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It's Saturday, October 1 and Fall is in the air. The morning temperatures are in the low 50º and we can tell the days are getting shorter. Ironically, there are still flowers blooming in the RV park. The Zinnias must be the hearty Pacific Northwest variety. Our last day started with some lingering fog and overcast. Karen worked remotely during the morning while I worked on keeping up with the blog posting efforts. We took a walk around the RV park and stopped by the wayfarer posts to get some ideas for our version of the sign we wanted to create; stay tuned for the final product! The weather improved. The sun broke through the overcast and provided another beautiful day for us to enjoy in the Pacific Northwest. Today we traveled to Fort Casey and the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. This is where the Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry departs. I wanted to get an idea of how we would approach the ferry terminal with the fifth wheel attached to the truck. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed south. Admiralty Head Lighthouse stands just above Fort Casey, three miles south of Coupeville. The first lighthouse was built in 1861, then the current one was built in 1903. The lighthouse has not been in active use since 1922, but now features historic information for tourists as well as a gift shop. From the top you can enjoy spectacular views of Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains, and the Port Townsend ferry crossing. Fort Casey, Fort Worden and Fort Flagler together were known as the "Triangle of Fire," a trio of strategically placed fortifications defending the entrance to the Puget Sound at the turn of the 20th Century. Earlier in our trip we visited the other two forts, but honestly this facility was the best of the three. Constructed in the late 1800s, Fort Casey was equipped for defense and used as a training facility up to the mid-1940s. The fort houses a pair of rare 10-inch disappearing guns. While the guns were the height of technology in the early 1900s, improvements in warships and the advent of airplanes soon rendered them obsolete. Two additional 3-inch mounted guns are also on display in their original emplacements. After our adventure ended we stopped at the Walmart for paint and brushes for our sign project. We headed home to barbecue pork chops, take a nap, and eventually started painting our sign. The day ended with a spectacular sunset played to the naval station bugle retiring the colors.

We've been enjoying our stay here at the Cliffside RV Park riding our E-bikes and walking on the cliff trail. One of the unique characters of this campground are the many posted family plaques made from drift wood found on the beach. These customized creations are on display along the trail between the RV sites and tent site area. We have plans on adding our own before we leave, On Thursday, September 29 we made a date to meet Karen's cousins Maree and Roger Haug from Everett, WA for lunch on Whidbey Island. They drove over to Whidbey via the ferry from Mukilteo, WA to Clinton on the island. We met up in Coupeville at Toby's Bar and Grill right on the waters of Penn Cove for their steamed mussels. Both Karen and I enjoyed sharing a two pound bowl of these little seafood delights cooked in a broth of water, onions, wine and basil. Penn Cove Mussels spawn in the early spring and are therefore wonderful during the summer months through winter. The fast growth rate in the nutrient rich waters insures a firm texture with a flavor sweeter than any other mussel, with not a trace of sand or grit. The Penn Cove Shellfish Company grows and harvests over two million pounds of mussels per year from their two farms located in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and the other in Quilcene Bay, located on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Coupeville, WA on Whidbey Island is a small seaport village. The main street is only 3 or 4 blocks long and houses many boutique shops and eateries. I found Toby's to be more a "local hangout". And just about all our family members up in the Puget Sound area recommended we check it out. This seaport village was picturesque with the beginning of fall colors showing in the trees; it had a real "New England" feel to it.

On Tuesday, September 27, we left Camano Island and traveled north then west to Whidbey Island. We made a reservation for 5 days at the Cliffside RV Park on the Naval Air Station. After checking in at the visitor center and getting our credentials to be on the base we proceeded to the park. Our site #7 is on the cliffs above the beach and has a 180º view looking southwest towards the Olympic National Park to the San Juan Islands looking northwest. After we set up our site we took a walk along the beach looking out over the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. Periodically, the serenity of this beach is interrupted with the sound of Navy aircraft taking off, flying in the pattern and landing. Whidbey Island Naval Air Station is home to a number of different squadrons of the electronic countermeasure aircraft (EA-18G Growler) and patrol/reconnaissance aircraft (P-3C Orion and P-8 Poseidon). During parts of the day, it's like your own personal air show. We anticipate some wonderful sunsets in our future. And maybe, if we are lucky, an Orca sighting. We are hoping and praying we get a chance to see these beautiful creatures.

