sing, my angel of music!

posting on vacation - it always seems like there's a ton more to post about than when you're, well, not on vacation. maybe because, well, there is.

I'm in Bend, OR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or, to be more specific, Sunriver. I have not been here since I was six years old, so I only remember the most random of things (such as the chain lock on the door that I couldn't reach then, learning what a yield sign meant for the first time, the playground, etc.) been here since yesterday at about, oh....three o'clock. I drove down from Goldendale, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Friday night we got home, I showered, then unpacked all my dirty clothes, and repacked after the laundry was done. Saturday morning we left about ten o'clock. Dad drove to Roslyn, where we had our first stop for this Washington State history trip. We went to this little neat museum, kinda cluttered but they are trying to raise money for more space. We were also recommended to this great meat shop with really good beef jerky! We went to one of Roslyn's 25 adjoining cemeteries covering 15 acres and tried to find the one with the oldest birth date on it, and came up with 1819. After about an hour, we decided it was hot enough and we could go to our campsite, in the Pasco area near Tricities. I took over driving here, and had a new high speed: 70ish. It's not too scary as long as there isn't wind!

About three hours later saw us at our campsite, a really nice Army Corps of Engineers place with lush grass, nice freezing swimming area, and fairly clean restrooms. We have a new tent with 2 "rooms" so that was pretty nice, having my own room. Except for the two year old kid who we discovered (at 6:15 in the morning) didn't have a Snooze Button, it went pretty well. We made s'mores and started a movie (Horatio Hornblower) on Mom's laptop, but went to sleep before we finished it.

The next day we went to Tricities, which had CREHST museum, very neat if you're ever in the area. however, I think they had more on Hanford and the atomic bomb then I ever wished to know! JK. They had a Renaissance Faire going on, but it cost a fortune to get in so we just walked around the outside and looked at the stuff. During this whole trip, we were listening to Ring for Jeeves, a P.G. Wodehouse book on tape (and if you haven't heard P.G. Wodehouse, I advise your closest library and can give you a list of books that are fantastic and hilarious!) We finished it yesterday :(

The afternoons were mostly spent at the campsite trying to cool down, reading very little, and practicing my Irish Dancing very poorly (stupid switch foot thingy! jk Beth, I think I got it)! We only went swimming once, as the water was VERY cold. We finished Horatio Hornblower and played some cribbage and Phase 10 (I won!).

Monday we went to Walla Walla, which has another neat museum complex, absolutely huge!!! They have five buildings of museum stuff, and then a whole bunch of settler cabins and schools and train stations, etc. our feet got really tired but it was neat. also saw the Whitman Mission, which was cool but very HOT, like everything on the eastern side of the state. (tell me again why they call it Evergreen...the only thing over here is tumbleweed!) We got some ice cream stuff in town and two bags of cherries (my father's favorite fruit) and found someone with high-speed, so I finally got to check e-mail after over a week without!!! *goes through withdrawls* JK ;)

Tuesday was Goldendal, another three-hour drive, but well worth it since we got to see the Stonehenge replica and a super-cool mansion!!! I'll try and post pics if I can.......the replica and mansion were both built by Sam Hill, who also built the Peace Arch in Blaine, WA at the US-Canada border.

We stayed overnight in Goldendale and ran through about twenty sprinklers, then went swimming in the Columbia (as if we weren't already soaked!), which btw isn't that great of an idea if you're already cold. ;) made some more s'mores, and woke up feeling like I was in a sauna in the tent. needless to say, we packed up and moved out quickly. I drove most of the way to Bend, but let dad take over as we got into unknown city driving! My mom's former employer and his wife live here, and they have a vacation house too that they rent out but are letting us stay in for a few days - because they like us, lol. We had dinner with them last night, and then watched a firework display that turned into a mini forest-fire on a butte from their church parking lot. as the butte is uninhabited, I think everything was fine.

Today we slept in and woke up in real beds to hot, clean showers and a nice, home-cooked breakfast! Thankfully there is some form of high-speed here (some obliging neighbor) so I thought I'd make a post to let you all know what's been happening! Dad and I are golfing tomorrow at three thirtyish (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which should be a lot of fun, and we're hoping it cools down as the evening progresses with our golf game. It has been steadily in the nineties since we got here, and isn't supposed to get much better. The house is air-conditioned, and today we went to some lava caves in Bend about a mile long one way and 42 degrees!!! That felt really good. Dad and I had to go back as far as possible, or course, which involved getting practically on our stomachs and getting our pants rather, no, VERY dirty. his were worse. and Dad took a video in the pitch dark of us laughing and being weird. umm....yeah.

Later we went on a bike ride, and now we're "watching" the Mariner's game (which, btw, we're beating Oakland 2-1), and you can actually see the score on this TV! Lots of plans for this week...tomorrow (of course golf) we're going to write to our two sponsored girls as a family, and maybe go for a bike ride. Saturday we're gonna try and hook up again with Mom's old boss and his wife for dinner or something again, and (get this) go see Pirates 3 again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yep-yep, that just about made my week! (besides everything else that has already done that, ha-ha). Sunday morning we're heading home, but we're going to stop in at Black Bear Diner for lunch on the way out. then of course, there's reading - Les Mis! and other....shtuff.....

well, I should go. I'll post more later after I have some more stuff to talk about!

~Verya