Our cruise up to Hurricane Ridge on Sunday, August 21st, was so fun!   After several days of 90 degree plus weather, we finally had a slight cool-down. It was much more comfortable, with just a little wind. We had a good view of the Hayes Fire (so sad) that was burning directly in front of us.  But the smoke wasn't reaching us yet. Nine VWs, including seven bugs, one Thing, and one bus, joined the "cruise parade."  Everyone enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers, fruit, veggies, chips, and lots of desserts! This cruise surely has the best views of any cruise we go on. The scenery is spectacular! 

The July 4th tradition for the Strait Air Volksgrüppe: The Diamond Point Parade and potluck at Paul's house. It's the cutest small town parade and always a lot of fun. Paul is a wonderful host, letting us meet up and decorate our cars in his yard, the providing the pizza and beverages for the party after. 

Staging area: Paul's house! Here's Dave and Tim discussing the finer points of car decorating.

Dale and his wife getting the Kubelwagen ready! They totally dressed the part with helmets and everything. We decided that throwing grenades would be a little over the top though.

We V-Dub people are pretty resourceful. Those holes on the side of Tim's car are great for patriotic pinwheels!

Here's the two cutest patriots you'll ever see!

Here we are in the staging area for the parade. We were first in line this year. Except Annie. She was too far away from her car when the parade actually started and to the back of the line she went!

Dave's prize-winning bus!

Dale is providing parade security!

Francie's car.....all decked out!

Paul's car! He had speakers mounted in front playing patriotic music, except for some reason, the music didn't play during the parade. It worked fine once the parade was over though. This of course is in keeping with the VW tradition, that something has to break down. At least none of our cars did!

In line waiting for the parade to start!

A couple of lovely ladies holding the parade banner!

Every parade participant got a free kazoo this year. All there is to the art of playing kazoo is figuring out which end to blow into. These ladies kazoo'd it up good.

One of the patriotic parade dogs!

A 4th of July parade isn't complete unless you have a Bassett in a tutu.

Uncle Sam, letting it all hang out!

I don't know, man. I'm not sure this golf cart is quite patriotic enough. Needs more flags.

Seemed there was a bit of a bird theme this year. Here's some crows (I think), but where were the EAGLES?

Another American golf cart! Notice the nice blue convertible Beetle there. Not in our club. Apparently he wants nothing to do with the riff raff. That's fine! The riff raff has more fun!

A parade just isn't a parade without kids!!!

More birds! Finally an eagle!

Again, not enough flags. Get with it people!

The perfect representation of the Peninsula: Umbrella Jellyfish!

These people were happy and crabby all at the same time!

Gotta have a big ol 'Murican truck for a 'Murican parade!

Who says you need a driver's license to drive in a parade?

Lawnmowers and bicycles, represent!

Hay! Another truck!

.......and back to Paul's for pizza and good ol' 'Murican PBR! Lots of great potluck items brought by everyone. Annie had baked a cherry pie just for the party, but she set it on fire. Luckily Francie and Dale brought pie so there was plenty! Cool story from the parade: As Annie was driving the parade route, a woman came up to her and said, "Hey, I know you'll think this is weird but it's on my bucket list to ride in a Volkswagen! Can I ride with you?" Annie replied, "Not weird at all! Hop in!" She rode in the parade with Annie and took great joy in the whole ride especially when she was waving at her kids. One would never think a VW could fulfill a lifelong dream for someone, but there you have it! VW's just make people smile, and that's what it's all about!

Dave, Francie, Dan, Linda, and Annie all cruised together to the Rakers Summer Car Show at Memorial Field in Port Townsend. It was a cool day with rain in the forecast, but that didn't stop us! Dave's bus has awnings, so no excuses! We rolled in about 9:30 and got our goody bags and registration packets. We parked in our spots and set ourselves up.

