May 11: Happy Mother’s Day to all our Moms out there! Travel we are traveling from our undisclosed camping spot to Fort Flagler State Park near Port Townsend, WA. We made these reservations for this State Park last year and now we get to actually see it! First thing first, we must get off the riverbed without getting stuck, lol. Honestly, it was quite easy and without drama, thank goodness. Now to brave the winding and rough roads… We had to figure out something to waste some time until check-in at 2:30p, so Sean looked us up a hiking trail and tried to make sure there was parking for the motorhome with the truck in tow. On the way, we drove along the edge of Lake Crescent which offered beautiful views. We pulled in to the parking area for Marymere Falls/Storm King trail and luckily there was a pull-off area big enough and open to park our rig. This area offered a boat launch for Lake Crescent and we went down to the waterfront to soak in the sights and we got to watch someone launch their boat. Poor guy probably felt scrutinized; all eyes on him. We ate a quick lunch in the motorhome and then set out on the trail. Sean preferred to see the panoramic view that Storm King trail would have, so we turned that way with the thought that we would finish Marymere Falls trail when we get done with Storm King. Little did we realize this trail would take us 2000’ straight up within 2 miles, which doesn’t seem like much until you’re experiencing it. We gave up at a viewpoint about 1.5 miles in and at that point we had 1500’ elevation gain and were both huffing and puffing. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes and it started to lightly rain, so I snapped a photo and we headed back. Going down was quite fast because the trail was so steep that you would slide while walking, so we figured out it was easier to jog, which came with hazards, lol. I wiped out twice with a foot slipped forward each time and luckily just landed on my butt each time. Sean had only one spectacular wipeout. I guess I distracted him when I asked what that horn sound was (we think it was a foghorn) and his left foot slid off the side of the trail and although he was able to fall on the trail and not go down the side, he made a slipping on ice type of display down the trail a few yards and then when he stopped sliding on his hands and feet threw his hands into the air celebrating the dismount! Luckily, he was unscathed and I could not stop laughing as I replayed the whole scene over and over. It took me a moment to recover, but we continued down going much slower after our wipeouts and our legs were getting a bit weak and wobbly. We got all the way back to the split off and I asked Sean if he wanted to go see the falls and he smartly said, “we can barely walk as it is, and you want to go see the falls?” Well, he has a point… we headed back to the motorhome, lol. It was after check-in time, so we started our way down the road to Fort Flagler. Once we arrived and registered, we settled in to our site and with our view of Puget Sound, Sean was fanboying over all the ships. It was difficult to see the water because some bushes growing along the waterfront, so we took the pups on a trail to the beach to get a better view. Sean spent the better part of the evening watching the ships pass by standing on top of the picnic table for better sight, while I started on lots of laundry and cooked some pasta with marinara and Italian sausage.
May 12: It was forecasted to be our nicest weather day, so we thought it best to make a trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada. It is essentially just across the water, but only accessible by ferry. The closest ferry we found was located in Port Angeles, which required a bit of a drive and we decided it best to take only our bikes on the ferry so we wouldn’t need to worry about parking the truck. We got up at 5:50am to take care of the pups and get ourselves ready, and then hit the road. Our check-in time was 7:50am and we were on the ferry and on our way by 8:20am. The ferry ride was about 1.5 hours and the sea was calm. I attempted to drink some coffee I bought from the dispensing machine offered on the ferry, but quickly regretted that because it tasted like dirt tinged water instead of coffee. That went in the trash! Despite the cool wind, we stayed on the top deck and watched all the boats and mountain views. Unfortunately, no whale sightings. Soon we saw the ferry boat crew change the American flag to a Canadian one. The ferry pulled into the Victoria landing and we went through Canada Customs fairly quickly. Our first stop was to a used bookstore to see if Sean could sell his read books (he ended up donating them) and we were both able to find a few more books to buy. The next order of business was to find something to eat, since neither of us had anything for breakfast. We decided Chinese food sounded amazing, but not too authentic (bad experience in past) and ended up at The Noodle Box. It was fantastic food and perfect for us because they offered different spice levels (we’ve always liked spicy food). We stuffed our bellies and waddled back to our bikes with our next destination Historic Chinatown. We chained up the bikes and walked down the couple of streets of “Chinatown”. There was an alley named Fan Tan that was super narrow, some restaurants, and what we were after, trinket shops. I was in search of some dinner plates and found some cheap porcelain ones. The lady at the register graciously wrapped the plates very well and we were able to get them in Sean’s backpack. Next place to visit was Fisherman’s Wharf to look at the barge houses and we found a random gift shop that we found our magnet at. We then rode our bikes along the outer roads of the island and found the cruise ship docks. Further down, we found the bike lanes following the coastline and offered beautiful views. We then stopped on a bench for a rest and watched for ships and whales (again, no whales). We realized we passed Beacon Hill Park that we wanted to explore and found it on the way back. It was so pretty and had some quirky art instillations. Before we knew it, we had to head back toward the ferry. On the way, I snapped a picture of British Columbia Parliament buildings and Confederation Fountain. We loaded up on the ferry and were on the way back to Port Angeles. This ride on the ferry was a bit rough because of ocean swells. Once back on land and through US Customs, we loaded the bikes in the truck and searched for some food! We had worked up a big appetite from our day abroad (biked 10ish miles total) and found a great burger joint called Frugals. We then rushed home to relieve the pups from their confines.
May 13: Skittles left eye has been bothering her since March and our local vet tried a few things to help her, but so far we hadn’t seen any big difference. We decided to look up a specialist (literally a dog ophthalmologist, who knew this existed?) and made an appointment for when we would be traveling through. After waiting a couple months, today was the day. Skittles was a bit anxious without her emotional support sister during her appointment, but she got many treats during her eye exam and we got a diagnosis of entropion and corneal scarring. Treatment for now would be antibiotic ointment and lubricant drops. Eventually, she made need surgery to fix the eyelid especially if she develops an eye ulcer. She was reunited with Hershey once she was done with her appointment and we went to find a Mexican food restaurant for lunch. After “fueling up”, we went to the grocery store for a few items. Today was also a day to catch up on chores: laundry, cleaning, etc. Sean did a few projects outside while I tackled inside. Unfortunately, the soreness caught up to us both! Our legs were hurting, lol. I just got done cleaning the shower when I noticed my washer was already done, weird. I thought I just lost track of time, but when I opened it up the clothes were still soaked. This has happened before, so I thought nothing of it and set it to drain/spin cycle, but again same issue. After looking it up, Sean determined it was a common issue with this washer and it would require a new electrical board which was on back order and costs half the price of a new machine. Now, there was a big decision to make. We are close to a large metropolitan area that would likely have a new washer or on the rest of our trip without a washer and go to every laundromat we could find in the Canadian wilderness. We opted for the new washer. We went on a long walk around Fort Flagler and explored some bunkers and battlements while discussing the specifics of how we would accomplish our new renovation.
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