Sunday, July 15 we landed at the Port of Port Townsend Marina and RV park, which was also next to a bed & breakfast with a
beautiful flower bed. We were right on the water again. Can you tell we like water?
Monday, July 16 Fred was out early and saw a family of river otters. Olivia ran in her gown and housecoat to the harbor in time to see
one of them out on the wharf. Before she knew it they were
across the harbor being shooed off by a deck hand.
During the week we did our laundry, attempted to post the last blog, visited a
farmer’s market and caught our breath before picking up our friends from Waxahachie at the ferry landing in Seattle on
Thursday July 19
Ivor’s on the docks was our supper place for fish and chips where Nancy also
posed with Mr Ivor’s statue on the dock.
Mike and Nancy were on their way to an Alaskan cruise and stopped to visit with us. They were to be with us two nights and to see the Olympic Peninsula.
We walked the downtown of Port Townsend and enjoyed their old buildings including the
“Hastings” building. We were sure it was kin to Fred.
Friday, July 20 we loaded up the car and drove west to see the Olympic peninsula and we stopped for lunch at the
Salt Creek campground. We had stayed there on our first trip and was one of our favorite campgrounds. It is right on the Straight of San Juan de Fuca.
Again we enjoyed the view of the water at the
tongue in the county park.
From there we drove over to
Crescent Lake where the clouds came down over the mountains. Too bad the Fenton’s couldn’t see the beautiful lake and mountains.
Nancy really enjoyed the flora and fauna especially the blue
butterfly bushes.
On the way back to Port Townsend we were on the lookout for a sign that Chuck & Sue had told us about. It was at a really good pull out south of Port Townsend and must have been a good place to relieve oneself???? This was a unique
sign for us.
This campground was a home for about seven rigs from the Tacoma area that come to this place every year to catch Dungeness crab and salmon. The season started while we were there and Steve was kind enough to give us two cooked crabs and a nice slice of salmon. WOW! what a generous man he was.
This group reminded us of when our kids were at home and we went with our friends and their kids. This group each prepared a meal for the others during the week they were camped; Various breakfasts, crab cakes, and corn beef & cabbage were just a few. All week they were cooking
crabs.
Nancy had been wanting to purchase wine to take on board for their cruise so on the way to the ferry back to Seattle we stopped for her wine. To get it back to the hotel they needed carry it in their back pack. When she got out of the car, we call her
“the sot” as the box showed through the sheer cover of the back pack and she was holding Mikes bottle of red wine.
We enjoyed having them as our guest for two nights.
Sunday, July 22 we packed up and headed for the Port Townsend/Coupeville ferry about 11:00 am then drove a whopping 15 miles to Oak Harbor and their nice city park. This was a nice place to rest wiyh $20 full hookups before heading east.
Monday July 23 we journeyed 70 miles on
state highway 20, which crosses Washington State. Our destination camp was at
Rockport’s Howard Miller Steelhead County Park. This was a
beautiful park with manicured sites for $26 a night, water & electricity. We agreed this was one of the nicest parks we have stayed in.
Tuesday, July 25 we discovered the North Cascade National Park. When we stopped at the visitor’s center we were told this is the 10th from bottom of the visitors to national parks. The only ones below it are remote in Alaska, requiring fly in’s. Maybe our visit and blog will inspire others to visit it.
We had learned there were over 300 glaciers in this huge park and thousands of waterfalls.
We first past the city of Newhalem, a community built by Seattle City Light Co to house dam workers.
Highway 20 started 
and wove among Gorge, Diable and
Ross lakes. We stopped to see 
Gorge River as it fell into Gorge Lake. Stops were hard to come by as they were mostly on the left side of road and hard to enter. Olivia became frustrated as we could see mountains through the trees but couldn’t get a good shot
We had been told to stop at Washington Pass view point. When we pulled in and drove to the parking lot we still couldn’t see through the trees. A short walk led us to a rocky point, shown on the
left middle of this picture.
Then OH MY GOSH! We were brought face to face with terrific views of the Methow Valley and Liberty Bell Mountain. The following four pictures are from left to right the panorama we saw.
Also included is a video
The road shown was where we were to descend this second pass in the park.
