Filling in the Blanks!

magic key

I thought that my journal this trip would really help with the sequence of events, but as I tried to read my chicken scratch from a moving car...I've left out some things. I want to mention that we bought and simple auxiliary cord so that we could listen to our own music either with the iPod or our smart phone and listen with the car speakers. The car did have satellite radio but we didn't seem to get it in the mountains...it was easier to connect to Pandora. We had an electrical recharger with several different types of ports and connected to the car outlet--we could then recharge camera batteries and iPod, iPhones all at once or one by one...pretty cool!  We had a GPS connected for all destinations--Thanks Brian!!-- we could schedule the approximate time of arrival in all cases find restaurants, gas stations and points of interest...it didn't recognize newer "round-about" screamed "RECALCULATING--RECALCULATING--RECALCULATING!!! I thought for sure I heard "Dorothy" murmur a some derogatory undertones in between her RECALCULATING. I have to say, we did put approximately 2,100 miles on this car... and none of those miles were wasted.

We also purchased a small collapsible cooler for day trips, stores plastic spoons/knifes and paper plates, fruit and of course...chocolate! Our intention was to toss it at the end of our trip but for $8, it's perfect to keep in the car.

As we were traveling through Shelton, we did stop at one casino (and of course, it was against every fiber in Jim's being to be there)--but he was a trooper and found a machine he liked... Jim played $1 for at least 1 hour on a 10¢ machine. I wandered throughout the non-smoking section but I totally had bad Ju-Ju from the start. I lost $25 dollars... :(
When I found Jim at his same machine, he was up $27 and just as pleased as could be...he showed me his winning strategy and the option of the "touch screen" option--that was until I touched his WINNING interactive screen...Oops, you guess it...after that...he lost, lost lost...we left the casino with our tail tucked. He got over it...

Mallard Cove Inn

I also forgot to tell you that...the beautiful Mallard Cove English style B&B?...well we almost burned it down...not on purpose. In our beautifully designed room of blue and white was a fireplace. Our luggage was on luggage stands mine was along one side of a wall and Jim's was set in front of the fireplace. On our day we arrived, we were playing with the light switches..."what does this one do... what does this one...." and it was odd that one did nothing...(click, click) what the...oh well...well Jim went down to the library to read and I took a long hot bath with lighted tea candles...and lavender...ahhhhhh and afterward walked out from the bathroom and felt that the room was warmer than my normal "hot flashes" I moved Jim's suitcase cover to close it...(to open the french doors leading to the patio for some air) and saw that the fireplace was on... The suitcase outside pocket so HOT that it was changing shape...yes, it was MELTING...I did NOT happen to mention this to the lovely owners...and ...ehem...neither will you!

And...just so you know... Elvis is still alive! We happen to come into a town looking for a cup of coffee. We found that after 3pm the town closes down...but we found Slater's Diner located in Raymond WA off of HWY 101 or maybe we were in the "twilight zone" but it was a blast from the past. Our waiter was Jansonwhited.net Multiple-time World Championship Finalist Elvis Tribute Artist. The music was so nostalgic and yes, I knew the words to all the songs!!

Diner

So Charming

a little blurry

A champ and the food was great!