RV Park – Riveted

Wandering around Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 22:48:39 +0000

This morning's sky:

The trail around the point:

That little trail winds around in just in front of a bunch of the waterfront RV spots and campsites (all with spectacular views). We love this location!

Airship from the RV park:

Today was another full work day at the boat. We took a break this afternoon to run some tax stuff up to the post office and grab some lunch (and get a walk in). Luckily the post office is up a ton of stairs and a big hill so we got a little more exercise than just a walk to town and back.

The post office building is very cool (built in 1893). I'm not sure why I didn't snap a shot of the exterior, but here are some details from inside:

We had to sign and mail a tax thing, so we waited in line to buy stamps and borrow a pen. (Note: get a pen for the boat.) Here's a good example of how we amuse ourselves with silly dialogue in public (but this time, we were whispering because this post office felt more like a library):

Me: I'll distract 'em by buying stamps while you borrow a pen to sign that with.
Kevin: I think we can do those two things at the same time.
Me: Yeah but it'll take more time.
Kevin: We'll be fast.
Me: I know we will, but they might not think we'll be fast, borrowing and pen and stuff, arriving with unsigned documents to mail. You know how they can be.
Kevin: Might you be overthinking this?

Then, with the postal clerk:

Me: We'd like to buy a book of stamps.
Her: (Vanna White-ing to the pages of stamps under glass on the counter, indicating I should choose a design.)
Me: How about the hearts? Kev? How about the hearts?
Kevin: The hearts are great honey.
Her (to Kevin): Good answer.

Kevin is signing and sealing the envelope to the IRS.

Kevin: We're going to send a heart stamp to the IRS.
Me: No we're not.
Kevin: The IRS needs love too.
Me: No. The IRS has money. They don't need love.
Postal Clerk: (Also insists we don't send a heart stamp, pulls out a single stamp from her special envelope for us to send to the IRS. The picture on it was a portrait of some stern-looking man in a black suit from history, and she sticks that on the envelope instead) and then says, satisfied, "There!"

We stopped on the way back through town at Waterfront Pizza and shared a caesar salad and some pizza for lunch (it was still FABULOUS pizza…and the salad was killer as well).

I took a few photos of some of the downtown architecture in Port Townsend on the walk back.

This the James House, built in 1889 (up the hill and across the street from the post office:

Francis Wilcox James, a businessman with a vision for Port Townsend, arrived in 1853. He held several jobs before opening his own mercantile business. He reportedly made his fortune during the Civil War by converting gold into unsecured green backs at 35 cents to the dollar. He reinvested those gains in U.S. bonds at a 15 percent discount.

James built this house in 1889. It gave him a clear view of Port Townsend and the shipping in the bay. His wife, Mary, died seven weeks after moving into the house. In 1909, he married his housekeeper. He was 77 and she was 24. The marriage ended in divorce, and James died in 1920.

The house originally cost $10,000 to build. It is a fine example of Queen Ann architecture. The complex roof and chimney forms were considered modern at the time it was built.

This is the Hastings Building, built in 1890 by architect Elmer H. Fisher:

From the Sequim Daily Photo:

Fisher was a Scotsman who designed a number of Port Townsend buildings starting around 1887 and simultaneously opened an office in Seattle, where he designed more than 50 buildings immediately after Seattle’s great fire of 1889.

The Hastings Building, above, was built at a cost of $35,000 to $45,000 and completed in 1890. It has a 38-foot inner courtyard topped with a glass skylight and has housed businesses from dry goods to a reputed bordello. Today the ground floor houses retail businesses and the upper floors are not occupied. Descendents of the original family still own the building and are working on an ambitious restoration of the structure.

Layered signage on the side of this building:

This is the N.D. Hill building, built in 1889:

We're back at the boat working now. The otters just showed up again and rolled around looking cute on the dock again.

We'll probably work a bit into the night and then get an early start across the Strait of Juan de Fuca tomorrow morning. We're planning to spend a few days in the San Juan Islands before we go back to Anacortes for a bit.

Langley to Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:55:49 +0000

This morning we got up early and worked a bunch, had some breakfast, and then decided to take one more quick walk up the hill into town before heading for Port Townsend. Langley is such a cute town, even in the drizzly gray.

