This was going to be our big travel year: Central Asia; the Caucasus; South Africa. But, then … well, you know. Lockdown. But life is not risk-free and by August, having had enough of homebound imprisonment, we decided to take our chances and make a break for the Free States of the High Plains: Montana; … Continue reading
My favorite month to be in Bellingham, Washington, is September. But, this year, we will be elsewhere: visiting our daughter, Kelly, in Colorado; our son, Trevor, and daughter-in-law, Alicia, in Arizona; and, traveling and hiking with our good friends, Jim and Von Gern, in Utah and the Grand Canyon. Anxious to get to Colorado, we … Continue reading
On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Diablo Lake Overlook to see what was in store for us the next day. The water in Diablo Lake is milky, rather than translucent like that of Ross Lake, because Diablo is fed by silt-carrying glacial meltwater from the Neve and Colonial Glaciers via Thunder … Continue reading
At the end of July, we headed off in our RV to the Cascade mountains to celebrate our anniversary. Driving south from Bellingham (orange star) on I-5, we took the exit to Sedro-Wooley, then continued east on WA-20, following the Skagit River uphill toward its modern source, Diablo and Ross Lakes, collectors of glacial and … Continue reading
Before leaving Crescent Beach, we decided to hike out to Tongue Point on the north end of the adjacent county park, Salt Creek Recreation Area. Although the tide was out far enough for us walk along the beach and shoreline all the way to the Point, the manager of our campground suggested that we drive … Continue reading
The goal of our second hiking day from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center was to get to the base of Mount Angeles (elev. 6,454), lost in the clouds in the photo below. From the parking area, we first hiked up High Ridge Trail, the first half of which is paved. From a vantage point below … Continue reading
While we were camped at Crescent Beach for the week (map, below, top left at arrow), we drove through Port Angeles and up Hurricane Ridge Road several times, once visiting the main Olympic National Park Visitor Center to talk to the rangers about recommended hikes on the north side, and twice to go hiking from … Continue reading
After lunch Friday, we left LaPush and headed back inland, taking US Hwy 101 north and then east around the southern shore of Lake Crescent (where the road is currently being resurfaced). At the east end of Lake Crescent, we turned north on the fun-to-drive-and-very-scenic-but-not-for-the-faint-of-heart county roads: East Beach Road – Joyce Piedmont Road – … Continue reading
Grover Cleveland is not remembered for many things, but here are the highlights: he was the third Presidential candidate to win the popular vote, but lose the electoral vote, and, therefor, the election (you probably know who the next two were); he was the only U. S. President to serve two terms non-consecutively (1885-89 and … Continue reading
Once again we’re staying on Indian lands; this time, the Quileute (or Quillayute) Reservation. Like the Makah of Ozette, the Quileute settled on the coast at the mouth of a river and found sustenance from the sea as fishermen and whalers. According to Wikipedia: The Quileute believed that each person had an individual guardian. They … Continue reading
The main attraction in Neah Bay is the museum, the Makah Cultural and Research Center, that houses and displays the artifacts retrieved from the dig at Ozette on Cape Alava. Taking photographs of the artifacts in the museum is prohibited, but they can be seen on the Washington University Libraries website here and here. The … Continue reading
As I mentioned in my last post, the westernmost point of the contiguous United States is Cape Alava, about 15 miles due south of Cape Flattery. To get there Tuesday, we returned southeast on SR-112 to the Hoko-Ozette Road, taking that road southwest through private timber land to the drive’s terminus at the ranger station … Continue reading
Olympic National Park, just a couple hours from our home in Bellingham, Washington, is the 10th most visited national park in the United States. And though we’ve been in Washington for nearly 5 years now, we are just getting around to exploring the Olympic Peninsula. We left early Monday for the beginning of a 2-week … Continue reading
We’re about to begin our Scandanavian/Baltic adventure. As I write this, we are sitting in the airport in Las Vegas, having left our home in Bellingham, Washington, 7 1/2 hours ago, yet being no closer to Stockholm, Sweden, than when we left this morning. Why, you might ask, have we traveled so long to merely … Continue reading
Well, we finished. But, in our rush to winterize the house, pack and leave Bellingham, I neglected to take photos of the completed house yesterday and last night a storm rolled through, spraying the yard and driveway with leaves and needles from the firs. However, I did get a chance to walk around the property … Continue reading
With the house now on its foundation, it was time to get to work finishing the 1/3 of the basement that will house Dale’s ceramic studio and my workshop; the other 2/3 of the basement will remain unfinished storage space, technically a “crawl-space,” although it could easily be finished living space someday. Here’s a photo … Continue reading
After learning that the two big modules had been transported to Mount Vernon for the final move and set the following day, we decided to drive down to visit. It was a little odd seeing the house in pieces on trailers in a field: We had scheduled everything to start at 9:00 a.m., July 30, … Continue reading
With all the concrete work now finished and the road side of the property back-filled to the retaining walls, it was time for Rob’s crew to start framing the rest of the basement and foundation. While Rob’s carpenters were busy getting their saws and work areas set up, Jesse placed the big stones on our … Continue reading
Anxious to get to work on the house, we stopped at what has to be one of the world’s premier hardware stores (appropriately named “Hardware Sales”) to look for tools. Now, that’s a wrench! But we didn’t need a wrench to put in the drainage system around the foundation – it’s all PVC. All of … Continue reading
While the foundation was being built, there wasn’t much for us to do so we took time to go to the Bellingham Roller Betties Roller Derby Championship Match at Whatcom Community College: …and then the Bellingham Scottish Highland Games in nearby Ferndale: …then down to Seattle as guests of our friends Rich and Susan (they’re … Continue reading
With the excavation complete, it was time to get started building. We had originally intended to put the house on a low stem-wall foundation with a 2 foot crawl space underneath the house and a separate garage/studio/workshop building, but the land didn’t lend itself to that configuration. So, we decided to put the house on … Continue reading
The first step in building our foundation was to survey the property. This was more of a challenge than I had anticipated because the plat our land was in had never been properly monumented, so I joined the survey crew looking for the government corners to start the process. The surveyors had to run bearings … Continue reading
The day before our real estate closing, I stopped by the city building department to take a look at the plans and permits for the house and to find out what the permitting requirements might be to raise part of the carport roof to accommodate our motorhome. In response to my request for the permit … Continue reading
I mentioned that we’ve been looking for a Summer home on this trip. Well, we found one and we’re under contract, hoping to close next week! The house is a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath, beauty, nestled in the woods and feeling more like a treehouse than a regular house. Here’s Dale on the boardwalk that … Continue reading
The weather while we’ve been in Seattle has been pretty much what we expected, although it was unseasonably cold when we first arrived a little over a week ago, hitting the 20s for a few days. And we’ve adapted pretty well, staying inside when it rains and enjoying the outdoors when it doesn’t. So, Thursday … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 