Long Beach Razor Clam Digging

If it jiggles, it’s fat.

There was a good minus tide over the weekend.  A minus tide usually means a great time to head to the beach and dig razor clams.  That’s what we did.  We headed towards the beach.  We crossed from Washington into Oregon and then Oregon back into Washington to get to Long Beach and where clam season was open.  Our route took was across the ever so popular Astoria Megler Bridge.  With all the traffic we figured just about everyone else was heading to the same place we were.

The bridge from a distance

Down, down the bridge after the main span

The only way to explain Saturday is to say …. Awesome!  

We weren’t the only ones heading to the beach.  Check out the traffic.  The cars going were those who had yet to start their clam digging adventure.  Those leaving were those who had already got their limit of clams. 


Once there it took a bit to get ready.  Boots went on and warm clothes.  Everyone got their own little net to put the clams in once they were dug.

Then, the fun began.  Clam guns are a necessity when digging for razor clams.

 

Check out the size of this one.  It was a monster! 

 

Yep!  I even got my limit!

 

Next, they needed to be rinsed and ready for transport away from the beach.

Jordie and Sandi were in charge of dumping the sand and bringing clean seawater back to keep the clams alive .. at least until they were ready to be cleaned.

I grew up clam digging with family. Sitting on the beach, clam digging and just visiting with each other was something we did often.   A very popular event was digging clams at minus tide on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.    With family came their shovels and buckets.  We did a heck of a lot of clam digging.  If the weather was decent, we’d even cook a few buckets right there on the beach and eat them right there.  

Digging for steamers was effortless.  You put in a shovel and brought out quite a few with each shovel.  Of course, this was even before there were limits on how many you could have.  

Eating clams on the beach (I'm the strawberry blonde but I bet you can't tell in this photo plus I'm hidden by my dad's hand.)

Razor clams on the other hand take a little bit of work.  The limit today is ONLY 15 per person.



What a great day it was!  The time at the beach passed too soon.  Before we knew it, we were heading back inland.  I can hardly wait to go again.


‘Tis life on the road.

Changes: Ending a Lifestyle

(at least for a while)

The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life.  Either we suffer in health or we suffer in soul or we get fat.

Have you ever wondered how long you can maintain the life as you know it?  As we go through our life we’ve had to change numerous times.   We’ve all had big changes to make and little ones too.  In the beginning we had to change as we grew up.  We changed school and we changed friends.  We changed jobs and we changed acquaintances.  We moved from one neighborhood …. and finally to no neighborhood.  We’ve definitely had many lifestyle changes. Every lifestyle has contributed to who we are and what we are.

My “Before” Picture

Now it’s time to rethink another one.   We left those homes, those cities, those friends and those things we used to do.  We’ve met a whole new crowd of folks. We’ve met a crowd of folks who congregate over meals, post pictures of high calorie eats and dwell on the best restaurants around.   Sounds like the RVing crowd doesn’t it?  I have to have someone to blame!

What the RV lifestyle has done to me ---

Even before one group meal is over another is being planned on the horizon. Needless to say, I’ve got a wide-range of clothing sizes hanging in my little closet.  I figure it’s time to stop …. yet, again.  You know how weight cycles go. If you lose 15 pounds, you’ll gain 20 and it goes on and on. The cycle seems to come and go every couple years.  Well, the cycle is back.and the only way for me to stick with it (at least for a while) is to announce it to the world.  I’m not happy about it and I certainly don’t like four-letter words (d-i-e-t) either.

Next I went shopping.  I bought the dreaded equipment.

I want to know every little ounce I go down and not just a full pound!!  This will do it!

Yep … it’s definitely time for a change.  This lifestyle of food and more food has got to end (again) and for a while. 

Anyone feel guilty out there for contributing?  Well, if not, you should.   It’s not going to be a fun summer for me since I’m going to be watching what goes in my mouth.  The only bright side I can think of is if I can stick with this and if everything goes as planned, I’ll get to have all new clothes.  You know how well I stick with plans.

Moving along to happier subjects --------------

1)  Our 16 year old granddaughter, Sandi, breezed through her college exams yesterday.  Whoppee ..
  when she graduates from high school in two years, she’ll also receive her Associates Degree.  Congrats to her!!   

Sandi just before her track meet Thursday night. ---

2)  Good clam tides are hitting the coast this weekend.  Guess where I’ll be ?? 

3)  More money going out at this end ….. two appointments were set up with our fantastic local mechanic to get the motorhome and the Wrangler serviced including the replacement of the windshield which now has a super big crack in it.  (Yes, even this is a happier subject than d-i-e-t.)

