WASHINGTON – DAY 3 – A FAVORATE – WESTPORT:

The idyllic village of Westport – nestled on a peninsula that marks the southern mouth of Grays Harbor – was a mecca for seafaring, fishing and a timeless dance with nature since before humans started keeping account of their history.
Today whale watching has replaced slaughtering; roads that once rumbled with logging trucks now await bikers, hikers and sightseers, and charter boats take tourists to watch wildlife or land fish for sport. Indeed, Westport claims the title “Sportfishing Capital of the World” as anglers head to the waters throughout the year in search of all manner of catch, from salmon to lingcod, halibut, rock fish and tuna.
Thw following is Westport thu the eyes of “Uncle Sam I Am“

We were imediatly greeted by, what else, Sealions:

An itch:

Don’t bother me – - i’m sleeping:

Co-habitating along with the “lions” are rows and rows of commercial fishing boats:

To me it doesn’t matter the view, one is as beautiful as the next:

Come on guys – let me on – i promise to carry my weight – 0 well:

Shucks – their leaving with out me:

Ever wonder how dungeness crabs are caught? Your correct – traps. . .

dungeness crab pots: (yum yum probably as good a crab i have ever tasted.

Okay – another day in the life of “Uncle Sam I AM” – next Kurt Corbain

WASHINGTON – DAY 3 – PART 1

WASHINGTON – DAY 3 – PART 1 takes us to the COLUMBIA RIVER seperating Washington and Oregon and the CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT Lighthouse.

Lets start with a quote: “I’m a simple man. I don’t ask for much. Give me a nice comfortable chair, a cool breeze, a ball game on the radio and an ice cold beer and I couldn’t be happier.
Truth be told, if it came down to it, I could live with out chair. A cool breeze is nice, but it isn’t exactly mandatory for a good time. And their are plenty of times when i don’t have access to a ball game.
But a world with out beer? I don’t know if thats the kind of world I want to live in.”

George Wendt, aka Norm from cheers:

Day starts with us heading south and what are we heading towards, your right, Mt Rainier, what a sight. I lose my breath just visualizing. What a beautiful country we live in.

Needless to say, as we traveled we kept our eyes open for what? You guessed it. The great Tsunami . . .

Where land meets water:

The enterance to the Columbia River: The mountains in the background are Oregon . . .

A beautiful light house, I repeat beautiful, Cape Disappointment.

Starting as a small stream at the base of the Canadian Rockies, the Columbia River travels more than 1200 miles, merging with rivers and streams, until it meets the Pacific Ocean. The force of the Columbia flowing into the sea creates one of the most treacherous bars in the world. There are 234 identified ships that stranded, sunk, or burned between 1725 and 1961 near the mouth of the river.

My God what a sight, talk about a rugged coast:

A closer look:

Heading, I believe north – next stop Grays harbor lighthouse:
C.W. Leick, who designed Grays Harbor Lighthouse, considered it his masterpiece. Standing 107 feet tall, it is the tallest lighthouse in Washington, and the third tallest on the West Coast. The base of the lighthouse rests on a 12-foot-thick foundation of sandstone. The lighthouse walls, which are four feet thick at the base, are made of brick with a coating of cement on the exterior. 135 metal stairs bolted to the wall lead to the lantern room. Originally windows lit the interior of the tower, but to cut down on maintenance they were cemented over when electricity was added to the station.

Check out the detail:

Interior:

Sammy enjoying the Coastline:

Susie saying “hey – look at me” from and abandoned building overlooking the Pacific.

Sammy saying “hey, look at me, i’m balancing i lighthouse on my finger.

Next posting will be Westport, the fishing boats, birds, sealions etc etc

Thats it for today, enjoy another day in the life of “Sam I Am”

SEATTLE – DAY #2

From Aberdeen to Seattle – by way of Bremerton – what a trip -and by ferry: On day #2 we left Aberdeen early morning, drove to Bremerton and took the Ferry to Seattle: What a beautiful trip . .

We drove form Aberdeen to Bremerton, home of Puget Sound Navel Shipyard: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is the largest and most diverse shipyard on the West Coast: This is where we boarded the ferry to Seattle.

Ferry arriving, back ground . . .

Waiting for us to board:

Early morning sun:

Some housing along the sound:

West Seattle on the right, we loved the condos:

And now – the skyline coming into view:

Closer:

And finally – our destination for lunch and what a lunch it was:

The two sports stadiums on the sound, football, Seattle Seahawks, and baseball, Seattle Mariners. – Football on the left, baseball, right:

The Space Needle, as seen from the ground, Susie wondering what i’m doing on the ground:

Jim & Marilyn:

View from the “Needle”: One complete revolution every 47 minutes. We were their for maybe 1 – 1/2 revolutions.

Tankers waiting in the harbour, note mountains in the background:

Upon leaving the “needle” one notices that these bolts actually are what hold the tower togeather. They are maybe 12 inches across. I thought, what a hoot to loosen a couple. The thought lasted only an instant:

Sam outside the needle – Susie kinda thought i looked like a **** between 2 balls. O well you be the judge _

Okay – so much for a day – many more comming.

