Driving around.

In such a short visit is always a lot if driving involved. Good thing our rental was with unlimited mileage because I drove 6400 km in 3 weeks. It was May and the car was covered with Mosquitoes, hard work to clean it even at the car wash. Also wanted to visit a few nice places in the country, so one afternoon we ended up at a National Heritage Site: Szentendre, just an hour drive north of Budapest. It's a display of old country village houses from around the turn of the 19th century, all the buildings beautifully preserved.

Here is what you get when you drive a lot: Ford Focus/Mosquito Hybrid

Taking the Grandkids to the Playground: they have no fear, not so the Oldtimer.

Their favorite ride....

.....it actually slides about 15 meters.

It's a Pirate ship

The Newcomer is about a week old.

In Szentendre.....

....it's a beautiful National Heritage Site.

It even has a working windmill.

After the long day the gang is resting at the Danube.

On the way home I had to stop and snap a picture of the Hungarian Parliament.

 

Diet is not an option!

If you are visiting the country where you grew up you are most likely going to eat too much. You have only so much time and want to try everything, sometimes you see something you have to try. The question was: how much weight are we going to gain in 3 weeks. Surprise: we did not gain a pound! Here are a few pictures from our culinary tour in Hungary.

Our everyday Breakfast.

My wife with 2 friends. The 3 of them have been working together for over 10 years. Wanted just a cafe but we ended up with a hot sandwich. It just looked so good!

Going to the market you can't resist the "Lángos", the famous Hungarian specialty.

The biggest market hall in Budapest is a National Heritage Site. Dozens of tour buses are bringing the hungry crowd.

Even the labels are in English. In the middle: sausage wrapped in bacon. Forget about diet!

When I was driving through Turkey for almost a decade this was our favorite beer. My friend brought me a dozen, the only question was: bottle or can?

Visiting another National Heritage Site: Szentendre. Of course we ended up in the restaurant. At the time I was thinking of taking a picture of our very good meal it was all gone.

A food stand on the street downtown. Could you just walk by?

On the way home after visiting my Mom we stopped at a waterfront restaurant famous for it's fish.

Visiting my Older daughter meant another dinner you could not resist. Here is my younger daughter with the 2 hungry grandsons.

Family & Friends

We had only 3 weeks ( travel included ) to visit as many friends and family as possible. In 3 weeks I drove 6400 km, more than when I'm working. We had our home base near Budapest at my Sister in Law's house, to drive to see my Mom is 300 km, to see my Grandsons is another 500 km, it adds up before you know it. But it was fun, good to see my Mother, kids, friends. Of course most of those visits included  a meal, we didn't dare to step on a scale to check how much we gained.

Our home base near Budapest, my Sister in Law's place

The happy female department.

Killing a huge pizza somewhere on the road

My mother, her brother and my younger daughter

We have been working together and been friends for over 30 years

My late brother's daughter, the 2 Angels and her husband.

The famous Café Anna in downtown Budapest

My 2 older Grandsons, both crazy about John Deer. Of course all of our presents

 ( well almost) were their favorite brand

It's not a John Deer but it makes noise. 2 happy kids.

 

Visiting the "Old Country"

I didn't post anything since April and I apologize for that. I wanted to keep the blog going after the trip but just too many too serious things were happening. My wife fell ill next day after we got home, hospital, surgery, long recovery, then I got sick. Thanks God we are OK now and back in business planning the next trip down south in January. Usually when we visit Hungary we always do it after September, October, we can save enough on airfare to cover a rental car. Since we have been working in Germany for years we fly to Germany, visit a few places, stay at our favorite hotel Gasthof Auer in Passau and carry on the next day. This year we flew in May! The reason: Grandson # 3 was due the first week of May and we didn't want to miss that.

My wife with our rental Ford Focus,

diesel, 860 CDN for 3 weeks, unlimited mileage 

Shocking fuel prices in Germany. It's in Euro, multiply it by 1.35 and it's for a liter 

A church gathering right next to our hotel on the weekend. 

Nice RV-s in a rest area. The one on the left is a Fiat, a Dodge now in the US and Winnebago is building a Motor Home on the Chassis, it's called Trend. 

Truckers can NOT drive on the weekend in Europe, everybody has to park. 

My wife's favorite rest stop is the Rosenberg chain in Austria, we had to stop at every one of them. 

We made it home on time but Mr. Grandson was 2 days late. I have been holding him when he was 4 days old.