This beautiful cream colored Beetle belongs to Carol Wise. She's not in our club.......yet. She saw Annie's car at last year's Rakers show and liked the engine. She got Denny's name and he restored her car with a new engine and paint. Sweet! Carol is a Raker and helped put on the show. She made sure there was a VW award category this year!

Annie and Linda did the Ladies Poker Run for the second time. Last year they won first and second place. This year Annie got third place and her award was a fun popcorn/movie bowl. Herbie the Love Bug was one of the DVD's in the bowl! Annie's knowledge of completely useless information does pay off sometimes.

And the award for Best VW goes to...................guess! Just guess! I'll give you a hint. It's an awesome green bus with awnings on it. Dave is now banned from any future shows. Because Annie said so and she's the president. Ha ha! Annie's just kidding. Sort of.

All in all, the weather wasn't too bad. It did rain, but we just hung out under the bus awnings and had a great time. Talked to a lot of fun people about our VW's and saw a lot of other beautiful cars. It was really a well run show. We could have won an award for car club with the most attendees, but Dream Machines won that one. Maybe next year........RIGHT?!?!?!

This might be known as Strait Air Volksgrüppe's TINIEST cruise! We started out at the Wal-Mart parking lot with Francie and Dave in Francie's car, and Burt in his Rabbit. We now know that Burt has a Rabbit! Soon after starting out though, Burt's Rabbit decided it didn't really want to cruise, so back to the hutch went the Rabbit! 

We had a lovely cruise down to the Tides Restaurant, south of Lilliwaup. The weather was a combination of bright sunshine and intense rain squalls. We had fun messing with impatient tailgaters. They would pass one of us only to discover themselves behind ANOTHER Volkswagen! BA HA HA HA HA! Annie really really really hates tailgaters, and she loves to torture them. 

Here we are at the Tides. We really liked the food and the portions were very generous! Highly recommend!

A peek at the road on the way home near Lilliwaup. It was a pretty day with pretty scenery! We are so lucky to live on the Peninsula!!!!

The Strait Air Volksgrüppe participated in the Irrigation Festival Cruzz and Show 'n Shine on Saturday May 14th. All participants met up at Evergreen Collision to stage for the parade route. Lots of cars there.....over 60 of them! We cruised the parade route, smiling and waving at people, and each one of us stopped to be "interviewed" by the parade announcer. The Show 'n Shine was at the Wal-Mart parking lot and even more cars were there who didn't participate in the parade. To keep things exciting, Theresa's Bug died just as she pulled in to her show spot! Luckily, all it needed was a new battery, so what better place to break down but the Wal-Mart parking lot! The show started with pleasant temperatures and partly cloudy skies.....then, around 2 pm, things took a turn! A very light sprinkle turned into a cold steady downpour and we finally had to break out the umbrellas. We figured since we'd stuck it out as long as we had, that we should stay for the awards at 3:30. So we sat in the rain and waited. After they got done announcing the raffle prizes, they announced that they were packing it all up and the awards would not be presented! They told us to check the website later to find out the winners. Kind of a bummer deal if you ask me. But good news! Dave's bus won the Best VW award! Trophy coming later.....I hope!

Here we all are parked in our designated area except for that blue Bel-Air in between my Bug and Matt's. The funny thing is, we never saw the owner of the car or anyone come by to check on it. It was kinda harshing our VW vibe, man.

Here's my Bug (Annie), all squeaky clean and fresh out of Denny's shop.

Dave's prize-hauling bus! Pretty soon he's not gonna have any more room for the trophies he's winning! Fun fact: When it started raining, Dave didn't want to lower his awnings because he said they'd get wet. Apparently they're only shade awnings. ; ) ha ha!

Paul's shiny red Super Beetle! 

Francie's two tone Auto-Stick!

Theresa's blue beauty with new rims and a battery!

Matt's black convertible! First time he had to drive it in the rain!

Bruce's Thing.......papa got a new pair o' shoes!

We have fun.....rain or shine!!!!!

And Dave's bus wins again!!!!