More fun in the Sakgit Valley

Its the little things that remind you where you are. The above sign seen in the window of a frozen yogurt store, reminded me that we are not in Texas anymore. 🤯

Here's another example. If you look closely you will see that the ship in the background has been repurposed as a sea wall. It was apparently filled with dirt and planted full of trees. The ship, the "La Merced" was reportedly placed there in 1966 to protect the marina from storms. Recycling at it's finest.

We have mentioned in previous posts that we have become addicted to the local berries. In fact, so much so that we were about to seek financing for our next berry purchase (they are not cheap). Just when we were contemplating our need to back off the berry train and consider "BA" (Berries Anonymous), we discovered "U-Pick" farms. We realized we could get twice the berries for half the price, get only the biggest, sweetest berries. Plus we could forgo the embarrassment of a BA residency.  Wow! 

So we have made picking berries a regular stop now. We have berries in our breakfast oatmeal, berries with our hiking lunches, berries with our happy hour wine and cheese, and of course berries in various forms for desert. What a life!

We continue to find incredible places to hike and bike, seemingly at every turn. This shot was taken atop the mountain at Deception Pass. 

It was an incredible view from the top, but more than a little strenous making the climb. We puffed our way to the top (no relation to the sign I opened with), and it was worth every step.

This week we also had a new experience as we took the Jeep on a ferry to one of the local islands (Guemes). It was a first for us and the Jeep. 

The island had a total of about 13 miles of roads and some really cute homes.  We drove across the island to a little park where we ate lunch and marveled at the view. It could have been Alaska, New England or even Switzerland if we didn't know better. 

We drove back across the island and found a hiking trail to the top of Guemes Mountain. This was by far the toughest hike we have done so far. Still again it was well worth the effort.  Check out the shot of Mt Baker from our spot at the summit.  Wow!

Our next journey, and scene of our first tragedy, was into "Chuckanut". There is a road that goes through this area which is perched along the cliffs with high rock walls on one side and sheer drops to the water on the other. 

While in the Chuckanut area we happened upon a trailhead and just had to stop. The trail system went for miles and we chose to take it to a place called Teddy Bear Cove for our picnic lunch. 

The trail was beautiful with a mix of rustic and improved trail surfaces. It even took us through an area of beautiful homes, each perched on a cliff with views to the sea below.

We made it to the split for Teddy Bear Cove.  It was a gradual, but heavily switch backed trail heading steeply down to the the water. At the base of the trail there were train tracks that separated us from the beach.  As we headed down the last section to the train tracks, Cindy lost her footing and tumbled off a 500' cliff to her death😱.

Oh wait, that was a scene from a movie we saw.  Sorry, old people get confused easily.

Actually Cindy did fall on some loose gravel and jammed her elbow pretty severely.  She toughed up and made it through lunch and the hike back to the Jeep, but was in a lot of pain. She was being  a trooper, but the swelling in her arm told the real tale. Below is a shot from the lunch spot (no shot of the fall or Cindy's arm due to death threats I received as a warning)

So now that Cindy is officially on injured reserve, we will probably chill by the fire (72 degrees today) for our last couple of days here. 

Suffice to say, a return visit to the area is absolutely in our future.

So for now, we will just keep chilling and taking pain meds (that is wine for those who don't know, and it helps Cindy when I take some medicine too 😁).

On Tuesday we will pack up the RV and head to Monroe WA for our next stop along The Next Hundred Miles!

Thanks for reading!

It has been a while... We are in La Connor Washington

We have learned that a retiree's work is never done. In the photo above we had gone in search of firewood and found this wonderful source. Cindy carried it back to our campsite and I cut it and split it. 

Ok, so the source and the carry is a joke, but the pile of wood is not.  We met a guy who pulls wood from logging sites and splits it into firewood. The price was too good to pass up.

Our time in the PNW has so far been incredible. In fact so much so that we extended our stay at the La Connor park. This place has absolutely everything we could possibly want and more. 

One of our highlights was meeting some new friends named Al ... Well actually Alpaca. Their real names are Miakoda, or Mia for short, Eldora, and Chai. 

This has long been on Cindy's bucket list and it did not dissapoint. 

These are amazing animals, soft as a kitten and as smart as a dog.  They are clean, have no odor, and enjoy affection. 

Equally amazing was the farm's owner Kathy. Originally from S. Africa, she has led an incredible life and was mesmerizing as she told us of her life. An incredible lady who has an equally incredible husband. He actually bicycled from here to Mexico. (He is 70 years old!)

It could not have been a better experience and we can't thank Kathy enough for the experience. 

We have been on a steady diet of exploration and fresh produce. We have hiked and biked all over the area and won't begin to get to all the places we would like to. 

There seems to be limitless amounts of fruit and produce at local farm stands. Almost every night we have some kind of fresh fruit for desert and will certainly miss that when we move on.

The hiking and biking have been amazing as well. Every trail is an adventure packed with scenery and views to die for.

On one of our bike rides there was a bridge over a tidal basin and as we crossed we spotted a mama and baby seal. How cool is that!

Even the park we are staying in, which is water side, has some wonderful water views with amazing tides and incredible sunsets across the water. This park is on Reservation land so almost everything is protected... Even the driftwood on the beach.

This past weekend we attended "Ship Wreck Fest" which is one of the largest swap meets in the state. We walked away empty handed except for some exotic cheeses and a few more pounds of local cherries and peaches. 

In the downtime we enjoy our campfires and occasionally even cook over them 😀

We have another 7 days here before we move on to our next campground in Monroe Washington. Over the next month we will be meeting up with our good friends Don and Claudia, and Bob and Pearl. We are looking forward to catching up with both.

I have included a link below to the Alpaca farm in case you get into this area. It is well worth the stop, both to meet the Alpacas and get to know Kathy. 

http://www.alpacaadventures.com/Welcome.html

For us, you can bet we are just kicking back by a fire, eagerly anticipating the adventures of The Next Hundred Miles!

Day Hike at Capilano Canyon near Vancouver

Yesterday we spent the day at Capilano Canyon.  What a beautiful area. Even though it was literally less than a mile from city life, it looked and sounded like we were deep into a forest.

One of the attractions there is a salmon hatchery. It was cool seeing all the processes and the different life cycles of the fish. The first pic below is one of the young adult tanks. The second is a see-through wall on the fish ladder.

Unfortunately no fish running when we were there but it must be amazing to watch when they are.

The hiking in the park was incredible. Nothing too strenuous but the scenery was amazing. 

The forest is populated with some of the oldest and largest fir trees in North America. Not sure the pics do the size justice, but these are firs not redwoods and look enormous.

At the tip of the park is a dam and reservoir that provides drinking water for parts of Vancouver.  We hiked up on to the dam from the canyon floor. That was a climb!

In the end according to Fitbit, we hiked about 5 miles. It was an unexpectedly amazing day!

By the way, the park we are staying at is just over the US border. We took a drive one day and realized the road that the park is on actually ends at the US border. There was nothing but a split rail fence there separating the two countries. Wow! 

We didn't see any illegal Americans crossing the border which is surprising given the current state of our country 😂

Sunday we head back to the states where we have a couple of stays planned in Washington around the Seattle area. Our first glimpse of the Pacific. 

Thanks for following along on our Next Hundred Miles!