Category Archives: what hell kind of animals are we seeing?

Deception Pass State Park

Pauline and I made the terrible mistake of youth and moved our original wedding date of October 15 to May 31. What we failed to see was, May 31 is usually a Holiday weekend.

We soon discovered that everything we would LOVE to do on our anniversary, is sold out, booked, and just generally over crowded that we don’t want to be there. We prefer to go site seeing/camping on weekdays over weekends to avoid crowds of any kind, and now that we are camp host, we have to be here for weekends anyway, so we spent our two days off site seeing/birding/hiking around Whidbey Island.

I had a “West Coast Guarantee” when I enlisted in the Navy and was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island from 1990 to 1993. Prior to coming here I have never even heard of Whidbey Island, and when you are 18 with a “West Coast Guarantee” you are thinking “Hawaii” or “San Diego” and when you get Whidbey Island, you can’t help to be anything but disappointed.

I was gone well over a full year of those 3 years, and when I was here, it was usually winter and total crap weather, so I never went out to site see except for what I could see from my bar stool.

When I left the Navy I went back to Indiana and soon met Pauline, we married and on our second anniversary Pauline said she wanted to see the Pacific Northwest, so we came out here for 10 days and visited with my best friend/brother and drove all over the area.

That is when I realized what a great opportunity I had in my youth that I wasted. The Northwest is the best place in the World for Pauline and I.

Some years later, Pauline and I moved from Indiana to Florida and some years after that, we moved to Oregon. As one close friend told us when we arrived.

“I didn’t understand why you ever moved to Florida, you are not Florida people, you are Northwest people”.

One of the greatest compliments we have ever had.

While at NAS Whidbey Island, I drove on and off the island the only way we could, via Deception Pass. I could not even estimate the number of times I have driven that area. And I never once stopped to see Deception Pass State Park. My favorite hangout was the Deception Pass Saloon. I spent countless hours there. It was less then 100 yards from the entrance of the park.

Pauline and I finally stopped to see the park in 1999 and we was both blown away by what we saw. How did I ever miss this?

The ignorance of youth.

We have since been to the park at least 4 times since 1999 and on two of those visits we came across “The Fish Lady” as we called her, since we have no hope of pronouncing her name correctly. The other 2 visits we couldn’t find her.

This trip, we realized that we have never been to the North side of the park, so this time, we started there. Only to soon realize, we had been here before. So we went to the South side of the park expecting to find “The Fish Lady” and soon realized, she must be on the North end.

We go back to the North end and while driving to where we expected to find her, I blew by the park entrance, and since there was a car behind us, I was not able to o a U turn, so we kept driving to find a place to turn around, we soon arrived to a section of the park we have never been to, and since we was there, why not stop and look around?

WE FOUND “THE FISH LADY!”

Lesson 1) We have terrible memories.

Lesson 2) We have really terrible memories.

We also walked on a rocky beach and soon realized there are a bagillion crabs under the rocks we was walking on, I moved 1 rock and there was at least 7 crabs of all sizes running in all directions. We could even hear them moving under the rocks. It was border line horror movie vibe.

We also just missed the lowest tide of the month. Something else we failed to think about prior. They have a really neat “rope trail” going over lava rock, you stay on the rope trail and you can see all sorts of ocean life all around. Had we been a few hours earlier we would have see starfish and octopus and whatever else we could have seen during low tide, but the tide was returning as we was there.

Next time.

We had a Volunteer point out some crustaceans and we saw some seals, both Barn and Tree Swallows and Bald Eagles, Sparrows and of course the countless crabs.

We spent about 4 hours looking around Deception Pass before we went to Oak Harbor and had some Greek food that was really good, the lamb meat was cubed over shaved, but it was still REALLY good, but when you are use to gyros one way, small changes are noticeable.

We then spent a hour or so at Fort Ebey State Park, we planned to do more site seeing there, but we was both getting tired, so Fort Ebey will be another day.

We was also able to see some F/A 18’s and P-3’s doing some “touch and go’s” at NAS Whidbey Island. While it got VERY loud at times, it was still great to see, Pauline and I both miss the military life.

Here are the pics.

More pics of South Whidbey State Park

We are still learning the park, there are still too many trails we have not walked yet, and we have been here for over a month, that is just sad.

While there are plenty of birds to hear, seeing them is another story. We see plenty of American Robins and Dark-eyed Juncos with some Spotted Towhees but everything else is hearing more then seeing.

We do have a Downy Woodpecker nest near a trail and really close to a bench, it’s pretty nice to sit there while the adults fly in and out and the hatchlings chirp and chirp. We also see some Osprey every so often, but as with Fort Flagler, there is just too many tree’s to block the birds from view.

