The next step feels like a BIG one!

We are sitting about a mile from the border with Washington and British Columbia in a little town called Sumas. We found a small campground that is a mixtures of campers, travelers, and homeless folks. All those we have met have been friendly and hospitable to us.

We found it online and the price was good, so here we are preparing for entrance into Canada on Tuesday. By then we will have filled the gas and propane, re supplied the groceries and done the laundry. The last errand will be to go to a bank to get some Canadian money and head for the border.

But, first let me share a few notes from other posts. First I misspelled the name of the wonderful Oregon cheese that we are so enjoying. Here it is I picture form!

Second, I want to add a note about naming what we see.  We use the area guides done by the  National Audubon Society Field Guiide to the Pacific Northwest, for example, as well as the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Of course, these are only as good as the person using them, so I will say we are doing our best to learn new names and share those we feel some confidence about. Please forgive our mistakes, typos and other errors. 

Okay, back to the journey!  We had and a chance to learn a bit about Lewis and Clark's trip. We both had vague memories from our history classes but had a chance to visit a replica of their fort on the Columbia River. They and the army group they traveled with lived here for four months after they completed their mission given them by President Thomas Jefferson.

Of course the country looks quite different to us, and we crossed an amazing bridge across the beautiful Columbia River into Washington heading for a state park called Cape Disappointment.

Exploring the lighthouses long the beach brought some fun experiences.  We met a local man who taught us how he catches Dungeess Crabs for his table...

We also saw a flock of Caspian Terns near the Northern Jetty.  One bird flew over the flock making loud calls while carrying a small fish.  Soon, another one came out of the flock and they both flew to a spot on the beach where they would apparently share the fish. Out of the blue, came a large Western Gull and stole the fish. The terns kept trying and were eventually successful. Breeding ritual I assumed.

We walked on toward the North Head Light before deciding we would venture into town and try to find some Dungeness Crabs, too.

It was going to be a Mother's Day treat for us.

We found what we wanted to try as well as another friendly person who taught us so much about the area delicacies. First, it was how to eat one of these very large Crustaceans.

                                 

As you can see, we were successful thanks to Shaun the owner of The Crab Pot. He also told us about oysters that come for Willipa Bay, one of the most pristine bodies of water on earth.  We learned how the oysters are nurtured for the years it takes for them to grow to market size, five to seven years.

We also learned about the clams of the area and enjoyed his humor evident in the fish market.

                    

 The final day here we visited the other lighthouse of this area, Cape Disappointment, and the Coast Guard staff who maintain it. 

Living along the coast of Maine, we have an appreciation for the service of this special group. We thanked them before heading along to other sights on the trail.

When we decided on our route, we made a plan to travel along the east side of the Olympic Penisula and headed for Dosewallips State Park. Beautiful travel through the forests of WA with snow-covered peaks everywhere.

This park sits on the Dosewallips River, a salmon river, and the Hood Canal which is the western most arm of Puget Sound. We enjoyed a walk to the flats where we learned about the clam and oyster season.  We also enjoyed the eagles soaring overhead.

Time to move north again and we landed at Port Townsend and traveled on the ferry to Whidbey Island hoping to reconnect with another friend from the trail. " Trauma Junkie", an ER nurse hiked with for two months, but got sick and left the trail. We didn't find him but enjoyed the state park on the island.

We rode north crossing Deception Pass as we left Whidbey Island behind and headed for the border and the town of Sumas.  We had an amazing lunch stop along the road and enjoyed the views of Mt. Baker.

So here we are just a few days from heading into BC and the ferry terminal at Prince Rupert. We board the ship May 27 and start a weeklong trip up the Inland Passge to Alaska.  It is exciting and overwhelming to think that very soon we will be in ALASKA!  Wow! 

We both feel so blessed by the special sights we are seeing, the special local food we have tasted, and most of all, the special people we have met. We are forever grateful.