4)  Even though we just finished a car trip from Phoenix, we have another small outing on the horizon.  We had a trip planned last year to Terry's old stomping grounds, Hannibal, MO but had to cancel due to his father’s illness.  Well, we’re going to try again towards the end of May. 

That's it!!

‘Tis life on the road.

Arches National Park and Stolen License Plates

The limits of possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.

 

Saturday was such a beautiful day.  Our trip from Phoenix to Moab was amazing with gobs of amazing sights along the way.  Traveling on the road without the motorhome meant we needed a hotel.  I mentioned that in my previous blog.  However, I didn’t mention how noisy a hotel is compared to an RV park.  Every time the neighbors shut their door we heard it.  We couldn’t hear anything else but that door was certainly open and shut often.

The weatherman had predicted sunny skies. You know how we always believe him.  Arches National Park was about five miles north so we were looking forward to a great day and more fantastic Utah views.  Murphy got involved in those plans.  I’m sure you’re familiar with Murphy.  He’s the one with all the Murphy Laws we talk about.

We were hammered with rain and clouds.  Needless to say, our time at the park was cut very short.  It was a miserable morning.  My feet were soaked, my clothes were wet, my camera kept fogging up and most of the pictures came out dark and dreary.   Murphy did a good job.

The photos above were all tone mapped.  The photos below were the original ones.  

The rain and clouds disappeared shortly after we left the park.  The sun was starting to shine again.  We still had more miles to go and continued on our way through Provo and Salt Lake City. The plan was changed again. We originally had planned on another hotel just north of Salt Lake.  That’s when we thought we’d be basking in sunny weather at Arches a little longer.  We didn’t count on arriving so early.  Thus, we continued on our way.  We were off to Burley for the night.  Once we skid through Burley we decided Twin Falls was a great place to stop.  That’s where Saturday and day 2 ended at a daily total of 496 miles driven. 

Our hotel was half the price of the previous night and just as nice except it included breakfast too.  There were no banging doors and we both slept pretty sound. Sunday morning we were up again but skipped the breakfast.  I guess that was a stupid move because it was free but it was just too early for either of us to want to eat.  

Murphy played another trick on us.  Of all the cars parked in the hotel parking lot, ours had been selected by someone to steal the license plate!  We know it was stolen and didn’t just work itself free.  Whoever took it gingerly replaced the license plate holder back with one little screw.  Of course, that was the back plate so we removed the front and put it on the back … making it not so noticeable … we hoped.

And more original photos …..

We moved on through Utah … mountains and more mountains. Then, came Idaho.

Next we were in Oregon and descending into Pendleton and the Mighty Columbia.

We have learned to appreciate the route north in the spring and south in the fall through California.  Sure there may be a couple mountains to cross but it is nothing like other routes. Maybe fuel prices are a little higher but it takes more fuel to go up those mountains than it does to drive on flat terrain. 

Sunday turned out to be day 3. We had put some travel on those wheels. Day 1 was 471, day 2 was 496 and day 3 turned into the longest day yet. We did just what a horse does when you turn him towards the barn. We made tracks and 596 miles later we pulled into the driveway at our little cabin. The only stop along the way this time was to pick up the Wrangler which I had left at the Portland International Airport when I flew out a few days earlier.

We were pleased to see that our block wall had almost been completed. The little worker-bees we had decided to hire to lift those 61 pound blocks and line them up nice and even had done a great job. We had almost a pallet and a half of blocks left. Thus, Robert (our SIL) and Terry finished the job off. We think it looks amazing!

 

That’s it … the car we had had left in Phoenix has now caught up with us.  Our timing was perfect too … the weather is gorgeous.

‘Tis life on the road.

A Gorgeous Day At Moab

There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot.

We are definitely on the road again but it’s a different road.  We aren’t traveling in an RV.  We’re traveling only in a car. We brought our motorhome and our Jeep Wrangler north but left our Jeep Liberty behind.  It was time for it to catch up with the rest of our vehicles. 

I mentioned before we really had no idea the route we would take.  We wanted it to be a little different than the routes we had taken north in the last couple of years.  When we pulled out of Phoenix on Friday we headed due north on I-17.  Taking that route eliminated others we had considered including the Redwoods and Las Vegas. 

