friday

the snnow is starting to melt and we decided to go out and about in bellingham. we went to a museum in downtown and tehy had a very intersting showing of Rodin the frech sculterer. you know The Thinker. we also went to the museum of radio and electricity of america which was just afew blocks away. evidently some guy who workked at microsoft and made a bundle had an interest in collecting old radiow and weelectrical parphanalia an whic was also very interesting
last night joyce was plaiing literati on the internet and the guy sshe was playing who was form caloifornia told her that for a really goood burito go to banditos buriiitos on holly street so of course we had to give them a try. i would have to say it was the best burritto that i have ever had for ever what that is worth. to top off our day aon the town while we wereat the museum of raadio and electricity they were setting up for a concert tonight and we were looking for some enetertainment so we killled a few didtional hours in downtown bellingham annd went to the concert. in paging through the program before it started i willl have to admit when i readit was put on tby the bellingham electronics arts festival. and one of the pieces was circles and rounds which explores a variety of circular paths, processes and forms withing a virtual environment
after it got started it was pretty goood it was like one giant screensaver. sme of it was pretty wierd though. we were by far the oldest people in the audieance and i did notce a lot of pierced noses and purple hair. we olnly stayed for thre pieces though as the room was very cold and have had ennough of the cold for a awhile.the iterstatehas cleared off enough and our intntiions are to head for oregon in the mornign . we have contacted someone who has a resort of treehouses which is on the california oregon border. it whilll take us several days to make it down thee, but look forward to see all the diffferent kinds of tree houses and stayin in one.

snow

there is a tree that grows only in this particular area of the wrold called the madrona tree. it is diciduous but dowes not lose its leave inthe fall, instedad it losed its bark. it has to grow withng a realative short distance of the oceaean. to get the salt air afterr the bark fals off the wod is abright red and is every pretty in contrast to the green cedar d treees growing next to it.
the night before last, saturday night it began and al day yesterrday it snowned and snowed and snowed . there looks tobe over a fooot on the gond. we a were thingking of going up to vancouver and victoria but i think willl stay put until some of the roads ae cleared. they don't usually get this much snow., the old guy who runs the trailer park sid they havn't had this mudhc in 30 years. so it is a big deal. the schools are closed .so we got the movie snow falling on cedars yesterday which took place on an island in the bellingham area of puget sound. today looks like a dauy of shoveling out and hanging around. this morning it is 27 degrees out. which is very cold out for here. as i look outside i see two ladies from california in ther pajamas tring to get their water thawed out in their camper.

Snow falling on Cedars and campers leaving us stranded in Bellingham

After leaving Seattle we headed north to Bellingham, WA We visited with Chuck, Karen and Elena Hoelscher. We had a good afternoon visit, went hiking, enjoyed a fresh hallibut dinner and then an enjoyable walk around their small town, Fairview. We enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere, dazzling lights and artsy stores...very quaint I'd have to say. Richard loved his kyacking trip in Puget Sound on Saturday morning. I was glad to see him come back dry and in one piece. We enjoyed some cards with Chuck at the camper on Saturday night.

We went to bed thinking we were going to head to Victoria and Vancourver Canada, but woke up to this huge snow storm. We snuggled down for a while, got bored, and decided to head to a mall a short distance from us. We have had a few problems with frozen water hose and hydrant, but we hope they're minimal. We have nixed the Vancouver trip and are heading SOUTH as soon as we dig out of the heaps of snow. I think we've seen more snow and ice than anyone back home. GRRRRRRR we're the ones suppose to be on vacation.

Mon Evening: Thanks for all the messages on the blog. We are DEFINITELY stranded here for a few more days at least. We are reading books, crocheting, watching movies and playing cribbage, so at least we are not bored yet. If no news is on the blog though consider that we have lost electricity, Internet connection or both. It is really different in a snowstorm out here as they don't have enough plows to clear roads and definitely don't use salt to clear the freeways. So we are waiting for it to warm up. If all else fails, we have thought about getting jobs at WalMart as there are not enough workers that can make it to work. LOL Do we look like greeters or stockers? Photos show how snowed in our RV Park is, Richard unthawing the door to get to our gas tanks so we could go fill them up, and beautiful cedar trees.

Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving with Eric Gagnon eating a great Thanksgiving dinner at Salish Lodge near Snoqualmie Falls. It was a cloudy, misty, windy day, oh, and raining. Did we mention rain. Eric showed us around the coast Guard headquarters in Seattle. We are so impressed with his good works and demeanor, how proud his parents should be of him:-)

Pictured above is th elodge and water falls...water drops 270 feet and the spray and mist keeps you from getting to close. It also is the source of Hydro plants that provide enough energy for 16,000 homes. The Lodge in the background is where we ate Thanksgiving dinner...high class, high buck splurge.

bugs

we have vacuumed up bugs sindce we left home. those ladybug aphids have come oput ovf every crack and ccrevice/. they are finally starting to slow down only one or two at each stop so think maybe we ave them whipped.
we have been very busy seeing th sights on thnksgiveing day we spent a very ejoyable time with eirc gagnon. he was a very gracious hos in showing us oround the coast guard area and then we saw a very big waterafall and went to aswanky place to eat turkey .
Bellingham is where chuck hoelscher and his wife live yesterday he took us on a five mille hike up to a lake up in the hills. very pretty. today he and i went sea kayaking in the bay here. its gereat fun i have been researching sea kayaks on eaby and i think that would be just the ticket for on the long prairie river. we will take off tomorew to go up to vancouver b c and victoria. we will leave the camper in the rv park here in bellingham and just take the truck up there as we weill have to atake the ferry

Boeing Factory tour in Everett WA

We had a good day today. Toured the Boeing factory where they make all the 747's, 777's and now the dream liner 787. Japan ordered 60 at $130 million each. This place was the largest indoor building in the world...they could play all national football games inside at the same time, that's how large it is inside. The three smaller buildings are where they hand wash and hand spray the outside coat of paint. Can anyone tell me how much weight paint adds to an airplanes total weight?

Notice the beautiful mountains in the background? We could see Mount Olympus, which sits right on the coast between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. It was clear this morning for a few hours so we could see most of Mount Olympus; and then of course rain for the rest of the day. What Mountain sits just east of Puget Sound? Why is it called Puget Sound?

Seattle, WA

We went to Park Place Market in the afternoon and it was so interesting. It lives us to what everyone says about it. They had tons of people selling beautiful flowers and vegetables, jams paintings, clothing, and almost anything you can think of. They had a large stand will all sorts of peppers in various arrangements, all so beautiful. We did buy the front bouquet of flowers that the guy in the photo had just finished arranging...and only $15.
Best of all though were the fish barkers. Pictured is one of the fish barkers in the market. These guys are throwing fish and cajoling people into buying their fish. It's all real noisy and pretty smelly too. We enjoyed a seafood basket at a local eatery right on the pier. Shrimp for me and hallibut for Richard. Excellent!
On Nicole's advise, we did visit the Seattle Aquarium and we enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks Nicole!

Traffic is pretty bad around Seattle, we're doing fairly well driving, but will confess we've been given the Seattle hello a few times.

tlaking to a guy

i talked to a guy the other day who was in charge of the sewage system ant mcmurcough bay in anartica. it was very intereesting on how they have to process their sewage in the south pole

more stuff

another thing iteesting about oregon is tat you acn't punp your own gas. every staion is fulll sevice. Joyce was happy as it eliminiated one more of he chores. When we bought the diesel pickup she said that she would be in charge of fillling it up because she is a little more careful about spiilling diesel fuel than i am. so every truck stop she gets out and puts on her gloves and visits with all the truck drivers. she is getting pretty goood at figuring out how to run all the differnet kinds of pumps. she threatens to run off with one of the truck drivers ocasionallly but i havenn't taken he too seriously yet. yester day our trip to mt st helens was kind of neat to see alll the trees that had been knocked over from the blast and how big an area that it covered. teh creek that drins the area is still running gray with volcanic ash. today we are off to seattle and find a campgound . i HAVE BEEN SURFING THE WEB TO TRY TO FIND A SOUP KITCH N TO WORK IN FOR THANKSGIVING BUT HAVEN'T HAD MUCH LIUCK. any way we afre going to amusem this morning(rainy blowey weather) and will travel this afternoon

Monday, November 20

Man how time flies when you're having fun. We are staying close by Mt. Hood, but on the Washington state side which means we have to drive over this bridge, and many other bridges, so therefore I have been driving a lot! We headed North to see one of the largest volcanic eruptions in North America in our life time. It happened....hmmmm can't remember, well I do remember,but it would be too easy to guess if I gave you the date. One of the sites in the eruption is still growing today. Can anyone guess where we're at? We were on Highway 5 going north of Portland Oregon, in Washington and then had to drive west about 40 miles up the mountain...spectacular vistas. Richard too scared to look and I'm too busy driving to look, but what an experience.

