Olympia to Cle Elum - Week 16

It took about two and a half hours to get from Olympia to Ballard, a neighborhood north of Seattle where my uncle lives.  We were having a small family reunion, with my parents already in town from the East coast and cousins to be stopping by throughout the weekend.  My dad hadn't seen Lukas since Thanksgiving, an era before sentences started coming out of my son's mouth.  We made our second attempt at parking our RV in front of someone's house, and this time we had better results.  Uncle Jerry is a marine surveyor and is accustomed to tow dollies and large rigs and extra vehicles.  He helped us get situated near the house, stow the tow dolly in the yard, and hooked up a hose so we could have enough water for our roadside hotel.  Lukas was so happy with all the attention from grandma, the big yard to play in, and the toys that aunt Cheryl had stashed around the house.  Brian and I were happy to see family, and to have help with Lukas for a few days!

We had a great weekend of drinking coffee, walking to the coffee shop, and visiting the park and beach near the coffee shop.  Okay, we did more than drink coffee.  But this is definitely a coffee kind of town, and we took advantage of that perk!  Similar to Portland, Seattle has a backyard chicken coop fad going on and Cheryl brought us to see our second beautifully designed chicken coop with a living roof.

On Saturday we took a ferry to Kingston, then drove down to a secret beach owned by the Nature Conservancy.  It was a quarter mile hike through the forest to an empty bayside beach, located just behind a wetland area.  The sun was shining and there were animals aplenty.  Cousin Sean spent his time searching for snakes and hunting for crabs under rocks.  My mom went swimming with Lukas.  The rest of us waded and walked and sunned.  At the end of our visit we noticed a bald eagle sitting at the top of a pine tree above us!  We decided it was my Grandma Lee, come to enjoy our family outing.

Dancing with grandma

Bros and Brian

On the ferry

Dad surveying the wetlands

On Sunday most of the cousins came over for a barbecue in the garden.  Between them, Jerry and Cheryl have four boys and one girl, all now in their twenties.  It was so fun to catch up with the crew and see who they have grown up to be.  When the last of the food had been scraped off our plates, the rain began.  We were in Seattle, after all.

After all the cousins had left and Lukas was in bed, Cheryl, mom and I went to the night time service at St Mark's Episcopal Church.  I'm not religious, but I do enjoy the occasional service, be it Episcopalian, Catholic, Jewish or Pagan.  This service really stands out for many reasons.  First, the church did not have any depictions of Jesus on the Cross.  Second, most of the parishioners at this service were young, in their twenties or thirties, and there with friends.  Third, people were invited to sit wherever they wanted in the church, including on the elevated altar platform.  People were leaning against pillars or lying on the ground and had brought pillows to make themselves more comfortable.  Fourth, there was no audience participation during the service.  All of the call and response was conducted by the male choir.  There was also no communion served.  When the choir had completed the service, people got up and began leaving.  Fifth, there was an organ concert following the service.  We didn't stay, but the organ music we heard upon leaving was enough to shake one out of the reverie induced by the service.  I really enjoyed listening to the choir and found it more meditative than most church visits.  I wouldn't go every week, but if I lived in town I might try to make it a monthly habit.

My folks had to catch the airplane back home on Monday.  Brian and I stayed until lunch, then headed out to an RV park in nearby Bothell.  We got organized then went into town to visit Peggy, who recently relocated to Seattle and is working at the Woodland Park Zoo.  Her place is great and the move seems to really suit her.  While I'm sad she's no longer in the Bay Area... um, I guess I'm not there right now either!

On Tuesday morning I went to visit my gorilla and gorilla keeper friends at the Woodland Park Zoo.  The keepers and I swapped gorilla stories and I met their newest resident, a silverback named Leo.  One of the San Francisco Zoo's gorillas is a Seattle transplant, and I was happy to report how well she is doing with the group in SF.

The rest of the day was spent organizing.  During our California trip we kept pushing off maintenance, saying we would get in done while we were back home in San Francisco.  We didn't get it done in San Francisco, so we have just been carrying around a list of to do items.  It was time to get down to business.

On Wednesday we woke early for a visit from the UHaul repairman who finally fixed the broken light on the tow dolly.  Next we did a thorough clean of the black water tank, trying to correct our early mistakes of using toilet paper unfit for a septic system.  Then we brought the RV into the shop to have several things installed: satellite radio, IPod connectivity, a navigation system and a CB receiver.

Rather than waiting around the shop, we played tourist and visited the Space Needle.  What a great place to have lunch on a sunny day!  The revolving landscape was gorgeous, our meal was tasty, and Lukas was surprisingly well behaved.  We also checked out an outdoor garden exhibit that was part of the Children's Museum.  Lukas raked, shoveled, and sprayed water while running through giant pieces of fruit.  The rest of the museum looked fun too, but it was time to pick up the RV from the shop.

Although it was late, we were ready to start the journey East.  That night we drove over the Snoqualmie Pass and pulled into an RV park in Cle Elum by 10 pm.  We meant to get out of town the next morning, but we still had more internal home organizing to do.  That took up the majority of the day, then Brian took the RV to get a CB antenna installed at the repair shop adjacent to the park (same owners).

While our house was at the shop, Lukas and I took a trip to downtown Cle Elum.  The town is refreshingly free of chain restaurants and has a wild west feel to it.  The Bull Durham mural photo kind of sums up the town for me.  We went to a free telephone museum which smelled dusty and had lots of old switchboards on display.  The town also boasts a carpenter museum, but we skipped that one.  We stopped by Glendon's sausage factory, where one can bring their game meat and have it turned into sausages.  The Pioneer coffee roasting company brewed up some tasty fare, and I found some obscure strawberry beer from England in the fridge at the sausage store.  An interesting town, not sure I'd live there, but fun to visit.


RV PARK REVIEWS


Edwards Family Road Hotel, Ballard, WA: A
  Nothing like family to help you get all set up, take care of your child, then offer you lunch.

Lake Pleasant RV, Bothell, WA: A
  Close to Seattle without feeling like an urban RV park.  Quiet, friendly staff, playground, lake.


Whispering Pines RV Park, Cle Elum, WA: B
  Beautiful location, next to river and pond, walking distance to town, friendly staff, well maintained, loud freeway noise, windy.