The first week for this trip is a bit of a shorty as we didn't leave home until Wednesday morning (a week being Monday thru Sunday). Monday morning when we went to make the bed in the trailer, we discovered the foot of the mattress was wet. argh! We had thought the wetness in that area of the trailer was due to condensation. On our last trip it was cold and rainy and we had to run the heater, but because the rain could come in through the roof vent, we had to keep the windows and vent closed. When we had the roof vent cover installed a few weeks ago, we thought we had solved the problem. The trailer had been parked in the driveway with the roof vent open under the vent cover and we didn't notice any leakage. Clearly, the problem was not being caused by condensation, so we examined every part of that area on the outside of the trailer and could only conclude that the water was coming in through the fitting around the tailight or where the awning is bolted on to the side wall. We caulked both spots thoroughly, had a giant rainstorm that night and voila!! no more water. We hope.
We mostly had the trailer all packed Tuesday night then just the finishing touches Wednesday, made some coffee for the road and off we went. Pleasant drive south to Victoria where we arrived a little after noon. We went straight down to the Black Ball ferry departure at the inner harbour, got settled in line then had about an hour to go off and get some lunch before we had to be back for US customs check at 1:30 (90 minutes before the 3:00 departure for Port Angeles). It was about a 15 minute walk up to the Brown's Social House on Douglas so taking into account the walk back we had just under a half hour to order, eat and pay up. Enough time for a nice lunch and off we went. Customs was much like it was for our same ferry trip back in March... easy peasy. The crossing was pleasant (no whale sightings though) and it was an easy drive, even in the rain, from Port Angeles south to Poulsbo where we spent our first night at the Eagle Tree RV Resort. After checking in at the park amid continuing rain we drove into Poulsbo where we discovered a very pretty downtown along the waterfront. We chose a fish restaurant and had a decent dinner overlooking the waterfront park and the water. By the time we finished dinner and started a stroll along the waterfront the sky had turned a beautiful color...
Thursday morning we awoke to continuing rain and to find where we had placed our bins (good thing we bought those good waterproof ones) was now like a little stream. Not to worry... We hooked up the trailer, loaded up and drove south onto Bainsbridge Island for a look around. By then it had stopped raining. Another beautiful little town, decent breakfast at a place on the main drag and Kris picked up a great knitting project (yes another one). After a few hours there we headed south around the bottom of Puget Sound and back up to Kent where we will spend the rest of the week at the KOA.
After setting up, at the KOA, we were sitting around resting when a woman came over to our site. She was crying heavily and asked if we could please please give her a ride home... hmmm some kind of scam or ???... she claimed that her doc had put her on some new meds which caused her extreme agony in her legs...anyway, we decided to help out and Brian drove her a couple of miles up a nearby road to her house. She seemed eternally grateful, so it seemed to work out ok in the end. She was able to walk up the walkway and climb the stairs to her house. If she wasn't just after a free ride home we hope she was able to get her meds adjusted.
Thursday night the rain started again and came down in buckets. Thank goodness for the new vent cover we had installed on the wee trailer before leaving Courtenay as we were able to leave the vent open and the fan on with no rain coming in. Friday morning we awoke to find over 2" of water in a basin we had left out. That was a lot of rain. Oh yeah... no wet mattress either so the caulking must have done the trick and is holding up.
Later in the morning we decided to drive into Seattle on a totally new route (for us anyway) and headed west across WA-518 into Burien then onto WA-509 north towards Seattle. This is an easy peasy route, much easier than going I-5. Kris got dropped off at Daniel Smith to check out painting supplies while Brian drove up to Safeco Field to pick up tickets for the Mariners Sunday afternoon game against the visiting Rays. Got good seats... up behind home plate 2nd row in the nose bleeds... don't know if it will be foul ball territory but should have great views of the park and action. After meeting up again we checked out a very large COSTCO in behind the Daniel Smith store and came away empty handed. Not much we wanted and even if we had decided to buy something it probably would have been a good half hour in the extra long lineup... man was it busy.
On the way back to the KOA via Burien we found a Fred Meyer and a Trader Joe's where between the two of them we picked up the fixings for a nice grilled pork chop and salad dinner.
A while after we got back, to the KOA, the lady in the large RV beside us drove up in her tow vehicle. We chatted a bit then she went inside and came out with her VERY LARGE pet... a big old black Vietnamese Potbelly Pig... named "Pumpkin"; her pet of 21 YEARS!!!
Turns out that Pumpkin is very popular as over the next couple of days when we were around there were many visitors who came by to check out the pig and to say hi to it...
We decided it would be best to not mention, to Pumpkin, that we were having pork chops for dinner!
Saturday we drove back into downtown Seattle where we paid our first visit to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) where there was a special exhibit "50 Years of Japanese Fashion". Very cool! For lunch we decided to try the museum restaurant; aptly named "Taste"; and were not disappointed (shrimp salad all around). Afterwards we wandered around down town before calling it a day.
Sunday was ball game day and the weather forecast was for clear and sunny. Over the last few years we have been through Seattle numerous times and every time the Mariners have been on long road trips so this time we finally get to see Safeco Field (We had previously been to the old KingDome but that was a long time ago).
We decided to beat a bit of potential traffic so headed into Seattle a bit early, got into the parkade across the street from Safeco Field then walked up 1st Ave to Henry's Tavern where we had a pre-game lunch in comfort... peanuts etc can come later in the ballpark... as it turns out we forgot to pre-buy peanuts... 7 oz of poor quality peanuts in the park cost $4.50 while 2 lbs of much better quality cost about $3.00 at Safeway!
After lunch we joined the small crowd going into Safeco Field. We were about an hour before the game started so we began a hunt for the Mariner's logo on a lapel pin (Kris' collection) but to no avail; just some variations. Drat... when Brian bought the tickets he went into the team store and they had a bunch. Should have bought one then! Brian's arm patch collection was updated to include the Mariner's patch.
Anyway, off to our seats to watch the game. Great seats way up behind home plate...
Our traditional "home team mojo" appeared to be in good form as the Mariners held onto a 1-0 lead (courtesy of a Kendrys Morales home run) into the eighth inning. Then it fell apart as the Mariners manager decided to change pitchers... 6 pitches later the game was tied 1-1 and the Rays had runners at second and third with no outs... time to pull that pitcher and try again... next batter hits a single and two more runs score. The Rays added an extra run in the ninth but by that time the Mariners had run out of any steam they might have had... final 4-1 Rays.
On the way back to the KOA after the game we got a great view of Mt Ranier...
We stopped at Safeway for a steak and had a nice grilled dinner at the KOA to end the week.
| On to Week 2 |
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