The original idea I had for this blog was to talk about some of the bloopers on this trip, but alas this post became lost to the unknown regions of the internet before I could publish it.
After this heinous event, my blood pressure has cooled, and I am on my trusty laptop instead of my $^& phone and I have enough resolve and patience to begin writing this post again.
Grayland Washington has been interesting. Some impressions
I have made as we have driven down the main stretch of road, is that the homes here have
seen better days. Most of the men seem to be in a beard competition, many homes have Blue Flags
with white letters that list the previous tyrant in office and are are still flown with great pride. In CA, smoking is also just not a thing anymore, but here it feels a bit more ubiquitous with people taking smoke breaks right outside the front door to establishments or just walking down the street with a cigarette hanging between two outstretched fingers.
15 Days on the Road
I wanted to also call out that today marks our 15th
day on the road. For 15 days we have traveled from:
Folsom to Rogue River, OR (354 Miles)
Rogue River, OR to Troutdale, OR (269 Miles)
Troutdale, OR to Gig Harbor, WA (163 Miles)
Gig Harbor, WA to Dungeness (Sequim), WA (85 miles)
Dungeness (Sequim), WA to Quinault River/Lake, WA (135
Miles)
Quinault, WA to Grayland, WA (69 Miles)
Total Miles between locations: 1075 (disclaimer / this does
not include all the bonus miles of going to adventures
Grayland, WA
Today started early with Danny waking with the sun and the
dogs needing to be let out. (it was some time before 6:15 am)
After a simple breakfast, we were on way to check out Grayland.
Grays Harbor Lighthouse Beach
We drove to the Grays Harbor Lighthouse Beach as we had some time before the Maritime Museum opened and this beach though bare of drift wood was also incredibly beautiful. As we were turning to leave the waves, I looked down and found a living sand
dollar. I regret that I did not get a photo of it but after showing it to Danny I ran back to the waterline and quickly released it back to the ocean.
Next up was the Maritime Museum where we learned
the role the coast guard and lighthouses played in this area. The Museum is
more informational and did not really hold Danny’s interest, museums really
miss the mark by not having information presented in a way that grabs kids
because the information they had was really cool.
They also had the Destruction Island Light House Lens. This
was a true gem of our museum experience. This lens was designed to send a beam
of light 18 miles out to sea and it could have gone further if not for the
curvature of the earth.
We also learned that the reason Destruction Island earned
its name was because the awesome Native American tribes (they are now part of the Quinault Tribe) rose up and fought back
from approaching European ships, and hence the invaders dubbed the island Destruction
Island after two attempts were made.
We then moved on to the wharf where a Pirate Day celebration was going on and plans to be celebrated all weekend. We have been to the Pirate celebration in Vallejo and sadly this was not that. It was a long line of vendors that you might find at a ren faire and some you might find at a county fair.
They did have some carnival games, and a bounce house that Danny was very eager to check out, but since he has not received his Fauci Owchi - access denied by James and me.
I was excited to find one of our favorite vendor’s from Ren Fair’s back in CA called Wolf Den’s, Danny was able to acquire a wooden version of Sting and he also found the one true ring “precious” from a jewelry vendor.
(Danny insisted on wearing his mask as it was part of his costume)
Prior to leaving for this trip, I made another attempt to introduce my favorite book the Hobbit. I mean he is now 7, perfect age, and finally we made it past the first few pages and he genuinely liked it. Thank GOD.
We also have an excellent audio version that we have been enjoying on the road trip, especially where our music stops working because we are too remote and the trees interfere with the signal. (We are finally up to the Battle of the 5 Armies). So today after acquiring the "one" ring and Sting, he played in Middle Earth on the Beach all afternoon, but I am getting ahead of myself. (SIDE BAR: We did share that the ring does poison Bilbo's mind as it did poison Gollum's, but he didn't quite get that since we haven't read the Lord of the Rings yet, which I may attempt to introduce once we finish the Hobbit.)
After our adventure at the Pirate Fair, we headed to
the Grays Harbor Lighthouse, eating our picnic lunch in the car on the way over.
