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| Old Chinook origin story is etched on the table |
After a wonderful ramble through Oregon, we crossed the
four-mile Astoria-Megler Bridge that spans the mouth of the Columbia River. We
were eager to see the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape
Disappointment, as well as the installations for the Confluence Project
designed by Maya Lin. This interesting series of works was envisioned by Native
elders collaborating with landscape architects to reflect elements of ecology
and culture that were in place when the Lewis and Clark expedition described
their findings 200 years ago. There are actually seven Confluence Project sites
along the Columbia River and the Cape Disappointment displays were the first to
be installed a decade ago as part of the bicentennial celebration of the famous
expedition. We were disappointed in Cape Disappointment but only because we
arrived on a day when the Interpretation Center was closed. But we enjoyed
walking around the sites with few other tourists and no distractions other than
the very interesting landscapes.
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| Lewis and Clark artwork along bike trail |
We stayed a couple of nights in the little seacoast town of
Long Beach, which touts itself as home of the “Longest Beach in the World.”
Town planners and citizens are obviously proud of the eight miles of paved
pathway that winds through the dunes between the town and the Pacific Ocean. We
got our bikes out and enjoyed a few miles of this trail, vowing to return to
this beautiful place (which happens to be close to home) sometime when the
weather is a little warmer. From there we wound up through little logging towns
and coastal waterways that make up the southwest corner of Washington State.
Highway 101 did not fail to deliver a bounty of natural vistas and quirky
communities that were just as interesting as those along this road further
south. Then we left Highway 101 at Hoodsport where we climbed up towards the
Staircase area of Olympic National Park and the cabin of Janna’s sister and
brother-in-law. There we met up with Addy and Al as well as our daughters and
grandkids from Vashon Island, and had a
delightful weekend of family fun including a disk golf course through waist-high salal and a short hike to Lake Cushman. The grandkids got to ride with us
in Lilypad back to Vashon Island and were excellent pilots from the back window
when Grandma Liz had to back down the winding ramp to get on the ferry at the
Southworth ferry terminal.
Today we are still on Vashon Island, at Wishing Rock Farm,
home to these (aforementioned) lovely
daughters and beautiful grandkids, and also home to a growing quail
egg-production operation which has resulted in delicious bite-size Easter eggs as well as the fun of brand
new tiny quail chicks, born today. It’s also the home of the Wishing Rock Farm Retreat, a very comfortable loft above the barn that has been made available to
us these last two weeks. We have been cleaning out Lilypad, learning more about
this island, and beginning to make the transition to a life of watching the
same scenery every day. But, no complaints: it will be fine scenery and we are
ready to stop travelling, at least for a while.
Tomorrow we’ll be at our cabin on San Juan Island where
we’ll stay the summer before returning to look for a house on Vashon when the fall
weather makes the cabin uncomfortable.. This move will allow us to be able to
spend more time with grandchildren, still returning to San Juan Island every spring
to mow the grass and pull the Scot’s Broom and remove plastic refuse from the
beach. We are ready to do some nesting on each of our islands and look forward
to renewing old friendships and finding new ones. We are ready to settle down
for a while. And we hope to spend a lot of time making music.
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| Thanks for bringing us home safe, Lilypad |
And so ends our journey. So ends our blog. For us, it is the
end of an era. We thank you, faithful readers. We have loved having you along with us.
