North to Port Townsend

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With our stay in Bremerton coming to a close, we will be heading north to Port Townsend to another Elks Lodge. Since neither of these lodges have a dump station, we need to find another option. The local fairground is just a few miles from where we are staying and they have a free dump station situated there. Fortunately we had explored the Kitsap County Fairgrounds a day before and after a bit of searching we found the fairly well hidden dump station. For future reference, it is maybe 300 feet south of the intersection of NW Fairgrounds Road and Tibardis Road at roughly N47° 37.883'  W122° 39.954'. We pulled in and nobody was around but before I was done, there was another rig waiting for us to finish. Other than being a very dusty place, it worked out well and the price was right.

It's less than a 50 mile drive from Bremerton to Port Townsend and it turned out to be a pretty easy travel day. The Elks Lodge has room for about 30 rigs. There were only 4 others there when we pulled in so we figured out the orientation of the sites and picked one that might be somewhat shaded in the afternoon. Someone from the lodge came out to tell us that the campground host was injured and we should just do the self registration envelope method.

Since we were here fairly early, we headed into downtown first stopping at the visitor's center. There happened to be a jazz festival going on so the volunteer was trying to convince us to check out some of the venues. The downtown area was very cute and fairly crowded. After finding a parking spot, we started to walk around town. We found a wooden boat workshop that lets people in to wander around unsupervised. The smell of fresh cut wood and all the hand and power tools in use made me a little bit homesick for my old woodworking shop. There were some new builds but the majority of the work was repairing old wooden boats that had damage or had seen better days.

New Boat Under Construction

Older Boat Needing Repair

A geocache brought us to the only remaining wooden bell tower in the USA. Along the way, we stumble upon a group of about 10 ukulele players putting on an impromptu concert by the fountain in town. Their name was appropriate- The Fountain of Ukes. Just up the hill from the fountain is the last remaining wooden bell tower in the USA built  in 1890. We also discovered an car shop (Bergstrom's Antique Classic Autos) that was likely in a converted fire station building. Besides having several old cars for sale, they had all manner of parts for older cars. I suspect that two of my brother-in-laws would have really enjoyed browsing around this place. We eventually decided to head back to camp with one important stop along the way. Mount Townsend Creamery is situated just outside the main downtown area. They offer cheese tastings and even have a 25% discount on certain times with the day we are there being one of them. We tried about 8 or so different cheeses and watched them making another batch through the glass windows into the cheese factory. We ended up picking two of the samples we really liked and then spotted another one that was not out for tasting but sounded good. Let's just say our "free" tasting was far from free but we came away with some really good cheeses. 

Oldest Wooden Bell Tower in US

View of Town from Above

The Fountain of Ukes

Former Elks Building - 1889

Need Parts?

1954 Corvette 

The Elks Lodge was having fish and chips for dinner that first night so we headed there. We met another couple that had just pulled in next to us and had a nice time chatting with them over dinner. The following day we dusted off the bicycles and headed into town again with Fort Worden State Park as our destination. This is on the north side of town. There is a bicycle path that can be accessed about one mile north of the lodge. It worked out quite well since it can be reached without needing to get out onto the main state route. Once on the bike path, the paved trail changes to gravel but it is a very well maintained gravel trail. It didn't take long for us to realize that the trail into town is downhill which is nice but will become a penalty on our return trip. We stop for a few of the many geocaches along the trail. One was overlooking the paper mill in town. We now know what that strange smell is we caught if the wind was just right. It isn't a horrible smell but it definitely is not pleasant. 

Port Townsend Paper Corp

Once the bike path ends in town, there are several routes to take to get to the fort. The traffic on the residential streets wasn't bad but the one we picked took us up Morgan Hill. It isn't too high, maybe 250', but it is exceptionally steep. I suspect there would have been easier ways had we done a bit more investigation. After asking for directions, we finally found out where the noon time free jazz concert was to be held. Our timing was perfect, there was a tree on a little hill where we could lean our bikes, sit in the shade and enjoy an unobstructed view of the stage. 

