December 6th to December 27th, 2007 - Sequim, WA

 

We left Canada and headed to the ferry in Washington.  In the month since we had looked into what ferry we’d take to get over to Sequim, they found major corrosion on the hulls and taken most of the vehicle ferries out of service.  This meant we had to drive an extra hour to catch a vehicle ferry in Edmonds, WA and drive an extra hour on the other side of the sound to get to Sequim. It took us six hours to get from the Canadian border to Sequim.  The ferry ride was very exciting, especially getting on and off with such a big rig.  The ferry workers were very nice and helpful to us first timers.  We had to wait until almost last but they adjusted the height of the ramp for us to get off, it was cool.  We appreciated that.  Before they adjusted it, we kept looking at the angle of the ramp and wondering how we would make it! 

 

Unfortunately by then it was very late and we didn’t get to see the beautiful scenery on our way to Sequim.  (Sequim is pronounced Skwim in case you were wondering.)  We stopped as soon as we got to Sequim to eat. We were hungry and tired.  We often end up eating out on moving night or having something very simple.  We found the first restaurant in town and ate there.  Thank goodness it was a great Mexican restaurant (Las Palamos Mexican Restaurant) and we ended up coming back our last night to “bookend” our stay in Sequim with Mexican food!

 

Why Sequim, you may ask?  Well, before we left on our adventure, when we would tell people what we were going to do, everyone had a place they recommended.  Sequim, Washington was the only place we’d never heard of that FIVE different people told us to go to.  So, we went for a look.  We ended up liking it so much that we stayed through Christmas.  Many people told us to go to Sequim because you get the green beauty of Washington State without the rain.  Sequim is in a rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, which means that by the time the clouds come up and over the mountains they are pretty much rained out.  Sequim actually gets the same annual rainfall as Los Angeles, about 17 inches.  We don’t remember getting anywhere near 17 inches in many years in So Cal but that’s what they say.  We were there in December and it was a combination of sunny, cloudy, rainy and it even snowed lightly one day.  But overall, yes, the weather was beautiful, cold, but beautiful. 

 

We did so much while we were there we will just touch on our favorite things but check out the “photo” section to get an idea of all that we did.  We have a camera permanently attached to our necks by now!

 

On our fist full day in Sequim we decided to just drive around and check it out.  We drove around the Dungeness area.  It is an area of farms and new homes.  This is one of the sunniest areas of Sequim.  We ate lunch at The 3Crabs, a restaurant we found in the “1000 Places to See Before You Die” book.  The restaurant is right on the Straight of Juan De Fuca with fabulous views of Victoria, BC across the straight. The first thing we noticed about Sequim is how extremely friendly everyone is.  All the people seemed to welcome us without even knowing that we were new to the area.  It is a big retirement community and all the Grandmas and Grandpas “oooh” and “ahhh” over our kids because they seemed to miss their grand kids.  We ended up making friends with quite a few retired couples in the area.  Grandmas in the grocery store, restaurants, The Wal-Mart, etc. would stop to talk to our kids and say how cute they were!  Everyone was extremely friendly in Sequim, probably the friendliest town on the trip so far.  The 3 Crabs restaurant was just the same.  They had kids books in a basket for you to borrow while waiting for your food.  As Joss was reading to the boys, every Grandma in the room seemed to be reading right along with us waiting to see the kid’s expressions or listen to what they would say.  It didn’t seem weird at all, like some might think, it just seemed like they were all really nice people and were really happy to see some cute kids.  It made for a fun lunch.  We felt like we were having lunch with a bunch of old friends.

 

After lunch we drove around some more and came to the Dungeness Spit.  A spit is a long sand bar that sticks out in the ocean or straight, as in this case.  We hiked through a beautiful forest area to get to the spit and then we came out on the spit.  It is six miles long and at the end of it is a lighthouse.  We didn’t walk all six miles, I don’t think we made it even a mile but we all had a blast.  The kids played in the sand, Sawyer kept drawing x’s everywhere and saying “ARRR Hardy, X marks the spot.  Don’t tell anyone this is where my treasure is buried!”  He drew X’s all over the beach. I don’t think even he will find his treasure now.  Robby and Joss had a blast climbing on the huge pieces of driftwood and looking at all the stuff that washes up on the beach.  It was cold but not too cold.  There is something about a cold beach that Joss just loves.  She used to love going to the beach in the wintertime in Southern California, more so than in the summer.  She wanted to take three or four hundred pictures as usual but the batteries for both cameras ran out so only got a few. This was a day to just enjoy the beach, and we did.  That day at the Spit was our best day in Sequim and we had many great days there, but something about that day playing on the Spit was fun and amazing for all of us.  The weather was perfect (if you like cold and windy), the sunset was beautiful and we were all at peace.

