Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Day 13 - time flies

We had planned two stops today got caught up at the first. The other will have to wait for another day.

Fort Rodd Hill
Fisgard Lighthouse/ these links are worth a look.

I had dismissed the above spots, together at the one location, not having read much in any of the printed material we had picked up that made them sound worth a visit, but I did a check on-line and decided we should go have a look. Just a short drive out of town.

Glad I did. We spent hours wandering through the fortifications, reading every descriptive panel, visiting every area available and yes, just staring out at the strait and the mountains beyond.

The Olympic Mountain Range in Washington state.




Paul at one section of the lower battery.





View of the Fisgard Lighthouse, still in operation but fully automated now, taken from the fortifications. Inside they have a good write up on wrecks and some of the older equipment from the manned era.




Me after having checked the water temperature near the lighthouse. Still cold enough to keep me from dipping my toe.






This was interesting. It's a spotter light placement made to look like a fisherman's shack from the water. You can see the rounded areas at the front that are the wooden covers over the opening for the light.


It was under $5.00 each to get in. There are picnic tables on site or you can take your lunch and eat it at the beach. There are trails through the wooded areas. There are deer and we saw a mother and little one. The bathrooms at the gate are so-so but the ones partway through are bright and clean.

We saw 3 people walking through the "please do not walk on" grassy area carrying brown paper bags. Being the nosy person I am I called out and asked what they were collecting. Grass seed! But not just any grass seed, they were after the local variety that grows hidden amongst the imported varieties. It will be taken to reseed other areas in the hopes of restoring more areas to natural vegetation.

We drove along a causeway on our way out that separates the strait from a small lagoon and stopped to watch heron stand waiting for the small fish to wash in as the tide came in. I've never seen so many in one place before.

..............

Having had a picnic lunch and having not had many meals out we decided tonight was the night. After a short rest at home we wandered over to Cook St. and tried something new. Paul had prawn phad thai and I had a sweet basil chicken and mixed vegetable stir fry. If mine was mild I'm glad I didn't taste Paul's medium.

It's a little take-out/eat-in place that shares space with a fresh sushi bar and an interesting looking Ethiopian place.


....and I did a 2 load of laundry. Cupboard full of clean clothes now and fresh sheets on the bed.

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

That mountain range you're looking at contains Hurricane Ridge...a popular ski/snowboard place in the winter, and great hiking in the summer. It is at an elevation of
one mile. Been a long time since I've been up there.
You're seeing so many wonderful places and things! I'm afraid the Washington coast offers nothing in comparison. Our coast has little to see of interest, and the ocean is only accessible in a few areas on the west coast side. We do have the rain forest in the Quinault/Queets and Hoh area, but other than that....lots of trees and little else. If you were going to visit here, I'd suggest the San Juan Islands, and I'm sure you'd enjoy the sights in Seattle. Or the Museum of Glass(with the Dale Cihuly "hot shop") in Tacoma.

ELIZABETH said...

Kathleen: we have been looking into a trip on the Victoria Clipper that will take us to Seattle and include a night or two stay as a package deal.

We are finding that anywhere we drive there are trees and more trees. *grin*