Others still open were the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and Moab.  It was past Flagstaff when we decided we weren’t going to visit the Grand Canyon this trip.  We were leaning towards the Four Corners and Mesa Verde.  That’s where we were leaning.  Kayenta was the little town where one road went east towards that area and another road weaved through Monument Valley towards Moab.   We topped the gas tank off there and headed north on highway 163.  We were going to Monument Valley.

 

The Western Mountain book listed several 10% and even an 11% grade.  They were definitely a piece of cake in the car and since they were so short wouldn’t have been an issue in an RV either.    However, the route from Phoenix seemed uphill all the way.  We always seem to talk about the Siskiyous and Grapevine as being mountainous when on our route south where elevations climb to about 4400 feet.  They don’t compare to the mountains of northern Arizona and southern Utah.  It’s constantly uphill and downhill with elevations over 7000 feet.  Patches of snow were still along the roadside in some places.  It’s not a route we would want to take on every trip we made south.   

 

Driving through Monument Valley was beautiful.  There were so many places to pull off the road and feast our eyes on the gorgeous scenery.  We did just that.  Hundreds of pictures were taken.  Aren’t you glad all of them aren’t posted here? 

Moab is definitely an outdoor paradise and reminded us a little bit of Sedona..  It has something for everyone.  The Colorado River is there for water enthusiasts.  Trails and trails and more trails attract owners of  ATVs and Jeeps.  Rock climbing is popular as is hiking and biking.  It’s such a popular place that many hotels were full on the Friday night we pulled into town.  It would be nice to come back and spend more time checking it out when we aren’t on a mission.  However, Moab is not a cheap place. It’s popular and the prices reflect that. Since we weren’t in our RV, we didn’t check out the RV prices.  That might be a different story.

We needed a hotel and could find nothing under $100 a night.  We didn’t want to buy a room.  We just wanted to sleep in it for one night.  No boondocking for us this trip!!  We had no choice but to bite the bullet and plunk down a wad of cash.  We ended up with nice overnight lodging at a not so nice price..

First stop on our agenda after checking into the hotel was looking at the shops and dinner.  Dinner was just as amazing for me as I could have hoped.  We found a little restaurant on the main drag.  I couldn’t pass on their wild Alaskan Salmon.  It was delicious!  I licked my plate clean …. well, kinda.

Then, it was a long shower and off to bed. We had at least another couple days of travel ahead of us. This was just day one and we had left about 471 miles behind us. Can you imagine how many more miles we would have accomplished had we not stopped so often to gauk at the beauty of Mother Nature? 

We were hoping for sunshine the rest of the way.  At least that’s what we were hoping and that’s what the weatherman had forecast.  Arches National Park was just around the corner.  We would be visiting there on Saturday and afterwards put some more miles behind us.

How many leave tips for housekeepers when you’re staying for just one night? 

‘Tis life on the road.

Difficult Travel Planning - On the Road Again

Weak people exaggerate the importance of not changing their minds.

Sometimes trying to figure out a travel plan is really easy.  You have a short distance to go and  there’s only one or two ways to get there.  When the trip is a little longer there are usually more options. Many times the weather makes the decision for you.  If not, it’s back and forth and back and forth trying to make a decision.

 

Terry flew to Phoenix on Tuesday.  My plan was tofly down on Thursday.  However, Wednesday morning I decided to take the 7:00 flight that night.  I figured I might as well and as busy as our Thursday was, I’m glad I did.

Airports aren’t all about flying.  They want you to shop, dine and then fly!

By the time either of us had arrived in Phoenix, we still had no idea which way we would head north.   We knew come Friday morning we’d have to decide one way or another.  Since we wouldn’t be going in an RV we also knew we’d be staying in local hotels or motels along the way.  It was still the off season …. right?

Our first task was to pick up the car we had left in storage.  The car was absolutely filthy.  Of course, it was.  It had rained and the wind had blown the Arizona dust around.  We had remnants of both on it.  We also discovered the battery was dead.  It was so dead the remote wouldn’t even work.  We had actually talked about disconnecting the battery cable to prevent this …. but, we had only talked about it.  With the help of another RVer parked close we jumped the car and got it going.  Then, it was off to run it through the car wash.  One car wash wasn’t enough.  We had to run it through another car wash. 

Other than getting the car ready to go, we also wanted to make a trip to Bass Pro Shop.  Terry wanted another pair of Justin boots he had bought there last year plus we wanted to dream about kayaks and canoes. 

The rest of Thursday was spent visiting with Terry’s mom, getting ready for the trip back and dinner with cousin, Shelley.  The Texas Roadhouse in Gilbert is one of our favorite places.  Actually, we have a lot of favorite places in that area but that is where we ended up for dinner.  It was definitely a very, very busy Thursday.

