The Spirit of Adventure 2.0

North Cascades National Park So after six weeks along the coast in Oregon and Washington State we are back in the mountains Heading east a couple of hours we camped in the North Cascade National Forest campground in Newhalem Washington It's always nice to get back out in the national forests where there are lots of trees and nature. The campsites are large, spaced out nicely and they even come with bear proof metal boxes for tent campers to put their food in...… hmmmm…. maybe the tent campers should camp in the bear proof box... what do you think? This area is beautiful with many mountain lakes and rivers everywhere. Swinging cable bridges cross some of the rivers Since we really like to get out in the back country, one afternoon we did the 3 1/2 mile round trip hike out to the Ross Lake hydro-electric dam and power house which is one of three hydro-electric dams in this area. It was a nice hike out but you climb all the way back While in th...

Whale Watching On Tuesday August 6 we went on a whale watching tour out of Anacortes Washington Sailing northwest into the San Juan Islands we saw many harbor seals and sea lions After about 1 1/2 hours ...... whale hooooo We found a small pod of 3 Gray Whales We watch them for about 30 minutes and at one point one of them did a somersalt like move coming partially out of the water while thrashing his tail. Of course I did not get that picture. Our captain was very experienced having 24 years sailing these waters Continuing on we passed huge container cargo ships coming in from all around the world  heading to Seattle. And a research vessel from NOAA We even saw an Orca aka a Killer Whale He was all by himself and working his way along the rocky shoreline looking for seals As we headed back we passed many remote islands, some had small light houses One uninhabited island, called Safari Island even ha...

Port Townsend to La Conner While traveling along the northern coast of Washington we have really enjoyed  the slower pace of the many small coastal town, each with their own character. Port Townsend has their waterfront with their Wooden Boat Festival every summer They make wooden boats here and have summer camps for kids who want to learn  how to build  wooden boats And Friday night concerts in the waterfront park for everyone After Port Townsend we took the ferry across the sound to Coupeville Washington Since I was first in line I got a front row seat watching them unload the incoming ferry Then it was our time to load up They load the ferry according the height and weight so we ended up in the center of the ferry  and all the way at the front Had to drive across Deception Pass bridge. Its only 28 feet wide and by the time you account for the walking lanes on each side of the road the traffic lanes are o...