Good Crowd at Concert

It turned out the performers were not really a group per se, but the students of some teacher from Seattle that had come to Port Townsend for a weeklong class and this was their culmination. They were entertaining and based on some of the solo performances, there were a couple that show great promise. After lunch we wandered to the beach and found the typical little snack shack that a state park might have. I expected to get a burger that was lukewarm, dried out and required copious amounts of ketchup to make it edible. I was shocked to find it to be one of the best burgers I have ever had!

Next we headed out to Point Wilson lighthouse. Like so many lighthouses, it has been automated so the residence is no longer in use. There were some nice views of distant snow capped mountains and the many boats out on the water. They definitely have a problem with all the sea gulls landing on the roof. What should be red shingles is almost completely white. From here we headed over to the location of the gun encampments. The structures are still in good shape although all of the big guns have long been removed. What really amazed us was that many of the underground rooms were open to the public. One of the geocaches we did while here required us to find small stickers with coordinates and several of them were in the pitch black rooms. Thank goodness for the flashlight mode on the GPS. Many of the barracks have now been converted into other uses - a few shops and a woodworking school were seen as we tooled by on our bikes. 

View from Point Wilson with Mt. Baker in Distance

Lighthouse at Point Wilson

One of the Armament Batteries

Rooms to Explore Beneath

After finishing up at the fort, we ran into our first obstacle. Another short but steep hill that even I needed to walk up. Had we been in shape like for our cross country bike ride, we might have been able to make it. The rest of the ride up the bike path was gradual enough to not be much of a problem but we ended the day with over 20 miles of biking.

Beautiful Country Courthouse on Ride Back

In an attempt to appease the tired legs, we headed to the farmer's market in town the next morning. They had lots of vendors and it was very crowded. In the afternoon we drove into Old Fort Townsend State Park which is maybe a mile or so from the Elks Lodge. In hindsight, maybe we should have driven to the first fort and biked to the closer one! There is a small campground here and a dump station. In fact, we stop there to determine of a rig our size would fit or not. We guess it will so we will plan on using this on our way out of town.

The fort that used to be here is all but gone. There is a path thru the woods with interpretive signs stating that this was where the barracks were, or the commissary or some other building. But there are no remnants remaining and the fact that the trees here are a couple feet in diameter makes it hard to convince yourself there was anything ever here. At one point along the trail we came upon a small wedding ceremony. Just as we came into view, the couple were pronounced man and wife and every clapped and hollered. Never have we been greeted so warmly on a hike before.

Nice View from Fort Townsend

The next day we were ready to try out more of the nice bike trail. This time we would head generally south and west along the Larry Scott trail. The trail was nice and wide, well maintained and not too hilly. There were some people out enjoying it but not so many as to be annoying during the ride or when we stopped to search for one of many geocaches. We turned back after 6 miles but the trail continues in one form or another for many miles, possibly all the way to the Pacific Ocean. 

One of Many Horse at Farms Next to Bike Trail

Beautiful Day for a Bike Ride

Next stop Olympic Peninsula - Bremerton

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With our mission accomplished the Seattle area, we basically have 4 weeks before we need to be in central Oregon for the upcoming solar eclipse. The general plan is to spend most of that time exploring Washington's Olympic peninsula in a counterclockwise direction and then head to Terrebonne Oregon. The drive around the perimeter of the peninsula is roughly 300 miles so the travel days will be generally short ones. We had originally expected to first head to Port Townsend and spend about a week there but geocaching impacted our thinking. 

We had heard of a cacher named "goblin dust" that has put out some very creative hides. In fact, we had met him at the Tri-Cities Mega event a few weeks ago and had done at least one of his caches as part of the Geotour around headquarters in Seattle. His caches are located more in the Bremerton area of Washington which is 50 miles before Port Townsend. That seemed like a long way to travel to do maybe a dozen or so of his more popular caches. There happens to be an Elks Lodge in Bremerton so we decide to split our time and stop 4 nights there.

The drive to Bremerton is about 75 miles with Tacoma being the major city we need to drive through. I manage to miss a split in the expressway where they place barricades between the left and right hand lanes several miles prior to the exit. I expected to have another opportunity to exit right but that wasn't the case. So I go sailing past our turn with no way of crossing over to where I wanted to be. This led us to do a bit more of a "tour" of Tacoma than we were planning, but we eventually got onto the road to Bremerton.

