October in Westport

Clam digging was scheduled for the 3rd week of October so we packed up the trailer and headed over Snoqualmie Pass to Westport.  The weather has been great so the rock blasting crews are still hard at work on the pass.  I was a little nervous taking this photo - didn't want to distract the guy so far up on the cliff with the jackhammer. 

Elle, Baylor and Kimmie met us on Tiger Mountain for lunch.  They brought fresh Taco Time to share.  It was super good.  Elle climbed on a rock with her phone for a quick picture. 

Baylor yelled "me too" and climbed up.

Quick hugs before we left.  The weather was gray and clammy, we were a little worried about the week at the beach. 

We headed West and the sun came out around Elma.  When we got to Westport the sky was blue and we had to shed our sweatshirts.  This is the Westport Winery. 

The Pacific Ocean was gorgeous and pretty calm the first day. 

Driftwood art in Tokeland. 

We missed the Cranberry Festival by a couple of days. 

But the actual harvest was in full swing.  In Grayland the cranberries are dry harvested. 

Rocky Raccoon was even awakened from his nap to check out the machinery.  This is the first swimming raccoon I've seen. 

Crates of cranberries ready to be picked up by Ocean Spray.  I love anything made with cranberries so it was fun to see them harvested. 

We headed down the beach for our first dig.  The first tide was around 5 pm - each day the tide was a bit later with the final night to dig after 9 pm.  YIKES!  That's late and dark. 

30 big ones in less than 30 minutes.  Razor clams are so delicious. 

We headed into Westport to catch the sunset after the dig and the Lady Washington was setting sail. 

We hustled to the end of the pier to take some pictures of this historic boat sailing out of the harbor.

First night sunset - so pretty!

While we were in town we did some crabbing.  Waiting on the dock while the pot soaked we spotted a sea lion and a couple of seals playing among the boats that were docked.  Each time a fishing boat came in the seals and lion put on a show trying to get some fresh fish.  This summer Westport had a real problem with the animals so nobody gives them a handout anymore!  After soaking for a 1/2 hour we pulled up the crab ring to see what we had for dinner.  The crabs were hungry and ate our bait in two sittings.  Sadly, none of the crab were of legal size to eat. 

We went back to camp and Bruce grilled some chicken.  One thing about it we never forget about food!

Lunch in South Bend at a fish bar. 

Bruce found a tug boat along the shore.  The toy boat had been in the water for a long time - it was covered with barnacles. 

Cannery in South Bend.

Sunset's were beautiful!

Another day of clams - we forgot our clam nets so we had to use a bucket and an onion sack. 

The clam dimples showed up beautifully at sunset.

The weather changed a bit and we had crisp days and lots of wave action.  Ocean Shores is in the background.  We could also see the Olympic mountains across the water. 

Surf's up!

Pelican Pete

Another night of clam digging and another great sunset.

John and Pat came down to visit on Tuesday.  John ran into a fellow he saw a time or two at a saw mill from Toutle Lake.  The other guy worked as a log truck driver for Weyerhaeuser also.   They had so much in common and were excited to catch up. It is a small world. 

We ate lunch at Bennett's Fish Shack and walked around the docks.  The weather changed completely Tuesday evening and we could not go to the beach for clamming.  The fog was so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. 

Wednesday morning the fog lifted just enough to head for home. 

The drive home was perfect. It was a treat to see all the fall colors over the Yakima River. The trip was great but it seemed to be lacking something - 8 little somethings.  We missed the kids!

Apples and strawberries

 

Homemade applesauce from Honey Crisp apples was our first canning project this week.  Bruce ran the apple peeler/corer/slicer and I ran the Ninja food processor.  Pretty darn tasty!

Todays accomplishment Stawberry Jam.  4 hours of processing - 28 pounds of strawberries, 30 pounds of sugar, 7 boxes of pectin, lemon juice and butter.  77 jars of jam in the pantry ..... feeling a little tired tonight.  Anxious for our new favorite bread (Grandma Sycamore) toasted with strawberry jam tomorrow morning!

