FEBRUARY 2020

It had been a dark couple of months. We cannot help but wonder if Seattle is the only place in the world where a sunny day in February makes the news headlines!

This from KOMO NEWS.com...

SEATTLE -- The trumpets were sounded in full force Tuesday (2/18) when a sun-kissed Seattle ended a streak of 80 consecutive days without an official sunny day -- defined as 30% or less cloud cover over the entire day.

Though we found some days in February to enjoy activities outdoors, the start of the month had rain, more rain, rain, mud slides, and flooding. These photos taken of some of our biking trails are from news releases.

On a bike ride up north in Skagit County I got a glimpse of what folks up there had to deal with. There are lots of farms up there and some of the lands were covered in water.

Trailer becomes houseboat.

Reflections at a Christmas Tree farm.

Dry land for this fish.

Here we now are at the very beginning of March with a rainy day!  We will hope for more sun this month and we will continue to carve out days to enjoy the outdoors that we all love so much.

TWO MORE DAYS AT THE OCEAN

Pouring rain this early morning — more rain than we have had on this adventure, but we will be packing up for the drive home so not too disappointing. Today’s post will mainly be a photo journal as there are not many stories to tell. 

We took an easy day on Saturday and biked all around this big campground which holds over 200 campsites in cul de sac like settings. It is nicely laid out to not feel cramped in by a lot of campers. Of course we are here in the off season so there are fewer campers now. But more RVs than one might expect out camping  in February..

We biked out to the North Jetty as far as the paved road took us. We did not opt to walk further out in the soft sand. Turning around we had a view of the lighthouse near the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

We rounded the corner and continued UP (what felt like a very long steep, thank goodness for pedal assist) hill to the Center.

The overlook shows the jetty and part of the road we just came from.

We opted to not walk through the visitor center. I have been to the Center in the past and though it is interesting and informative, museums have sort of run their course with me. Getting old, seen a lot of museums, would rather do other things.

Our other thing right now was to ride DOWN (what seemed short and not so steep) hill. We stopped to look at Waikiki Beach and some of the moss-like trees. Not moss though — lichen that helps feed the leafless limbs and the trees will be back in full leaf in the Spring (the ranger told me).

Yesterday (Sunday), not only did it not rain, but was sunny for part of the day. And we did not ride bikes!!! Except for my two mile ride to grab a photo of shamrocks for one of my bike challenges this month. We took a day drive trip up and then down the peninsula. Stopped for a short walk to the beach at Ledbetter Park. Seems I have taken more than a few photos of different aspects of the ocean and bays that lead to the ocean.

The Visitor Center was closed but I could not resist the chairs.

Here is a photo of the west coast of Washington. Way down at the bottom where I have printed “here” is Cape Disappointment. If you can enlarge the photo you will see it better. This is where we are camped, and the long narrow peninsula is where we drove today — from bottom to the top.

Ledbetter Park is at the top of the Peninsula and where we took a short path to the beach.

Susan was good enough, and supportive enough to take her bike (mine was not quite as accessible) off the rack for me to ride the mile back for a shamrock photo ;’-)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day this month. We even had corned beef burgers for lunch at an Irish Pub in the town of Ocean Park earlier today.

I took a back road on the return to the van and could not resist this guy.

The weather had gradually clouded as we ended our day of driving around, and we were glad to have our nice comfy evening in the RV with a pre-recorded movie to watch this evening.. As we settled in toward the evening we had a visitor.

This is the final post for THIS adventure. I do have another short “February” entry in queue to post soon. And, as you know, I will be back with any future adventures.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT

Four nights available for a ‘camping’ trip in the RV. We dithered back and forth about a destination and when our friend Sue talked about Long Beach, the Discovery Bike Trail, and Cape Disappointment State Park for camping, we were on our way. We left home on Thursday for the 4 or so hours of driving to the ocean, making just a few stops along the way. 

The town of Brady (I thin k) has a grocery store that Susan remembered from the last time we drove through town so while she shopped for our short list of needs, I wandered across the road to the town park.

Saw a claim for the world’s largest oyster...

...so what if it is made of cement.



And a memorial to a war hero. He holds a gun in one hand and an IV bottle in the other as he attends to a fallen soldier.

We got to the campground in the mid-afternoon and set up for our few days of rest and activity. The following morning we geared up for a ride on the Discovery Trail.

We are in Lewis & Clark country. This was a hiking trail that we did not take as we rode on to the Bike Trail ;’-)

We cycled along the road, which had no traffic, to connect with a spur trail that would wind us to the Discovery Trail. And we soon get our first views of the ocean.

The trial winds us through the wind blown beach grass and along the ocean side. The boardwalk ahead leads walkers into the town of Long Beach.

Along the way we stop for some art work, and memorials to the discoverers of the Pacific Ocean.

 “So Bill, as a fellow fisherman, will you tell me what fly you used to catch this sea creature?”

Once in Long Beach we were facing rain. The decision to not ride further up the peninsula was an easy one to make! Riding back through town in the opposite direction we had ridden on the trail, we became aware of why our ride had been so fast and easy. TAILWIND! We now fought headwind and some cold rain through town in search for a place to have lunch. During our lunch at a nondescript diner where you order at the counter, the sun came out! After lunch and getting back on the saddle, the rain started in earnest. Back on the trail for our return home we were pelted by cold rain and buffeted by horrendous wind. 

The one and only photo I took in town was at the Shelbourne Inn where we thought we might have lunch. But they were not serving lunch yet so we moved on. The Shelburne Inn was built in 1896 and is the oldest continually operating hotel in Washington. That all sounds so romantic in a way. But the place looks a bit run down with age and wear. That is in fact, my feelings about the town of Long Beach. In fairness however, the four or so times I have been in this town have been in the off season. It may be very different in season with lots of tourists and less dreary weather.

We have another two days to continue exploring, as well as relaxing!