From cow to cone

Branson Stagecoach Campground - Branson, MO 

June 16 - 29, 2014

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CONTENTS

RV LIFE

CRAFTS

TN HOME

GIRL TALK

SIGHTS

FARMER'S MARKET REVIEW

RESTAURANT REVIEW

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RV LIFE:
We are still at the Cedar Creek Rally in Branson, MO. I'm starting to get socialized out. Our fellow Creekers (Cedar Creek RV owners) are in no way overbearing or needy. In fact most days, I spend inside with just socializing in the morning and evening. But that is totally enough for me. My smile muscles are aching.
Scott bought small rack of ribs that he's been wanting to smoke in his Cobb Grill, but every day there is either a large breakfast or dinner to mess up his plans.
Don't you love pot luck dinners??? There is usually always at least one dish that I've never had before. It's also fun to try the variety of the ole' standbys made slightly different by people from other parts of the country. There is usually some kind of pasta casserole, corn pudding, potato salad or deviled eggs with a person's own twist on it.
The rally hasn't been as organized as I'd like or as organized as the other rallies I've been to, but we're still glad to be here. Normally, we are given a welcome bag or at least a printout of the schedule for the week. We weren't handed a schedule (sort of) until Wednesday. A book discussion? When? What book? I didn't know. Crafting with Creekers? When? Where? I found out at breakfast, that the crafts were happening that same day right after breakfast. Things seem to be posted on the Cedar Creek Forum, but I don't want to search through Forums to figure out what's going on. There's gotta be a better way.

I keep thinking of the little conveniences of living back in a house again. I will always have an awning aka covered porch out and ready for me no matter what the whether. No worries about having to roll it up when the wind kicks up. As I think of these little conveniences, that does not mean that the RV life is bad. We have been very happy with the small inconveniences of living in an RV and reaping the huge benefits of little responsibility, travel wherever we'd like, no lawn mowing, quick whole house/RV clean up, meeting new friends, and dog rescue contacts. I would not trade our 3 years of  RV life, and in the back of my mind, I see us returning to that life again!
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CRAFTS: Crafting with Creekers
Toilet paper roll crafting

I almost didn't participate in this craft. But I'm glad I did. I really like the way this turned out! My tastes are simple and I would not be ashamed to hang this on the wall of not only the RV but our house also.  This was a very simple design. If you do a search for "Toilet paper roll wall art", you'll see some nice work.

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TN HOME:
As I window shop via the internet, one thing leads to another. Our home will definitely be furnished with 2nd, 3rd, or more hand items. I buy used cars, we bought a used RV. The savings are tremendous if you just purchase a gently used model. So, I've been on the lookout for Goodwill and Salvation Army stores nearby. The more I search, the more I find out about our new home area. Coming from living in congested NJ for 54 years, living in the "boonies" will be quite an adjustment. Full time RV'ing has helped to prepare us though. We have stayed many times in areas with little around, but nature. We've had to drive 30-45 minutes to find a decent grocery store. There have been times when I never left the RV park for 2 weeks. I am fine living off what's in the pantry. Scott, on the other hand, has to always have milk in the fridge and more options for dinner. Scott is the one that will take the drive to find groceries, and I reap the rewards.
In looking for 2nd hand stores, I have so far found plenty in our area!!!! I am thrilled that we are in the country, but within a half hour, there is a decent sized town with big box stores and 2nd hand stores.
I discovered another blogger who loves to renew used items. Second Wind of Texas was posting about ReStore, which is the Habitat for Humanity retail store. They not only have gently used items, but they also have new items. I put in my new zip code 38321 and search for the nearest ReStore. I have been assuming that most things I will have to travel 2 hours to Nashville or 1.5 hours to Memphis. I have been THRILLED to find most things I'm looking for are in Jackson, "just" 30 miles away. That will become our norm to drive 30 miles to go into town. In NJ, if we drive 30 minutes, we'd be going through 15 towns!
So far, I have found a ReStore, Goodwill, Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, & Walmart. There is a smaller town of Huntingdon about 15 miles from home. It will be fun to explore and learn our new area.

Just another little thing that feels good, is my REAL zip code. Now when I sign up for something on a website or when a cashier asks for my zip code, I can be proud to state 38321, instead of a TX zip code that I don't really relate to.
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GIRL TALK:
Help! They've fallen and can't get up!
Any guys reading my blog, you are forewarned, this is a girl subject. If you want to eavesdrop and maybe find out how to better understand the females in your life, read on.
A Little Off Color is a recent blog I've found and love. She doesn't post often, but she is raw and honest. She is a struggling stand up comedian, so her posts are usually spiced with humor along with her struggles of life and emotions.

