It’s September 7th and we have exactly one week left at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam in the Tri-Cities area of Washington.
Ice Harbor Lock and Dam
Our tours at the Dam have been a great experience for us. We have met people from all over the world and learned so much from them – the fish they see at home, the dams they’ve visited, the travel adventures they have had. Doug and I have perfected our presentations, added new information as we learned it and found new ways to share it. We definitely enjoy the interpretive side of volunteering.
The temperature here stayed at Tucson, AZ levels for June, July and August – 100+ degrees many days and dry. No rain since the little sprinkle in May. But we like that kind of summer. It was the weeks of smoke and haze that hung over the Columbia River Basin through most of August that kept us indoors as much as possible. The smoke brought air quality to dangerous and very dangerous for days.
You can’t blame the Tri-Cities area and Charbonneau Park for rampant wildfires – some of the smoke drifted our way from over 500 fires burning in British Columbia, some from California, Oregon and some were local.
Our campsite at Charbonneau Park
But nothing was as bad as the spiders! We were annoyed the first month or two by the small spiders and their webs which were all over our RV and car and picnic table. Annoyed, but still able to sit outside in our lovely campsite with a view of the beautiful Snake River.
Then by August, those tiny spiders grew to a size that made outdoor life intolerable for me. And, to keep me sane, Doug has spent many hours brushing off webs so I can exit and enter the RV, walking in front of me as we go into the Visitor Center through Gauntlet of Spiders, and keeping a vigilant eye on the sanctity of our motor home.
We haven’t enjoyed the outdoors in six weeks. I got 2 wasp stings at a movie night three weeks ago and somehow, 2 nights ago, one large black spider appeared on my leg while I was sitting at our table. I really freaked out!
Today, after Doug destroyed 2 wasp nests in our RV side mirrors and brushed a path through spiders and their webs, I could sit outside writing this. Still not really relaxed, but I needed some Vitamin D!
This spider infestation apparently happens every year. So in spite of the other good things about our summer, we will not be returning here during any summer months in our future.
We had a good time when Bev and Barry came to visit us. We loved their brand new trailer and truck. Wishing them many happy and safe travels and looking forward to more camping with them soon.
Our son-in-law’s grandparents, JoAnn and Larry from Wanatchee, came to visit us for a day. And after we leave here, we visit his sister, Megan (who is a daughter-in-heart to us) in Spokane.
We had a wonderful five day trip to Portland to visit our children and grandchildren and other family, especially Doug’s dad, Creighton, whose 96th birthday all 21 of us celebrated at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was a treat to spend time with Doug’s brother Nelson and his wife Lydia from W. Bloomfield, Michigan. We lived vicariously through them by seeing the CDs of their amazing National Geographic trip to Antarctica and Easter Island. Penguins! Icebergs! Huge iconic stone statues! Wow!
96 years young!
My dad with some of his great-grandkids
This part of our journey has included 4 friends and 9 family members visiting with us and the 19 family members we visited in Portland. Such good times!
We will work three more days in the Visitor Center – our Saturday Movie Nights at Hood Park are over. We have a dinner planned with our co-volunteers at Sterling’s in Kennewick and a lunch get-together with the Rangers and Volunteers next Wednesday. We have some cleaning and packing up to do for getting back on the road.
We have already started planning our excursion across the country – to Florida by way of Chicago. Doug has made reservations through the rest of September, most of October, November and December. We have left some days/weeks open for whatever might happen. I have added to my ever-growing data base of places to see. Sharing adventure stories with the folks we meet usually means adding new ideas to this data base.
There is a whole country out there and we are determined to see it!
“The journey is the reward.” An old Chinese proverb.
Those spiders sound extreme!!!