Washington State

Camping in a Gray area

August 10, 2015 By drpaddle 8 Comments

After overwhelming encouragement, from readers like you, for visiting the coast instead of Hood Canal, Team Toto cruised out to Grayland Beach State Park on the central Washington coast. We’ve been there before, but it was January and this is Summer.

Note: there’s a town nearby called Grayland. There’s also a large body of water called Grays Harbor. And, while the skies are gray a lot here — it is the northwest, after all, and it is the coast — all these Grays in names of thing are due to a fellow who visited the area. Captain Robert Gray, an American sea captain, discovered harbors and rivers and probably some rocks, and all sorts of things got named after him. This was a long time ago, probably even before, say, The Beatles performing on the Ed Sullivan Show (for my niece: The Beatles was Paul McCartney’s old band. You can look up Sir Paul on the interwebs).

Upon the advice of readers like you, we took Toto to the beach. But NO BEACH WEATHER! Instead, warm sunshine. We even had to improvise additional sun protection.

Despite all the Gray labeling, the weather was decidedly blue. And just the right temperature, with just the right breeze. Our campsite, number 67, huddled just behind the dunes, was reasonably private and oh so close to the beach. Last January’s maze of puddles had evaporated, so the walk to the surf was over soft sand instead of 43-degree puddles.

As before, the facilities and the park staff were all exemplary. And, this time, Verizon covered us with 2 full bars of 4G goodness — we didn’t even use our Wilson Sleek (now re-branded WeBoost) cellular amplifier, which I am going to get around to installing someday.

It didn’t take long for us to shake off our 2.5-hour drive from home.

Cairn terriers shaking off sand, or something.

The terriers suggested an immediate stroll on the sands once we set up camp.

Back at camp, Wally settled down to keep watch. He loves this job. A few sites in our loop sported yurts instead of tent pads; you can see one of ’em back there.

Wally standing watch just outside Toto's front door.

No one sneaks up on this campsite. No one.

You may have noticed an informal addition to our awning. It really was that warm our first couple of evenings. Besides, we have to protect our youthful skin from all those Soltrons.

Beach towel clothes-pinned to Toto's awning.

We needed a little extra shade at times, and this vintage towel was our inelegant solution. Note: the towel was a gift from Sooz’s employer in the mid 1980s. Can you guess who employed her? Can ya?

Okay, this is a little out of left field, but do you know what you can find in the town of Westport, Washington? I can name at least two things: gasoline and groceries. We acquired both. Note: next time, buy gas on the way home, in Aberdeen, and save thirty cents a gallon. Ooops.

Our second day we took the 15-minute drive up to Westport, a small town (but bigger than Grayland) with large commercial and sport-fishing fleets, plus a few tourist-oriented restaurants and shops. There’s a big lighthouse there, too, but hey, once you’ve seen one… yeah. I suppose you could say the same of marinas, but why would you?

Gulls, pelicans on a breakwater made of pilings.

A long breakwater, built to help form the marina, served as a local pub for gulls and pelicans. You can’t help but wonder what they’re thinking. The pelican looks depressed. Maybe just learned that Jon Stewart retired.

Aaaaand back to the beach.

This is where dogs that behave really well get to go. Who am I kidding? They get to go here anyway.

When Wally saw this gull he gained the strength of a St. Bernard, or perhaps a small horse. It was all I could do to hold him back, and I outweigh him by a good bit. I tried to distract him by thumbing through my field guide to see what kind of gull this was.

Gull standing at the edge of the Pacific, breakers in background

According to The Sibley Guide to Birds, gull identification should not be undertaken casually; this will lead to frustration and disappointment. However, I am fairly certain this gull is called Howard most of the time.

Can you believe I had to work while we were here? It’s a true fact. A client wanted me to write copy for a two-page flyer to promote a user conference. I live for this stuff. While I worked at the office/dinette/spare bedroom/TV room end of Toto, Sooz did some needlework and the boys napped. It took about 3.5 hours, and I’m feeling so very fortunate that I can do this sort of thing out here in the wilderness.

As long as the wilderness has Wi-Fi — or a cell tower.

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Which way do we go? Or, an embarrassment of riches.

July 28, 2015 By drpaddle 10 Comments

Last Fall when we were planning trips for this Summer, we scheduled a four-week break after our long-ish July trip to Vancouver Island. We thought we would want to have some at-home time after a busy few months at rallies and tooling around British Columbia.

