Seniors On A Road Trip

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant, and resumed their trip. When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table, and she didn't miss them until they had been driving for about forty minutes. By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses.

All the way back, the elderly husband became the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained, and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up for a single minute. To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car, and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, “While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and the credit card.”

This coming week is National Senior Mental Health Week. You can do your part by remembering to contact at least one unstable Senior to show you care.

Well — my job is done!

Goat Peak

The gal at the Ranger Station said "you need to go up to Goat Peak". She talked about the view, the Ranger on duty, etc. Talked with a lady in the Park who said they had gone up the day before, and spent over 2 hours with "Lightning Bill", who was full of history, stories of the area, stories of fires, just all sorts of fun info, oh, and able to go up in the Fire Tower. Goat Peak is one of 2 manned fire towers in the area.

So today, we headed out. The picture below is the first view of the tower.

This picture is of some of the "wildlife" we saw on the way up" Yes, we also saw deer, birds, chipmunks, etc.

9 miles after the first picture of the tower, we reached the trailhead, with this sign. What it says is that the trail is a short, steep climb. Now, recognize that our Park is at 2000 ft elevation, this trailhead is at 5500. The trail we are about to take goes from 5500 ft to 7000 ft at the fire tower. Oh, that's right, the trail is 2 1/2 miles to the tower, with the last 1/2 mile along a ridge with GREAT views. I don't know what "short" is.

The next couple of pictures prove that we made it to the top of the mountain, but, gee, there is still the 1/2 mile along the ridge to the fire tower. It is at this point, that we meet a couple coming down from the fire tower, they inform us that it is locked, NOBODY there! Darn, no "Lightning Bill", and we are TIRED!

So there is the GOAL that we had set out for, but with no "Lightning Bill", we just didn't have the energy to finish the trip. At this point, I should point out some facts that we really had ignored at the trailhead. As you can see from the picture above, we are probably only 200 ft elevation below the Fire Tower. That means, that in 2 miles (10,560 ft) we climbed about 1300 ft. That means an AVERAGE slope of around 13%, some was definitely more. Oh, did I mention, we forgot our walking sticks? We found a couple of sticks to use on the way down, but it still took almost as long to go down, as up, as footing was slippery, etc.

Yes, we made it down, and feel blessed that we were able to make the trip. All in all, a great day, one we will always remember. Not bad for a couple of 69 1/2 year-olds, BUT...."never again!"

Silverline Resort, Winthrop, WA

Ok, so I’m doing a Blog posting, in hopes that some of you will follow my example. In fact, I’m recommitting to a weekly posting – How About You????

Silverline Resort, near Winthrop, Washington is on Pearrygin Lake. Having a surface area of 212 acres, it is a little smaller than Long Lake, at 225 acres. No islands, a little wider. Other than Silverline on the north end, there is one piece of private property next us, the rest of the shoreline is a State Park with 2 campgrounds on the east side, the south & west sides are state owned, with no public access.

Silverline. Of 50 RV sites, only 24 are gravel, the rest are on grass, as are the 30 tent sites, plus 2 group sites which can handle either. As the pictures will show, motorhomes and 5th wheels park on the grass – I still cringe a little as I see one of them pull onto the nice green grass! However, the sites are allowed to “rest” after being used for several days, in order to keep them green. For instance, this weekend, we turned away campers, but had 4 sites empty.

My job is “The Water Guy”, (actually 2 of us), we start the pump at 8:00 am, and it may run as late as midnight. Every open site & open areas get at least 45 minutes of water every day, some more. Some areas are underground sprinklers, others we use hoses & sprinklers. We have people asking for the grass sites, just a GREAT place for kids to be.

Here are a few pictures that I took. Sorry, but I had trouble loading them, so they don't seem to be expanding to full size.

This is a view of the State Park from the top of our resort yesterday.

This is a view down the lake, the other State Park campground, with a swimming beach is around the point to the left. At the end of the lake is the barn from the old homestead, the house that stood by the tree burned the 4th of July.

