A last look at Sequim

 ANACORTES, WA - - We're now back in Anacortes for another stay of about 10 days.  That will bring the calendar past Labor Day and decrease the crowds at West Glacier / Glacier NP, our next destination.

     On our last full day in Sequim, we discovered a new look out /observation point which gave us a much closer view of the Dungeness Spit lighthouse.

It's still a working lighthouse...only automated

Anyone want to race??

A parting shot of the early morning fog

Covid-19 humor...Pacific Northwest style

 

A bit of clarification

 SEQUIM, WA -  - Sometimes the computer technology...or my lack of understanding...gets in the way of completing a blog.  The two previous posts are proof of that.  So, here is the (short form) missing copy, etc.

     The chipmunk in the blog figures he/she must be the 'proprietor' of our camping site.  This was made  known by twice climbing up on Lydia's socks.  When that wasn't enough, the brave rascal clambered up her leg and perched quickly on her knee.  "Chippy" has been back looking to explore the innards of our van, but we try to keep the doors shut.

     An early morning shot of the Strait of Juan de Fuca kicks off the other 'bare' blog along with four 'artsy' shots of a walk through two trails in the HoH Rain Forest accompanying.

HI!! My name is Chippy

Light and shadow

On and around the Olympic Trail

A walking and bicycle trail

Waves of grain after (partial) harvest

Farm fresh...pay on the honor system

Yard art...better than putting the vehicle on blocks

 

Hurricane Ridge and a blue tanker

 SEQUIM, WA - - We're spending extra time in Sequim because we've have a nice campground and site; the coffee shop in Sequim lets us sit / work our computers and charge them without a fuss and the daytime / night time temps are nice.  There are also a lot of places pretty close by worth checking out...and where we've probably been before.

     Olympic National Park is huge.  One of the most accessible parts is Hurricane Ridge where we ended up Wednesday.  Some of the deer are not very afraid of visitors as the doe and fawn in the top photo show.  Neither was the yellow-bellied marmot who was munching lunch as we watched.

     The weather at 5,242' is can be brutal...as this (battered but still living) pine tree trunk demonstrates.  High winds, snow and freezing temps haven't killed the tree yet, but  there's little respite for anything growing at altitude.  The heavy snow pack on the distant mountains remains all year.

     And now, the blue tanker.  The Polar Enterprise is a crude oil tanker with Port Angeles as its home base.  The approx. 750' tanker was home for a short break.  The striking blue paint job sets the Polar Enterprise apart from its dull by comparison fellow vessels.

On the beach, deer

SEQUIM, WA - - Deer hoof prints on the beach  the past two mornings at Dungeness National Wildlife Reserve have been a bit of a mystery...until this (Sunday) morning.  These two were out for an early morning stroll before munching their way up the bluff side.
 

Random shots in Anacortes

ANACORTES,WA - - Cap Sante Marina, our 'home' for the past 11 days, will be seen in the rear view mirror tomorrow.  We'll wander the Olympic NP peninsula for a while and hope the wildfires to the East die down.  Otherwise, we'll see what we can find.

 

Two years ago, the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard was working on the first of four 90' tugs to be used by the US Navy.  This appears to be #3 as parts of a structure for another tug seems to be in the works.

Low clouds and mid-morning haze  make a Washington State Ferry and a sailboat appear to be black / white rather than color.  This was shot from a vantage point on a scenic trail along one of the 'points' at the end of Fidalgo Island.

 

With a little help from his friends and owners, this sick / injured dog gets around.  He/she was not happy as  four-legged friends played nearby.  The barking stopped long enough to check me out.

Anacortes Arts Festival - - early morning

 ANACORTES, WA - - It's 7am.  The Anacortes Arts Festival stretches for blocks in either direction from where I'm standing.  In this view (before daily set up)  you can see a good portion of the over 200 artisans display 'tents' plus at the very end of the street a small portion of the MV Suquamish, a Washington State Ferry in dry dock for repairs / upgrades.  Dakota Creek Industries, a major business presence in Anacortes, not only has a large ship building and repair facility but also a ry dock for other vessels.

     There are grey skies are all around but the earlier rain has stopped.

The iceman cometh

 ANACORTES, WA - - Nearly every morning after breakfast at the Cap Sante campsite the ritual is the same:  sling on my backpack; amble 6/10ths mile to Safeway; buy a 10 lb. bag of ice and slowly amble back to add the ice to the cooler.  Some mornings I might pick up a couple of peaches or some recently turned out bagels which tightly fit into my pack.  Ah, life on the road.

Fill 'er up!!

ANACORTES, WA - - I've blogged about the Anacortes oil refineries in previous years, but they are always good for another go-around.  Above, we have two tankers loading up (probably gasoline or light oil lubricants) at the Shell Refinery dock.  Today was quite clear, but (naturally) the working shots were available when the light was hazy and backlit.
     

     This tanker was 'parked' nearby waiting its turn at the spigot.  This high angle shot gives a better idea of then ship's size, but on heading back down from Cap Sante "peak" we discovered that the ship was literally right off-shore from someone's front yard.

