We stayed three nights ,tied to the buoy at Cabbage island, the weather was amazing, 24 degrees in the cockpit, we roamed around on the island, watched the Eagles, and did some beach combing, a truly lovely little holiday!!
After the third night, we went back to Poet’s cove and tied to a parks buoy again there, again the only boat.
That evening we were sitting in the cockpit, sipping our Malbec red wine and playing our game, Rummikub, a dutch game, lots of fun!! Anyways, it was almost dark, and a boat came into the bay at great speed, came right at us, shone a light at our boat, NOW WHAT???? it were the same four guys from before, border patrol, did we look bad or something???
They stared at us, we stared back, and then i said, “you might as well join us for some wine, if we keep meeting like this”!!!!
They all laughed,”wish we could” came the reply and off they went again!!!
At Poet’s cove you are very close to the US border and they have a lot of problems with boats sneaking into the US, or the other way around, so i guess its justified, but really though, they MUST know us now,right????

Nothing feels quite so good as to come home, in our case, to our boat, our trusty Curtsy, once we had everything put away, and we went to get the bonsai tree back from a friend, we noticed that the weather was just wonderful, clear warmish days, no strong winds, so we planned to stretch Curtsy’s legs a bit and took off for Cabbage island, we first stopped in Poet’s cove, tied to one of the buoys there, oh but i forgot, while underway, we were stopped, actually not stopped but kind of joined by a border control boat, a large zodiac, four guys on board, two Americans, two Canadians, we maintained our speed, they did too, asked us where we were going , if all emergency equipment was on board, looked us over a bit and away they went again!!!
Is was wonderfully quiet in Poet’s cove, only one other boat, we stayed two nights , and then headed to Tumbo island and Cabbage island, a marine park, right alongside Georgia strait, but the weather was so nice, that this was our chance to go there, if its blowing hard, the little bay with its mooring buoys in not a good place because of the swell.
Little cabbage island is a magical place, beautiful trees, many large Yews, and towering Aspen trees, one of the Douglas fir trees had an eagles nest in it, the eagles were busy restoring the nest, flying back and forth with large branches.
Birds were everywhere, Buffleheads,Oystercatchers, Commen marganzers, Barrow’s goldeneye, Bald eagle, canada goose, gulls, crows, raven, and coots.
I love watching the Oystercatchers, turning stones and prying the oysters open with their red beaks.

In the evening we looked at the lights of Vancouver across the way, with high tide that is, and the beautiful peak of Mount Baker, in Washington.

The next day Bert found a garbage can, with a lid, brandnew, washed ashore, and we cleaned the whole little Cabbage island, filled the can with plastics, ropes, buckets and old life jackets.
This is one little spot on this beautiful coast, i am always amazed at the plastics, but then, look how much we use the stuff, and it will never go away, but can be recycled into other stuff…….
We met up with some fishermen, looking for clams and oysters, they noticed us gathering garbage, and i think it got them thinking, hope so…..

This will be my last post for this trip, we stopped in Sequim, mainly because driving by, my eyes fell on some beautiful totem poles, lots of them, and gorgeous first nation buildings.
Bert did a turnaround and we explored all the art. The giant store, run by first nations, contains just about everything you might need, but it was all very expensive.
There is a casino next door, seemed to be very popular to judge by the amount of cars parked there.
I was just interested in the art, here are photos of some of the pieces, but before i finish this page, i want to say that we had a good trip, we chatted and encountered many Americans all along the way, everyone was very helpful, very kind, people were interested in us, in our Westy, “those two crazy oldies in their funny little RV”, but it was fun, we never were worried about leaving the Westy parked somewhere, never encountered any trouble, so thank you, folks of the USA, it was great!!!! We will be back!!!! Soon……

We bought gas at Raymond and then headed to the 101, the drive from Shelton north to Gardiner is very nice, all along the Hood canal, we hoped to find a campspot with power, and we did, kind of strange, no one was around, no other campers either, but there were plug ins, and they worked, the spots were beautifully treed, but which one to pick…..amazing how hard it is when the whole place is empty!!! Just too much choice, its like that with baked goodies, which one…that one! no, that one!! oh no, that one is way better!!!! Good grief!!!!
It was sure cold though, i was so happy with our little heater and my bed warmer!! No, i dont mean Bert, but my little electric ,pre foot warmer!!!

We were slowly getting ready to go home, i noticed i took less and less photos, kind of just sat and stared ahead while we were driving. It was a grey and cloudy day at Meyers creek, but its such perfect photo weather, so out came the camera again, just cant help myself, its those kind of days that i find the best places with the right atmosphere for my photos.

We had seen the sign posts everywhere for Elk, Elk crossings, warning;Elk!!! but we had not seen any as yet until in Oregon, just north of the California border. We were close to Meyers creek, following the ocean side, when a beautiful, very large buck came out of the woods,standing there, looking so proud. A bit further on, in a farmers field, stood all of his ladies, no wonder he looked so proud, they were all beautiful animals, well filled out, some with young ones, some still with large bellies, they looked at us with very mild interest, and then continued grazing.

Next day, January 10, we moved on, northbound,after saying goodbye to everyone, and handing out email addresses.
We didnt get far, driving along the Mendocino coast, we saw so many nice little spots, the van still seemed to have a problem with the exhaust, so Bert decided to camp in a very nice place, at Manchester beach, a KOA, but very spacious , with beautiful big pine trees, bordering on fields, good spot to linger a while…..
Robins were singing here, in January!!!!
The pines are Monterey pine and Bishop pine, the cones grow on the main branches, they are heavy and very solid, they dont drop but open up once the sun gets warm, scattering their seeds here and there.
I brought home two of the cones, the Monterey cone is big, it has been lying in the V-berth till now, but we have had beautiful sunny weather, and once the sun hit the cone, it

started making a huge racket, snapping open with a bang!!!
First time this happened, i thought something was dreadfully wrong in the boat, somewhere, you just can never know, but it was the cone, snapping open its scales, and the seeds were ready to come out, i have collected them all, will try to grow one into a small bonsai!
The smaller cone is much slower to react, but two scales are open now.

The next morning, we met Gail, who lives in Alaska and travels in her old Chevy truck, back and forth to Mexico, twice a year, she sleeps in the cab, and makes it look like she has nothing valuable with her, she does this on purpose, and so far she has not had any trouble at all, but then, neither did we!!
Gail loves art, she makes jewelry, does some awesome knitting, and finds all the local art shops, meets lots of people, and after spending time with her, we now consider her a good friend!
Gail is 63 years old!

And then there is Peter, we saw ,looking around, a wonderful but strange looking Westy parked nearby, i grabbed my camera, and started taking pictures, you will see why, peter came back from the showers, introduced himself, and we right away felt that we had met a kindred spirit!!!
Peter and his lady,Nancy, travel all through the US , showing people the van, handing out cards, and looking to see where they can help and show some kindness.
Peter was by himself this day, so we didnt meet his lady.
I really felt that it was so meant to be for us to meet him, another special soul to call our friend.
here are some of the wonderful slogans , painted on his van.

Her are some of the suggestions that are written on the cards Peter hands out:
Send a note of appreciation to someone who has made a difference in your life.
Give someone a genuine compliment unrelated to looks or wardrobe.
Volunteer to do a chore or a favor for someone.
make an extra lunch today and give it away to someone to enjoy.
Mail a postcard to a friend telling them you are thinking of them.