October 31 -McMinnville, OR , GPS trouble and Adventure Church

October 31, 2013

GPS Trouble!!!

Well our GPS let us down for the first time. It's a fancy Rand-McNally made especially for Motorhomes. It knows our height and length and will only route us on roads that are approriate. We were supposed to be travelling to Mcminnville, OR and ended up being routed about 30 miles out of our way, only to find out that we needed to take a ferry to get where we needed to go. We couldn't convince the GPS that we didn't want the ferry. We finally found out that the ferry could handle our weight, height and width but could only take units that were 60' or shorter. What were we to do with the extra 8 feet? Eventually with two iPhones and a road atlas we found our way back to McMinnville but much later than we hoped. Being late was a much better alternative to backing our MH and trailer up a river hill.

So, I have a funny story:  The kids have been asking what we are doing for Halloween?  So we had this great secret plan to take the kids to an indoor water park at McMinnville, Oregon.  I had a campsite all picked out and the water park was at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.  I checked out their website and the waterpark was open all looked good, we were going to surprise the kids with a fun night of watersliding!  We go to McMinnville, got checked into our campsite for the night, told the kids to grab their towels and change into swim suits.  Excitement stirred as we drove up to the waterslides, which had a 747 jet plane on the top of the building, which had waterslides coming out of the plane!  

The parking lot was empty, which seemed strange, and as we walked up to the main doors there was a sign stating that the waterpark was closed that day.  The only reason we could think of was it was Halloween so they decided to close?  Well, we were all quite disappointed, so Dad to the rescue began searching for a church who might have a Harvest Party or something else we could do?  

To our great thankfulness and appreciation there was a local church hosting a Harvest Party!  Off we went to Adventure Church for a Harvest Party, no costumes, dressed for swimming, and we had a blast!  We were welcomed, and blessed with supper, games, a fog maze and candy!  Thank you Lord for allowing us once again to take the unexpected and turn it for good. 

A huge highlight to end this day was Genesis doing our bedtime devotion.  She read from the book of Genesis about creation and she used the motorhome lights, flashlights, drawings and her stuffed animals to illustrate the story.  It was amazing! 

October 30 Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA

October 30, 2013

What a great day it was!  We are staying in a super campsite, probably the best we have been in so far.  Toutle River RV Resort, is very family friendly.  
Today we went to Mt. St. Helens, WOW!  What a beautiful day to drive up to look at the mountain!  We learned so much about Mt. St. Helens, about what lead up to the eruption, how it erupted and the devastation that it caused.  Before and after pictures of the Mountain tell a strong story and almost seem unreal as so much of the mountain blew up with the eruption.  
Fifty-Seven lost their lives on Sunday, May 18, 1980, it was a sad day that changed the face of Mt. St. Helens forever. 53 of the deceased were in the "safe zone" so called because it was assumed that the volcano would erupt vertically. Instead it blew out the north side of the mountain laterally which obviously wasn't predicted.

We came back to our campsite and met a family who are 'FTOR' Full Time On the Road.  It was great for the kids to have others to play with and everyone went biking and we had a campfire together!  It was great to meet the Thomas family!! 

October 29 Tacoma, WA Lemay Car Museum

While we were in Washington we heard about the Lemay Car Museum in Tacoma and decided to check it out.

With over 350 cars exhibited and a whole selection of Corvettes all of us had a great time learning about automotive history. As well we each got to race a Indy car, in a simulator, reaching speeds over 200mph.


Click picture to enlarge

The architecture of the building was pretty cool too.

$2.5 million Corvette

'32 Ford -Gorgeous Lines

American Flag

Made from many Matchbox cars

Tammy on 'Simulation'

Peter @ 200mph

Slot Cars -Gentleman start your engines

October 28, Bonney Lake, WA Satellite and mailbox trouble

October 28

We travelled to Bonney Lake, Washington to have a satellite dish installed on the motorhome.  Interesting day, as while the employee was backing up the motorhome he ran into mailboxes and knocked them over scratching the motorhome and denting the back ladder.  We went and did some errands while they installed the satellite and when we came back they had fixed the scratches like new (even the previous scratches from "the jackknife incident"  were fixed)  and gave us a reduction on our bill.  Thank you Lord for taking care of things!  What seemed like a rough day, turned out to be a blessing.  It is so awesome to see how God works through all things! 

Click photo to enlarge.

Road side attractions...

Yea, though I walk thru "Kid Valley" I will fear no evil :)

Logging truck (check out the trees)

October 26-27, Centralia Church of God, WA

October 26, 2013

We crossed the USA border on Saturday, October 26, 2013, and went directly to Boeing in Seattle. Who would have guessed that all of the tours would be full, a lesson learned. Book ahead! We spent some time in the Museum instead.

October 26 and 27.

After leaving Boeing in Seattle we drove to Centrailia, Washington.  We were so blessed to be allowed to camp in the Centralia Community Church of God parking lot.  Centralia Church of God has been helping at the same church we help at in Colonet, Mexico. We had only heard of "The Americanos" and the had only heard of "The Canadianses" It was awesome to meet with Pastor Elmer Goodeil who has been to Colonet a number of times and knows Pastora Mariana. We attended the morning service at CCCOG and then went for lunch with Pastor Elmer.  He took us to an authentic Mexican restaurant! Honestly, we were sceptical that it was authentic Mexican, but it was terrific!!  At this point we are in the US without any phones, so we went to arrange a phone/internet plan which took 3 hours, therefore we stayed another night in the church parking lot.  Thank you Centralia Community Church of God for your hospitality! :)

Pastor Elmer

  

Zac's Fish lunch (what is left of it :))

October 24, 25 -Japser, AB to Surrey, BC

October 24 & 25, 2013

We made it to Surrey, BC and spent 2 nights!  Whoo Hoo!!!  Had an amazing visit with Rocky, Michelle and Julie.  Also, we got to visit with Auntie Dianne and Uncle Hark and we saw Mike for a bit too.  Thanks so much for the visit, it was great to see you all! (sorry, we forgot to take a picture with you)

Zac, Zane & Genesis in the mountains prior to our arrival in Jasper.

Genesis in Jasper, AB Canada

The Family at a Pizza Restaurant in Jasper :)