HarringtonTravels5: Letter 9 Washington I

Monday, July 2 we moved into Washington and the Yakima valley which is irrigated part-way up the side of the

brown mountains. After passing Yakima we turned west following the

Tieton River passing the long

Rimrock Lake.

We started up White Pass passing

Clear Creek Falls and over to the southeast corner of Mt Rainier National Park.

At the top of White Pass we looked back to see

Rimrock Lake in the distance.

Our home for the next few days was a Passport America RV park in Packwood where we met up with Sue & Chuck, friends from last year. We met them in Brownfield, TX and they are from Sequim, WA.

Tuesday, July 3 we took off to see the north side of Mt Rainier from

Sunrise, but it wasn’t very sunny. Mt Rainier makes it’s own weather and it was doing a good job this day. Mt Rainier is an active volcano peak, formed about 500,000 years ago. Thankfully there’s no indication the mountain will erupt anytime soon.

Down at lower elevations we scouted out a campground and were treated to a

beautiful view of the Tatoosh ridge.

Wednesday, July 4, we were treated to a clear day and Mt Rainier in it’s glory so we took off to see the sunny sights. The locals say,

“the mountain is out” and it surely was.

Everywhere we stopped the mountain was out without a

cloud obscuring it.

We headed to Paradise, enticed to stop at the many roadside pull-offs to take in the changing mountain views. One of those stops included a

dog rider on a motorcycle.

The drive was studded with views of alpine lakes, jagged peaks, and waterfalls.

At Paradise we saw lots of 4th of July tourists walking up the

slopes. Paradise was dazzling and the snowy summit seemed close enough to touch. We were surprised to learn with 25 glaciers it is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states.

Across the valley was the

Tatoosh Range that was almost as pretty as the mountain.

At one of our many scenic stops Chuck

walked out past the guardrails while Fred admired the mountain side of the road.

Across the valley we could see the

road under the mountain along with a waterfall.

At the Box canyon we walked up the trail over

glacial polished granite to

cross the box canyon.

Stopping at the Grove of the Patriarchs we passed a

huge burl on a Douglas Fir.

The grove was on the other side of the river and a

swinging bridge blocked our way.

We were treated to sight of many

huge western red cedar, Douglas fir and western hemlocks trees, some estimated to be a thousand years old. One large fallen tree was a good example of a

nurse log.

Thursday, July 5 we told Chuck & Sue goodbye for the meantime as they headed home. We would catch up with them in a few days at their home.

We headed back north to repeat our trip to Sunrise and drive to the top of

Chinook Pass. This has to be the best view of Mt Rainier as Governor’s Ridge was between us and the mountain.

click on the video below to see even more.

As we approached the Sunrise entrance to the park we were turned away. Two weeks ago a Ranger fell 2000’ to his death as he attempted to rescue four climbers. The weather has been too bad for rescuers to retrieve his body. Today was a good day for that job. And they didn’t need sightseers getting in their way.

Friday, July 6 we spent a leisurely morning then moved from Packwood a whopping 75 miles to the largest Wal-Mart we have seen since leaving home. It also made a nice spot to spend the night. Fortunately there was a nice breeze and not too much street traffic.

We had been without service since Monday and it was nice to touch base with our daughters. They were both together to attend their cousin’s wedding. We were sorry to miss this wonderful event.

Saturday, July 7 the Skaggs yard became our new home as they had a big space with full hookups. Sue and Chuck were so generous to offer this spot for a few days or a month. WOW how nice. We didn’t have plans to stay that long, but as we searched for other sites in this area their yard looked better and better.

They were also generous to allow us to go to Costco with them. We ended up sharing grapes, blueberries copper river salmon, and several other delicious items then came home and cooked the salmon. Fred said it was VERY good!

Sunday we attended the

Sequim UMC. This was another repeat church for us.

All of a sudden we are at Friday and haven’t written in the blog. We have had so much fun just being with the Skaggs in Sequim. One day we drove to Chimacum to visit an “Escapee’s” park and visited with Heather & J.D. whom we met earlier on the Columbia. We were hunting for someplace to park when Waxahachie friends Mike & Nancy come to visit us. After lunch we visited the Port Townsend area. After 3 campgrounds we found our spot at the Point Hudson Marina & RV park. We made reservations for the week of the 15-22.

On our way back to the trailer we stopped at a intriguing looking

hamburger stand. It so reminded us of Oma’s in Waxahachie until they brought our huge hamburger. Notice it is a

half burger per basket and that was a full meal for us. Not only was it big, it was delicious.

Of course, we noticed all the

$ bills hanging everywhere and the waitress told us last March $10,316 from the walls was donated to Boy Scouts and St Jude’s Hospital. So these bills are new since March.

When Fred tried to pay he found our tab had been covered by two women with whom we had been visiting.

Another day Olivia attended Bible study at church and stayed to help clean out the

children’s classroom closet. Someone else followed to sort through all the stuff.

We have done laundry, enjoyed Sue’s garden, run errands, walked, rested and enjoyed the town. Sue even dug up some

“red hot poker” to send to Teenya.

This was a major job for Sue as this huge plant is actually about

50 all intertwined. We really hope Teenya enjoys them and makes them thrive so we can one day have a start for our yard.

Saturday, July 14 my how the week has flown by. The weather has been beautiful until Friday as we were socked in all day. We even experienced thunder storms and real rain from them. We felt right at home.

Chuck & Sue have a

beautiful yard/garden. It is full of raised beds for flowers and vegetables with fruit trees scattered around. We enjoyed their strawberries, behind the cherry tree, lettuce, peas, onions, orach, and arugula. They also have broccoli, kohlrabi, radishes, rhubarb, roses, currents, apple, pears, plums, and blue & black berries. You name it they have it. To protect their

strawberries from birds they have a netting stretched across the bed.

Saturday, July 14 Chuck & Sue took us up an unpaved forest road to Deer Park across from Hurricane Ridge. Tiny

wild flowers and

lupine were blooming. This view was fantastic and the highlight of our stay on the Olympic Peninsula. On the way down we stopped to see the

Sequim area on the Straight of San Juan de Fuca. Can you see the ship in the water?

Our evening started with J.D. & Heather joining the Skaggs and us for

an ice cream Relay for Life benefit followed by the play “Bullshot Crummond” at the Olympic Theartre.

Sunday, July 15 we again attended church at the Trinity UMC in Sequim.

Telling Chuck & Sue goodbye and many thanks for the stay at their home we moved over to Port Townsend for another week. After setting up we scouted out

Sea J’s, a recommended place to eat “fish & chips.”

When asking directions we were told it is the best in Washington. And also told it is the working man’s place to eat, featuring fish & chips as well as hamburgers. Fred says its a dump! It is very small, crowded and dirty. The place is small and we shared a table with two men and they entertained us while we ate. Fred “paid it forward” by trying to surprise them by paying their bill then sneaking off, but the waitress shouted out, “Hey James, this man paid your bill.” Then the whole place asked Fred to pay their bill.

The fried cod was very, very good.

Monday, July 17 was a very big day. We were up bright and early to see the San Juan Islands. Sue & Chuck arrived by 8:00 am and we headed to the 30 minute Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry. We sailed through a group of

fishing boats over the channel. Along the hour drive on Whidbey island we passed

oyster beds.

A quick stop to see

Deception Pass from the high bridge then on to the ferry depot at Anacortes. We enjoyed seeing a

relief map of the islands on the wall. Anacortes is on the almost hidden point about half way up the right side. Our destination was Friday Harbor on the big island to the left.

The scenic ferry ride