How cool is this!  Amy & Nick (boyfriend) came to Washington on their summer vacation  and spent a few days with us in Westport.    I was a little concerned there are not enough attractions to entertain the 20+  crowd but who would have known, Nick has been here before, in fact he spent several summers in Hoaquim which is about 25 miles from us helping his dad run a bed & breakfast.   We took a day trip to  The Hoaquim Castle where we got a private tour of this really cool place.  The Castle sits on a hill overlooking the bay in a neighborhood of some really nice homes.  We had been to Hoaquim many times and never knew about this area.

Amy & Nick on the steps of the Hoaquim Castle

Neighboring Bed & Breakfast

The Castle was awesome and it was really fun having Nick give us some of the scoop from when he spent time here as a teenager.  I had also done some research about the local sites and found out that Kurt Cobain was from Aberdeen.   Actually I had no idea who he was but the ladies at the quilting class did and they said we should check out the memorial to him and the bridge where he lived part of his teen years!  Yikes!  Well, after some research I found out he is from the band Nirvana from the 90’s.  Heavy Metal, Grunge!  No wonder I had no idea who he was, I spent the 90’s raising two all american teenage daughters that were into country music, cheerleading and horses!  Anyway, since it is the big claim to fame here in Grays Harbor we looked the park up and went there.

The Memorial

The Guitar Monument

The memorial was a small park at the end of a quiet little street along the river right next to the bridge that he was suppose to live under!  Nick helped me to understand what grunge is and even found me a song that I actually recognized.   The most interesting part about the fact that Kurt Cobain lived in Aberdeen when he became famous is the women in my quilt class, all over 60 knew all about him and one of them had a son that hung out and jammed with Kurt!

Nick loves to fish and all that guy stuff so we tried our luck!  It is getting late in the season, we had 4 nets in the water and were able to find 3 crabs large enough to take home.  Our second day was the same- 3 more.  We have never gotten more than 3 when we have gone.  I think the crabs are on the floor of the bay thinking, those nets have their limit, lets eat somewhere else!!!

All Smiles

I enjoy crabbing but kiting, beachcombing and walking are my favorite activities here in Westport and while Amy & Nick were here Long Beach had a kite festival.  We made the 1 hour trip, and so did about a million otherpeople!!!  We saw lots of kites but it was way too windy to fly our kites so we just sat on the beach and watched the expedition kiters until the wind made us retreat!  It was so windy I still have sand embedded in my ankles.

Sand toys for the puppies!!!

A skillet?

Not sure of the importance of this!  A giant skillet is on display in the middle of the town of Long Beach!  Still a fun picture.

Sunday was take the kids to the airport day.  The trip is about 2 hours and we had planned to leave early and stop in Tacoma for lunch and see a museum before we had to drop them off!  We were planning to see the Glass Museum but with traffic and a stop at Cabello’s we didn’t make it in time to pay the $12 and tour the museum.  We did enjoy the outside exhibits!

Yes, it was hot! about 90 degrees

Paul is leaning against the fountain to cool off.  We haven’t had temps above 75 this summer so our bodies were having a difficult time adjusting!  In the background is the Hot Room of the museum.

Glass Bridge

This is the wall of glass on the bridge over an Interstate in Tacoma.

Glass Bags?

I have no idea!  Paul and I have decided we want to see the museum so our next trip to Tacoma is in about a week.  I will give a full review of the museum then.

Carnival games, fried foods, lemonade, 4-H, homemade crafts and car races!  The Grey’s County Fair was a great mix of big time Carnival acts and local flair.

Can't have a fair without a Ferris Wheel

Everyone loves the fair,  we especially enjoyed the hospitality of the people at Grey’s Harbor Fair.  We shared a table with a cute young couple that shared their deep fried Oreo’s and then we happened upon a nice lady that shared her deep fried mushrooms.  All this great food and we haven’t even paid for any of it yet!  We did our share and ate way too much.

The fair wasn’t just about the food.  We enjoyed the arts & crafts displays, the science fair displays, and then there are the pigs, cows, goats, and horses!  One of my most favorite was the homemade train that transported children about the park.

This was so cute and the supervisor sitting behind the conductor in a lawn chair was perfect!

We met so many kids showing off their animals.  One boy was allowing us to pet his minature bunny and shared with me that his bunny had been petted by 365 different people in 3 days.  I am always a sucker for the babies and the piggies were the babies here.  This momma had 14 babies and she didn’t really seem all that impressed with their needs!

Momma drinking from the fountain

She was not backing off!

Really!!!

We usually skip many of the exhibit buildings but today I checked out the flowers.  They had a whole display of cut flowers.

Bloomings

Beautiful

What I found most interesting is that they actually grew flowers here.  I keep trying to grow a few herbs and it is just not warm enough!

The Main Event - Sprint Cars

The fair admission included admission to the evening dirt track races.  Sitting on a cold bleacher watching cars race around crashing into each other spraying dirt into the stands doesn’t sound like much fun until you try it.  We laughed, cheered and were amazed when a housewife drove her first race car and rolled it 3 times!  It was scary until we knew she was fine and then it was cheer on!   The dirt was in the air and when we left I felt like I had had a mud facial!  Great Fun

Today we decided we needed to get on the water and enjoy Puget Sound and see some of the San Juan Islands. Riding the Ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island takes about an hour.  There are lots of islands and there are lots of boats, both sailboats and fishing boats.  The water must be really cold because we didn’t see one person in the water!  The ride was very enjoyable although about 1/2 way through the ride the boat stopped for about 5 minutes, idling!  Just before you think maybe something is wrong, a voice comes on the PA system and announces we will be getting underway shortly as there is a memorial going on!  That was interesting.  We didn’t see or hear anything but I guess there was a ceremony going on somewhere onboard!

