Washington-Bothell Suburb of Seattle-State 17 of 49

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

Due to limited access to internet service and Verizon hotspot in Canada we will be adding photos as we can. In the mean time we will continue to provide our travel adventure at each phase of our RV adventure in text.

Our trip today takes us from the unexpected Eastern Washington desert in Othello, Washington to the urban cities of Seattle. As previously mentioned we were last in Washington in July 2017 for the wedding of our nephew Matt and Drew. We fell in love with Seattle and the Olympia Peninsula.

The travel time from O’Sullivan Sportsman RV Resort in Othello, WA to Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell, WA is 2 h 57 min (181 miles) via I-90.

Our route takes us out of the desert over the cascades to Seattle. The scenery changes drastically from rolling fields of wheat, grapes, and hops across the Columbia River to Snoqualmie Pass. We begin to see snow capped mountains in the distance.

We finally reach Bothell. The town is a few miles north of Seattle. The city center looks modern with outdoor cafes on the corner and multiplex apartments. We will discover after visiting, it is more of an Asian community. We drive another mile and find a sign for Lake Pleasant RV Park on our right.

Lake Pleasant RV Park is nestled in a small valley. The camp sites wrap around a small lake in the RV Park. The paths are mostly one way with back-in and pull-thru sites. Sites are separated by grass and bushes. They can fit all size rigs in the RV Park. The restroom and showers are at the registration office and one towards the back of the park. We are situated in the back section near the playground. The laundry is $1.00 for wash or dry which is a very good price. They have their own Tourist Information office on site.

The humidity is the worst we have experienced throughout our trip. The temperature is near 90°. This is supposedly abnormal for this region. Go figure we are following the extremes both heat or cold on our trip. We will take the cold over this any day. After setting up I drive over the Safeway across the street for beer, wine, and some dinner from the Safeway deli. We spend the remainder of the evening relaxing at the camper. The Wi-Fi and hotspot are decent to watch TV. We also have our Dish TV network setup. The World Cup Soccer match in Russia. We catch the Argentina match which they lose. I search for PetSmart’s nearby and book a grooming appointment for Bella Bee Marie. She has now had a haircut since Albuquerque New Mexico, 6 ½ weeks earlier.

The next day is Thursday. Our plan today is to get all the final preparations completed for our trip into Canada and subsequently into Alaska. I research Discount Tire stores for my brand of RV and Truck tires. I also look for Great Clips nearby. I leave for Discount Tire in Bothell which a meager 3 miles from the park. They only have the high-end tires in stock starting above $200.00 each. I am looking for 2 additional spares for the RV and Camper should we encounter any flats. The mechanic technician calls down to Kirkland to see if they have the Continental Tire in stock. I decide to get my haircut first before heading to Kirkland. I drive down towards Seattle for 18 minutes to Kirkland. I pick up our 4 tires for under $500.00. We are now set for our epic trip into Canada.

Lora reads up on bears and bear proofing your belongings. There are so many horror stories on the internet and just the other day there was a viral video of a black bear being let out of a car after it opened a door to get food left in the car and getting closed in. The car was destroyed inside, and the glass had to be broken to let the bear out.

I venture out to REI Outdoors. I talk to a salesman about bear proofing for the RV. He mentioned there are no mandatory rules for RV’s, but there is for hikers and rough campers in bear country. There are bear containers, but we do not need them. Instead he recommends plastic containers from Lowes or Home Depot as an alternative or Odorless zip lock bags. I buy the odorless bags from REI and drive to Lowes for containers.

Now all set for our trip we can now relax and hope for the best. We store our BB pistol and stun gun in a bin to give to Joelle and John when we see them.

Friday is our nephew Matt’s 30th birthday. We plan to see Matt and Drew sometime on our visit here to Seattle. I take Bella Bee to PetSmart in Lynwood, WA for a 10:30 am appointment. I stop on the way back for donuts and bagels for breakfast. Lora and I look at our options for the day. We have already seen the major attractions in Seattle and Mt Rainier in 2017. We never visited any gardens. I recall 33 years ago Joelle taking me to some gardens when I had visited her in Seattle.

We found a Botanical Garden in Bellevue that looked nice. Bellevue Botanical Garden is composed of 53-acres of beautifully maintained gardens, restored woodlands, and natural wetlands. The living collections showcase plants that thrive in the Pacific Northwest. They also have a small Japanese Garden section. The unique displays, textures and colors are amazing in the flowers. The bees and hummingbirds are in paradise here. They have educational programs, a gift shop, and a coffee shop. You can easily get lost in the trails through the woods as we found out quickly. I call Joelle while we were walking through the forest to see what their plans were. We talked for a fair amount of time on our adventure and her travels. She recently got back from Napa Valley for a wine tasting. We settled on dinner in Kirkland at 4:30 pm. We would meet John and herself Joelle at Anthony's HomePort Seafood Restaurant.