As of Thursday evening we still weren’t quite sure what route we would be taking north.  The only thing we had decided is that we would head north.  We hadn’t been to Monument Valley or Moab in many, many years.  It had been quite a while since we had visited the Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe or even the Redwoods. Even the Four Corners area and Mesa Verde were being considered.  There were lots of options but after consulting our favorite little weatherman who hides in my phone, we were only able to eliminate Lake Tahoe.  Snow and cold aren’t our favorite things.

It was just before 6:00 AM Friday morning when we joined the rest of the Phoenix traffic..  Traffic was a mess even that early.    We could have turned and headed towards Vegas or taken the I-10 towards California.  We didn’t.  We headed north on the I-17 figuring we’d probably have to make another decision by the time we reached I-40 just south of Flagstaff.   However, we were on our way and we had about 1500 miles ahead of us ---- give or take another hundred or two depending upon our route.

The terrain changed as we climbed and climbed towards Flagstaff.  The need for the decision was getting closer and we still hadn’t decided our route.  Which way should we go?  Well, we really didn’t finalize the decision for 150 miles beyond the point where we had figured we needed to have made that decision.  That’s another story which would make this blog way too long and I’d have to post way too many more pictures  .... plus I’m way too tired.  It's not that it was a PDD day as we only traveled 471 miles but we started early and made a lot of stops.

‘Tis life on the road.

Tulip Trot

.

“For sale:  Parachute.  Only used once, never opened, small stain.”

Just like last year I was represented in the Tulip Trot by Sabrina and Jordan. This year even Lee joined with cheering them on. As the official family photographer. I was there taking my pictures. It was either join in the Trot or take the pictures …… it’s obvious what I decided to do.  However,  as the official photographer I would have to give myself an “F”.

	My time - 25:20
	Jordie’s time 31:11
they	Sabrina’s time 33:07

Yes, I must admit …. I failed at both as a photographer as a race contestant.  To begin with as you can probably tell, I didn’t really race and I didn’t really have the best time.  I did take some great pictures but accidently deleted them when I was transferring to my computer.  I had to swipe the ones Lee had taken.  Thus, the grade of “F”.

As we travel around in our RV we use a lot of Laundromats.   I have discovered the dryers are not all the same.  Some of them really put out super hot heat.  I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing what clothes are going to shrink and what ones aren’t.  My clothes shrink and Terry’s never do.  They don’t shrink a lot just enough that they don’t fit anymore.  It is the dryer’s fault … isn’t it?

I’ve also noticed that my rings are shrinking.  Ever had your rings shrink?  I’m not sure what’s causing that but I know for sure they aren’t the size they used to be.  They’re hard to get on and harder yet to get off.  I finally dropped six of them at the local jewelers.  How long as it been since you’ve priced  ring sizing?  When I pick them up this time I’m going to ask for a guarantee they won’t shrink again.  They certainly should guarantee their work … don’t you think?

Projects are still underway even though some have finished.  Check out our new porch Terry put on our Summertime home base.

 

 

This is the biggest project …  heavy blocks.   Terry started digging the dirt, put in a few blocks and then talk to a handyman down the road.  It’s a big project.  He’s going to let the handyman put those 61 pounds block in place.  I think that’s a great idea.

Monday night we visited Nick’s.  It’s definitely not a fancy place but we’ve had some pretty good grub there in the past.  The waitress served me a glass of “hot” water when I commented how cold it was out.  The water wasn’t to drink.  It was to put my hands around to warm me up.  Pretty nifty, huh?

This is what I ordered … a luscious shrimp salad.  It was so big that it served as dinner Monday night and lunch on Tuesday.

Tuesday I ran Terry to the airport as he was off to Arizona .  You’d think he would have had enough of that place for the year.  The temperatures are getting warmer (almost hot) and he’s heading in that direction?  Well, I’ll be going too but he gets a head start before I head that way so that he can spend some time with his mother.  We had originally planned this trip in May but since we had a few other things come up at that time, we figured we’d just go earlier.

Just down the road from the airport is the Cascade Station Mall.  Since it’s in Oregon there’s no sales tax.  To make it worth my while I just had to make a stop. I didn’t leave empty handed either.  

I haven’t decided yet … no sense in rushing the decision … but I’ll be flying out Wednesday night or Thursday to join Terry in Arizona.  Then the road trip begins as we head north again for the second time this month.  

‘Tis life on the road.