Mark & Diana enjoying the ride

Much warmer inside

Friday Harbor

A fun little town

We had only a couple of hours so we set out up the street.  There were lots of quaint shops and fun bars with great views of the bay.  After a little shopping we decided to relax and have lunch looking out over the bay – besides the guys were starting to make faces!!!

We had a great day on the waters even though we didn’t see any whales!  Good thing we didn’t pay the big bucks for the whale watching tour!

Another great adventure

Today I turned the Big 55 and had a wonderful day.  Diana and I played 9 holes of golf while the boys toured the Boeing Factory.  We played a very nice Municipal Course, Walter Hall Golf Course which was right next to the Boeing Factory.  I hadn’t played since we were in San Jose but I played my regular game; some good shots, just not on the same holes!!!  I did improve my putting where I averaged less than 2 putts per hole and  I played all 9 holes with the same ball and no Mulligans!

The boys really liked the 90 minute tour and said they saw a lot of planes being built.  The big deal is they saw  new 787 which has all kinds of new stuff that they thought was really cool – me I just want to know, Will the new planes have more leg room?

Sitting in the Cockpit of a 727

We met up for lunch a a local joint for a sandwich.  Philly Ya Belly served up a great philly cheesesteak and the garlic fries, wow!

After lunch we headed for the ferry that would take us across the sound to Whidbey Island.  A quick stop at Deception Pass where we took a walk on the bridge and caught a photo before moving on to Anacortes where we plan to spend the night.

Deception Pass

Girlfriends

I don’t think I will ever get tired of these views.

We arrived in Anacortes, found a motel for the evening and headed out to dinner.   On the way we spotted lots of cute little shops that were closed.  My kind of shopping since I don’t have room for the stuff anyway.  I am learning that some of the most interesting stuff is outside on the streets.  The sidewalks of Anacortes were littered with lots of art.

A Pig!

Local Art

Dinner was at Adrift where they serve local grown ingredients in very creative dishes.  I had a Crab AuGrauton and of course dessert, Sr. Cream custard with lots of berries!

Happy 55th Birthday

Back to Seattle for more touring and friends to visit.  Sunday was SeaFair on Lake Washington with the Blue Angels.  We left home around 7 am (way too early!), stopped at the first Starbucks and headed for Seattle where we met our friends from San Jose, Mark & Diana.  Looking for a good place to spend a week, they decided to come to Washington and visit me.  SeaFair is sponsored by Boeing who is the BIG deal here in Seattle so we got to see some of their planes also along with some Hydroplane races!

Yachts watching the show

Because the show is on Lake Washington lots of people board their boats and come out for the show or find a great spot along the shore to watch.  We bought tickets since we don’t know the area although I think the best seats were on these yachts!  The good thing about us buying tickets is we knew where we were going to be sitting.  We also were able to see all the vendors, buy souvenirs and enjoy the free stuff!  We got free granola bars, shopping bags, water bottles, sunscreen and lots of coupons which I will throw away when we get home!  The best booth was the AT&T booth; they were giving free stuff away if you let them put a dot on your hand and stood in line for about 5 minutes!!! Diana won a folding chair which we now own!  and I won a new LG Quantum phone!  It will be on Craigslist in a few days as I like my Iphone way too much.  Thanks AT&T.

Preparing to race

We never really quite figured out the Hydroplane races.  They run heats and only 3 laps around a course of buoys on the lake.  We did see one flip over so that was cool.  They move so fast across the water that you can barely see them once they get going.

Here they come

The races were throughout the day and in between the planes took to the air.

One of Paul's favorites

Sean D Tucker fly’s the Oracle Plane and does some amazing stunts.  When he was finished our nice blue sky was quite smokey.  Then the big show!

Beautiful plane, amazing flying and so close together!  Then the show sponsor brings out their new plane.  Here is the new 747-8.

747-8

A great show, now we are off to Everett Washington so the boys can see how they build these planes!

We had more visitors this week.  Square Dance friends, Pat & Teresa came and camped at our park for a few days.  Teresa’s husband, Roy opted to stay at home in Stanwood, WA and tend to his yard art which he sells at local art shows.  He has some pretty cool stuff.  Pat was one of the first people we knew who lived the dream of fulltime RVer with her husband Ray.  Pat is now living in Coursegold CA and traveling during the hot summers.  There wasn’t much sun for their visit but we managed to get out and see a bit more of Grays Harbor.

There are lots of cranberry fields around this area and I wanted to check on their progress.  They don’t harvest until late September and the fields don’t really look like much other than some low growing weeds.

Tiny little red balls

Interesting?

Along the way we spotted this interesting fence arrangement.

You might be a Redneck!

That was one day.  Day two we took a tour of the local Maritime Museum where they have a lens from a lighthouse that was north of here called Destruction Island.  The lens is beautiful and they have it on and rotating so you can see the effect it has along the walls of the museum.

Destruction Island Lighthouse Lens

The weather was pretty cold so we didn’t get to the beach.  We spent a good chunk of time relaxing at home around the fire and playing cards.  Learned two new games; 65cent and Minnesota Canasta.  Lots of fun.

Of course when they leave the weather clears and I got a great evening shot of the dunes.

Sunset on the Dunes