2008 – Week 13

Tuesday, July 22, 2008:
Happy 41st Anniversary to us! I was right, the Rest Area wasn’t any worse than some of the places we have stayed and paid for. We left at 7:15am, arrived at 7:30pm and gave Daisy a bath with the outside shower. She wasn’t happy. We pulled in to Winnebago Repair shop, but they were not ready for us yet. Not all of the parts had arrived, but they were convinced that the fiberglass repair could be done not as the missing piece was trim and would be done as one of the last tasks. It is due to arrive on Friday morning. The next hitch was that they didn’t rent cars to out-of-staters, even though the lead service associate had assured us last week that they did. Enterprise to the rescue. After I picked up the car, we went to lunch at the same place we had the week before. As we were close to Wal-Mart, we went there to get more camera batteries (fyi the new silver & blue Energizer Lithium batteries are very good). We headed south to Snohomish to the Snohomish Inn (they take dogs). We had trouble with their internet, but finally straightened that out before going to dinner at Romano’s Macaroni Grill. We came home and went straight to bed, victims of too much good and rich food. We opened the window as much as possible and turned on the AC to make sure we were comfortable.


Wednesday, July 23, 2008:
About 3:30am, Susie awoke with one of her migraine headaches, the first in many, many months. The AC had quit, and the room was hot and stuffy. She took aspirin, and I finally was successful in turning on the fan (only). That helped, but she was to struggle with the headache almost the entire day. I worked on putting photos in some old blogs while she slept. We went to brunch at noon and came back to the hotel around 2:00pm after a quick drive around town. This must be the center of the antique activity in the area, and we plan to look through some of the stores tomorrow. It was a quiet afternoon, working on photos, replanning our trip through WA and OR, etc. We tried to find a park where we could walk Daisy and 2 of the 3 we tried didn’t allow dogs in them. The third did, but our guess is not for long, as the dog owners didn’t pick after them. We went into town for dinner. Susie had a Portobello mushroom sandwich, and I had a bison burger. We looked for a place to have ice cream for desert, but everything was closed. Back to the hotel to do more work and planning. The wildfires in northern CA are creating a problem. Looking at NOAA Weather, there is a respiratory warning just where we’re trying to go. A cousin, Ella Crow, who lives just north of the CA/OR border says it is really bad in her area if the wind is from the south, but OK if from the north. We’ll just play it by nose.

Thursday, July 24, 2008:
A bit foggy this morning when Daisy and I took our walk. When we returned Susie was up and at her computer working on her blog. I suspect that input using WiFi as slower than hard wire, otherwise it wouldn’t be so popular. Daisy is sleeping after her strenuous walk. I called the RV repair shop and all is on schedule. We had breakfast in the same place as yesterday, discussed where we’re going for the next few weeks and then started a tour of the antique shops. We came across an old building that is supported on temporary wood and steel cribbing while they excavated beneath it to add a basement. Don’t know how that will pay for itself, but that’s up to the developer. We bought a few things, had pie ala mode for lunch and returned to the hotel to continue work on the blogs. Hopefully we’ll be up to date by tomorrow morning. I took Daisy for a walk and discovered how to access a soccer complex with about 6 fields. Too bad I don’t have my new airplane, it would be a great place to learn. We went downtown to a real Mexican restaurant and had dinner. While looking out the window we saw 2 large hot air balloons and 1 soft winged aircraft (powered by a small gas engine). There was no wind and the balloons just floated in the air. On the way to the restaurant, we saw a sign directing people to the historic residential area of town. It was on the high ground away from the Snohomish River and had numerous old and restored homes from the early 1900’s. We saw at least one that was undergoing restoration, and it promises to be as grand as the others. We came back to the hotel and noticed the same 2 hot air balloons again plus 3 of the soft winged aircraft. The sun was setting and the 3 landed nearby, but the hot air balloons were still in the air. We wondered how they would be able to find and access an open field. Tomorrow we pack up, get the RV and head back to Olympic NP.

Friday, July 25, 2008:
Susie had another headache this morning so we must get out of this place. It was sunny and calm. When I was taking Daisy on her morning walk, I noticed one of the hot air balloons from last night floating about the town. I wonder (not really) if he was up all night? We had breakfast at 9:00am and left the hotel at 10:30am after Susie had a discussion with hotel management about the cleaning people who were smoking in the rooms while cleaning. No wonder the sheets and pillowcases all smelled of smoke. There were signs posted everywhere about the illegality of smoking with 25 feet of any entrances. They said that we would get a discount next time we stayed. Good luck! We arrived at the RV Repair at 11:00am, and I took the rental car back. When I returned at noon, the RV had been painted and moved to another work bay. We fooled around for a while, then went to the new RV Sales area and determined that we like the layout of our RV and will keep it (not that we were seriously thinking of anything else). For lunch we went to Wendy’s after trying a near-by smoke-filled casino. At 2:30pm the awning was being installed. Here’s hoping that there are no bent parts that were hidden from view. I am confident that we’ll be out of here this afternoon. They buffed up the new work and then gave the RV a wash. The new work looks beautiful, but I should buff it completely when we get home to get some of the old wax off and make it uniform. We filled up with propane, but it was past 5:00pm so we found a campground in Everett WA and stayed there for the night. There is hardly any space between the RV’s but it’s only for a night. I defrosted the refrigerator and now we can go food shopping before we continue back to Olympic NP. We have some Express Mail to pick up in Port Angeles and then we’ll head counter-clockwise around the mountains before saying good-by to the State of Washington and heading to the northeast portion of Oregon. We may drive through Mt Rainier NP again to see if it looks a bit different now that some of the snow is gone. I talked to Jon Guth today about his attempt to summit the mountain last weekend, which he did and so deserves our congratulations. According to Jon there is still lots of snow in Paradise, his starting point.

Saturday, July 26, 2008:
We left the RV Park at 10:15am, a bit delayed by Susie having a spasm in her back. I gave her one of my shoulder pills and that seems to have helped. We’ll know better tomorrow morning. We decided that we would drive south through Seattle on I-5 to Tacoma, turn north on WA 16, west on WA106 and finally north on US101. The purpose of this route was to see the east side of Olympic NP. This route also took us along the south and east sides of Hood Canal. It still amazes us how much water and shoreline there is in this part of the State of Washington. Houses are built on the shore, and some look as if the shoreline has been built out to accommodate them. The roads are right at the front doors. Entering and exiting US101 must be a bit dicey, but I guess that the owners become used to it. We stopped in the USFS office in Hoodsport to determine the camping availability and were not given much encouragement by the volunteers. Everything to the south (where we didn’t want to go anyway) was full and they had no knowledge of the status north. We were able to fill with gas at $4.049/gallon in an Indian Reservation. There are numerous USFS Campgrounds on the east side of Olympic NP and after having lunch overlooking (through the trees) Hood Canal, we decided to try the first one we found. We had by-passed a few commercial campgrounds, but then turned west on USFS Road 25, drove 6 miles and found Hamma Hamma Campground in the Olympic National Forest. It has 15 campsites and vault toilets. There is no trash service and no drinking water. We’ll need to be a bit careful, but it’s only for one night. The campground is pretty typical of the USFS. There are numerous trees and an abundance of ground cover. The Hamma Hamma River is adjacent to the campground but is flowing quickly so whether or not Daisy gets to swim is a question. The fire hazard is HIGH so the only fires allowed are in the fire pits, and vegetation has been removed for at least 10 feet in every direction. There were rumors of rain showers, but the dark clouds have blown over with the southeast wind. When I took Daisy for her evening walk, I noticed that the clouds were coming back and obscuring the mountain tops which are at 5,000 feet.

Sunday, July 27, 2008:
The clouds were low this morning when Daisy and I took our walk. When we came back, she had breakfast and Susie and I had our morning coffee. Susie’s back is better but she still must be careful. Susie colored in her blog, but I don’t think I did anything productive. After breakfast we took a short walk and let Daisy swim in the Hamma Hamma River.

