Month: October 2022

Not only do we leave Yamika RV Park but we’re heading to our first Boondockers Welcome stay. Boondockers are membership based locations where you do not pay to stay. Click here if you want to learn more.

We’re up at 530, have breakfast, run the dishwasher, shower, hook up Bob and are on the road at 915.

Quite a large solar farm

Much like us, Bailey is not a fan of ups. At the peak!

The vegitation changes quite rapidly

There is still smoke in some areas

Nice scenery

We were initally set to spend the night at Cabela’s Boise, last night we decided to go a bit further. Debbie may have had something to do with teaching us how heading south slowly means. Apparently, it’s more like driving 6h LOL

We dodged a bullet by avoiding Boise

We have a choice of a gravel or asphalt pad, also full hook ups We choose the gravel that come with a view 🙂 Alan the host, says we made the good choice. Our Allan with 2 “l”s didn’t tell him his Mom spelt his name wrong LOL

Our view!

We are no longer Boondockers Welome virgins!

Tomorrow, a KOA

We did have fun while not at the park, the weather was great, sunny everyday with highs about 77f/25c, but Yakima RV Park was the worse park we’ve stayed at, to date. Just happy we didn’t book in for a month! These are the neighbour’s yard. A little bit of everything, including tools, a home made sand blasting gizmo, a grass seeder, etc. The pallets that were on his roof are now on the ground.

And the smell! Like nothing we’ve smelt before and hope to never again. It’s coming from the HAAS plant which is 1/2 block from the campgroup. Who would have thought brewing products smelt so bad.

Our plans yesterday were to go to Costco, (cause surprisingly the closest Costco to Yuma is an hour away), Target then walk the nice trail we found in the opposite direction. We saw some water on the ground, should have investigated sooner! Way more water there today, seems Bailey is crying cause she doesn’t like it here either. Allan opened the compartment to find our “fire starter” (newspaper, egg crates, etc) bin full of water and overflowing. Change of plans, empty out the compartments to try to figure out what is going wrong. The underbelly isn’t so nice looking. The water is dripping from the white pipe. .

We did make it to Target and Costco but not the trail. We did get our 10k steps finishing them off walking the park. That did NOT get us a reward 🙁

Today is “big wash” day when the W&D works overtime! We do not like the leave Bailey when the washer is going, water can be a destructive thing so start our steps off by doing a youtube walking video. Today we did a Halloween themed video,

Instead of walking the park or the nearby streets I want to find the trail I spot when driving on the highway.

Think we can get there from the back streets. This attempt = failure

Allan says, “Let’s giet back on the highway” Off we go…

Second attempt = almost failure… we stumble upon Sarg Hubbard Park! This leads us to the “no name” trail. Another beautiful day with temperature a high of 77F/25C

The Tap         Concept = 50 beers, wine, cider on tap  Mostly beer

They give you a bracelet, loaded to 32 ounces to enjoy from the taps you tap to activate the individual taps.  You pay for what you drink, no minimum.  When you go over they simply addd more ounces to your bracelet.

We got to taste many different beers, I even tried a 70 IBU beer which I would never have ordered.  My favourite beer was Blueberry Wheat Fruit Beer, Allan’s El Trabajador Lager – Mexican      77 deg we opt to sit outdoor, of course I had to end with wine 🙂

Recap of our taste tests and selection.  A unique experience for us

Destination today was Fullbright Park. thought we’d find a good hiking trail. Turns out this park does not have trails, rather just green picnic space and a stream that runs through it.

But we do find the Central Washington Agricultural Museum. Outside the museum is this tank. No explanation, just this tank behind the fencing.

Not sure what this has to do with agricultural.

Here we are at the museum, quite frankly if it wasn’t free we wouldn’t have gone. Would have been our loss, it was interesting, in a junky kind of way

Pre-covid wash stations, stationary and mobile and huge

We encountered a museum worker who said this museum was a grave yard for old farm equipment. Cheaper for farmers to donate than to take to the trash. 🙂

Reward time!!

Off to Valley Mall, trying to get Allan replacement, dare I say, Crocs!

A sad little chuckle reding these…

Start an exciting, fulfilling career with Sears?

All Sears stores closed in Canada years ago. What google taught me today….”There are 198 Sears retail stores in the United States as of September 28, 2022. The state with the most number of Sears locations in the US is California, with 19 retail stores, which is about 10% of all Sears retail stores in the US.” So, sounds like you can train in Yakima and transfer to California!

