Moving Along

A couple of nice, relaxing days in Chimicum wrapped up our time there.  On Sunday, we made one last trip to Poulson to shop at Central Market and Walmart.  While we were shopping in the Central Market, the skies opened up and a terrific rain storm soaked the area.  It didn’t bother us much, we just kept shopping!

On Labor Day, we all attended the barbeque put on by the SKP Park.  It was great fun and we enjoyed the time there.

Today was travel day.  We had an appointment with the park to get propane first thing this morning, and then we rolled the Castle on down the road.

A last look at the Olympic Range:

We passed the beautiful Crescent Lake one more time:

Our trip today was comparatively short, just a shade under 100 miles, to the little town of Forks, Washington, of the Twilight books and movie fame.

This little town has really capitalized on the publicity, with Twilight souvenirs all over town, and reminders just about on every business, including the Forks 101 RV Park, where we’re staying for 2 nights.  We had two purposes in visiting Forks, the first was to visit the locations featured in the books and movie, because Robin, our daughter, is a fan and wanted us to take pictures and send her any kind of souvenir we can.  The other reason is to visit the Hoh Rainforest, which is part of Olympic National Park.  Oh, and, this is not far from the Pacific Coast,  we can get a little ocean visit in.

When we got here and got set up, Rod and Deb were not far behind.  They’ve decided to travel with the 4 of us for a while before they move along to Salt Lake City.  Once we were all set up, Dortha called us in for lunch, a chicken salad she’d made.

After lunch, the 6 of us piled into the Jeep and started off.  The first stop was the visitor’s center, where we picked up information on the self-guided Twilight tour.  We started the tour by going out to Rialto Beach and LaPush.

Back in town, we made all the required stops along the Twilight tour and took pictures for Robin.  For all the Twilight fans, I will just say that I’ve seen the movie, but have not read the books.  The places that are featured around town are not the same as the ones in the movie, maybe they more closely resemble the book.

After the tour, we all gathered back at the RV Park for happy hour and a wonderful dinner of pork chops that Dortha prepared in her crockpot today.

Tomorrow we’ll visit the rainforest, and yes, there is rain in the forecast!

A Day at Home

Mostly at home, anyway.  Housework and laundry just won’t get done by themselves!  Jim volunteered to make jambalaya for everyone today, and he made a grocery run this morning while I sat with the laundry and worked on the house cleaning. 

Around 3 this afternoon, Deb and Rod arrived and we all gathered here in the Castle.  Our weather today was totally unpredictable, so we didn’t even try to sit outside.  Snacks, drinks and college football accompanied our conversation while we waited for the jambalaya to get done.

Deb brought salad and garlic bread, and Dortha made an apple crisp with the last of the apples from Rod’s mom’s yard.  We always manage to put together really great meals, and this was no exception.

After dinner we had more conversation along with more college football before Deb and Rod headed off to Port Angeles.

Today’s picture was one we took at Butchart Gardens.

We only have 2 more days here before we move along to our next stop on the trail, which should prove interesting!

Seattle Revisited

Today, we took another ferry ride, this time back over to Seattle.  Deb and Rod came here to the RV Park at 10:00 this morning, and the 6 of us piled into the jeep for the ride over to Bainbridge to catch the ferry over.  It was a rare, clear morning, so Jim got a good picture of the space needle with Mt. Baker in the background.

We walked along the waterfront, then climbed up who knows how many steps to reach street level and the downtown area. 

Our first mission was to find the Bed, Bath and Beyond store to look for kitchen goodies, specifically, some handy corn holders that are inter-locking.  We stopped in a gourmet kitchen store across the street from the Pike Place Market, but they didn’t have what we were looking for, so we continued on to the BB&B.  Success!  Both Dortha and I got a set of the colorful little holders.

Deb and Rod wanted to see about getting some halibut, and Mark was trying to find a new type of apple he’d read about, so we all went back to the Pike Place Market for a little shopping.  The halibut was found and purchased, but Mark is still looking for the apples.

The Beecher’s cheese factory is on the corner across from the market.  I would love a technology that would allow “smell-a-blog” because the odor of this little place is wonderful!

