Mini Vacation

Thursday morning we were on the 9 am ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, on the first leg of our journey to Albany Oregon. On Friday morning MrC and I were entered in a "supposedly" Steel Challenge match at a range in Albany. Suffice to say "it only takes one bad apple in the barrel, to spoil it for all the others, which is what happened to MrC. and of course I was angry at the person causing all the distress. Even though I shot rather well for my "first steel challenge??" match, the shine was taken off by the distress I was feeling by the way my honey was being unfairly treated, his day was totally ruined.
However, on Thursday evening, after we had parked our RV at the range, MrC was wandering around checking out the facility, when he came across some club members setting up for a bowling pin match that evening. We had a wonderful evening shooting with these fun folks.


Friday, after the steel match, we secured everything in the RV, and drove west to the coast and Lincoln City. I am always so excited to visit the ocean. Yes, we do live on an island, but it is in Puget sound so we do not get the rolling surf of the ocean.
I grew up in New Zealand and spent much of my childhood at Foxton beach, where my folks had a batch (beach house). In fact we lived in the batch when our new home was being built in Palmerston North, just about a half hours drive away. Then when I married, and had a family of my own, we used to take the children to the beach so they could enjoy playing in the sand and swimming in the ocean. So you can understand when I say, that I almost have "withdrawl" if I don't get to walk on the sand and listen to the roar of the surf once in a while.
As soon as MrC found somewhere he could pull the RV off the road, and came to a stop, I had my camera in hand and scrambled down the bank onto the sand. I stood there drinking in the sights and sounds while breathing in the fresh salty air. There are no words to explain, all I was feeling.

In the opposite direction from the photo above, you could just make out the silhouette of the lighthouse through the salty mist.

After a short drive along the coast we arrived at Devil's Lake State park and pulled into site C9 for two nights stay. The first night, Friday, we were too tired to bother lighting the fire, but on Saturday night, after we had spent most of the day exploring the area, including an outlet mall, we lit the fire and had a delicious dinner cooked over hot coals. We do love to cook over an open fire.

This morning, I made a thermos of nice Strong coffee, some hot ham and egg sandwiches (much better than McD's) finished packing the RV and left the campground to enjoy our breakfast in a parking lot overlooking the beach. The river you see in the foreground, flowing into the ocean, is the smallest river in the world The "D" River is just 120 feet long.



After breakfast we drove north along the coast highway, drinking in all the sights. I should say, I was looking at all the sights, as my honey was keeping his eyes mostly on the road (one of the drawbacks on being the driver is, you miss so much of the scenery) Anyway, we drove north until we connected with I5 and continued towards home on the freeway.
As we came down the hill towards the ferry dock at Mukilteo, a large freighter was crossing between the dock and Whidbey Island. We paid our ferry fare and pulled forward into lane 4 to wait until the next ferry left.
As we waited, an officer from Washington State Patrol asked us if he could put a training bag, or whatever you call it, on our vehicle so his dog could find it. He placed a small cloth bag, about he size of a bean bag inside the grill on the front of our RV then went off to get his "dog in training" He walked up and down the rows of vehicles, making the sign for his dog, to check this vehicle and that, came up to ours and made the sign again, and that smart little dog went straight to the place the bag had been hidden in. Talk about an excited dog and trainer. You could see how pleased the officer was, and the sweet female dog was just so happy she had pleased her partner.
After making the ferry crossing, we decided to end our mini vacation on a high note, by stopping at Dairy queen for our favorite banana cream pie blizzard. Even better, the banana cream pie blizzard was the blizzard flavor of the month so it was reduced in price.
We have had our four days away from home, now we get back to everyday living until our trip to reno next month.