Let 'em go! 
Supersized Sunday
     Mammogram Monday
          TaTas Tuesday
               Whip 'em Out Wednesday
                    Thrill him Thursday
                         Free 'em up Friday
                              Sagging Saturday





I am so thankful for my wonderful husband. I've said it before...he knows how to deal with my moods, he accepts my weight gain, he accepts my aging face. I feel very loved even though many times I avoid the mirror and when I do look in the mirror, I'm not happy with what I see. Even if I lost weight, I'd still have droopy eyelids that are no long large enough to hold eye shadow. Even if I lost weight, I'd still have the ugly skin tags that seem to appear. Even if I lost weight, I'd still have droopy tatas.

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SIGHTS:
College of the Ozarks aka "Hard Work U"- Pt. Lookout, MO (near Branson)
When most people think of Branson, MO, they think of all the music and variety shows, or tourist trap. I avoid the main strip if possible. I've seen enough shows to not bother with any more. But there are a couple of restaurants that may force you on to the strip.

We are in an RV park about 5 miles from the "wildlife" center of Branson. So we are enjoying the views. We are about a mile from Table Rock State Park, and we avoid the traffic.
Scott eyed a billboard advertising home made ice cream. Thank you honey! So off I went to find it. I'm sure glad I did. It opened up a whole new place to visit...College of the Ozarks.

The home made ice cream is made from cow to cone by the college students. This is a really interesting college. The students do not pay tuition. The are required to work 15 hours a week on the campus and one 40 hour week per semester. This is a Christian based college (been there done that). There are about 40 majors. The campus is also sort of a working farm. They mill their own flour, they milk and pasteurize their own milk from cows on the campus. They have an agriculture department where they grow veggies, flowers, etc.
The beautiful lodge is also a hotel. That is one of the college majors, hotel management and hospitality.

My biggest complaint is that once on campus, there is no real info. I drove all through the campus looking for the ice cream parlor. It ends up it is in a beautiful lodge just outside the entrance to the campus.
I also heard via people talking that there is a tour you can take to see the grain mill, basket weaving, etc. But I saw no brochures about how to take the tour.

I did find the Tractor museum which was next to the Farmer's Market.

Before restoration

After restoration

Samples of the thousands of type of barbed wire below.

We tried the ice cream, we ate at the restaurant and I picked up some items at their Farmer's Market. Reviews to follow.

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FARMER'S MARKET REVIEW:
College of the Ozarks - Pt. Lookout, MO (near Branson)
After Memorial Day on Fridays from 7:30 - 12:30  Cash only

Small indoor market, but beautiful fresh produce available. Also available garden plants, baked goods, fresh milled grains, fresh baked bread, jams, meats.
All the available items are from the labors of the college students, even the meat.
Good prices and worth the visit. Take a tour of the campus while you're there.
I picked up these two plants. One is a purple pepper for my garden I plan to have at our new property in TN. The other is chocolate mint! A lesson learned from having grown spearmint and and peppermint in NJ. Contain your mint! They are invasive!! So I will make sure to put my mint in containers above ground. I love mint plants. Add some mint to iced tea, yum! The chocolate mint I bought is amazing. It really smells like a chocolate mint candy!!! I had to buy it because I've never seen it before. Other mints I can get anywhere.
I also purchased some muffin mix, a rib eye steak, some bratwurst and also a 1/2 gallon of fresh milk!

Where the cows are milked.

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RESTAURANT REVIEW:
College of the Ozarks - Pt. Lookout, MO (near Branson)
Dobyn's Dining Room  
Our rating 5 out of 5

Beautiful rustic lodge look dining room in the beautiful Keeter Center.
Upon waiting to be seated, we were asked if we had any food allergies. That was a nice touch.
All wait staff was very attentive, although our waiter, Sam was definitely new and nervous. He had a heavy Asian accent and was TOO attentive. But he was so sweet, I held my Joisey attitude and smiled sweetly instead. Sam asked Scott if he could clear his plate...NO! Scott still had food on his plate AND he was in the process of cutting up his potato to eat!
The food was excellent!!!!!

Two wheat rolls and 2 cranberry muffins were in the bread basket, along with soft whipped butter and home made apple butter.
Salad does not come with dinner, but since we are now used to having salad every night, and since we don't go out to dinner much, we decided to splurge on the extras. We both ordered a simple caesar salad. Crisp, nicely chopped romaine with cheese and croutons.
We also ordered the signature smoked tomato soup with basil cream and the soup of the day being Asian Beef Veg. soup. The tomato soup was again, just a simple dish, with a definite smokey flavor. I liked it, but did not taste any basil..  Although the beef soup was very good, it had no Asian flavoring that either of us could tell.
For the main course, Scott had a 10 ounce prime rib which was delicious. This entree came with perfectly steamed broccoli and cauliflower, plus a baked potato. Very nice meal.
I chose to have the smoked catfish cakes, an appetizer as my entree. They were not only colorful and beautiful, they were also light and delicious!
For dessert Scott had the Coconut creme pie and I had the Chocolate cake with chocolate flan. Both were excellent!!!
This restaurant is higher priced that we normally go to, but I would not say it's really expensive. We're just cheap.
I would highly recommend you try Dobyn's Dining Room.

