The Summer Adventure Continues...?

Birch Bay RV Park in Blaine in Washington, is an RV park, not a campground, meaning there is no shade, no trees at your site. UGH. Two wonderful hikes in the area helped provide needed relief from the heat. Terrell Marsh Trail in Birch Bay State Park, and Point Whitehorn were perfect walks in the woods for the elderly. On the Point Whitehorn trail we met a man who is in his 90s. Inspiration for us to keep on trucking.

                                                                      Cedar Trees

Our fourth stop was to be Leavenworth, Washington. Monitoring the weather mostly to know which foods to purchase, I noticed that the day we were to arrive the prediction was 102 degrees. Oh dear. Not such a big issue except the air conditioning in the truck went out. Okay. Decision time. Go forward or not.

We feel blessed in that we were able to extend our stay in Blaine, forgo the Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon section of our trip, head back to Paradise for seventeen days and then continue on with the planned trip to Ainsworth State Park in Oregon and then on to Seaside, Oregon.

So far we have learned a couple things about vacation traveling. Since we are now in ours 70's, hiking and kayaking in the same day taxes our physical resources. Seven days in one location is too short. Three of the days are dedicated to travel prep and rest. One day for grocery shopping and laundry; one day for kayaking; one for hiking. We began to feel that we were running from activity to activity. Not the peaceful, relaxing time we had envisioned. Lastly, your kayak trip may be cancelled due to wind. :( Sigh. No kayaking in the Puget Sound in Blaine this year.

September is a much better month to travel in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon. Hopefully, we can complete that leg of the travel adventure in the next few years.

                 Interesting Tree

 
Surrounded by sun dappled maples and sword fern on the Terrel Marsh Trail

  

A Resting Adventure

After eight years of volunteering Rich and I are taking a vacation, finally. We completed our volunteer assignment at Molalla River State Park and July 1 headed to Paradise RV Park near Chehalis, Washington. The plan: a tour of Washington State, kayaking, hiking, resting and visiting friends.

Rich and Cheryl in Paradise

                                                                     

Paradise, our first stop was a rest stop. A time to pause and gather resources. A hike to Woods Creek was a welcome inhalation of nature. We walked the trail two years ago. Now, there is a story walk. A wonderful new addition.

Paradise RV park offers kayaking on their pond. No typo there. In reality it was more interesting than we imagined. There are some good sized fish in the pond. As we glided along the water disturbing small insects, a fish would jump out of the water off the front tip of the kayak.  Our one hour kayak exploration of the pond was a good rowing warm up for the season.

Second stop, a beautiful tree filled campground in La Conner, Washington in NW Washington right on the Puget Sound. I forgot that the beaches on the sound are rock covered, two inch and larger buggers. Normally, that would be okay but Rich had pulled a leg tendon shortly after our arrival so limited or no walks on rocks. The beach and everything on it is for the use of the local Samish Tribe. Most days we would walk from our campsite to the beach to one of their sacred sites. 

Sacred Tree

                                                                                            

We signed up for a guided sea kayak tour in Bowman Bay. Great fun that tested our rusty kayak skills. Puget Sound has a wide variety of shore birds. The Rhinoceros auklet was a new, for Rich and I, and exciting bird sighting. 

Bowman Bay

                                                                                   

Our stay was short, seven days and then off we headed to a Blaine, Washington RV Park. 

Sun bathing at beach

Salish art on interpretive sign in campground