Mormon Tabernacle

This is a photo of the Tabernacle in back of the water fountain. So beautiful. Later that night we got to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice. Can anyone tell me how long this choir has been in existence and has anyone ever heard them sing...radio or tv? If not have Ms. Niehoff down load some of their music on Mr. Schueller's computer. Believe me it is not rap!

Pony Express and Salt Lake City

They have a large monument to the Pony Express in Salt Lake City. can any one give me any details why the PE is significant to Salt Lake? PS...getting old is what I'd rather not be doing, so please tell Mr. Schueller not to mention it again:-) Mrs. LaVoie

Abagail Lamusga

Good answers, But the Mountains weren't right. Look closely on the map around Salt Lake. They start with a W.

sunday

a few thought on the street system in salt lake cit. sine the olympkcs they started a new deal athat at crosswalks on each side of the street they have apoile of orangee flags and you gab one and hold it up when you cross thes treet it seeems like a goood idea. alsowhen brigam young laid out the cit he wated the streets wide enough for a team of horses and a wagon to be alble to make a u turn in each lane so the sreets are 6 lanes wide and has eliminated quite a bit of the downtown congestion that other dities have
this morning joyce and i went to church we went downstairs afterward and had anice visit whith all the old people. it is kind of rainy out so it would seeem a goood day for a museum or something like that.

Clumbia River Gorge

We have been driving two days now and feel like we have been on the Oregon Trail, and I guess we have, only a lot faster and more expensive. We are staying at an RV camp just across from Mount Hood on the Washington side of the Columbia River. It is suppose to be one of the top ten sights to see in America. Richard was afraid to drive across this long skinny bridge, so I took the wheel for about 30 miles and it was good until coming directly onto the bridge, which was under construction. Orange cones, both sides...too darn close together. I started hitting them, didn't stop...heck they were too darn close together I figured:-) Anyway, we had to stop to pay the $1.75 toll to cross the bridge and the guy did all he could to keep from laughing and you could just read what was on his mind. Richard and I have been having a good laugh over that one. Then onto setting up the camper. Oops, forgot to put the wedges behind the wheels. (Richard had already eyed it up as level...nooooo not level.) Camper starts rolling backwards-towards another camper and the river. Of course I panic, ball hitch clunks bottom of truck bed, slowing it down enough until we grab the wheel blocks. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR More commotion, broken leveler on right side, borrow another jack from the guy who owns the rv park...All is well now, we've decided from now on we're going to unhitch and detach camper using all of our blind eye powers. Even blind men can see that you can't trust the naked eyeball for leveling a camper, especially after eyeballer has been driving 8 hours. LOL Lesson learned: Number 1 thing to do when unhitching a camper...put blocks not only in back of tires, but front as well. (Richard has informed me from now on this is my job!BIG LOL, but I suppose I can take on that responsibility!:-) Life is good! Joyce/Mom PS Will post some of those &*^%$ photos that Richard says I don't need to take:-)

after spending several day in salt lake, wea re off to washington.last night the hightlight of my trip was to see the choir from mormom tabernacle they had an orchestra a big organ and great great great sound the mormon tavbernacle is closed due to repairs but they have there practices in a big 27000 seat conference center with very goood acoustics. other things that we did in salt lake wastry to seed the copper mine just out of town it is the largest open pit int the worlddd it was closed for the season. we went tpo the great salt lake. i tasted the water it is very salty more than the oceacean we went the the olympic village which was kind of coolj and toolk a tout of the ciity which was interesting. i have been making goood progress on my a book about the hisorty of everyhtin.(last night i was reading how cellls divide) and have been riding bike quite a bit. mom continues to want to take pictures which i consider dumb of just about everything in hopes that t she will get a few goood wones. who knows mayber she is sright/.