We left the campground just before noon and headed further into the interior to see if there were any great views, but the clouds still obscured the tops of the mountains. When the asphalt pavement ran out and a sign said “Road Closed 25 Miles Ahead” we turned around and left the NF. We turned north on US101 and when we reached a Washington State Park we refilled with drinking water, which I had forgotten to do the day before. The drive on US101 along the Hood Canal was as magnificent as the day before, but the houses were fewer and more of the weekend type. We continued north on US101 and then WA20 to Port Townsend. This was the Port of Entry in the late 1800’s as it was close to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but protected from its winds and a much easier place for the sailing ships to get to than what is now Seattle. However, when the railroad came to Seattle and the ships turned from sail to power, the town went into a decline. The area along the water is the historic commercial part, and they have done a great job of restoration and redevelopment of the old structures. Away from the water, and up the hill, is the historic residential area. Once again, many of the ld homes have been restored. We had stopped at the Visitor Center to get information on restaurants. Comparing their advice and that of AAA, we selected “Fins”, and as both strongly recommended we had clam chowder. It was the best we have ever had. It consisted on a cream sauce, potatoes and other miscellaneous vegetables topped off with more than a dozen fresh steamed clams in their shells. This could have been a full meal by itself, but we didn’t know how rich it would be and ordered a main course to follow. Time to watch out for gout! We had plans to stop at a recommended shop to have pie as desert, but we were much too full. We wandered through the shops (most of which were pretty pricey), and Susie bought a leather bag (which was not) she had been coveting. We walked back to the RV and headed to the Fort Warden State Park where we will camp tonight. Fort Warden was built in the late 1880’s, along with several other forts, to protect the entrances to Puget Sound. It has been restored and is now used as a conference center plus other state functions.
Many of the old military houses have been restored and are rented as vacation units. We have seen several 1800’s military installations over the past years, but this is certainly the largest and most impressive. In fairness, the others were built much earlier and located along routes that the settlers used coming west. I selected a campsite down on the beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the Wilson Point Lighthouse. I am hoping that the light is not active. Daisy went crazy over the prospect of having a swim, but since it is salt water, she won’t have the chance. In an attempt to walk off the lunch and to exercise Daisy, we walked around all the gun emplacements in the Park. Lots of ups and downs since the gun emplacements were at the highest point in the park, about 265 feet above sea level. The walk took about 1.5 hours, and I’m not sure that Daisy was tired. Susie is almost caught up with her drawings. It has been a long process, and she sure hopes that she’ll not fall so far behind again. NOAA Weather says it is to clear tomorrow, and so we’ll go to Hurricane Ridge to get a view of Olympic NP from the top. The wind changed to the NW, and the skies began to clear. Tomorrow looks like it will be a good one. By the time we went to bed, the wind was blowing hard and the temperature was dropping. By the way, today completes 3 months on the road, and we’re not sure where all the time has gone. We have had all sorts of weather, but it never has been really hot and humid so we’re thankful for that.

Monday, July 28, 2008:
When I awoke, the outside thermometer read 54 degrees so before taking Daisy for her walk I put on a few extra clothes. When we went outside, the sun had warmed the air, and I was overdressed. We walked along the beach and saw a USN destroyer headed into Seattle, the Port Townsend ferry headed to Whidbey Island, three sailing cruising boats headed west down the Strait of San Juan and a multitude of fishermen on the beach and in small boats. I think I had heard seals in the distance, and if so they were also fishing. The fishermen call them “pirates”.

We returned to the RV, had showers and headed into town to get some breakfast treats. Unfortunately, the store we were looking for had gone out of business, but we found another named the “Courtyard Café”. It was run by a young couple who had just taken over the operation a month before. Susie had crepes ‘to die for’, and I had a skillet full of eggs, potatoes, ham and cheese. I sure hope they make a go of it for it was wonderful food and a wonderful atmosphere. We started driving towards Olympic NP, but had to stop at an art supply store so that Susie could replenish her drawing supplies. Continuing on, we went to the Post Office in Port Angeles to get a package from home and then headed into Olympic NP. When we entered the Park, we noticed some trees down, but it wasn’t until we drove around the Heart O’ The Hills Campground to select a site that we realized how severe the damage was. The campground has 5 separate sections, and one of the sections was closed off due to fallen trees. The campground section we are in is open but certainly had some damage. There are numerous trees down and signs that chainsaws were hard at work recently. We reserved a campsite and headed further into the Park to the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center. The Hurricane Ridge Road is under repair and improvement, and signage indicated that we could have 40 minute delays. We were stopped for 10 minutes, at the most, a pleasant surprise. We hiked a bit, being careful not to stress Susie’s back, but went to Sunrise Point (peak elevation 5,462 feet) from where we could see the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Port Angeles, Vancouver Island, Victoria BC, the San Juan Islands and Mt Olympus (peak elevation 7,969 feet) plus lots of other mountains.
While we are not at the top of the world, we can certainly see a long distance in all directions, and it is wondrous. We are only a few hundred feet before the snow line on the glaciers on Mt Olympus, and there is still snow here on July 28. We decided to stay at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center until sunset to see the view and have dinner. The Ranger said we could stay here all night if we wanted; too bad we paid for a campsite. The clouds appear to be moving in, and we may not have much of a view. We had dinner and at 8:00pm decided that the sunset was not going to be worth staying for and the temperature had dropped to 54 degrees. The trip down was much faster, but the road seemed to be more of a washboard than when we came up. Must have been the speed. We entered the campground at 8:45pm and cleaned up the RV. NOAA says it’s going to rain after midnight and continue through the day tomorrow. If it does, we’ll probably sit tight.

2008 – Week 12

Tuesday, July 15, 2008:
We left the campground at 7:15am and arrived at the RV Repair Shop at 7:45am for our 8:00am meeting. The insurance adjuster was there, and the estimate the shop made was accepted. The shop removed the awning structure so that we would feel more comfortable driving down the road. We will return next Tuesday to have the work done. They expect it will take 3 days so we should be back on our trip the end of next week. Since we can drive the RV, we are planning to use the time until next Tuesday to visit Olympic National Park at the extreme northwest corner of Washington and Victoria British Columbia on Vancouver Island. We had lunch in a small restaurant, changed the engine oil and transmission fluid and then drove south from Marysville to Edmonds and took a short ferry ride to Kingston. This trip eliminated the need to drive south around to get around the head of Puget Sound. This part of Washington State would be an entirely different place if they didn’t have this ferry system. By the way, the State of Washington is auctioning off some old ferries and may have put them on eBay, so if you always wanted a ferry, here is your chance. We drove northwest across the Hood Canal Bridge towards Port Angeles. The bridge over the Hood Canal is a floating bridge as are two others in the Seattle area. It opens by pulling a floating section out of the way. I am not sure if any private traffic is allowed in the Hood Canal, as it is the base of several nuclear subs. Since 9/11, there has been security at this bridge whenever it opens for the submarines to pass through. When we passed over the bridge, there was as US Coast Guard cutter, maybe about 80 feet long, on the north side just sitting there. We stopped at the Sequim Bay State Park. I took Daisy down to the cold salt water. She hesitant at first, but decided retrieving sticks was still a good game. We played for about 20 minutes, and then I insulted her by giving her a cold fresh water bath. It will be a few days before she forgives me, but she sure smells better. Sequim Bay is probably 3/4 miles across and 2 miles long with 2 spits at right angles to each other at the entrance that gives good protection. The hills around the edge are about 100 feet high, giving it a wonderful feel. No matter where we seem to go, the scenery is terrific. We took a walk around the campground, and a large dog on a too long lease came into the road in a very aggressive manner. The Owner’s comment, while still talking on her cell phone was that her dog likes to chase people. People with attitudes like that make it hard on responsible pet owners. Sunset was beautiful. I made reservations on the ferry to Victoria and 3 nights in a nearby campground. We’ll go there Friday late afternoon and return late Monday.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008:
Awoke this morning to 57-degree temperature and low hanging clouds. We took showers and are feeling very clean; that 2 showers in 3 days, not bad. Susie is trying to catch up with her drawings before we leave to travel west along the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Luca. We left the campground at 11:00am and headed west, only to be diverted by a trip to the Dungeness NWR. The NWR consists of a bit of land and 5 mile long sand spit in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that grows 15 feet in length every year. When it was built in 1857, the New Dungeness Lighthouse was on the end of the spit, but no longer. Now it is almost a half mile from the end.
From there we went to the Olympic NP Visitor Center in Port Angeles, talked to several rangers who gave us lots of consistent advice and so we headed west and then south to the Hoh Rain Forest section of the NP. Before we left Port Angeles, we stopped at Safeway, bought groceries and filled up with gas. On the way we passed Crescent Lake, a lake formed by glacial action thousands of years ago.
The lake is 624 feet deep, and the water is as blue as any we have seen, except perhaps Lake Superior. Daisy went for a quick dip but it was too cold for her. Hoh Rain Forest is a temperate rain forest with more than 12 feet of precipitation, mostly from October through March. As we drove east into the west side of the NP the effects of this moisture became apparent: more moss on the trees and more lush undergrowth. The road into the Hoh Rain Forest follows the Hoh River upstream. The river was full of downed trees, some of them recent, from the raging river. The riverbed is full of small diameter river rock worn smooth by the river action. Once we were in the NP, we saw the “Monarch of the Rain Forest” a 500 year old Sitka Spruce.
It was 250 feet tall and had a diameter of 12.5 feet at 6 feet above the ground. We continued into the park and found a campsite and settled in. We had dinner, after an application of bug spray, and then listened to a Ranger talk about the need and actions of fungus in the growth of plant life. It was an early to bed night, with the Hoh River rushing in the background.

