Dinner with Jennifer and Mike

Barb's niece, Jennier, lives in Tacoma , WA, which is about an hours drive from Paulsbo. We wanted to meet her and her boyfriend, Mike , for dinner . We picked a restuarant in Bremerton, WA that is half way between Tacoma and Paulsbo. We had a nice dinner overlooking the water and a great time visiting with her and Mike.

July 30: Paulsbo, WA and Port Gamble, WA

We spent several days in Paulsbo, WA. It is a small community with a great little shopping area of gift stores, art shops, a wonderful bakery and great restuarants. 

Poulsbo was our first introduction to the many bays in Washington. It is a beautiful town right on the water with a great marina. We spent the first night having happy hour on the deck on one of the marina restuarants overlooking the bay. The town itself was quaint with a Norweigen flair and many small shops/galleries. It is well known for its bakery and so we had to spend one morning sitting at a table on the street, eating these decadent sweets, drinking coffee and watching the people.




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One evening we decided to have drinks at a restuarant overlooking the harbor. It was happy hour, the appetizers were 1/2 off, we met an interesting local couple to chat with. And that became our dinner and evening entertainment. Great fun.

The Loft is the restuarant where we ate. The outside seating on the dock was at the far right side of the building, overlooking the marina.






One of the days we drove from Paulsbo to Port Gamble which is a town about an hour from Paulsbo. The town has kept and restored the homes from the 1800's in the main town center. Some are residences and others are small shops. It is right on the water and a big logging area. We had a great time walking around town.









The colors of the buildings are vivid and bright.





We really enjoyed our time here. And I am sure we will come back again.

Love to all of you,
Barb and Linda

July 27: Quincy, WA

We stopped for several nights at the Crescent Bar Recreational Area just outside of Quincy, WA.  Quincy was very special since the campground was in a recreation are called Crescent Bar Recreation Area and was located on a gorge cut out by the Columbia River. From there we took several drives into the Cascade Mountain Range area. The waterfalls and rivers were awesome. Bailey enjoyed the ride, too.

July 22: St. Regis, MT

We stayed a couple of nights in St. Regis, WY. Near St. Regis is the National Bison Range.

We did not see any bison but did see elk and beautiful scenery.

The campsite we were at was right in the midst of a mountain range.

July 21: Deer Lodge, MT

The biggest attraction in Deer Lodge is the old jail, established in the late 1800's. It was current, or should I say had residents, until about 15 years ago.  So, of course, we had to take the tour.
 

July 16: Sheridan, WY

We only eat in the finest places. On one of our scenic drives about an hour from Sheridan , we found this great place to get ice cream.............vanilla shake........yummmmm

We also saw some beautiful views and waterfalls.

The rodeo was in town. We did not go to the rodeo but we did go to the Rodeo Parade. The whole town was either in the parade or watching the parade as it wound around the downtown streets. We stayed about an hour and there was still more to come.

July 13-14: Sundance, Wy

We stayed at the Mountain View RV Park for two nights. There is an 80 mile loop road from Sundance that takes you to Devils Tower and then to the town of Aladdin. We decided since we had already been to Devils Tower years ago, we would just do half the loop and go to Aladdin. Our focus was to eat at Cindy B's which was known for the best burgers, fries and pies in the area.

As you can see, we only eat at the finest places.

July 6-13: Hart Ranch, Rapid City, SD

Our plan was to only spend three days at Hart Ranch. We wanted to go to Glacier National Park since we had never been there. We had reservations for 3 days at Flathead Lake and then a week in Glacier. Well, you know the best laid plans.

As we were driving into Hart Ranch , we heard this bump, bump, bump on the roof. Not a good sign. Once we parked, Barb climbed up on the roof to check. The satellite dish had pulled away from the bolts. Fortunately, it did not fly away into the air as we were driving. We had to order a new dish.....5 days later it finally came in. As a result of this delay, we had to cancel the reservations for Glacier.............another year, I guess, we will get there.

We left Hart Ranch on Tuesday, July 13.

Hugs and safe travels to all of you,
Linda, Barb and Bailey

July 13 - Aug 1: Hart Ranch, SD to Port Townsend, WA

Below is the map of the route we followed when we left Hart Ranch and traveled to Port Townsend, WA.

In the blogs to follow, I have described our adventures along the way.

Custer State Park: Buffalo

July 3-4: Mitchell, SD

4th of July at Cabela's

Free parking for two nights...............

expensive shopping for two days

THE CORN PALACE

June 30-July 2: Council Bluffs, IA

Horseshoe Casino, Council Bluffs, IA.

We had a great time here.............it was a challenge. The casino is really a Harrah's and they were having a promotion where if you earned 10 points on the machines, you would get a free buffet. So, anything for a free meal. I had a played the machines all day on both my card and Barb's. And, more amazing, I was ahead by around $20 for the 3 days plus we got the approximately $20 buffets free for both of us for the three days.

Convention Center near the casino.

The sculptures in front of the convention center for Council Bluffs were wonderful. I spent an afternoon taking photos and practicing various settings on my camera.

I am learning how to use the manual setting (?).