Off we headed out the highway to a campground at Elwah, where we had reservations, only to hear from Anita and Margaret (who had left BC earlier in the day) that there were no confirmed reservations in the campground records and they wanted us to all stay in the parking lot! Not this group, I can tell you. So, we canceled our reservations and A & M went off to find a better place - boy they did... lovely, on the beach at Crescent Bay, on the Straits of Juan de Fuca and directly across the waters from their home in East Sooke! I mean directly, like a crow, or maybe seagull, flies. This was the best yet. We didn’t see it until morning as it was really late by the time we got there and got set up, but Mikey and I had a really great run and I won the prize for finding the biggest stick. This is really a great group of women friends for Cokie and Kae and I think Mikey is a blast.
Next morning we had to say goodbye to everyone as they were all heading back to Shingle Springs and Placerville, CA and the drag of going back to work. We decided to head up the coastline of Washington, on Hwy.112, out to Cape Flattery; just so we could say we had been to the very end of Washington. Truth was that after we passed through some very small, very First Nations towns like Joyce, Pysht, (I think I figured out how to pronounce this one, but I understand it isn’t polite to print it!), Clallum Bay, Sekiu and Neah, we sorta got more and more uncomfortable with how narrow the roads were getting and how dark the forests were getting. So we didn’t get all the way out to the very end. I’m not too sure we really missed anything. We turned the Pod around and headed back east to Hwy 113, south. We did stop for some great ice cream and some bad art.
We were looking for a decent little campground, but they were few and far between, so we started looking for quiet little roads. We found a beauty about ? way between Clallum Bay and Sappho. We pulled off and it was so quiet in a beautiful forested area with a level road and soft sunlight through the trees. We set up camp (not very hard in this fully self-contained space capsule pod unit) and settled in for dinner. I got in a little walk and some great smells – a little coon, skunk, deer, no bear or cougar though; too close to the road, I guess. I sure slept well and the gals did too.
Next day we headed down Hwy. 101 into the Olympic National Forest and Hoh Rain Forest. I am beginning to think that I will write my National Pet Lobbyist in Washington DC about this rule of ‘no dogs off leash and no walking on the trails in National Parks’. I think it is pure torture to be locked up in this luxury, portable dog house with all the windows open so that I can see the beauty outside, but I can’t walk, smell, mark or enjoy any of it. There ought to be a change of law so this world can go to the dogs! The rain forests are remarkable for the shear size of the trees and the richness of growth. Small changes in altitude, sun exposure or amount of water can change the entire flora. Let a little sunlight in and it changes again. As the big trees die and topple over they are left in place to become ‘nursery trees’ for the saplings, ferns, fungus and fauna of the area. You can see bizarre root configurations of those trees that started on top of a huge, downed ‘nursery’ log and over the years the log rotted away and left the roots standing several feet up in the air; much like the trees of the southern bayous. Of course I only heard about this diversity from listening to the gals talk as they compared their hundreds of pictures.
We moved on down 101, again looking for a nice campground. We had scoped out an area around Lake Quinault only to discover that there were no vacancies. It was getting pretty late so the Ladies decided that there was one place we probably wouldn’t be disturbed by Rangers or First Nations folk - the local town cemetery! They checked that it wasn’t posted for ‘no camping’ and we pulled in behind a building and parked on a paved area out of sight. It was truly a beautiful spot; rolling grassy area, surrounded by deep forest and berry bushes, with sweet smelling flowers, next to old stone markers. Not more than 100 graves here, but sadly, many infant and toddler deaths; war veterans from several different conflicts and lots of long-lived loggers and back-hoe operators. I loved padding around and sniffing all of the natural trails left by the locals critters. Kae and Cokie seemed to like the place, but I sensed that they were a little nervous about something they called ‘trespassing’. After we settled in for the night, we heard a car drive in –BUSTED! They doused the lights and Kae got dressed and peeked out the window. No one got out or came over to us and she reported that some guy let his dogs out to wander and relieve themselves in the cemetery. How rude! Three dogs and 10 minutes later, they are gone and we are off to lala-land. Worked great, price was right and we were on our way to Olympia to visit Cokie’s relatives the next day.
Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Madge are a trip all by themselves. Lloyd will be 80 in August and Madge is about 7 years younger. Just to orient you - Lloyd is Cokie’s Aunt Barbara’s brother on Cokie’s maternal side; or Cokie’s Mother’s brother. Lloyd’s twin was Roy, who passed a few years ago,but Lloyd remains very spry, active and thin. Spent his life as an automotive ‘body and fender man’ and still has a huge shop and helps his son restore and rebuild cars for the grandkids. Lloyd grew up in the Murchie Mine, Willow Valley area above Nevada City and had many stories to tell about the 1930’s and 40’s. He was a dedicated hunter and fisherman and knew times in that area that we will never know, like when you could eat the fish and game you caught. They are gardeners and eat fresh vegetables and berries every night, plus their son raises beef. Let me tell you. I was grateful that we stayed there for three days; the leftovers were great! They are a sweet, old- style couple, married 53 years, who entertain in a homey, easy way and love to share their stories and family with anyone who stops by. I enjoyed their cocker, Goldie and am glad we took a few days to stay with them.
Then it was off to Mount St. Helens National Park to see the volcano. Now I am sure humans find all of this ‘activity’ really interesting. I mean, I am certain that magma domes, smoke columns, rock falls, 100’s of tremblers and all that blasted landscape are fascinating to the ‘need to know’ human mind, but I was really nervous! I mean I could feel the earthquakes and I could smell the sulfur in the air and I may not know about all the sophisticated instruments telling us when things are happening deep within the earth, but I can tell you us canine types can are very sensitive to old Mother Nature and I was stuck in one of those National Park places where dogs are not allowed to roam and figure things out. All I could do was look out the Pod windows at dead trees and arid earth, smell funny, acrid odors and try to make sense of it all. The Ladies say it all happened over 25 years ago, but, I tell you, this old girl is alive and well and she can pop her top any time. It made me very uneasy.
Then to top things off, the Ladies decided to go spend a few days ‘off road’ in the wilderness at the end of a logging road, near a wildlife preserve. We parked in this sweet, treed area, outside the preserve, next to a little stream. I could be off leash and I was in Lab heaven. We spent 3 nights and 2 days there and Kae celebrated her 63rd birthday, sans clothes or humans (excepting Cokie) and it was darn cool. I really didn’t like the big, biting horse flies or the tremblers or the coyotes; just ‘cause I was already sort of nervous, so I was glad when we pulled out and headed for Mt. Rainier National Park.
Now Rainier is a premier National Park and much quieter! Longmire is where we stayed, in Cougar Creek Campground and Paradise ( I heard that the place got it’s name back about 100 years ago when some fancy lady from back east said that the spot was so beautiful that it “must be what Paradise will look like”) is just up the road where the big interpretive center and old hotel are located. I saw that we had a nice family of 5 camped next to us so I just had to go over and introduce myself to the three kids. You know by now how much I love the ‘little ones”! What a fun family. Kae came over to help me get to know them better and we found out their names are Nichole, Patricio, and Juliette, plus their folks – Ana and Javiar. They are from Argentina, living in Venezuela and have traveled all over the world on their vacations the past few years. They particularly love the National Parks of America because “they are so safe”. The children attend an American school and speak fluent English. Kae speaks very little Spanish, but I speak everyone’s language, especially ‘kid’, so we all did okay. I had Kae promise I would include them in my journal and keep them on my e-mail list so they can follow along as we visit places and see new things. I love meeting and connecting with new folks. This traveling gig is really fun.
I had to spend more time in the POD than I like when the Ladies got out and hiked down to the bottom of Narada Falls in Longmire and then we drove over to Paradise and they went through the interpretive center.