Thursday, July 17, 2008:
Low hanging clouds and mist drifting through the very large moss covered trees was the view as I looked through the RV windows. Before I got up, I thought it had rained but then remembered about the fast running Hoh River. There was not much activity in the campground until after 8:00am. I walked Daisy, fed her and then restocked her food container. Susie worked on her pictures from the trip yesterday. At 11:00am we went on a Ranger led walk along the Spruce Nature Trail Walk along the Hoh River, followed by another Ranger led walk along the Hall of Mosses Trail Walk in the afternoon. The first was a great introduction to a temperate rain forest in its natural state.
The NP does not clear trees that have fallen nor do they permit logging or salvage. The only time a chainsaw is started is if a tree has fallen across a road or trail. We walked back to the RV after the first tour to check on Daisy and to shed some of our warm clothes. The second walk built on the information we learned during the morning. During the second tour we were introduced to the 7 main trees in the western portion of the park: Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, Hemlock, Red Alder, Big Leaf Maple, Vine Leaf Maple and Western Red Cedar. They were all first growth trees. The Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, Hemlock ranging from 250 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter and 300 years. The Douglas Fir are resistant to forest firs because of its thick bark. We saw signs of elk, but no elk. We saw Coho Salmon, about 3 inches long, were born this year. We learned that if a 100-year-old tree fell in the forest it would take about 100 years to completely return to the earth. As we walked through the forest, we noted as many as 5 trees in a straight line and were told that a fallen tree had become a “nurse log”, and seedlings had used it as a source of nutrients and moisture. Often we could see through the base of the new tree where the nurse log had been. We were also told that one of the very large trees had fallen near the Visitor Center with such violence that all of the alarms in the cars in the parking lot were activated. Now, one of those things is annoying, but just imagine 75. The Hall of Mosses is a clump of living maple trees that are completely covered with hanging moss. From another source, we learned about the Park’s program to reintroduce the fisher species into the park and the State of Washington. These are very shy animals, a part of the weasel family, and we first saw one in Adirondack State Park in 2003. Susie saw another while running a few years later. We took Daisy to the river and found a spot where there was back eddy so she was able to swim safely. We threw some sticks, but they all sank!

She will sleep well tonight. While Daisy was swimming, we talked to a newly married couple on their honeymoon. He has recently graduated from the Colorado School of Mines and will be starting work when they return. We think they have been traveling for about a month and have decided to head back home in Golden CO. They were excited about what they have seen so I’m sure they’ll do some more later. We were going to another Ranger talk, but there wasn’t one, leaving us to work on our blogs and pictures. It has cooled down a bit, and the sky is absolutely clear.

Friday, July 18, 2008:
When we awoke, the clouds were so low that they obscured the top half of the mountains, and it wasn’t until 11:00am that the sun broke through. We had a leisurely breakfast of eggs, sausage and coffee and then started to pack the RV for the trip to Port Angeles and Victoria BC. Susie had started to take Daisy for a walk but returned saying that there was a bull elk (Daisy discovered it) in the adjacent campsite. I found the camera, took a few pictures and realized that the elk was moving towards our campsite.
He saw me, gave a good look as if the say “What are you doing in my eating area?” he was gone in about 10 minutes, but during that time I was unable to retrieve the Coleman stove and other miscellaneous breakfast dishes. Susie had left with Daisy for her late morning walk, and I met them in the Hoh Visitor Station parking lot. Susie and I only had time for an hour walk, so we took the Hoh River Trail that extends to the base of the glacier. We only went a mile or so and then had to turn around. We some examples of the trees we had seen the previous day. We also saw downed trees along the trail, some of which must have been 200 feet in length.
They had not yet turned into nurse logs, but soon they will. We left the Hoh Forest and drove to Port Angeles replenishing cash and gas along the way. We saw a very unusual sight on the way back to Port Angeles. A large RV, one of those that looks like as bus, was driving down the road with its slideout (a slideout allows the operator of the vehicle to increase the living space when the vehicle is parked) on the left side projecting about 2 feet. So instead of an 8 foot wide vehicle, it was 10 feet wide. In comparison to our misadventure, if the slideout hit anything at 50 mph, it would probably rip apart the entire left side of the vehicle. We could not imagine that the driver didn’t know, unless he never uses left outside mirror. In the gas station, we saw Chris and his wife. They had an enjoyable hike along Crescent Lake. The ferry departed at 5:15pm, and we arrived at 3:30. While Susie was making lunch, I checked in and in the process spied a Dairy Queen. We had desert before the main course. The ferry departed on time, and we headed across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Leaving the harbor, which is behind a sand spit (Ediz Hook), I noticed a US Coast Guard station with numerous buildings and an airstrip. The waves were crashing against the seawall so I was a bit concerned for Daisy who was in the RV. After a bit the seas calmed, and we had a nice ride. As Victoria came into view we began to think it was not just a quaint little city because of the height of the building and the 2 large cruise ships moored to a pier. We departed the ferry and wandered through the city to the campground where we’ll stay for the next three nights. We received the most valuable information on transportation opportunities etc from the campground we have ever received n all our travels. There is a bus nearby so we’ll use public transportation and leave the RV in place. We took Daisy to a leashless dog park, and she had a great time playing ball. It is not often we get to let her run loose. We also spent some time talking to a model airplane enthusiast who was flying his battery powered plan around the park. It looks like fun. We returned to the campsite and flushed the water systems to make sure all was well. It is still light here at 9:30pm, and I think we are near a car racetrack, and a single line rail track splits the campground. Let’s see what those bring.

Saturday, July 19, 2008:
Today was a bit different, we move campsites so as to get better WiFi service and found that the occupant of the adjacent was a Canadian who was also an artist. He told us that there was a festival sponsored by the Art Museum named the “Moss Street Paint-In”. We took a double-decker bus (sitting in the front right corner in the trees) into town and started walking. There were more than 150 artists, mostly painters but some potters, one glassblower and one rope mat maker (he used manila rope something I haven’t seen in a long time but remember how tough it could be on a small boy’s hands). If anyone is interested in an unusual outside entrance mat, his web site is http://www.theropedoctor.com. We started walking about 11:00am and finished a t 3:30pm without any nourishment except for one small cookie split between us. We knew we were in trouble when we stopped to get a sausage in a roll and were told “no more rolls”. I bought Susie a hand blown perfume bottle that was made by one of the exhibitors as a wedding anniversary present. We finally found food at the museum and had cheeseburgers, fries and sodas. There was an exhibit of Andy Warhol in the museum, and today it was free. I declined, but Susie went in, and I think I cap-napped while digesting my lunch. When she was done, we started walking into the heart of town to visit the toyshop we were told about yesterday. After much hemming and hawing on my part Susie bought me a radio controlled model airplane powered by an electric motor. Knowing that I was a beginner, we bought a spare wing, spare rudder and spare battery. As I am writing this, I think it might have been almost as cheap to by another whole plane, but too late for that, I think. We took the bus back to the campground and checked our e-mail.


