Sammamish Maiden

Just a side note if you are interested. This local Indian tale is about a maiden with a name that is un-spellable and unpronounceable.

One day she was gathering food from the sea when a particular shell she wanted kept slipping away from her and deeper into the water. When she reached for the shell the fourth time a hand grabbed her and held her. Then a man spoke to her. He told her how beautiful she was and then told her about his world under the water. The maiden returned several times to talk with this man until one day she asked to see him. He stood up and was a very handsome man. She took him to visit her family and everyone was fascinated with him. After several visits the man asked for the maiden's hand in marriage but the father refused. The sea man was hurt and told them they would have a very hard time earning living and for the next year there were no fish or kelp for the family to eat, gather or trade. The next spring the maiden again went out to the sea and called for her sea man. He came to her and again he asked for her to come live with him under the sea. This time the father agreed with one condition that his daughter come home to see the family so they would not worry about her and they could see she was happy. The maiden returned each year but each time she was more and more like the sea with hair like kelp, her skin more like scales and shells and fish a part of her clothing. After four years the father let his daughter go back to the sea never to see her again. But the sea came alive with all the fish and creatures the family needed for a rich life. Now, when you see kelp floating in the water, you will know that this maiden is nearby.

CCC and Fort C

Seems our journey's today centered on the letter 'C'. We started off by trying to take a picture of the Deception Pass Bridge but it was fog bound to a point where we couldn't even see the far side of the span. So we traveled on to the Bowman Bay area of the the State Park where we had no vista other than a fog bound island in the bay surrounded by sailboats and trawlers waiting for the fog to lift, and those we sometimes lost in the fog. While in the park we visited the CCC Interpretive Center.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was established in 1933 by Pres. Roosevelt to put the unemployed young men of the depression era to work earning money and gaining an education but also saving the nation's natural resources. These men built roads, cleared land and built state and national parks, erected bridges, put up protective railings on roads, built kitchen shelters, bathrooms, picnic areas and caretakers homes. The bridges over Deception Pass was engineered and built by the CCC. In return for their hard labor, the men received free clothing, bedding, a place to sleep and three square meals a day. Oh, yes, they were paid a whopping $30 a month. But during the depression, this was enough to send home $25 and keep $5 for yourself.

After lunch in Anacosta we grocery shopped then drove south on Whidbey Island to Fort Casey. This fort was built to protect the western US from enemy attack. It was known for its disappearing guns. These huge cannons, I think about 12 of them, were mounted on a berm where they could be raised to fire over the top of the hill and then lowered below the rim so they could not be seen. They were never fired. The fort was used during WWI and WWII mostly for training of troops. It was decommissioned in the 60's and is now a tourist destination.

Next to the fort is Admiralty Head lighthouse. Built in 1903 it was an important landmark for ships traveling in Puget Sound until about the 1920's when steamships replaced sailing vessels. Today it is an interpretive center and wedding spot.

Anacortes, WA

There are lots of nice paths through the forest and along the inland lake of Deception State Park. We enjoyed a four mile hike along the perimeter of the park on this island. We walked along the Puget Sound shoreline, under the bridges and then we skirted the inland, freshwater Cranberry Lake before going back to the shore of the sound where we spotted a baby seal! It was sleeping on the beach while the campground hosts were keeping an eye on it while its mother fed in the kelp beds off shore. At high tide she brought the baby in to rest and sleep while she fed. At the following high tide, the hosts expected her to come back and retrieve her baby. In the meantime, they were babysitting it, keeping people away at a safe distance.

We chose not to wait for the next high tide in about two hours and continued our hike back to the RV. After lunch and naps, we drove to Anacortes on the north end of Fidalgo Island. As we were examining a map outside of the visitors center, a very nice lady visited with us about the sites, shops and restaurants in Anacortes. She was a veritable font of information!

We took two drives to island viewpoints that she had recommended and enjoyed the scenery, especially because the fog finally lifted (it was after 3 PM) and the sun was shining. Anacortes is gearing up for a huge Arts and Crafts Fair this weekend. There were signs to clear the 8 blocks of the down town plus all the side streets starting on Thursday night thru Sunday. I think it is a good thing we will be moving on before this event.

