On the Road Again--LaGrande to Leavenworth RV Park, Leavenworth, WA 8/4/10 - 8/19/10

After Lorrie and I had our "annual" yard sale, we took off from Idaho for our parks in Washington. We have only been in one park in Washington and there are sixteen, plus some affiliate parks. So, we chose four of them to stay 8 weeks before we head down the Oregon Coast into California and Arizona for the winter.

Ryan and Lori moved to LaGrande, OR, in June. Ryan is planning to go back to school and become a PA and work in orthopedics. Lori's family live in LaGrande so it works out well for him to go to school there for a couple of years.

We had room to park out in the street in front of their house and spent the night there. It was fun seeing their home. It is really nice and spacious. Lori always decorates their homes nice. We spent the evening outside playing with the kids. Lori was there, but Ryan had to work until about 11:30 pm. It is so nice when we visit the kids and can bring our own bedroom with us. I hope it takes a little strain off of them not having to worry what to do with us.

The kids found they could ride the skateboard down the sidewalk because it has quite a slope. Our electrical cord had to be raised up to keep them from crashing. Wesley is going so fast he is just a blur!

He even gave little brother Chaz some rides. Ryan and Lori's kids get along really well. It was fun spending a little time with them.

Our first park was Leavenworth. It was a nice park, but about 20 miles from the town of Leavenworth. There is a small store in Plain, which is about 3 miles away. The park actually has three areas--Timber View, Meadow View, and this one is Lake View. We stayed in Meadow View, which is about 1/2 mile from Timber View and the clubhouse and pool, and almost a mile away from Lake View. We were glad we had our bikes. It was a great place to ride.

There are some nice open areas where activities are held and families can hold activities. It is a pretty family oriented park. The pool is huge and we loved the miniature golf course. We played it several times.

They have just redone the clubhouse in the last year and it was really nice. They don't use the fireplace too much in the summer, but the park is open year-round and they use it a lot in the winter when the snowmobilers come in and use the park.

Downstairs is a nice activity and game room. They also have a young children's room with toys in it for them.

As you enter one side of the store, there is a little ice cream parlor that is fixed really cute.

We got a really good spot. There is basically only one area where there is sewer hook-up. We didn't think we would ever find a spot in that area, but we did! Quite a few of the Thousand Trail Parks in Washington, where Thousand Trails started, are older parks and either the laws prohibit or it is cost prohibitive to put in more sewer. We were glad we got a spacious spot because my brother Ron and his wife, Kath, and daughter, Destiny were coming for a few days to stay with us.

Ron and his family made it. They brought their bikes and we spent a lot of time riding and also did some hiking, swimming, and lots of other things. Here we were on a hike.

Ron and I were trying to decide which way to go. We decided to take the medium difficult one and then he and I would come back another time to try the more difficult hike.

It was a really pretty hike, following water a lot of the time. Thanks to Kath and her camera (I figured we would be taking pictures of the same things, so she offered to to share hers. That is why I am in so many of them!)

One day there was a kite making/flying contest and Destiny entered. She make a really cute kite--drawing pictures on it of all of us and our activities. With Ron's help, it even flew a little.

We sat and gave moral support.

Lo and behold! Destiny ended up with a prize with her kite. She just loved her pink spiked ball. She played with it in the pool later that evening.

The next day there was a "duck race." We all signed up and got a duck with a number on it. They were all dumped into a little stream and we all cheered our duck on. We couldn't believe when Destiny's came in first and Kath's came in second, out of about about 30 ducks! They each won a free ice cream sundae at the ice cream social that afternoon!

One day we rode with Ron and Kath and Destiny into Leavenworth. A couple of the streets they have fixed up really cute to look like a Bavarian village. It was fun to walk around it.

Ron and I did end up going on the more difficult hike. It really wasn't too bad. At the top there was a memorial where there was a huge flagpole and an American flag on it. Down a steep hill there was a garbage can. Ron couldn't stand it until he climbed down the hill to see what was in it--nothing! But, he got his exercise climbing the hill! Further along the trail there was a scout gathering area, with a fire pit with benches around it and a big, neatly stacked, pile of wood. There were also flags flying there.

We had to have a picture sitting on this big rock near the scout camp. It was a fun hike.

Thanks to Ron and Kathy and Destiny! We had a really good time with them. We liked the campground, even though it was a little ways from civilization. Actually, there was a logging crew that started working every morning at about 5:00 am. A few campers actually left because of getting wakened every morning so early.

I am selling the Scentsy wick-less candles and warmers as we go into our parks this year. I plan on putting up a table at the craft sales, but Leavenworth didn't have craft sales. One evening I heard my neighbors talking about burning candles, so I invited them over to see my wares. One of the ladies bought her whole Christmas for her family from me! It was a great start for my new little venture. We will see how it goes.