Sunday, July 20, 2008:
Today we went downtown to Victoria to tour the Royal British Columbia Museum. They had a permanent exhibit that explained how Vancouver Island came to be, and the animals that came and went during that period. It was an extensive exhibit, and we both think the best of its kind that we have ever seen. The information was the same, but the presentation was great. A temporary exhibit honored the Centennial of British Columbia. It also was well done. We think this museum gets top honors. We grew weak in the knees and had a bit to eat in the Museum Café before walking along the harbor to kill a bit of time before we went to a tour of the British Columbia Legislative Building. Like all the government buildings we have seen, this was magnificent and perhaps a bit overdone given the number of people it served in British Columbia when it was completed in 1898, but expanded a bit later. After all, there are only a little more than 4,200,000 people now. Each member of the legislature serves 50,000 people. I wonder how that compares to our states. We learned that the first judge in the territory was known as the hanging judge, not because he hung all the defendants, but because he threatened to hang the jury if they didn’t bring back the verdict he thought was proper. It was a great building, and in the 1950’s someone had the bright idea to renovate it. They were going to replace the mosaic stone floors and wood floors with sheet linoleum. They actually put a hung ceiling (2 ft by 4 ft grid and acoustic tile) in the main reception area, complete with fluorescent lighting. This obscured all the wonderful woodwork and the interior view of the dome. That bit of work was quickly removed and the space returned to the original design after a successful hue and cry from the public. It rang a bell with us because in the 1950’s the owners of our present house did a bit of the same, covering the original molding and destroying base pieces to put up a fiberboard wall covering more commonly used for basement finishing. We reversed that in 2005. We saw Toyota Prius hybrids used as taxicabs. We then walked north and went through Chinatown, but didn’t buy anything. We walked to the bus and returned to the campground where we had a nice time with our neighbors. They are full time RV’ers. He is an artist, and she works as a consultant for the RCMP. He managed to put together a painting in 2 days. If we hadn’t seen the partially started sheet on Saturday morning and the completed painting this afternoon, we wouldn’t have believed it. He doesn’t do any work with a pencil, just ink and then paint. No room for error there. They left to make a movie on cable, and Susie and I dove into our evening tasks. It was a beautiful and fruitful day. The only downer is that our feet and legs hurt from pounding the pavement. Tomorrow we head north to Sydney to catch the 5:30pm ferry to the US and RV repair. By the way, we are getting tired of hearing that the US Dollar is not worth as much as the Canadian Dollar. Some places really take advantage and others accept US the same as Canadian.


Monday, July 21, 2008:
We spent the morning walking Daisy, doing another 4 loads of laundry, cleaning the RV (and ourselves) before leaving the campground at 11:30am. We stopped at Canadian Tire to purchase 12V light bulbs with a higher intensity than we can find in the US and then went north on the peninsula to look at the Blum????? Gardens. It was a bit pricy and full of common plants so we decided to continue up the west side. There were wonderful views along the way.
We never cease to be amazed by the amount and quality of the plants in this part of the world. We arrived in Sidney way too early, but walked Daisy and then the town where we discovered numerous galleries and, best of all for both of us, an old time bakery. We bought 2 sugar donuts for immediate consumption, 2 chicken pot pies for diner and finally 2 apple strudels for breakfast tomorrow. We loaded on the ferry back to the US at 5:45pm. The ferry stopped at Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands and then continued on to Anacordes WA at 8:30pm. We drove east and then south on I-5, planning to spend the night at the RV repair place, but found a Rest Area that allowed overnight parking and stayed there. We heated up the pot pies and had a good, but late dinner. Sleeping in the Rest Area was really no noisier than some of the campgrounds we have paid good money to in the past. Up tomorrow to head a bit more south to get the repairs done.

2008 – Week 11

Tuesday, July 8, 2008:

When I took Daisy for her walk at 8:00am this morning, there was a fog bank hugging the Vancouver Island shore, and the wind was mostly calm. Two hours later, it was blowing hard from the southwest with whitecaps, and the edge of the fog bank was 300 yards offshore. We thought that it was good we were not going on the kayak trip today. All morning we heard foghorns from the freighters traveling north and south in the Haro Strait. The tide was going out, and we saw a few sailboats beating to windward. There was lots of pitching motion as the boats slogged to windward. One of them on port tack disappeared into the fog bank, and we both wondered aloud whether she wouldn’t be safer closer to our shore and out of the shipping lanes than vice versa. About 20 minutes later she popped out of the fog bank. It must have been cold on board with the cold water and air temperatures in the low 60’s, but I guess that this is what they are used to. Every so often we would see wakes from powerboats, including a bright yellow one that we believed was the PILOT boat, traveling north very quickly. We had a very late breakfast and then traveled north to see Roche Harbor at the northwest corner of the island. We stopped at the British Encampment during the Pig War and toured for about a half hour. The best view was a nesting osprey family that was visible with the naked eye, but there was a telescope and we saw more detail, including the young being fed by the parents. Continuing north we stopped at the Westcott Bay Reserve for Art and Nature. This Park was established in 2001 and features sculpture displayed in a 19 acre field.
There are narrow mowed paths between all the pieces and most of them were quite fun. There was a small pond and floating in the pond were 3 model freighters, each about 6’ long. Resting on the deck of one of the freighters was a mother duck and 3 ducklings. There was a metal horse constructed with all sorts of miscellaneous parts such as locks, gears, stable door latches, strap metal strips, etc. We finally made it to Roche Harbor. This is a nice harbor with a big marina full of large yachts. Not many sailboats, but lots of powerboats, many larger than large. In the late 1800’s Roche Harbor was a company town with the sole purpose of manufacturing lime from limestone. McMillan, a lawyer rom Tacoma WA, bought the land in 1884 and was producing lime in 1886. The 800 workers were paid in script and that script was worthless except in the company store. There were more than 20 kilns, each one burning 10 cords of wood every 6 hours. All the trees in the area were cut down to feed the kilns. McMillin also developed a way to manufacture barrels that were used to ship the lime by sailing ship to places as far away as Japan and China. Rather than using individual staves and metal hoops, he used a large knife blade to cut a continuous sheet of wood from a spinning log that had been cut to the proper length. His company was able to make 4,000 barrels per day with this method. McMillin also built a hotel to house business acquaintances and family friends. The hotel was an expansion of one of the Hudson Bay Company buildings. The company and land holdings were sold in 1956 and redevelopment began as a tourist destination. A portion of the original pier where sailing ships docked to load and unload materials still remains, as do several of the kilns, the power plant and the hotel. We had ice cream as a final treat. We were returning to the campground when the phone rang, and it was Diana returning an earlier call. We had to turn around and find a good cell spot, which turned out to be a driveway. Susie was just about finished with the call when a man stopped and asked what we were doing. Turns out he was keeping his eye on the property and was just checking us out. We drove on to the campground, had dinner and then went down to the shore again to see what we could see. Just as we arrived, so did the Orcas. We must have seen 30 of them over the space of an hour and a half. It was amazing. However, there were 2 people in a kayak who had the best view. They were much closer, but most exciting was when a large male Orca left his pod and came over to investigate. The Orca must have thought they were not a hazard because he went up close, rolled over, slapped his tail and waved his flukes. From our vantage point, the distance between the kayak and the whale was less than 50 feet. He played around the kayak for 20 minutes before going south to herd the rest of his pod north. A bald eagle flew overhead, and the sun went down. Not a bad end to the day.