Visit to Olympic Park

Yesterday we visited the Olympic Park near Salt Lake City Utah where the winter Olympics were held. It was impressive and they are still very active in skiing competitions with World Cup Championships coming up soon. The photos are of a worker repairing ice up at the start of the jumping area. He was using slush ice and a trowel like we would use for cement. Everything has to be so precise. The second photo is of an athlete practicing a run on the luge. Amazing that I caught him just hoping on his sled. The other photo is of the sign that greets visitors to the park. Can anyone in Mr Schueller's geography class tell us when they held the Olympics in Utah? And what mountains would they be skiing in? Your answers would be appreciated! We really enjoyed their museums. I have an Olympic Park pencil for the first student to respond to these questions! Mrs. LaVoie

Storm between Pocatello and Salt Lake City

We drove some pretty nasty roads today, after waking up around 3AM to dead batteries in the truck and camper. Temps were around freezing with a cradle rocking wind to lull us to sleep,,,NOT! Rchard is doing so well driving the rig, I only drove for about an hour and we've put on 1400 miles already. Getting around 9 miles to the gallon with gas prices around2.59. Mr. Schuller can your kids help us out with the math problem to see what we've spent on gas so far? Here are some photos of the bad roads and me freezing at the roadside rest.

yesterday we drove a nd drove and drove from big sky montanna to twin falls idaho. we crossed the continetal divide twice and saw some very nice dcountries. we saw teh high plains of idaho and saw mile after mile of irrigated alfalfa and mile s and miles of potatoe ffielsds. we drove by one farm with row after row of trucks and hay stacks. the farmer had five grain bins , i would guess them to be aabout 100,000 bushels each. on each bin he had a letter of his name L A R S O N. very impresssive i guess some swede made it big out here. after driving by alll the potaoe fields all day our mouths were watering for some real idaho potatoes so the first grocery store we got to we bought some real idaho potatoes whichh we intend to have tonight with deer steak. swe are staying at a koa in salt lake city and are just planning our itinerary. we plan on going to the geneology library tomorrow and hang around until thursday to take a big tour and hear the mormon tabernacle choir on thursday night

brrrrrrrrrrrr

Cold Weather...BAD TYPING
Sorry about Riuchard's bad typing, oh well

Cold weather this morning...15 degrees. Everything is frozen up, Dad broke lock on compartment trying to get it open...grrrrrrrrr We're off soon though, hope roads are good. Finallky figured out the photos option, so will post some soon.

going out to eeat

last night joyce and i were feeling expansive, meanning that we wanted to exp;and our waistline more yet. they said agood place to eat was four mile dow n the road THE CORRALL. it wass kind of this old log cabin type joint out in the country. we were in acelabatory mood so i ordered the buffalo steak and joyce had ribs they were both ok but when i got the bil it was 37 for the buffalo steak it was god but t not that goood

richards 2 cents wrth

well here goes with my pathetic attemtpt to add to this blog. as we alays say do you want the truth or a good story. maybe i will give syou some of each. as joyce said we are in big sky montanna at this fnacy skiing resort we are at the e mortel because it is too icy to go any futhter it is supposed to be beter tomorrrow so will giv eit a try.
any way to day we sjust saut around the mmotel joyce workked on her afgahn and i mostly readd. i'm readubg billl brysons boook a short history of nearly everthing. it is some pretty heavy duty stuff explainig how the universe works chemistry geology and like the tirtle says nearly everythin. i was reading today how lucky we are for us to even be here considering the biillions of galaxises in our universe and howthe odds are extremely slim for conditions to be exctly right for the world as we know it ito even exist. then i got to thinking how extremely lucky i wsa to live in this country, have ajob a s wife , the health and the desire to go on a big adventur like this one. we are both wild with anticipationn of all the things we will see.
so far it is a pretty biig deal dragging that big camper around. the first day i got 8 mile to the galllon but was bucking a headwind and had the hammer sdown yesterday it got 9 so was a little better. joyce actually drove some the first day on the interstatea and did quite well. it is a little trickier driving on these twisty hilly mountain roads this laptop is working great and am using skype to call everybody who will listen.

We're in Big Sky Montana

Greetings everyone, we arrived in Big Sky yesterday. We haven't slept in the RV yet, it's been too cold. We went to Alpenglow abd saw the condos that are getting built out here, we have a small investment here. It truly is skiing country. We've been using a free telephone service called Skype. It lets you make free calls and since our cell phones don't work here, we are taking advantage of Skype. We are heading to Idaho Falls, Salt Lake City in the next few days. I'm still trying to post my first day photos from Teddy Roosevelt Ntional Park. Will try again later on again.