on Spencer Lake
with Pat and Joe
Goats will eat anything and apparently, they like cameras
The resident peacock lets
me know who's the boss
Diary/Photo Journal
Week of May
10, 2010
Well, since we have ventured down south, we thought it would be nice to visit our northern neighbor and take a short jaunt through a bit of Canada. As we had completed our work assignment, we hurriedly finished our "to-do" list and would only be waiting on a few things before we attended a wedding at the end of the month (for the daughter of my cousin Greg - our grandfathers were brothers), we thought it would be the perfect time to take a little trip. Fortunately, the wedding is in Minnesota and that was the perfect excuse to start at the West Coast of Canada, cross eastward, and to drop down into Minnesota.
We raced through California and Oregon as we have 'been there, done that' and landed at our friend Sheri's home in Shelton, Washington. The sunshine came with us and a day on the lake and a day helping to install a fence (for corralling cows) provided us with a good dose of vitamin D.
Sheri and Dan had to work so that gave us time to have her parents, Pat and Joe, all to ourselves (see 'Pat and Joe' 50th Anniversary video) on Spencer Lake for a few hours. A little stop off at the local Spencer Lake Tavern and we capped off a splendid day on the water.
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Our wonderful day on Spencer Lake with Pat and Joe |
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Hani and Butch Cassidy and Sundance
Kid Goats will eat anything and apparently, they like cameras The resident peacock lets |
Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule (as we had mapped out specific places in Canada that we wanted to see) so we departed rather abruptly. We headed up to Neah Bay, the most northern city (at the northwest tip) in the United States. We had thought to do a little trek to a place called Point of the Arches; however, the road was not quite accommodating. The further we creeped along the back back back road, the narrower it got and the more we cringed at the sound of the trees scraping along the truck. Finally, we found a place to back up and turn around (is there any such thing as a 25-point turn?).
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A few acres of fence, no
problem! Sheri 'supervising' her husband, The only way to dig post holes |
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One of Gerson's back road tours was cut
short You know you are in trouble when you
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Our trip to Neah Bay was not a total loss as we were aware that Sheri's brother, Joey, was camping nearby while capitalizing on the opening weekend for Halibut fishing. After a few mad texts back and forth with Joey's wife, we found the camp and rolled up nearby. We arrived just in time to find Joey and his friend, Dave, down on the docks filleting a rather brag-able 50 pound Halibut.
It was not long before we moved our food into Joey's camp and a variety of steak, chicken, sausage, halibut and ling cod were alternating on the open grill. Needless to say, we were glad we arrived hungry (and thirsty as the beers were cold).
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At the Stone Creek campground outside
of Neah Bay, WA We caught up with Sheri's
brother Joey and his friend Dave and Joey - proud fishermen And I got to enjoy the fruits of their efforts - Delicious! |
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Joey, Gerson and Louise always a fun time together |
Early the next morning, we said our goodbyes to Joey and Dave and we were off to Lake Ozette, a beautiful little lake located in the Olympic National Park, a few miles from the West Coast. As luck would have it, a son of a good friend of ours, Rob, works within the Olympic National Park and tipped us off to two magnificent hikes.
The first was a drive to Lake Ozette and then an almost 10 mile hike through thick forest that opened out onto a shoreline meadow, overlooking the rocky and unforgiving low-tide volcanic rock tide-pools. We scrambled over and around large pieces of driftwood (or rather, drift-trees), tip-toed over tide pools (where I could not resist annoying a few crabs here and there), and across wide open sandy beaches being visited by locals (as in a couple of juvenile deer). Then, it was back to the forest for the return of this triangular walk and the dodging of the occasional drizzle of rain.
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The start and progress of our 10 mile
trek from Ozette Lake, WA, to the coast. From the deep
forest, to the rugged The pictures say it all. |
 
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Always have to play with the crabs These young Remnants of trees past Gerson celebrating the finish of a great hike |
If that hike was not enough, we were off to Lake Crescent, also within the Olympic National Park, and getting ready for another walk through the woods on the morrow.
