Paradise Resort, Silver Creek, WA

I guess everyone wants to be in Paradise. Well, we decided to make a 2 week reservation at that campground resort beginning 8/16/08. Our granddaughters, Zoey and Mackenzie, were coming along for the first several days. We set out from Tumwater on one of the hottest days of the year. The thermometer topped 95 degrees, which is very warm for Western Washington.

Paradise Resort is located in the small town of Silver Creek, WA. If you blink you'll miss the so-called town. It is located on the eastbound Hwy. 12 heading toward Mt. Rainier and a turn off to Mt. St. Helen's. The resort is about 3 miles north of Hwy. 12. The resort's listing in the camp guide says it is "nestled in the middle of God's Country". I guess that is true but it is also nestled in the middle of freaking nowhere !! Ahhhh....but we were going for some peace and quiet, right?

We got there on Saturday afternoon. How could experienced RVer's like us have been so stupid? We know better than to try to get into a good site in a campground (even with a reservation) in the middle of a weekend. Well, we were instructed that all the full hook-up sites were full but we could drive through and find a water & electric site for the one night and then move to a full hook-up on Sunday afternoon. Many people were planning to leave Sunday so we could get a better space. It was still about 90 degrees there in God's Country so we felt lucky to get a space with electric.

It was a tight fit getting that 40-footer into a small W/E space but I managed to navigate Bruce into one after making 2 attempts. We got ourselves all leveled out and hooked up and the slide outs adjusted. Now to turn on that A/C and get some cool air going. Huh?? The darn breaker outside at the plug for this site kept clicking off. It wouldn't hold !!! No other sites available either. OK, we're true campers....we can do without A/C for one night. We'll go swimming and cool off.

With perspiration pouring off my forehead I got the girls into their swim suits as did Bruce and I. We grabbed our towels and set off to one of the 3 pools on property. Just as we got to the gate at 3:55 pm we hear over the loud speaker...."Hello Campers. Just a reminder that we will be closing the pools at 4:00 for 1 hour to clean them." Okay. About face and go back to the RV for an hour. While we waited, the girls played with some kids camped next to us and Bruce and I played more of our gin rummy tournament. At 5:00 sharp we went back to the pool and finally felt some wonderful, cool water. Of course, there were about 50 screaming kids and adults too, so we didn't have that peace and quiet I had hoped for.

We did see an interesting sight at the pool. There was a woman lounging in a deck chair reading a newspaper and she had a fully dressed monkey on a leash with her. The little monkey was climbing all over her back and the top of her head while she sat there reading the paper. That was a first for me in a campground that's for sure.

We did survive the heat of the night and the next day around 1 pm we moved the rig over to a nice, level and wide site with full hook-ups and an electrical breaker that worked. A/C was finally ours to enjoy. Well, for a day anyway. By Monday afternoon it clouded up, got a lot cooler and rained. So much for Paradise I guess.

The girls went home on Wednesday evening. We kept them amused indoors with lots of crafts, games, Disney movies and we even baked a cake. They had lots of fun and look forward to going "camping" with us again.

Bruce and I stayed there in Paradise until it was time to leave and go back up to Tumwater for the Labor Day weekend. It is Mackenzie's birthday on September 1st and we want to be with her to celebrate the big day. This is where we are now....Tumwater again.

We leave here on Tuesday, September 2nd and will be driving to Pismo Beach, California for 2 1/2 months of real peace and quiet. We can't wait to get there. It is one of our most favorite spots to hang out and just enjoy the beauty of the ocean.

I'll post more in the days ahead. Hope everyone that finds this blog is enjoying it. Let me know, please.