7/26/2022 Salt Creek Recreation park. WWII Bunker.

This is a county park located west of Port Angeles, WA just outside of Olympic National Park.  The park has campsites located on the water facing Victoria Canada.  It is a great location for anyone with a small RV.  Some of the sites have electric and water, but no sewer.  There is a sandy beach within walking distance.  

We went there on a whim just to check it out and do some hiking.  What we didn’t realize is that it apparently was a WWII fort with artillery that is no longer on site.  We stumbled across an old WWII bunker while a trail that started to make us curious.  As you can see we did explore the bunker (even though the signs said to stay out).  I was surprised at how a county park hid the remains of an old hidden fort along the water bordering Canada.  No mention that it was once a fort.  A hidden gem for sure and an ideal campground for those in the know.

Oh and this was another 7 mile hiking day for us.  Time to relax :-)

7/25/2022. Olympic National Park

 7/25/2022. Olympic National Park

Today we explored and hiked in Olympic National Park.  We hiked the trail at the end of the road called “Hurricane Ridge”. It is 1 1/2 mile long of which we hiked 1 mile in and 1 mile out.  The trail is paved with long drop offs on both sides and climbs upward and upward to a peak that overlooks the water stretching to Victoria, Canada.  Both the elevation 5000+ feet and the huge drop offs on both sides of the trail made me a little nervous.  On the trail we saw a Momma Black tail dear with her baby (see pictures below).  The scenery with snow on the mountains is gorgeous.  Sandy stated that this park is in her #1 or #2 of all the parks we have been to which to date is quite a few.  In my opinion, I would still say the Tetons is my favorite, with Yellowstone, the Cascades, Bar Harbor still being my Top 4.  Olympic National Park being #5.

7/21/2022. Victoria Canada

This morning we were up at 6:00 AM so we could get an early start to catch the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria Canada.  The ferry ride was 1 1/2 hours.  Due to Covid we opted to stay on the outside deck of the ferry as the inside cabin was full of people both with and without masks.  The first hour of the trip was miserably cold and completely fogged in.  The Captain used the fog horn to let other boats know we were crossing the channel.  We had come prepared for the cold as I carried a backpack with our winter gear, food, and water.  

Victoria itself is very pretty and walkable.  We had decided that instead of taking a Grayline tour to catch the highlights of the city, we would walk the route.  We had used a map of the Grayline tour stops.  Walking it saved us $100 USD and gave us more time to take in the city.  We had landed at 9:00 AM and by 3:00 PM we had hoofed it 5+ miles, had done some shopping, and hit many of the cities highlights.

We decided to take a the 3:30 PM ferry back to the states.  The ride back was sunny but still cold as the wind and cold air coming off the water was 57 degrees.  Again our winter gear came in handy

In conclusion, Sandy and I have toured many cities.  If I was to describe Victoria, I would say it it a more modern day version of Quebec City.  If asked which one I would recommend I would say Quebec City.  It offers more highlights.

7/19/2022. Sequim Washington. Really Roosters Cock a Doodle Doodling at 5:30 in the morning

We are now in Sequim (pronounced Squim) Washington for the next 14 days.  Our plans are to check out Olympic National Park and take a Ferry to Victoria Canada to walk the city.

Day 1, I am awaken by a flock of over zealous Roosters announcing that daylight is here.  I didn’t realize (although I should have) that we are closer to Alaska which means long days and early sunrise.  The sun rises at 5:30 AM here and the Roosters want to make sure everyone knows it.  This morning there was 3 of the DAMN Birds carrying on.  It was like Stereo coming from three different directions.  

Those DAMN Birds I swear were located just outside of the COW.

Well I would continue ranting about the DAMN Birds, but I have to cut out early because I am going bird (ROOSTER) hunting this afternoon :-)

Sandy, we are having chicken for dinner :-)

7/18/2022 Northwest Washington and the COW can Float

For the last week we have been exploring Northwest Washington along the Peugeot Sound based out of Oak Harbor WA. While here we spent time exploring city of Oak Harbor, Oak Harbor State Park, and jumped on & off ferries to the San Juan Islands.  Pictures below.

Oak Harbor borders a Navy Air Base where they practice flying fighter jets and larger troop transport jets.  I was lucky enough to snap a great photo with my cell phone of a troop transport jet flying below the clouds.  Looks like the pilot is shooting for an opening to the sun.

Last, instead of driving 136 miles (probably 4 hours in the COW)  through the Seattle Washington traffic, we decided to take the leap and put the COW on a Ferry.  Actually with Diesel Prices at $6/gallon and getting 8 miles to the gallon it made logical sense.  The Ferry ride cost $90 for both Sandy & I, COW, and the Toad.  The challenge was driving the COW onto the ferry.  It is a tight squeeze as it goes in along side the Semi’s (maybe12” between us).  In addition we opted to disconnect the Toad (as it was cheaper) so Sandy drove the Toad on at a different time than I driving the COW (which means I lost my copilot to watch the passenger side.  All in all it was a good experience.  One challenge that we didn’t think of early on was that at the end of the ferry ride we would depart the ferry at different times so we needed to meet up at a common point to reconnect the Toad to the COW.  Thankfully Sandy has all kind of Facebook Travel contacts.  She asked for some recommendations and sure enough we had someone online (that has done it before) give us an exact location to reconnect.