But after a week or so at home, I realized… I didn’t want to wait an entire month. I wanted a short trip in there somewhere — just a few days.

We had a family meeting and decided it would be good, if we could snag a site somewhere. So I jumped onto washingtongoingtocamp.com (the State Parks’ reservation site) to see what might be out there, not too far away.

What I came up with was Scenic Beach State Park. It’s only an hour from home — a smallish park on the eastern shore of Hood Canal, our region’s best-known fjord. We used to live up that way and we remembered the park to be well-named — the view across the canal to the Olympic range of mountains is stunning. The campground is in the forest, but has nice sites. I found a pull-through that looked good and booked a three-night stay. No hookups, but the park has potable water and a dump station and we can do three days of 12-volt living without a lot of strain. We think.

Everyone on the team was pleased with the plan. But.

The weather had cooled down from our record heat of the last few weeks. Checking the forecast, however, we found that it has every intention of warming back up. Scenic Beach will be in the mid-eighties during our intended stay. Really, not too hot, but, yes, too hot for cairn terriers wearing fur coats. And, without hookups, no chance to use air conditioning.

Now it would only be “too hot” for a few hours each day. We would survive, using clever tricks like ice cubes and dips in the canal. But some team members indicated a willingness to forego the trip should the weather predictions fail to moderate. Oh.

So yesterday I was up my usual two hours before anyone else and I went back to the State Parks reservation site just to see if… maybe… there might be something available on the coast, where it is known to be cooler, if not depressingly foggy, this time of year. The site has a really good search tool, so I was able to zero in on parks that could accommodate our rig. Up popped our old friend, Grayland Beach State Park (we stayed there last winter during a warm spell). And, amazingly, a dune-front site was available for our little three-day window.

Tyler, Wally and Sooz, where the dunes meet the beach at Grayland Beach.

This is what Grayland Beach looked like in January. I’m thinking it hasn’t changed much.

Someone must have just cancelled a stay. You just can’t get these sites on short notice in the summertime unless that kind of luck comes your way.

Next thing to check: weather forecast for Grayland. Intellicast said, in so many words and pictures, “fifteen degrees cooler in the daytime, same as Scenic Beach at night.” Hmmmmm.

I booked the site in Sooz’s name. Then, later, when she awoke, we talked about it.

We’re still talking about it. We have a few days to decide. There’s a small cancellation fee for either site, but it’s the same. So we can choose. I say hold off for a few days to see how the forecast looks. She says it’s easier to plan clothing, and food, if you know whether you’re headed to the sandy ocean beach or the hilly, wooded forest with a view.

I guess that means we have to decide soon. Our choices:

Wide, flat, sandy ocean beach, dunes, moderate temperatures. Two hours from home. Hookups. Good walking for physically challenged dogs and aging human beings. A very nice site in a very nice campground. But we were there six months ago.
Camping in the woods just uphill from a rocky beach (not very accessible at high tide) with a ridiculous view. Maybe a little hot in the afternoon and early evening. No hookups.

I don’t think we can go wrong. What would you do?

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Okay, ‘bye for now, Canada. Back soon.

July 17, 2015 By drpaddle 6 Comments

It was not supposed to be the last day of our trip, but it turned out to be.

We were up early to meet our 9:00 AM check-in deadline for the ferry ride to Port Angeles, Washington. Sooz passed our few remaining fruits and veggies on to the folks at the next site over (most aren’t allowed into the US). We left the RV park and drove easily to–and around–Victoria’s inner harbour to the ferry terminal.

Going this direction, one must arrive 90 minutes before scheduled departure, because US Immigration stuff happens in Victoria, and it takes a good while. We encountered some highly entertaining agents who guided us through the process, and by 10:00 we were trundling onto the ferry. Then, up to the sun deck with supplies and equipment required for the 90-minute Strait of Juan de Fuca crossing.

Cairn terriers, human legs, outdoor ferry seating, doggie bed.

No creature comfort spared for our intrepid terriers. On the sundeck of the Coho, trying to stay out of the sun, the tykes grudgingly share Tyler’s Big Boy Bed.

Our ferry, the Coho, named after some kind of fish, departed on time, with us on it. We had seen it the previous evening, passing the cruise ship terminal on its way out of the harbor.

MV Coho passing in front of docked cruise ship the size of Cleveland.