This is one of three roads into the park, one to Mt. Baker, highway 20, and Highway 2. At Chelan one can take a ferry boat into the wilderness to the community of Stehekin.
Tuesday, July 25, we departed the mountains and headed to Chelan. We had heard many nice things about this town.
On the way we stopped at the
Birthplace of Smokejumping near Twisp, WA. We were greeting immediately by one of the smokejumpers who
led us on a tour. These jumpers make all of their fabric supplies in their loft on Phaff commercial machines like Olivia’s mother. It will sew through thick material as well as shear fabrics. The guide show us all they pack with them when they jump as well as their
their supplies, also dropped at the same time for their camp. There are nine forest service bases and two BLM bases in the USA. Their starting salary is $15 per hour with overtime during fires.
Wednesday, July 26 we drove on to Chelan with high hopes to see this
beautiful lake. We had been told to take the ferry to the upper end at Stehekin then return in the pm. As we neared the town traffic picked up. The city park campground of 162 sites was full and litterly over flowing. We were told the other county park and two state parks were also full. On our way to a private park we passed Mill Park casino with free RV parking with electricity. What a sight for sore eyes. The temperature was in the 90’s and we needed the AC.
In researching the ferry we found it would take from 8 am until 6 pm. Too long for our old bodies.
The lake was pretty, but not for us with all the crowds. Maybe when school is going on, it would be a nice place for us to go.
Thursday, July 27 we headed north back to Hwy 20 passing Okanogan, Omak, Tonasket, Wauconda, Republic, and Kettle Falls to Colville where
Sheryl and Denny, friends from County Line park live. We set up camp at the fair grounds and started enjoying that area.
Saturday, July 28 we drove back to Sherman Pass and picked a few Huckleberries. Kettle Falls is one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in the northwest. Here the river dropped 30’ in less than half a mile, producing a natural barrier to the salmon swimming up the Columbia River to spawn. Upon reaching the falls, some 700 miles from the Pacific Ocean the fish were easy to catch as they leapt over tiers of the falls. Native People could catch over 1,000 20 pound salmon in a day. Today the falls are submerged below the surface of Lake Roosevelt, a product of the Grand Coolee Dam. This lake is over 135 miles long!
We shared several evening meals with Sheryl & Denny including a charity dinner for the Family Support Center.
Sunday, July 29 we drove back to Kettle Falls Camp Ground on Lake Roosevelt for the Colville UMC’s service and picnic in the park. The
Monday, July 30 Olivia went to the church and assisted with their soup kitchen for needy. Four churches in this town of 3,000 serve Community Friendship Feasts. The United Methodists have lunch on Mondays. The kitchen and fellowship hall were busy. There were probably 25 volunteers helping from making
octagon shaped pavilion created a cool place to worship. Olivia enjoyed seeing the way they kept the salad’s cool in a child’s swimming pool of ice during service. Original?
soup & desserts,
washing dishes,
serving up the soup,
celebrating a five year birthday,
and serving.
There was lots to do. One couple makes sandwiches starting at 6:30 at home, then bringing to church. A lady makes big batches of cookies and they are frozen if not needed immediately. All the food comes from donations. All grocery stores, Wal-Mart, a food bank in Spokane, and church members. They don’t waste anything. If there is extra onions, they chop them up, sauté and freeze for another week. Unwanted banana and orange peels go to a member’s pig. Left over soup is cooled then frozen according to the health department rules.
This Church is very organized with a small kitchen and congregation.
Everyone had a job and knew what to do. One couple very easily could be on the other side of the line, but were willing to help each week. This week they served 65 people.
Olivia was touched at the needs of these people and the warmth of the congregation serving. Fred was sorry he didn’t feel well enough to help.
Tuesday July 31 Fred stated he needed to see a doctor, as he still didn’t feel well. We canceled plans to make a trip into the country with the Davy’s and made an appointment at the clinic. The results were maybe allergies, but given a script for antibiotics if needed later. Hay is being cut and bailed and lots of allergies stirred up.
When we arrived back at trailer Karen from church and a trailer owner call to see if they could visit with us. They arrived with green beans, raspberries and lettuce. Yum.
After visiting we decided to eat out and called the
We haven’t heard from you lately, so email us and let us know what’s up in your life by clicking on Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com
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