 His wristband from the hospital.

Portland-Marysville-Home

I have been trough Portland so many times, have seen the signs to Jantzen Beach but to be honest I didn't know about the RV park. It's one of the best we have been in the area, right on the river, close to downtown and still not  noisy. in the morning we paid for our spot and headed north trough Seattle to Marysville. Never been to the Tulalip Casino and wanted to check it out. Awesome place and of course they think of RV-ers, we have our own dry camp area. Some people obviously abusing the system, awning out, BBQ out, big party on. No thanks we do not want it next door! Security guy said: you can park in the employee parking, we use it as overflow parking anyway. It's going to be quieter but you have to walk about 300 yards more to the casino. No problem for us. Spent a really good night there, icing on the cake that my wife came out 113$ richer from the casino. Next morning we left after breakfast and made it home to the Island around 8:30 pm.

 

Entrance to Jantzen Beach RV Park

 

Nice, quiet, close to downtown

 

Next day on the way home: if you work for a trucking magazine you never drive by at a Truck Stop without taking a picture! ( or a dozen )

 

Our last night on this trip: Tulalip Resort & Casino, Marysville , WA an awesome, RV friendly place.

Eureka to Portland

Left the campground around 9am and headed north. We have done the coast hwy before going south and wanted to see the Elks again. Magnificent animals in their own environment so close to the hwy. Sure enough we have seen 3 close enough to take a few nice pictures. Spent at least a couple of hours watching them while my wife made lunch. We crossed the Oregon border at 3 pm, the weather is cooling down big time, no more short sleeves for a while. Spent a nice and quiet night in Brandon at Brandon RV Park. It's a Good Sam park but at 34.24 $ is a bit expensive for me even for a full hook up. Next day's highlight was Florence OR with it's riverside seafood restaurants. The town is famous for it's Dungeness crab and the all you can eat crab deals. We were lucky to meet a local fisherman catching crabs on the dock just under the restaurant. He was more than happy to answer all the questions the curious visitors had. We had a late lunch early dinner seafood plate and had to go. After a few miles we had to stop again at the Sea Lion Caves and take more pictures. After a fairly long day we made it to Portland, to Jantzen Beach RV park. It's a half RV half mobile home park, very nice and clean, right on the Columbia river.  26 $/night full hook up, 2 pools and close to downtown. On the next spot is a trailer from California, nice couple headed for Canada and asking us what kind of weather to expect? We told them it's going to be cool for our taste. They said: perfect, we are going to love it, we are escaping from the heat in California. The word Snowbirds has a new meaning!

 

Elk viewing up close north of Eureka CA

 

The Oregon coast is beautiful but cool in October.

 

Seafood Restaurant in Florence OR.

 

The dock in Florence with the restaurant above.

 

Local fisherman with his fresh catch.....

 

..................explaining why he has to throw it back. He can sell his catch to the restaurant right behind him.

 

Lunch right on the river, even the sun came out!

 

We drove by at McMinnville Air Field and just had to take a picture. A 747 on the roof!

 

Albion Flat to Eureka Ca.

We liked the place so much we did not leave the campground 'till noon. Be prepared for the coastal hwy, it will be slow because you stop often. After driving about 20 min. north we came to Big River State Park, another beautiful place. Wide sandy beaches, peaceful and quiet. We spent at least a couple of hours there watching a couple of painters working to capture the scenery. I think I repeat myself too often but we shortly had to stop again, the coast is so rugged and photogenic I had to burn a few mega bites off the memory card. Fort Bragg was only a few more miles we stocked up at Safeway and finally have seen a car wash with a bay outside and I washed the motor home. Not far north of Fort Bragg the hwy runs trough the Redwood Forest and comes back to the beach just south of Eureka. It was late in the afternoon, time to look for a place for the night. In Eureka Wal Mart is in a mall with a shared parking lot and security said no but recommended the county fairground with an Rv park only 2 miles east of down town. Nothing fancy but a nice and quiet park with full hook up and Wi Fi for 25$/night.  ( Redwood Acres Fairgrounds RV Park.)

 

White sandy beaches - Big River State Park

 

Painters at work.

 

Signs at the entrance of the park.

 

Be careful! It's Mountain Lion territory

 

The breathtaking shoreline

 

The breathtaking shoreline

 

The entrance to the fairground in Eureka....

 

.....with a nice and quiet RV park.