Going to China Part 2

After a few minor delays we got our passports and visa for China.  They came by FedEx while we were in Dayton, Oregon.  Yesterday, June 5, we got our travel documents from Alexander and Roberts, the tour company we are booked with.  We are now in Kent, Washington about 30 minutes from the airport.  So at this point we have all our documents and our airline tickets. 

We are parked in an RV park and will leave both the RV and the Jeep here while we are gone.  We will have electricity to the RV so we don't have to clear out the refrigerator and shut everything down.  Even better the cost of the RV park per day is actually less than if we parked the car at the airport even in lots off property.This is working out so well it is scary.

Looks like China is a GO!

Home cooked turkey

We had never cooked a meal while driving.  So on the drive from Dayton, Oregon to the Kent, Washington (near Seattle) we decided to try it.  After we had been on the road awhile we found a rest stop.  We had prepped an 8 pound turkey breast earlier so all we needed to do was turned on the generator, fired up the convection microwave and pop it in!  The convection microwave creates a lot of heat so we also had to run the AC to keep the place cool.  This is actually great for the generator to get that kind of a workout.  And it does not really consume much gasoline.  By the time we got to our destination and settled the turkey was done to perfection. We had a great dinner with lots of planned overs(leftovers we planned on).  Can't believe we had not done this before and we will definitely be doing this again.

Silver Falls State Park

We had a few days to kill before we needed to be in Seattle for our China trip.  We were not sure what to do with the days when Diana picked up the AAA tour book for Oregon.  She found what AAA called a gem.  So we tried to get into Silver Falls State park for a week.  No dice, but we could get in starting Memorial Day but we had to be out by Friday.  We took it.  What a great park!

The main attraction is there are 10 waterfalls that can be viewed on an 8 mile hike.  We took 2 days to see the falls.  Day one we hiked about 6 miles and saw 7 falls.  Each one beautiful but different from the others.  On day 2 we had to double back some but finished off the last 3 falls in about 4 miles.  Also beautiful.

A bonus was that there were wild flowers and bushes in bloom everywhere.  So there were times it was difficult to decide if you wanted to look at the flowers, the falls or just the general beauty of the park.  If you ever get to Oregon, try o spend a day or two hiking in Silver Falls State Park.

From behind the falls

 You are correct if you counted only 9 pics.  Twin Falls was not visible due to some downed trees.  But, shoot, 9 out of 10 falls in 2 days...not bad.  By the way, Silver Falls SP is about 25 east of Salem in the heart of wine country and Christmas tree farms.