July 10, 2011
It’s weird being back in Washington. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since I’ve lived here. Since we weren’t going to Richland, it is not really like coming back to some place that I’ve lived. We are here at the Grand Coulee Dam now, and I am blogging by Lake Roosevelt, which is the lake above the dam. The boys are swimming. The boys are weird. I don’t think it’s up to 60 degrees yet.
Iain and I got up at 7:00 and did our first cross country run together. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning for a run. The air here is very dry and with the temperature being 56 degrees, it was near impossible to sweat. It was really weird. But it was good too because it seems we will be without showers for the next few days! Yikes! Good thing for all of you that we are so far west. I had planned to jump in the lake after our run and then use the outdoor showers here for rinsing off sand, but that plan was concocted when I thought it might be warm. Right now I have a fleece jacket on with shorts and I am shivering. These kids are nuts to be swimming. But it’s really nice to be down here by the lake with no one else around. Here’s the tradeoff for no showers – a gorgeous campsite and a lovely lake all to ourselves.
We DO have flush toilets, so it could be worse. There are trade offs for everything I guess. We have no electric but we do have cell phone service. We’ve had no internet connection for a few days and won’t for a few more days so I’m going to be way behind on getting the blog entries up. If they weren’t so wordy and in need of pictures and videos I could do it right from my phone. I really like having the iPhone this trip. But there are a lot of places without service so I’m glad we got printed maps from AAA.
We arrived last night and set up and ate dinner. After dinner, the boys checked out the lake and decided it was a nice evening for a swim. It was fun to watch them swim at sunset.
I’m going to let them swim a little more here and then we are going to pack up and check out the Grand Coulee Dam before heading to Mt. Rainier. The boys like going to dams because they like to say “dam”.
The evening of 7/10
Do you ever remember things from when you were younger and think they were really cool but then when you see them again later, it’s not quite as awesome? Well, let me tell you this – Mt. Rainier is still my most favorite mountain EVER!!
It is even more spectacular than I remembered. We first saw it as we pulled into Yakima, looming over the treeless Rattlesnake Hills. As we drove through the Yakima Valley, the ecosystem rapidly changed. We went from desert into an alpine forest in the blink of an eye. As we got close to Mt. Rainier, we really started riding up some mountain roads. All of a sudden, as we came down a hill, there it was in all its glory! Ah… BREATHTAKING! MAGNIFICIENT! WOO HOO!! What amazes me about this mountain is with every twist and turn of the windy mountain road, we get a new view and different perspective of the mountain.
I’ve been here a few times before and one of my fondest memories was having a snowball fight on the 4th of July with my brother Mike and my Dad while we were wearing shorts! I do recall my Dad pegging me pretty hard with a snowball – HEY!! One of the things I was hoping to encounter was a little bit of snow. Tee hee!! I was so excited when we encountered our first roadside patch that I had Chris pull over so we could touch it.
Woo hoo!! Snow on July 10th in shorts and sandals! It turns out that the higher we got, the more snow there was!
When we arrived at the Lodge, it was like a Swiss chalet!
We were still in shorts. We had a nice dinner in the lodge and when we came out, the temperature was 46 degrees. I guessed that it was 30 but I guessed wrong. Brrrr!!
I am looking forward to exploring more of the park tomorrow. Our campground is pretty cool. It is in the National Park and we have no electricity or showers. It’s chilly and we can’t use our heater but inside the camper was warm when we popped it up so I don’t think it will be too bad tonight. It is very wooded here. I can hear water running so we will have to check that out in the morning.
We are really remote here. There has been absolutely no cell phone service in the park. I’ll be curious if we get any when we go into town to get gas and supplies. I have no idea when we will be able to hook up to the internet again. I hope we get a quick connection because I have a lot of uploading to catch up on.
On The Road Again ~ 2011 
That is so cool, snow and heat, and a neat little camp area you have set up. I loved the pic of Chris and Shane at night. I would be scared to death.
I like this blog Woo Yeah jump shot and the mountain is magnificent!