Yesterday, September 22, Karen and I joined her cousins Jeff and Becky Hilen on a sightseeing trip north of Camano Island. We drove from the beach house through Stanwood, WA and took the back roads in farm country to Fir Island and eventually to the town of La Connor, WA. La Connor is a picturesque small town between the Skagit River and the Swinomish Indian Reservation across the Swinomish Slough. La Conner history and heritage goes back thousands of years; the land on the delta near the mouth of the Skagit River has been home to the Swinomish Tribe. Since the early 1860’s it has also been home to La Conner, Skagit County’s oldest community. Today many original buildings have been restored and now house retail shops, restaurants and museums. The town of La Conner and the Rainbow Bridge are listed on state and national historic registries. If you’re a history buff, La Conner’s Walking Tour of Historic Landmarks map is a great way to learn more about the early days of La Conner, as is a visit to the Skagit County Historical Museum. We enjoyed lunch in town and walked around doing the tourism thing. From La Conner we headed back to Camano Island with a stop at the Snow Goose farm stand for some fresh corn on the cob and an immodest scoop of ice cream on a waffle cone.

On Saturday afternoon, September 17, Karen and I traveled with her cousins Jeff and Annie to the Taylor Shellfish Farm north of Camano Island on Samish Bay. We enjoyed the scenic trip along Chuckanut Drive to the Samish Bay Farm and Shellfish Market. After ordering a tray of freshly shucked oysters and White Shrimp we were seated in the picnic area and enjoyed the local atmosphere while we waited for this delicious Puget Sound snack. Before leaving we decided to pick up 4 pounds of Manila clams for dinner and headed home. The Taylor family has been growing shellfish for over 100 years. If you're traveling to the Puget Sound area anywhere near Bellingham, Washington and love fresh shellfish you'll need to check out this hidden gem.

On Saturday, September 10th we hooked the truck back up to Trinity and departed Evergreen Coho SKP RV Park in Chimacum and drove to Port Townsend to board the ferry. The ferry ride from Port Townsend to Coupeville on Whidbey Island took 30 minutes. The fare for our fifth-wheel, truck and two passengers was $98.00 and saved us the trouble of traveling two additional hours by road through the Seattle traffic. After arriving at the Coupeville ferry terminal we only had an hour and half drive to Camano Island. Earlier this year we stayed on the property next to Karen's cousin's beach house for two weeks in July. During that trip we had so much fun visiting our Washington relatives and enjoying the weather around the Puget Sound we planned to return in September. We are staying for another two weeks and plan on playing golf, eating out and exploring the local sights.

So with a week in Chimacum, Washington as our base we took day trips and ran errands in the area. Our first journey took us to Port Townsend where we did a reconnaissance of the town's services, marina, and ferry terminal. We ended that day with dinner and headed home. The week was spent exploring Port Hadlock, Port Ludlow and Indian Island. Fort Flagler State Park is a public recreation area that occupies the site of Fort Flagler, a former United States Army fort at the northern end of Marrowstone Island in Washington. The state park occupies 1,451 acres at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet and the Marrowstone Point Lighthouse lying adjacent. Port Townsend is visible to the northwest, the cranes at the Navy base on Indian Island to the west, and Whidbey Island to the east across Admiralty Inlet. Flagler Road (SR 116) terminates at the park entrance. Fort Flagler was a Coast Artillery fort that along with Fort Worden and Fort Casey once guarding Admiralty Inlet, the nautical entrance to Puget Sound as part of a "Triangle of Fire" defensive plan. Later we traveled to Discovery Bay and eventually Sequim, Washington to take care of some cell phone and internet service issues with Verizon and AT&T. We ended the week with a trip south to Silverdale to shop at the Costco. On our way back we took a side trip to Port Gamble before crossing the Hood Canal bridge back to Chimacum. Port Gamble is on the Kitsap Peninsula situated on the shores of scenic Hood Canal. The 120-acre National Historic Landmark complete with picturesque, turn-of-the-century buildings filled with shops, an historic church, breathtaking views, expansive grounds and New England style houses on maple and elm tree-lined streets. The sawmill that William Talbot and Andrew Pope founded on Gamble Bay in 1853 remained in operation until Dec. 1995. It was the longest continually operating mill in the United States at that time. Now, the mill is gone, but the little town that grew up around it gives visitors a chance to see how early lumbering communities looked and functioned. Fewer than 1,000 settlers lived on the Sound in 1853, and most of them were busy felling enormous trees, or working in mills that sawed the logs into lumber for the San Francisco market. Their mills were built close to the water for easy transport, and their towns were built on the bluffs above. Their communities closely resembled the New England town of Machias, Maine where the founders had been born. Steepled churches and gabled clapboard houses with steep roofs and picket fences were common, but these simple buildings were soon replaced with more updated and stylish structures when the rail tied the region to the East in the 1880’s. Change moved slowly in Port Gamble because it was a company town. Some early buildings remained in use, and Pope & Talbot continued to construct many structures in a modified New England style.