Nettie Marie's Homemade Ice Cream
College of the Ozarks - Pt. Lookout, MO (near Branson)

I was so looking forward to the cow to cone ice cream. The college students milk the cows, pasteurize the milk and then make the ice cream. Although the home made waffle cones were delicious, like eating a lovely butter cookie, the ice cream was just fair. I had the chocolate walnut. The ice cream had a deep chocolate flavor, but was lacking in walnuts. I sampled the espresso flavor which is delicious if you really like coffee. It has a very strong coffee flavor.

Kitchen gadgets

June 25- July 8, 2013 River's End RV Park, Chinook,WA

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What is it? Read on...

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PRODUCT REVIEW:
Cuissential Slick Drip

Our rating 5 out of 5 Excellent product!

I like to start my day with 2 cups of coffee and end my afternoon with 1 glass of wine. Both preferably outside if the weather cooperates and our neighbors (if any) cooperate.

I drink strong coffee...black (if it's good), and I like a hearty deep red wine. Scott on the other hand likes his coffee with cream and sugar and prefers sweet wines, ports & fruit wines. 

Since having a great cup of coffee made with a cone filter over a mug at the Eugene Saturday Farmer's Market, we've decided to try that method. 

We purchased a Cuissential Slick Drip for $15.00 from Amazon. We are still experimenting, but my first two cups were very good. Here's a video on the proper method of the manual drip method of making coffee. The video uses a bleached filter. From what we've read, the Melitta filter is best and use the unbleached filter to avoid a chemical taste.

I tried the small Keurig, which convinced me to stop making 8 cups of coffee at once and reheating in the microwave. Now that I've been enjoying one cup at time for over two years, I'm ready to try this cone method. I experienced an excellent cup of coffee this way at the Eugene Sat. Farmer's Market. That convinced me to purchase my own cone dripper.  I'm thrilled to get rid of the electric coffee maker and have more counter space.

The SlickDrip not only does an excellent job of making a good cup of coffee, but it's light, compact and easy to handle.

There is more to a good cup of coffee than just the SlickDrip though. So if you're coffee doesn't turn out, please don't blame the SlickDrip. Bleached (white) filters can seep a chemical taste into your coffee, use the brown filters. Also, don't just pour the mug of water in at once, slowly pour it in and let the grounds foam slightly and drain. Then pour more, etc. I'm still learning. Also fresh oily coffee also helps to make a good cup.

I'll use this product for a few days to make sure I don't mind the small amount of extra work involved in this method. Then out with the Keurig and in with more counter space!

Sanyo 3-cup Electric Rice Cooker

Our rating 5 out of 5

It took some convincing & a gift from my husband to change from making rice on the stove in a pot to making rice in an electric rice cooker. All these specific use appliances take  up space. When our Flat Coated Retriever, Chance developed kidney disease, I decided to home cook for him so he'd get the correct amount of protein without the high phosphorous level that causes further kidney damage. 

1999-2006

A main part of this diet was "sticky rice", meaning rice used for sushi. Every other day I would watch the pot of rice on the stove and make sure it didn't boil over. When I was presented with this rice cooker, I was really aggravated. What a waste. Well, I might as well try it. I've never made rice in a pot on the stove again. Perfect rice every time!

*I have an older model of the above rice maker. There is no steamer tray included. 

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Nordic Ware Microwave Egg Boiler

Our rating 4 out of 5, If this was made out of silicone and could collapse, then it would be 5 stars.

Mystery solved. That egg at the top of the page is this egg boiler. As with the rice cooker, what's the problem with boiling eggs in a pot on the stove top? Nothing, except I tend to forget it is there and have ended up with a completely dry pot and ruined eggs. This hasn't really happened since moving into the RV. Scott has been wanting soft boiled eggs and can never get them to the right cooked stage. He had given up. Enter this awkward looking device.

I ordered it because of the great reviews. I've finally gotten into the habit of making a nice salad nightly. Scott likes salad and he usually buys the pre made packaged salads. Basically, iceberg, romaine and grated carrots for a hefty price. Since I've been making salads, the salad could be a meal in itself. I've been adding chopped hard boiled eggs, so the need to boil eggs regularly.

I only hard boiled 2 eggs as directed. They turned out perfect. The next morning, Scott soft boiled 2 eggs as directed. They were also perfect and Scott was a very happy man. 

It is about 7" tall and 5" around, so it does not store conveniently. I did find a space in between my pots and pans.

I wasn't planning on posting all these reviews. One thing just leads to another...

Progressive CSS-2 Green Collapsible Salad Spinner - 3 Quart Capacity

The link above is to order via Amazon, but we purchased ours through Camping World.

