Another fun Reindeer Run! We had three sleigh buses this year! After cruising from Wallyworld to Ediz Hook for pictures, we cruised around Port Angeles bringing a little cheer to whoever was out and about at 11 on a Saturday morning. We ended up at Bruce and Theresa's for a yummy Asian style rice with toppings potluck lunch! Francie made cute boxes with treats inside, and Jan replenished us with new washcloths and scrubbies!

Looking festive at Ediz Hook

Take the picture already! We're cold!

It isn't a Reindeer Run without stopping at the world's most scenic dump, made even more scenic with some cute VW's

Mark and Dave admire the magnificent dump scenery

Annie's car with Christmas lights!

We had our first annual Friendsgiving feast at the home of Annie and Mark Welch with SO MUCH delicious food brought by everyone who attended! Some of us like to say it's not a club event unless someone breaks down, and this time it was Dave and Francie. They had just gotten into town when Dave's axle broke. Reeko to the rescue! He went downtown and picked them up and after we had stuffed ourselves silly, I lent Dave my phone so he could call the tow truck. Good VW karma prevailed yet again, and the tow truck showed up in short order so they could make it home by 5!

This Friendsgiving and all year through, I always remember to be thankful to have such wonderful lifelong friends. 

Our annual Trunk or Treat event was lots of fun as usual. So many fun and funny costumes worn by both kids and their parents! The weather forecast looked like it was going to be very rainy, but our VW Karma prevailed once again, and right after Tim and Des erected a canopy for us to stay out of the rain, it quit! But it was plenty cold! Can someone bring a fire next year? No matter how much candy I buy, it never seems to be enough! Thankfully Dave and Francie went nuts and bought candy for the entire planet, so they kindly refilled mine and Carmen and Nate's bus! Theresa and Bruce made sure we had a nice place to go in and get warm and sip on some hot beverages and eat some delicious snacks! It's also fun to overhear what kids say when they retrieve the candy from our trunks. One kid said to his little brother very matter-of-factly,  "This is where the engine used to be". Out of the mouths of babes!

StSo if you're an avid reader of our Past Events blog, you will recall we did not see any jumping live salmon on our Sol Duc Salmon Run Cruise. We did see plenty of salmon swimming in the Rocky Brook ready to do their thing. We saw a few salmon couples swimming in sandy rocky areas looking for a place to deposit eggs and fertilize them. We also saw lots of dead salmon, because if you paid attention in school, salmon die after spawning. 

Somehow we lucked out in the weather department again! It was raining where we met up in Discovery Bay, but as we made our way down to Brinnon, the sun came out and stayed out making for a surprisingly pleasant day! We usually eat at the Tides Restaurant on this cruise, but instead, we ate at the Halfway House in Brinnon at the invitation of the owner and fellow VW enthusiast, Justin, for their Oktoberfest event! The food and hospitality was fabulous!

We then headed to Hoodsport to stop at the winery so Francie could stock up. From there we headed back homeward, but first we drove through Pleasant Harbor at the invitation of our newest member, Reeko. It's a beautiful harbor. No wonder they call it pleasant.

As usual, I forgot to take pictures, so the picture credits here go to Nate and the lovely waitress who took our group picture at the Halfway House.

Stopping in Quilcene for Rodney and Reeko.

From left: Reeko, Annie, Carmen, Jan, and Vern admiring the falls!

Rocky Brook Falls

Parked at the Halfway House for lunch!

Strait Air Volksgruppe enjoying the fare at the Halfway House! From left, Annie, Rodney, Dave, Francie, Justin Matheson the owner, Nate, Carmen, Theresa, Bruce, Vern, and Jan.

Welp, as far as seeing jumping salmon this year, we struck out again! But we did enjoy a nice cruise with beautiful scenery, and although the weather outlook was for rain, the sun came out for us and it was a pretty pleasant day! Actually, we did technically see some salmon, but they were dead. They had flopped up into a shallow pool and couldn't flop back apparently. But you know, if I were a salmon and I had to flop up that rapids, I'd call it quits too. 

Cruisin' to see some dead fish!

What a beautiful place we live in.

I would have gone down there for a better look, but I know me. I'd end up floppin' in the rapids too. 

Poor little salmon never made it to his happy ending. 

Here we are enjoying a nice picnic before we headed back home. As usual, many passers-by asked us about our cars. They sure are conversations starters and instant friend makers!

This year's Quilcene Parade was very pleasant weather-wise, although a little smoky from the Bear Gulch Fire. We spent more time in the staging area and drive into the parade than we did driving in the parade, which was just a few blocks. We were at the very end of the parade. 

While we were waiting in the staging area, a guy in a newer Beetle drove past and asked us what we were doing. We told him we were waiting to drive in the parade and Francie said, "Why don't you join us?" and he did! Not only that, but Francie with her magical recruiting powers, got him to join our club too! 

Our new member, Reeko, who is a Brinnonite but also lives on Whidbey Island, also showed up at our October meeting, then he joined us for the Canal Cruise since it was in his neck of the woods. I think Reeko must be a type of mushroom because he's he's a fungi!

The pictures below are pictures I (Annie) took. I always forget to take pictures at events because I'm so busy having fun myself. I gotta remember better!

Francie waits in a long line to register us for the parade

Veterans are our heroes.

Reeko's ride!

Are there other cool cars besides Volkswagens? I guess so!

And here we are to assure the Quilcene Parade has a happy ending!

This year's Amble to Gamble cruise was lead by Dean since Mom and Dad (Dave and Francie) were out of town. It was a beautiful day, and we all met up and cruised to Gamble. We found parking (miraculously) and browsed some of the small shops in downtown. The Port Gamble General Store is a cool place with lots of gifty touristy things for sale. Theresa and I saw a cool light-up VW Bus Xmas ornament, but we're cheap, and $17 for it was just too rich for our blood. Two of our newer members, Bree and April joined us this time around. Next we went to the Puerta Vallarta restaurant in Kingston for lunch, and as always, it's quite good. After lunch we parted ways and enjoyed a sunny drive home.

Theresa's car

Dean's car

Bree's car

Annie's car

Jan and Vern's car

After being deluged for 40 days and 40 nights of rain, we took advantage of the short break in the clouds to go on the Egg & I cruise close to Port Townsend. Not one drop of rain fell on us and we seem to be blessed in that regard! After stopping at the Port Angeles Wallyworld and Discovery Bay, we headed off to the Haines Place Park 'n Ride in Port Townsend to start the cruise. We cruised through Port Hadlock, Mats Mats Bay, and Port Ludlow before heading down Egg 'n I road through the Chimacum Valley. We circled around to the Chimacum Cafe, now under new ownership, and the food was excellent.....as well as the company!

Wallyworld meetup

Meeting up in Disco Bay underneath a mysterious glowing orb

Tony, one of our newest members, and Dave

Meetup at Haines Place

Arriving at Chimacum Cafe for some good grub!!!! And pie!

Our first event of the new year was a pizza party gathering at Westside Pizza in Sequim. It was a non-cruise event, unless you count driving to the pizza place a cruise, which it was for me coming from Port Townsend! Turnout was great and we all enjoyed the conversation and food! We even got a new member; a lady was driving by and saw all the VW's in the parking lot, so she came in. Said she had a yellow Rabbit pickup truck and Francie got her all signed up! Bonus! 

Nothing better than pizza and VW's!