On the Puget Sound

I admit, I do not know this area of the county well although I was born in the State of Washington.  Our family moved in December of 1959 to San Diego, so Washington State was more a memory than an experience in my life, except for the short interludes of travel through it on rare long distance family vacations.

When we loop eastward away from the open ocean coast we hugged the coast of the Puget Sound as best as we could with our 60 foot vessel we call truck and trailer, yet to be named.  We ventured off Highway 101 at Sappho, north of Forks, WA. on Highway 113 and then 112.  What I find about such excursions off the more beaten path are more surprises, perhaps subtle in nature.   These two highways' companion vehicles were primarily logging trucks.  Homes were dotted along the road, little worlds to themselves, some looking like they suffered a terrible storm, others were closer to something you would see in a travel book enticing you to come for a visit.   As we drove this stretch, we were frustrated that we were so close to the water, but because of the vegetation we could only see slivers of blue slicing through the towering tree trunks.   Oh, yes, finally a clearing ahead, just where the highway crew has parked their equipment for the much needed roadside repairs!   How dare they park there, the only turnout in the first half of the journey on Highway 112!   To our relief, a few miles further we were once again right on the coast and there was a place to pull out and stop for a much needed respite of drive and walk on the beach.   The water laid out before was relatively calm, a slight breeze, plenty of sunshine.  This part of what I always thought to be the Sound, is actually called the Strait of Juan de Fuca after a maritime explorer of the same name.  Just in case you wanted to know, Juan de Fuca was born in 1536, a Greek man in the service of the king of Spain, Philip II, best known for his explorations of the southern portion of the Sound.  We stayed in the Port Townsend area for a total of four night, the first night dry camping at Port Townsend State Park, south of town, and three nights at Fort Worden State Park, just north of the same town, adjacent to the peninsula where the Rotschield Lighhouse is located.   From that RV park, a few steps from where we parked, we had a vantage view of parts of Vancouver Island, Whidbey Is., lower San Juan Islands, and the snow capped mountains of the Cascade Range to the East, and Mt. Rainier to the South and East, a most impressive mountain even at such a long distance rising to 14,411 feet.  Fort Worden is one of Washington's most attended State parks, partly because it has various museums, the Fort buildings are still intact with some open for tours.  It is a beautiful location and one that I would like to visit again.  The older part of town was also quite attractive with its various boats and ships and boatyards.   One club, down by the next docks in lower downtown, its building stored the longboats for racing.   I do not readily remember what they are called, but you have seen them in movies or on sport channels - narrow, perhaps no more than two or two and a half feet, fifty-plus feet long, a racing boat for four oarsmen.  No, we only looked.   I will reserve my boating to something more for men of my own age and shape.  (smile)   Best wishes to all, signing off from a RV park for two nights in Cle Elum, WA.  See if you can find that on a map, population just under 2,000.   Kevin, Louise and Floyd - traveling.