Tuesday, June 13th 2017
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| Our travels heading west from June 1st to 18th |
Today we cross back into the U.S. Great. Another
border crossing. Armed with the
knowledge of our inventory on board, we waited and waited in line for our turn
to speak with the Customs Agent. The
agent helping us was obviously being trained, so I figured this is why the line
was so backed up, which could also mean he is being trained very thoroughly. That would be a really good thing, but inside
I also feared he might have gone to the same school as the agent in Canada we
had last week! Maybe took the same class on how to beat up the senior citizens
with large RV’s about liquor imports.
But wait! Who in the right mind would buy alcohol in Canada for three
times as much, to then smuggle it into the United States?
What actually happened
was that we went through so fast, I am not sure he asked anything at all! So
much for proper training. Too bad (sort of)!
I was particularly excited about our coming stay in
Anacortes, Washington; a few hours north of Seattle at the edge of the San Juan
Islands, which I read were breathtaking.
I really miss the water, having spent most of my life in Gloucester,
Massachusetts where it surrounded us.
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| We enjoyed an incredible site on the water overlooking the San Juan Islands at Fidelgo Bay Resort in Anacortes, Washington |
Fidalgo Bay Resort was a beautiful RV Park, and
because I booked it nearly 6 months ago, we got what was considered the best
site in the park! Situated10 feet from the water’s edge, we enjoyed the views of
Fildalgo Bay and oddly enough, of the power plant in the distance.
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| We were surprised how they lite up the power plant at night and actually made it quite attractive ( in our opinion ) |
I was hoping to perhaps do some sea kayaking amongst
the San Juan Islands, hike, golf and do some biking, and go to the Boeing
Factory (the largest factory in the world) tour. Lofty goals, considering we only have 4 days
to “play”. It seemed more than enough time last winter when we were planning
this trip, but now I think a week would have been more realistic.
After we checked into Fidalgo Bay RV Resort, located
on Indian grounds, we headed off toward Washington State Park to take advantage
of the day. We hiked around the rocky
cliffs that loomed above the cove, enjoying the cool breezes and fresh air. We lingered longer than planned, so instead
of heading down the coast, we called it a day since the sun was getting low in
the sky.
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| This car is a magnet for dirt while being towed. It was so good to get it clean! |
Wednesday, June 14th 2017
Once again it was time to restock a bit and since there
was a Camping World nearby we decided to get a few needed parts, and a trip to
Costco provided us with meals for the next several weeks. After lunch and a quick nap we had enough
energy to head off to check out Deception Pass State Park which is reportedly very beautiful.
When we arrived at the State Park we took some pictures of the bridge, and decided to hike all the way down to the beach to get some shots from another angle. I wasn't feeling too ambitious since we had already done a lot of walking around just doing the morning errands. I also had "tweaked" my knee ( is that a medical term?) the day before and it was still bothering me, so I didn't want to over-do it so I sat while Norm walked further down the beach.
We hiked back up the steep grade, huffing and puffing the whole way. We saw a trail across the street and thought it might be nice to stroll a little way down the path to get a glimpse of the bay on the other side of the island. How hard could that be?
Well, we walked and walked some more, never thinking this trail was half as long as it was. Thank goodness Norm suggested we bring our backpacks for water, because this trail kept going. At one point we made the decision to ignore the trail sign to the summit - that would be much too strenuous this late in the day and I was afraid my knee would really act up climbing that steep hill. I also was pretty hungry, so we just took the perimeter trail instead.
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The views were great up here, but we intended to only hike around the BOTTOM of this mountain (even if it was a small one) not hike to the summit! |
After several miles we ran into a local man and he told us the fastest route back was to take the trail a little further, then branch off and go up and over the summit back to the other side. What? Was he kidding? We didn't feel up to the summit hike miles ago! Ugh! But I must say, it is amazing what one can do if you have to. (Sort of like child birth.) The climb was really tough for me, and the exertion was making me feel like I was going to vomit. Needless to say it cured my hunger as I limped the last mile.
The car was a welcome sight, that was for sure! We were never "lost" but this little stroll turned out to be more than we bargained for. We arrived home about 8PM. It was a long, productive day with a lot of exercise thrown in.