Wednesday, July 9, 2008:

Today was our day for a kayak trip. The morning wind was from the south at 10 knots, the seas were generally flat, except for the wake of numerous ships traveling to and from the Port of Vancouver, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The water temperature was 48 degrees. We left the beach at 11:30am and headed south along the coast, consisting mostly of volcanic rock on our port (left to the non-sailors) side. We had a gentle paddle just a bit short of 2 miles before pulling up on a small pebble beach just north of the Lime Kiln Lighthouse. As we were the only 2 paying customers, we had great interaction with the guide, a very laid back fellow who farms organically and reads some pretty advanced books. In the middle of the meal, he stopped talking and pointed to the north where we saw 2 fast moving orcas. It wasn’t but a minute more that another set appeared and it didn’t stop until at least 30 had passed by our location. Unlike the orcas we saw last night, these were in a hurry and acting much differently. Jesse, the guide, indicated they had probably found a school of fish and were on the hunt. Two or three orcas breeched, sending up large splashes when they crashed back into the water. The show went on for about 45 minutes, and we all sat silently marveling at what we were seeing. It is impossible to describe the wildlife we have seen since Sunday night. We launched the kayaks and headed further south to a point a bit south of the Lime Kiln Lighthouse where we turned around and headed north. At the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, a scientist was placing a microphone system in the water to record the orcas as they passed by. We paddled slowly north tight against the coast. We passed by a log stuck on the racks until Jesse asked us if we had seen the seal. Looking back at the log, it was a log with head, eyes and flippers, so it must have been a seal. Further on we saw a seal that turned out to be a log. We saw the nests of bald eagles and osprey. We paddled close to shore, running aground on unseen rocks twice (just like the Exxon Valdez). We returned to the Park at 4:00pm and felt that we had had a marvelous day. We have seen wildlife ever day, but the most exciting has been the orcas. I have been on the water for a long time, but never seen anything approaching these last days. We just don’t have it on the East Coast. Several people staying in the campground had been on other kayak tours today, and everyone was overwhelmed by the sites of the last 24 hours. It is impossible for me to put into words the thrills we have experienced. We returned to the campground and did some cleanup, ran the generator for the 2nd time today and had a snack. The weather report is for the wind to turn to the northwest at 20-30 knots this afternoon, but the only sign of a change is fog on the Vancouver Island (west) side of Haro Strait. We went to a talk about the wildlife on San Juan Island that ended with 2 bald eagles, one with a fish in its talons, the other circling around, flew overhead. Everyone wondered how the lecturer did that. We learned that there are 3 resident orca pods in the Puget Sound area, and the pod we saw last night and today was Pod L with some 40 members.



Thursday, July 10, 2008:

Another beautiful morning, absolutely clear skies with an 8:00am temperature of 58 degrees and very little wind at 9:30. A tug with several tugs in tow was headed south and a small coastal freighter headed north. It is very quiet, with the exception of an occasional car behind and small piston-engine aircraft above. We hung out at the campground and talked with several families before heading out to visit the American Camp during the Pig War. It is on the south end of the island on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a beautiful view, but it must have been miserable during the winter months. The officer in charge was the same Captain George Pickett who gained some notoriety as a General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The officer in charge of constructing the fortifications was Lt Roberts, fresh out of West Point. He later became head of the Army Corp of Engineers and then wrote Roberts Rules of Order, the “bible” of parliamentary procedure. The beach area, known as South Beach, below the fortifications is covered with logs that must have been driftwood. It is said that at high tide it is a log walk, not a beach walk.
We had lunch, at 3:30pm at a DNR Interpretative Center that was formerly one of the first radio direction finder (RDF) systems in the US. It was used to assist ships coming through the straits. The RDF I remember had an aid to navigation send out a radio signal that the ship would home in on and take a bearing. By using 2 or more different aids, it was possible to determine our location. It turns out in the earlier systems the ship sent out a Morse Code message requesting a location. Three different shore locations homed in on the ship’s signal, determined the location and transmitted it to the ship. A bit more cumbersome, but still a great improvement from dead reckoning. We also saw Etchells #42 sailing out from Friday Harbor into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We found a doggie-daycare place for Daisy tomorrow so we can take a ferry to Lopez Island and ride our bikes. We drove into Friday Harbor to check out parking areas. We think we have found the right one, so we’ll drop Daisy off at 8:00am, drive into Friday Harbor and bike down to the ferry that leaves at 8:45am and gets us to Lopez at 10:20am. Back to the campground. As of 8:00pm, there are no whales in site. Oops, at 8:15pm we saw 3.




Friday, July 11, 2008:

Up at 6:30am for a walk with Daisy and then a scramble to leave the campground before 7:45am to get to the doggie daycare facility at 8:00am. We made it and at 8:10am left for our selected parking spot. We stored all the necessary stuff on the bikes, rode them down to the interisland ferry and waited for the ferry to leave. It was a beautiful day with a light wind, but with a 15-knot ferry, it was a bit cold. We stopped at Orca Island, Shawn Island and then Lopez Island at 10:20am. The only wildlife we saw was a harbor seal and a pair of nesting seagulls with babies. The babies were primarily brown with some black and were nesting in the steel structure for the ferry bumpers. Neither Susie nor I have ever seen a baby gull before. We landed at the north end of Lopez Island and rode our bikes from the dock to the top of the island. It was a bit steep, but we knew about it and so were not discouraged. At the top of the hill, we shed the long pants and lightweight jacket we had needed on the ferry trip. We rode to Lopez Village through woods, open fields, woods, farms, etc until we reached this very small, but only real village on the island. We had coffee and a bagel, and hen went searching for a place to buy a lunch to go. We ended up at Vita’s Wildly Delicious and bought a turkey panini to go. On the counter, I saw rhubarb and custard pie with a whole wheat crust, top and bottom. I bought a piece for Susie, and she didn’t get out the door before she took the first bite. I was a hero. We continued south on the west side of the island, passing by Fisherman Bay. Fisherman Bay is a protected anchorage and about 30 boats were moored there. It had a different feel from other anchorages because there were no large marinas. We continued south for a bit and then turned east on Dill Road north on Center Road, west on Lopez Sound Rd and finally north on Port Stanley Rd. We visited the Spencer Spit State Park on the east shore, hoping that we could follow the shore while approaching Swifts Bay. No such luck. We backtracked to Port Stanley Rd and continued north to Swifts Bay. One of the houses had a great wind mobile with sailboats.
We stopped to look and noticed the owner looking out the window. He came out, and I asked how he found it. He thought he had a card but could not find it. It came from Whidbey Island so I’ll go on the web when we have an internet source. Continuing north we went into Odlin County Park, sat on a driftwood log and ate lunch while looking over the water. Our ride was 18 miles and pure joy. When a car passes, you can tell the locals because they all give the bicyclists a wide berth and wave. The visitors drive on by, looking grim. This place has the feel of the Maine Coast, but it is much better. The weather is clearer, although some people have told us it is unusual to have so many clear days in a row. There are many more islands and water seems to be used more even though the temperature is in the high 40’s. We returned to the ferry for the 19 mile return trip to Fridays Harbor. Just as we left Lopez Island on the return ferry trip, we had some fantastic views of Mt Baker (top elevation 10,778 feet)
and the Cascades and then as we approached Fridays Harbor, two more mountains appeared.
Talking with 2 locals, we think one of them was Glacier Peak (top elevation 10,513 feet) and neither of them knew the other. So much for local knowledge! We were a bit late so we had to scramble to get to the doggie daycare before it closed at 6:00pm. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. Back to the campground where we had dinner. Susie brushed Daisy and we had sponge baths. We didn’t see any orcas tonight. There has been a bigger volume of shipping headed into Vancouver BC during the last few days. Tomorrow we head to the Farmer’s Market to select some local vegetables and bread. Organic farming is big here, and we had many opportunities to buy today, but no method to bring them home on the bicycles.



Saturday, July 12, 2008:

