Eagle’s Nest RV (2)

Our first order of business on leaving Whidbey Island was to try to get on the ferry as a stand by. I don’t know why I completely forgot about making reservations ahead of time, but by the time it dawned on us we’d be needing a ferry ride, the only available slots on the day of departure were at 10pm. Luckily, they only sell about 60% of the tickets ahead of time and they are extremely efficient at packing ferry boats. I skipped my morning shower so we could get there as early as possible and we were on the 8:30 ferry with no trouble at all. Not that I’m advocating some new kind of lifestyle where I just play everything loosey goosey and expect things to work out. That is unlike me and would result in a nervous system breakdown pretty quickly.

It was an easy drive down the scenic Hood Canal valley. We noted again that Dosewallips would be a nice campground to stay in at some point. We also took the opportunity to dump our tanks at Potlatch State Park Campground. That one would also be a possibility but it seemed like the sites around the back of the loop might be tight. I didn’t really explore, but I did see a sign warning of maximum vehicle length of 22 feet beyond a certain point.

Highway 101 is generally a pleasant highway all up and down through Washington and Oregon. It curves a great deal to run through Olympic National Park and we did not follow it that direction. Instead, we took the more direct route of 101 south, to 108 to McCleary, and then 8 and 12 to Aberdeen where we rejoined 101. 101 is confusing. The most exciting part of the drive was seeing a sign saying “Fresh Cookies 1/4 Mile Ahead.” We’ve passed by a million fresh fruit and vegetable stands. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fresh cookie stand before though. So yeah, we had to do that.

Once again, I was not able to reserve a site down below at Cape Disappointment State Park, but it’s really sinking in on this trip how much we enjoy electric hookups. We have two perfectly good lithium batteries and 400w solar panels and can do just fine for a couple of days without needing to charge, but when we have the hookups, we tend to run fans, use heaters to dry things out, and turn on lights with wild abandon. It’s a level of easy that can really help when traveling for long stints. For weekends, it honestly does not matter. When you’re going on the second month on the road, it’s just super nice to not even have to think about being super fast when getting something out of the fridge. In any case, this is all to say that I still enjoyed staying at this campground, even if it is not as scenic. Also, there is no cell service down at the state park, and that too has an impact that is subtle, but adds up.

Richard went out and walked the Discovery Trail while I relaxed and got back to attempting to knit socks. I have this teeny tiny strandy sock yarn and teeny tiny thin circular knitting needles. The last time I attempted sock knitting, it was the final straw in over extending my hands because I was death gripping the needles to keep the itty bitty yarn threads from slipping off the tips. I’ve been afraid to come back to it, but I’ve gotten more practice with our daughter’s scarf, and my hands are feeling much better. I’m following a “vanilla sock” pattern from someone called “The Crazy Sock Lady” and I’ve watched her video tutorial many times. I was excited to come back to it and I am five rows in to a ribbed cuff. I frogged it once already, but I’m getting better! Richard was out walking something like ten miles and was gone for over two hours. He kept texting me to make sure that was ok and I kept telling him to shush because I was concentrating. This is definitely a helpful hobby.

We had one full day in the area and we just did a repeat of our last trip. The Discovery Trail is one of the best biking experiences we’ve had. It’s not all that long, but it weaves and bobs along the shore for seven or so miles. You can make side trips into town where there are lost of touristy places to buy things or get a bite to eat in Long Beach or Seaside. To get to the Discovery Trail, there is a section that starts in Ilwaco, which is where this campground is located. It rolls steeply up and down through deep woods and goes over a fun boardwalk section. You’d miss all of that if you started from the state park campground.

We did an out and back to the North Head Lighthouse, just to see it. There are some historic houses there that you can actually stay in, plus a gift shop. We were just there for the views and we turned around and rode back to the start of the beachy part. The day began overcast and misty, but on the way back, we got beautiful blue skies and nice views.

No blog post would be complete without a bakery mention. There were two on this trip. One was in Long Beach called Dylan’s Cottage Bakery. There we split a chocolate raised glazed and an old fashioned. The second one was Sadie and Josie’s Bakery and it’s right on the way out to the Cranberry Museum. Sadie and Josie’s is really incredible and they offer you so many samples! I wanted to get something, but it had to be small enough to carry in a backpack and would last through three more weeks of travel. I settled on their almond roca and it is wonderful.

The Cranberry Museum is worth a trip if you are anywhere in the area. It would be a sight to see the harvesting of cranberries that happens every October. Maybe that will be a post retirement trip. Growing cranberries is a very complicated endeavor and their museum shows all the different kinds of equipment and growing techniques they have used over the years. For example, in the 1920’s researcher D.J. Crowley tried to convince farmers about the benefits of wet vs dry farming. At the time, most farmers did not believe that using water could protect plants from frost. Decades later, many of his recommendations started being implemented. It’s an interesting history and it’s all laid out nicely in the museum.

We left with a bottle of cranberry syrup and went back to Long Beach. Richard wanted to get his hair cut and couldn’t resist trying the place located next to the largest frying pan in the world. While he did that, I grabbed a cup of clam chowder across the street at Captain Bob’s Chowder Sisters.

Before riding back up the steep climb to the campground, we checked out “downtown” Ilwaco. It has a cute but short strip of inns and businesses along the water. We noticed businesses advertising cleaning and packaging of fish, so clearly fishing is the main form of recreation in town. There was certainly a lot of action around the docks.

From here to home, I think all but one of the campgrounds will be repeat stays with likely repeats of previous activities. This repeat was just as fun as the first time. We even made pancakes and used our newly bought syrup to try. Richard is now motivated to make his own cranberry syrup so he can make it more liquidy and less like cranberry sauce. Sounds like a good project for home.

Total miles from Fort Ebey: 194.3, 15.9 mpg, 6 hours 5 min. Site 21 full hookups. Good sewer in site. No dump because all sites have hookups. Great cell for both. Laundry, pool, showers.