Stupid trees are ruining nature.

Yesterday we also saw a Turkey Vulture with 4 Osprey circling over the beach area, there was also a Raven chasing one of the Osprey’s.

There are plenty of rabbits and deer here. Pauline and I saw the Doe with her 2 Fawn that I saw a week or so ago yesterday, one of the Park Aides also got to see them, it’s always cool sharing a nature moment with others.

South Whidbey Island State Park

Welcome!

We arrived here at South Whidbey Island State Park on April 30, 2014. We was going to arrive on May 1, but the ferry Summer rates started on that day so leaving the day prior saved us $25 just on the RV alone.

This is a quite park for the most part. Mostly campers, some day use visitors, as well as a few schools with students here and there. It’s interesting to see the differences between here and Fort Flagler, both in the environment and in the visitors.

I would say at least 95% of the visitors here have their dogs properly leashed and the majority of the campers leave the sites clean, we have only had 1 or 2 sites that we had to spend time to “clean up” after the campers. One was bad enough the Ranger was going to make contact with them.

We are having a sewer line installed to our host site. I have been told this has been on the “wish list” for years, but for whatever reason, be it financial or man power, it has yet to be done.

I was asked if I would be interested in digging the trench which I was more then happy to do. It would have to be done by hand, but whatever, I would really like not having to drive 200 yards to dump our black tank every 6 days and hard work has never bothered me.

I spoke to the Ranger as well as the maintenance worker of the park and was given some generic information from the maintenance worker of how deep and where to dig that would turn out to be not as clear as I thought it was at the time.

The next day I spent 4+ hours digging my way the 82′ to the sewer line on the far side of the bathroom via a thick wooded area as well as layers of gravel to get to the point I was told to get to. I averaged about 10″ deep and 10″ wide, I was told the hose was “garden hose” sized so at the worst, I thought I was digging deeper then I needed to.

I was wrong.

A few days later, Pauline and I hear noise coming from the bathroom area, so I walked over there and I see the same maintenance guy who told me where to dig with another person digging my trench deeper/wider.

I was taken by surprise and asked “is it not deep enough” when the helper joked it wasn’t, I joked back “blame him” and pointed to the maintenance worker… who did not seem to get my joke.

Some words where exchanged between us, which is when I realized he was not at all happy with me, or with the trench not being done properly, either way, it was not what was said, but HOW he said it.

Fine. Enjoy your trench, I’m out.

Looking back, I guess it wasn’t as simple as he made it out to be, but had he given better instruction and actual dimensions I promise, it would have been done right. And of course, had someone not been so snippy, I would have for sure either taken over and dug out what needed to be done myself, or at least helped. But I am not one to be snapped at like I am wasting someones time.

At least not while being a volunteer. If you want to snap at me, you better be paying me.

As a disclaimer, this is the first time anyone I have worked with as a Volunteer has ever snapped at me like this. I am not losing sleep over it, but I for sure did not appreciate the tone or words.

Everyone else I have worked with in the Washington State Parks have been nothing more then friendly and professional and I do enjoy working with others.

But I will not be snapped at. It’s that simple.

I will be professional with this person in the future should our paths cross again, but I doubt I will be willing to volunteer my time on any project he is involved in unless there is a really good reason.

We are also getting some rock for our site. The pad is pretty soft in areas and could use some work to flatten and widen and just over all clean up. I did this to two pads at Fort Flagler, so I feel like I have a good idea of what needs to be done.

The Ranger arranged for the rock to be delivered next Wednesday at the camp site across from us so the fallowing Monday or Tuesday we will move the RV to dump the black tank (Unless the sewer line is completed) and park it in the parking lot while we work the RV pad with the hope that it will be the last time we will have to move the RV until we leave in September.

The weather has been pretty good. We are hitting the mid/high 60s and low 70s more and more, but we are still not quit to the point of “Summer”. Today was the first rain in a week I believe.

We are in a wooded area as well, so at night it gets VERY dark here. I would rather walk at night without a light, but at times, a light has to be used, it is just too dark to walk on cloudy nights without a light. And driving a golf cart that has no lights is even scarier lol…

Tuesday night I was outside around 9:30pm just enjoying the dusk and peacefulness of the mostly empty park when I saw 2 small dogs just down the road from me, but it was too dark to get a good ID on what kinds of dogs they were and something about them just wasn’t right so I got a flash light and discovered they was not dogs, but twin fawns.