Our winnings, ended up not costing us anything & we’re a bit ahead. Love when that happens 🙂

Next stop, Yakima! We’re excited to be there as they have a hot tub. Our drive…

Lesson! My GPS wanted us to exit the highway then rejoin further down the highway. Allan’s says to keep going. We opted to, for once, follow Allan’s. Should have stuck with mine, now we realize it was attempted to divert us from this mess. All those poor truckers.

Win a few, lose a few.

Approaching the border…

When we crossed in August we declared we had chicken, steak, pork, eggs, tomatoes, on board and were waved through.

Knowing we had no issues crossing in August, we stocked up at Costco. We have unopened bag of frozen chicken breasts, an unopened 30 pack of eggs, butcher deliciously flavoured, stuffed, bacon wrapped chicken breasts, steak, pork, lettuce, a lemon, tomatoes, jalapeño …

What did Border Control take today? All chicken, eggs, (chicken/eggs can be taken if cooked/boiled), lemon, jalapeños. Had we not been permitted these items in August we would have know better on this visit. According to today’s, super sweet border guy, they felt bad taking so much, the ban has been in effect for 5 months.

Anyone wondering about alcohol??

No issues take what you want to drink.  You must declare it though.

Get much of it is cheaper in the US but Hubby loves Faxe Amber beer, for me it’s Bodacious Bourbon Barrel Aged Red

From the TTB “There is no federal limit on the amount of alcohol someone may import into the U.S. for personal use, however, large quantities might raise the suspicion that the importation is for commercial purposes, and a CBP Officer could require you to obtain an Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) import license before releasing it.”    https://www.ttb.gov/

For those in doubt we confirmed us Canadians are permitted to be in the US for 180 of the previous 365 days; not a calendar year.

An hour delay in and out of the customs office, being read the riot act, but we are off…

Although we are not anxious to give Harrison Hot Springs Hotel any money becuase it’s them standing in the way of us attended the hot springs they are the only place in town offering a Thanksgiving Dinner

Start the day with laundry, love our W&D, then a walk around the park, then games room time. Boy!! Do I suck at pool!! Allan is much better

A game of cards, which I won, then off to our first buffet since the onset of Covid.

Great dinner, all the basics plus salmon ++ strangly missing… mashed potatoes

No where as good however, as last Thanksgiving with Kyle & Megan. Miss you guys!! Flash back photos

Yahoo, hot tub is a go tonight

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and remember

A walk around our park, Springs RV Resort. It is a nice park, keep reminding myself it’s not their fault there are no available hot springs.

Although it’s difficult to see this is a working merrry-go-round.

Those eyes! Those teeth!!

Our newest buddy!!

Hot tub time!! Not so fast, they have sign up saying because of bubbles the hot tub is closed. So ends another day.

Today is, World Smile Day, Smile more than normal!

Did not know this: As is well known by now throughout the world Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts created the smiley face in 1963. That image went on to become the most recognizable symbol of good will and good cheer on the planet.

Springs RV is 20m from Camperland, a little challenging as check out is 11 and check in is 1. Allan called and sweet talked us into an early arrival.

The sites here are privately owned. We have the biggest in the park but for the nightly rate we were expecting a nicer site. No camp fires here which we knew but we’d never buy into a place that doesn’t allow fires. I know you’re all surprised to learn this.

All settled in walk to town in search of the hot springs.

Hum, still searching for the hot springs. See a sign “hot springs source”, head there to find only the source

Where the heck are the hot springs?? We go back and through the village and come across the Vistor’s Info Centre. In we go, “Where are the hot springs” we ask.

In a nut shell, there are no hot springs available if you are not staying at HHSR. The “source” pumps the hot springs to the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. You must be a guest to go. They will hold the rights till 2039. They also own the public mineral pool in the centre of the village which we learn was opened 2-1/2 weeks ago after being closed for 2 years. The info lady is not impressed and has suggested to the Mayor the name should be changed to “Harrison NO Hot Springs”

We were intrigued by the Sasquatch legend…. The Sts’ailes believe that that the Sasquatch is not an animal, not a figment of the imagination, but rather a supernatural entity that can vanish into the spirit realm at will; this may explain why the elusive being is so difficult to track down. To read more click here