Sunday morning the KOA was abuzz with people packing up to head home. Our planned stop for the night was Elma, Washington, a little less than 2 hours north so we took our time while we watched the cavalcade of RVs, fifth wheels, small towed trailers, and tenters leave the park. We left close to 11:00, stopped at Fred Meyer for a few things we forgot to pick up yesterday and off we went only to find major construction on the Megler Bridge which resulted in about a 15 minute wait to cross the Columbia River. Oh well, at least we were up high enough to get a glimpse of the hundreds of small fishing boats on the river. The salmon are definitely running!
When we arrived, in Elma, our GPS told us to head southeast on US-12 for about 8 kms and on the highway exit there was a sign for the Elma RV Park indicating to go to the right (southeast) on US-12. We continued on US-12 but after less than a kilometre or so Kris points out the window and says "that looks like a nice RV park over there; maybe we should just go there" to which Brian replied "I made a reservation at the Elma RV Park which both Mapquest. com and the GPS say is farther down the road". Well, wouldn't you know it.... 8 kms down the road when the GPS proudly announces "Arriving at Elma RV Park on the right" there was nothing there but a farm field. DRAT! So we turn around and go back to the RV park that Kris thought looked nice and, you got it, the entrance sign proclaimed loud and clear "Welcome to Elma RV Park". We go into the office and while checking in Brian mentions the GPS gaffe to which the lady behind the counter says "Got a Garmin don't cha!". She went on to say that she has called Garmin numerous times but nothing has changed. All the other GPSs lead you right to their door!
Anyway, the Elma RV Park is quite pleasant and the rate of $17.50 she charged us made the place even nicer.
After getting set up we decided to drive back to Montesano where, a few years ago, we had an excellent lunch at The Bee Hive restaurant. When we arrived at about 2:00 PM the place was packed but we did find one small booth at the rear of the place. At the two tables beside us were the children of several couples occupying booths closer to the front of the restaurant. These kids (probably in the seven to twelve age range were having a lot of fun with their food. It was like a train wreck; hard to look away. When they all left there was more than a little bit of food, mostly bits of waffles, corn dogs and chips strewn on the floor beneath the tables. Although we could have still ordered breakfast fare, Kris chose the salmon filet dinner and Brian opted for a shrimp louie salad. Both were excellent although the very large shrimp louie came with about a half pound of olives which, of course, Brian does not like, so there was a lot of picking them out and passing them to Kris who did not hesitate to add them to her meal! All in all, excellent food!
Back at the RV park we discovered that the park is on the list of good places to stay for groups cycling the Oregon coast. On this day a group of ten cyclists showed up. It is an organized tour called the "border to border tour". They started in Blaine Washington and will finish in San Diego. It is a 45 day tour and they average in the 50 miles per day range. On the first day they do a quick ride north from Blaine to the Canadian border and back; and on the last day they do a quick ride from San Diego to the Mexican border and back; tour over.
Monday was another short drive of a bit under two hours to Poulsbo. To start the day we just had to stop at the Rusty Tractor restaurant in Elma and taking that time out also made sure we did not arrive at the RV park in Poulsbo too early. The Rusty Tractor is a funky place with a great collection of, well, rusty tractors all around outside and a pretty decent collection of jelly moulds on one exterior wall...
For breakfast Kris chose scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and sliced tomatoes while Brian decided to try the YAK sausage with eggs, hash browns and toast. All pretty good but to be honest, the Yak sausage was a bit strong and gamey tasting. Didn't really care for it. Just outside there was the very busy little Coffee Coop where, after a brief wait, we headed out with steaming hot lattes for the drive north.
Our stop for the day was Eagle Tree RV Park between Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island where we arrived shortly after 1:00 PM.
The real goal for this day though was to meet up with our old friends Bernie and Doris. Although we chat on the phone from time to time, the last time we connected with them, in person, was five years ago when we all happened to be in San Francisco and met up at the Cliff House. This time though they just happened to be staying at their son's house on Bainbridge Island for a few days and we just happened to be passing through at the same time. Perfect timing! After setting up the wee trailer we headed into Bainbridge, did a quick stop at Churchmouse Yarns (a must stop when passing through this area), then off to see Bernie and Doris. We had a great visit catching up on what we all have done in the last year or so then shared some wine, we needed to get rid of before we hit the border, and a couple of excellent pizzas from Westside Pizza.
Here's what Brian and Bernie look like these days...
This day was just such a pleasant surprise finish to our trip as we get set to catch a ferry back to Vancouver Island in a couple of days.
Tuesday we had just a short drive up to Port Angeles so we decided to leave the trailer in the RV park for the morning and go into Poulsbo for a wander along their main drag by the waterfront. After strolling around a bit we decided to try The Loft for lunch. Great views of the harbour from this place...
... and the food was simply excellent. We could not remember ever seeing it on a menu before so just had to try the deep fried avocado...
.... which were fabulous. The Ahi Tuna tacos and crab and strawberry salad were not too shabby either...
After lunch we headed back to the RV park to pick up the wee trailer then headed north to Port Angeles. We had hoped to connect with Jon and Stephanie, a couple with another wee trailer who we met waaaaay back in April not long after we had started this trip, in Sequim but unfortunately were unable to do so on short notice. We stopped in Sequim for a coffee anyway then were on our way to the Elwha Dam RV Park just west of Port Angeles. We had stayed here a few years ago at the start of a trip and at that time were about the only people in the park. Not so this time though as we were lucky to get a spot. We were tucked away in a little corner but not too far from the restrooms (whew) and laundry. Since we were not going anywhere this evening we just left the wee trailer hooked up to the car to make life easier in the morning to get to the ferry. The wee trailer's last night of usage until next year...
We stayed in Victoria at our friends (Andy and Donna) place just north of Victoria. Unfortunately Andy was away playing in a hockey tournament but we had a very nice visit with Donna and she cooked us up a nice welcome dinner. Nice evening.
Thursday morning we headed into Victoria where we both got "welcome home" haircuts then headed north. In Nanaimo we stopped at The Cactus Club for a late lunch then off we went towards home. We arrived home in Courtenay a little after 6:00 PM. Our yard looked good and the drip water system we installed to help our garden plants survive the summer had worked perfectly. Nice. After unloading some stuff we decided to call it a day by going over to Boston Pizza for some wine and munchies and that was that. Home again!
| Back to Week 24 | ... End of this trip |
No comments:
Post a Comment