Diablo Lake

We spent a few hours here watching mostly kayaks and canoes launching while sitting comfortably in the shade of the trees near the boat launch.  Buddy went for a tethered swim.  While I brought my bathing suit and had the kayak with me, I chose not to launch.  The water was frigid, probably close to 50 degrees.  The few swimmers who braved the water squealed after their plunge into the lake.  This Lake is located in the North Cascades National Park and the outside temperature was a very pleasant 81 degrees.  The emerald colored water is only visible in the summer and is caused by the sun shining through glacial flour (pulverized rock) carried by the Skagit River. 

Ape Cave

We visited this cave by accident when we were touring Mount St. Helen's National Monument.  An active volcano will send lava through these channels.  This is the longest lava tube in North America.  We did not go inside as temperatures are 42 degrees in the cave and they do not provide needed flashlights.  We had none of the above, but I did snap these pictures.

Jantzen Beach R V Park

Arrived here July 19 for 7 nights in Portland, Oregon.  We come here every year to visit our son Matt and granddaughter Danika.  Not much has changed since our visit last year.  They did however, enclose the park on two sides with chain link fencing and planted some new plants and sod near the swimming pool and office.  This deters the exploding homeless population from wandering through the park.  This park is occupied about 85% full time residents who live here.  I would say about 50% are retired folks and the rest commuting to work from here.  People seem to be very friendly here and don't seem to mind the 15% who come and go on a daily basis.  If you like noise, this is your park.  24 hours a day you hear airplanes landing and taking off, trains with their horns all night, and boats blowing their air horns at night.  In addition, the military flies their jets about 2000 feet above the park between 0800 and 0900 hours daily.  Only a sonic boom would be louder.  That said, this park has full hookups, including 50 amp electric, water, and sewer.  I had a level site and I paid $250 for our weeks stay.  I rate this park P***.

Danika enjoyed the swimming pool 4 days and went on several bike rides with her dad.  We took several walks along the Columbia river, one of Buddy's favorite pastimes.  We toured Fort Vancouver, in Vancouver, Washington one day.  Aggie, Matt, & Danika toured the facilities while I stayed with Buddy.  I have seen several of these forts and in my opinion, they are all pretty similar to me.  But, this one did put on a live exhibit of iron work and woodworking and dogs were not allowed.  We visited Lewisville State Park for a picnic and Danika, Aggie, and Matt waded in the river.  We tossed the Frisbee and Danika played at the playground for a bit.  I brought my bathing suit, but did not feel like getting wet.  Does this mean I am getting OLD.  We dined at olive garden one night, ordered takeout pizza at MOD Pizza one night and went to Cold Stone Creamery for an ice cream treat one night.  We also toured Mount St. Helen's National Volcanic Monument.  While in the park, we visited the Ape Cave (a separate post).  There are a lot of volcanoes in this neck of the woods.  We tried to find a lake to launch the kayak, but I wanted to go to the largest lake in the area which was Swift Reservoir.  The reservoir was 25 feet low and the banks were very steep.  The only swimming area was dry.  Shucks, I should have listened to the ranger and back tracked to a smaller lake.  As it turned out, we cruised along the north side of the Columbia River which was more beautiful than the Oregon side,  and came across a nice park along the river with picnic tables and rest room in Stevenson, Washington.

  Buddy went for a little swim and we enjoyed our break. 

The Old Mill District, Bend, Oregon

This Old Mill District was once a thriving lumber mill in the 1920's.  Now it is re-purposed as a retail center with restaurants, high end stores, and a huge park which has two dog parks, one where dogs can swim in the Deschutes river and they have concerts in the park, some of which are free.  The park is beautifully landscaped with lush weed free green grass and manicured plants, flowers, and trees.  We enjoyed a great dinner at Anthony's restaurant positioned on the river.  I would not mind relocating to this beautiful city.  The real estate values are soaring here, but utilities and taxes are low, there is no sales tax here in Oregon.  I could get used to that!

Cascade Meadows R V Resort

We arrived here on July 16 for 3 nights located in Lapine, Oregon.  This park is located about 25 minutes to Bend, Oregon to the north and about 40 miles to Crater Lake to the Southwest.  We had a large level site with 50 amp electric, water, sewer, and located near the clubhouse and pool area.  Even though we were charged $5 extra for 50 amp electric, their were strict rules against using more than one air conditioner, (under penalty of eviction). This is a good place for a home base while visiting the area.  Not much to write home about the landscaping or lack thereof as this is a large open field with mowed down mixture of grass, weeds and very few trees.  Even though this park is located right on Highway 97, noise from the traffic was not too bad.   Visitors are encouraged to water their own sites after 4PM, so the resort was somewhat browned out and the weeds were mixed with the gravel sites with notices to not park on the grass.  The lady who checked us in was accommodating and we paid $16 per night with our RPI membership.  I rate this park P***.