Usual morning drill today except that while walking Daisy a bald eagle flew over our heads. It couldn’t have been more than 50 feet above. We left the campground at 9:45am and found a place to park that wasn’t far from the Farmers’ Market. We bought frozen salmon, fresh carrots and a beautiful apple pie to give to the de Garves, friends from NJ who we haven’t seen is some 23 years. We then decided that better than a cup of coffee was a full breakfast at a restaurant that the locals seemed to favor. We then headed back towards the campground but took a small detour to visit the Lavender Garden. The story behind this wonderful garden is that a wealthy gentleman first bought the land to live on and then decided to move. Rather than sell the land and let it be developed, he sought to find an agricultural use. First, the land could not compete with the of agricultural uses on the island, second given the relatively low 20 inches of rainfall a year, the use could not be water intensive and last it must be a use that was financially successful. The result was growing lavender. The garden and growing areas covers about 40 acres and is in color from July through September.
Due to the late spring this year, it was not in full bloom but was pretty good. Across the road, and we’re not sure if it is part of the same complex, there is a pond of about 30 acres with 8 El Toro dinghies that were being used to teach kids to sail. I suspect the water is much warmer and thus a safe place to learn. On the way back to the campground, we stopped by the Lime Kiln Lighthouse again to confirm details of the activity of the whales. At 3:30pm we left the campground for the De Garves house. There are on the southeast shore of San Juan Island, with a piece of land that is bounded on one side by the American Camp and on the other by a large tract owned by a dot-commer whom they have never seen or talked to. They are wonderful gardeners and when you look to the east from their back porch, you see Mt Baker and the Cascades. They were quick to point out that the sky is not always as clear as it was today and Mt Baker isn’t always visible. With the limited rainfall of 20 inches, Rob had developed a water capture system with a capacity of 80,000 gallons that provides irrigation for the entire summer. We learned that all the employees on the interisland ferries live in the San Juan Islands and took great pride in those ships. The ferry gates at Shaw Island were manned, or womanned in this case, by the nuns from a nearby convent. Unfortunately, this little quirk was terminated a few years ago as the nuns aged and could no longer perform the function. We also learned that a few years ago, when the ferries were being repaired, a workman with a chipping hammer put a hole through the hull. Oops! It turned out that these interisland ferries had no bulkheads so it the hull was punctured, they would sink quickly. The US Coast Guard became involved, and there was a scramble to get replacements. Lots of great things you learn from locals but not from the tour books. We stayed for 3 hours, probably much too long since Rob had a bad back, but the time flew and Daisy and their young German Shepherd Dog Tiki had a great time running all over the place, stealing each others toys, etc. Tiki even went into the RV and was ready to settle in. We returned to the campground and ate some of the goodies we bought at the Farmers Market. There were no whales tonight, but a bit of fog was visible of the Vancouver Island side of the Strait.



Sunday, July 13, 2008:

It was a bit warmer last night up where we camp, but down nearer the water it was at least 10 degrees cooler. Spotty winds again and the visibility is terrific (again). I had an idea this morning while walking Daisy, We feel that we have not seen as much as the islands as we would like and maybe we can stop at Orcas Island on the way back to Anacortes and to the Winn ebago shop in Marysville tomorrow. We are planning to go to the Strawberry Festival today and we’ll check in with the Ferry Office to confirm we can do what I want to. We saw 2 orcas this morning, and one of them spy-hopped for us. Spy-hopping is when they stand in the vertical position with about 6-10 feet of its body out of the water and swivel around on the vertical axis. There were so many whale watching boats in the area (most too close) that this may have been a defensive maneuver. We left the campground around noon and headed in to Friday Harbor to have strawberry shortcake at a church fundraiser. It was fun, and we talked to a few people who were either year-around or summer residents. I talked with a man who had owned a wooden Hinkley but now owns a trawler they use to cruise the area. It turns out that the summer season has the least wind and sailing can be very intermittent during July-August (sort of like Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay), but the weather never gets very hot during that period. Susie talked with a lady who was securing easements from landowners to prevent too much development. We left after an hour and went to the ferry office to check out my plan. It works so we went to the grocery store and the Shell station to put in gas at $4.829/gallon. What fun! We went back to the campground and started to get ready for tomorrow. The wind is from the southwest at 20-25 knots, and this has lowered the temperature in the campground. At 6:15pm it is still blowing and the waves are big enough that if there were orcas out there, we couldn’t see them. When taking Daisy for a walk, I looked up and saw 2 mature and 1 immature bald eagles flying above the campground. They were all in close proximity so I think it is safe to assume they are from the same family. Bald eagles do not get their characteristic white heads and tails until they are 3-4 years old. Susie saw an amazing thing tonight when she took Daisy for her last walk of the day. She was walking long the road and a black fox kit popped out of the grass in front of Daisy and her. The kit looked at Daisy and Daisy looked back! The kit had a grey tip on its tail plus a grey spot on its stomach. Susie talked to the naturalist who said that all the fox kits on San Juan Island are colored this way at birth and then turn red or gray as they mature. We have seen several red fox during the week so the only question is “Why black?”.



Monday, July 14, 2008:

We left the San Juan County Park for the last time this morning at 7:30am after having taken a last look for orcas without any success. We went to the ferry and loaded without incident (Susie was driving). We left the ferry at the Orcas Island stop and planned to spend a few hours driving around the island, planning to be back at the ferry landing in time for the 2:10pm trip to Anacordes.
We were on time, but there were so many vehicles ahead that we didn’t get to load. Orcas Island is 56.9 square miles, almost double the size of San Juan, the one we just left, and it has a population of 4,894 people about 65% that of San Juan. The terrain is much more rolling, and the top of Mt Moran is the high point of all the islands at 2,407 feet. Not much compared with where we’ve been. The farms are much larger and the main village, Eastsound, is small and touristy. The coastline consists of some long beaches but there are numerous coves that provide protected anchorages. There are several oyster farms in the bays that have sandy beaches. The island is loaded with artists, authors, potters and maybe a few curmudgeons. I don’t believe that I have mentioned this before, but all the houses have 8’ high fences around the property to protect the gardens, flower and food, from the black-tailed deer and other animals. Susie said it reminder her of Lesotho Africa where everyone fenced their houses to keep out the cattle. It is colder today than yesterday, the result of more wind blowing across the cold water. We are now waiting for the next ferry at 4:20pm to go to Anacordes. A bit of ice cream to help the time along, and suddenly it was 4:20pm and the ferry wasn’t there. It was late and then it took a long time loading because of the number of cars. We made the passage and headed south to a RV Park on a lake. We had the first real showers in more than a week, but the sponge baths had done a pretty good job. Tomorrow we’re off to the Winnebago dealer to get started on the repairs.