The Coho seems big enough, as ferries go, but I think the Jewel of the Seas (Caribbean Cruise Lines) could eat it for lunch. Or snack.

But now it was our turn. We got to wave goodbye, at least.

Float plane taking off, RV park, western part of Victoria Harbour, Esquimalt high-rises on a hill in the background.

We watched from the Coho as a float plane, possibly piloted by Clutch Cargo or maybe Sky King along with his niece, Penny, ascended in front of the RV park we had just vacated. ‘Bye for now Victoria!

It was a smooth crossing — Tyler experienced none of the Queasy Puppy Syndrome he suffered on a similar passage eight years prior — and we glided through customs like a Red-headed Woodpecker cruises through the trees at Taidnapam. (Go ahead, smirk. I’m trying, here).

Then onto our planned, two-night stay at campsite #51, Dungeness Recreation Area, near Sequim. This is a really nice, wooded campground inside a Clallam County park, and a few of the sites have views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, according to our meticulous research.

However.

Contrary to the park website’s promise, site 51 just had views of 10-foot-high hedges and shrubs and whatnot. Unless we were willing to do some serious gardening, it would have just another two days of hiking off somewhere else to not feel like we were sitting in a small green room. And I’m thinking the park rangers probably didn’t want us to do any gardening for them, anyway. And we had forgotten to pack our hedge trimmer.

The boys were too tired, by now, to do much walking around. And we thought… Big, Hot Showers. King-size Bed. 64-inch TV. Air Conditioning. Hmmm.

It was an easy two-hour drive home. I needed caffeine, though — I think I was starting to relax too early. Sooz kept handing me the bottle of Coke Zero and saying “talk to me.”

I wonder what I said.

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Chilliwack, British Columbia, a perfectly nice place

July 4, 2015 By drpaddle 2 Comments

Lots of travel and not so much downtime the last few days, but very many hot times to share with you. As in 30 degrees C, or 92 degrees F, or just plain boiling. I know that some people live in that sort of warmth all the time and do just fine, but Team Toto doesn’t include any of those people. Lots of good times anyway.

We’ve had a trip to Vancouver Island planned for many months. We like to get out of the USA when July 4 rolls around, because the Americans celebrate their Independence Day in manner that’s far to disturbing to Tyler and Wally. They are Earth Dogs, not Fireworks Dogs.

Our plan was to stay in Washington State Park just south of the Canadian border on the 30th and the 1st — to avoid the Canada fireworks on the 1st — then dash over the border and catch a ferry to Nanaimo on the 2nd. From there we would make the 4-hour drive (3 in a Miata, definitely 4 for Team Toto) to Tofino.

But two developments developed. First, the geniuses at Escape Trailer Industries somehow convinced Dometic, the manufacturer of the refrigerator, to replace the units like ours with a better-performing model. And the company offered to do the swap for Escape 21 owners like us for a nominal fee. All we had to do was get Toto to Chilliwack, and they would do the rest.

The other development was months in the making. The Washington State legislature found itself unable to pass its biennial budget. That meant certain non-essential state services (including State Parks) would shut down late on June 30. And there we would be, with no place to camp. While the shutdown wasn’t a certainty, the State Parks people offered to let people with potentially affected camping reservations cancel without the customary draconian penalty.

Wait — there was a third development. BC Ferries announced steeply discounted fares for “oversized rigs” (like TinMan and Toto) on certain sailings.

So we changed our plans a little and began with a trip to Chilliwack.

Toto on the main car deck of the Kingson-Edmonds ferry.

The drive to Chilliwack goes through Seattle unless we’re willing to shell out for the Kingston-Edmonds ferry. But driving anything (much less a truck and trailer) through Seattle is a hellish thing. Washington State Ferries to the rescue.

TinMand and Toto tucked into a nice campsite.

We booked two glorious nights at Camperland Bridal Falls RV Resort outside Chilliwack. It’s right next to a day-use Provincial Park that’s all about a waterfall and is therefore nearly vertical, as we learned when we hiked to the falls. This is campsite #76, which was just fine, and 180 degrees (figuratively and thermally) different from campsite #26 where we spent our first night.

So, CamperLand at Bridal Falls. Or Bridal Veil Falls. We saw it both ways, so apparently there’s no universal agreement on what to call the falls. It was 95F / 31C when we arrived at 3:30. The friendly staff assigned us to site 26, which was just long enough for us to back into and not have to unhook — a good thing, because we would be hauling Toto over to his birthplace the next morning for a refrigerator swap and the now-legendary wall-reinforcement-for-a-TV-mount.

