Southwest Washington

I stayed in Chehalis, about midpoint between Portland and Seattle.  It was warmer weather than I was having at the beach; about 20 degrees warmer. 

My campsite at Chahalis

One of the disadvantages of camping "in the trees" or mountains, is the lack of internet.  It makes this blog, among other things, a challenge sometimes.  And sometimes I have internet, but it is so slow ... for instance, so far it has taken me 7 hours to upload these pictures for you.

Route in pink

I did a lot of driving around Washington this trip - too much really.  I should have moved my rig up into northern Washington and spent some time there.  As it turned out, one of the solo groups to which I belong was camping up there over the long weekend; had I known early enough to change my plans, that would have worked out great.

One of the first things I did after I arrived was to meet up with a friend and head to Mt. St. Helens.  We stayed for the Ranger talk and a very informative movie.  It was really interesting to be able to actually see how far from the volcano the damage went.









Yard Bird Statues (according to Roadside America) -
Residents of western Washington state are familiar with "Yard Birds" -- a home improvement chain popular in the region since the 1950s, until it went out of business in the 1990s.
The mascot of Yard Birds was a misshapen, gawky cartoon bird with hunched shoulders, gloved yellow claw hands, and a large beak. He seemed to be somewhat variable in his various incarnations -- as long as he was black, beaked and ugly, he was a Yard Bird.
At the height of Yard Birds expansion, many mascot sculptures stood at the entrances to store parking lots. Most have been destroyed or disappeared over the years. The vacant Yard Birds in Olympia, the state capitol, burned down around 1999, and apparently took its Yard Bird statue with it.

Two Yard Bird statues still stand at the former corporate flagship location in Chehalis. And I was there!


Old St Peter's Church -

The 17-room Victorian house of Ezra Meeker, pioneer, farmer, first town mayor, author and preserver of the Oregon Trail. Six fireplaces, period furnishings, stained-glass windows and hand-carved woodwork.  One of the things I find so cool about these old houses is the care they went to to "coordinate" everything!  In this house, the ceilings matched the tile work around the fireplace in the room, among other things.

When I drove to Whitlock to see the "world's largest egg" I noticed they had a theme going around town with these roosters ....

Other things I saw in the area ....

Mossyrock Dam

Capitol building in Olympia

Gospodor Monuments

On one of my drives north on I-5 there were a number of small fires burning along the road, one caught in the trees and leaping over the road.  As there were no official vehicles in the area, they were not controlled burns, but the cars on the highway never slowed down.  Later I passed emergency vehicles headed to the fires.

I was headed to Tacoma ... there were signs along the roadway warning about low-flying aircraft.  So, I'm thinking gliders or something ... whoa .... there was a huge army cargo plane right in front of me, landing.  Apparently there is a military base off to the side of the freeway!  ha.

Tacoma has several old, cool buildings .... it would be nice to spend a day exploring.  Beautiful views of the water and bridges as well.

US 12 to Aberdeen on coast highway US 101 is a lovely scenic drive.  Aberdeen has a sign saying they are the lumber capital of the world, which I believe based on the number of trucks carrying logs I see on the road.  I had to cross a draw bridge in Aberdeen and I had a second's worth of unease as I started over .. ha.

The Washington coast .... 

Although pretty in their own right, Washington does not seem to have the beautiful beaches I saw in Oregon.  These are more of a "slough" quality.

Westport Maritime Museum

Raymond seems like a nice town to spend a day - lots of museums and folk art.

Raymond, Washington

Lewis and Clark State Park has a beautiful tract of lowland old growth forest.... nice.  Lewis and Clark State Park, which is actually separate from the Lewis and Clark Trail, began as a "public camp" for automobile tourists in 1922. Two years later, more than 10,000 people visited the park annually. The old north spur of the Oregon Trail, which extended from the Cowlitz River landing to the city of Tumwater, passed directly through the present park site. When pioneers used this road, ramps had to be built over some of the downed logs (six to nine feet in diameter), since they had no saws capable of cutting the giants.

I passed two accidents on US 101 in a relatively short distance, both vehicle vs motorcycle.  There was almost nothing left of the motorcycle either time.  A nice thing the Washington Troopers do is post a sign well in advance that there is an accident ahead so you have time to stop.

Saw this in the bay ....

Ah, I think there is a problem, Captain.

Another difference I noticed between Oregon and Washington are the trees .... Oregon has more of a forest/shoreline vibe, whereas Washington has more of a mountain feel; more scrubby with undergrowth and vegetation. I don't know if the trees are actually different, but the effect is.