    

     Meanwhile traffic at Cap Sante Marina was picking up:  A WA state fish and game boat  (left) heads out to check out whatever they want; a nice powerboat heads into the dockage (center) and its 'oars up' as this team of rowers waits to dig in.   And I'm still trying to figure out where we parked.

     "I'm innocent."  You can't go to Anacortes and not visit the cat shelter.

First in line

Poulsbo color...a slice of Norway and Scandanavia

 POULABO, WA - - An early Sunday morning stroll around relatively quiet Poulsbo.  Lutefisk for all.

First, coffee at the Red Cup

Heritage is everywhere

Old sail boats and ??sea serpents?? on display in the harbor basin

 One stop is never enough at Slueys Bakery, a Poulsbo institution

Location, location

Rocking and rolling on the Hood Canal

POULSBO, WA - - On Thursday the wind had picked up quite a bit, but not so much adventuresome hard working fishermen weren't out on the water.  The Hood Canal splits Seabeck from the campground where we stayed two nights. Appropriately named Scenic Beach, it did have a beach (rocky); cold water (to adults, at least) and was scenic.  Watching the craft in the above pic could make you glad you were on solid land.

    

Yes, that's areas of snow on Mt. Ranier as seen from the motel parking lot

     Finding a campground with sites available has become a crap shoot. Most national and state parks now accept reservations six months and more in advance.  Not good for the campers who wander around rather than have a 'set' plan. Worse, a lot of folks 'game' the system by making reservations more to hold sites than show up and use them.  It's very infuriating to see empty sites with reserved status shown and nobody occupying it/them for a day or days.  The gamer loses the registration fee while real campers get screwed.

     Anyway, we had nowhere to stay Friday / Saturday but got lucky in finding a nice motel with a good rate for two nights.  And, we joined the reservation crowd and secured our next week's camping.  Of course each time you make a reservation there's an $8 fee and being out of state tacks on an additional $5...each time.  It's still better than wandering and hoping you find a place for the night.

 

On Highway 101

The Cape Lookout lighthouse (OR) in a bit of a fog

This incident cost us one hour wait on a winding no-detour 101

A typical beach shot on the Washington coast

Tillamook Creamery (OR) makes the best extra sharp cheese anywhere

BREMERTON, WA - -  We're now in Bremerton...site of a naval shipyard and a real good hospital where I got "stented-up" the last time we  were here in 2018. There's plenty of boat traffic to observe and good seafood restaurants (expensive) to check out.  Since WA is not directly on the Pacific (the locales we are in) we are getting sunshine and high 70's which is quite a change from the last two weeks or so.

    
 

What's a little fog??

TILLAMOOK, OR - - So, from bottom to top in the above photo of Pacific Beach, OR  People on the beach; the blue Pacific with small waves; the marine layer...better known as fog; and the blue sky.  The fog is sort of like a curtain.  No wind and it blankets everything;   with a strong wind blowing out then the fog bank stays off shore.  It all has to do with the temperature of the water /the land / the air as relative to each other.  And, if you listen to some of the old-timers then the hotter it is inland then the denser the fog.  We just keep driving along
 

We found cool weather...finally

BROOKINGS, OR - -  It's mid-50's and foggy.  Sounds a bit like grumpy weather, but it's not. After 5 days of over 100-degrees while making our way to the Pacific coast...California initially...we're in weather that is comfortable.  Of course that means long sleeve t's; fleece and warm jackets.  And, since any hair I had on the majority of my head fled 40 years ago, I have my handy fleece beanie.

   

 A little harbor action in Trinidad, CA

  So, what have we done in those missing days???  We've rolled through forest fire smoke; slowly made our way around repairs to hwy 101 where a landslide had rearranged the road; and have been reacquainted with coastal fog, constant coastal fog.  There is also the ongoing battle / competition for sites in the majority of campgrounds.  We've spent two nights in a "parking space" because there was 'no room at the inn'  and we probably had one of the better locations.  And the road goes on. And maybe we'll find more places with wi-fi.

The heat might be better than tornado warnings in OB

CALIENTE, NV - - We've left our high altitude campground at Deer Creek, UT, for a rather long, boring ride through the High Desert. go Tonopah.  We decided to stop for the night in Caliente (Spanish for hot) and at 8pm it's 97 with temperatures toward where we're heading soaring into the110 range.  The main reason to stop is that the next 200 miles are even more desolate than here...except for Rachel, NV and The Little A'le Inn near Area 51. Ah, the pleasures of travel.

Friday's jaunt to Cedar Breaks National Monument

A bit of the huge amphitheater rim at 'the Breaks
 

DUCK LAKE, UT - - Friday's adventure was planned as a ride to Cedar Breaks NM. The monument was called "the place where the rocks are sliding down all the time" by the Southern Paiute.  Later, settlers misidentified the juniper trees as cedars and called the steep, heavily eroded terrain breaks...leading to the eventual name Cedar Breaks.  The above photo is just a small part of the 3-mile wide amphitheater sculpted by erosion from snow, wind, rain and ice plus the movement of an active fault. 

Cedar Brakes is located at 10,000ft altitude...you might heed the sign

 

Farther down the mountain, hundreds of sheep were out grazing