The lodge has a great view of the surrounding countryside while the RV camping spots are a bit secluded from the rest of the lodge. There are about two dozen spots with a surprising number of them occupied. We pick out a spot and get setup. Being a Sunday, the lodge is closed so we wait until the next morning to go in and register. The sites are water and 30 amp electric with no dump station but there actually is a restroom with a couple stalls but no showers. I suppose that is how some of the people that stay here for longer times manage to reduce the need to go to the dump a few miles away at the fairgrounds.

On our first night, Chris decided to bake cookies. Normally not a problem even with 30 amp, but shortly after starting all power cuts off. I discover that the breaker for our pedestal had tripped, but it is not located on the pedestal instead it's at some breaker box that I cannot find. Fortunately the camp host is around and he shows me the panel and we remedy the problem (for now). He explains that have been having issues with the electric at the campgrounds and he finally got approval to have it upgraded but not until mid August, which does us no good. We spend the rest of our stay nursing along our power usage and only trip the thing one more time.

We spent the first afternoon and the next day going out to explore the area and trying to find find and solve as many of the goblin dust caches we can. In the cache descriptions, he informs cachers of any special "tools" they might need like a straw or a nickel for instance. He has done a good job of working with local businesses to place the caches on their properties much like WV Tim has done in Martinsburg West Virginia. A couple of them were old pay phones he has converted so that when you pick up the receiver a voice explains what you need to do to access the log book. The one requiring a straw was quite interesting. There were two different locations and in each you inserted your straw and blew. One spoke to you with what to do next while the other had a scrolling LED display that spelled out instructions. This one was frustrating since you needed to blow for probably 20 seconds to get the complete message to display. If you stopped for even a second, the message would start all over. Frustrating but entertaining.

Another one was right next to the drive thru of a local coffee shop. There were four knobs with about 12 detents with each position labeled with two letters. After setting the four dials intending to spell a four letter word, you would push a center button and the thing would talk to you if it wasn't correct. I suppose we could have asked one of the employees for a hint but I'm not good at asking for help. We were pretty sure we knew the 4 letter word, but not the sequence of the dials to spell that word. After doing all the logical permutations with no luck, I started with other patterns. Once you have the correct solution, the trap door pops open and scares the living bejesus out of me.

One we could not get to work was an bicycle on a stand like you might have to do stationary bike riding. This one was behind an REI store. The concept was to pedal the bike which had a wheel driven generator so that you could power the electronics to display some sort of light pattern. We must have spent 30 minutes trying to get this thing to work. If the camera mounted on the back wall was actually functioning, I'm sure they got plenty of footage of two frustrated people trying their best but without luck. The owner later posted that this one wasn't working and needed to be "tuned up". Unfortunately it wasn't ready before we left town so maybe on a future visit?

We haven't done a proper hike in quite some time. So we took one day to try to remedy that. Green Mountain is to the west of Bremerton. Gold Creek trail starts at a good sized parking lot. There were a handful of vehicles here but it was a weekday. I suspect this place is crowded on weekends. You need to display your Washington Discover Pass to park here. As a side note, we saw one car as we finished the hike without the pass that had a ticket on its windshield.

The trail is about 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1000 feet. At no point was the trail excessively steep and there was a reasonable amount of tree cover to be shaded along the way. We had passed one couple not too far from the summit. Since there is a geocache hidden up there, we hustled to find it and put it back before they got there. After taking some pictures and then eating our lunch, we still hadn't been joined by that couple. We finally started downhill and passed them almost immediately. I guess they had slowed to a crawl over the last 1/2 mile.

Recent Timber Harvest Opened Up the View

Nice View from Up Top

There are numerous side trails, some allowing bikes and some even permitting motorbikes. We didn't see any of the later and only one cyclist starting out as we had started. The slight detour we did took us to a big pond created by beavers. Their handiwork was quite evident but we did not see any while we were there. In all, we ended up with a 7 mile hike in the woods. It felt good to exercise different muscles since it has been a long time since we have been able to fit a hike like this into the mix.