These colorful peppers look so festive:

By the time we got through the market, we were ready for a late lunch.  Dortha had researched about Ivars, and she discovered they have a late lunch menu, so that was our choice, and it turned out to be a good one.

 

This is opening weekend for college football, and we could tell that LSU is playing Washington.  We figured there aren’t any people left in Louisiana tonight, they’re all here in the Seattle area for the game!  We saw hundreds of people in distinctive purple clothing all day long.  We hope they have a great time at the game.

We were just in time to catch the ferry back and get home before dark.  It’s been an excellent day!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday started off chilly and wet, and stayed that way most of the day.   The new toaster oven provided us with perfectly done toast, though, so we were pleased about that.

Around noon, Jim and I decided to take a run into Port Townsend.  Our bedspread was looking pretty dingy, and I wanted to get it dry cleaned.  We had another motive as well, we’ve been collecting goodies for Dortha and Mark’s 42nd wedding anniversary on Wednesday, and needed to complete the package before giving it to them.  We did invite them to go along with us to town and have lunch, but they wanted to stay in, so we went ahead on our own. 

The bedspread got dropped off and we found a little Thai restaurant for lunch.  It was delicious!  Jim had not eaten Thai before, so it was a new experience for him.  We then stopped by the store and picked up the last items for Dortha and Mark’s gift and headed back home. 

We took their gift bag, along with a vase of fresh flowers, over to them when we got back.  We visited for awhile, talking about our next adventures down the road.  Jim announced he was going back home to check on the dogs.  As he walked across the street, a couple came up and started visiting.  I didn’t see who it was until I got outside, but there was Lynda and Bob Soady, whom we met at the RV Dreams Rally in June of 08.  They’re staying up in Anacortes, which is in the San Juan Islands, and had taken a couple of days to explore the Olympic Peninsula.  They stopped by for a quick visit on their way back to Port Townsend to catch the ferry.  It was a nice surprise, and great to catch up with each other.

Lynda and Bob:

By the time we’d had our visit from Bob and Lynda, the rain had let up, and Dortha was hungry for pizza.  Off we went with them back into Port Townsend to the Pizza Factory for some comfort food.  We took a short drive around Port Hadlock afterwards, then got home to get to sleep early.  We knew Wednesday morning was going to be a very early one!

Yes, the coffee was set to start grinding and brewing at 4:00 a.m., so we could listen to it as we tried to pry our eyes open and actually get out of bed before 4:30.  Ugh, this is way too early!  But, we needed to get on the road by 6:30 to drive an hour to Port Angeles and get parked, get ferry tickets and be ready to board the ferry to Victoria, BC.

We made it out on the road before the sun did:

And got to the ferry dock in plenty of time to get our tickets.  Deb and Rod met us at the ferry office and soon we got on board.  First order of business was to find the cafe and get some coffee.  Do these people look like they need more coffee?

We wished Mark and Dortha a very Happy Anniversary! We’re so glad to be sharing this adventure to Canada with you on this special day:

The journey across the Strait of San Juan de Fuca  was 90 minutes on the MV Coho, and we pulled into the Inner Harbor at Victoria, BC around 10:00:

This is looking into the city, the ivy-covered building is the Empress Hotel:

We got off the ferry and got our bearings.  Looking back from the harbor, the ferry is the boat furthest in the background:

We stopped at the Grayline Tour stand and figured out what our options for the day might be.  Butchart Gardens was one place we definitely wanted to visit, and since it is located a few miles outside of the downtown area, we decided to take a bus tour out there and come back to explore downtown later on.

Butchart Gardens was started  by Jennie Butchart on the grounds of a limestone quarry  which supplied her husband’s Portland Cement plant nearby.  One of the most well-know aspects of this amazing place is the sunken gardens, which was developed in the actual quarry pits.  During our visit to Butchart Gardens, we took nearly 300 pictures, so sit back, relax and enjoy your tour!

 

Well, there are a lot more photos, but I will save some for a rainy day when we don’t take any pictures!

After we were all on flower overload, we hopped on the next bus going back downtown and did some walking and shopping before figuring out that we wanted to stop and have some dinner.

Soon it was time to think about getting back to the ferry dock for our journey back to Port Angeles and onward.

This about sums it up:

What a great visit to Canada!