2008 - Week 10

Tuesday, July 1, 2008:
It was a great sleeping night, and we awoke at 7:00am. I took Daisy for a walk and on the way back waved to the people in the adjacent parking spot. They were from Wyoming. Susie noticed that her dogs were wet and found that there was a place beneath the bridge where there was no current and was safe for swimming. Daisy came back wet and happy. We put away the rest of our clothes and cleaned the RV while waiting or a call from Brian and Kimberly about the status of Sophie who was undergoing an operation to remove the tumor. When we got the call, it was bad news. Sophie had passed away during the operation. This was crushing news to Susie and I, but now-where as crushing to Brian and Kimberly. Sophie was 11 years old, and Brian and she had become best friends during the last few years always greeting him when he came home from work. We are all sad at the loss. On the positive side, it was Meredith’s birthday today. She and Michael Ray were taking mini-vacation before she leaves for Taiwan for a week, the result of her award in an international ceramics exhibition. We saw an Etchells in a gas station in Ellensburg, probably going back home after the Etchells Worlds in Chicago. For a moment I thought it might be my cousin where has a boat delivery business. No such luck. We went shopping for food and filled the RV with gas before heading north and east on US97 to Wenachee and then north on Alt US97 to the town on Entiat, passed Earthquake Point (never saw it) and into the town of Chelan. All the time we were driving along this body of water than was named Lake Entiat. We turned northwest on WA971 and drove for about 4 miles before coming to Lake Chelan State Park where we stayed for the night. Lake Chelan is 50 miles long and narrow and was created by a dam on the Stehekin River near the town of Chelan. More hydroelectric power. The only access to the camps on the river is by boat. There are no roads. If we had the time, we would consider taking the boat tour up and down the lake. We had a very late lunch or an early dinner before working on the blogs. While taking Daisy for an exploratory walk, we saw the couple from Wyoming with the 2 Golden Retrievers. We had almost pulled into the spot next to theirs when looking for a site. Already they had found a spot to let the dogs swim so we went there later in the day for Daisy to take a swim and get tired. This water was beautifully clear and a bit cold, but Daisy didn’t mind that. There were some kids swimming, but the cries of surprise as they entered the water were long and loud. We talked to some of the campers near us and generally had a good time. Susie was interested in Lake Entiat, which was also formed by a dam, and what the water source was. It turned out to be our old friend the Columbia River. The temperature has dropped and a thunderstorm threatened, but only lighting. It should be a good night for sleeping. As a matter of fact, Daisy was probably asleep even before the sun went down.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008:
This was another beautiful morning, and Daisy started the day with a swim. We are going to drive to the North Cascades NP today, a distance of approximately 130 miles. We wandered around the campground and said good by to our neighbors and the couple who owned the Golden Retrievers. They were headed west and then south to their home in Jackson WY. By telling them some of the spots we had seen in the area convinced them that we had really been there. We left the SP at 10:00am and while driving to town Susie found some interesting facts about Lake Chelan. Its maximum depth is 1,500 feet, and the bottom is 400 feet below sea level. It was created by glacier action. We drove into the town of Chelan looking for the Post Office and discovered a great downtown. The buildings are generally old, and the storefronts are mostly original, with a few repairs and coats of paint. We continued north on US97 until we reached the town of Pateos where we turned NW and followed WA153 until we reached the town of Twisp (what a great name!) where we headed west on WA20. This road runs through the middle of the North Cascades NP and then to Anacortes WA. The next town was Winthrop WA, and it is a small tourist town with the buildings modeled after those in the early years. The buildings are all wood planks covered without any paint. It is easy to tell the new from the old, but the effect is great. In another decade, they’ll all be weathered black. We went into an art gallery with animal sculpture, drawings, paintings and all. The Owner was bemoaning the fact that pedestrian traffic was down. He said that at this time of the year, the streets should be jammed. They were not! From there we wandered down the street and came to a glass shop where there produce original art on premises. We talked to the Owner’s wife, and she said they had moved there from Estes Park CO about a year ago. They lived in a truck side-in camper last winter. We think they may be back to the earth types. Anyway they asked if we had heard about the power failure last night. It shit down the furnace in which they were making glass, and it had not yet reached proper temperature so they were pretty much sitting on their hands. They did tell us that last winter there was an avalanche that closed the road for several days. Winter temperatures were in the minus 20’s and 30’s. We continued down the street to get some lunch. We wanted to eat outside but there was only one place that had outside seating and it was full. We wandered some more, and when we returned there was an empty table so we sat down. The service was awful, but the food was good. The waitress’s vocabulary focused on the word “fabulous”. After lunch we purchased ice cream cones: Susie’s was lemon custard and mine was coffee. We managed to get back to the RV before the cones melted and continued west on US20. The hills became mountains and brown became green. We climbed through the Washington Peak Pass at 5,477 feet and the Rainy Pass at 4,855 feet before heading downhill for 30 miles before reaching Ross Dam at the east edge of the NCNP. The 65-mile drive from Winthrop was magnificent! I suspect it was not as good as Glacier NP, but we haven’t seen that park in the sun, so we’ll rank this drive as one of the top 5 we have taken. Rugged mountains, fast flowing rivers, numerous waterfalls and signs of avalanches were everywhere.
There were bicyclists, but not as many. One sign that caught our fancy was “Report Slides Call 911”. We assumed that they sign referred to both rock and snow slides, both of which we have seen. The other is that there is no cell phone service in many of these areas. Oh, well! We saw a wonderful set of peaks named “Crater Mountain” It was 2 peaks of about equal height with a saddle between with an unseen glacier behind. We checked into the Colonial Creek Campground in the NP and are paying $6/night. We selected a campsite on the lake, but it turns out the bottom is very muddy. Daisy went swimming anyway! My idyllic setting has just been disturbed by an outboard fishing boat that is trying to get to the shore, but it turns out the area in front of us is very shallow, and the boat turned back, but it sounds as if it is coming back or a second try. I think he put 5 years of wear and tear on the engine in a 15-minute period. There are numerous deer in the campground, and Daisy wants to chase them all. We had a baby crow nearby screaming for its mother, as only a crow can do. A mother duck and 6 babies just swam across the front of our campsite. The babies are really funny when they swim, lots of paddling and a big wake (for that size animal). Later a family of Canadian Geese swam by, looking a bit disgruntled that we were in their territory. We noticed that as the evening came, we would get a shot of cold air lasting about 30 seconds every 5-10 minutes. I thought it was refreshing, Susie thought it was too cold. We’ll be here for 3 nights before heading to the San Juan Islands.

Thursday, July 3, 2008:
It started to rain last night, very unexpected, and we had left our chairs, tablecloth, mats and a few other things unprotected. Lots of low hanging clouds so we’re not sure when or if it will clear. We noticed that the lake is about 2 feet lower than it was last night. We decided to catch up on administrative things, and so stayed in the RV until just before noon. We then drove west on WA20 to the North Cascades NP Visitor Center. It is small but the exhibits are excellent. There are numerous videos showing life in the park over a 12-month period. We learned that WA20 was not opened until 1968 (a year after we were married) so it is a young road. It is the only through road in the park. The Skagit River has its start in Canada, flows south then west through the Park finally discharging into Puget Sound which discharges into the Pacific Ocean. The City of Seattle, which seems to own the electric company, built dams at 3 locations on this river within what is now the North Cascades NP (established in 1968). Two of the dams (Ross and Diablo) are originals and historic structures, but the Gorge Dam, which was the first one built, has had 3 structures in the same general area. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was also passed in 1968. We left the Visitors Center thinking we would take a few walks to finish up the dam but thunder made us rethink our plans. We decided to drive back to our Campground, stopping at all the scenic views. Probably the best was the Gorge Creek Falls.
While this is not a free-fall waterfall, from the top to the bottom is about 400 feet. This is just one of the numerous waterfalls in the Cascade Mountains, and all are impressive. We noticed at the Gorge Dam, there were at least 2 capture devices to prevent downed trees floating in the river from going through the electric turbines. Susie and I wondered how and how often they removed the trees from the river. The views driving along WA20 are wonderful, as I’ve probably said before. The vertical cliffs with moss and lighten growing all over them is colorful. It should be noted that the further west we drove, the more growth there was. The color of the river water is that wonderful blue-green that comes from having “glacial flour”, a very fine rock dust caused by the glaciers grinding through the valleys. We first noticed this color in Canada when we were traveling through the Canadian Rockies in 2006. As we drove east, we noticed fog on the river. The campground showed signs of heavy rain. Around 6:00pm the temperature dropped and the fog came in. By 6:10pm it was gone, and the pavement was steaming. The saying “if you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes” is really true here. We change clothes as the weather changes. Hard to keep track of what is clean, partially clean or just plain dirty (well not to hard for the last). It has been a good day and we hope that the weather will cooperate tomorrow so we can go on a few hikes. We need to get some


Friday, July 4, 2008:
Happy Fourth of July to all! We spent the morning trying to figure out how we’ll travel through Oregon. There are many wonderful areas from the “high desert” to the seacoast. At 11:30am we started our hike for the day. The great news was that we could take Daisy, and she was beside herself with joy. Completely out of control! She swam twice on the way out, and the same on the way back, not that she didn’t try many more times. There is a mountain pass nearby known as “The Fourth of July” and many people were on their way to visit it. It is a bit more difficult of a climb than we wanted to do so we followed “Thunder Brook Trail” making a round trip of 4 hours, including Daisy swimming and sniffing and marking everything she could. We think it was about 7 miles total. It seemed to be impossible to dress properly; too hot when the sun came out and too cold when it went in. Some of the biggest mosquitoes I’ve ever seen. The vegetation was lush, as we expected with downed trees, moos, ferns, small flowers, and wonderful old cedar trees. Thunder Creek was not blue-green as was the Skagit, but a light brown with granular sediment. We saw evidence of snow slides and rockslides that must have been fearful to see or hear. There took down trees 3-4 feet in diameter. There were numerous trees down and signs that the walking bridge across the Creek was relatively new and in a different location than shown on the map. There were several new wilderness camping sites. As we were walking, I happened to hear some small noise and turned around to check. Not 10 feet behind me were 3 girls, with fully loaded backpacks and they were headed into the wilderness for a few days. They apologized for surprising us, but as long as they were not brown, wooly and 600 pounds it was OK. We came back to the RV where I took a sponge bath and then washed my hair under an outside faucet. Ah, to be clean again. Susie and Daisy went down to the shore and relaxed. I started the generator to recharge the battery so we can see tonight. The lake is up this afternoon, and the tree stumps are completely covered.