Whidbey Island and Deception State Park

We broke camp late enough that we didn't have to drive in rush hour traffic north to Burlington and then west over the bridge to Fidalgo Island which connects to Whidbey Island. Deception State Park is located on both sides of Deception Pass, a waterway between the two islands in Puget Sound connected by two bridges.

We had no problems getting a campsite which has not always been the case on this trip. Once we got settled in we took a short drive south to Coupeville as a way to explore where we are located. We drove past the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station where they fly four different types of jets. We have yet to see any of them fly overhead because of fog and clouds but they certainly are loud! The next town is Oak Harbor where we will find most of the necessities of life and then Coupeville which is a small village on the east side of the island on the far side of Penn Cove. It is a quaint little seaside village with neat shops and restaurants.

A nice dinner, campfire and a good book rounds out the evening.

Down Day

John has not been feeling well today so we have pretty much stayed in camp. John slept and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. We did get out late this afternoon to do some shopping.

After fighting traffic, again, we have determined that there really is not much difference from one large city to the next except for maybe one or two unique places of interest in each. Seattle has the Space Needle, Portland has beer (it took me awhile to think of that one), St. Louis has the Arch, Kansas City has the Chiefs (HA). They all have traffic problems, tall buildings, park settings, shopping centers, convention facilities, sports teams, museums, and lots of people.

An Off Day

We couldn't decide what we wanted to do today. We discussed going back downtown but there is a huge Seafair Festival going on with a parade tonight. We figured the crowds would be horrendous and we didn't feel up to fighting them. I got some laundry done and John completed some computer work. After lunch we tried to get the oil changed in the Jeep but there was a line so then we tried to find a Best Buy to get a new coffee maker but the address we input in Google Maps took us to their corporate offices. Next on the agenda was to do a wine tasting at tasting rooms in Woodinville but we got turned around trying to get there and then there was a huge line for a concert at one of the wineries so we turned around and went another direction but there was a wedding at the winery we wanted to go to so we couldn't find a place to park without pulling a u-turn to get into someone else's parking lot. By the time we got to the tasting room, John was so ready for a drink!

We tried Amavi and Pepper Bridge wines, Patterson Cellars and Goose Ridge wines. All came from the Columbia Valley. Goose Ridge was an impromptu stop but we enjoyed their wines the most.

Pike, Needle and Glass

Friday was our big day in the big city of Seattle. Due to all the traffic we had driven in and witnessed, we chose to use the mass transit system to get downtown. The express bus ride took about 33 minutes but we didn't have to drive or park, just step off and start walking. We did have to drive about 20 minutes to get to the park n ride lot.

Our first stop was the Pike Place Market. It's at least two blocks long and packed with people. The flowers were the most prominent item being sold (and smelled) then the fresh vegetables and fruit. There were several fish counters, one of which is famous for tossing their fish around and we found one meat counter. We did not buy anything as we had no way to carry it all day and keep it fresh. All the blocks around the market were full of people and shops. Even the original and new Starbucks. The smells emanating from the many food stands and restaurants made us hungry long before lunch time. We snacked on cinnamon rolls to hold us over to a late lunch when the crowds would be thinner.

After lunch and a stroll along the waterfront, we walked to Seattle Center where the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum and Space Needle are located along with several other science, kids and Sci-Fi museums. This center was the main grounds for the 1962 World's Fair with the Space Needle the centerpiece. Dale Chihuly is a prolific artist in blown glass getting a lot of his inspiration from the sea and flowers. The indoor exhibits had wonderful lighting while the outdoor pieces in the garden were sparking and glorious in the mid-day sunshine.

John visited the Seattle Space Needle as a child he thinks to attend the world fair. We rode up the elevator in 41 seconds to a viewing station that circles the tower. One floor below the viewing platform is the rotating restaurant where you must have reservations to enter. The views were awesome on this very clear and sunny day.

A bus ride to Pioneer Square and a short walk found us dining at Brooklyn Seafood, Steak and Oyster restaurant. We were seated at the Chef's Counter in comfortable, overstuffed, high backed chairs where we watched the seafood entrées being prepared. We started with a tasting of white wine and oysters for me and beer and oysters for John. Each oyster came from a different part of the Washington or Oregon coast and was raised in different ways such as on a rope or in a tray. We then dined on small plate and salads with lots of crab, shrimp and scallops. Oh, and a bottle of wine. It was such a fun evening and we didn't have to drive back, just hop on the bus.