 

We made some friends there in the RV park as soon as we drove in.  The hosts of the park, Frank and Pat, liked the kids right away and the kids liked them.  Robby and Sawyer wanted to make pictures for them right away and they did.  As soon as we were in the trailer and set up they got out their art supplies and made some one of a kind RVGypsies art.  The next day we saw their art hanging in Pat’s window in her RV.  The kids felt very proud and happy that she displayed the art for all to see.  One day Frank took Robert and the kids to John Wayne Marina to go crabbing.  John Wayne donated the land for the Marina and loved visiting this area.  To go crabbing, you put a rotting turkey leg in the middle of the trap, lower the trap to the bottom and wait 15 or 20 minutes.  Well, at least that’s the way we did it with Frank at the Marina!  We pulled up 3 or 4 crabs but none were large enough to keep…this time.  Sawyer enjoyed watching one crab crawl it’s way off the dock and back into the water.  Robby preferred to help “his” crab by throwing it back into the water!

 

Frank and Pat did a lot more than any other hosts to make us feel comfortable there.  They planned a cookie exchange before Christmas and a Christmas Eve pot luck dinner for the guests of the park.  Pat made pillow cases for the boys out of kitty cat fabric and even hemmed some of Joss’ pants for her.  Frank watched and walked Baylee for us one day when we went to Pikes Market in Seattle for the day.  They really went above and beyond their job descriptions for us.  Robby and Sawyer liked having adopted Grandparents for a while, so much so, that we all voted to stay until after Christmas.  We felt right away like this town could be home for us.

 

We spent many days taking walks and drives around the city.  Sequim has a lot of great places to walk and bike.  Robert took the kids bike riding one day while Joss was Christmas shopping.  They found the local park that was a short distance from our RV park.  The kids went back there three or four times because it had a BMX bike track.  One Saturday we all went to the park and there were two older boys on the BMX track.  The teenage boys were even friendly here!  They didn’t mind having an old guy (Robert) and two little kids biking on the track with them, and waited while we took turns at the jumps and berms.  We biked on the track with them for hours and they were very nice to all of us.  Again, definitely the nicest town we’ve been to so far.  Everyone in Sequim seems to be very happy to be there. 

 

On this day we met up with a friend of a friend.  One of Joss’ friends (who had recommended the town) had a friend from Southern California who had just moved to Sequim in April of last year.  We met up with her and her kids and picked her brain a bit about living in Sequim.  Her story was similar to our journey, everything kept pointing her to Sequim and everything just worked out perfectly.  She got a job right at the right time, she found a place to live with no problem and she feels like it was the perfect move for her family.  Thank you Lori for spending time with us and allowing us to pester you with a million questions.  It was great getting to know her and her son and she gave us so much good information about the area that we felt well prepared to see what we wanted to see before we left.

 

On one day we drove to Port Townsend.  Port Townsend is a beautiful little Victorian town with lots of old restored Victorian houses now used mostly as Bed and Breakfasts.  Deer amble through the streets and the stores back up right to the Puget Sound with otters rummaging around.  (read Robert’s blog for more of this story)  Also in Port Townsand is Fort Worden.  Fort Worden is one of three forts built for protection of the Sound and Straight from foreign invaders.  The three forts were in a triangle pattern across from each other so no ship could get through without one of the guns hitting it.  The fort is now used for movie making, family reunions, RV camping, conventions and other such large gatherings.  The movie “Officer and a Gentleman” was filmed at Fort Worden. 

 

We spent most of our time at the armory bunkers.  The kids had a blast running around through the bunkers like they were in a real fort.  Luckily one of the Grandpas at the RV Park had told us about it ahead of time so we were prepared with flashlights.  The bunkers had lots of tunnels for the kids to explore.  They were very dark and a bit scary.  The boys had a hundred and one questions about the type of guns that were used there and how far they could shoot.  It’s a good thing they have a dad who knows a lot about a lot because he almost always has an answer for them.  If not we look it up later on the computer when we get home. 

 

We also spent some time in Port Angeles, the big city closest to Sequim.  They call it the big city because it has a hospital.  Our favorite thing we did in Port Angeles was going to the Fine Arts Museum.  You wouldn’t think it from the name but even the kids loved this place.  The Fine Arts Museum in Port Angeles is up on a hill over looking the Port and most of the museum is outdoors and blended in with the landscape.  It is amazing and beautiful.  Artists work their art into the hills, trees, rocks and meadows.  Even Baylee joined us as we explored the forest and searched for new and exciting art throughout the wooded area.  It was beyond cool, we all loved it.  Be sure to check out the photo section.