We drove back to Lynwood to pick up Bella Bee from PetSmart and headed back to the camper till it was time to depart for Kirkland. The restaurant is 25 minutes from our location. Traffic is the norm here, anywhere you go there is some sort of delay. Kirkland is on the lake. It is a small town with lots of bars, cafes, and shops along the waterfront. Parking is challenging, especially for a large truck like ours. We first look for parking on the street. We pass Anthony’s HomePort and back track again. We see this time a sign for Anthony’s HomePort parking. We drive into the garage with 3 inches to spacer on the top of the truck. We meet Joelle and John outside walking from the pier.

Anthony’s HomePort Seafood Restaurant is a chain restaurant with bars, dining house, and casual dining. They are in Idaho, Oregon, and mostly Washington. First opened in 1969 in Bellevue, Washington Anthony’s. Their goal is to provide great seafood with fresh “in season” locally produce, Northwest wines, and craft brews. The view of the lake and marina from the Kirkland location is amazing. We have a cloudy day today, so we cannot see Mt. Rainier in the distance. The menu is small but does also have turf options for the non-seafood lovers. They open at 4:30 pm for diner. There is also a happy hour menu with burgers and fish N chips. Lora, John, and Joelle ordered off the sunset menu with includes a shrimp cocktail or soup as an appetizer, main meal, then desert. I ordered a seafood alfredo with a side cup of chowder. We caught up on each other’s travels, family, and health. Joelle had just returned from a Napa Wine tour the previous day. All the food was great. Thank you, Joelle and John, for a wonderful meal and evening together.

After the meal we walked a little bit down to the marina. The marina has only one dock visitors can walk. There is also a short walkway along the backside of the restaurant and marina the end at a wall. We turned around and said our good byes with plans to visit tomorrow at Joelle and Johns home in Issaquah.

The next day we woke up to rain. By the time Lora woke up it had stopped. I gathered up to dirty clothes and drove down to the laundry at the office. Between cycles I walked down to get some exercise. We watched some more World Cup Soccer and walked Bella when needed. Lora eventually decided to get her hair cut. We had found Kim’s Friendly Cuts in Bothell, WA. Kim is a one-woman salon. She is a small Asian woman. The salon is large enough to hold a half dozen booth. She does not accept appointments. She must do very well for a large place and walk-in clients only. Lora was in and out in less than 30 minutes. When we left she already had 3 more clients waiting. Her cuts are also under $20.00 which is very good for a single person salon.

We left at 2:00pm for Issaquah. Bella Bee was invited too, so we were unsure how she would react to their dogs. The drive from Bothell to Issaquah is about 50 minutes with traffic. Joelle and John have been living in Issaquah for 25+ years. Their children Lora and Matt are all living locally. Lora is away so we cannot see Mike and the children this trip. Matt and Drew are expected to come by for diner.

When we arrive, the dogs are the priority. Bella is greeted by 2 labs, 2 corky’s, and 1 shepherd/rottweiler mix. Bella is apprehensive to say the least but does well with all the dogs trying to get in a sniff. Bella scattered around the house checking out each room. She discovered the cat and the cat had nothing to do with Bella Bee. Bella was doing great with the dogs. If she barked, it was only quick, and she would move on. She wanted to hang out by Lora or myself at first. We sat around the firepit on the porch and had a few beers and wine. Joelle had some cheese and salami out for h’orderves. Matt and Drew are stopping by after Drew gets off work. Matt and their friend Brandon are out whiskey tasting.

John takes us for a walk to Tiger Mountain. He takes along 3 dogs and we have Bella Bee. Once we clear the road we let the dogs loose. Bella is part of the pack and stay along with them as they run ahead or peak into the woods. We walk along the logging road for a bit going up the mountain. Along the walk there are bunches of berries for munching on. They are very similar to raspberries, but by a different name. We walked for about a mile then turned around. Bella was loving the freedom and running with the dogs.

Matt, Drew, and Brandon arrived later. We added seats around the fire pit and had conversations about our travels and themselves. We last seen Matt and Drew at their wedding last year. They have a home a short distance from Joelle and John. The wedding and reception was at the home which was very special. Like our wedding in 1990 we had a reception at our home which makes home more special.

Following the traditions of our parents seating at the dinner table is no spouses sit together. The table is set out on the patio. We start off with a tomato salad, following by string beans, corn on the cob, and steak all prepared beautifully. The steak was grilled just perfect. We topped off the evening with desert. I purchased a tart pie from Safeway with Strawberry, key lime, and blue berries. It was a great end of the meal.

We left the at 9:00 pm before the cheese service. We had a wonderful evening with family and will treasure how well Bella Bee got along with the other dogs and feels like part of the pack. We gave out hugs and good byes and headed back to Bothell for an early start in to Canada.

We have booked a reservation at Coquihalla Campground in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. The travel time is a short 3 hours depending on traffic and border crossing.

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