Sunday – Aug 12 – Olympia; Monday – Aug 13 - Chehalis

I am writing today’s blog from the waiting room at the Northwest Cummins / Onan service center in Chehalis, WA. It’s about 20 miles south of the campground where we have spent the last few weeks. Fortunately the Internet access is pretty good, unlike the last few days at the campground where I could never be sure whether I’d be able to log on or not.

This service visit is similar to last year and is the only engine / generator servicing we’ve had to do. I figure once a year servicing is pretty convenient. There aren’t that many Cummins / Onan service centers around so this location worked last year and again this year. Gasoline powered engines usually suggest servicing at 3,000 or 5,000 miles, but the service folks here said 10,000 miles between oil changes (et.al.) was good enough and it just happens that’s about how many miles we’ve put since last summer.

Margaret spent last night with Suki at Connie and Harold’s place. I will be driving up the road this p.m. to another campground for tonight before heading out to Sequim and Shell and Lynn McGuire’s place tomorrow.

Last night (Sunday) we were fortunate to dine at one of Olympia’s newest restaurants – Anthony’s Hearthfire at the Port of Olympia. There is another Anthony’s restaurant at the Port of Olympia but they specialize in seafood while the new one offers both seafood and a variety of steaks. It was a pleasant experience – both in the food, service, and spectacular scenery. The restaurant is located on a point of land at the north end of the harbor and has large glass windows (almost no walls) to allow the scenery in. And it was sunset with beautiful colors and clouds.

Margaret had prawns on a pesto pasta which she enjoyed. I had one of the best Yellowfin Ahi Tuna steaks I’ve ever had – and it’s one of my favorite dishes. It was served on a bed of pasta prepared with seasonings I’ve never tasted before. We tried to find out what was in it, the waitress only knew about olive oil, lemon zest, and white and black sesame seeds. Whatever, it was great. We both had the wedge of iceberg lettuce with bay shrimp as our salad. All in all, a wonderful dining experience I can heartily recommend if you’re ever in Olympia.

Yesterday’s lunch, by contrast, was a hot dog and root beer at Costco in Tumwater. We always enjoy their hot dogs and at $1.50 for lunch, it’s a pretty inexpensive way to go. I was amazed at the crowd. In Jacksonville (at both Costco and Sam’s Club), the “staff” in the food court is usually made up of one person at the counter and one person doing prep. Here, there were 6 people working and three serving lines – and the lines generally had 4 or 5 customers waiting. There were 12 sit-down tables for four (all full) and 2 stand-up tables where we “dined”. Everyone seemed to enjoy their dining experiences!

We spent yesterday cleaning and prepping the motor-home for travel. Not many photo ops there! I’ve included another bonsai tree from our Friday visit. Needless to say, we really enjoyed the bonsai display. This particular bonsai was titled, “Memories of the China Sea”. The rocks represent the shoreline and islands complete with a small boat and temple. I encourage you to double-click on the image to see it as large as possible.