We're In Ft. Lewis

Touching the smooth bark is much like stroking skin with cellulite beneath it; rippled yet smoothly silky. Madrone trees line our current backyard and are so pretty I wish for one in my future yard. Yesterday we moved onto Ft. Lewis in the dry camping overflow parking lot. Every three days we can renew for $5/night; quite possibly the best bargain accommodation in all the Seattle area! It’s actually not bad here as it’s not at all crowded and all things on base are cheap—propane for $1.85/gal for instance when we last paid nearly $3/gal in Bend. We get the park amenities of swim beach, lake, sewer dump, water, dumpster, laundry room where a wash costs a dollar, and a smokin’ WIFI hotspot there if wanted. In the regular park, the sites are long and spacious and very attractive. The Adventure Center here, for soldier’s morale and recreation, boasts canoe and boat rentals, travel trailers and cabin rentals, and a new store that would rival REI. As Fam Camps go, it probably is one of the best. Pictures will have to follow.

We sit above American Lake which is forested and tranquil, but we hear the I-5 freeway close by most hours, day and night. As is typical of the area, fog is here early morning and evenings since we are only about four miles from the Sound. There is not a lot to report yet since we just arrived but our passes to the base are good for 30 days so I’m sure we’ll have some good tales coming up. Meanwhile, since a pass and ID check is 100% all the time at the gates, we feel locked up and secure.

Still Making Dreams With Each Other

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Today Marc and I celebrated our twenty first anniversary in a totally low-key fashion. Twenty one years ago during the early afternoon hours at the Pilot Hill, CA #1 Grange Hall, we became man and wife in a simple ceremony and then immediately shared a reception among family and friends. Later in the afternoon we jumped into Marc’s new Corvette(with appropriate just married slogans all over it) and headed for San Francisco to spend the night before boarding a flight to our Maui honeymoon early the next morning. Thanks, Hon, it’s been a great ride ever since and I still love you just as deeply today.

Our morning started off with breakfast out munching down the camp’s famous huckleberry pancakes. Wild huckleberries grow in Washington at elevations above 4000 feet and a five pound bag costs around $35 to the restaurant, Ken the proprietor and cook informed us. From there, we moved on to picking more blackberries, some of which I had already put to good use (see photo).

As the day wore on, it was time to prepare for our feast of crab brushetta and fried clams but not before breaking out the Korbel and toasting to our success as a married couple. We moved on outdoors to enjoy our lake view and make dreams for our future. It sure is nice to have a soul mate!

A Plug For a True Gem

We shake our heads in amazement to have stumbled upon this park. We reserve our highest kudos for very few parks since we much prefer boondocking and the absolute privacy that affords. However, this park has several loops and sections, all greatly separated and spread out along the lake. Within each loop lies about 30 generously sized water and electric sites ($25) and some tent sites; each also having a separation of about 40 feet or more from others. Each section also has numerous immaculate bathhouses, picnic grounds, game areas (horseshoes, volleyball) and large grassy lawns and jungle gyms for children. Campsites are done in two styles, long backins or gracious loop pull-throughs, some as these pictures show nearly 125 feet long! Even the back-in sites are as long as 90 feet.

In addition, the park has a store/restaurant featuring their “world famous huckleberry pancake breakfast” of which we will partake on Friday, our anniversary. The boat launch has generous space and dock; there is a common area covered barbecue area complete with clean-up sink; and a well protected swim beach. There are even fish cleaning stations scattered throughout.

Tacoma Power has several parks and facilities on Riffle and Mayfield Lakes and all I can say is that if they are all done to this standard I can see why they are entirely reserved every weekend for the season. Anyone coming to Washington in an RV should not miss this opportunity; more information can be found at: tacomapower.com/parks. With all the deciduous trees (love the sound of those quaking aspen and birch in the wind) Fall is probably spectacular here!

Yum!

We left Packwood not in any hurry this morning with an Escapees Day’s End listing in hand with directions very near Mossyrock on Riffle Lake for a Tacoma Power Company boondocking spot last verified in either ’05 or ’07. After getting lost for a spell and driving five miles beyond where we needed to be, we flipped around and using GPS found most of the roads we needed. However, we ended up lakeside at a Tacoma Power Company regular campground which charged. A young guy was very helpful and pointed out where we might be able to find the boondocking while also stating that everything they had except the overflow dry camp lot was going to be full for the holiday weekend. On our way through we took a look at the overflow lot and left the rig parked in their boat launch area while we went searching.

We found the area, which could have been wonderfully secluded and right smack on the lake next to the dam but there were signs posted about it being a day use area. These may have been erected since the last Escapees report and with the holiday coming up we thought better of being kicked out because then we would have nothing. As it was, the overflow lot had only one other rig currently set up so we had our pickings. So, that’s we did for $14/night.

We’re on a downhill slope which required all of Marc’s blocks and we’re still nose down, but this place is absolutely beautiful. I have a lake view just hundreds of feet out the door and a ton of blackberry bushes 35 feet from the rig. Marc has already gone crazy picking them with instructions I am to make a pie or cobbler and he is going to can some jam. It smells verdant here; right now it is totally quiet awaiting the weekend holiday crush which I’m sure will come, and we (& the cat) feel very at home. Ah, this is what we’ve been looking for.

Internet signal is very marginal so forgive us if we don’t post a lot this week. We are due to leave next Monday and hope to get some better pictures on a sunny day. There was a blueberry farm about six miles down the road and I told Marc we have to go back and pick some; there are also fresh pies. Why not make our own to go with the blackberry? Yes! We’ll leave here five pounds heavier! My earlier disappointment is slated; I’m in my element again. We have lots of catching up to do; computer work, haircuts, this place is huge and all paved for great walks (it stretches out lakeside for at least two miles) and there is even a little restaurant/grocery lakeside. Marc has promised me breakfast out for our anniversary Friday. Oh boy.

The Drama Queen

She sits above it all, towering so forcefully she mingles with the clouds on a daily basis, even making her own weather pattern. Her brute force influences much of western Washington but when she shows herself affects a stunning view on clear days of her glaciated glistening flanks. Today, we got up close and personal with her like never before. When she glided out from behind her fog bank early this morning she hid her cantankerous nature to allow us to cavort up her verdant slopes to views other-worldly. Now, I just might understand why mountain climbers climb.

I don’t really need to comment on much for this entry; the pictures will speak all the words necessary and needed. If you have never been to Mt. Rainier National Park, please go. I have been to many of our national parks and for me, this Queen stands above them all. What a glorious day!