This has 3 parts. 1. Lid with spinner, 2. Collander type inner bowl 3. Solid outer bowl. All collapse into themselves to about 3" high. I've been using this for about a year and am very happy with it. 

Pampered Chef Garlic Peeler & Slicer

Our rating 5 out of 5

Yes, this is expensive for this little device ($20.00), BUT, it is worth the price for the ease of use and never having to hand peel garlic again!

The flexible silicone tube is the amazing peeler! You just put a clove of garlic in the tube. Roll the tube on the counter 5-10 times and dump the peeled garlic clove out! Check out this video of how it works. 

You then throw the peeled cloves in the slicer barrel (works like a pencil sharpener) and you have thinly sliced garlic. A must have item if you use a lot of fresh garlic.

In google searching for a video, I came across this video using a generic garlic peeler. It's the same thing only much cheaper! The second video reviewer bought his at Deal Extreme. I've never heard of this site. They sell just the silicone peeler for $1.50!!!!! Even if the shipping was ridiculous, it would still be a deal compared to the Pampered Chef price. But, Deal Extreme is free shipping to the USA!

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SIGHTS:

Astoria Sunday Market

Our rating 4.5 out of 5 Dogs allowed!

This is a smaller market than Eugene, but definitely a contender for one of the top markets. Vendors are very well laid out in rows, so easy to navigate and find again. Lots of beautiful crafters, some the same as the Ilwaco Sat. Market. Enough local fruits and vegetables to satifsy and not be overwhelmed. I bought a hanging basket of red petunias for $8.00, some romaine, home made dog biscuits, huge, delicious cookies, some canned tuna and did a lot of "window" shopping. Plenty of food truck vendors also. 

Parking can be somewhat tough. I ended up about 4 blocks away at a furniture store that is closed on Sundays.

I hope to go back during the week to stroll that quaint, but bustling town of Astoria.

While walking the 4 blocks to the market, I saw a sign that encouraged me to walk through an alley in between a couple of brick building. Astoria Fiber Arts Retail Store & Academy was calling me. Now wasn't I just at Black Sheep Gathering and bought yarn there? Oh the plague of knitters. We cannot resist "just looking" and "just petting" yarn. Oooooh, how beautifu! Ooooooh, how soft! SUCKER! Yep, I was led, I petted, I bought.

How could I possibly resist this hand spun, beautifully rich hand dyed SILK yarn???? This fiber shop only carries yarns made by local spinners and dyers. 

This beautiful ball of yarn hand dyed by Margaret Thierry.

                                               This store is really a meeting place for classes for all things fiber.   The local fiber guild I was a member of in NJ would be thrilled with this set up.                                                                      There must have been 15 looms set up for use and teaching weaving. 

The pastel ball below is also hand dyed and silk. Very soft and feminine.

They even wound the skein into balls for me, no extra charge.  Besides hand made yarns, there are also ready made pieces for purchase. There are knit and crocheted hats, scarves, shawls as well as woven pieces also.  Very nice women. It was very cool to actually meet the two women who dyed the yarn I purchased.

Earlier in our stay we stopped by the North Head lighthouse. 

From what little we've seen of Washington State Parks, my, my are they nice. Trails all over the place, well marked with difficulty rating and distance. There are day use fees for the parks, but I really don't mind since we can see proof of our fees used for the maintenance of these lovely parks. We purchased a yearly pass for $30., so we are covered to come and go as we please. There was an electronic kiosk right at the park to purchase your pass. I was impressed.

Unfortunately, I am no longer impressed by lighthouses. Again, it must be from growing up in NJ. There are plenty of lighthouses along the coast of NJ. Among the 11 lighthouses in NJ open to the public, I have been to 5.

Absecon Lighthouse

1. Barnegat Lighthouse

2. Cape May Lighthouse

East Point Lighthouse

Finns Point Rear Range Light

Herford Inlet Lighthouse

3. Sandy Hook Lighthouse

4. Sea Girt Lighthouse

Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse

Tucker's Island Lighthouse

5. Twin Lights of Navesink

If you happen to be in NJ the weekend of  October 19-20, 2013, check out the Lighthouse Challenge of New Jersey.

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PET PEEVE:

Eminent Domain

An excerpt from the CBS Website written by Rebecca Leung "Just about everyone knows that under a process called eminent domain, the government can (and does) seize private property for public use - to build a road, a school or a courthouse. 

But did you know the government can also seize your land for private use if they can prove that doing it will serve what's called "the public good"? 

Cities across the country have been using eminent domain to force people off their land, so private developers can build more expensive homes and offices that will pay more in property taxes than the buildings they're replacing. 

Under eminent domain, the government buys your property, paying you what's determined to be fair market value." 

I wasn't planning on spouting off about this. But this beautiful photo started it all.

This is a part of the coast of Washington. Beautiful!

