Port Gamble

The Kitsap peninsula where Elissa lives is full of quaint little towns each with its own unique personality.  They make nice little day trips as they are all within an hour's drive.  Port Gamble is a lumber mill town.  The town and mill were started in 1853 and the town was built to look like the home town of the mill founders, East Machias, Maine. Until 1995, Port Gamble was the site of the oldest continuously operating sawmill in North America.  

 

The tree in the foreground of the mill on the bay is a Camperdown Elm.  

You could walk inside the branches of the tree and it was like being under an inverted bowl.

The mill still owns the town and all the houses.  So all the houses are all well preserved - most are being used as little shops.  They had a really interesting general store and museum. 

Big Four Ice Caves

We took a day trip across Puget Sound to the Cascade Mountains to see some ice caves.  I saw a description of the ice caves on the internet when I was doing research on where to find the nearest glacier.  FYI - there are glaciers in Washington; they are just not as spectacular as the ones that calve into the fjords in Alaska. We had to take the pickup across the sound on the ferry and arrived in Edmonds, just north of Seattle.  From there we drove about an hour and a half to the Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. We drove 11 miles into the forest to the caves.  The drive was spectacular through a beautiful moss-covered rain forest.  We stopped beside a rushing mountain stream for a picnic.  

 After our picnic, we drove on to Big Four Mountain.

 

We hiked about a mile and a half through the forest by a beautiful stream. 

 Then we entered the avalanche zone.

The size and quantity of trees felled by snow avalanches was pretty impressive.

Apparently, these caves are formed by summer waterfalls running through the ice and snow that builds up from all the winter avalanches.  

Elandan Garden

In between painting, gardening and home improvement projects for Elissa, we try to get out and explore the surrounding area.  Eric and Elissa have been interested in bonsai so we decided to check out the Elandan Garden nearby.  

I couldn't believe how old some of the bonsai trees were.  This Alpine Hemlock was the oldest tree at over 1000 years old from 900 A.D..  It was found on the slopes of Mt. Baker not far from Seattle.  I wasn't sure how they could tell how old these found trees were, but it appears that in the bonsai grooming process they cut away parts of the upper trunk and from that they can date the tree.  This tree was probably about 4 feet tall.

 

 

 

Alpine Hemlock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a great variety of sizes, ages and tree types.

 

Sydney  loved exploring the gardens with all the fountains and rocks.

 

The garden was in a beautiful setting with Puget Sound in the background. 

 

While in the garden, you could see the "ghost fleet" of decommissioned aircraft carriers and navy vessels in the distance.

 

the "ghost fleet"

Two days after visiting the gardens, we were in the area again and saw them towing the USS Constellation aircraft carrier away from the "ghost fleet" on her final journey to be scrapped.  

USS Constellation

Trip to San Juan Island

We headed out on a Monday morning for San Juan Island north of the Olympic Peninsula.  We had to drive for about an hour to the top of the peninsula.  Then we took a ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island.  

We then had to drive north on Whidbey Island for about 45 minutes.  On the way across Whidbey Island we crossed this gorgeous bridge built by the CCC at Deception Pass. We stopped and watched a bald eagle perched by the water.

When we reached Anacortes we took another ferry for an hour to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  We were treated to beautiful views of Mt. Baker on the way.

On Tuesday, we went to Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island to watch for orca whales. 

Lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park

We selected a good location and waited.  We got to watch some harbor seals and a sea lion while we waited. 

After about 3 hours of watching we were rewarded with a great orca show.  We saw the J pod with 27 members parade by for an hour and a half.  The water was so clear and they were so close we could sometimes see them swimming underwater.  We were able to identify the big male orca whale Ruffles by his big ruffled dorsal fin.  I didn't waste any effort trying to photograph the whales, I just enjoyed the show. 

The next day we decided to spend the day at Deadman's Bay to watch the whales.  We saw a bald eagle fishing, a deer, a harbor seal, lots of kayakers and lots and lots of driftwood.  Finally after nine hours of waiting, the J pod orcas came by and we were treated to another show. 

As we were waiting for the ferry the next day, we walked around Friday Harbor.  On our way back to Elissa's, we stopped in Port Townsend for some pizza at Sirens which overlooks the water.

Port Townsend

Our location on the Kitsap Peninsula

Elissa lives in Silverdale on the Kitsap Peninsula sticking up through the middle of Puget Sound.  We are pretty much straight west of Seattle.  To get to Seattle from Silverdale you either have to take a ferry across from Bainbridge Island, Kingston or Bremerton or drive south around Puget Sound through Tacoma.  

Here is the map of the northwest corner of Washington and our location in Silverdale.  

 

The weather has been very mild for us.  They had a heat wave and went 15 days in a row with temperatures over 80.  It was a bit hot on the days it was getting close to 90, since homes are not air-conditioned, but the evenings cooled off nicely.  It was funny to hear everyone talk about how hot it was.  Most days are in the mid-70's and it has definitely been more sunny than rainy.  It has also been different getting used to the longer days here.  The sun comes up about 5 am and sets about 9:30 pm.  

We can see the Olympic mountains from Silverdale.  When we drove to Portland we were able to see Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's on the way.  We saw Mt. Hood while in Portland.  

A visit to Portland

We visited Portland, Oregon mainly to go to a baby store and to go to Ikea for some items to fix up the basement quarters in Elissa's house and some shelves for Sydney's room.  There is no sales tax in Oregon, so it was worth a little drive and an overnight stay.  We spent one day touring around Portland.  We visited the downtown area to see what it was like and then drove to the Portland Japanese Gardens. 

 It is supposed to be the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan.  

Sydney really liked the koi fish.

 We had a great view of Mt. Hood from the gardens.

After leaving the Japanese Gardens, we walked over to the Portland Rose Garden.  There were so many roses and it smelled wonderful! 

After being toted around all day, Sydney was ready for some exercise.  She had a ball trying to lift our water bottles and walk with them.  

Too late in the afternoon, we decided to ride the aerial tram over Portland.  We felt like we were on the Amazing Race because we kept missing our exit and then we got caught in rush hour traffic.  Then we had to race through a hospital  to catch the tram.

We were treated to a spectacular view of Mt. Hood.  

When we arrived at the bottom, we were starved and headed for the first restaurant we could find - it ended up being in a retirement home complex.  The food was great and Sydney delighted all the residents with her smiles and antics.   She toddled around visiting at several tables.  They all waved and said goodbye to us as we left.