01-30APR16 - Sultan, WA (variable weather & visiting family)

The weather in the month of April in Seattle is generally cool & wet (ever hear of April showers?); but this year the weather was all over the place.  The month started with great spring weather, cool & sunny; in fact Dan got one more day of excellent spring skiing at Stevens Pass, like he did last week.  Then the weather shifted to typical cool & wet, followed by record sun & high temperature records that were the highest on record!  The month finished with heavy rains; not records, but higher than average.

In addition to Corrie’s constant gardening to our landscape (no matter the weather); we started & finished two projects to the house/property during the month:

-first was raising kitchen TV off the counter, hiding the wires, & attaching it to the wall.  By having the TV on the counter, it pretty much made the counter “useless” (wouldn’t want to spill something on the TV?).  Now we have three more feet of usable counter.

-second was removing the grass under our new solar array (4 months old), build a retaining border, & filling it with chipped wood to prevent future grass growth.

Sunday, 10APR, we headed to the Best of Northwest Arts & Crafts Show at Magnuson Park.  Magnuson Park is located on what was the site of Naval Air Station Sand Point.  NAS Sand Point was where Dan’s parents would once a month pile the entire family into the car to shop at the Naval Exchange & Commissary.  The Ryan kids did not enjoy these trips but if they were lucky, they would visit one of their many relatives that lived in Seattle on the return home.  Also, the BOQ at NAS Sand Point is where Dan and two of his best friends spent an unsupervised summer in 1973 as part of their Coast Guard Academy “training”J!

The crafts & artwork at the show were excellent but not truly different from other juried craft shows we have attended.  The attendance was not as high as we expected.  Maybe because of the cool/damp weather; or because Magnuson Park is off the beaten path?  Then it was on to Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, for their Sunday market that we have attended many times.

www.nwartalliance.org

Tuesday, 12APR, after having our RV for over two weeks the Freightliner dealership finally calls & says the RV ready.  Resulting in late afternoon drive thru rush hour to pick it up & then fighting our way back thru traffic!  The servicing done was better than the last time we used them, but the lack of communication & calculation of the final bill were poor at best.  So we will try not to use them down the road, unless we have no choice like this timeL

Thursday, 28APR, we headed into north Seattle for medical reasons.  Which allowed us to stop by Dan’s aunt Madeline’s (who we last visited 28NOV15) for a nice visit.  It was a nice day, so the ladies spent the whole time wondering the yard discussing gardening.

Saturday the last day of April we spent all day away from house.  First stop was a dutch bakery in Marysville.  The bakery was disappointing because they were pretty much out of all their Dutch items & were selling typical “american” bakery items (donuts, fritters, rolls, etc).  And it wasn’t like they had had a run on all the Dutch items, it was obvious they had been out for days (if not the entire week) & hadn’t bothered baking/restockingL

From there we stopped at Dan’s cousin Rob & wife Pattie (who we visited briefly 20MAR) for lunch & a visit.  After discussing the recent rash of medical issues among us; the guys talked about home projects, while the gals discussed gardening.

The last stop of the day was a visit & dinner with Dan’s brother Shawn & wife Cindie (who visited us Easter, 20MAR).  As always a fun visit, with Shawn grilling some undersized hamburgers.

14-31MAR16 - Sultan, WA (irish wake for a departed friend)

Monday, 14MAR, after battling heavy rain, we finally made it back to our place outside Sultan, WA.  Tuesday thru Thursday were spent re-opening house, emptying RV, cleaning up more downed trees & limbs from latest wind storm that hit Seattle area Sunday.  Along w/the first of many routine medical/dental appointments, washing RV & Toad, mowing, etc.

Friday morning we re-secured the house & drove the RV to Oak Harbor, WA, & the city RV park at Oak Harbor City Beach, where we stayed back in 2010.  Then it was off to Coupeville, WA, for a walkabout (we last visited this picturesque town in June 2014 w/kids & grandkids).  While there we discovered it was free admission at the Island County Museum, so we took advantage of that.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/07/01-20jul10-monroe-whidbey-is-wa.html

http://wp.islandhistory.org/

Back in Oak Harbor we had dinner at Seabolts Smokehouse where we ate back in 2010 – this is a small, family run restaurant specializing in fried fish/clams/oysters/etc & chips.  We went with steamed clams & mussels, crab cake, chowder, lemon cake – all excellent!

http://www.seabolts.com/

Saturday morning we went into the old town section of Oak Harbor, WA, for a walkabout.  While walking along the beach front of the city park we are camped at, we how destructive last Sunday’s high winds were that hit the Seattle area!  The entire beach was covered in a sea of drift wood & downed trees; sections of the asphalt walking path were washed away; & all the picnic shelters were damaged beyond repair!  Made us realize how lucky we were deciding to stop short of Seattle & not stay on the road.

After lunch it was off in the Toad to an Irish Wake for our friend Karen Bishop (wife of our old boss & friend Ken Bishop), at their former house (now owned by their daughter Kelli & husband Bob Post) in Greenbank, WA.  As we mentioned in our 14 November 2015 BLOG Karen passed away on November Second.  Although the passing of a long time & good friend is sad, we were thankful that a remembrance for her & her life occurred at a time we would be back in Washington & could attend.  (See below BLOG link for our last visit with her & husband Ken.)

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/07/01-20jul10-monroe-whidbey-is-wa.html

It was sad, but life affirming gathering, that we were very glad we made the effort to be a part of!  It was attended by many family members from across the USA, old shipmates (like us), old friends, & current neighbors & friends.  Displayed throughout the house were many mementos & awards from her life as a world traveler, supporter of Coast Guard families wherever Ken & she were stationed, & most significantly as a major & longtime volunteer for the Red Cross.  As we learned while visiting Karen & Ken, Ken joined a local “sea shanty” group on Whidbey Island called the Shifty Sailors.  The Sailors are very good & have even toured the Poland & the Baltic countries.  Naturally they performed for the wake.  The wake was a fitting tribute to a very special person.

http://shiftysailors.net/

Sunday, 20MAR, it was on the road back to our place in Sultan, WA.  First a stop to see Ken Bishop away from the crowd of yesterday’s wake.  While visiting some of the Harrington’s (Karen’s side of the family) also stopped by; along with Ken’s daughter Kelli & husband Bob Post.

Continuing our drive back to Sultan, we then stopped to see cousin Bob & wife Patti Harris for a short visit.  Not much done but chores Monday thru Saturday.  Sunday, 27MAR (easter), Dan’s brother Shawn & wife Cindie come over for a visit & easter dinner.  As always with their visits, a good time.

Not much done the rest of the month.  Tuesday, 29MAR, we took the RV into Valley Freightliner in Mt Vernon, WA, for some minor repairs & maintenance – hope they do a better job than in AUG 2009.

March finished w/some beautiful weather. So on Thursday, 31MAR, Dan headed to Stevens Pass Ski Area.