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After quite a long stay at my sister's home in Indianola, our journey east starts tomorrow. This has been a great block of time visiting Sue & Will, sailing on Miracle, visiting cousins Richard and Drew, Lauri & Hannah, eating geoduck chowder, dungeness crab, smoked salmon . . . .
Jay & Jeanne arrived on the 23rd in their 24' RV rented for their stay. Good times out a La Push, exploring Neah Bay and watching J & J experience the life of RVing including water backing up in both the sink and shower when they exceeded their gray tank capacity. All fun and good laughs for two sisters and a brother who haven't been together for over 10 years!
All for now but photos will show more.
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Ft. Flagler is another popular spot and we were lucky to get campsites. The 2nd day checking for cancellations to stay closer to Drew’s site, we lucked out with a beautiful corner beachside spot. Wonderful hiking/biking trails through the park.
Hannah soon to be 3 years old is a bundle of golden curls, energy, smiles and so cute! We hope to make a trip out to their home later in the week and gather again when J & J arrive.
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2013 was the year the government shut down closing national parks, forest service and ACE parks along with many other departments. We were in WA when they turned the switch and missed out on some great places. There was talk of doing it again this year but some semblance of common sense prevailed. With beautiful clear weather, we spent a couple nights at Heart O’ the Hill CG in Olympic NP driving up to Hurricane Ridge to hike and picnic.
The plan was to continue to Neah Bay but changed when we learned my cousin Drew, wife Lauri and little Hannah who I haven’t met were camping for the weekend at Ft. Flagler SP just 60 miles away.
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It was 4 years ago in 2013 that Harry & I drove west in the van to visit Sue & Will. At that time, they were just passing papers on Miracle, a 30’ cutter rig Baba built in Taiwan. Click here for photos and details on the boat. Several years later, I had an opportunity to sail on Miracle but Harry has not so was really looking forward to it. Because we are a couple weeks ahead of schedule with the arrival of Jay & Jeanne on the 23rd, we’ve been able to get a sail in with hopefully more and lots of time to visit.
In the meantime, the van is plagued with an engine light issue that is not going away. All tests point to an O2 fuel sensor that has been replaced twice, 3 visits in as many days to a Bremerton Chevy dealer and 1 overnight in Walmart’s parking lot. For now the troubleshooting will be put on the list of things to do/fix when we get home.
S & E have decided to start the turn back east and we want to explore the northern side of Olympic National Park so sadly our paths won’t cross again until we get home.
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Photos best describe what a great gathering of boats this show attracts.
Steve & Ellen continued from here to explore the Olympic Peninsula unfortunately heading into a very rainy stretch.
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Coming back to one of our favorite parks in WA, Deception Pass SP is at the northern end of Whidbey Island. With more than 4,000 acres, the park has miles of salt and freshwater shorelines, beaches, rocky cliffs and hiking/biking trails.The high temps and last day of a long weekend brought lots of day trippers but the campground was quiet after dusk.
Smoke from the BC fires started to fill back in turning the sun into an orange ball. The “golden hour” that photographers and painters try to capture continued throughout the day. Beautiful light but too much particle matter floating around for photos. Eery.
After a couple nights, we moved over to Ft. Casey SP in Coupeville to be close to the Pt. Townsend ferry. The campground area is a flat grassed area on a point directly across from Pt. Townsend. Ft. Casey is one of 3 forts in Puget Sound built in 1897-1953 as part of the harbor defenses called Triangle of Fire. The 2nd Ft. Worden is on a bluff near Pt. Townsend and 3rd Ft. Flagler where we will also stay, protects from the SE on Marrowstone Island.
Catching a morning ferry, we all traveled down to Indianola for the night at my sister and brother-in-law Sue & Will’s home. Tomorrow is the start of the Pt. Townsend Wooden Boat Show.
Steaming hot temps of 93+ on a busy Labor Day weekend in a crowded campground severely burned by a 2015 fire, we waited it out but changed course after the rush on Monday and headed back west to the ocean. The original plan had been to drive east around the Cascades circle but it was too darn hot. As soon as we heard the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show was the following weekend, it was a no brainer. Turn west!
The drive did not go smoothly. Sometimes a quick decision can change the course of ones life. In this case, all turned out mostly OK but it could also have had an horrendously different outcome. Stopped at a street light, Steve decided to go into a gas station to fill up his propane tank. We were next in line. While filling, propane spewed out and he immediately told the attendant to shut it down. Nanoseconds later, a fire ball shot up from underneath the van. Steve was helping to hold up the grate so he got burned pretty badly on the length of his forearm, nose, and singed much of the hair around his face. If the guy hadn't responded, the van and possibly our friends would have been toast. Mechanical or human error is hard to decipher but the strong message is to get out of the van, don't help and stand back so as not to be the victim of someone else's mistake. Scarey! Details are in Speedy's blog but Steve got checked out in a local hospital and we all were able to continued on.
Being the final day of the long weekend, it was crazy with people at Deception Pass State Park when we arrived but now there is just a cool breeze, sounds of waves on the beach and peace. After a couple days of relaxing, we will all head for the ferry terminal in Coupeville to cross over to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula and stay at my sister's home in Indianola. The guys are pretty excited about going to the boat show.
