. We had the whole beach to ourselves and Buddy went for several swims in the river and the ocean.

Delta Shores Resort & Marina

We arrived here on 6/22/11 after about 8 hour drive from home. This park was a little disappointing as the river was not located in the campground, but across the street from the park. While it was only a short 5 minute hike from our campsite, the water was not visible from the campground as the campground was located a good 15 feet below the river. We were lucky to get one of the few 50 amp sites in the park which was important as the temp was in the 90's and we needed both air conditioners to keep the coach cool. This park had a small unheated pool and also had a spa. The pool was well maintained but the spa needed some attention. This was a membership park and fine for a nights stay, but I would not consider returning. The boat slips were not maintained, the river water was very murky and I would not consider it swimming water, and it would be very difficult to launch my boat with our motorhome as the local boat launches were very small. I rate this park P**.

We set out to take a short trip around the area and almost got lost. The roads here follow the river and go for miles with no signage. We finally arrived back after an 80 mile trip.

Danika Noel Mason

Danika arrived here in North Bend, Oregon on 6/18/11 at 7:18 AM. We are planning to leave Wednesday, June 22, to see our new grandaughter. Here are some of the first pictures. Mark & Aggie

Emerald Cove Resort

On May 1, we decided to cruise on over to this park on the Colorado river for 5 nights. This is a membership park with RPI and is located in Earp, Ca. which is in the middle of the desert. This is considered off season as the snow birds have left and the summer boating crowd will arrive on Memorial day. We had full hookups with 50 amp electric and the sites were 20' X 60'. I would like a wider site, but they were adaquate. The resort was pretty baren with only palm trees and olianders for landscaping. Not a speck of grass on the whole property. Waterfront sites were reserved for members who belong to this park. This was overcome by the beautiful clean, clear, blue Colorado river. The staff was very friendly and facilities included a mini golf course, well stocked grocery store, club room with wi-fi access, three pools and two spas which were operating properly and clean. The rest rooms were clean and a bar & grill by the pools had a limited but very reasonable priced fare. Happy hour at the bar from 3 - 6 PM had $1 draught beers. I have not seen that in a long time! This is one of the best parks we have stayed at and I would rate it P****. Air temp was 85 - 100 degrees, and water temp was a surprisingly high 68 - 70 degrees for this time of the year. Buddy went for his swim daily and I joined him twice. We were located only 8 miles from Parker, Az. where there was an indian casino where we went to dinner one night with our new friends Gary & Susan from Arizona. We did take one day to cruise into Parker and check out waterfront houses. We found a 4400 sq. ft. waterfront house with private dock for $650K. Still above my pricepoint, maybe I will buy another lotto ticket. There were some lower priced houses located in the keys, which are 50' wide waterways which you can dock your boat behind your house and cruise out to the river. They were $349K and up. We had a great time. Did I tell you how great it is to be retired?

Caribbean Cruise

We decided to take a cruise to the eastern caribbean to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. We departed from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. for seven days. We boarded the Ruby Princess (their newest & largest ship)on our anniversary. This ship is 950 feet long and was loaded with everything you could find in a major city. It had 18 stories which you could walk stairs or take an elevator. Our cabin was located midship on the 10th floor and had a large balcony which we really enjoyed in port and at sea. We elected to eat our supper at 5:30 PM each evening. We had the same table reserved for us at this time. It was a table for just the two of us which was nice since we were celebrating our anniversary. We dined for lunch and breakfast in the same room or one of the other self serve restaurants on board. When we were not eating, they kept us busy with many activities such as musicals, art auctions, several bands, swiming & spa in addition to our island excursions. We stopped at 4 islands; Princess Cays, St. Martens, St. Thomas, & Grand Turk. It was a wonderful cruise and we had no problems with seasickness. The weather was perfect with sunshine and 78 to 82 degree temps. Pictures included here are our ship, balcony, underwater bikes, central staircase, and our diner table on formal night. We lounged around the staircase for activities such as violinist, juggler, champaign waterfall, and other entertainment. They stacked about 750 champaign glasses on top of one another like a pyramid and then continued to fill the top glass until all glasses were full. They then served champaign to the passengers while the captain welcomed us to the cruise. We purchased a tour on these waterbikes in St. Thomas. A 50 or 60 foot boat picked us up at our pier and cruised over to an area where there were many tropical fish and a ship wreck. We spent 30 minutes underwater on the bikes and snorkeled for about one hour. The water was a comfortable 78 degrees. Great tour! We took a bus tour in St. Martens which took us to both sides of the island. One side is Dutch and the other is French. The ship has 4 or 5 swimming pools & spas on board. We did not swim on the ship, but did use the spa one or two days. We did swim in the ocean at Grand Turk however, and waded in the water at Princess Cays where they put on a barbeque. The shows were fantastic and we arrived in the theater 20 minutes early and had our pick of seats. We chose first row in the first balcony and we were eye level to the stage. It was perfect! We purchased some art at the art auction, have received one and the other is on its way from Asia. This was a trip of a lifetime and we truly enjoyed it.