Got parked (very tight quarters, but we made it), got leveled, got plugged in almost. No juice at the current bush. None. Tried all my little gadgets to test it… no juice. None.

I walked over to the office, waited endlessly for my turn, and asked for help. “The maintenance guy will be right over.” Meanwhile, the heat-adverse team simmered (no shade at site 26).

Only 40 minutes later the juice was back on. Someone had flipped a circuit breaker somewhere in a hidden shack. Air conditioning activated. Team Toto formed a sort of prayer circle under the roof-mounted Dometic (yes, same brand as the fridge) and looked toward the heavens. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Next day, off to Escape Trailer Industries (ETI)! Owners Tammy and Reace treated us like royalty — according to rumor this is how they treat all their customers — and we rode off in TinMan to explore a car wash, the local Safeway supermarket, and… Camperland at Bridal Whatever. We had some time to kill, so we used it to shop for a better campsite, and found one (pictured above). Very shady, and right on the Provincial Park boundary. Very nice.

I think we learned here that it’s okay to ask for a different / better site. They can always say no, but maybe we end up with a better site. We did this time. And, BONUS, it was a shorter walk to the falls, which we did with the boys. That meant pushing them up a stupidly steep cliff in Wally’s stroller. It was a nice view, and worth it if you’re not pushing 70 pounds of stroller and dog.

Trees in Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park

On the way to the falls. Not steep yet. But soon…

The falls. Well, part of the falls.

And finally…

Obligatory blurry falls image.

There. That was refreshing. Next up: the journey continues with another voyage (and a spiffy new refrigerator).

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Taidnapam Park, Washington: Are there fish in here?

June 10, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

Continuing with Team Toto’s stroll around Taidnapam Park: the thing is, this part of the lake is narrow. If you stack about 80 fisherfolk elbow to elbow it spans the whole lake. I did not count the fishers, but this is my estimate. I heard a fellow say that they line both sides of the bridge, from shore to shore, sometimes. Those trout don’t stand a chance.

Fishing Bridge at Taidnapam Park, Washington

This is a good place to watch people reel in 8-inch-long fishes.

Did I mention this visit to the park was part of a rally? It was. This is only our second rally, and we are still getting the hang of things. Let’s see, what have we learned?

A rally is not a time for peaceful reflection — at least not for long. If you’re in your campsite but outside your trailer, friendly people who have never seen you before may approach with questions or comments about your trailer, your terrier, or portion(s) thereof. You may end up discussing just about anything except religion and politics.
The discussion may go on for some time; no one is in a hurry to be somewhere else or get something done. After all, what could be more important, or more rewarding, than discussing the finer points of trailer leveling, or campsite selection, or optional equipment installations and modifications? Nothing.
Similarly, you can approach other parties at their campsites. They will be friendly, and if they are judging you, they will do a good job of hiding it.
Some of your fellow rallyists will not know anything about a thespian Cairn terrier and her role in a 1930’s movie about a Kansas tornado and a whopper of a nightmare (dream?). They may even mistake your trailer’s name for a ballet costume.
Others will nod sagely and point out that none of us is in Kansas anymore.
You do know that the character Toto was played by a female Cairn terrier named Terry, right? Sure you do.
Pot luck contributions don’t have to be fabulous, but it doesn’t hurt.
People come from a long way to some of these events. We met a couple who had driven from their Chattanooga, Tennessee area home to attend. Their trailer was the same model as ours. We traded accessory ideas; Sooz is on a mission for a new towel rack.

Also, things can get confusing. That fiberglass camper back there behind our campsite was NOT there for the rally. We spoke briefly to its inhabitants, who live near where we live. Huh.

Toto's campsite, with an Escape 5th wheel in the background at another site.

Back there behind our campsite, in the trees, as it were, there’s an Escape 5.0 TA fifth wheel. See it? It was only there for one night. We met the owners, who live very near us, in Tacoma, near a very cool minor league baseball stadium. We meant to chat ’em up but they disappeared early the next morning before I got presentable enough to head over there.

And now let’s get back to that stroll. Just past the Fishing Bridge, we peered toward the upper reaches of the lake. The Cowlitz River feeds into the lake just around the corner to the left.

