July 2015 Part 3a

July 27-31, 2015

Packwoood first,

In some reviews that Susan had read, some say that Packwood, WA is like being in The Northern Exposure TV series. Others have said it is a great place to retire, and a cute little town. So far, I can agree with the Northern Exposure part...

 

As elk walk in front of our campsite each early morning and mid-evening

 

The buck lead his gals to breakfast

 

In case you are on a hike and want to identify elk droppings...

 

Silhouetted, but I could not resist this one of them looking at me.

The elk are very docile, and would let you feed them (management does not encourage this, and we do not feed wildlife) and they like apples -- but you have to slice the apples for them.

As far as retiring here --- I don't know what I would do with myself. I would have to want to drive somewhere to fish (which I don't do), get invloved in bingo (which I hate), join the locals at the Tavern for drinking and Wii Bowling (Ha!) or learn to crochet (my mom was never successful in getting me to want to learn).

The cute little town part leaves me wondering where those review people came from. The town is basically a few businesses along the highway -- some not even open. The one glimpse of a "cute" town is Andrew. He is the young gas station attendant who came out to not only fill our tank, but to clean our windshield. This prompted me to ask Susan if unbeknownst to me we had crossed into Oregon (where they do not allow individuals to pump their own gas). No, it must be a Packwood thing. It is always such a treat to have someone do the gas station tasks. Anytime we need gas, we will be returning to Andrew (one of two gas stations in town).

Arriving at the Packwood RV and Campground, we felt a little like we were entering the twilight zone.

 

 

The back end of the office

 

Near the check in was this building. When we saw someone walk into one of the doors felt eerie

 

 

Another moss covered dilapidated building

 

Fortunately, we had a choice of where we wanted to set up our tent trailer...

We chose not to set up here - we may have become decadent, but have not reached this level.

Our choice was simply across the little gravel path to what seems more like a "forest". And we have had the entire forest to ourselves (and the elk). We have had a visitor or two stop by - a woman from Indiana (in one of the big rigs with her husband) who was curious of our "rig" as we were setting it up; and a young hiker (Jen) who is laying over here for a couple of days before continuing her trek on the Pacific Crest Trail.

 

Our set up

 

Our forest setting

We don't get cable tv and the wifi is spotty in the forest, but we have electricity, the bathrooms are a short walk away, and we always have hot showers! As I say -- decadent.

And so, we are here in Packwood for another night before heading to Naches and fly fishing ;'-)

I will close this page and post more about our meandering around Mount Rainier (yesterday) a bit later. This page is long enough, and as well, the spotty wifi is making it a challenge to upload photos and complete the post.

More later...

 

 

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