Still in Beautiful Washington State

WELCOME to our new follower, Kate!  You don't show a blog, so I can't check it out, but I thank you for following along with me and Katie on our travels.  Welcome aboard! : )

I'm having some difficulties with Blogger again, but I was able to get into the design part today, so I’m hoping this will work.

Mount Rainier

On Monday, Labor Day, Katie and I drove eastward from Stan Headwall Park and we're now at Hood Park/McNary Lock & Dam in Burbank, WA.  It's a Core of Engineers (COE) park, the first we've been in, and it's really nice.   We stopped along the way to get some photos of Mount Rainier - it was just too beautiful to miss this photo op.

I wasn't sure about driving on Labor Day - I think it took us about six hours.  But the benefit of driving on a holiday is that all the road repairs that are going on, and there were a lot of places with signs and equipment along the side of the roads, were stopped for the day.  All the workers have the day off, so we had no stops at all.  It was a really nice drive.  We drove through a lot of forests, then all of a sudden we were in farming country.  I wasn't expecting that.  As we got closer to Hood Park, which I assumed was in a forest, I started to wonder if there would be any trees at all.  There are, but it's not a forest.

 Front of site #19 - this side faces the campground and lake.

 Passenger side faces a sloping lawn and a little Pavilion off to the right.

 Pavilion  - used during the summer months.

I reserved a really nice pull through site furthest from the water.  The campground has slightly sloping hills, so I have a good view and nothing but grass and trees outside my windows and the lake on the couch side looking over the RVs.  There isn’t a site directly in front of me across the road, so my view is really good.   On weekends most of the sites are taken, but during the week it's almost empty and really nice. 
 

Katie and I have been taking long walks around the grounds three times a day, so we're getting more exercise here, and the slight sloping of the landscape is giving me more of a calorie burn than on the flat landscapes of the last two parks.  I can actually feel it, even though it's not much of a slope. 

We're in this site for 11 days, then have to move next Friday because it's reserved by someone else, but my neighbor is moving out the same day I have to move, so I've reserved his campsite for our last three days.  That will be two weeks, which is the limit here, and then we'll move on.  I like the COE campgrounds so much in this area; I might try to get another 4 days in the one down the road.  It’s booked solid on the weekends, Monday through Thursday is all I could get, and then these COE campgrounds close for the season on October 1.   Or maybe we'll start heading to Idaho and see what it's like.  I’m not sure yet.

The differences between this and our last park are many.  This park is very well maintained, has lush lawns, clean bathrooms, good walking places.  The gates open at 8 am and close at 10 pm, no exceptions.  No alcohol, period!  Of course if you want to drink in the park, you can, but you'd better not be obvious about it, like being drunk and yelling all night like my neighbors at the last place.  The sites have electric only.  (The last park my neighbor had his sewer hose out – the end was in a gopher hole.  That was pretty creepy.) This campground feels so much nicer, cleaner and safer.  

 Sunset our first night

 Another day, another sunset

(another camera setting)

I downloaded "The Help" to my Kindle and have been reading a little each day, finally finished it today.  (Good book, I'd recommend it.  The kind of book you want to keep going.)  I've been sitting outside and hooking Katie's leash to the flag holder, so she has been enjoying chasing squirrels, birds and insects.   She also seems pretty content just hanging out on the grass.

This is new for Katie - sitting outside on the grass. 

She has discovered little critters.

 I think she has eaten a few. :(

I'm a California born and bred person and haven't traveled much.  I guess everyone thinks their state is the best.  I used to, but California has so many problems now and is so expensive, I'm not feeling that way any more.  I know I will end up sooner or later living in another state, definitely not California, when I decide not to full-time any more.  I've been surprised how much I liked Oregon and Washington.  Of course, I've had perfect weather almost the whole time, but I think I could live in either state, at least the cities I've been in and through.  I'm curious to see how I'll like Idaho.  I have some pre-conceived ideas of what the different states are like, and am probably wrong on all counts.

That’s it for now – I'm going to see if this post will "publish."  All is well in The Palms, Katie and I are happy and healthy and looking forward to tomorrow.

From Me and My Dog, have a great weekend, everyone!   : )