Condos at the Jersey shore

Condos & hotels at the Jersey shore

 This is why people are being kicked out of their homes. Tourism. I cannot fathom the idea of property I purchased being taken away, just so someone else can build more residents on the same piece of property. Ugh!!! 

I am in awe of the Washington coastline and how undeveloped it still is. I can practically have the whole beach to ourselves in the middle of summer!

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WHERE WE'RE GOING:

July 9-17, 2013 Port. Hudson RV Park, Port Townsend, WA

July 18-20, 2013 Elwha Dam RV Park, Port Angeles, WA

Tentative:

Neah Bay, WA

La Push, WA

Coeur d'Alene, ID

ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/214

Peace

June 25- July 8, 2013 River's End RV Park, Chinook,WA

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RV LIFE:
Perfect weather
Green grass
Quiet campground
Good book
Beautiful yarn for new project
Calm dogs
Good cup of coffee and a cookie.
PEACE!
I am having a blast here. Even though we had two rigs park next to us and block our view, this is still a lovely place to stay. The sites are set at angles, so even though they may be close, they don't feel it. Most of the time, we have not had neighbors.

A motorhome from Massachusetts pulled in near us. I was sitting outside reading. They no sooner parked and a little boy comes out and walks right up to Devin to say hello. Poor Devin is afraid of kids. His name is Isaiah  and he's about 8 years old. Anyone who knows me, know I do not generally like kids. We go to parks that don't have swimming pools etc because the less the park offers for entertainment, the less likely families will camp there. I gave Isaiah some treats to give to Devin, hoping to help condition Devin to associate good treats with children. Devin would take the treats then run away.
Isaiah then proceeded to show me his campfire lighting kit in a leather pouch. He was trying to make a spark with a piece of metal and a rock. I told him he should try a magnifying glass and a leaf. His eyes grew wide and you could see the "lightbulb" go off in his head. He knew about magnifying glass and and the sun, so was fascinated by my suggestion. I would have NEVER suggested it, if he didn't seem responsible enough. This was a very smart 8 year old. I liked him. Sometimes a kids will just hit the small soft spot in my heart. He then proceeded to show me his feather topped fountain pen. He tore off this itty bitty piece of scrap paper (about the size of a dime) and gave it to me to try to write with the pen. I oohed and ahhed and said "cool". He was very happy to impress me. Sweet boy. It was a pleasure to meet him.
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SIGHTS:
Ilwaco Farmer's Market, Port of Ilwaco, WA
Saturdays May-Oct 10am - 4pm
Dogs allowed!

Nice little market. Not really a farmer's market. It is more of a craft market. There are many local artisans that create beautiful works of art.
I picked up a beautiful wire wrapped double

hummingbird feeder.










From the same vendor, Crack Pots, I picked up a painted stone pendant. It was a little pricey to me, but I was in "vacation mode", which is not a good thing when you are full time RV'rs.

There were so many things I wanted to buy! There were oil lamps made from sliced onyx . If I didn't have a tub full of candles, I would have picked this up. But the RV disciplinarian in me prevailed. Candles are used up and then that space is free. These stone candles would have to be stored safely for travel and would always take up space.  This is one of my incentives to continue to live in an RV. I won't be picking up "stuff". Even though this "stuff" may be beautiful and unique, I take a picture...it'll last longer and take up no space except on my computer hard drive. I know as soon as we settle into a house, we'll start to accumulate. I REALLY do NOT want that to happen, but I know it will, IF we settle.
There was a food truck selling delicious salmon chowder. Yum!
A few crocheters selling their finished projects. There were Jams, honey, scroll & turned wood work for purchase. There are canneries all over this area to purchase fresh, smoked and canned seafood.
We were entertained by some local yokels, a couple of mermaids.

 

There happened to be a couple of "exact" reproductions of two tall ships moored at the Port of Ilwaco for 4 days. We saw the Lady Washington happened to be moored at the Port of Ilwaco for 4 days. She is an "exact" reproduction of the Lady Washington that sailed in 1787 from Boston, down around Cape Horn and up to Vancouver.

We could go aboard for a $3.00 donation, which I did, but really not much to see. A lot of ropes to hoist the sails.

There were day cruises offered also. I asked a volunteer how many sleep on the ship. I was told anywhere from 12-18 people. If I was younger and without a hubby and pets, this would be a very cool experience. Except for the fact that I get seasick! For $500.00 you train for two weeks, on how to live and work on the ship. Then you go out on tour with the ship. The volunteer called it a free vacation. Once you pay the initial $500.00 and pass the course, you are welcome to join any of their excursions if there is room. She said it has been a wonderful experience. Interested?  Here's the info.

The Port of Ilwaco is not only a marina for pleasure boats, but it is also for working fisherman. I found this sign interesting and sad. I believe a fisherman's life is difficult.

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CRAFTS:
I'm STILL trying to use up the red acrylic yarn, plus I still have fun fur yarns from when I was making dog sweaters. So as an easy travel craft, I just made some simple single crochet decorative dog collars. I used 1 strand of the red acrylic and 1 strand of fun fur and single crocheted around elastic.

