2015 Western Trip – Day 31 – Edison and Bow

While at the farmers market, the ladies learned that the little towns of Edison and Bow had some things of interest so we decided to go up there for a Sunday drive.  Edison is a very small town that has survived by morphing itself into a tourist location with a population of 133.  It consists of a few homes, several restaurants, a saloon, and several shops containing art and junk (my words) – one is even named The Lucky Dumpster. 

One of their claims to fame is local high school graduate and famous newscaster Edward R. Morrow.

This is the place that impressed me the most and reminded me of something you might find in Vermont - their home is to the right

We drove on up to Bow but found nothing there but homes but we did stop along the way at a Bow Hill Blueberries farm for some ice cream – the berries were all gone - this area has a lot of blueberry farms. 

The best stop of the trip was at this very small cheese making operation called Samish Bay Cheese, where the owners begin with milk from their own cows and make several cheeses.  We bought a small piece each of sharp cheddar, mild gouda, five year old gouda, and day old jalapeno fresh cheese and while they were expensive compared to those in the supermarket, they were very reasonable for this quality of Artisan cheeses.

They suggested we really needed to drive a little further north to Taylors Seafood so we did
.

I bought another cooked Dungeness Crab and a pound of shucked oysters for frying.  This is a shot of the folks who are eating on site and the oyster beds.

After leaving Edison, we drove down to La Conner and found a real tourist town but it was so crowded the ladies decided they would rather return on Monday in lieu of going to San Juan Island.  I think they were a little afraid of the ferry ride and La Conner looked like a place they would enjoy much more and that’s what's important.

When we got home I discovered that my pound of medium oysters contained only five (yes 5) as they were huge and I cut them into three pieces to fry.  

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/23/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Day 30 – FM and Deception Pass

On Sat morning, the ladies went to the local farmers market (one of their favorite things to do) and came back with mostly baked goods (one of their favorite things to buy).  Later in the day, we took the 4pm boat tour of Deception Pass traveling with Deception Pass Tours.

But first we got a few shots from up on the bridge – note the smoke is still with us.

Depending on the tides the narrow waterway through Deception Pass can move at nine mph moving a giant amount of water.  The pass is between Fildago and Whidbey Islands and connects Skagit Bay (part of Puget Sound) with the Strait of Juan de Fuca (which heads out to the Pacific).

Once we got on the boat we drove slowly under the bridge and got a little history of it.  

The bridge, really two bridges, was completed in 1935 for a cost of $482,000 and only took 11 months to build (probably three years today).  The construction cost was less than that to repaint them in 1983.

 

After leaving the bridges, we headed out to open water in hopes of seeing some whales and we did see a couple of small ones and I happened to have my camera pointed at the right time.

Mostly we just saw sea birds and one seal and a cargo plane from the nearby Naval Air Station.

We did decide this satisfied our whale watching trip desires though.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/22/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Days 28 & 29 – Anacortes

Due to the near total inability to walk due to my gout flare up, we spent the first couple of days hanging around the Anacortes area.  We drove through the local park and got a few shots but would you believe the wind shifted and was coming from the east bringing in the wildfire smoke – I thought it always blew off the ocean and we would be free of the smoke when we got over here.

These guys are laying against a home.

We also visited a local seafood market that was highly recommended - it's the garage attached to a home.

I bought a piece of halibut and a cooked and cleaned Dungeness crab.  I’ve never cooked halibut that I really liked as I thought it was always over-cooked, so I did this just as the fish monger described and pulled it at an internal temp of 135*.  It had varying degrees of doneness but some still had a sheen so I know it was not overcooked.  Conclusion:  I’m just not a fan of the flavor or the texture so this will be my last try – fortunately there are many other white fishes that I really like.