The Grays Harbor light house was neat, but it was very hot at the top. The view was incredible.
“At 107 feet tall, the Grays
Harbor Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Washington State. Considered by
its architect, Carl Leick, to be his masterpiece, the Grays Harbor Lighthouse
is the pride of Westport, Washington, and Grays Harbor County.
Construction
of the lighthouse began in 1897. On June 30, 1898, a dedication ceremony
was held at the base of the lighthouse and that night marked the first official
service of the Grays Harbor Light.
Originally
located approximately 300 feet from the water’s edge, the lighthouse now sits
about 3,000 feet from the high tide mark. This change occurred from land
accretion in the area, due in part, by construction of the jetty system in the
early 1900s.
The
walls at the base of this octagonal structure are four feet thick, tapering up
to an 18 inch width. They are made up internally of red brick and coated with
concrete on the inside and outside. A metal structure completes the top of the
tower.
There
are 135 steps leading up to the lantern room. The staircase is original and
forged of cast-iron. The manufacturer of the metalwork was Patrick Dundon
of San Francisco Boiler Works. The landing brackets are pieces of artwork
themselves. They are mounted to the wall to support the landings; the
staircase is self supporting.
Unlike
many lighthouses, the Grays Harbor Light still houses the original
3rd order clamshell-shaped Fresnel lens. This lens was built in Paris,
France in 1895 and visitors can climb to the lens (or lantern) room level.
The flash pattern of this lens was, and still is, red and white to mark
the opening to Grays Harbor. As the lighthouse itself is still an aid to
navigation, visitors are able to see the current beacon mounted to the outside
railing.”
https://www.wsbhs.org/lighthouse
Danny to his credit
did great for most of the tour, but of course the top of the light house was
rather warm and he began to wilt having dressed for the cooler morning with
long sleeves and long pants. This was a low point for his day as it led him to
have one of his melt downs. I mention this not to embarrass but to keep it
real, each day has been filled with so much fun that not every day is perfect.
Poor Kiara is also still dealing with some of her tummy troubles, but after her
morning constitutional (which is quite loose), she is then fine for the rest of
the day so I am not rushing to call a vet just yet as she is still eating and
drinking normally and still just as boisterous and happy to greet the world.
We decided to head
back to the RV Site to regroup and give Danny some more substantial food which
of course helped. He found some kids in an RV site across the way from us and they
had a boy who is also 7, but ultimately that kiddo decided that he wanted to go
back to his campsite and left before cleaning up the Uno cards which lead to
another social learning experience for Danny. After talking out what happened, we managed to get him to shift gears and we went to a different beach to explore, in hopes that this one might have some excellent drift wood to play with.
I have never driven on the beach, it has always felt like it was against the rules or something. We stumbled upon the local beach where it is customary for every one to drive on the beach provided that their vehicle can handle driving on the sand. We did witness someone who had attempted to bring their camper trailer out there and ultimately got stuck and spent the better part of an hour with a crew of friends or newly found friends assisting in digging it out of the sand and then pushing the car in reverse and getting the trailer and car back on solid ground. We all cheered when they were back on solid ground.
So James tested the trucks ability to drive over sand and I am pleased to report it was a success.
Danny had an awesome
time playing in his version of Middle Earth and I was very happy to read some
more of my book, Wild (which is really, really excellent).
The afternoon passed with many a fine battle and of course at the last minute Danny managed to make some friends but the best adventures need to move on to the next. So much to Danny's disappointment, we said farewell to new friends and returned to the Westpoint Wharf for dinner, at Bennets Fish
Shack. HOLY MOLY, I had the best crab melt, I may have to go back for
another tomorrow it was so good.
After dinner we walked
around the remains of the Pirate Festival, and did our good deed for a day returned a lost wallet that I found in the grass behind them main Pirate re-enactor tent and got it quickly reunited with its owner.
This day surprisingly
has felt very jam packed despite its simple attempt at being “low key”.
Tomorrow we are
thinking of going back to the light house beach and what we are calling the car
beach but in actually is just the public beach at the end of Cranberry Beach
Road.
Danny is growing his hair out, and here is the progress so far....
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