Water, Waves, and Wind in Port Townsend

We are enjoying a relaxed and low-key visit to Port Townsend, Washington in our R-Pod. We are staying at the Point Hudson Marina and RV Park, a favorite spot we come to frequently. My Mom and Dad made arrangements to stay here in their Class A Motorhome (I call it Shamu), and asked if we would be interested in coming during the same week. After staying at home and not being able to make the trips we had planned for this year, we were only to happy to say YES! Two of my Dad's five brothers and their wives also decided to come, so we have been able to visit with them while sitting outside in a large circle of camp chairs. Even while social distancing, being able to visit with my family has been such a blessing. I miss people so much, and even now, talking with masks and 6 feet apart, it reminds me of what is important.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridges.

Looking north over the side of the Old Narrows Bridge.

The Hood Canal Floating Bridge.

From the Hood Canal Bridge.

Shadow with flowers looking NW over the Puget Sound.

Seagull sentinel.

The Bell Tower looks out from the cliff over the town.

Fog and public art on the Port Townsend waterfront.

This artistic van has been around the city for several years.

Wine, cheese, smoked salmon, fresh bread, and relatives.

My dad and his brother #4.

Still life with wine glass.
The mini pumpkin is from my Aunt's garden.

Brother #2 is in the center, flanked by my Aunts.

The group in a rare patch of sun.

The sand spit with such a distinctive driftwood log.

Our next door RV neighbors are a bluegrass/folk band.
They are really good; we've had great free concerts.

This uncle (with dog) plays guitar and really loves live music.

Tree faced.

My dad walking the shore with his dog Chili.

Lunch in the R-Pod.

Sand spit, log, seagulls and the Whidbey-Port Townsend Ferry.

The flyers are blue herons.

Chinese take-out dinner with the fam.

Bad weather has blown in. We have been inside all day as the wind rages around the point. Where we are is at the western end of the Straight of Juan de Fuca, which is notorious for breezy conditions. The rain is expected to continue through the week, and may not let up until we leave, but I am appreciating the break from our regular routine. We brought our rain jackets, and are prepared for a quiet week.

Getting our Footing

The work on our driveway widening project continues. It is taking longer than I expect, but I don't really think my initial expectations were realistic. Since starting the actual work after a big break between getting the side sewer hooked up to the new water main, our contractor has finished the digging, demolished the old wall, built the forms, and poured the concrete footing for the new retaining wall. Another surprise was the minimal reinforcement on the old wall; it had no footing or foundation whatsoever, and only some small rebar connections to our house foundation. It had held up well over the decades (built in 1962), so I anticipate that the new wall will be here far longer than we will. Now that the forms for the new wall are in place, I can really picture how much space we will gain. So exciting!

Formed and ready. The orange tint is from wildfire smoke.

Filling the forms with concrete.

A long view from the side door of the whole footing.

Waiting for the cement mixer to back up.

The finished (cured) footing with the wall rebar in place.

The wildfire smoke has really impacted the air quality here. We have stopped going outside for non-essentials like walks and hikes. It makes to sense to me to go for a walk for my health when breathing this air is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. No thanks. Unfortunately for the workers building our new wall, they don't have a choice. We did manage a last walk at Point Defiance on the first day of increasingly smokey air. My birthday is on September 7th, which was Labor Day this year. We enjoyed a socially distanced outdoor potluck with five friends at the home of three of the friends. My mom made a cake and we had take out from the Red Hot to celebrate on the Sunday before, too.

The last walk at Point Defiance. This mushroom lit up with the orange haze.

Sunset at Tillicum Beach Marina with wildfire color.

Sunset on the Tacoma Tideflats access road.

My mom made me a birthday cake.

One of our neighbors put out boxes of plums from their tree free for the taking, so I took one box over to my mom's house and we made jam. It made two batches of jam, four cobblers, and a load of prunes using my dehydrator. I was pleased with how the jam turned out. These plums were sweet with just a touch of tartness, perfect for jam. We did have to scrounge for the jars this year. There were no new jars to be found anywhere in the stores; canning must be popular during the pandemic.

Plum lovin'

Cooking the jam.

Plum tired.

More food pictures. I still enjoy cooking... another surprise. I've also been processing the in-season produce for our winter menu. Eating seasonally has worked well for us, but I'm not rigorous about it in the winter and early spring months. I use our freezer, dehydrator, and canning to give us a bit more variety than just storage vegetables in the winter. We tend to eat more beans, too. Our apple tree is producing less fruit this year, but I still got a load of apples dehydrated. I like to use the dried apples to make granola. The cinnamon-apple version is Russ' favorite on yogurt for breakfast.