Saturday, July 5, 2008:
It was a bit colder this morning, and we have decided that it is always overcast in the morning, often clears during the day and then the clouds come back in the evening. On our walk this morning, the water management team for the power plants lowered the water and now the stumps are fully exposed. Almost everything that was wet from the overnight rain a few days ago has dried out. We rolled up the awning, loaded the RV and headed west for one more walk before heading to Anacortes. This walk was through old growth trees and underbrush. We learned about Oregon Grapes, Big Leaf and Vine Maple Trees plus Western Red Cedar Trees. The walk was along the Skagit River but it was flowing too fast to let Daisy swim even though she wanted to. At the halfway point on the walk we came across a small hydroelectric generating plant used to provide power for the construction of the dams, including the worker housing, along Yakima River. It is still operating and is used to power the operating center for the dams. The name of the company town is Newhalen. We drove west and came out of the mountains to large plain that was full of farms, but looked as if suburbia was slowly advancing. The land is absolutely flat, a change from the last week. We drove a bit out of our way to visit Deception Pass, a very fast flowing cut between Whidbey and Fildalgo Islands. The Deception Pass was discovered by the English Sea Captain Vancouver and Whidbey Island is named after the officer who first made the passed through in a small boat. Captain Vancouver also discovered the outfall of the Columbia River but the conditions were too rough to enter. It was the American Captain Gray of Boston who passed over the Columbia Bar a few years later.
The Deception Pass Bridge is a structural steel truss bridge. It has sidewalks on both sides and stairs beneath that allow people to view from both sides of the bridge. The information plaques say the water flows between 5-8 knots and the depth maximum depth of about 250 feet. The current was flowing in, and it was interesting to watch powerboats coming and going. Numerous eddies and current rips that made the boat handling a bit challenging. We went to the KOA Campground, refilled with propane, took showers, washed our laundry and dumped wastewater so that tomorrow we’ll be ready to go. This campground is awfully small and is packed with vehicles. Hope it quiets down before it gets too late. The rain has started and the fireworks scheduled for 9:00pm seems to have been cancelled (it’s now 9:30pm) and the campground is quiet. The most noise we’ve heard was when we were hanging out at the laundry room. Oops, the fireworks just started, and Daisy is cowering under the table.

Sunday, July 6, 2008:
Up at 6:45am to take Daisy for a walk and prepare the RV. We left the KOA at 7:30am for the 11:00am ferry to Friday Harbor. There are no reservations for the ferry so you just get in line and hope for the best. We topped off the gas tank, stopped at Safeway to restock and drove on to Anacortes to wait for the ferry. We noticed a large Shell Refinery on Puget Sound as we were driving to Anacortes. That must explain the large number of Shell gasoline stations in the area.
We had plenty of time when we reached the terminal, but if we had missed the 11:05am ferry the next was at 3:10pm. Well, stuff happens! When we were loading the RV on the ferry, the loadmaster kept telling us to keep right, further right. There was a horrendous crash as we hit the guardrail on the edge of the 2-lane ramp leading into the 3-lane ferry. As we passed by the loadmaster hew said “You should watch where you drive.” The result was the bottom brackets that support the awning were ripped off the RV and the aluminum supports severely bent. The top brackets rotated and crushed the fiberglass. An attendant appeared right away assuring us that the safety officer would be there in about 5 minutes to take a report. He took the report and pictures, and my comments about the direction of the loadmaster, but said that Washington Ferries regulations prevented him from giving me a copy. He gave me the contact info in case we wanted to make a claim, but, in his experience, we wouldn’t hear anything back for at least 5-6 weeks. The report taking took almost an hour, and so we couldn’t enjoy the view as we traveled through the San Juans. As we left the ferry, we saw the loadmaster, and I stopped and asked him for his name. He said “NO, move on”. Luckily we had bungee cords and line, and we can drive the RV at slower speeds than we’d like. We drove across San Juan Island to the County Park and claimed our campsite. The Park is on the west coast of the island and overlooks Haro Strait. Next bit of land is Vancouver Island in Canada. I call our insurance company and work is in progress. We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to travel around the island. We are trying not to drive the RV everywhere, but there may be no choice. There is a shuttle, but the schedule is difficult to understand. There are kayak tours that leave from the park, and we’ll take advantage of that. We saw 2 whales in mid-afternoon and maybe we’ll see more as the tide floods. One interesting story about the San Juan Islands is the “PIG WAR”. When the boundary between Canada was established in 1846, the ownership of the islands was never confirmed so both the British and the Americans. An American named Lyman Cutlar arrived on San Juan Island in April 1859 and stated farming. A boar owned by the British kept wandering into Cutlar’s potato patch and on June 15, 1859 he shot the pig. The next thing was a budding military conflict with the British sending troops and 3 warships and the Americans countering they would fight to the last man. The British decided not to land and a few days later a British Admiral arrived and told the British Governor, who had ordered the invasion, that he would not “involve two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig”. Eventually the issue went to arbitration and Kaiser Wilhem I of Germany awarded the island to the US. We are sitting at the picnic table looking out to the west and watching the sun go down. We spotted 2 then another orca swimming north with the tide and noticed than a good portion of the campground residents were sitting on the small bluff overlooking the water. We went down to join them and were rewarded with a view of another half dozen or more, some mothers with babies, swimming north. Everyone started talking about what a wonderful sight. We mentioned that we were from the Maryland and didn’t have the opportunity to see such sights and thus these were very special to us. The locals said that they never tired of the sightings of the wild animals. Susie took Daisy for a walk, and I went back to the RV to clean up. When she didn’t return, I went back to the water and there she was talking with a family. That time we saw 3 orcas swimming south, but much closer to shore than earlier. One was very large and then a mother and baby (we think). There were just swimming slowing, not making much headway against the tide which by then was almost high. We were then rewarded by a bald eagle diving from the sky and snatching a fish from the water. There were 3 kayaks with 30 feet, and we surmised that they kayaks stirred up the fish, and the eagle got him. Just as the sun went down, we saw a harbor seal in the water among the kelp near shore. He was fishing and then would come over to view the humans and make sure we had seen what he was doing. The sun went down, but we stayed some more.
Finally at 9:45pm the lights on Vancouver Island started to come on, and we left for the night.

Monday, July 7, 2008:
Woke up at 7:00am and looked out the window. There wasn’t a breath of air on the water so I rolled over for a bit and then slide out of bed at 7:30am to take Daisy for a walk. By the time we returned, the breeze had started to fill. There are people sitting on the bluff overlooking the water eating breakfast or just looking. The tide is coming in and maybe we’ll see more sea life. Nothing appeared so we decided to go to Friday Harbor to get cell phone service and start calling about getting the RV repaired. However, on our way to town we stopped at Lime Kiln SP to learn more about whales and to visit the lighthouse where they track whales and listen for their sounds. We also saw a Pacific Madrone tree that is only found in a narrow strip along the Pacific Coast between Mexico and Canada. There was an exhibit about lighthouses, the Fresnel lens used and the size of the light bulb. The light bulb was 12 volt, 3 watt and could be seen 13 miles away on a clear night. In town, we found a parking spot in town (eventually) and started calling about the RV. After several dead ends, I called Winnebago and they gave me the name of several dealers in the area. We have connected with one so the process has started. I wish I could say the same for the Nationwide Claim Rep. I called 3 times and was unable to get a return call. More work on that tomorrow. We picked up an Express Mail package at the Post Office and then wandered around town, stopping in a sandwich shop that Diana recommended after she and Paul spent a week here for their wedding anniversary. It was really good, thanks Diana. We visited the kayak touring companies, went to the used bookstore. Later, we made a commitment for Wednesday and are keeping our fingers crossed for a good day. We also stopped by Susie’s Mopeds to check out the funny looking vehicles that have been buzzing around the island, some single seaters and some two seaters. Some of them had training wheels, or so it seemed. Susie found a haircutting salon, and now she is beautiful and ready to go. We came back to the campground, had dinner and walked down to the bluff to watch for wildlife. We saw the bald eagles again, but nothing else. Lots of kids, dogs and parents were there playing games. Susie brushed Daisy, and Susie has all of Daisy extra hair. We watched as a ship came down the channel, probably from Vancouver BC, and make the turn at Discovery Island towards the Pacific Ocean. The aids to navigation started coming on, and all of a sudden a large steady red light appeared in the middle of Discovery Island. It was impossible to discern if this light was on Discovery Island or the American shore beyond. We did find out that when the sun went down, the red light went off. It must have been a very large reflective surface with the proper orientation for us to see the bright light. It was 9:30pm before we came back to the RV. Tomorrow to Roche Harbor at the north end of San Juan Island to look at the stuff up there including the quarters used by the British during The Pig War. We’ll also go after the insurance adjuster since we’ll have cell phone service.