Beaver Pond

Pretty Flowers Along Trail

Since Bremerton is actually a decent sized city with both Lowes and Home Depot, I decided to upgrade the ladder we carry with us. Our folding ladder worked well for what I originally got it for. Plus it had fit reasonably well in one of the basement storage bays. But it is kind of a pain in the butt to fold into the shape I typically need. When we were doing the Habitat for Humanity project, I got a chance to use a different style of folding ladder. Since I was using this one every day, I discovered it to be much easier to setup and put away. There are various sizes but I had figured either the 12 or 17 foot version would be adequate. After emptying the storage bay and taking a few measurements, I decided the 17 foot ladder would fit and would be safer when I use it to get onto the roof. It just happens that there is a Habitat for Humanity store just a few miles from the Elks Lodge, so we dropped off our old one. The guy was pleased we came all the way from Florida to donate our ladder! I tried the new one out several times as I continue to wax the rig and find it to be easier to use plus feels much more stable.

We spent our last full day exploring some sights in downtown Bremerton. There is a large shipyard - the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard - right along the water. Unfortunately there aren't any tours to do there but next door to it is the Puget Sound Navy Museum. This is a free facility that has a couple floors of displays with all sorts of info about the shipyard and the history of the area. It was a fun way to spend an hour or two.

Interesting Artwork in Downtown Bremerton

Navy Museum

This Submarine Surfaced in a Bad Spot!

A "Typewriter" for Dog Tags

We Weren't the Only Rutters There!

Diving Anyone?

Now This is a Slide Rule

Right next door is the Bremerton-Seattle ferry terminal which seems to be a pretty busy place during loading and unloading. Immediately behind the museum is Harborside Fountain Park with five water features and wading pools where there were dozens of kids playing. As we explored the park, we heard the sound of a massive water release. It turns out the fountains don't just have water flowing from the top, but periodically will erupt with a pretty large volume of water released. There must be some warning or pattern to the eruptions since the kids seemed to know when to head to the next one so they could experience it. Too bad we didn't have our bathing suits along.

Sculpted Stones

Fountains and Waders

We still had time on our parking spot to wander some of the downtown area. Bremerton is a very nice place. Clean and well kept with lots of things to see. We didn't have time to do all there was. An old destroyer - the Turner Joy - is docked here and is a museum today that you can tour. This might have been a fun visit. The marina has many boats of all kinds and sizes.

Marina in Bremerton

USS Turner Joy

Ester the Riveter in Homage to Bremerton's Shipbuilding Roots

We also went to the bug museum in town. It wasn't the highlight of our stay, but was an interesting diversion. It's a small place with both live bugs and many displays of dead ones. Some of them are impressively large and would want to run into them in real life. There was also a small room with reptiles. This wasn't nearly as impressive as the one we visited in Rodeo New Mexico, but there were some big snakes.

Giant Stick Insect

Impressive Ant Farm

We were glad we squeezed the stop to Bremerton into our travels around the Olympic Peninsula. Our four nights here was enough time to get many of the unique geocaches placed in the area as well as visit some of the other sights. Next stop Port Townsend.

Here We Come, Seattle

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Having finished up our two weeks with Habitat for Humanity, we cleaned up and walked into La Conner to have a nice meal with Dick and Wardene - our counterparts with the Care-a-Vanners. When we get back east, we will need to look up our new friends from Greensboro. The next morning we drove across the channel to the Indian reservation fuel station with pretty good pricing on diesel. Then we head south to the greater Seattle area.

The plan is to go to the Elks Lodge in Burien which is about 15 miles south of Seattle. We had called the lodge and they confirmed there was one spot open. The lodge wasn't open Sunday but the woman was going to come in around 3 to check us in. It's not clear whether that is standard procedure but it worked for us. The drive was only about 75 miles, but it was a pretty miserable one from a traffic standpoint. 

