August: 2012:
This
was the month for my Captain license renewal and all the medical documentation
to go along with it. I was a bit concerned
when after double checking all the documents that I needed and calling to check
with the Coast Guard, I got there and they informed me I had used a medical
form that was two years old and that I would have to go back to the doctor and
have the information transferred to the “new” form. They were nice about it, but I just couldn’t see the reasoning to
transfer the same information to a newer form.
I didn’t need any more medical information from the doctor, just the
newer form. I guess that’s why “the
government” gets a bad name!
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| Rafting the Deschutes River |
Molly and sister JoAnn went to an all class reunion in Hood River this month
and I joined later for a family reunion.
Then Molly & I were off to Maupin the next day to go whitewater
rafting on the Deschutes River. It was
a Groupon thing and we didn’t expect much but was pleasantly surprised with the
length of the trip, the whitewater we experienced, and the helpful “no problem”
guide. It turned out to be a wet trip
with class 4 rapids. Molly lost her hat
on one dunking, but found it later in the raft. We also found a snake in the raft when we stopped for a lunch
break. Who knows when it got in the
raft, but we were glad we didn’t find it when we were going through some of the
rapids.
The
month ended with the annual Cruisers Rendezvous in Cathlamet, WA. Just another party of cruisers reminiscing
about past and present cruises around the world. And, of course, a little drinking and a lot of food.
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| Lake Quinalt Lodge |
This
weekend was the kick-off for our next mini-vacation of circumnavigating the
Olympic Peninsula with Pat & Susan and Tom & Sue in our RV’s. We started with our first stop in Ocean
Shores for two days exploring the coast.
Then we moved up to La Push, a small Indian village at the mouth of the
Quiliute River with a stop at Lake Quinalt for lunch and a few more
letterboxes.
As
we approached La Push, our over-heating alarm went off. I didn’t think too much about it until we
left two days later when it occurred again and we weren’t adding any AMPs. Long story short, we had to go back into
Forks and get a new fan belt. The place
that worked on an RV, “didn’t work on RV’s”, but they were just great. They ordered a new belt, it arrived at 8:00
am the next day, and we caught up with our group in Clallum Bay almost before
they got up. The situation did not stop
or create a bump in our trip at all.
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| Boardwalk trail to Cape Alava |
During our three days in Clallum Bay, we made a day trip to Neah Bay to go
through one of the best, in our opinion, Indian museums in the Northwest, and
took a hike out to Cape Fattery to view Tatoosh Island, the furthest Northwest
point in the U.S. The next day Tom
& Sue had to return to Vancouver.
Pat & Susan took a drive to the Hoh Rain Forest, and Molly & I
went on a 6.5 mile hike on the boardwalk path from Lake Ozette out to Cape
Alava.
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| The McGaffney's |
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| The Malcomson's |
We then headed off to Port Angeles for three days.
After exploring the area, Pat and Susan left for the Wooken Boat Festival in Port Townsend, and Molly & I stored
the RV, took the car over to Vancouver Island, and visited some Apache Wells
friends.
We drove to Port Alberi to
spend a few days with Al and Linda Malcomson and then took another ferry over
to the neighboring island, Denman Island, to visit Frank and Marion McGaffney
for several days.
Needless to say, we
had a great time with our friends showing us the exciting areas that they see
every day.
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