While we were in Camp Rilea we met a fellow RVer who told us about an Escapees RV Club co-op in Washington. After doing a search of the Escapees website we learned about Evergreen Coho SKP RV Park in Chimacum, Washington. We called and made reservations for 4 days to check out the facilities and learn more about this unique RV park. Chimacum is located in Washington State on the Olympic Peninsula near the historic Victorian seaport town of Port Townsend, Washington. As a proud member of the Escapee RV Club system, Evergreen Coho SKP RV Park is a cooperative 55+ RV community consisting of friendly folks who enjoy participating and living in this RV park. They offer both permanent memberships for qualified Escapee members and also short-term rental lots. X marks our site in the park. ABOUT ESCAPEES “SKP” or “Skip” is a commonly used nickname for Escapees. (Just say S-K-P fast and it sounds like Escapees.) But there is more to SKP than just the sound of the letters. SKP means: Service, Knowledge and Parking and also Special Kind of People Members have taken the idea of caring and sharing to heart from the very beginning. They say the park is run by volunteers and it's true! The many Evergreen Coho SKP RV Park Committees are responsible to the park and its membership to provide the best possible environment to fulfill the Articles of Incorporation which state that this nonprofit corporation is established to maintain and operate “a recreational vehicle park and to provide facilities and activities for enhancing the fellowship, recreational and social endeavors of its members and guests.” We were so impressed with this park we decided to increase our stay to a week and had a great time using this park as our base to explore the surrounding communities. We visited some wonderful state parks and historical sites, played golf, visited a local church and just relaxed with the friendly members of this community.

We crossed the mighty Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon into Washington on September 02, 2022 and headed to a Harvest Host for the night stay at the Willapa Bay Heritage Farm. Willapa Bay Heritage Farm is in Long Beach, Washington and is owned by Farmer Deb. The farm is 9 acres in size with 225 chickens, 10 goats, 1475 rhubarb plants, 75,000 daffodils, and 28 fruit trees. The farm can handle up to four RV's per night. We arrived first, so we got the choice view by the bay. Later, we were joined by two other couples. We enjoyed goat cheese, crackers and wine at happy hour with our fellow guests. Before leaving the next morning we met our hostess and purchased a dozen fresh eggs. This was a great stopping venue before continuing north. We proceeded north on U.S. Highway 101 through Hoodsport, Lilliwarp and Quilcene to our next stop in Chimacum, Washington.

After checking out the area over three days we decided to try and get a RV site in the park. Well, with the upcoming Labor Day weekend I knew our chances this late in the reservation process would limit our options. However, the good Lord smiled and we were able to get one night, Thursday September 1 in the campground so I booked it. Our site in "J" loop is a pull-thorough with water and electricity. The price was a bit steep at $52 ($44 for non-residence plus $8 reservation fee) but I really wanted to try it out. Thursday morning at 10 AM we checked out of Camp Rilea and headed to the parking lot for Battery Russell to wait until check-in time at 4 PM. We parked the RV and took our bike off the rack to do some further exploring. The park has an extensive system of bike trails so we took the route to the historical military museum to the north where on June 21, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-25 shells the U.S. Army's Fort Stevens coastal defenses on the Oregon side of the mouth of the Columbia River. The Japanese are retaliating for the U.S. bombing of Japan the prior April. The U.S. batteries do not return fire and there is no serious damage. After our tour of the facilities we returned to the RV, hooked up our bikes and drove to our campsite to set up. We were able to get in early after the 1 PM check out time and had some lunch before heading to the beach. We rode our bikes one mile to the beach with our beach chairs strapped to our backs. Tomorrow we leave for Washington state. We have a reservation at a Harvest Host with Farmer Deb Howard at Willapa Bay Heritage Farm, 15720 Sandridge Rd, Long Beach, WA.