Buddy was sick after we arrived and could not hold any food down.  He ate something that did not agree with him at the last stop.  After a $450 visit to the local veterinary hospital with blood tests, probiotics, and anti nausea pills he is now a happy camper.  We spent the last day getting our carpets professionally cleaned by Stanley Steamer to clean remnant's of Buddy's stomach.  Since we have visited Crater Lake in the past, we spent the day in Bend one day and shopped at Costco as I broke my glasses with a high tension bungy cord.  The glass probably saved my eye and I was able to jury rig the glasses to work, but Costco repaired them in 10 minutes for free.  We had a nice four course meal at Anthony's Restaurant at the Old Mill on the Deschutes River.  We also took a day trip to Newberry National Volcanic Monument in the Deschutes National Forest.  We had a picnic lunch with sandwiches, chips, and I enjoyed two cold brews at East Lake.  The wind had picked up off the lake and we shortened our stay as we were cold with the jackets we brought.

Merrill Campground

On July 14 we arrived here for two nights located about 30 minutes north of Susanville, Ca. on Eagle Lake.  We have stayed here several times before and we continue to come back because of the full hookups including 50 amp electric, sewer, and water in the forest and extra long sites situated 75 to 90 feet apart.  Very big rig friendly.  No over the air TV here, but I do have cell service which is allowing me to access the Internet to penn  this review.  they also have dry camping here and limited hookups with water and electric.  We paid $29 per night which included a $10 discount for our senior pass.  I rate this park ****.

Frenchman Campground

On July 9 we camped at this campground in the pine trees on Frenchman Lake.  This is located 14 miles north of Chilcoot, Ca. in the Plumas National Forest.  This is one of four campgrounds in the area of which 3 were directly on the lake.  Only 25 percent of the sites in this campground are currently reserve able on Reserve America which I think is a great idea.  There were no sites available for the weekend.  This was a very hilly campground and a little challenging negotiating the big rig between the trees and the all sites required some leveling.  Bring your own water and empty tanks as the only amenity's are pit toilets and several water spigots.  That said, I had no difficulty leveling my coach and the pit toilets were immaculate.  The lake was up and there were many boaters here as the water temperature was 75 degrees by my untrained guesstimate.  It took me three 1.5 hour cruises on my kayak to circle the complete lake.  There is a boat ramp adjacent to this campground and another by the dam.  Buddy went for several tethered swims and we toured the other campgrounds on the lake and spent a few hours at a day use area at the other side of the lake.  We took Buddy for many hikes and we encountered deer, birds, chipmunks as well as cattle and a flock of geese on the other side of the lake while cruising in my kayak.  A bear visited our campground the first night.  The campground hosts Gavin and David were very helpful and kept the park very clean.  It was very peaceful here and we enjoyed our stay.  We paid $12.50 per night with our America the Beautiful Senior Pass which reflects a 50 per cent discount.  I rate the park ****.

Sparks Marina R V Park

On July 7 we stayed at this excellent RV park for 2 nights.  The park is located in Sparks, Nevada which is just outside Reno, Nevada.  We have stayed here before when it was a relatively new park.  The trees are fully mature now and quite frankly, there is nothing they could do to improve this park.  I called for availability while on the road and they took my reservation and they give military veterans a 20% discount.  When I arrived at the site, there were 3 rigs ahead of me and they had several workers with golf carts and whisked customers to their site.  I was checked in and in my site in less than 10 minutes.  There is a small pool and spa at the clubhouse.  They also have a small store that sell miscellaneous rv accessories, groceries and clothing.  It is close to all kinds of shopping and a small lake nearby allows small fishing boats and kayak's.  All sites were concrete and our site was level as all appeared to be level also.  We had 50 amp electric, water, sewer, cable TV and internet.  The internet actually worked great!  We had a pull through as most sites in the park are pull through's and we fit our 65 foot motorhome and toad on the site.  There were small trash cans throughout the park and very convenient and they were picked up daily.  The rest rooms were immaculate.  There were 3 small dog runs located inside the park.  Landscaping was outstanding, however, I would prefer real grass between sites a plus over the imitation grass that was placed between all sites.  I paid $47 per night which included a 20% veterans discount.  I rate this park *****.

Virginia City, Nevada

We made a side trip to this cute mining town while camping in Sparks, Nevada.  We have visited this town many years ago.  The sidewalks were made of wood plank which made you feel as if  you could tie your horse out front of any of the shops, restaurants, and bars if it was not for all the cars parked out front.  There was off street parking available also.  We took a very informative 20 minute tractor tour of the town.  We visited this town on a Monday and although it seemed pretty busy that day some shops were closed for the day and some attractions were also closed.  We toured St. Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church.  It was built in the 1800's and was rebuilt after the fire which took out the whole town in 1875.  There was a museum and wine cellar in it's basement.  Aggie snagged some earrings and sunglasses and I secured two coffee mugs.  I relaxed with a cold brew while Aggie wondered through one of the several cemeteries and then we made the trek back down the mountain.

Rest Area I80 eastbound west of Truckee, Ca.

On July 6, 2019, we made our first stop at a rest area on the I80 eastbound about 45 minutes west of Truckee, Ca.  There were  many long and wide parking spaces.  We were able to open all 3 slides while we spent the night.  This location was situated in the pine trees and had picnic tables, trash cans, and rest rooms.  I rate this a 5*****.  Don't mistake this rest area for the one just west of Truckee.