Dungeness Spit – Washington

The motorhome is parked at Elks Club 2642 in Sequim, Washington. We are planning to depart later this morning.

Yesterday I drove the Bronco the about eight miles to the Dungeness Spit. The 5.5 mile natural land sand spit is the largest in the united States.We walked about 1/2 mile to get to the spit and then about one mile on to the spit.

You can read all about the spit by clicking this Wikipedia link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_Spit

The below Google Earth image shows the spit with our camping location marked by the “X”…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Here are some of the photos that I took…

TO SEE THE OTHER 31 PHOTOS THAT I TOOK…CLICK ON THE BELOW PHOTO. ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE PHOTO ALBUM, SIMPLY CLICK “SLIDESHOW” AND ENJOY!

Dungeness Spit – Washington

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

With regards to my upcoming cataract surgery..my pre-op exam and consultation is set for September 29 at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, California…surgery is scheduled for October 9th.

Yesterday was a cloudy/sunny day at 68 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 65 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Was. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

A RAINY DAY AT FORT WORDEN STATE PARK

Fort Worden has two campgrounds and we chose the beach area. These trees were silhouetted against a cloudy sky.

It is easy to see which way the wind blows. Rain was in the forecast. We set up camp and decided to walk to the two science museums on the grounds.

On the way, we stopped at this little free library.  We just turned in bags of books at our last campground, so I had none to trade. We continued to the science museums and both were closed. They begin their winter hours after Labor Day. We got caught in the rain and had to run for the motorhome. Our wet clothes were set to dry while we had dinner.

The storm lasted about an hour and we took the opportunity to walk the beach. A distant light house beckoned. In places we had to climb over rocks to escape the incoming tide.

We talked to two women from Pullman, WA. who were gathering beach shells and glass in the surf. We peeked into their buckets and admired their pretties.  They wore simple sweatshirts during weather I found brutally cold with wind enough to knock you over.  I met a fellow from my part of Michigan who wore a simple long-sleeved shirt and remarked at how nice the weather is here. I told him I’d never leave California for Michigan despite my roots.

After we’d passed them, one woman came back and offered to share some of her beach glass with me. Wasn’t that sweet? I declined since we have jars of beach stones and glass from other beaches we’ve visited, particularly the Glass Beach in California that was once a dump.

Besides, the beach was strewn with rocks and and shells at the tide line.

Close to the lighthouse, someone spent time balancing rocks called cairns. Most make it five stones high. Some go six and seven.

I put together a seven, then the rock toppled and I couldn’t retrieve it, so I settled for a six.

The lighthouse was built in 1913, one hundred one years old. So important in their time. No visitors.

Past the lighthouse, we got up on the breakwater and walked.

Driftwood, sometimes whole trees, enough to build a house

It ages so beautifully.

We watched six fishermen with fly rods where the breakwater began to peter out.

We met an honest fisherman. He said he is going for fish and chips at a local restaurant.

Wives waiting on the beach with their blue-eyed Australian Shepherd. They said the salmon season is just starting and only a certain kind of salmon can be taken. They were unsure, but think that if it is a king salmon, they have to throw it back. They can take silvers.

We returned to the motor home just before the second storm hit. It rocked the motorhome, threatened to tear off the vents and our closed awning, and blew and rattled everything that moved along with heavy rains. I stowed our ground rug under the motorhome because the wind was folding it and moving it from its appointed spot. We have yet to check and see if we still have a rug.

 

 

SKINNY DOGS AND DRIFTWOOD

Yesterday, we drove around near Semiahmoo point. We’d seen a resident eagle here in 2009 and hoped to spot it again. Instead, we found these dead trees, trimmed with a flat spot for eagle landings.

On this stretch of public land stand three of these giant perches.  Isn’t it nice what people will do to help nature become closer to us?

Our goal was to have lunch at VIA, and find a sign we’d seen where you could buy fresh picked peas, zuchinni, and other fresh veggies. We found the sign, and the farm, but we had just been swacked with high-priced store produce, nothing organic, and no room in our small fridge. We’ll return in  a couple of days. On that same road is the Birch Bay Waterslides, another popular summer venue for tourists.

Jim randomly chose roads and we discovered Birch Bay State Park, and at one point dead ended at a BP Refinery, We found a field filled with freshly baled hay rolls.

Following your nose is relaxing and fun, especially if you have a camera in hand.

I find it enjoyable that people are creative, as these two mailboxes show, one a dolphin, the other an egret.

As we approached VIA, the tide was out and boats sit stranded. Deliberately, of course, but it looks strange to see several dozen boats sitting on the ground attached to a buoy.

And if you live there, and this is your beachfront property, what do you do with those buoys that wash up on shore? Beach art.

A lot of driftwood get’s people’s creative juices moving.

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Driftwood beach art around Oakland and Berkeley is so popular, it slowed traffic down. The cities banned the practice and knocked them all down. Some pieces measured 9 to 12 feet high. The protest was so mighty, they had to rescind the ban.

By the time we got to VIA, the tide was really rolling in.

By the time we finished eating, the water was lapping up to the shore, just beneath our window.

Theie menu has this rendering of a skinny dog and the waitress told me  the painter, Jefferson, is a finger painter. She pointed out the bar surface was entirely finger painted by this method.

The bar has a lot of glare, as did the menu.

She told me this is his daughter. It reminded me of the face on the barroom floor.

He seems to like to paint skinny dogs. The waitress asked him to paint her some skinny chickens, but he didn’t.

Another painting (of his daughter) on the wall, has a crush mark on the left edge. She explained that they had just bought the restaurant and had been open about 8 months when a “King tide” ripped through the place, smashed all the waterfront windows, flooded the floor and knocked ceiling tiles down, and this painting hit the floor and got damaged. The owner cleaned it up and rehung it on the wall. It has some dings and a small piece of seaweed embedded in the paint.

Art is so basic to human nature, from ancient wall paintings to, skinny dogs and driftwood. It isn’t all beautiful, but I love the idea of expression. It boggles my mind.

 

 

SEEING ART

My friend, Galen Hazelhofer is a talented artist. I’m a wanna-be artist and I so admire people who can create beautiful paintings or ceramics or sculpture. I have to settle for seeing art but I must say, I see art in almost everything, be it created by man or nature. Benches are all around us. Some people don’t notice them. They catch my eye and I can’t resist photographing them. Here are some just to tickle your appreciation for the mundane comfort stop offered all of us where ever we meander. The wagon wheel bench is for children, low to the ground. From Fredricksburg, Texas.
I particularly liked the shadow on the walk of this bench in Bellingham, WA. My thought at the time was you couldn’t have a metal bench like this one in a hot summer climate.

This mosaic bench made of pieces of broken ceramics sits outside a shop in Angels Camp, CA.

Partly in shadow, but one beautiful foot, lions claw done in wood, and comfortable curved arm rest sits in the breezeway at the old Gage Hotel in Marathon, TX.

This low wooden bench from the Vallejo Ranch in Sonoma, CA was built when people were shorter than they are now.

This fun lollipop bench, also from Fredricksburg, TX, serves a dual purpose. A photo op for those willing to pose with heads poking through the lollipop holes in the back.

Although low to the ground this driftwood bench entices adults and children to enjoy foot play in the sand. From Lake Tahoe, CA.
What could be more appropriate than a bench made of horseshoes from the Old Tuscon Western Movie Studio? Did I call these way stations mundane?