This is a picture of our beach, boat area, docks. 3 docks, one fishing only are on the water.

This shows some of the camp sites adjoining the Common Area, view of the lake.

The other side of the Common Area, also on grass, and views of the lake.

Yes, we do have regular RV sites with full hookups.

This is just a tranquil view of the lake on a quieter day, also from the top of the Resort. I should mention, yesterday, our temp reached 98 degrees, but this morning, it was 60 degrees. We have always gotten down into the 50's at night, most days in the 80's, and sunny. Even had a campfire last night after dark. If you wish to see more pics of the Resort, use this link, and take the "Tour". http://www.silverlineresort.com/tour.html

My Living Will

Last night, considering my heart issues lately, Laura & I were talking. I said to her, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all, If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

So she got up, unplugged my computer, and threw out my wine. DANG!

Life Is Good!

Ok, so I’ve been bad. Now time to update the blog.

The cruise to Alaska was GREAT! The time spent with Cindy, Deb, Rich, Joe, & Leslie really made it special – Thanks kids. The weather couldn’t have been better, we were so fortunate. Yes, we gained weight, got some sun, what more could we ask for. I will post some pics in the future, but for now, if you can, visit Deb & Rich’s Facebook sites, they have posted several.

So my heart didn’t cooperate by converting on its’ own, so Tuesday, June 16th, Dr tried cardioversion. It was successful the first try, and my heart is now back in normal rhythm. Dr. said “You can leave, just stay in touch, sent me some test results”. I can do that.

So now we are at Silverline Resort, Winthrop, WA. Their web site is http://www.silverlineresort.com/ Got here Thursday, put to work on Sat. Like our bosses, Kristi & Dan. It’s a small RV Park, but busy! Full this last weekend. We do like our location.

As I type & post this, we are sitting here enjoying our gas campfire, music, and a glass of wine – Life Is Good!

Hospital Visit

For those that have asked (and those that haven't), here are the facts. After playing Polish Poker with friends Monday evening, I started having funny feelings. Tightening in the chest, stopped to rest taking the garbage to the dumpster, a couple of blocks. Took blood pressure, and realized heart beat was irregular. Called 911, and had an ambulance ride at midnight. First diagnosed as A-Fib, eventually became Atrial-Flutter. After several tests, etc., tried to correct with cardioversion (electric shock, same as in 2000), but did not work.

Kept in hospital, dr assigned was friend Rick's cardiologist. Put on medicine to try and correct, but has not converted me yet. He said "It's not life threatening, go on your cruise, we will take care of it when you get back." I like this doctor!

I'm not experiencing as severe symptoms as Mon nite, so looking forward to a GREAT cruise.

Upon our return, if I don't convert on my own, we will again try cardioversion. If that does not work, then they will have to go in and interrupt (ablate) a portion of the abnormal electrical conduction pathway. Will be similar to angioplasty, but using an electrical charge. Usually successful.

Really looking forward to seeing the kids tomorrow, and enjoying our Cruise! We will NOT have internet access. so will be back on line the 7th of June. Will check for phone messages whenever we are in US ports, so feel free to contact us that way.

Palouse Falls, Washington

Our friends, Jerry & Karen, took us for a ride into beautiful SE Washington, to visit Palouse Falls. The Falls are on the Palouse River, about 4 miles upstream from the confluence with the Snake River. The canyon at the Falls is about 377 ft deep, the Falls are about 186 ft high. Another beautiful, and interesting feature is the rock formation near the top of the Falls, as you can see on these photos. We just HAVE to go back and do some hiking, there are trails to the top of the Falls, (you can see people in my photos) and to the bottom of the Falls. Also, a few days before we were there, a Tyler Bradt ran the falls in a kayak, setting an unofficial world record for the highest waterfall run. I have included a link to a video of that event, hopefully it will work for you.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/si_video/2009/05/13/0905.palouse.SportsIllustrated/index.html