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| The highly photographed bridge at Deception Pass State Park |
Norm and I definitely wanted to take the Boeing
Factory Tour near Everett, a little over an hour away both from here and the
next stop. We agonized when to go, but
finally decided to go this week since the weather was iffy.
Boeing, the biggest factory by volume in the world,
covering a whopping 98.7 acres. They give a wonderful 1 ½ tour, and go to great
lengths to protect their secrets. Any
food and cameras (including cell phones) or bags of any type were absolutely
forbidden. We were instructed to either put them back in our cars, or in a cabinet
that was provided.
The guides spoke of Boeing’s history, and of their
aircraft and impressed us all by the magnitude of this facility. Inside there were 7 ( if I remember correctly
) restaurants, medical facilities, and a day care of course. We were taken by bus to a couple of different
buildings and shown their operation.
What seemed really odd is that we saw only a dozen or so people
working. Where was everyone?
Thursday,
June 15th 2017
The next day was cold and rainy, so we hunkered down
inside and took advantage of the great internet service to plan, work on the
blog, and go through two months of mail ( minus the junk mail that got
destroyed ) that we had sent to us.
How do we handle our mail being gone so long? There are several companies now that provide
this service for people who either travel a lot for their jobs, take long
vacations, and definitely for full-time RV’ers.
They receive your mail ( after filling out several official documents
before-hand ) then this company scans the front of the envelope for you to look
at in your private on-line portal. You
then can select either to 1) shred it 2)
hold it 3) open it and scan the contents
in a PDF file for a small additional charge.
They go through and get rid of the mountains of junk mail that you don’t
ever see. ( How great is that?) At any
time you can go online and request for them to gather it all up, put in a
single box, and ship it anywhere you want!
We have a wonderful neighbor who has picked up our mail in the past, and
would again, but we couldn’t ask that of her. It was also nice to see Norm got a notice for
Jury duty, that was important to respond to right away. For a mere $25.00 a month it is a great
service for us. We are using Dakota Post in
Sioux City, South Dakota. They have many other services available to suit most anyone's needs.
Today was our 15th anniversary, so we went
to the nicest restaurant we could find in Anacortes. We had a lovely dinner by the window
overlooking the water at Anthony’s. We are almost always traveling on our
anniversary each year, and this was one of the few times we could enjoy some fine
dining. Too bad it was so darn cold
and raw out that we didn’t dress up like I would have liked. (Norm did, but all
my nice clothes were for summer.)Friday, June 16th 2017
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| This is a tiny portion of the Boeing Plant. These doors are big enough to get a wide body jet through! Amazing! |
Norm and I definitely wanted to take the Boeing Factory Tour near Everett, a little over an hour away both from here and the next stop. We agonized when to go, but finally decided to go this week since the weather was predicted to be iffy.
Boeing, the biggest factory by volume in the world, covering a whopping 98.7 acres. They give a wonderful 1 ½ tour, and go to great lengths to protect their secrets. Any food and cameras (including cell phones) or bags of any type were absolutely forbidden. We were instructed to either put them back in our cars, or in a cabinet that was provided.
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| They had a lovely museum that had interactive displays plus many educational exhibits. There even was the actual module for the International Space station we could go into ( but was too crowded at the time ). |
Saturday, June 17th 2017
One more day and there is so much we haven’t
done! I was dying to take advantage ofthe bike path that followed the water right beside our campground, and we just
couldn’t make it over to San Juan Islands either because we learned it wouldn’t
be worth doing in a single day. I am hoping we can manage it from Vancouver
Island when we are there for 3 weeks soon.
I’d better look into it and make reservations. Sea kayaking, too!
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| You would think at some point, the hill climbing would get easier! We enjoyed the lovely ridge trail at Ebey's Landing. |
We decided to enjoyed a several mile ridge hike in Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. Afterwards, we visited a tiny town with
interesting old architecture called Coupeville that Norm wanted to see. After a delicious ice cream treat, we made a quick stop for
local mussels in the grocery store which ended our exploration of the area.
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| Back in the RV we dined on local mussels |
