ADVENTURING WITH ETIENNE AND ANDRE

We had a day and a half ‘off’ from our past 2+ weeks of adventuring before picking up Jenny’s two boys: Etienne 7 and Andre 4, for their camping adventure with us. We spent the first two days at home and Grandma (Susan) thought she found a perfect activity to take these dinosaur addicted boys to. 

They are nobody’s fool though, and could see right through these fakes.

To use my friend Cindy’s word — at best it was a ‘cheesey’ show that cost way too much to drive through. Oh well, it did get us out of the house for a bit at least ;’-).

After a few more nearby activities — a hike and a geocache hunt — we packed and prepared for our morning departure. Next day we arrived at Fort Casey for some exploring of the “Big Guns”…

…explored our way through some catacombs of this old fortress from WW II… which never had to fire at enemy forces during that war.

New flashlights were a hit, but a lesson in where to point them for a photo would have helped ;’-).



Climbing to the the lookout tower was NOT a favorite activity…

…as Susan was the only one to take the ‘risk’ of looking out from the tower.

Phew, time to come down and be done with this high point! Hold onto me Grandma!

After this breathtaking outing, we had our picnic lunch and headed to Deception Pass State Park for one night of camping.

The big rock next to us gave them a place to climb and play to use up some of their energy before gathering some of the blackberries from the vines next to our site. We would have those for breakfast.

Fortunately we were here just at the right time for Junior Ranger ‘training’. Got the workbooks and worked on those, went to join Ranger Joy for the activities of the day.

Activity was to search through some ‘owl pellets’ (like cat cough up of hairball) to find bones and parts of the small animals the owl cannot digest.

We stayed to learn a lot about owls that Ranger Joy taught us. After the program ended, Susan asked to take a photo  of the newly badged JUNIOR RANGERS  (who had just taken their “promise pledge” to be good rangers) with Ranger Joy. They always have their masks at the ready, know when to use them, and do not complain about them (good parenting). Keeping their distance, they joined the Ranger.

One more activity the next morning before moving on to the next camping spot. Riding our bikes around the somewhat hilly campground did not daunt the boys. Andre unconcernedly walked a couple of the steeper inclines and immediately got back on his bike to keep pedaling. We stopped for some corn hole gaming.

Tired them out for the drive to Anacortes for more adventure.

 This is not our first time camping here with the boys. We like it mainly because it is directly on the bike trail that takes us to the beloved Hot Dog Stand.

You may recall this destination from our similar adventuring this past April. These next three photos are of from that visit. (you can find the post for April 8, 2021).

They were only slightly younger — and Andre learned to pedal his bike with no assist from Grandma.

We rode to the same place this year as you can see the trail to the right of our campsite. So convenient.

This early afternoon, on our last day for this adventure, as predicted — it started to lightly rain. Fortunately we had taken advantage of the earlier hours to get some playtime (a lot of playtime at the playground and around the campground), and a bike ride across the Tommy Thompson Bridge.

I took some time for myself and did the relatively short ride around March Point. The route is on road and even though traffic is fairly light, it is not safe for the little guys so I rode alone. I found a treat to bring back for them at least. Next to this fun mailbox was a bench of treats.

I picked two items I thought the boys would like and tried to leave a donation, but there was no safe place to do so. A happy thing for the residents to do along this sparsely populated road.

With rain and quiet time activity (or a nap), I think this is all we will be doing for this adventure time. The boys have loved it, especially having their own free time using our walkie-talkies to play cops & robbers (Susan and I are Police Headquarters in the van, and they are detectives #1 and #2), and who knows what else! They have a good and creative imagination and play extremely well together. We have enjoyed our time with them, and Susan crowned me only once as “Cranky Pants” ;’-). Only once.

FINAL TWO DAYS WITH SOTF IN FLORENCE

I had to have a ride yesterday (Wednesday) so that meant basically a repeat of the previous day’s route with a few extra turns here and there. There are some short roads that wind, with some hills, through residential areas with homes directly on the lake, though the lake is hidden.

