Marty's Travels

In an interesting counter point to my Senior Pass for the parks, I got a ticket to Burning Man this year. My name came up today after five months sitting on the waiting list.

I think I was prepared for the possible weather conditions last year, but wasn’t prepared for the culture shock I experienced. I welcome this chance to go back and understand much more what’s going on, wind and dust permitting.

I’m happy about this, looking forward to the Nevada desert the last week of August….

I normally don’t care much about my birthday, but this year was different. On the appointed day I drove up to Port Angeles and the Olympic National Park visitor center and bought my Senior Pass. Finally. For $10 I get a card good for life for admission fees, and half-off camping fees on federal land. I suspect the govmint will renege on part of the deal sometime in the future, but free admission to the parks probably isn’t in jeopardy.

It’s better than $80 a year for the annual pass, and I’ll save around that a year in camping fees.

But I am now a card-carrying Senior, federally approved.

It was the first day I’ve seen the Olympics, the weather finally backing off a bit. As expected they were snow-covered, and at the top of the drive snow was on the ground, which was expected. I chose to put off a drive up there until later in the year when it’s dried out.

The weather has been nice lately, but I haven’t seen much of the Cascades or any of the volcanoes, but that’s coming.

Mountains, clouds, and trees conspire so I probably won’t see the full moon rising tonight. I’ve been enjoying the hype and nonsense surrounding tonight’s moon rise, wondering who started the idea that this is something special. It isn’t.

The size, brightness, and clarity of the moon are determined by local conditions, not it’s orbit. The best moonrises I’ve seen have been in areas with a low horizon, dust in the air, and no wind. My fellow travelers know well what I mean, having seen many “super” moons in the desert.

It’s clearing up here in the Great Pacific Northwest, maybe I’ll see the mountains tomorrow. I could use a couple of days of the Olympics, Cascades, and Mts Baker and Rainier. Haven’t seen them yet.

It’s been three weeks since I’ve had a dry day. I took the chance to go to my favorite market in Poulsbo, and while it didn’t rain I still haven’t seen either the Olympics or the Cascades. Next week looks promising though, and in the meantime I can enjoy the sound and harbors.

Shannon opened her produce stand yesterday and she’s busy greeting her regulars. It’s asparagus every day for me now, until the season ends. The last of the California citrus is available, locally it’s asparagus and peas, with sweet cherries soon to come.

It’s quiet here.

I’ve done some exploring in between rain events, just to become re-acquainted with the neighborhood. Up in Sequim the expansion of the Walmart is finished. The lavender farms are looking good, and everywhere along the roads the trees are in bloom and the wildflowers are poking out.

I couldn’t resist a pass through the boat yard in Port Townsend, and saw a lot of vessels worth watching for a while. That’s one of my favorite places to hang out in PT. And of course a stop at the used book store.

PT is rebuilding their main intersection, which is a pretty big deal. They only have one, and it’s critical they get it finished before the seasonal rush which starts next week. It’s funny to see construction work there.

The World Peace produce stand opens next week, too. She always has good produce at a fair price, and it’s fun to shop there. The local gas station once again has the lowest prices around (or anywhere, for that matter), which I’ve never figured out.

Tomorrow I play the ferry game and go into the city to visit family, including my brand-new grandson, Lachlan. On the return I can stop at the Central Market in Poulsbo, maybe my favorite grocery anywhere.

I have readers that are familiar with these places, which is why I’m mentioning them now.

I’m back on the Olympic Peninsula, it’s been raining. My plan is to stay here for a while, so there will be plenty of nice days ahead. Sometime.

This is a nice RV park on Tenmile Lake, just north of Coos Bay. The weather was nice yesterday, and today for a while. 101 is under constant repair as it falls away into the sea or rivers, so driving it is a lot of work.

Tomorrow I head east over the coast range to I-5. If I have to drive through rain, I prefer the interstate over 101.

Just a couple of days until I’m at Port Townsend, and I’m anxious.

It was mostly foggy on the drive today, but now and then I got a glimpse of the coastline. The forecast is favorable for tomorrow, so I’ll stay a day here at Harris Beach and possibly actually see surf, birds, and whales.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate I’ll cross the mountains and continue north on I-5 , a most unfavorable route but fog and drizzle along 101 is not fun, either.

It was good crossing over into Oregon, gas prices dropped a lot. If I can stay on 101 it’s a wonderful trip along the headlands, haystack rocks, dramatic bridges over raging rivers, and good fish n chips shops.

Lachlan Martin Eads was born the other day. So I’m anxious to get to Seattle. I’ll be going up the Oregon Coast, picking travel days with favorable weather.

The fog lifted and the sun came out today at 4PM, likely making the celebrants up at Humboldt State U happy. I was happy because it might (maybe) happen again tomorrow as I move to Brookings, Oregon. The coast is pretty if you can actually see it.

It’s been nothing but fog and drizzle since I’ve been in Eureka. I can’t see the mountains, there are no colors but shades of gray, and birding is useless. Redwood groves, though, are even more magical.

Today I went to nearby Arcata, home of Humboldt State University. They have several book stores and browsing indoors was better than standing around in drizzle. One clerk happily welcomed me for the “holiday”. It took a while before I realized that tomorrow, 4/20, was a holiday in Arcata, a celebration of cannabis.

I was here two years ago and on 4/20 it rained like crazy putting quite a damper on things. Tomorrow looks like the sun will come out. If so, I’d really like to see the festivities.

Otherwise I’ll head out to Brookings, Oregon, and get out of expensive California.