Seattle Area

Wednesday was a long, unproductive day, or so it seemed. We were slow getting away from our campground and into an area where we had better cell phone reception to the internet. We stopped in the parking lot of a gas station near the interstate and started calling all the campgrounds we could find in the Seattle area. One told us they gave their last site away just as we called and another gave one away 20 minutes before we called. If we had just moved a little faster! We finally found a campground called Tall Chief in Fall City that claims to be only 25 minutes from downtown. But after we had set up, John discovered that the power was bad on our site so we had to move sites. And all the roads in the campground are gravel and gets our vehicles all dirty. And its almost too far to walk to the showers and . . . . Oh, well, we are here and settled in.

The traffic here is HORRIBLE! Even on a late Wednesday morning we got caught up in a jam and then after supper the traffic was slow as we tried to get to a grocery store. At least today we traveled against the worst of the traffic jams and didn't get caught in one.

On the top of our list of things to do in Seattle was the tour of the Boeing Aircraft Plant where the 707's, 747's 787's and all the other huge airliners are assembled. The plant is in the suburb of Everett. The building is the largest building in the world by volume. Imagine placing California's Disney World and its parking lots inside this space and still have room for 100 cars. The plant takes up about 95 acres of land and is about 1/2 mile wide and we're not sure how long but probably close to 3/4 mile. Parts of it are 11 stories tall. We stood on an observation deck four stories up and there were still at least three stories overhead. We watched them assembling six 777's and six 787's and there were at least 4-6 jumbo jets in each of 2 or 3 other bays. They employ over 29,000 people and work 24 hours a day 365 days a year. They even have space to test the engines and test fly every jet that leaves the plant. We saw 3 buildings where the jets are painted and rows and rows of planes ready to be picked up by airlines all around the world. When they move the jets out of the building and onto the tarmac they have to cross an interstate highway so all that distraction of a jet over the road is done at night when few cars are on the road. You are not allowed to take any cameras or cell phones on the tour so the picture we took doesn't show the magnitude of the operation.

We had lunch in Mukliteo on the Puget Sound. This lighthouse has been there since 1906. The Sound is so pretty with the surrounding mountains reflected in the clear blue water.

Just a short drive to Woodinville we found over 100 wineries. We were just looking for Chateau Ste. Michelle and found it and the Columbia Winery nestled in among all these other wineries. All of them are tasting rooms with the grapes coming from the Columbia Valley in the east central part of the state which makes sense if you consider where all the people live. They are not likely to drive four or five hours to taste wine when they can drive 30 minutes to Woodinville. We also stopped in J. Bookwalter Winery.

MSHNVM

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument - It took some persuading but I convinced John that we should see this national treasure and I'm glad we did!

On Monday we drove from the Washington coast back into Oregon. We stopped in Astoria to view the Columbia River Maritime Museum. We particularly liked the displays about the Coast Guard.   

We then crossed the Columbia River once more to drive to Mt. St. Helens . The weather is so much nicer here! It was in the mid-70's with the sun shining in the afternoon but cool enough in the evening to enjoy a roaring fire. We are staying in the Seaquest State Park which is 45 miles from the National Park.

Right across the street from the state park is the state run Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center. They have a great museum with the story of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens beginning with the earthquakes that started in March 1980 up to the actual eruption on May 18. Then, today we drove the 45 miles up to the National Volcanic Monument where they continued the story of the eruption and the devastation it caused. They also had stories from survivors that told of the perils of camping and living near an active volcano.