On the way out of the marina, more of these cool birds. If someone knows what they're called, please tell me. I googled up a storm and still didn't find them. Found the Mergansers, but the ones I saw had different markings:

Here's a blurry closeup of the one with the cool paint job:

The trip around the southern tip of Whidbey and up to Port Townsend was calm and uneventful. A little rainy and gray, but calm waters and beautiful scenery.

Update: Thanks readers! It's a Barrow's Goldeneye!

Arriving at Port Townsend:

We stopped at the Port Townsend Boat Haven Marina first and made a quick trip across the street to West Marine. (Oh, it was nothing, we just, um, lost one of our fenders somewhere between LaConner and Langley…oops!). We then headed north a little ways to the Point Hudson Marina (the marinas are on either side of all the downtown cuteness) where we'll stay the night. I took some photos of town from the water as we passed by:

Our new spot at the Point Hudson Marina:

So, we're back where the whole boat thing started, back in July. Maybe you remember this photo (and subsequent blog posts) of the cute Ranger Tugs that caught our attention in the marina. This was taken from the dinette of the Airstream:

And here we are now with our Nordic Tug, and we couldn't be more thrilled:

(A little less crowded here in late November, isn't it? Still completely charming though!)

Tonight we walked the length of Water Street a couple times, and then came back to the marina and had an early dinner at Doc's Marina Grill. Doc's is convenient because it's right here at the marina/RV park, but we'd eaten there before so we thought we'd go try the well-Yelped Cellar Door in town tonight. Unfortunately, it looks like they had some kind of plumbing emergency and are closed. The sign on the door says they hope to be open on Saturday. Doc's was a good backup.

We'll check the weather again tomorrow morning and decide if we're going to stay here one more night, or head north to the islands!

Here's today's map:

Point Hudson Marina

Laura Domela — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 13:24:23 +0000

We're at Point Hudson Marina and RV Park for a few days (in Port Townsend, WA). This place is just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. Boats going in and out, the halyards softly tapping with the wind against sailboat masts, seagulls, a nice sea breeze blowing through the Airstream, all the windows open…you get the idea.

We'll be mostly working today, but the office has a fabulous view:

Looking left from the Airstream front door:

Looking straight out the back:

We're in one of the two sites at the very point with no hookups, which is no issue at all for three nights as long as we aren't under a bunch of trees that block the solar panels (we're not). Also, the dry camping sites are only $20/night. I think there's Wi-Fi here too but we arrived after the office was closed so we haven't gotten the password yet.

After we finish up with work we'll get the bikes out and go explore a bit (and stop at the grocery store for some supplies).

Our Office View for the Week

Laura Domela — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:54:57 +0000

See? It's not all wine and bike rides around here.

It's been worse though: Breakfast in the Candlestick Compound

And OMG in looking for that blog post about the Candlestick Compound, I found this, and sat here laughing for a good 5 minutes: The Screaming Fifth Wheel Next Door

I used to be meaner (and funnier). I need to step it up.

RV Park Quiet Hours

Laura Domela — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:44:48 +0000

We arrived here (Dakota Ridge RV Park) after the office was closed. They have a board with available sites on it that you can pick from when you come in late. We chose a back-in site, along "Scenic Rock Loop" that was away from the main road where you enter the park. When we got to the site, it was a little odd (very narrow, and the hookups are right in the middle of the lawn that you'd assume was the neighbor's space…and probably 8 or 10 feet away from the side of the trailer). They didn't seem to be bothered that we had to hookup our sewer connection right next to the suitcase they were repacking on the lawn — the one with the "Moose Crossing" sign on top of a bunch of souvenir T-shirts they're taking back to Bavaria with them.

We cooked some dinner, watched Breaking Bad (using the iPad and Slingbox to play it from our home DVR, because although this place says it has cable, there are only 9 channels and they are CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and a couple weather and local stations. That's not cable, that's just regular t.v.)

Sunrise over PVC cutter

Anyway, we went to bed fairly early, and it's a good thing we did, because right past these trees is some kind of warehouse and there's a guy cutting long pieces of PVC and then putting them on a trolly. Zzzreeeeeeh – one quick cut, 20 seconds, clack, zzzreeeeeeh one quick cut, 20 seconds, clack, repeat forever. Starting at 6am. Apparently he does not need to follow the 10pm to 8am quiet hours.

Also, a big flatbed truck just drove in with a load of rebar. Hope that's not for the cutter.