The trip south out of the Seattle/Ft. Lewis area started out heading northwest, not south. I didn't get on the road until nearly noon so sadly I decided that I didn't have time to visit Kib and Val Eveland, Rory's parents. (Kib and Val, I hope you don't feel slighted. I'll stop in next time I'm in the area) I really wanted to do a loop around the Olympic peninsula, something I've never done before. I also wanted to do the Pacific Coast Highway from start to finish. Highway 101's northern most point is on the north side of the peninsula. As it turns out my plans would be dashed by darkness, rain and a crashed semi truck, among other things.
So the day started with me heading north on 101 along the Hood Canal, on the east side of the Olympic peninsula. Nice scenery but the traffic was quite a bit heavier than I expected. The traffic only picked up when I got to the north side of the peninsula. Who knew that so many people lived up here. It wasn't until I turned south again on the west side of the peninsula that the traffic thinned out. This area also had some of the best scenery and very few and small towns. I stopped at one place called Ruby beach. I only pulled over because I wanted to call my brother Brendan in Portland. Brendan hung up on me after claiming that I was breaking up. I could hear him just fine. I think he was trying to get back at me after I told him that I gave his long delayed Christmas present to Justin (other bother) to deliver to Brendan, the present being a particularly fine bottle of vodka. I suspect that Brendan and Justin spoke with each other and discovered that there never was a bottle of vodka in the first place. I'm not 100% sure but Brendan can be both sneaky enough to figure out my ruse and passive aggressive enough to hang up on me in a time of need. Whatever the reasons for the hang up, it turns out that Ruby beach was a pretty cool place.
Someone or some group of people put together these little towers all over the place. I'm not sure what they are or what they represent but they look pretty cool.
My guess is that someone started it at some point and others continued over time. I think that because that's exactly what I did. Here's my contribution to the communal project.
I continued south down to Aberdeen. After checking the map and clock, I decided that I would never make it to Portland by night fall if I stayed on 101 going down the coast. The cabin at Seaside was still doable though. Sadly a call to Char Padden crushed that plan. A family friend was in the cabin for the weekend. With night approaching, I made the difficult call to abandon my goal of staying on the Pacific Coast Highway and instead taking the most direct to the Paddens in Portland/Vancouver. This meant cutting east to I5 and then south into Vancouver. It also meant passing through Centralia, home of Kib and Val Eveland. Sadly, it was already getting dark and starting to rain so I pressed on.
I arrived in the Compound at about 10:30 or so after sitting in traffic waiting for them to clear a wrecked semi truck off the interstate. By the time I got up to it it was clear that the whole cab had burned down to the frame. Quite a mess. By this time it was raining so I was happy to get into Tom and Char's house and get some sleep. (By the way, we call it the Compound because two families and my grandparents all live in the same two block radius. Most family functions end up happening there).
I won't bore you with all the details of visiting with countless family members (besides, I don't think I took even one picture while I was there. Lazy, I know). Those of you reading were either there, know who I'm talking about without me having to name them all or have no idea who all these people are. Either way, the highlights are:
- The dinner that Tom and Char whipped up of fresh salmon cooked on a cedar plank during which all but one of the relatives in the area showed up. (don't worry Abby, I know you have a busy schedule and it's not like I this was a planned event or anything)
- Grandma cooking breakfast for me on my last morning there.
- Grandpa telling me that he took my bike out for a spin around the block while I wasn't looking to make sure it was road worthy.
- Seeing all the aunts, uncles and cousins again after so long.
- Lunch at the Vietnamese place with the crazy proprietor with Brendan.
Good times all around but I did learn that Portland is not a good place to be if you're on a bike. More to follow on the next post.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Southwest Washington
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