Hello dear readers. Lady Wanderingwise is back at the keyboard after an extended summer absence. It was unintended, in fact, July started out with a fun round of golf at Circling Raven at the Coeur d’Alene Casino, and then visits with family and friends around Sandpoint Idaho and Deer Park Washington. In case there some readers who did not hear the news via other avenues, the rest of July was consumed with the passing of my sweet mother. As if she had waited for my arrival, her passing came quickly and as a bit of a surprise for my sister and I. Although she hadn’t been feeling 100%, the original cause of her infection will remain a mystery. She passed from Sepsis. Anyone lucky enough to have met her remembers her intelligence, empathy, laughter and generosity. She was a very special lady and her light will influence me for the rest of my days.
August was consumed with our helping Dale’s brother and sister-in-law prepare their home of 35+ years for sale. After creating a beautiful life, and raising two great and handsome boys, they had made the decision to downsize and move closer to where the boys have settled and are raising families. They are making a BIG change, leaving Yakima Washington and moving to Maumelle Arkansas. Grandkids are calling! We are so excited for them and hope they find the right buyer for their home in Yakima, someone new to raise a beautiful family in a beautiful location! Think you might be interested? You can check it out on Zillow – 3150 Cowiche Mill Rd., Cowiche, WA 98923. In between packing and cleaning, a couple of hikes in Mount Rainier National Park were in the cards. Out of all the NPs we have visited so far, this one remains top of my list of favorites. There is simply nothing like the view of the mountain when she shows her face!
We also took the plunge and bought ourselves a tow vehicle, (TOAD in RV vernacular). LOTS of research later and we bought a FORD Maverick Hybrid. Which, interestingly enough, is the only model that is flat towable. And we are now proud to say that we have both our RV and our TOAD displaying their South Dakota license plates. Some of you may be asking why SD? Well, it turns out they are very encouraging for those of us who roam, offering the best parts of the state (low vehicle registrations, no state income tax, etc.) without having a “permanent address” in the state. Interestingly enough, we have discovered that there are several institutions that require a “physical address” be on file. Its a bit frustrating, I mean I get the need to protect against fraud and all that, but we are hardly living an “off-the-grid” lifestyle. So, we are grateful to have such wonderful family bonds that we can have a physical address should the need ever arise. About the only thing that seems to be the most challenging is the registering to vote! So for now, we are non-voters. It is a very distressing feeling! But we are anticipating finding our final settling place during our travels over the next year and a half, so we can jump back into that voting pool before the next presidential election. yippee.
After so much emotional turmoil, we restarted our adventures by spending the month of September exploring Oregon. Now, we are PNW people, Oregon was not unfamiliar. But typically our explorations were of the “long weekend” type, so we planned a good week in the Hell’s Canyon area, ten days in Bend, and a week on the ocean in Newport.
Our time in Hell’s Canyon included both a stay in Lewiston/Clarkston area, and a visit to our friend with a mountain home in New Meadow, ID. Technically, neither are Oregon, but Hell’s Canyon shares a border so, we counted it. Aongst the hiking, casinos and golfing, the true highlight of our stay was our jetboat fishing tour down the river. This was planned by our host, Jeff Pope and included several other friends….tho I was the token girl of the group. All I can really say is that everyone should do this at least once in their life. We were so lucky to have a very comfortable jetboat exclusively for our party of six. And while none of us were lucky enough to hook a Sturgeon, we were kept busy with the small mouth bass. I apparently started off with the best bait, because I was on fire! This is what a fishing trip should be, “Catching”. Catching with lots of wonderful men to take the fish off my hook. The canyon is a spectacular place, and the trip back to the launch point is where the other fun begins, storming the rapids and getting soaked. Oh what a day.
Our next stop was Bend, OR. Having just been there to purchase our Ford, expectations were not very high. But boy were we pleasantly surprised. We stayed in an above average RV Resort – a real plus, I might add – and proceeded to discover the MANY hiking trails in and around the town, enjoying the water and trees and cool temps. Im not a big beer drinker, but I discovered that Bend is known for its Ale Trail, and they encourage you to visit the breweries where you get a stamp in a passport! Oh, how excited was I? So though I have already obtained my Crater Lake National Park stamp, I was going to be able to ease back into the habit by visiting breweries, and Dale was a big fan of that! Just to keep things under control, we visited one a day for the ten days we were there. Then visited the Bend Visitor Center where I got my first award! The only thing we did not explore was the golf situation. The weather was too hit and miss and, well, it gave us a reason to come back.
The next stop was in Newport, Oregon, at an even posher RV resort. This one right on the ocean. These sights are “ownable”, and the owners can rent their space out, but must commit to do so more than 50% of the year. So if the owner is a true snowbird, their site sits empty when they are in warmer climes. We made the most of our time there, found a GREAT hike, enjoyed some nice beach walking right from our resort, toured up and down the coast and finally found some golf. It was pleasant and pretty enough, but WINDY. The Oregon Coast does have some of the prettiest ocean views, but I still prefer the mountains of Bend!
We ended our tour of Oregon by heading north with a stop at the Little Creek Casino in Shelton Washington. In addition to our contributions to the tribe in the casino, we played golf at their beautiful course, Salish Cliffs. We so rarely golf on a weekend, let alone a full eighteen holes, but we went out there Saturday morning, we paired with a lovely couple from Seattle, and had a fabulous day on the course. We knew we were having fun when we realized we were on Hole 18 and couldn’t believe we were done!
And now we are back with my Sister and Brother-in-law in Seattle, where they have graciously agreed to let us park the rig while we jet off to Japan for a little hiking vacation.
And with that, dear readers, we are ready for our next round of the United States! Since we set out on this adventure in May 2024, we have visited Seven Countries, 43 States, 50(out of 63) National Parks, and golfed in 42 states. Starting in November, we will be slowly making our way down through California to visit the 7 National Parks we haven’t visited before or in a long time. I am so excited for Yosemite, please cross your fingers that the government shutdown gets resolved soon! Then a winter stay in Arizona with golf visits to Nevada and Utah, then our route next year will be West to East along the Canadian border to visit/golf in the last few states we need to see, and visit the last three National Parks in the lower 48. Add a couple more international forays into the mix and 2026 is shaping up to be a pretty banner year! I hope you stay with me as I continue to chronicle our adventures!
Also, I’m going to try and mix things up a bit more. I really encourage you to subscribe to this blog so that your informed of my updates via email, rather than Facebook. I’m hoping to add more video snippets in between blog posts too. As those become more real, I will do my best to keep you all informed. In the meantime, thank you for your support!
All my best to you, Lady Wanderingwise
Weise's Wanderings 
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