Now for the crab – I’ve heard them raved about from the west coasters for years and I had one that was freshly caught, freshly cooked, expertly cleaned and lightly chilled.  Bev tried it but didn’t care for it and Pat wouldn’t even try it so I ate half one day and the other the next.  Conclusion – best crab I ever ate.  Similar in technique to eating an east coast blue crab but much more bang for the effort buck and an incredible flavor.  I now see what all of the raving was about and will eat plenty more while here.

The next day, I finally gave in and went to the walk-in clinic where I was given a strong anti-inflammatory which gave me some welcomed relief by evening time – I’ll go the doctor the first day next time - OH WHAT A RELIEF IT WAS.  The ladies then spent the rest of the day shopping in Anacortes. 

These are from Cap Sante Park on the north end of town, with the first one being Cap Sante from the campground and the second is of town when the wind was blowing the smoke in from the east.  The others are after the wind shifted a few days later.  

This is the campground in the distance and a shot to the east with Mt. Baker.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.  

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/20-8/21/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Day 27 – Onward to Anacortes

We had a nice little 175 mile drive from Ellensburg over to Anacortes, thru the Cascades then up north of Seattle.  We just drove, I-90 to I-405, then I-5 to the turnoff to Anacortes on WA-20.  The drive thru the mountains was beautiful and as expected, traffic in the Seattle area was fairly heavy – no shots of the trip.

We arrived at Fidalgo Bay Resort early afternoon and after an unusual route thru the campground to our site, we got set up and relaxed.  The campground is owned by the Samish Indian Nation but unlike many tribes they don’t have a reservation as does the Swinomish Tribe just south of here.  The campground is divided into two parts with one closer to the water and the front row ones have a nice view.

The amenities of the resort all worked well but the sites were much closer together than we like and as they seemed on their map.  Since we spend very little time looking out the front window we opted for a less expensive site ($34/day) in the West Park, #178.  While there were several in the campground, this place is pretty cramped for big rigs. 

This site was okay for our five days (we're in the middle on the left above), but for a longer stay I would want one of the larger sites, but they are significantly more expensive ($62/day for the water front).

Remember that good beer I bragged about in the last post - unfortunately, the day before we left Ellensburg, I had a gout flare up (almost surely brought on by the beer).  I made the drive okay but putting walking pressure on my left ankle felt like it was broken in about six places.  More on this later.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/19/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Day 25 – Rocky Reach & Leavenworth

One of things Bev wanted to do while in this area was go to a dam with a fish ladder and watch the salmon swim up stream and since I’d been to Rocky Reach Dam back in my working days I knew it would work.  My original plan was to drive on up to Lake Chelan but the major wildfire there made it impossible – it is the fire affecting most of the photos from the Ellensberg stay.

After proceeding through the heightened security, we made our way to the fish viewing room and got to see several large salmon, as well as some smaller fish, heading up stream.  It’s hard to get good shots of the 2-3 feet long fish thru the glass as they wiz by.

I was surprised to learn that the federal gvmt requires the dam operators to count every fish by species as they head up stream – seems like great info for those charged with managing the fisheries.  Each female salmon lays about 5000 eggs and only seven fish return to spawn.  This is the fish ladder as it winds its way down to the river.

This is a shot upstream toward Chelan where the large wildfire continues to burn about 30 miles away.

From the dam we went back to Leavenworth on a much less crowded Monday.  It is a tourist town at the base of the Cascades with a very good Bavarian motif - if you didn’t know better you might think you were in Germany.  

Since it was about 2:30pm, we decided to began with lunch at King Lugwigs – it was just okay German food at best and about what I would expect in a tourists town – tourist food = mediocre food at inflated prices.  

After lunch, the ladies headed off to do a little shopping and I went down the street about five doors to the Icicle Brewing Co.  After a small taste of three of their beers, I settled on the a glass of Bootjack and headed for the outdoor patio where I visited with a nice couple from Salem, OR.  The first two shots are from the web and the third one is of the trees on the ridge above town in the smoke.

As mediocre as the food was, the beer was very good and before we left, I had my growler (always in the RV) filled with more of this hoppy concoction.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/17/15 event date