Zucchini and mushroom pizza.

Cabbage patch soup.

Baked eggplant parmesean.

Couscous with broccoli and shrimp.

Baked potato with cheese sauce and broccoli.

Breakfast. Fried egg with grilled tomato English muffin.

Soy tacos.

Shrimp and grits.

Black bean and zucchini pancakes with Caprese salad.

Italian style (mushroom) soup

Smoked salmon and cheese plate. I should have served wine, too.

Pasta with soy sausage and kale.

Tolmie Peak, Mt. St. Helens, Friends at a Distance, and More Cooking

I've been dragging my feet on posting more, because I've had some difficulty moving photos from my phone to somewhere that I can use for the blog post. Don't despair, for photos are working well now, and this post will prove it.

We continue to hike on Tuesdays. I like to call it Adventure Tuesday, but mostly it is a good, off-peak time to use the trails. I particularly enjoyed the Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout trail that leaves from Lake Mowich in Mt. Rainier National Park. Unfortunately, there were clouds of mosquitoes starting at Eunice Lake to the top. I came home with my legs covered in bites. I did use my bug hood, so at least my head and neck were protected.

Lake Mowich at the start of the trail

Eunice Lake with the Fire Looking on Tolmie Peak above

Through the looking glass into the watchtower.

The wildflowers were amazing.

At the top. If the clouds hadn't rolled in, you would see Mt. Rainer behind Russ.

We didn't get this view until we were driving out.

Mowich from above on the return.

More flowers. Flowers everywhere.

Our next hike was at Mount St. Helens. We drove to the Johnston Ridge Observatory (it was mostly closed because of COVID-19, and hiked along the Dana Point Trail and the Boundary Loop Trail. I haven't been to the north side of the mountain in years. We have typically climbed St. Helens, which is done from the south side (so the crater isn't in the way). It was an amazing day out and we did get nice views into the crater and down valley. I also enjoyed the drive up. The town of Toledo is so cute. It would be fun to come back and camp near here to explore further. We stopped for pie at Spiffy's on the way home. The perfect finish to a perfect day.

The crater, lava dome and the path of destruction.

Locations in 360 Degrees.

Few of the trees in this area remained on site; they took a direct hit here.

Mount Adams in the east with a cloudcap.

Overexposed.

Replanted forest. It's strange to see a forest with trees all the same.

Mural in Toledo, WA

The Toledo Library.

Check out the mile-high banana cream pie!

We are continuing to hike the Point Defiance outer loop trail on Fridays with our friends. This past week we stopped on the way back at the home of a retired friend (we worked together for about 15 years) and his wife. It is so nice just to sit around the yard and talk with friends. I miss people so much since social distancing became the new normal. They have an amazing rose garden and also a pea patch food garden.

Puget Sound from the Outer Loop Trail at Point Defiance.

Keep your distance.

The last of the summer squash.

 Russ and I also will do a local walk when we have to stay closer to home. So we walked the Ruston Way promenade along the south shore of Commencement Bay.

The old Dickman Mill site.

Mount Rainier and the Port of Tacoma in the distance behind Russ.

Cooking is one of my favorite diversions from the worry about the corona virus. I've continued to make old favorites and try new recipes using produce from our local farmers market.

Sesame peas with orzo and Caprese salad.

Muffins made with fresh market blueberries.

Fish Taco with Mexican Rice (contains fake chorizo).

Fake meat burger on jalepeno roll with cauliflower soup.

Muffin with mint julep.

Summer vegetables with faro salad. So refreshing on a hot day.

Tomatoes from my garden This was the second harvest.

Soy and rice casserole with Caprese salad over greens.

Vegetable lasagne with green salad.

Tuna and red bean salad sandwich on rye with a book.

Raspberry waffles with more berries and fake meat links

Gazpacho soup with grilled cheese.

Stuffed green pepper with Caprese salad (again with the tomatoes).

Panko crusted cod with corn and roasted potatoes.

A tomato flood. This was 2.5 pounds of delicious.

Shrimp with zucchini and tomatoes over penne with a Gin and Tonic.

Tomato-cheese gratin (used up the 2.5 lbs.).

Broccoli cheese soup with jalepeno bread.

Now I'm hungry again. I'll head off to cook dinner. It's pizza again tonight using up more of the zucchini and the chanterelle mushrooms.