The lodge is at the corner of 1st Ave South and S 140th St. There are entrances off either of these roads but both of them have a pretty steep drop off. We scraped the gizmos that protect the rear end from damage but it sounded terrible. For future reference, go east on S 140th St about 300 feet to the second right hand turn which is the far side of the lodge. This allows you to come around to the RV spots and be facing the correct direction to back into the spots. The 7 RV spots are pretty tight but reasonably level and full hookups with 50 amp! We managed to squeeze in between two other motorhome and got our slides out without running into theirs. If we both had window awnings, they likely wouldn't fit and the main awning is out of the question.

The other downside of this place is that it's only a bit over a mile from the Seattle-Tacoma airport. We aren't under the flight path, but close enough to hear every single plane take off. I bothered to time them at one point and it was about every 45 seconds. The first few days they were annoying then I didn't seem to hear them. Well it wasn't that I had become accustomed to them but the wind had shifted and now our end of the airport was where the planes came in for landings. A jet coming in for landing is dramatically quieter than one taking off. Chris did however like the fact that a Fred Meyer grocery store was within very easy walking distance of the lodge and is likely a quicker walk than it would be to drive there.

There is a ton of stuff to see and do in the Seattle area but admittedly we are here for only one thing. Seattle is the home of geocaching. We started caching just over 7.5 years ago and are approaching our 10,000th find. By no means are we the fastest to that number but we are definitely on the higher end of the curve in terms of our find rate - which is about 3.6 caches per day. Since this past winter, when we recognized we were going to be hitting 10K and were thinking of heading to the Pacific NW, we have been working on our find count so as to have our milestone coincide with our being here. It took a bit of planning and even cache rationing at times, but we managed to make it. We got into town needing 30 more to reach that number.

A Preview - We Made it to HQ

Another goal while we are here is to get a new mattress. The general consensus is that RVs come with crappy mattresses. Ours was no exception and it had only gotten worse over time. Our mattress is nearly a normal queen but not quite. It's about 2 inches shorter and the corners are rounded at the foot of the bed. These differences are needed so that the bedroom slides can come in without interference. It is possible to have a mattress custom made to the required dimensions but they tend to be expensive.

We had read about what others living in RVs and even boats have done and decided to try a different approach. We decided we would try to go with a simple foam mattress and a very interesting light weight spring system from Froli. We ordered the queen size "Star" system. It comes with 120 modular spring elements allowing for a 10 by 12 grid of springs to be created. Each base element has 3 mounting positions that allows them to be positioned closer together or further apart to control the firmness. We found we needed to space the 10 across each row in the closest position to just fit the width of the bed. Along the length of the bed we varied the spacing from wide at the foot to close in the middle since our legs need less support than our main body. The other benefit with this system is there is now an air gap beneath the bed that allows for better heat and moisture dissipation.

The Froli System is Partially Installed

The "Springs" are Installed Ready for a Mattress

We had ordered it and had it delivered to our last stop. We even assembled it and put it under our existing mattress. Other than the bed being about 2 inches taller, these did not "fix" our existing mattress but we weren't expecting it to be able to account for the sag we had. Chris had investigated mattress stores in the area so we could go and try out various options. We ended up getting a 8" foam mattress and like it so far. We didn't cut down this mattress and brought in the the slides while cautiously watching the mattress. Turns out there is no real issue. I suppose if there was a heavy comforter on the bed, the extra thickness could pose a problem but it's easy enough to flip the covers back when bringing in the slides.

Vacuum Packed Mattress

We needed to get a couple dozen caches before we headed into headquarters in Seattle. Carkeek Park is north of Seattle where the mattress store was so we headed there. There were a fair number of people out enjoying the great weather. A bus load of kids were scattered around doing crafts, catching bugs and climbing trees. The trails were pleasant with most being in the shade of trees. While exploring the park and geocaching, we came upon the largest slugs (or snails?) we have ever seen.

Huge Slugs!

We also checked out North Seatac Park. As the name implies, it is directly north of the airport. The planes were taking off in that direction today and the noise turned an otherwise pleasant park into a slightly annoying spot. It's hard to even hear yourself think with a jet flying overhead every minute. The park has a nice little garden and Japanese garden area. Although both were in need of some trimming and weeding, they were still nice. The park even has a disc golf course but we never made it back over there to try it out.