 

There was a lot to love about Sequim.  We could drive 15 minutes up into the woods and be in snow, we could drive 10 minutes into the farms and buy organic, locally grown fresh produce.  We could drive just minutes away and buy fresh organic raw milk and meet the cows who produced it, even greeting them by name!  We loved that it is a farming community since we are into healthy food and lots of fruits and veggies.  We also loved that it is a town that has two community festivals a year, the lavender festival and the irrigation festival.  These types of events bring a community close together for a common purpose and we like that a lot.  Lavender farms are huge in the Sequim area.  They have the perfect weather to grow and produce lavender and therefore have many lavender farms that you can visit, take tours or purchase goods from.  Our family color is purple so we liked the whole lavender theme of the town. 

 

Sequim has a lot to offer and we were really glad that we took the extra time to visit and explore the town.  We also spent time there preparing for Christmas.  The kids really got into deciding what kind of Christmas tree they wanted.  We gave them full control of that.  It was the kids who decided that they did not want a live tree; they wanted to make their tree this year.  We loved that idea.  Instead of decorating a tree we decorated the trailer.  The kids made a “flibber” and used it for a tree.  They usually make flibbers out of newspaper but for our Christmas tree they made it out of colored paper.  We also made a chain and our good friend, Stephanie (and one of Robby’s girlfriends) gave us the idea to put names on it.  We loved the idea so we wrote all the names of all the people who we had met on the trip on the chain, then we put all the names of our friends and family back home and anyone who had supported us or encouraged or helped us on the trip.  Then we put the names of all the places we had visited on the chains.  Everyone in the family helped and threw out name after name after name.  Joss could hardly keep up with all the family yelling out names of people they were grateful for.  It was really cool.  Everyone really got into it.  We put the chain together and it spread all around the trailer and back again.  It was in all colors of the rainbow and Mother Earth, quite festive.  We liked it so much we kept it up for New Year’s celebration too.  The other decorations we made were snowflakes of all colors out of paper and we hung them all over the trailer from the ceiling.  The place was pretty well decorated and ready for Santa.  We had told Santa that we would be moving around a lot and we would email him once we knew where we would be for Christmas so he had no problem finding us.  And, since we don’t have a chimney we told him we’d leave the door unlocked for him to get in easily.  On Christmas morning the kids were happily surprised that Santa had found us and brought what they had asked for and even more.  It was one of our best Christmas’ and we will definitely not forget it.  Less is definitely more, even for Christmas. 

 

Every campsite has memorable parts to it and they are all different.  This campsite was very close to downtown Sequim so we could walk to the store or the park or Robert’s favorite, the coffee shop.  Every morning, Robert and Baylee would walk over to the local coffee shop, Adagio and Robert would get his coffee and the girls there would have a doggy biscuit for Baylee.  It got to be a daily thing and after we left they missed their visits to see the girls at the coffee shop.  They still reminisce about it on their morning walks now!  They haven’t had another coffee shop near our RV park like that since.  It’s the little things that count when you live on the road and your home moves every week or so.  Joss enjoyed the huge vacant area near the park.  She and Baylee took many long walks there to get out in the fresh air. And, the best part of this park was our hosts, Frank and Pat.  They made our stay in Sequim the most welcoming of all parks so far.  They made us feel like a family and being that it was Christmas time, that was a much welcomed feeling.  Thank you Pat and Frank, we will never forget you.

 

On the day we left Sequim, the sky was blue and the sun was out.  We drove five minutes and it started sprinkling, ten minutes down the road it was raining, another ten minutes away it was pouring down rain and in another 30 minutes it was snowing.  Each minute away from Sequim the rain gets more and more!  We drove south down Highway 101 along the Hood Canal with beautiful water and beach towns to the East of us and snow covered mountains to the West of us.  It was amazing.  A bit of a scary drive for Robert that he will not quickly forget being on those two lanes highways in the snow, but all turned out well and we made it back to Portland in great time.  We stayed in Portland a few days for Joss to do another doctor’s appointment and to wait for the pass to clear through to Idaho.  As soon as the mountain pass was clear and weather looked good we headed East through the Columbia Gorge to Boise.  While in Portland for the second time we stayed on an Island called Sauvie Island.  It was a beautiful farming island and our campsite was right on the beach.  It rained most of the time we were there but what a great place it would be to go in the summer.  We have photos of our stay on the Island in the Photo section too.

 

Well that’s it for the lengthy trip journals. We have found it takes too much time to put up these longer “trip journals” and well, we’ve gotten REALLY far behind as you can see (this is being published April 23, 2008 about our stay in December!) We hope you’ll enjoy the brief stories in our “Where are we” page, the photo captions and the blog for more current news and fun!