This one stood out to me.

And this one offered sweet happy faces.

My bimbling ride took me to several dead ends and turn arounds. I was not surprised to see there is ‘no mushroom picking’ allowed here, but the no cone picking was um… different. I assume that means no picking from the trees, and not restricting picking from the ground. But then again, it is private property so who knows.

This time I took a look into Honeyman State Park at the day use/picnic area. Here I found another view of the dunes. We have learned that those who ‘do’ the dunes are called ‘duners’. And actually, we are in Dune City. Says the sign…

Today (Thursday), our last day here, the Sisters have made reservations at the Lovejoy Tea Room for those of us who were interested. Count me in. Susan chose not to go and at first thought she would drive me there and hang around town waiting for me. Some research showed it was just over 5 miles away and I could potentially ride my bike there. There is the quarter mile long bridge across the Suislaw River .… with FAST cars and trucks — BIG trucks (it IS Hwy 101), and no bike lane or shoulder to use as a bike lane.

But fortunately there is a sidewalk that I chose to walk my bike across.

With a little help from Google Maps I found my way to the Tea Room and our Sisters group.

We all studied the menu and each made our choice.

Janine appeared appropriately dressed for tea time.

We were served our tea, our sandwiches and our scones.

My half scone got half eaten before I thought to take a photo…

Since I was on my bike, and even with pedal assist there are quite a few hill to climb on my extended route back to camp, I said my farewells a little early. (sorry I did not wait for Susan #2 to move her hair out of her face ;’-0)

I had taken the extended route that, even though hilly, would keep me off of busy 101 for about 4 miles. So I returned the same way and was rewarded with a fun photo op.

The next two photos I ‘stole’ from someone who posted on our fb page. 

Early morning or evening at the dock…

Evening with the lighted beach…

With that, this will be my final post for this particular outing. We head home tomorrow, have a day and a half at home, and pick up Jenny’s two — Etienne and Andre — on Sunday to take them on their adventure. I will not doubt be blogging a little about that outing, so stay tuned.

SOTF AT DARLINGS FLORENCE OREGON

From Bandon where we had the wonderful stay at Wayside Motel & RV, we drove north to Florence for SOTF camp out. Many of the Sisters really like Darlings and seem to return to it often. It is a marina that offers many boating opportunities for fun on the Siltcoos Lake. Several went out on a kayak paddle early today.

The campsites are ‘tight’ and very little space between rigs, but we are placed at one end with trees next to us. I suppose it is the price you pay to be camped lakeside.

Susan may want to rent a fishing boat for an hour or so tomorrow but has yet to really make that decision.



Awaking this morning (our first morning here), we were surprised to see thick clouds and everything quite wet from rain that had happened in the night. Our next surprise was to have a herd of vistors for breakfast. They pranced right past us with out a glance our way.

Relaxing inside our toasty RV, we waited for the uninviting weather to make a change. Gradually it did change and I took a short ride onto some side roads up to Honeyman State Park. I found just a few interesting things to take photos of.

This barn stood out to me.

It turned into a ride of lighthouses as several homes displayed their choices.

Stopping for a look at Honeyman Day use park I learned that the boat houses (not house boats) I had just seen were along the shoreline of Woahink Lake.

This next photo seems a bit out of focus, but may be due to the beach grass blowing in some wind. This is what many people come to this area of the coast — dune buggy riding. Here is a shot of a dune from the road. On the ocean side where the dune buggys run, there is no growth of beach grass or anything else.

And whadda ya know — the deer were now out for lunch. I stood over my bike and told them I was protecting them from any oncoming traffic, so go ahead and cross. I could not stop myself after only one photo ;’-).

Finally, this one decided it was safe, and did cross the road.

Back at camp Susan said she heard there will be a potluck tonight and was not sure of the time. I went up to check it out.

6:00.

SOTF

I may have more to post tomorrow but did not want to get behind again so am sending this now since we have decent wifi at the moment which comes as goes unannounced ;’-0.