Paine Field-Lake Stickney

Tue 25th Oct: Left our overnight spot and drove for 10 minutes and found a nice parking spot near the water to have breakfast, and look out to Vancouver Island. Not great weather, very drizzly and cold though. Our scenic coastal road after that wasn't very scenic with no more views of the Stait of Juan de Fuca which was disappointing. Stopped at Safeways Port Angeles, and caught up with the world, after having no internet for a few days. Then carried on east to the Dungeness Spit and Wildlife Refuge. There was a 0.5 mile walk to the start of the spit, which at 5.5 miles long is one of the world's longest natural sand spit and growing at a rate of 13 ft per year. Again we got there on high tide so we didn't venture out onto it to far, also it was starting to rain again - would had been great to walk out to the 1857 Lighthouse at the end. However as we were walking on the track to the spit, a Barred Owl flew right across the track less than 5 m in front of us and sat in a tree near the track much to the annoyance of the Blue Jay's, which were squawking and flying around him. It was fascinating watching the owl and just marveling at how they can turn their head 360°s. At one stage he flew to a nearby tree, which we think might had a blue Jay's nest in and grab something out of it. After about 30 mins watching we carried on. We then drove down to Dungeness Landing which looked out to the spit and watched for birds and sea life as the day drawed to a close. After that we weren't really sure where to go for the night, so headed back to the Walmart at Port Angeles - decided to use the evening to get some laundry done at a Laundromat 3 miles down the road, then back to the Walmart to settle for the night.
Wed 26th: A chilly but fairly clear morning, great to see some snow now on the mountains, including Hurricane Ridge, where we were a few days earlier. Decided to take the Kingston / Edmonds ferry route, mainly so we could go over the Hood Canal Bridge, the longest floating bridge in North America, the bridge wasn't to exciting, but just after it there was a quaint little company town called Port Gamble, which was owned and builded in 1853 by a Sawmill company which sold the town and mill in 1994 to a large east coast operation. In 1995 the sawmill closed down. It had been the oldest continous sawmill in North America. We spent hours walking around the town, reading the panels outside each of the old houses, and exploring the gift shops. After the 30 minute ferry ride we are back into the hectic city heading north. Stopped at a Walmart, however with no overnight parking signs out, and memories of being moved on by a cop from a North Seattle Walmart 3 years ago (I think it might had been the same Walmart), we found a small area down a side road that is hopefully okay, although looks like home to alot of homeless people also. Steps V 6256Read more