After a week in Olympia, Edward was glad to be back on the road. Today's destination sounded interesting from the beginning. Milton-Freewater, Oregon, used to be two towns, but now is all the same town. It does, however, have two different down towns. The high school is right in the middle between the two towns. Eric Lynn, nephew of Susan and Ted, is a teacher at the high school.

The camper is parked at Harris park, which is about 15 miles from town, up a tight canyon. It is a beautiful park with the south fork of the Walla Walla river flowing right by the camping spaces. One thing about the park that was exciting to Edward is that there is a bear trap in the park. Edward isn't sure how he feels about having a bear trap, but there has been a bear visiting the campground recently and the officials have decided that it is time to move it to some place farther away form people so that it can forage for its own food and hibernate away from people like other bears in the wild. The trap is a big culvert with springs to close the door should a bear go inside to investigate the bait. Edward stayed clear of the trap.

Tomorrow will be a long day with nearly 600 miles to go to get to Big Timber. It will be another grand adventure for Edward.

Edward is back in Olympia, where Elliot and Emmala live. He knows that most of the nights that they are parked in the American Heritage Campground Elliot will come to the campground for sleepovers. Edward gets to sleep with Elliot and several other stuffed animals. What fun. This year Elliot has a beaver puppet that will be staying in the camper. Then there is bike riding, exploring trails and playing at the playground. Edward isn't much for swimming, something quite unusual for a fish-loving bear, but he likes the slide.

The family will are staying for a whole week in Olympia, which makes Edward especially happy.

Edward Bear is off on another grand adventure. Today he and the camper traveled 555 miles from Big Timber, Montana to Coulee City, Washington. Coulee City is on the shore of Banks Lake, one of the irrigation lakes that is part of the Grand Coulee irrigation system. The big lake behind Grand Coulee Dam is called Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake. The dam is the largest power producing dam in the United States. It has three power plants. The dam also is part of a grand scheme to irrigate the formerly dry high country of central Washington to improve food production. You can easily tell where the irrigated fields meet areas that are not irrigated because of the difference in the color. The normal climate around here is very dry and the natural plants are all dormant in the 90+ degree August heat, but the irrigated fields are lush and productive.
The campground has lots to explore with a waterfront filled with birds and a playground filled with children and a marina filled with boats. There are some really big boats in this part of Washington. It is quiet in the campground as there are not too many campers. Most of them are from Washington State, so Edward's South Dakota license plates kind of stand out. That's one thing about traveling with Susan and Ted: they like to get off of the Interstate highway and explore some of the roads that aren't quite as busy. This trip they are driving across Washington State on US Highway 2. It is a good road, but you have to slow down for towns as you travel. Edward likes all of the small towns and thinking about the people who live in them.

Tomorrow Edward will get to see Elliot and Emmala when the camper arrives in Olympia. It is an exciting time!

Edward is having such a wonderful adventure that he has hardly had time to dictate his blog! First of all Elliot is staying in the camper. Elliot's father is staying here too. Edward likes sleeping in Elliot's bed and all of the extra attention that he gets when Elliot is around. And Beau, who is from Australia, is still with the group. Here at Big Timber they met up with Gracie who is the same age as Beau. All in all it is a wonderful visit.

The children have been playing in the river and there has been a campfire with s'mores every night! The children like to cook the marshmallows by placing them on big forks and holding them close to the fire. They also like to hold the hose when it is time to put out the campfire each night. All in all the visit is filled with wonderful adventures.

Last night there was a big barbecue with lots of people. After the barbecue everyone went down to the river for Gracie's baptism. After the baptism we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Lois. Today there was a trip up to the mountains to look at Natural Bridge and the falls of the Boulder River and the Boulder canyon. The gang had a picnic up in the mountains and came back to play in the river again. This trip is turning into a grand time for everyone.

Edward is back at Devil's Tower! It was a quick preparation yesterday as the camper was hooked up to the pickup and hauled home where a lot of things were quickly loaded before heading out in the middle of the afternoon for the short ride to the place that Edward visited in June. The camper was backed into a different parking place and soon everyone was settled in for the evening.

The big difference for Edward is that there is a young boy along on this trip. Beau is four years old and he is the grandson of Ted and Susan's friends Tony and Shirley from Australia. They visited the camper once before when Edward Bear first came to be a part of the Huffman family, but they had never traveled with the camper before. Edward likes the new adventure and he especially likes having a child to play with him.

Edward has been told that this trip will be one of going mostly to places that he has visited before, but it will be filled with fun people. He can't wait to find out what is going to happen next.