Monday - 11 July 2011

From Sedro Woley, WA we headed on and queried the GPS which gave us a list of possible RV parks.
We phoned a couple and settled on the Twin Cedars RV park which was cozy and

located in Lynwood, WA - in town - and just north of Seattle.

We met a couple from Canada who were traveling in a Trillium trailer,
It is much like a Casita (made in Texas) or a Scamp (made in Minnesota) or a Burro (made in California)

The view to the West (Cascades Range) as one drives into Seattle from the North.

We drove into Seattle and visited the big main REI store. It was rather like a pilgrimage
-
One corner of the front. - - lower level entrance at REI

- -
Wooden Old Town canoe hanging from the ceiling at REI

balancing camp chair

~ ~ ~

The Space Needle - left over from the Worlds Fair

the mono-rail system another survivor from the Worlds Fair

-
Older downtown Seattle buildings with architectural detail

Tuesday - 12 July 2011

to Seattle and The Center for Wooden Boats, at the southern end of Lake Union
1010 Valley Street, Seattle WA 98109

The workshop at the Center for Wooden Boats

-
Cedar log canoe being built by a local tribal guy.

-

-
Steam boat with prop (as vs. paddle wheel)

-
a moulded plywood hull, very light and very strong - skin on frame Kayaks

-
Umiak, skin on frame larger eskimo boat

El Toro pram dingy, a great trainer

a group sailing in Lake Union

-
a big sprit rig on a working boat - same, sail not up

Polynesian stick chart - really a teaching device for traditional Pacific island navigation

~ ~ ~
Historic Ships - Virginia V - Lightship - tug Arthur Foss

-
tug Arthur Foss once a member of the Foss fleet - Lightship Swiftshure

-
The steamship Virginia V

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
On a sign at The Center for Wooden Boats
In a Sailboat, you are captain and crew.
You go where you want,
for as long as you want,
with quiet power,
you hear the water part
at the bow, just inches away,
and turn your boat,
and look up at seattle's hills and towers.
You are on the water,
With the water,
of the water.
- - Dick Wagner
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

a rowing racing shell mouted upside down in a downtown Seattle restaurant

~ ~ ~

To Seattle Public Library

- -
Non-Fiction stacks - - Three floors, view from across the open center.
I wish I could have managed a good outside picture of the Library.

Several floors of the non-fiction stacks are arranged on a grade
so that they are accessed in a spiral, one floor leading on to another.
It is almost like an Escher picture.

Looking down through the librarys glass exterior

We left the library when it closed and drove through central Seattle in the dark
finally finding the expressway and returning to Twin Cedars in Lynwood.
The GPS was very useful navigating our way back.

Wednesday - 13 July 2011

Laundry this morning,

There were moles burrowing under the lawn at Twin Cedars
I often heard about ~ making a mountain out of mole hill ~
well, this

is what a mole hill looks like.
Note the size of the clover for a hint of true size.

~ ~ ~

Then we took the ferry to Whidby Island

-
to the Mulkilteo Ferry to Whidbey Island - -             on the Ferry, which operated by the State of Washington and is far from free

-
Whidby Island - the Naval Air station display

~ ~ ~

Earth Sanctuary

-
Trail through tall but skinny trees. - - - - - - Prayer flags

-
Red berries - - - - - - - - A slug, and by western Washington standards not a big one

These flags seem to have mixed motifs - Eastern religious, and American Indian

A berry and the leaves and stems supporting it -

The Cottonwood Stone Circle - shape of the stones is natural

an oriental prayer flag

-
stone sculpture

bunny

sneaking up on a wild bunny

and the bunny comes to realize someone is on the trail....

Peace on Earth - post in a swampy area

fruit of a tree

Tree growing over a stump

trail in the forest

The Stupa

~ ~ ~

Deception Pass

The southernmost of the 2 bridges

The Eastern side of Deception Pass

Truly wicked whirlpools appear, then wander off followed by others reappearance
as the tide sweeps through the narrows.

The other part of the Pass with Fidalgo Island on the left
plunging nearly straight down into the water.

We drove on to Fidalgo Island, across it and on to the mainland and Mt Vernon WA on the mainland got gas.
Then proceeded to my sister's via the strange route given by the gps
which stair-steped the route rather than taking a straighter more direct route, strange, but it worked
then to Alderwood Mall and a good family supper in a big Chinese restaurant. Then back to camp in Lynwood WA.

Thursday - 14 July 2011

We de-camped and left the Seattle area, heading to the Olympic Peninsula.
We decided that it would be much quicker, and perhaps less expensive, to take a Washington State Ferry
rather than drive south, past Olympia WA and around the southern tip of Puget Sound.
The gps could not find the Ferry terminal so we stopped in a large parking lot and used the netbook and Google maps...which worked.

Olympic Peninsula - Port Townsend - Port Angeles - Olympic National Park.

.