The 5 Pledges

At the end of his program last Friday, Glenn Beck showed the above "Pledges", and said,

"If your politician doesn't believe, support or reflect these beliefs in their actions then they aren't supporting you. More importantly, they aren't supporting, protecting or defending the Constitution."

What do you think????

Winthrop, Washington

Downtown Winthrop looks like the set from a Western movie, with false-front wooden buildings, hitching rails and boardwalks all helping to create the illusion of a 19th century frontier town. An ordinance says that your business has to look old and worn out, staying in the old West character.

Visitors enjoy rodeos, cattle drives, music festivals and loads of parties, from wine tastings to balloon rides. You can find diverse lodging from campgrounds, RV parks, cabins to luxurious resorts. Shopping includes gift shops, art galleries, a great variety of restaurants, and even an ACE Hardware.

I’ve included a few pictures, enjoy. The last picture is of Sheri’s Sweet Shoppe, which has such things as gourmet chocolates, hot dogs, and ICE CREAM! With some 50+ flavors, ½ of them are home-made, Ummmm, Good!

Harts Pass, Pacific Crest Trail

Three weeks ago, we ventured up to Harts Pass, the highest elevation you can drive in the State of Washington. The first pic shows some of the narrow, one lane road. Yes, it really drops off a long way on the left.

This picture shows Laura standing on the Pacific Crest Trail, at this point the distance to Canada is 31 miles. Melissa, weren't you on this part of the PCT?

There is our/my goal, as Laura decided she couldn't walk the 1/4 mile climb up to the Tower. This tower is Not manned, and actually not safe to climb.

But I made it, elevation 7488 feet, and what a view from the top of Slater Peak. In this picture in the right center is a large, lighter area in the sky. That is Snow-covered Mt. Baker, 53 miles away. I took a lot of pictures up here, but have opted to try showing a short video of the view. Not professional, but it does give an idea of the look out over the Cascade Mts of Northern Washington. Also, just below the road midway through the video, you can see the Pacific Crest Trail as it winds toward Canada.

Thirtymile Fire

Our RV Park is at 2000 feet elevation, but surrounded by mountains that reach up to nearly 9000 feet. I have commented on our high temperatures and lack of rain. Being from Michigan, we tend to forget the dangers of forest fires, those started by lightning, and those started by careless humans.

Several miles north of us, where the road ends about 12 miles from the Canadian Border in the Okanogan National Forest, is the site of a devastating fire in 2001.

This memorial was erected in honor of the 4 young lives that were lost that day. It seems that nearly everyone visiting the site wants to leave some momento of their visit. I have never before seen such a display.

This is the view of the valley across the road from the memorial, now 8 years after the fire! It still looks devastating, but the forest is renewing itself.

We were reminded of our visit to this site last night, as all day we commented on how hazy it seemed to be, and then toward dusk, it seemed to get heavier. The sunset was weird colors, the result of the smoke in the air from fires several miles away. There is one fire a few miles west that is being watched, but not fought, as it is no danger to anyone, and in an area that is difficult to reach.

We now have a "no campfire" status even in the campground where we water every day, and some days, we observe helicopters flying over with their water buckets, heading out to help with the fire fighting efforts. There is a Smoke Jumpers Base just 5 miles south of us, we drove by yesterday. Lots of activity, helicopters standing by, just waiting to be called into action. Let's hope they aren't.

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