First weekend in October

 

After a miserable week of weather fall is back on track in Central Washington!  It was 70 degrees and sunny this weekend.  Annually Bruce, Colby and Marc meet up in Cheney to watch the Eastern Eagles play.  Marc and Colby both graduated from EWU and still enjoy watching their team play.  This was the Saturday they chose to go to Cheney. 

The EWU field is gorgeous - yesterday the stadium was filled to capacity.  The Eagles won the game, and Colby and Bruce were back home by 9.   Nice tradition for the boys!

While the big boys were gone Kimmie and I took Elle and Baylor to the Thorp Community Day.  This is the third year I've attended but the first for Elle and Baylor.  The Balloon Man made Elle a Unicorn and Baylor a bulldozer. 

 The festival is held in an old box plant.  Lots of big machinery around for the kids to pose on.  The event is fun in a very old fashioned low-keyed kind of way.  Mostly just visiting with friends and checking out the vendors crafts. 

On the way home we stopped at a Harvest Festival. The Anderson Family Farm located almost directly across the Number 81 Road from us was celebrating their annual festival.  Kimmie was game to check it out and I am sure glad we did.  This barn is one I've tried to take pictures of for years without pulling into their place so getting this up close and personal view was awesome.  The animals on top of the cupola's are goats.  The Anderson's raise goats and chickens.  They sell goat milk products at the farmers markets and the Thorp fruit stand.  They were also one of the featured family farms featured on Martha Stewart.  The goat milk soaps are amazing!

  Elle and Baylor tried their luck at slingshot apple throwing

and the obstacle course.  Wait up Elle! 

 Elle won her race and was awarded a cupcake.  I love this picture because of the little girl hopping over the straw bales wearing a dress behind Elle.  Baylor loved the obstacle course - he would of played there all afternoon.  A cake walk, doughnut eating contest and a sack race were other activities you could participate in. 

 The kids got to feed the chickens.  Elle fed a baby goat.  This family has great style I love their touches around the place.  I just read on their blog this pumpkin decided to grow over the fence into the chicken pen.  I thought they tied it up for a touch of color!

Every since Baylor saw this ride at the Ellensburg Rodeo parade he was ready to go. Finally he had his chance. 

Baylor climbed into the wagon and held on to the hand rail without any help.

The six wagons were pulled by a 4-wheeler. We could hear Baylor shouting all around the grounds - Go, Go! 

Heirloom pumpkins were for sale in the garden.  I loved the yellow wheel on this old wheelbarrow. 

I think I've finally found a mate for our tin man!  This re-purposed scarecrow lady was super cute and useful.  I had a ginger butter cream cupcake, super good and the pumpkin chili smelled fantastic!  This harvest festival was so much fun - next year we'll arrive early and hungry.

Let's go for a drive....

 

Bruce woke up on Monday morning wanting to go see our old friends Elmer and Jann in Tenino.  I'm not sure but all the rain and wind we've been experiencing for the past few days made Bruce homesick for the westside of the state.  We left a little after 8 in the morning and headed for Snoqualmie Pass.  Yes, that is a snow plow!  It was snowing on this last day of September. 

 The ski resort looks a little behind schedule for the winter.  I'm sure they'll have these condo's buttoned up within the month.  We ate lunch in Tenino at Scotty B's diner.  The mushroom burger and homemade chicken noodle soup were just like we remembered.  Our visit with Elmer and Jann was nice.  Elmer has been under the weather and is doing better. 

 We left Tenino and headed to Rick and Nancy's in Chehalis.  We were lost for a while until we saw this old landmark.  Yardbirds is still operating!  The visit with Rick and Nancy was great.  It's been years since we've had a visit. 

After catching up with the Anzalones we headed over White Pass for home.  We passed three herds of elk along the way.  Dinner was planned for Packwood.  We arrived at 5:56 p.m. and the sidewalks were already rolled up. I went into the Shell gas station to get deli food and was told nothing was available because they close at 6!  We ended up with chicken on a stick and a lunchable from the local grocery store.  Next time we'll plan a picnic!

I absolutely loved the drive over White Pass!  It was so beautiful and scenic.  We only saw a few cars on the road, much more pleasant than the traffic on Snoqualmie Pass.  This is a drawing of the route we traveled in one day.  We arrived home around 8 p.m. last night, driving 362 miles in about 12 hours.  What a day!