Destination Unknown

Destination Unknown
Clair & Sandy's Home Away From Home

July 2004

*** Tuesday July 20th we headed up through Olympia and got on Rt. 101 and went up Washington’s peninsula stopping for the night along the Hood Canal at Hoodsport, WA at a nice Coast to Coast Park.

This is another very pretty area. You would think I was selling real estate, but this really beautiful country.

Wednesday July 21st we traveled on up Rt. 101 to the little town of Chimacum, WA and the SKP Evergreen Coho Resort. These SKP parks are really nice. This is another Co-op park.

Thursday we took a ride west of here out through Sequim and Port Angeles along the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the snow capped Olympic Mountains to the south. This was another beautiful ride.

Friday we toured Port Townsend where there are many old Victorian homes, the seaport and a state park part of which was once an Army Base. This is also the ferry terminal to go to Whidbey Island and the mainland.

Saturday we took a ride down to Bremerton and Bainbridge Island on Puget Sound. In Bremerton we visited the Naval Museum and got a glimpse of the naval base.

Monday July 26th we picked up our mail from home and did our housework, then took a ride up to Port Townsend for groceries.

Tuesday we took the ferry from Kingston to Edmond and went to the Boeing Plant in Everett and took the tour through the plant. It’s a very interesting tour. The building is the largest building in the world under one roof. They build the 747, 757, 777 and will build their new 7E7 there starting next year. There was an article in the paper saying they will be hiring 3,000 people in the Seattle area to fill new orders.

Thursday we took the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria B.C. and toured Butchart Gardens. I normally wouldn’t be too impressed by flower gardens, but these gardens are out of this world. The gardens were started to hide the unsightliness of a limestone quarry by the wife of the owner. Her work has turned out to be a major tourist attraction to Victoria.

Friday July 30th we left Chimacum and traveled to Port Townsend and put the motor home and car on the ferry to Whidbey Island and traveled up the island to Deception Pass Resort and spent the night. I think we set a new record for the fewest miles traveled in a day (27 miles). We arrived about 2:00PM so we had time to look around the island and Oak Harbor, the largest town on the island. This is where Steve and Michelle were stationed in the navy.

Saturday July 31st we headed east for the first time on this trip and traveled on Rt. 2 over the Cascades through Stevens Pass, Leavenworth and Wenatchee. This was a beautiful drive with lush evergreens up and over the pass, then on the east side all of a sudden there were no more trees. We were in high desert country. There are many fruit orchards, but they and everything else that is green are all irrigated mainly out of the Columbia River.

We stopped at Soap Lake WA at a Coast to Coast Resort, which is very nice with sites right on the lakefront.

Sunday we took the car and went up to Grand Cooley Dam which is on the Columbia River and toured the information center. The dam is really awesome and the lake it created is beautiful. There are many other lakes in this area. If you spent much time around here you would want a boat. The dam was built with WPA funds during the depression. It is used for three reasons, generating electricity, irrigation for the many farms and orchards and flood control. The dam is a massive structure. According to the literature it contains more concrete than the Hoover Dam.

Monday August 2nd we left Soap Lake and went down and got on I-90 and traveled east through Spokane and stopped for the day at Coeur d’Alene ID. Coming across I-90 in eastern Washington we saw many large farms where they were harvesting wheat and planting fall crops. The different eco-systems across the state were really interesting.

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