Camping Trip with the Kids

I put my travel trailer to use for the weekend.  We went to the Tacoma KOA, to give Faith her first camping trip.  Not exactly roughing it with a heated pool and watching a movie in the camper, but we did cook out, enjoy some smores over the hot coals, and join the campgrounds pancake breakfast the next morning.  Cozy in an 18' travel trailer, but fun!   They are the best kids ever (in my unbiased opinion ;-)

I learned an important camping lesson while there.  Never ever leave the drain while pumping the sewage tank.   I went inside for a bit, when I came back out the attachment had come loose and there was all manner of unspeakable ick all over the drive.  And nice and smelly to boot.  Made for a very unpleasant cleanup.   A lesson I won't soon forget...

Family Visit

When we dropped Jaime off at the airport, we picked up family visiting from Maryland.  My travel trailer came in handy as a spare room (for me), since we had a houseful of people.

Meeting of the minds -- Uncle Don and Dad keeping us updated on the latest news

Aunt Elaine and Elaina play "go fish"

Zach in 'native' Seattle attire

Dave 'bringing sexy back'

Zach watering flowers (and his sister, with regularity)

Catching up on "The Archies"  (who knew they were still around??)

Intense 'Blues Clues' watching

Sisters (n' friends)

Who says cats don't 'move' well??

I think it is safe to say that Wiley and Lemur have bonded during their long trip west (and maybe missing Maz??). 

They also seem to be adjusting rather well to their new home in Seattle, despite the noisy dog-thing that keeps running around the house ;-)  Pretty soon my folks are getting a pug puppy, so the noisy dog thing concentration will increase notably.   Hopefully, they'll see it as a toy...

Rest of the Trip

Since I'm so far behind on my "inner Bedouin" posting, I'm just going to finish off with pictures from the trip.  Mostly driving, but a few sites seen on the way.  Little explanations where needed:

The Badlands --

Happy kitties --

Giant bug-bird that should have cracked the windshield --

The Vore Buffalo Jump (a large sink hole that Native Americans drove buffalo in to) --

Stepan Center west??  (a bad idea...twice!) --

Montana sights (continental divide, the Madonna of the Rockies, Butte) --

Milestone for my 10 year old Jeep --

The Berkeley Pit (polluted copper mine) --

Dust devils of the west --

Mount Rainer ("the mountain was out") --

Jaime in Seattle --