We could see the former mountain and the gap and crater created by the explosion. Mt. St. Helen began showing signs of an impending eruption in March with nearly continuous earth quakes. Then a huge bulge began showing on her north side. It grew about 5 feet everyday until it was about a mile across. Of course the people in the area had been evacuated but the day before the eruption, the government let a caravan of people return to their homes to collect belongings. Early on the morning of May 18 the eruption started with a plume of smoke and ash coming off the top but then the bulge slid down the mountain and release the magma, gas, and ash that had been building under that bulge. The explosion shot out to the north parallel to the land, not straight up as one would imaging. The hot wind, gas and ash shot out over the land at about 300 mph blowing down all the trees and scrubbing the land clean. Then the hot magma melted all the snow and hot water and mud crashed down the mountain side and into the river sweeping up the fallen trees and everything else in its path including bridges, cars, lumber trucks and people and moving it down stream at about 100 mph. The billowing ash column followed, rising over 12 miles into the air, and causing thunder and lightning. That ash eventually circled the globe. The devastation reached over 13 miles north from the volcano. Lava domes have formed inside the crater and snow is trapped there creating a glacier. A nearby lake, Spirit Lake, was pushed up the sides of the surrounding mountains over 200 feet and when the water fell back down, the mud and ash had raised the floor of the lake by 300 meters. 33 years later the lake is still clogged with fallen trees floating in the water.

We hiked the boundary trail and then went out on Harry's Ridge to get a better view of the volcano and Spirit Lake. It was a long 7 mile round trip hike over ash, basalt rocks and up, down, and along a ridge. But the flowers were beautiful and nature is trying to make a comeback.

Cape Disappointment

Another gray, foggy day. We're dressing better for this cool, damp, windy weather so we are not put off too much by the 61°temps. We were very lazy this morning so didn't start exploring this peninsula until after 11 AM. We drove on the beach as far north as we could and then on the road to a state park and wildlife refuge on the point where we took a mile walk along the inlet and forest.

We stopped a couple of times on the drive back to the south end of the peninsula and had a nice picnic lunch before going to Cape Disappointment State Park. This is where Lewis and Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean and were disappointed that there were no ships at the mouth of the Columbia River. It took Lewis and Clark 10 days to travel the last 16 miles of their journey due to extreme storms.

This area is known for its very, very bad weather. They can experience 100 mph winds during the winter and lots of foggy weather the rest of the year. Most of this is due to the cold Pacific waters and winds coming into contact with the warm inland winds. Cape Disappointment is also known as a ships graveyard. Because the river was so wide, the water at its mouth moved slowly and sand bars built up. In the 1800's, the ships could not see the sand and would get stuck on the river bar on its way into the river or they might get over the river bar at a high or flood tide and not be able to get back out. And then there are the horrible winter storms. During one week in January 1853, four ships hit the sand bar and sank. Today there are two long jetties that narrow the river mouth so that the water flow is faster and washes the sand out making it better for ships but it is still a very treacherous crossing. We learned that container ships coming into the river must use a Bar Captain to maneuver it thru the jetties and then a River Captain must pilot the ship up the river.

It became obvious early on that light houses were needed. There are two located on this headland. We only saw one since the weather continued to get wetter and the fog dropped down to completely obscure the view of the second one.

At the end of the day, John got out his newest toy and played with it on the beach.

Long Beach Peninsula

A friend and business acquaintance of John's has a beach house in Long Beach, WA and has invited us to join him and a couple other of our mutual friends for the weekend. We are staying at an RV park that is close to the beach and less than one mile from Mike's house. We arrived on Friday just in time to have a late lunch with Mike, Ray, Bart and 8 other men who were at Mike's for a business meeting. We then decided it would be fun to play 9-holes of golf at the local course. There were four guys and me but it was fun even though the weather was very cool and windy. Since we didn't start the game until after 4 PM it was after 6 when we finished. We went back to Mike's where the rest of the group joined us for drinks and then a very late dinner.

Saturday morning dawned foggy and cloudy. Despite that, John and I took off for a 3.5 mile walk along the beach. This beach is considered the "longest beach in the world" and is very broad, flat and hard. We spotted cars driving on the beach so checked it out. The beach is considered a Washington state highway with a speed limit of 25 mph. The only place we cannot drive is in front of the boardwalk in Long Beach. So we got the Jeep and took advantage of this highway and drove into town on the sand. Long Beach is your typical tourist town with lots of junk shops, restaurants, and t-shirt boutiques. Mike called about 2 pm and said their business meeting was over and that we were going to drive over to Astoria, OR for lunch at the Wet Dog Bar and Grill.

