Castle Rock
Cascadia RVW - July 18-20, 2008
Mount St. Helens, WA What do you get when you mix a dozen ukuleles with one explosive volcano?
No, it's not a trip to Hawaii. It's "RVW Aloha" at Mt. St. Helens!
In lieu of a luau, we had a BYOBBQ, grilling up everything from hotdogs to chicken and steaks.
With 23 rigs and 42 people in attendance, there were plenty of activities for everyone throughout the weekend. Event captains Barb Gilger, Judy Polenske, and Jo Schilling started things off Friday night with a Mt. St. Helens trivia game based on the Jeopardy rules. Contestants were grouped into four teams. Each team sent one representative at a time to the podium. The first contestant to activate their assigned noise maker had a chance to answer the trivia question. This format brought out the natural competitiveness of Cascadians. Team 2 was declared the champion, and each team member received a prize. Thanks go to Judy for researching the material and putting the game together.
Bud Bouchard spoke about local history of the Castle Rock area.
Saturday morning we were treated to a presentation on local history from Bud Buchard, a member of the Cowlitz tribe and a former tour guide from the area. He spoke about the history of Native American life in the region and the arrival of explorers and settlers.
The theme of exploration continued into the next planned activity - an introduction to geocaching by Barb and Jo. After a brief presentation about the activity, participants went out to search for 9 caches that had been hidden throughout the RV park.
Mary Schoenfield discovers a geocache.
|  Cascadia President Dorene Thomas, left, and Myrthalyne Thompson pose at Mount St. Helens.
At the same time, others drove to the Johnston Ridge visitors center to view Mt. St. Helens. Half a dozen more went to Seaquest State Park for a hike.
The weekend was also Castle Rock, Washington's, 50th anniversary celebration with a parade and carnival in town. Several Cascadians chose to celebrate along with the locals.
Saturday afternoon we learned to play the ukulele, taught by Marianne Brogan, founder of the Portland Uke Festival. Many students found previously undiscovered talent for the instrument. We predict many uke sing-alongs at future events! Students presented a group recital after dinner Saturday night followed by singing from songbooks also provided by Marianne. Our thanks go to Marianne for a terrific day of music!
Marianne Brogan demonstrates ukulele technique.
We had four guests for the weekend, one of whom, Sue Yarborough, became a member.
Additional thanks are due "Hi There Girls" Laura and Barbara S. and "Bandana Divas" Cheryl, Barbara H., Sue Ellen, Marne, and Elaine. Thanks to everyone for making the weekend a big success!
Here's a reminder that the location of the August event has changed. We will gather at the Thousand Trails resort at Bow, WA.
Hope to see you there. Happy Trails!
Jo Schilling, Scribe
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