I gave a couple away at the Doggie Olympic Games.
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BOOK REVIEW:
Veil of Night by Linda Howard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A light reading murder "mystery". I really enjoyed the book, but must admit for anyone that is looking for a good murder mystery...don't bother with this one. I figured out who the killer was quite soon. In spite of that, I enjoyed the characters and got very frustrated at the bridezilla who is a spoiled BRAT. Love the wedding planner theme. Even though I did not have an elaborate wedding, I enjoy reading about other's wedding plans.
The love interest is your typical MAN, meaning big, hunky, strong, protective.
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WHERE WE'RE GOING:

July 9-17, 2013 Port. Hudson RV Park, Port Townsend, WA
July 18-20, 2013 Elwha Dam RV Park, Port Angeles, WA
Tentative:
Neah Bay, WA
La Push, WA
Coeur d'Alene, ID

ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/214

The Peanut Butter Saga continues...

June 14 -24, 2013 Armitage County Park, Eugene, OR

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RV LIFE:
We are back in civilization!!! We went from the closest grocery store being 60 miles away to now having multiple choice grocery stores within 3-5 miles! And yet, our park is quite, roomy, and full of grass and shade trees.
We are parked right across the street from Suzi and David . Close enough to be social but far enough for our privacy. Although, I can look out our kitchen window and "spy" on their site if I really want to be nosey. Suzi can't spy on me because our huge pickup truck is blocking their view.
Our first night here, Suzi invited us over for a Gin & Tonic. Suzi's special "Lake drink" (strong!). We had nice conversation and then I headed home and crashed. Next time, I'll make my own wimpy Gin & Tonic.
Good news & Bad news aka PB saga continues....
Since we are back in the land of convenient grocery stores, I stopped by Safeway yesterday afternoon.  Picked up some necessary items such as toilet paper, bread, paper towels, vegetables, both fresh and canned, and of course NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER. Unfortunately, they didn't carry my normal brand, so I only bought one jar, to get me through until I look at another store. Oregon is a very "green" state, which I like. They don't regularly use plastic bags. The grocery store used paper bags at 5 cents charge per bag. Suzi forewarned me, so I was prepared with my reusable bags. Some of them are more sturdy than others. My precious peanut butter was in a flimsy nylon tote. Can you guess what is coming up next? I load my bags of precious cargo into the back seat of the truck. All is good. When I get back home to our site, Scott is mesmerized on the computer, so he is no help unloading the bags. I open the back door and bump, bang, crash, splat!

Oh, woe is me! Why? WHY? Another day without peanut butter is like day without water! Should I borrow a tablespoon of PB from Suzi, my neighbor? I WILL survive this ordeal.
So I'm sure you are all wondering, what I had for breakfast this morning? No worries, no need to say a prayer for me. I had a delicious almond danish pastry thingy, I got from the Farmer's Market yesterday. Shhh, I hate to admit it...but the danish trumps PB!!!! Did I really say that?





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PETS:
Unfortunately, we have to buy another crate. At 9 years old, Lyla has become untrustworthy loose in the RV. I NEVER thought we'd need a crate for her. Scott can say "I told you so." He wanted to bring 2 crates on our trip..."just in case". I said no, one would be fine. Chomp, chomp. I'm eating my words, and I paid for the new crate. We have a perfectly good crate in our storage unit in NJ. I headed for the PetSmart that is only 2 miles from us, as soon as they opened at 9am. I needed to pick up the crate and return before 10am because we were meeting Suzi & Dave to go the the Farmer's Market.
All went well. I got up around 7am. Had my coffee and last piece of white bread and jam, took the dogs to the 2 acre dog park that is a 5 minute walk from our site, went to PetSmart and made it back in time for the Farmer's Market.
Our poor doggies looked really pathetic as we left for the market. Crates side by side and both of them standing hunched over looking so sad at us as we went out the door.
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FARMER'S MARKET REVIEW:
Saturday Market, Eugene, OR (No dogs allowed)
Our rating 5 out of 5
Ever since going to the Santa Fe Farmer's Market, I am in love with this activity. Not only because of all the fresh produce, but there is also usually many other local items for sale. There is usually local honey and artisan breads, as well as food vendors.
The Eugene Saturday Market is huge and crowded. I will many times forego attending a function because I do not want to deal with crowds. They have free high rise type parking, but we weren't sure if our truck would meet the 7 foot limit. So we opted to pay for parking at around $1. an hour. It was worth it.
Some booths were  difficult to get to because they were so popular and people were crowding the table and waiting in line. I kept talking to myself and giving myself encouragement to calm down. This is much easier to do since I'm retired. My time is not so precious, simply because I have a lot of free time now.
We had a boiling hot cup of delicious, strong, but smooth coffee. This was a very popular vendor. They line up all these coffee filters, put a huge scoop of fresh ground coffee in each filter and pour boiling water onto the coffee grinds. Let the water naturally seep through into the cup. I always thought that method was because you couldn't afford a coffee maker. I learned something new! I may have to try that method at home.