  

Astoria is only about 25 miles away and across the Columbia River on the four mile Astoria Bridge. We had a boisterous lunch. They all had to finish their meeting so John and I stayed in Astoria to explore this quaint town that is built on the hill side overlooking the river and Pacific Ocean. At times it felt like we were driving in San Francisco with lots of long, steep streets, some of which wound around the hill top. Of particular interest was the Astoria Column at the peak of a hill where we had a fantastic 360° view of the Columbia River and the valleys behind it. The column itself was covered with a spiral pictorial story of Lewis and Clark's explorations.

We spent the evening at Mike's, drinking his wine and sharing our tall tales and stories.

Broadmoor Golf

A very nice gentleman from this RV park organizes a golf outing for every Thursday so I signed John and I up to play today. It was a beautiful day to play with the temperature in the low 80's and a nice breeze from the west to keep us cool. The trees lining the fairways at Broadmoor were awesome. Mother Nature had trimmed some of them into perfect cone shapes while others looked like they were sporting feathery leaves. The fairways were straight and long with few obstacles but since we hadn't played for about 6 weeks, that didn't help our scores much. One very interesting fairway had two greens, one for the forward tees and a different one for the back tee boxes. This had me really confused for a while.

We ended the day eating at one of Portland's higher rated seafood restaurants and had a great meal.

Mt. Hood

We visited Mount Hood today. As we were driving eastward this morning the sky was gray and clouds were hanging pretty low to a point where we couldn't see the mountain. We almost turned around to head home when the clouds parted then lifted and we spotted the mountain close up. It is magnificent. The whole area surrounding the base of the mountain and part way up is ski, snowboard and snow mobile country. The towns are ski villages and there are many parking areas for the snow mobiles along with paths to travel. We thought of trying one of those paths with the Jeep but signage warned us off.

  

We found some gravel roads winding up one side of the mountain to a point where we could spot Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Adams in Washington to the north of us. Later, at the Timberline Lodge Ski Area we spotted Mt. Jefferson to the east of us. All are snow capped and tower over the 11,000 foot mark.

At the Timberline Lodge we ate lunch with a view of Mt. Jefferson and then we watched the skiers and snowboarders coming down the mountain. This is the year-round training area for the Olympic ski team and other professional skiers as well as a training area for youth and other groups. At 6,000 feet hiking up the mountain was hard for me, especially since we did it right after lunch. John had the opportunity to stand in some snow which he absolutely hates! Ha Ha!

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

We picked the perfect day to explore the Columbia River Gorge Highway as it was cloudy but warm. This makes for better pictures and pleasant sightseeing. Our route took us on the old Historic Scenic Highway for most of the drive. It was a narrow, winding road (have I said that before?) that mostly followed the Columbia River Gorge.

We stopped at several view points along the road. One of these is called The Crown Point Vista House which was built in the 1920's as a rest area for the tourists and was refinished in 2004. The highway circles around a three story round house with a balcony viewing area at the top. It is all marble and stained glass windows for a very elegant resting place. And the views of the river really are awesome.

There are about 11 waterfalls along this route but we only stopped at three of them as we didn't want to get caught up in the tourist crowds. Plus John has a saying, "You've seen one waterfall, you've seen them all!" We saw Latourell Falls, Shepperds Dell and Multnomah Falls. At 620 feet, Multnomah is the second highest year-round waterfalls in the country. We chose to hike up the mountain to view the falls from the top down. It was about a 1.5 miles hike and seemed pretty strenuous going up with 11 switchbacks. Even though this falls is very tall, it does not have a high volume of water, but that doesn't stop it from being spectacular.

After a picnic lunch we stopped at the famous Bonneville Lock and Dam which spans the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington, built in four sections with three islands in-between. Not only does it provide power for 900,000 homes but also features a lock to move barges up and down the river and a set of fish ladders which is used not just by salmon but by many other fish such as steelhead trout, sturgeon, and lamprey. There is a viewing room in the visitor center where one can watch the fish underwater 'climbing' the ladder. We also got to watch a barge going through the locks from the lower to upper river.

A short drive to the town of Hood River, a short drive through town and we turned around and headed home. We had originally planned to drive around Mount Hood and back but ran out of time.