From Here to There and Places in Between

We had bounced back and forth on the idea of ferrying to avoid Seattle traffic madness and had finally settled on a choice when the universe stepped in and put yet another recommendation to take the ferry in front of us.  So, we took a chance (without a reservation) and were told “Probably not but you can wait and see.”

We had nowhere we had to be though so we sat for a bit.  Darlene knitted and Nicole played the guitar.  When Nicole started playing the theme from The Titanic, Darlene suggested it might not be the best idea considering our plans.

That’s when a semi-truck pulled up next to us.  Are you serious?  At that point, we were silently hoping we didn’t make it onto the ferry.

But when the man pointed at us and directed us onto the semi-truck laden ferry as one of the last two vehicles, we admit we were elated.  It was Annie’s first ferry ride.

                                       Goodbye, Port Townsend.

                                              Full steam ahead!


                                            We’re going (somewhere out) there.

                                          There’s our girl.

                 We landed smack dab inside Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve.

                                                       Owls!

                                                                  Owls!

                                                             Not Owls!

Washington State Parks had a Fee Free day right as we were approaching Deception Pass.  Seemed like a good time to wander around a bit.

Moving east, we had tentative plans to cross the North Cascades.  When we were ready though the bulldozers were still clearing 30 foot high avalanches, had another 15 miles of highway to clear and were predicting another four weeks of work.  So, we skirted the bottom of them instead.

It was a pleasant drive with many beautiful views around each corner.  Our plans to hit a Forest Service campground on top of the pass were thwarted by a road blocked with snow so high that you could only see the top of the stop sign.  There weren’t many places to pull over so we just snapped a few photos from the van.

More soon…

A Trolling We Will Go

As we continued to skirt the edge of the Strait of (de?) Juan de Fuca we made great efforts to find yet another bay to roost in and spend some time.  After many dead end and private road - ‘No Beach Access’ - experiences we eventually landed at a boat ramp… on a bay.

As we pulled into the parking lot to find a nice level spot a woman got out of her car and approached us.  Seriously, this IS marked as a PUBLIC boat ramp and beach access point. 

Her first question was… “Have you been here before?”  Hmmm… what to say, what to say.

  We went with “No” and waited with baited breath.  She then proceeded to tell us to drive up the otherwise local traffic only looking road.  She rather insisted that we needed to go up there but she said that she wouldn’t tell us what was there.  Since it was away from the water we felt it safe to assume that it wouldn’t be water stuff but we took the bait anyway and drove away up the hill. 

A few cute looking houses later we came upon this…

                                      O.K.  We’re interested.

        This was no ordinary house and the grounds were just beautiful.

                        Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

                            This is Troll Haven!

On special occasions and for the right price though it can be yours for the day.

We were not allowed past this point.  Not that we’d want to go there anyway!

   Who wants to end up like this?  We’ve got places to go and people to see.

              We’re not sure if he saw us or not.

Enter at your own risk… when it’s unlocked.  We were safe.

            Leaving so soon?  Oh, that worries me.

      Or it could just be the headache I’ve got from holding up this barn!

After Troll Haven we went back down to the bay which at that point felt a bit samey.  We had been spoiled by novelty.  Would we ever be the same?

H2 Oh Eagles

Pretty sure that we mentioned we may not be done with all of the water stuff.

We did however, after another visit with Lois, depart Port Angeles and make it all the way to Sequim (silent e, silent u).  Lois called us the next day to see where we were and when she found out we were in Sequim her response was, “You’ve been going all day and that’s as far as you’ve made it!”  All day to go ten miles.  Pretty sure she now knows why it took eight years to finally get in another visit.

We had our reasons for such a short romp on our first day back on the road…

                       Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and the Dungeness Spit.

                We were enjoying yet another day of beachcombing under beautiful blue…

                       when this immature bald eagle soared over…

                                                 landed in a tree with Mama…

and promptly started pulling things off of the tree and dropping them on her head.

                                  “For the last time, I said QUIT!”
                          “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

We watched the antics of Mother and teen for quite some time before wandering on and taking the primitive trail back to the parking lot.

As we drove away we took a ride down Marine Drive.  We had been told that there were some beautiful Victorians there as well as great views of the spit and the lighthouse.  True and true.  But there were also a ridiculous number of bald eagles.

                                    We photographed the eagles.

Water Stuff

There’s nothing like a little Vitamin N (Nature) and here in Port Angeles we are getting the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance).

We thought that leaving the coast meant no more ‘coastal’ type things.  We were wrong.

The other day we crossed UPTHE Creek and ITSA Creek to explore the tide pools at Salt Creek Recreation Area.

Our spontaneity meant that we arrived at high tide and most of the good stuff (ocean critter wise) was under water.  Still we hopped along the rocks, took in some sunshine and enjoyed the amazing views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Victoria and Mt. Baker.

Later that afternoon, we drove past Eagle Tree Road to enjoy some time at Freshwater Bay.

                                                Looking left.

                                                            Looking right.

                                              Looking down.

                                              Looking up.

                                             Looking ahead.

                                                           Looking in.

                                  Swimming out to Sea Otter.

                           I see one, two, three… Eagles in a Tree.

We continued our apparently great affection for the watery spots by driving out onto ‘The Spit’ a.k.a. Ediz Hook and roosting for the day.  Spits are cool geographic features by the way so check out info on them if you’re so inclined.  They’re kind of like sandbars but some are still growing.  Here’s a few shots from our time there.

                             New bird (for us) alert… Surf Scoter

                                           Ocean Bouquet

                                                    Feral Kitties Abound

             A spider so neon pink it looked like it had been spray painted.

                       Another so busy it didn’t mind a super-close up.

                                              Salad, anyone?

                                I know.  Let’s play find the crab!

                                                  Aye, Matey!

We’d like to say that’s the last of the Water Stuff but there’s so much around here and we keep getting drawn to it.  So, we’ll just say goodbye for now and who knows what’s next.