Another day without pesky chores. We\nwent on another exploratory mission today, this time to Chehalis, a\ntown about 35 miles northwest of our current digs at Paradise\nCampground in Silver Creek. To start out, we almost immediately went\nsouth \u2013 the wrong way. We moseyed by a local ranch that has llamas\ngrazing and sleeping in a big pasture that offers absolutely stunning\nviews of Mt. St. Helens. The llamas are strange-looking creatures.\nThey have bodies about the size of a big deer or small elk but heads\nthat are almost microscopic. The shape of their bodies most closely\nresembles a camel. They understand they spit. We kept our distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tNext in our aimless wanderings we\nfound our way down to the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery where we didn’t go\nsee the tanks of trout but did drop down right to the river’s edge.\nWhen we were here a few years ago, we spotted a bald eagle there that\nliked to perch in a big alder tree right across the river from the\nhatchery. Eagle-eyed Peggy spotted him in just about the same place\nshe found him in 2016. The news was good – he now has a nice mate,\njust a bit smaller but no less magnificent. They sat together, making\neagle noises and preening each other while we got sunburned and ogled\nthem from a distance. My butt was getting sore from sitting on the\ntailgate so we finally departed the trout hatchery area (not to be\nconfused with the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery area a few miles distant)\nand headed north. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tWe took the back roads even though the\nroute on I-5 was much shorter. I felt this was the prudent thing to\ndo because I had eaten some nice chocolate I had picked up at the\ndispensary a bit earlier and hectic driving seemed uninteresting at\nthat point. Our first destination was a DXL store in Chehalis where\nPeggy went inside in an effort to make me look like I don’t live in a\ndumpster and shop at the Salivation Army. After about 15 minutes of\nbreaking even on Solitaire played on my phone, Peggy re-emerged with\nsome new clothes for me. I hope they look good and fit, for her sake.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tMy chocolate snack earlier in the day\nwas making me grin idiotically and whirl happily so I turned the\ndriving chores over to Peggy for the remainder of the trip. That is\nsome gooood chocolate. Our next stop was a Tractor Supply where I\nwanted to shuffle in and pick up some bird seed for the feeder we put\nout for my friends. As soon as we passed through the doors, Peggy\nimmediately stopped in the clothes section so I told her I would\nreturn there to find her later. I was on a mission to find a\nrestroom. It turned out to be quite a test. There was only one sign\non the store floor to indicate where the restroom might be and it\ntook me quite a while to find that. I headed in the direction\nindicated by the sign and soon came to a long, shiny white corridor\nthat had two doors leading off of it. Neither was a restroom. I\ncontinued to the end of the long hall and found at the far end it\nturned into another long, shiny corridor with no doors leading from\nit. I was getting suspicious. At the far end of that corridor was\nanother turn, this time entering another shiny corridor where,\nfinally, I found doors leading to the appropriate gender’s crapper.\nThey must not want customers to go weewee or cocky-doody here because\nif they did, they wouldn’t have put the restroom in another town. To\ntop it off, after I got my hands all nice and clean, I found there\nwere no paper towels in the dispenser so I did the man thing; I wiped\nthem on my pants. After my long tour of corridors in the store, I\nreturned to Peggy who was just finishing up in the clothes section.\nWe wandered over and picked up some bird seed and made our escape. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peggy drove us back to Silver Creek. This time I got to admire the scenery without having to pay attention to the road. It was glorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got some pix. Click the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/C7VdQnoFemgqGpmr5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another day without pesky chores. We went on another exploratory mission today, this time to Chehalis, a town about 35 miles northwest of our current digs at Paradise Campground in Silver Creek. To start out, we almost immediately went south … Continue reading