Uncle Sam I Am . . .

NORTH BY NORTHWEST – DAY 1 – #2

In regards to yesterdays posting – the mountains I refered to as the Olympia mountains are actually the “Vancouver Island Ranges” (plural). Thank you Jim.
I had to continue day 1 as their are so many beautiful pictures.

A tree in Jim & Marylin’s front yard. Beautiful!

The logging industry, I figure, has to be a #1 industry in Washington. To see the trees, one would understand why>

The never ending (so it seems) Pacific ocean:

More “Sea stacks”:

Inlet, ocean and mountain range, wow all in a single breath:

Its funny how we react in times of emergency, I saw this tree falling towards a group picnicing and had just a moment to react – - – okay you get the picture:

As they say – the dawg in the back of the pack – always has the same view – Sammy following Marylin, Jim and Susie:

The Pacific coast is full of caves – again – such beauty:

More Seascapes:

And finally as we ended yesterday – They extreem North West parcel of land on the continantel U S of A…

Okay – another day in the life of “Uncle Sam I Am” – tomorrow arriving in Seattle and what a day it was . . .

NORTH BY NORTH WEST:

We left for the Seattle area last Wednesday and all I can say is – what an area. We loved it. We visited Susie’s brother Jim and his lovely wife Marylin. For the four days there it was like stuffing 5 lb into a 4 lb bag. Having taken a lil more then 1000 pictures I am trying break them down to maybe 10 pics / day. Day one we headed to view Cape Flattery lighthouse. This historic tower marks the extreme northwestern corner of the original 48 states. What a sight. The hike to get to the lighthouse was maybe 3/4’s of a mile. We have now visited 3 of 4 lighthouses on the extreme corners of the continental U S of A.

The Pacific ocean – off the coast of Washington. Miles and Miles and Miles of beautiful coastline. One has to see it to really appriciate it.

Next we viewed Destruction Island lighthouse. Located on a rocky island about 3 miles (5 km) off the coast. Visible from US 101 at Ruby Beach about 5 miles (8 km) north of Kalaloch. Accessible only by boat in very dangerous seas.

Along the way we viewed many, what are known as, sea stacks. Formations of rocks protruding from the ocean. Again soooo beautiful.

Note: The Olympic mountains in the background are Vancover Island, Canada. O so beautiful.

Continuing onto Flattery Lighthouse, we hiked maybe 3/4 of a mile, along this trail, to out viewing point.

A view from the path:

And finally - Flattery light:

The light station can be seen from Cape Flattery, which is accessible by rugged roads and a hiking trail (1.5 miles (2.5 km) round trip). Hikers must purchase a recreation permit from the Makah Nation.

A closeup view:

A common sight: Seals soaking up some sun:

Next segmant – a trip into Seattle, untill then, Uncle Sam I Am

A BIG DAY IN A LITTLE VILLAGE:

Last friday took us west (Susie, Linda & myself) west to Cooperstown, N. Y. that is and returning home we desided to visit Alice, of Alice’s restaurant fame along with the Norman Rockwell Museum Well – here goes:

The historic Village of Cooperstown is a small town in the heart of central New York with global appeal. One of the first things we noticed was the architecture – beautiful to say the least:

A few examples of what impressed us:

The village could have easily been up in central Vermont:

The local “general store“

Bank:

Another example of architecture:

Come lunch time we headed to the local diner, a small eatery downtown, which could of easily been located in “Maybury” to the point one expects deputy “Barny” to walk in. The hamburger we chose, with out a doubt, had to be somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 lb.

Did I mention the fresh lemonaid?

The main reason for the trip was to visit the “Baseball Hall of Fame” my advise to those that plan on visiting is allow at least a full day. Visiting was a dream come true for myself.

One of, I hear, 24 baseball diamonds, Doubleday field, named for the man that invented baseball.

The “Babe” who both started and ended his career in Beane Towne:

My sentiments – exactly:

Fulfilling a dream – “Your Out“

Boston’s own – “The splinter” , more commonly known as “Ted Williams“

When one makes “The Hall“, you get a plaque mounted to the wall. Here are a few examples:

And ever a “New York Yankee“, George Herman Ruth, more commonly known as “The Babe“

Okay now, those that know me well, realize, I could go on days in regards to baseball but we will now move on to Mayberry, ah, Stockbridge, Mass. , home of the “Norman Rockwell” museum.

Normans studio, a beautiful area, over looking the Berkshires in the good old “Bay State” aka Massachusetts:

The museum:

And finally, being in Stockbridge, we decided to look up “Alice“, of Alice’s Restaurant fame, a song by Arlo Guthrie:

Knocking at the church door, looking for either Alice or Arlo, they were apparantly having lunch at, you guessed it, Alice;s Restaurant. Oh well another day in the life of “Sam i am”