Japanese Garden at North Seatac Park

There were a handful of caches with a fair number of favorite points in the Georgetown area. It turns out that this section is a big business area. Some small, some large. We saw what is the largest marble and granite slab dealer we have ever seen by a factor of 10. We aren't big into urban caching but we did feel slightly more invisible in this area than if it had been a residential spot. The caches were okay with one of them leaving me scratching my head as to how the mechanics of the hide even worked. We had one more park to explore - West Seattle Recreation Area and Camp Long. There were some nice trails but as we are finding out, this part of Washington is far from flat. Lots of ups and downs created by the glaciers. Kind of reminds us of parts of western New York.

The Port of Seattle is a big and impressive sight. We often saw it as were were driving by or even got a better look when we were parked in the never ending traffic. We decided to see some of it in a slightly closer and pleasant way. Across Elliot Bay, about 2 miles from Seattle is Jack Block Park. There is a raised viewing platform that gives a good view of many of the piers all along the shoreline. The boats out on the water ran the gamut from people in kayaks, to fishing boats, passenger ferries and huge container ships. The view of downtown and the Great Wheel and Space Needle was nice. Would have liked to make it back for a night shot but didn't have the time.

Big Container Ship Comes Into Port

But How Do I Get Down?

Getting rid of the current mattress turned into a lengthy ordeal but we couldn't stand having it sit in the motorhome taking up valuable space. We had thought about just shoving it into the dumpster at the Elks Lodge, or cutting it into smaller chunks and doing the same thing. But it isn't in terrible condition so we figured we could donate it to some good charity. Not all charities will accept a mattress but with some work we found one not terribly far away. Share House sounded like the ideal place for it to be put to use. Of course, when we pulled next to the entrance, there was a big sign saying the facility had closed and was no longer accepting donations! Well, we had already shoehorned the thing into the back of the Jeep and there was no way we wanted to go back and undo all our work while we try to find a second option. So off to the nearest transfer station. You are charged by weight but there is a minimum charge. So 30 bucks later we are on our way to having room in the motorhome again.

After a couple days of caching, we had made it to a find count of 9992. So we headed into the Fremont area of Seattle which is where Geocaching Headquarters are located. It also happens to be where a very large Google complex is located as well as Adobe and probably many other businesses like this. We found a parking spot in an all day lot for $10 and headed off to explore. Many of the people wandering the streets had the look I've come to expect from young software types. Most of the restaurants and shops had a young hip vibe to them.

Entrance to One of Several Google Buildings

There is a series of nine caches within a half mile radius of headquarters that were put out to form a mini GeoTour. Some brought you to interesting places while others were closer to gadget caches where you must solve something to get to the logbook. We walked around all of Fremont getting in many miles and had fun finding the caches. The troll under the bridge with a Volkswagen Bug under its hand was not something you see everyday. Nor was the rocket attached to the corner of one building. And then there is the 16 foot tall, 8 ton Lenin statue. Or how about the "chairy" tree - a tree with all sorts of chairs stuck up in it including a cache container on a chair. Need I say more about the eclectic feel of this area? We found a good place to get lunch and sat outside people watching.

Fremont Troll

Look Closely - Those are Chairs

The Cache Hangs in the Tree with Rope and Pulleys

Every Town Needs a Rocket

Or a Sixteen Foot Tall Lenin

After getting 7 caches to put us one short of 10,000, we headed to Headquarters. Unlike most other businesses that have reasonably good signage indicating their location, Geocaching HQ is less than obvious. But being persistent geocachers, we finally figured out what building to enter and what floor to go to. We were greeted by a friendly lackey (Geocaching-speak for employee) that told us a bit about what was in the lobby other than the big treasure chest that holds the log book and all the trackables. He was nice enough to take our picture which surprisingly turned out halfway decent.

A Rather Small Sign

Turn Left Off Elevator

We also used the photo booth they have setup there with less than ideal results. It turns out with the two of us and our sign, framing the picture is highly problematic. We checked out some of the unique trackable items including one that has been up to the geocache on the International Space Station. We ran into another cacher while there and started taking to him about our travels. He wants to be able to try something like we are doing in a couple years when he is retired. So we gave him some recommendations on what to at least consider.

Our Photo Booth Attempt

More Interesting Art Near HQ

We had nearly lost track of time, so we needed to hustle to our next planned stop. The Theo Chocolate Factory is hard to miss if you walk around Fremont for any amount of time. Not because it is a huge place (although it is a good sized building) but because you can smell it for several blocks when you happen to be downwind of the place. They offer hourlong tours of the factory several times during the day. We had booked 3 o'clock tour spots. It's not free but at only $10 per person, we would say it was well worth the stop. There were probably 16 to 20 people on the tour. We all needed to put on hairnets and run lint rollers over our clothing before we could begin.

Lovely Hair Nets

The tour starts out with a brief lesson on the company and how they make chocolate. They source all their cocoa beans from just two places: Peru and the Congo. The beans are shipped to them and they roast them, shell them and do all the processing to make some really good chocolate. All the while, the energetic tour guide is handing around samples of their various types of chocolate. Next we head into a glass walled viewing booth where the various pieces of machinery are described to explain the production flow and since the chocolate is piped between the various stations, the word flow is very fitting. A couple more samples are handed out before heading into the production area where photos are not allowed. Apparently not from a security but from the fear of a camera or phone being dropped and getting glass all over the place.

Only 16 Steps to Make Good Chocolate

Viewing Room 

The Roaster

Picture of the Chocolate Pipeline

We next were led to where the handful of chocolatiers were working making some of the more fancy candies they sell. Here we get a couple more samples and I run into my first sample that wasn't great. It wasn't spit it out bad but I'm not fond of lemon so the lemon truffle one was not the best. Of course the tour ends in the gift shop. What was great about this place were the sample dispensers at practically all the flavors of chocolate bars they sell. After trying out nearly all of them, we picked a few of our favorites and headed out to finish up some of the remaining caches in the area before heading back to the car and driving in the insane rush hour traffic.

Crowded Gift Shop

With the couple days left in Burien, we had a numerous places we would have liked to visit but only time for a few. Ballard Locks were celebrating the 100th anniversary of their opening this year. It connects Lake Washington with Puget Sound and has the most boat traffic of any US lock. There are two locks - a small and a large. And each lock has a couple different gates to allow for just the right size to accommodate the boats on hand. This is the first time we have seen a lock which goes between fresh water and salt water. The difference in the density of the two types water was a factor in the design of the locks. Even so, when the gates first open, there are some interesting currents that are created by the salt water sinking so the boats need to stay tied up for about 45 seconds or so before they can proceed.

Tug with Barge of Gravel in Lock

Overlooking Locks

Train Track Draw Bridge Below Locks

Visitors are permitted to get very close to the locks. In fact you are permitted to cross over a gate as long as that gate is closed at the time. On the far side of the two locks is a fish ladder for the salmon that are swimming upstream. There is a nice underground viewing area of a section of the ladder with windows and lights so you can actually watch the fish as they proceed along their way. We happened to be at the locks just before one of many free tours provided. We definitely learned a lot about the locks, the fish ladder and even the botanical gardens adjacent to the locks. Carl English designed the gardens after lock construction was completed. He planted a wide variety of trees and plants from all over the world. It seems he was gifted at trading some seeds he had with colleagues he knew from far off lands. Obviously there were many beautiful plants we had never seen before and possibly never will again.

Salmon Resting Before the Next Step in Ladder

Many People at Fish Viewing Area

Bright Red Flowers

Centennial Celebration

We also checked out Saltwater State Park which happens to be south of the airport and of course the winds were now forcing the planes to takeoff overhead as we hiked a nice loop trail in the park. Not all our time in the Seattle area was spent having fun. It's that time of year when the rig needs to get waxed. It is a daunting task but made easier by spreading the work out over the course of many stops. We haven't seen rain in many weeks, so that cannot be used as an excuse. Generally I will pick a section that is manageable to be completed in an hour or two. Then I quit for a day or a week. The only issue is remembering what sections I have completed so I don't do them a second time. It is pretty easy to tell by feel if I am in doubt. Maybe by the end of August I will be done!

View at Saltwater State Park