L to R: Scott-Suzi-Dave-Jessie-Erin

We met up with Suzi & Dave and their son, Jessie and his long time girlfriend, Erin. It's not often that I get a photo of Scott smiling. He looks good, doesn't he? Oh, and just skip over the blonde next to Scott. No, that is not Scott's significant other, but it is someone who'd rather not have her picture taken, so just pretend she's not there.

So many vegetables, so little refrigerator space! We picked up tri-colored string beans, kale, lettuce, mixed greens, golden raspberries, goat cheese, a roast, and pastries. We searched all the booths for fresh peas, but Suzi snatched the last of them and then made a point of showing us how beautiful they are. She really has no sympathy for us. Next week, peas will be the first thing we pick up. Also, next week, we'll pick up our produce, etc first and then we'll walk our purchases back to the truck. We can return to the other section of the market where the crafts and food vendors are. There was so much to see, taste, and buy. Our bags were loaded and so heavy! Scott decided he wanted to check out the food vendors. I'd had enough. I needed to get rid of our loaded bags. But being the good wife I am, I smiled and found a seat in the shade while I waited for Scott to get his root beer float and just cut, home made french fries from The Blazing Chef vendor. You know I've "had it" when I didn't want anything to eat. I took 2 french fries (delicious) and left my overweight bags with Scott and walked around for a while, until Scott finished eating.
And while walking around, I spotted this cool hand made items booth. I refused to buy any unless I had a use for them in the RV.

I bought this itty bitty basket made out of pine needles and walnuts from OR Pine Needle Baskets. See the sliced walnuts on the ends? I am fascinated by making things that you can pick up for free. I'm going to use this to hold wire twist ties as you see above the basket. Damn! $30.00 just to hold twist ties! I'm on a mission to try this craft out myself.
Next week I'll take photos, or you can check out Suzi's blog and her photos of the beautiful bounty of produce.
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WHERE WE'RE GOING:
June 25- July 8, 2013 River's End RV Park, Chinook,WA
July 9-17, 2013 Port. Hudson RV Park, Port Townsend, WA
Tentative:
Neah Bay, WA
La Push, WA
Coeur d'Alene, ID

WA, ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/214

Dreadlocks and Furries, oh my!

May 8 - 19, 2013 (12 days) - Azalea Glen RV Park, Trinidad, CA
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CRAFTS: 

While reading blogs this morning, Merikay of Merikay's Dream was posting about finding a portable craft hobby for the road. She is a creative person, so doesn't tend to like to follow patterns, unlike me who loves following patterns because even though I like crafts, I am not creative. Merikay has become hooked on Plastic Canvas, which is like magnified needlepoint. Which reminded me...

I don't think I ever posted my finished plastic canvas pot luck tote I was making last year around this time. I searched and couldn't find a post of the finished project. As I stated I am not very creative, although I did create this tote with my own little imagination.

So I am somewhat creative, I did design this tote for carrying pot luck eating devices, such as multi-sectioned plates, S&P, utensils, cups, etc.

But I am not creative enough to to design patterns to fill in the blank areas like Merikay did.

With  permission from Merikay

I don't craft plastic canvas often, but here's one I kept from our S&B home and mounted in our RV.

This is from a kit

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SIGHTS:

Arcata Farmer's Market - Arcata Plaza, CA

Free - Saturdays Mid April to Mid November 9am - 2pm

My rating 5 out of 5

We had a blast at this event. Very utopian and festive. This is my stereotypical image of California. 

Lots of organic plants, vegetables, some meats, etc.

Live music, although I was expecting something more "beachy" than blues.

Vegan, gluten free and regular food vendors.

Hula hoops were strewn through out the park and both kids & adults picked them up and started shaking their hips. It just reminded me of those scenes in slow motion where children are smiling and playing and getting hugs from parents and it's raining daisies.

Lots of people with long, long, ugly itchy dreadlocks Gross!

And I saw my first "Furry". This person was dressed as a white fox. Furries are a subculture that act out animal cartoon characters by dressing as them.  I thought this person (couldn't tell if guy or girl) was part of a display, but nope, just walking around with a full furry fox head covering and a long white furry tail. I never heard of them until Scott mentioned it. Wish I had taken a photo. Funny, in yesterdays post about foxtails, I used a photo of the back of what I now know is a "furry"! 

Being a knitter, I was surprised to see 2 spinners, 1 of alpaca  and 1 of angora bunny. The angory knitted items were gloriously soft.

