Journey, Pirate & Quest - "We are here".
On Sunday we joined my daughter, Laura and her husband, Kevin at one of my favorite campgrounds, Vista Park. Skamokawa is located next to the Columbia River, about 25 miles down river from our place in Kelso, Washington. The population in the little town is 440 people.
Laura & Kevin's Airstream and their Hobi Tri-maran.
We sat out on the bluff above the beach and watched Kevin fly his hexicopter, which is remote controlled and a lot of fun to watch.
This is the hexicopter getting ready to take off with its camera in place. Laura and the dogs are over by the driftwood log.
Since all of us were busy on my birthday, in June, Laura wanted to serve my belated birthday dinner at the campground. I could not decide between Shrimp Longhi, a favorite of our family, or filet mignon cooked on the barbecue, by Kevin. Laura thought it would be fun to serve both, "Surf and Turf". After a stuffed mushroom appetizer, we had a small serving of shrimp and a filet with garlic and truffle butter. She added haricot verts, (French green beans) and champagne. What a wonderful dinner! Later the dogs were ready to go to bed in the RV and we played scrabble the rest of the evening, in the Airstream.
As I was walking home to our RV, I watched two huge ships heading up river from the sea. Their lights were very pretty. I could feel the slight vibration from their powerful engines. So nice to lay in bed and read as I got to enjoy an occasional passing ship. The soft sounds of the river lapping the shore were the only night sounds except when a ship passed. Even the ships were very quiet.
I slept in on Monday and Laura knocked on my door with a "birthday breakfast". On a bed of fresh spinach she had placed a crab cake, topped with a poached egg with hollandaise sauce on top. It was unbelievably good. I took the dogs for walks and then was going to let them all run on the beach. Unfortunately, Journey jumped out of the RV, uninvited, and he had to serve detention for a while. Quest was a little pushy at the door and so that left only Pirate sitting up so straight and being such a good boy .... he got to have the first run on the beach.
Look, I found a neat stick!"
Pirate
Monday was a gorgeous day - warm, but with a cooling breeze. After Quest had his turn on the beach, it was Journey's turn. We are having to do some serious training about getting out of the car or the RV and even out of the door of the house, without invitation. He gets so excited and he forgets. That is not allowed though, as this action qualifies as possibly life threatening. We will be working on it a lot in the next few months. I need to be able to leave the car door wide open and know that all three will stay safely inside until I invite them out. We will get there. It is something I insist on with all of my dogs.
The hexicopter on it's way to greet the incoming ship.
Pirate
Laura and Kevin decided to go for a sail on the Hobie. I decided to sit at the picnic table and read for a while.
Easy to launch.
Huge ship carrying wheat. It is about 740 feet.
I guess I would never get tired of watching the ship traffic on the Columbia River. You don't hear them coming until they are practically directly out from where we are camped. Even then is is sort of a low vibration type sound that you rather feel than hear. It is always amazing that anything that big can get that close to you without you being aware of it's approach. It is fun to look them up on the Columbia River traffic schedule and see the name, what they are carrying, where they came from and where they are going.
Another treasure from the river. Maybe a dragon with its mouth wide open?
Pirate, Quest & Journey
I sure hate to leave today, but Journey and I have agility class tonight and tomorrow night is Pirate's first rally class. Quest has taken about every class available and since he is almost 10 years old I decided that his weekly special time with me will be to go to Lake Sacajawea for a nice walk - just the two of us. He needs special time too, without the kids. We will go at least once a week. Maybe we will meet Rhonda there for lunch. She works across the street from the lake.
Journey, Quest & Pirate
Laura and Kevin are going to go to the Farmer's Market on Puget Island, on Friday. I plan to meet them there. Sounds like fun and I love Puget Island. I almost bought a house on that island. Maybe I will get a picture of it.
If you enjoy the ship pictures, check out the video Kevin just finished. It is a series he is doing with the videos he takes from the hexicopter. It is called the Chase series and this first one is "Chasing the Alaskan Explorer. The little camera on the hexicopter is operated by remote, as is the hexicopter. The video is wonderful... Chasing "Alaskan Explorer"