If only you would walk out by the fishing bridge at Taidnapam Park, you could see this view of the easternmost reaches of Riffe Lake, where the Cowlitz River feeds it. (If only!) Yeah, it looks like a pond here. It gets bigger elsewhere.

And then back toward the larger portion of the lake…

The weather was just hideous, as you can see in this Riffe Lake shot.

… and returning to the campsite.

On the right: Wally’s stroller. Yes. He has a stroller. He doesn’t walk so well, as we have discussed, so sometimes we bring it along.

If you look closely you’ll see a few dark spots on the underside of the awning. I have to clean it. I have researched methods, and I believe it will be a walk in the park. We’ll see.

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Lake. Campground. Rally. Heat. Bugs. Fun!

June 9, 2015 By drpaddle 6 Comments

Nine months ago we reserved a campsite at Taidnapam Park in central Washington. The park is owned and operated by Tacoma Public Utilities, and this is on account of back in the 1950s they built a big dam on the Cowlitz River to generate electricity for all those people in Tacoma, and after the dam was complete the water backed up to form a lake bigger than most small countries.

I forgot to take a picture of the dam, so I found this one, taken by a fellow named Robert Ashworth and used under Creative Commons 2.0 licensing, which you can read about here.

Riffe Lake. You have to paddle your canoe a long way from that dam before you find the Cowlitz River again, way up at the east end around some corners, amidst Cascade Range foothills, countless trees and an awful lot of turkey vultures.

So here was this lake, and the utilities people decided to make a park so people could enjoy it. Taidnapam is the name of a tribe of native Americans who lived around the upper reaches of the Cowlitz River. I expect the area was even more beautiful back then. No lake, but more river.

Taidnapam has a large campground, and it’s a really appealing one. Large sites, many trees, spotless everything, and ready access to the aforementioned lake. It was popular last weekend — not completely full but pretty close. A lot of fifth wheels roughly the size of Cleveland come there, probably to fish, and to drink brewskies and trade fish stories.

Except this weekend was different, because this weekend there was a Rally of Molded Fiberglass Trailers (and their people).

Assorted molded fiberglass trailers at Taidnapam Park campground

No, all the fiberglass trailers weren’t radioactive, even if this picture makes them look that way. But they did get warm. Come to think of it, a lot of them are shaped a little like toasters.

Note that the tall conifers in this campground appear to have been limbed a good way up — whether by nature or by human beings (a branch of nature, I suppose), we’re not sure. It’s like being in the woods, but the woods are… airy. All very tidy-looking (taidy?).

We took a “back road” — Washington state route 7 — to get to Taidnapam. It’s scenic, winding, pleasant, and makes Wally carsick. Even Tyler was panting a little. As has been his custom, TinMan handled the hills and curves well.

A “haul road” (something to do with logging, I think) takes you from Washington route 12 to Taidnapam Park, skirting around the lake’s east end. Looking westward, you can see about 15 percent of the lake here. I’ll bet the birding is good around here, too, but I didn’t try it. I was busy.

We had reserved a pull-through site for this trip, because it was one of the first reservations I made, well before Toto was hatched, and I wasn’t sure how adept I would be at backing the trailer. The way the site was laid out, it made sense to pull forward a bit, so we ended up parking TinMan behind Toto. This may have confused both of them.

Toto and TinMan resting comfortably at Taidnapam site 237

Taidnapam Park has a two-part campground, consisting of the old part and the new part. Our little rally was held in the new part. It’s quite appealing. Although most of the campsites are good-sized, some (including ours) aren’t very private. At a rally, though, privacy isn’t really the goal. We give Taidnapam five stars for aesthetics, cleanliness, friendly staff and value.

See, you can see another egg-trailer on the right up above. That one belongs to a very nice couple from Port Townsend who have a Casita trailer. They also have built wooden kayaks (me, too), and they used to live on a boat. We learned that we had mutual friends, after a fashion. When these folks cruised down to Mexico in their boat, a few years ago, they knew some friends of ours who also cruised down to Mexico (and kept going). It’s a compact world.

We did some walking around with Tyler and Wally, checking out the sights.

Here you could launch a boat. I figure I could bring my kayak, and its little wheelie cart, and roll it from my campsite to this ramp in no time. Bringing the boat next time!

So. There is more to show you, and a considerable amount of Rally Angst to discuss. Bugs, too. Also heat. But let’s save it for later. I hafta work for a while or my clients are going to yell at me.

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