Spinning alpaca into yarn

I finally got my spring fix. There were flowers both growing and for sale. Cut flowers for sale as well as potted garden flowers for sale. I picked up a gallon pot of Candy Flowers bicolor Regal Geraniums that I've never seen, but thought it was pretty. Hopefully this will bloom through the summer to adorn our picnic table.

Here are some flowers growing in the plaza.

Notice the garbage can? It is mosaic tiled! Only in California! Prettiest public garbage cans I've ever seen.

On a side note, I don't know if I ever posted our lovely poop garbage can. We made it out of the leftover square pvc pipe used to make the sewer hose storage. We keep this right outside our door. It collects the full plastic poop bags until we take out the garbage. Comes in very handy.

Enough talk of garbage, unless we're talking garbage food, which is oh so 

delicious, but mostly oh so bad for our health. Although at this farmer's market, the worst food they had was a Mashed Potato Cone, which Scott got loaded. Loaded meaning, herbed waffle cone, with mashed potatoes, topped with gravy, topped with bacon bits & shredded cheese, and then topped with shredded brisket. Scott said it was really good and he would get again.

This was provided by a vendor at the Farmer's Market, with a restaurant in Trinidad, CA, called The Lighthouse Grill. Small world too! The woman who waited on us is from NJ, just 10 minutes from where we lived!

There were also 3 bakeries present, selling beautiful whole grain and artisan breads and sweets. Our RV oven (used as a bread box) is full already, with hamburger rolls, raisin bread, multi-grain bread, & challah. I so wanted to try the salted rosemary foccia, but resisted. I'm the bread eater, so I have to  eat it all before it molds. Scott sticks with white or butter bread. Yeck and blah.

Scott had $3. on him and I had $35., so we had to be choosy as to what we purchased. I did buy a berry scone that I had for breakfast the next day. Delicious!!!!

I've been on a vegetable kick every since I created my vegetable wraps with packaged coleslaw mix and pico de gallo. I always have fresh broccoli in the refrigerator. Love, Love LOVE steamed broccoli. Shakefork Community Farm was selling fresh beets. 

I also love beets, but never had them fresh, only canned. I asked how to cook them and it seems easy enough. I asked about the leaves and she said they are edible like kale. So I'll be mentioning how they turn out in a future post.

We also tried grilled oysters with a lemon/garlic/butter sauce.

Mmmmm! Expensive, but oh so delish! $1. each or 3 for $5.

We were only there a 1.5 - 2 hours. At the end I had to choose what to purchase. I only had a certain amount of money left. I wanted those flowers, but I also wanted the 3 pack of strawberries. Maybe, just maybe if I take Scott's last dollar and use all my money left including the dimes and pennies in my change purse, I could get both. Decided on flowers and 1 pack of strawberries, so I wouldn't be broke while we looked for a no fee (all points) ATM.

No dogs allowed, but sometimes that can be good. it was crowded and Lyla is not a good girl when it comes to food.
What a really lovely day. Beautiful weather, beautiful products, beautiful music, peace man! Cool! Groovy!

MORE SIGHTS:
Moonstone Beach, Cambria, CA

I stopped by this beach by myself the other day. I just wanted to drive around a see what was in the area. Our Rand McNally RV GPS came with a Fido Friendly app. So while looking on the map, I see a dog icon. Oooh, oooh, that means a dog park! So off I go in search of this dog friendly beach.
There is a small gravel parking lot with another parking lot next to it which I think is owned by the restaurant nearby. You can use that parking lot also as long as there is no event (wedding, etc) being held at the restaurant.
Sure enough, there were about half a dozen dogs romping and walking around the beach.

 We haven't taken the dogs here yet and may not. Scott is VERY nervous about letting Devin off leash in an open area. I'm just a little nervous.My visit was pleasant. The dogs were all fine, the views were beautiful.






A St. Bernard puppy made friends with me.

Some young guys were practicing rock climbing.

And, there's even a river running through the beach area allowing the dogs to dip and romp in the water without worry of getting dragged by the waves of the ocean.

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RV LIFE, well really life in general:
We like to watch (I'm ashamed to admit), TMZ. We saw the other night a subject of teenage girls twerking, huh? Yep, we're getting old. I never heard of furries, I don't text, and now find out about twerking, which is a "dance move that involves a person shaking their hips and bottom in a bouncy up and down motion, causing it to shake, 'wobble' and 'jiggle'.
This is not just walking swaying your hips, this is jiggling your butt so it actually is wobbling all which way. Geeze.
Time for this, non twerking FBG (fat bottomed girl) to get her lazy arse, outside and maybe have a cocktail.
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WHERE WE'RE GOING:

May 20 - May 30 (11 days) - Humbug Mtn. State Park, Port Orford, OR
May 31 - Jun 13, 2013 (2 weeks) - Diamond Lake RV Park, Diamond Lake, OR
June 14 -23, 2013 Armitage County Park, Eugene, OR

WA, ID, WA, MT, ND, SD, WY, then south for the Winter of 2013/214