Monthly Archives: December 2008

Saturday was a frustrating day. We wanted to get going by 9am, so when I woke up hearing movement in the kitchen, I jumped up, took the sheets off my bed & started packing, but my mom was on the phone with Good Sam requesting a tech to come out. This RV has had constant problems with the levelers, and they had worked on the drive up, but now 3 came up but one was stuck down, and we can’t drive with a leveler down. My dad learned on their last trip how to crank it up by hand, but it takes about an hour underneath in the mud, so he decided to use the service they’ve already paid for & wait for the tech to arrive. 3 hours later, the tech still wasn’t there, Good Sam tracked him down, and another 2 hrs he showed up, then needed to leave to buy the right tool…so finally after 3pm we finally left Woodway! Sheesh!

Hired help doing the dirty work handcranking the last leveler up so we can finally get on the road!

At least while we were waiting so long already packed, I said we didn’t have a photo with Grandma, so here we are…

Grandma & Britta in Woodway, with the dogs trying to squeeze in the photo

It’s not very safe driving with risk of ice overnight, so with a break for a quick dinner out at BJ’s Brewery for Dad & me since he needed a driving break, we only made it to Woodburn south of Portland, where I beat Mom again at Scrabble, and without levelers and such wind & rain overnight I had trouble getting to sleep and felt a bit seasick! We got going on the road again before 9:30am so made it to Medford by lunchtime when we ate in the RV after filling up at Costco, then over the still-snowy Siskiyou Summit in fairly clear weather. Oddly enough the coldest weather & only snow falling was all the way south of Dunsmuir near Mt Shasta, but the roads were still clear. We made it to Redding by 5pm, free wifi again, Mom finally beat me at Scrabble (I’m still ahead 2 of 3 games though!), and my mom & I watched the Sound of Music on TV while my dad realized he’d never paid attention to the movie before, but still gave up only halfway through watching. 😉

Still plenty chilly south of Dunsmuir by Mt Shasta

Tomorrow we should get to Sacramento sometime in the afternoon, then it’s presents & dinner with my brother before I can drive to my house, so I’m not sure if I’ll make it back the same night or sometime on Tuesday…I will be glad to see my kitties again & sleep in my own bed!

Christmas Eve morning we woke up to even more snow, which was great fun for Elsie, especially visiting the horse when he’d venture out of the barn, but required us to dig out the driveway enough so my dad could drive to get some last-minute groceries, let alone for our relatives to arrive later for dinner & presents. The driveway is probably 150ft long up a hill, and the snow was about 8″ deep, so with a little help from my mom, my dad & I spent about an hour shoveling two tracks for tires, then more on the flat by the carport for turnaround and parking for more vehicles later. After my dad tested by getting the van down the hill in the tracks, I was already so overheated I was shoveling in my t-shirt & still sweating, but I kept going for another hour thinking that it would be better if it was clearer where everyone needed to park. I was also hoping the exertion might sweat my cold out of me, but my nose just kept dripping! At least it was a valiant pre-emptive attack against dinner calories, right?

Shoveling snow in Woodway, WA

Christmas Eve Wedgie Revenge!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

After pizza lunch with my aunt & uncle, we made it to Seaside in gorgeous weather with ocean views. We camped in a nice place my parents had stayed at last summer, complete with wifi that reached from the clubhouse to our site (yay!), and an inside pool with jacuzzi…I knew I kept my bathing suit in my bag for a reason! My mom didn’t have a suit so my dad & I went over after dinner to soak our weary bones…him from driving, me from sleeping on the RV couch that isn’t helping my recent back issues, even with a chiropractor visit before we left…

Safest & nicest weather all trip up the Oregon coast from Newport to Seaside

Since Lori had commented on Facebook NOT to go to the Pig N Pancake in Seaside, that made my dad’s mouth water for the Pig N Pan in his hometown Astoria! Since we were giving ourselves time for the ice to melt as much as possible, we had a leisurely morning, even finding some holly to decorate the front of the RV, then went straight to the Pig N Pan on the main drag of Astoria, carefully parking the RV. Browsing the menu I saw a seasonal special of fried razor clams with eggs…I haven’t had razor clams in who knows when, probably since before I was in double-digits. There are photos when I was was 3 years old with my arm in the sand up to my shoulder digging for razor clams, then my dad’s mom would fry them and they were tasty! So my mom thought it was disgusting, but my dad had to have some too off my plate, and I had a nice nostalgic moment for brunch.

Fried razor clams, eggs & pancakes at the Astoria Pig N Pan!

We had heard while filling up at the Warrenton Costco that people had been making it south from Seattle okay this morning, so we decided to go ahead and take Hwy 30 to Longview, then I-5 up to Seattle & Edmonds, since that would be quicker than up the coast to Olympia. Well, it was beautiful but a little nerve-wracking driving over completely white snow-packed roads…no wonder that highway had been closed just yesterday & before!

Beautiful but dangerous on the way from Astoria to Longview

I-5 from Longview to Seattle wasn’t too bad, just a little icy but mostly clear, so we did make it safely to Woodway just before dark, with a little RV getting stuck issue in my grandma’s yard, but not as bad as last year, thank goodness. My grandma says she has never seen such snow here and she’s been in this house over 40 years. Elsie the black Lab who only saw snow for the first time last year, and only the barest dusting of white then, has had an absolute ball running everywhere, snorting her face in the deep snow, just like she did in the sand pile at my house when she was a tiny puppy. She kept wanting to go outside to play again tonight when Tule the older Lab was preferring to stay inside where it was warm. 😉

Unfortunately after running around in the snow helping my dad get the RV unstuck, my nose has started dripping & my throat is sore, so I guess my hopefully second Christmas in a row without being sick might not happen. I’ve already snorted some Zicam and will be turning in soon, uncharacteristically early, so hopefully tomorrow I can enjoy my Christmas Eve!

We had decent weather, drizzle only and reasonable traffic, before dark pulling in to Sutherlin last night, just north of Roseburg, Oregon. The RV park had free wifi & local TV hookup, so after dinner my mom blogged & my dad was watching TV & laptop surfing while I made 3 jars of pickled salmon since we didn’t have time to make it before we left. I was done & cleaned up before 7:30 so my mom & I played Scrabble like last year…but I was way ahead of her the whole game this year, and even with my last letter subtracting 8 points, I still beat her something like 235 to 187. Luck of the tiles, but since I was so far ahead already, I did show her how to lay her same 3 letters for twice the points…haha!

This morning the question was still which way to try to get to Seattle…I-5 through Portland required chains all the way through & had cancelled all flights, but there was even so much snow in Astoria those roads were closed! We have been on the phone with just about every relative up this way…my dad’s cousin in Astoria, my dad’s brother in Newport on the Oregon coast & my mom’s brother-in-law up in Bellevue, WA. After joint road webcam views on cellphone calls & an inside report from the Oregon state police (my uncle has connections) that no chains required over Hwy 20 through Corvalis, we agreed that our best chance is to go up the coast, stay the night in Seaside just south of Astoria, and hope that tomorrow we can get through Astoria up the Washington coast through Seattle up to Edmonds. It’s supposed to be warming up the next couple days, plus the coast should warm up sooner than inland. Hopefully this will work! Since we’re driving through Newport this way, we’re stopping for lunch to see my aunt & uncle, so that will be nice.

I’ve never seen so much snow up here on any of our Christmas trips, which has been the majority of my life…it sure LOOKS like Christmas, that’s for sure!

Somewhere between Corvalis and Newport in Oregon