They said that even though Mt. Rainier is quiet now, it has the potential to be even more devastating than Mt. St. Helens because it is so much larger and so many more people have settled in it s ‘sphere of influence”. It actually would be the worst of the 7 volcanoes in the Cascade Mountain Range that scientists have classified as active; it is not a matter of ‘if’, simply ‘when’. I know you couldn’t get me to live anywhere near these sleeping beauties. I can feel them in the earth and they make me d--- nervous!
What was the best though was the female deer that crossed right in front of us as we were driving out of the parking lot. I mean not 10 feet away. I knew I couldn’t bark or anything as Cokie was busy snapping pictures. Boy, it was hard not to let out a big doggie ‘hello’, let me tell you!
I know I am carrying on quite a bit, but we did a lot of fun and interesting things; so bear with me. Some of these chapters will be excruciatingly long and some will be sweet and short; just like my encounters with people. We left Mt. Rainer National Park and headed north along Hwy. 410 toward Tacoma. There is a fabulous Museum of Glass that the ladies want to visit. We took some of the back roads and spent the night in the Green River Gorge area at the Kanaskat-Palmer State Park Campground outside of Enumclaw, near the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. Now, I’m not making these names up, folks. Try these – Puyallup, Stellacoom, Tukwila, Issaquah, Snoqualmie – see? Swear some of these names sound a little like the stuff I say when I’m settling down for the night! We made it on the freeways, underpasses, overpasses, construction zones and side streets into down town Tacoma. They had to leave me in the Pod in the bottom of a large parking garage under a building of expensive condos so they could go visit the Glass Museum. They were gone for a really long time, but it was cool, pretty quiet and good for snoozing. They sure talked a lot about this international center for contemporary art with its focus on glass. It is the cornerstone of Tacoma’s multi-million dollar redevelopment along the Thea Foss Waterway with grassy parkways and the famous 500 foot long Chihuly Bridge of Glass; honoring Dale Chihuly, local First Nations artist of world renown for his exquisite glass sculptures. The ceiling of the bridge looks like you are walking underwater and looking up at the sea life above you. Very cool!
Kae said she most enjoyed an exhibit called “Myth, Object and the Animal” by William Morris. Cokie found the studio where visiting artists actually create the objects from molten glass on an amphitheater stage the most interesting. We spent that night over in a city called Federal Way at a nice state park on the shores of Puget Sound. Next day we went back to Tacoma so the ladies could visit the Washington State History Museum. There they were captivated by an exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs, spanning over 60 years of photo journalism. This is a traveling exhibition from Newseum, the world’s first interactive museum of news. The exhibit featured more than 100 images drawn from each year’s winning entries from 1941 to the present. These are photos of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. They recommend this exhibit to everyone and suggest you visit www.newseun.org. to find out if it will be near you. Then up to the big city of Seattle, destination – the Space Needle. We parked across the street and I got to stay in the Pod again. (Really, I don’t mind what with AC and big windows to look out at the world of people and plenty of water and a Tempurpedic bed to snooze on. What’s not to like?) K & C said the Needle was okay – far too many people and not as high as they thought it would be. Great views.
They found the Science Fiction Museum much more to their liking. Everything from the early 20th century literature and silent films to Stargate SG-1, Star Trek and Alien paraphernalia was on display. It was interactive, interesting and informative. Fantastic building design and everything smelled so different when I got to go for a stroll with the gals.
Next day we headed out of Seattle in the middle of a traffic jam on I-5. We got off that mess as fast as we could and headed east for the back roads and peacefulness again. Boy is that okay by me! We took about two days traveling south back around the east side of both Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. It was very interesting to see the other side of both those mountains and to travel in forested, less popular areas where I could run and swim and smell all the good things in life again. Well that about covers all of things we three did in Washington and I know this is an incredibly long chapter, but hey! we three, really did a lot and were moving and sniffing through a lot of territory, people and places. Hope you enjoy this chapter and we’ll send along some more news as we move into Idaho and Montana. Remember to ‘paws’ to smell the rosebushes every once in a while, folks.
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