They was the smallest deer I have ever seen. They could not have been more then a day or two old. I walked down to where I saw them leave the road and I assumed into the bush, I walked into the empty camp site and saw a rabbit and as I was focused on that I almost missed the mother deer and the twin fawns not 8′ from me.

One fawn started to scamper off, but it stopped when I stopped and momma deer never even looked alarmed, so I just stood there and watched the 3 deer slowly walk off into the bush. It was way too dark to even try a picture, but I would love to get one of those twins.

Pauline and I went on a 3 mile hike yesterday. We finally took the time to walk some of the trails here and it was quite enjoyable. We saw a few birds, most exciting was our first Pacific Wren, both a male and female, they shake their tails in a very fast “rattle” as they sing. It was comical, reminded us of a rattlesnake.

We are responsible for cleaning of the camp sites in the “upper loop” and we have been getting partially burned firewood from the fire pits that is left behind, after 3 days of this we had a large pile and decide to have our own camp fire last Monday as we sat outside and just enjoyed the peacefulness.

This weekend we are of course booked full which is pretty cool really, since we know by Monday night we will be pretty much empty again.

Pauline and I will be working the booth from 5-9pm (maybe 10pm) to check in the campers with reservations as well as selling firewood and ice. It’s easy. So far we have not had that much attitude from visitors, everyone is here pretty much for the same reason, to have fun and enjoy nature.

The Pacers are 1-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals. I thought we had game 2 won, but they just ran out of gas at the end. Game 3 is in Miami Saturday, and since I know that when a series is tied 1-1 the winner of game 3 has won the series 76% of the time, I am stressing.

Sometimes I wish I did not know all the facts I know.

We have tried to find a satellite signal here, but even knowing where there are multiple satellites for DirectTV, it seems only one with work, which of course we can’t get from our site while we have open sky to the other satellites.

Odds are, once the NBA season is over, or when/if the Pacers season is over, I will try to find a signal once again, once the sewer gets installed, the satellite signal is the last thing we “need” to make this a perfect stay. While we are happy to be able to have a place to sit and watch our TV, a cold garage is not where I want to be.

But at least we have that.

Here are some more pictures and I am once again, caught up with the pictures!

Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, be safe and remember WHY we have this weekend.

Thank a Vet.

Our last days at Fort Flagler State Park…

Well, until we go back at least.

This should have been written on or prior to April 29, 2014, but well I got lazy and busy with moving our box with wheels to another island.

We had been doing a lot of cleanup of fallen branches as well as cleaning the upper camp ground in the last few months of our stay at Fort Flagler that we once again had a very large pile of brush to burn and the head Ranger gave us the honor of burning the pile before we left, so that is what we did.

I was out there for the better part of 8 hours, making sure it was burning in a safe manner as well as making sure I burned as much of it as I could. There was still a few stumps from the last burn pile that had not burned completely as well as huge chunks of cement from past dumps that kept getting dug up, which caused one end of the burn pile to not burn at all.

Once I figured out what the problem was, I spent a hour or so with the tractor building a road to the problem area and pushing the wood debris further away from the chunks of cement that was preventing a proper fire to burn.

While doing this I had a feeling I was being watched and sure enough, I saw the coyote watching me from about 50 yards away. He was there on and off throughout the day, it was a really nice, sunny and warm day with light winds, perfect for a large fire as well as napping in the sun which is what the coyote was mostly doing.

Here are the pictures, just a month later.

 

Rare and exotic birds…

During our final week in Patagonia, AZ, we met a couple who live in Port Angeles, WA which is about 1 hour from Fort Flagler. We had a chance to talk to them and discovered they are really good birders and they invited us over for lunch when we was going to be in the area.

Due to timing on both sides, we was not able to hook up with them until the final days of our stay at Fort Flagler, but when we finally hooked up, it was well worth it.

They are incredible birders as well as wild life photographers who are also very active travelers, which is pretty much everything we like to do ourselves, so this was a fun meeting.

They help out a friend who owns a large, private rare bird/duck breeding facility in the Port Angeles area and they was kind enough to take us over there and show us all kinds of birds we have never seen before. Some from the Arctic, other’s from China and most if not all, were very rare/endangered.

While not “wild” it was still fun to see so many different kinds of ducks and shore birds from around the world.

There was also a Garter Snake, multiple Turtles, 2 dandle lion loving Tortoises, and some huge Goldfish to see!

They of course did tell us what each one was but you know how it is when you are seeing so many different kinds of birds at once, its hard to keep what is what and I thought it would be rude to send them a list of 40 birds asking them to ID them all, so here are some pictures of a bunch of birds.

Special thanks to Mary and Ken!