Tuesday July 29, '14

Yesterday the sky started out looking like it would rain.  A few hours later we had a bright blue sky with a puffy cloud here and there.  At mid-afternoon three of us went for a walk on the beach down along the lighthouse paths in fog thick enough that we could barely see the surfers when we got up to that end of the beach.  What was unexpected was the "here again gone again" view of buildings in Ocean Shores across the mouth of the bay.  Even in the fog the views were beautiful!  We had a good walk and I took no pictures because I left my phone in the truck!

It is 6:30 and I am about to close up here at American Sunset in Westport.  I drained my tanks yesterday and disconnected from the water faucet so I just have to disconnect the electricity and stow my power cord.  And do my multiple-times walk around to check that all outside bins are locked, awning is in, I didn't leave anything in the campsite . . .

I'm headed to Seattle for a lunch get-together with my long-time friends from our Women's Investment Network days.  We couldn't let the friendships go.  The bonds are far too deep and precious!  I'll catch some pictures to post to wind up this wonderful trip.

Sunday July 27 '14

We are having another fantastic day.  I just checked the weather on my phone and it says we are at 73 degrees!  It is pretty breezy, so it feels cooler.  But there is not a cloud to be seen.

Last night before dinner I took a couple of pictures of my new "line laundry" (a term a kite flying friend who lives down here told us means all that non-kite stuff you have flying from your tall pole).  Pretty great, but I have to figure out a better way to mount the pole.

Here is my double helix called "DNA".

With the two strips it always looks different.

I have it attached to Myrtle's back bumper with bungee cords and folded up a dish towel into a plastic bag and tied it to the pole at Myrtle's back window to keep the pole from bumping against Myrtle's skin.  Not elegant, but it does the job for now.

Dinner was fun last night.  The "heritage-dish potluck" dishes included fresh-caught salmon, Russian, Irish, Icelandic, Scottish, Romanian, Finnish, Swedish, English,  Nebraskan, Italian, Greek, and Dutch--and more.  Turns out we had more than 70 of us this weekend, so we had an amazing range of dishes  to try.

This morning we had only one new rig to baptize, so we had fun hearing it's story and toasting in apple juice.  There are definitely some girl scout echoes in our activities--we sang "Its a long long trail" to wish each other a safe trip home.  The majority of women headed home, but I think somewhere between a third and a quarter of us are sticking for another day or three.

As others were packing up, I got to play with the kittens again.  At 12 weeks they are completely happy to zip around wearing a harness and a leash.  The main problem is keeping the two leashes untangled!

The little girl is the adventurous one.

Her brother is deciding he also likes the
outdoors.  It took him a while.

Three of us went into town to have lunch at Bennet's again.  I had crab cakes today--absolutely delicious!  They have such a great menu that I have a very hard time making up my mind.  We might have to go back tomorrow--there are clams, halibut, cod, shrimp---but the local crab is sooo good.

We're sitting out in my friend Fran's screened "tent" with Fran knitting and me playing with the computer.  Actually I have been spending more time talking to all the RVW members who are walking by than I have writing.

Dinner tonight is left-over salmon and whatever everyone decides to bring to the rec center.  Should be fun!  I'll talk at you all tomorrow!

Saturday July 26, '14

We are having the most gorgeous beach day I can remember ever spending on the Washington coast.  Yesterday was wonderful, with clouds coming and going, but today is absolutely clear blue and 70 degrees.

I have a few pictures from our walk into town yesterday, so you can see the "almost perfect" day.  We arrived in town for a late lunch--I had outstanding clam chowder.

We had fun wandering through the shops.   I got a
telescoping fiberglass pole and a rainbow helix
that spins in the wind.  I'll get a picture before
dinner tonight.

Across the street from the shops is the harbor.
A couple boats were selling fresh-caught
tuna.  The fishers from our group came home with
 beautiful salmon.

I just had to get a shot of how calm the water in the bay was.
The clouds may have been moving through, but at sea level there was hardly a ripple.

In the late afternoon I wandered the campground again with Lauri to catch the Friday arrivals, give them a "Hi there!" and a copy of the schedule of events.  We have 40 RVs and about 60 people this trip.  By the end of the walking I was limping from the plantar fasciitis I'm trying to not have, and skipped the announcement get-together in the evening in favor of staying off my foot so I could get around today.

This morning I walked down to the rec center with my breakfast, and stayed for the book club (they had read Orphan Train and now I want to read it!).  Following book club we had a presentation by an LED lighting manufacturer.  The couple, Tom and Stella, gave a really great discussion of the five questions you need to ask when shopping for LED lighting.  Tom also made crystal clear exactly how they work.  Of course we got the rally discount and a $5.00 coupon, so I made a small start on my transition to LED.  I'm for anything that lengthens how long I can go on a battery charge!

We had an assortment of lunch groups with crab and salmon cooking in the campground or people going into town to eat.  I've got to get a bike rack so I can get around more easily!  I had a fun BBQ lunch with a bunch of other "solo travelers"--those of us who usually camp on our own.

Tonight is a potluck dinner, with people bringing dishes from their heritage.  That's getting a lot of laughs because, like me, most of us are what John's grandmother called "dutch, devil, and dog."

I'll get out and get some pictures now, as I head to dinner in the rec center.  Adios!

Friday July 25, '14

I am camping with the Cascadia Chapter (Washington and BC Canada) of RVing Women (RVW) in Westport Washington, about midway down the coast.  We are staying at American Sunset RV and Tent Resort for the RVW weekend. I arrived about mid-afternoon Wednesday to find that I was not the first member to settle into the campground--a group had been camping down at Grayland for several days and had moved north on Wednesday.

We had great sun and puffy white clouds to set up, but the evening and night brought winds and heavy rains that finally tapered off after midnight.  Thursday was cloudy all day and looked very threatening.  a group of us had planed to walk into town, but with the intermittent rain drops we opted for a short walk to the pizza/Italian restaurant across the highway next to the air port.  We shared a fantastic pulled pork/ham/pineapple/onion/BBQ sauce pizza and watched the birds playing in the wind above the air strip--egrets, swallows, and a raptor that was up too high to identify.

I spent the later part of the afternoon as a "Hi There Gal," walking the campground finding RVW members, welcoming them to the event, and handing out schedules.  Since I'm not sure about most people's names, I was accompanying Lauri, a gal who has been a member for six years and knows just about everyone.  I took a few pictures of rigs so that you could see the variety--I didn't get a picture of our tenters or our cabin-renters.

Fran's Aliner is 12 feet long--much bigger than
 mine was.  Her dog Jackson, who is fairly big, has his own bed.

These are both RVW rigs.  The closest, the class C LazyDaze
is a great contrast to the elegant Tiffin class A.

This 5th wheel is about the middle of the size range
 we RVWs  are driving.

With no wind yesterday afternoon and evening the mosquitoes settled on us in droves.  Most of us ended up turning in early.

We had a beautiful clear blue sky this morning, but some clouds are moving in.  I'm taking off for the dock part of town, (to the north).  I'll take some pictures as I go!