July 29 was travel day, and we left the Kent KOA at 10:30 and arrived at the Burlington KOA at 12:30. Ahhh, grass, large campsites, cable and wi-fi! We liked it so much, we went back to the office to see about extending until August 4. Nope. So, we spent the afternoon searching for our next two campgrounds! This campground is a favorite of Canadians, so the campground was more Canadian than American! Most of the campers were from British Columbia and Alberta.
Our first destination was the historic area called Fairhaven in south Bellingham, WA. The area is a beautiful tourist site with historic old buildings that have been converted into tea rooms, boutiques, book stores and other locally owned one-of-a kind shops. Definitely NOT Jack's favorite things to do. We enjoyed the ride over and walking through the district.
LaConner , WA was our destination the following day. Our first stop after breakfast was the Visitor's Center in Burlington where we picked up ideas for the rest of our stay. LaConner has the Skagit County Historical Museum and is about a 45 minute drive from Burlington on the Puget Sound. The museum was really interesting, and the receptionist plied us with questions about MN after Jack told her we "live in NC, but we're originally from MN". It seems her grandmother was born in LeCenter and lived in Waseca. She asked tons of questions about the area. We went downtown and ate fish n' chips at a restaurant on the waterfront. From our table we could watch the boats going in and out of the inlet. One of the most interesting exhibits was about Edward R. Morrow. We agreed that this little town was much more to our liking than Fairhaven.
Off to North Cascades National Park on August 1. It's about 60 miles from Burlington to the Visitor Center. We met a ranger who is from Clayton NC - right down the road from Raleigh. He gave us some great tips on hikes to take and things to be sure to stop and see. We took his advice and had a wonderful time. We didn't start back to camp until almost 4 p.m. The mountains up here are much more rugged than the others we've seen, and the park is huge. It's a FREE park, as hwy 20 winds through it.
Whidbey's Island was another gem. To get there we crossed Deception Pass on the high bridge. The bridge is itself a tourist destination. The Whidbey's Island town of Coupeville has a museum so of course we visited it. We walked the downtown area and then headed out to Fort Casey State Park, which has the WWI and II gun mounts and battery which has 2 10-in guns and a couple of 6 inch guns still in place. It reminded me of Fort Stevens in Hammond, OR. We also stopped at the Admiralty Head lighthouse which is within walking distance of Fort Casey. The light house is being restored, but at this point lacks the light. The light keepers house is an interpretive center and was quite interesting.
August 3 is moving day - We've enjoyed a month of temps in the 60's and low 70's, but Ellensburg, WA is on the east side of the Cascade mountains, and we hear that we'll "enjoy" temps in the high 90's.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment