Washington

Ideally, exploring Puget Sound would involve a boat. Last summer, after retreating from Canada, we spent the rest of the summer exploring the Puget Sound area in our RV. We were disappointed that fires forced our retreat from Canada, canceling our trip to Jasper and Banff. Still, closing one door allowed us to visit places

Nearly 30 years after circling the moon, Astronaut Bill Anders founded the Heritage Flight Museum with one of his favorite aircraft, a World War II P-51 Mustang named “Val-Halla.”  Last summer, after returning from Canada, we visited the Heritage Flight Museum near Burlington, Washington. In 1968, Bill Anders circled the moon in the Apollo 8

Fort Casey was so strong it was never attacked. Along with its sister forts, it guarded the entrance to Puget Sound, protecting Seattle, Tacoma, and the Puget Sound Naval shipyards. Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Worden near Port Townsend, and Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island were linked together as if they were one fort.

We made it to the end of the road. Starting in Key West in January our goal was to cross the country from corner to corner. We made it all the way. Perhaps in a couple of years, we will repeat the adventure of crossing from San Diego to the far northeast corner of Maine.

Fort Worden shouldn’t be mentioned without mentioning its sister forts. Fort Worden, Fort Casey, and Fort Flagler were linked together as if they were one fort. This was because they all had one task. They created a crossfire that defended Puget Sound from a Naval attack. These forts, all acted as one, even though miles

In 1890, the people of Port Townsend hoped it would be the New York of the West Coast. It was already an ideal port with a vibrant waterfront. In 1890, Port Townsend was the first port on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Strait of Juan de Fuca was easy to navigate, even by

I am very happy to announce that our RV floats. It’s not that our RV floats by itself, but rather, it floats just fine on a ferry. It is not that I had any doubts, but this is the first time floating our RV. Last year, when we were on the east coast, in Virginia,

Deception Pass connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Skagit Bay. This waterway is between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island. The state of Washington built Deception Pass Bridge in 1935. The bridge connects Whidbey Island to the Washington Road system. Before the construction of the bridge, the only access to Whidbey Island was via

Whidbey Island sunsets are beautiful. We are so lucky to have been there at the perfect time of year and camped at the perfect campsite. This was a surprise, not that I didn’t know if Whidbey Island had a sunset every day, but rather that I didn’t know where our campsite would be and that

Working our way west across the Cascade Mountains. During our full-time travel journey, we have done this several times. We might go across the Cascade Mountains again next year. Our route next year is not quite certain yet but firming up. This year’s journey started on January 1st in Key West and crossed the entire

RVing in a Heat Dome isn’t fun. There I go again, complaining about the weather. Yes, the problem was all self-induced. Our goal for the year was to travel and have fun while crossing the lower 48 states from the tip of Florida in Key West all the way to Puget Sound in the far

Our Hurricane Kayaks are very responsible for making our kayak adventures more fun. By following our journey, you already know that we really love kayaking. We promised to and are taking our kayaks to places that Hurricane Kayaks have never been before. I can say this with confidence because some of our next stops are

Our journey is taking a right turn and our must-see destination is not in northeast Washington, but rather starts in the Cascades crosses the state eastward and gets real pretty again in Idaho.  This year we are going to Coeur d’ALene area, east of Spokane, and after crossing into Montana we will be at Glacier

Since departing Lake Wenatchee we headed west along Highway 2 to Everett, just north of Seattle.  We are spending three weeks in northwest Washington. The last time I drove my RV through Seattle I promised myself that the next time I would go from Tacoma to Everett via Wenatchee. We didn’t go to Tacoma but

This is the Snake River in Kennewick Washington, a farm town. We moved south 150 miles to escape the smoke, unfortunately, the wind shifted and blew the smoke south… Tomorrow we go further south then if that doesn’t work, turn west. We have been trying to outrun the smoke for about two weeks now. The

We gave up on going to Idaho. Too much Smoke in Washington. Our plan was to cross eastern Washington, stop in Spokane and then to Northern Idaho, maybe crossing into Montana. There are just too many fires and too much smoke. We decided, we have wheels and we can find some clean air  — somewhere. 

Fire is raining ash on my parade. By that I mean a real forest fire is burning just to the west and is hot enough to put a huge amount of ash and smoke into the air. The smoke has clouded out the sun and the ashes are dropping from the sky all over the

This time we moved 23 miles into North Cascades National Park for the next eight days. While we were at Rockport we drove up to North Cascades National Park. We don’t usually get to do this but we pre-scouted our reserved campsite and it was impossible to park in. Trees had overgrown the entrance. I

After Jim Creek, we moved further north, Howard Miller Steelhead Park which is closer to Bellingham and stayed at the Skagit River. We are near Rockport State Park, right on the Skagit River, downtown in the tiny town of Rockport, Washington (population 109). This is close enough to visit Bellingham and far enough away, to

Jim Creek Naval Radio Station is obsolete, what a nice place for a recreation facility. We stayed at Jim Creek Recreation Area right on the Radio Station. Next time I have to drive through Seattle, I think I would rather take a 100-mile detour. This was top secret but now is obsolete. I can’t tell

We are moving north again, this time to Tacoma and Mount Rainier. Mt. Saint Helen’s was awesome. From Tacoma, you can see Mount Rainier from anywhere you can see the skyline to the southeast. It is huge and stands alone. On a clear day, you can see it from one hundred miles. Tami took this

We have a new state to add to our travels. So far we have stayed in nine different states. I can’t say we have covered nine states, but we have stayed multiple nights in every state on the list. Washington is going to be a treat but the first stop was for maintenance. Mount Saint