Tuesday, August 30 we explored the area around Warrenton, Hammond and Astoria, Oregon. This included the massive Fort Stevens State Park south of the mouth of the Columbia River. One of the nation’s largest public campgrounds, Fort Stevens marks the site of a military installation once used to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort saw service for 84 years, from the Civil War to World War II. Today, Fort Stevens is a 4,300-acre park offering a variety of recreation adventures, including camping, beach-combing, a freshwater lake, trails, wildlife viewing, and a historic shipwreck. The RV facilities are the largest I've seen to date and includes: 174 full-hookup sites (36 pull-through), 302 electrical sites with water (11 pull-through), 6 tent sites, 9 walk-in tent sites with parking nearby, 15 yurts (7 pet-friendly), 11 deluxe cabins (5 pet-friendly). Amazing! Our first stops inside the park was to the wreck of the British bark, Peter Iredale, one of the largest and finest sailing ships of her day. She ran aground on Clatsop Beach October 25, 1906 and was stranded but all crew members were safely evacuated. The iron and steel vessel has been one of the local sights ever since. From there we drove to the south jetty at the entrance of the Columbia River. Salmon season had started and the boats around the mouth were thick as mosquitos. All day long we heard the larger vessel traffic alerting the small fleet of boats with 5 blasts of their horns. In international maritime language the sound signal of five short blasts means “I am not sure of your intentions and am concerned we are going to collide”. From the jetty we travelled to one of the many military historical sites at Fort Stevens. Battery Russell is one of nine batteries at Fort Stevens and was active for forty years, from 1904 to 1944. Fort Stevens itself was in service for 84 years, from the Civil War through to WWII. It’s named after Major General David Russell who fought in the Civil War. The battery once protected the mouth of the Columbia River. Together with Fort Columbia and Fort Canby in Washington, the three forts created the Triangle of Fire. This defense made it difficult for enemy boats to sneak undetected up the Columbia River. On Wednesday, August 31, 2022 we took a trip over to Astoria, Oregon for a seafood lunch and a visit to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. The museum features the unique characteristic of this body of water. Since 1792 approximately 2000 vessels, including over 200 large ships, have sunk at the Columbia River Bar. More than 700 people have lost their lives to the sea. These dangers have earned this area the title “Graveyard of the Pacific”. Mariners agree that the combination of high seas, a mighty river, land shallow, and shifting sand bars make the Columbia River bar one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world. The highlight for me was the full size exhibit of a United States Coast Guard 33 Foot Motor Life Boat rescuing a man in the waters off the mouth of the Columbia River bar. This is the same area where the USCG trains "coasties" as Coxswains (helmsmen) to operate in these challenging and dangers conditions.

Monday, August, 29 we arrived after a 90 minute transit to our next home for three days up the picturesque Oregon coast to Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center in Warrenton, Oregon. This State of Oregon military installation has been serving the Pacific Northwest for the last 90 years. Comprising of 2,000 acres, it offers both military and civilian users training options because of its location and facilities. Encompassing broad dune and woodland areas, firing ranges, barracks, and other facilities, plus a broad ocean front. The RV sites are authorized for use by the following: Active Duty, National Guard, Reservists, Retired Military, 0-100% DAV (my eligibility status), Purple Heart Recipients, Former POW, Veteran Caregivers, DoD Civilians. After checking in at the billeting office we found our site #8 sandwiched between another fifth wheel and the parking stanchion protecting the roof of the bath house. Karen carefully and skillfully guided my backing maneuver into the space. Our Walkie Talkies have proved to be the best communication device for navigating these tricky parking scenarios. After getting set up we rode our electric bikes around the camp to get a better "lay of the land". We finished the first day with a trip to Fort Clatsop, some errand running and a quick tour of downtown Astoria, Oregon. Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis. The site is now protected as part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, part of which was formerly known as Fort Clatsop National Memorial until 2004. The original Fort Clatsop decayed in the wet climate of the region but was reconstructed for the sesquicentennial in 1955 from sketches in the journals of William Clark. The replica lasted for fifty years, but was severely damaged by fire in early October 2005, weeks before Fort Clatsop's bicentennial. A new replica, more rustic and rough-hewn, was built by about 700 volunteers in 2006; it opened with a dedication ceremony that took place on December 9. The site is currently operated by the National Park Service.