LaPush, WA (Weekend trip, 2 days)

Needed to clean the RV from the last trip. What better way than to go out again!
In a mad dash, we decided to try and stay "local."

6pm - Left Woodinville
11pm - Arrived at the Quileute Oceanside Resort in LaPush, WA
Miles driven: 234 each way

Off season is great! We were one of two RVs the first night and the only RV the second night. Ocean front at this park means just that - we were as close to the ocean as you can get in an RV!

Weather turned out to be fantastic despite a weekend forecast for rain. It did rain for the entire drive out and a bit Saturday morning. After that, it cleared up and was a very enjoyable get away. Lots of walking, playing on driftwood and in general, enjoying the great outdoors.

Escape to Disneyland

Mid-winter break
A friend's 6-year old, our 2 kids (5 and 2)
Destination = Disneyland

Need we say anything more?

2/18 - Left Kirkland, WA around 5pm & picked up Megan's friend Jaden

drive, drive, drive, drive, drive - finally decide to take a rest break outside of Mt. Shasta.

nap, wake, eat... mmmm coffee is gggggoooooodddddd.

2/19 - 7pm - we're here...
Stayed at Annaheim Harbor RV Resort

Key Lessons

• It takes twice as long to cover the distance in the RV (or at least feels that way)
• Don't rely on the cheap shuttle - just hoof it the 1/2 mile to/from Disneyland
• Do get the discount tickets
• Do pack your lunch, snacks and water/boxed drinks daily
• Bathroom breaks every 2 hours are mandatory with kids in this age range

Ride Summary

• Went on virtually every ride at Disneyland! Purposely skipped Indiana Jones Adventure... figured it would be too much for the girls.
  Splash Mountain was closed; Tom Sawyer's Island & boats to it were closed.
• In California Adventure Park - Monster's Inc., Tower of Terror, Soarin' Over California, River Rafting Adventure, Lots of little rides in the Bugs Life area.

Character Sightings

• Cruella De Ville - day 1, Main Street (no pics)
• Rabbit and Eeyore - day 1, Pooh Bear's corner (pics)
• Goofy - day 2, Toontown (no pics)
• Mickey Mouse - day 2, Toontown (pics)
• Goofy - day 2, Main Street (no pics)
• Jasmine - day 3, Princess Faire (pics)
• Cinderella -day 3, Princess Faire (pics)
• Snow White -day 3, Princess Faire (pics)
• Sully - day 3, California Adventure Park (pics)
• Cinderella - day 3, California Adventure Park (no pics) - Saw her when getting pics w/Sully. As Dan & girls exited "Tower of Terror" she stopped and talked to Jaden - "That ride scares me too. I squeeze my Prince Charming's hand so tightly whenever I go on it."

Brief weather scare turned out to be nothing. We had been concerned about crossing the Siskyious - but as we arrived in LA, they started forecasting a major snow storm for the Tetons. Sheesh. This is California - it's not supposed to snow. It was lightly snowing when we drove over on the way home, but nothing was sticking and the trip home was relatively uneventful.

Whistler, BC (Long weekend, skiing!)

Woodinville
Whistler, BC (3x)
Home

Oregon Coast (Weekend trip, maiden voyage! 3 days)

Route:

• Woodinville, WA (Depart)
• Centralia, WA (Wal*Mart)
• Cape Kiwanda, OR (Cape Kiwanda RV Park)
• Ocean Shores, WA (Copalis Beach)
• Woodinville, WA (Return)

This trip had all the best of the first trip out. First stop presented the first injury. During a quick swing-by at Camping World, Megan stepped off the step in the doorway, fell backward and smacked her front teeth on the floor. We learned the value of using Streets & Trips with GPS Locator to save angst and keep our blood pressure in check during trip navigation. We ran over our first nail - and waited about 45 minutes at a Les Schwab store in Tillamook, OR to find out we were fortunate to NOT have punctured the tire. Spoiled the kids rotten with ice cream at Tillamook before lunch and scored some fantastic aged white cheddar in their store.

Outside of being the "maiden voyage" this was an excuse to eat breakfast at the Grateful Bread in Kiwanda. Much to our chagrin, the state's best breakfast joint was closed for two weeks. Disappointed, we stopped in their parking lot long enough to fry up our own version of a great breakfast before heading out.

Breakfast disappointment aside, we enjoyed some tasty beer at the Pelican Pub & Brewery (Dan's fav: Tsunami Stout), which was just across the street from the RV park. The food options were a little over the top (what happened to a simple plate of nachos?) and I'm not sure the kids were 100% welcome - but tasty brew and friendly enough staff made for an enjoyable end to a fun day.

Took an alternate route home and swung by McMinnville, where some of my friends own a video store. Sadly, this happened to be SuperBowl weekend and they weren't there. Cool video store though, if you're ever in McMinnville.

RV Information, rig info!

After much online research and a depressing amount of time visiting the local RV dealers and a couple of "RV Shows" (Note to self, add a blog entry describing the process of dealing with RV dealers) we finally decided that:

1. The girls must have separate sleeping areas, preferably dividable and away from the main coach living area and the master bedroom (for everyone's sanity!)
2. Since we will be full timing it (living in the rig year-round) for 2 years it must have slide outs so that we have some additional living space to use.
3. It needs to be relatively new since all warranties will likely be void as soon as we put it on the ship across the Atlantic, let's minimize the breakdown risks!
4. We want to purchase the RV in the states and have time to get used to it before needing to settle into it for 2-years. In addition, RVs in Europe tend to be considerably smaller and the American units more expensive than buying here and shipping over.

We decided against Class C (bunks over the cab) due to space and privacy considerations, as well as 5th-wheel (5'ers) since that would add considerable expense to the shipping costs (the towing rig + 5th wheel add up to a longer unit overall vs. a class A).

We wound up checking out Class A rigs with bunk beds. At the time (late 2006, early 2007) there were only a couple of Class A rigs on the market with bunk beds, we checked them ALL out.

At long last we went with the Winnebago Sightseer 35J which is a 35' long Class A rig with bunk beds that are between the main cabin and the master bedroom with sliding doors separating them from the rest of the rig. This allows us to stay up after the girls (5 & 2) have gone to bed and allows everyone a little privacy.