Saturday, April 16thThe temperatures have been in the mid-thirty's overnight, warming up to the high forty's in the afternoon. So even though it hasn't rained much during the day, it still is wet out when we work. This morning we started out in campsite #19 and worked our way through the next 11 sites leaving the six utility sites which run through the middle of our loop for tomorrow.
Later in the afternoon, a van full of kids stopped by our site to ask about the group camp. While Tina contacted Ranger Tess, I led them over to the entrance to the group camp, unlocked the gate and we all went down to the group Camp. Turns out they had two vans with twenty kids from Seattle, out for a weekend in the woods. Ranger Tess arrived and we started to clean up the site. It wasn't slated for this until next week, but two hours later we had all the downed branches moved and the area ready for campers. The last thing I did was take the trash cans up to the dumpster and set them up with clean bags. Then after dinner we closed the gate for the night, retired to watch a movie and call it day.
No photos today.
Sunday, April 17th
Once again we had a pretty good day, rain at night with a mostly sunny day. As campers depart, we go to each site, check things out and clean up as necessary, including the group site. By 3pm we were pretty much done so we finished the utility sites, swept out the bathrooms, cleaned up the last debris pile and fixed a post in site 34.
With sun in the sky and temperatures hovering around 50 degrees we decide to hike down to the beach with the dogs. The trail head is only a 100 yards from our site and the trail winds back and forth along the hillside, crossing a stream before dropping down the bluff with a series of steep stairs. Reaching the beach, the kids were let loose to run around. It was very nice with the tide out about half way and several other people walking along the sand. Naturally Wicket found something to roll in. By the time we got there she had finished getting all scented up - turns out it looked like some sort of intestine from a large shark, probably one of our native six gills which can grow to over 18 feet in length. Wheeuuweee, just what we needed, a dog fish - heheheh! After an hour on the beach we returned to the coach, cleaned the dogs up, had dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie (no TV reception here) and reading.
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Monday, April 18th
Another beautiful morning so we were up and at it by 9:30AM. I took the cart and went up to the office to see what was on this mornings list. I had no camp sites to clean, so I figured I'd replace a camp site post. But first I had to repair the post hole digger. There were two in the shop, both with one handle. So I took the oldest one and tried to take the bolts out by undoing the nuts. No luch, they were rusted solid. An hour later I had managed to hacksaw through three bolts to free up one good handle, remove the remains of a broken handle and find new nuts and bolts. Two hours down and I was able to reassemble one good post hole digger.
With that done, I went to site 31 and dug out a new post hole. Using some stakes and a hand maul, I got the post secured. With that done I stopped for lunch. After lunch, I went back up to the shop to find some rope and a ladder. Right across from our site was a small Madrona tree that needed to be pulled back out of the way of bigger rigs. After finding a stable position for the ladder, I got a rope secured around a large Douglas Fir tree and ran it out to the Madrona. With Tina's help we got the small tree pulled back and double tied off to the bigger tree.
While we work around the camp we frequently get stopped by people driving through so we spend some time answering questions. Today we met a young couple from Wisconsin out walking their Labrador, "Penny". They were staying for a couple of days on their way to Vancouver Island, part of their month long 'road trip'. We suggested they check out site 29 as it is secluded but close to the trails.
No pictures today.
Tuesday, April 19th
No rain last night but it got really cold. Punky usually has me get up by 6:30AM, so after I get done with my morning routine, dress and get them outside for their morning walk it's usually no later than 7AM. In fact we had to get the big oil filled heater out last Thursday so we don't use up all our propane in the first three weeks. anyway, it's cold enough in the morning that we don't go out without gloves and bundled up in our winter coats. But by 9:30 it's usually over 40 so working is okay, you just have to be dressed for it.
We went and visited with Ranger Tess to see what else she wanted done - start cutting back the dirt overspill that accumulates over the winter on the edge of the road and whatever needs to be done on the trails. So while Tina went around the camp with some cleaner and rags cleaning off the park rules signs staplet to the site tables, I took a flat bladed shovel and started reclaiming 6 to 12 inches of roadway, and trimming the bushes along the sharp bends so they don't scrape the sides of the rigs.After geeting a good start, we broke for lunch.
After lunch, Tina went to town to do some shopping and get her nails done. I grabbed a shovel and some pruners and headed for the beach trail. I trimmed up a big tree that had fallen across the trail so people could get under it without getting a sharp stick in the eye. Then I spent three hours doing ditch clearing so water coming off the hill would run down and collect in the ditch before cutting across the trail. Most of it was dried leaves and forest debris, but there were several small slides that needed to be cleared and re-trenched, salmon berry bushes to cut back and lots of general clean up. Later I took the dogs for a walk to the beach and took a couple of rolls of TP to the outhouse just above the stairs. That pretty much took care of our day. With nice weather being forecast for tomorrow, we decided to go visit the Tulip fields.
No pictures today.
Another nice day, no rain last night but still cold - woke up to about 35 degrees out. Even the dogs prance about and want to hurry back to the coach!
Walking past the gate and through the entry displays we almost went on a Tulip Wagon Tour through the fields but with the wind blowing out of the northwest, we decided we'd stay warmer by walking around instead. You can see from our photos, there is a wonderful variety of tulips being grown here. the colors range from pearly white to vivid yellows and reds, long rows of pink, purple and orange alongside flowers with mixed colors. Some flowers had little or no resemblance to tulips and displayed multi petal arrangements like peonies, roses or ranunculus. It was quite a treat to see so much variety.
Leaving LaConner we crossed over the bridge south of town and drove the back roads over to Deception Pass. Making our way around Similk Baywe passed through several small waterfront communities providing us with opportunities to see different parts of the area. Back on Hwy 20, we crossed the bridge and drove to Oak Harbor where we stopped at Walmart for a few items before returning to the coach and a late dinner.