Footnote: I thought you might "enjoy" seeing the knees of Latona after her trip on the edge of a parking lot. She was doing something fun and foolish as only she can and paid the price of scuffed knees.  She is still laughing!

Columbia River and now Washington State

A few hours ago, we left Oregon and said goodbye to a wonderful state. We spent one week traveling along the coast, and said more "wows" and took more pictures here than anywhere else on this trip.  I want to share pictures of three particular days...the beach, the slough (pronounced slew), and the dunes.

Our first camping spot in Oregon was Bullard's Beach SP on the shores of the Coquille River.  From the campground we explored some small dunes, a stony flat section of beach and met our first agate hunters.  Mostly as a hobby, people search the beaches for this particular form of stone.

We also started to experience a special feature of the coast, the lighthouses.  The is the Coquille River Lighthouse.

Across the River, along the beach in the town of Bandon, we had one of our most spectacular beach walks.  The sunlight, the rocks, the birds and seals, the sky, the tidal pools all worked magic for us that day.  You can see what I mean.

         

        The Giant Pacific Green Anemone

         The edges of the rocks had seals enjoying the sun.  This newborn pup wa so cute.

The rocky island were covered with bird colonies and we saw Common Murre, Pigeon Guillomots, and Brandt's Cormorants.

Needless to say,we were actually "high" after this day.  We just keep saying how grateful and happy we were to share in such beauty.

The next day we ventured off to a spot that our friends Stan and Alida, from the Keys,  told us about. Stan is native to Oregon and they enjoy nature and especially the birds along with us. On Coos Bay, we found this special spot he recommended.

 

The hiking was through the rich and luscious forest and found some new creatures and plants on the walk.

     The Banana Slug with spots this time.

       

       The Rough Skinned Salamander

       A Land Snail

 

     The naturalist at the Slough told us this is a saprophyte.

       Pacific Rhodendron blooming everywhere.

     Part of the Slough and Estuary.  There was a Yellowlegs feeding in the edges, and I saw my first 

     Chestnut-backed Chickadee and a pair of Wilson's Warblers in the woods near here.

              This picture is taken from my National Geographic Bird Book.

On the way back to the campground, we saw a sight somewhat new to us. A commercial Oyster Company and the proof of their business along the road.

Our travel has been adding so much to our lives each day.  We saw a place called the Triangle near Winchester Bay where the oysters are grown and harvested each day.  We found an eating spot and I had three as an appetizer to be sure I didn't miss any special gift of the area. Delicious!

We had one more good hiking day before some rain was predicted. We had been seeing signs for the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and realized that is encompassed miles and miles of dunes along the coast.  These of course act like the barrier islands we had seen along the Atlantic, but we were impressed with description of the length and height of these sand piles.  We decided to venture on a hike into this area and chose the John Dellenback Dunes Trail.  This was billed as one of the top ten hikes along the coast of Oregon.  

     

     First half of mile was through the woods...

       

     The next two and half miles were through the dunes following poles for trail markers. We made,it to the beach and found hundreds of Peeps feeding in the surf and a notice that Snowy Plovers were present.  We didn't see any but it is always encouraging to see these protected spots.

     When we did the loop back over the beac, through the dunes and finally back along the woods trail we had only one thing to do...empty the dunes out of our shoes!  What another great day.  We rejoiced that we were still healthy and strong enough for a challenging but rewarding hike through the Oregon Dunes.

We had a few more adventures.  Buying some famous Tillomook cheese after a visit to the factory and visiting several more lighthouses and national forests.  During the rainy days these were fun things to do.  One day was so stormy we just stayed put!

Now the sun is out, and we have started a new adventure in Washington.

One small note about a little slip yesterday.  We were taking funny pictures of Latona and she was swinging her arms around and laughing and inadvertently stepped off the edge of the parking lot and down she went.  She scraped the skin off both knees and one hand, but as she always does got up laughing and said, "oh well, the price of stardom!"  

Special note of gratitude for tomorrow.  Thanks to my wonderful daughter who made me a mother, and to my own precious mother for sharing life with me.