Catching Up on Two Weeks of Photos

I'm not able to access the internet with my computer at Fort Flagler so I'm catching up while we are on our days off at home.

The General Store and Post Office in 
Nordland, outside the park. There's even a 
swing hanging from the rafters.

The best blueberries ever! We ate the whole box for dessert.

We had fresh oysters from the General Store 
with our Calvary Hiker friends.

Sign outside the store.

A few members of the resident deer herd at the park.

View from our picnic table at dinner time. The cloud 
formations are constantly changing.

5:30 AM from our bedroom window.

The Calvary Hikers came to visit on the 15th. We toured the museum and had a special
docent tour of the Fort Hospital.  Afterwards, we walked the Fort trails.  Some went
nearly 5 miles while others did 3.  Sonny got the fire hot to cook the oysters.  
The friends brought soup, salads, cornbread and lemon bars to go with the oysters.  
It was a lovely day with good friends.

The wide open grounds provide space for kite flying.

We went over to Port Townsend to wander around town.  This photo is from one of
the parks looking towards Fort  Flagler.  The little white dots to the
right of the bluff is the lower campground at Fort Flagler.

Harbor at the end of town.

Party Town!

City park on the water

Flowers along the sidewalk.  What are these long pods?

On the way back to our campsite, we stopped at Fort Townsend State
Park.  The 4th US Infantry was holding a re-enactment and we
had an interesting historical conversation with 3 Union soldiers.
The truck in the campsite was a little out of place for the period.

Calm waters under the bridge crossing
to Indian Island on our way to
Fort Flagler.

Western Washington University has a large experimental agricultural
farm on the island.  The piggies have a home near the road.

This car seems to come by the fort every Saturday evening for a cruise.

Our neighbors had their grandchildren for a visit.  The 
breeze kept their kite up quite a while. 

One of the talented park volunteers made this bench
 from an old fort sign.

This is Camp Wilson, an old WWII barracks that will accommodate
 about 30 people but you need to make your reservation 
9-12 months in advance.

This couple toured the park on their bikes.

Can't help but take daily photos of Mt Baker over the camp sign. 
 (Early morning)

July 21st was our 37th wedding anniversary so we went to 
"Music on the Dock" at Pope Marina Park in Port Townsend
 to listen to Uncle Funk and Dope 6. 

The people watching was most interesting! Dancing is popular in Port Townsend.
The dance floor was crowded and you didn't need a partner, just a desire to
express yourself!

Variety of clothing and foot wear.  Long slits on dresses, hiking
boots, bare feet, orange polka dotted knee socks, long skirts, short
skirts, and all in between.

From our chairs, we could see the teenagers jumping off the pier.

We rarely have Thai food so we decided to try out 

Khu Larb Thai Restaurant.

Sonny had duck with curry sauce and I had mussels.  All very good.

Afterwards, we walked to the Soda Fountain for a little ice cream treat.

I covered for the Park Admin Assistant while she was away for 2 days during the week.
 My biggest task was to photo copy and fold the numerous brochures.

I also take messages, answer the phone and relay information on the radio.

We keep hoping to see a submarine pass by.  This wasn't it.

Today, we could see Mt Rainier to the South and Mt Baker to the North.

One of the resident eagles flies by.

Sunday evening cruise ship passes us on its way to Alaska.

Park Activities

Park residents around the working vintage spot light and generator which are being restored. 

Para-sailers frequently use the bluffs to launch.

Late Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the Alaska cruise ships from Seattle pass by.  The Ranger suggested an interesting app that shows where the ships are in the surrounding waters, type of vessel and where they are headed. We hope to see a submarine which doesn't show on the app but when we see the escorts going out to meet, we know one will be passing soon.  We just haven't
caught it yet.

View of the Retreat Center looking South before 1937 when all the barracks on the right and in foreground were torn down.

We have had nice afternoons in terms of weather, making
fascinating cloud formations over the mountains.

4th of July Excitement

Early in the morning of the 4th, Sonny received a text from the Ranger saying the power was out throughout the park. We soon learned that the power lines in the park are all buried underground. Since there are still wire runs from the last century, it is easy for a line to short out. This is the 6th outage this year. Apparently, at 2:30 AM, there was a surge somewhere underground knocking out all power.  The next dilemma was the holiday.  PUD checked their power to the park which stops at the entrance  and said it wasn't their problem so they went home.  The private utility company, who works on the power inside the park,  said that due to the holiday, they didn't have anyone to come in till Tuesday.  The next issue was the bathrooms-how long could they be used before the water reservoir would be too low?  Porta Pottys were ordered and began to arrive late morning. The water level maintained so campers could still get water.  I volunteered to staff the office phone since the regular girl had the day off.  I answered a call from one Porta Potty driver. He was struggling to find the park.  He told me he had gone "straight at the stop sign" so he should have been right in front of the park office.  However, 3 phone calls and 2 radio calls later, we discovered he was at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, not Fort Flagler!  

Another task I was assigned was to call all the incoming campers to alert them to the power outage. Many were already on  the way and didn't mind even though power wasn't going to be restored soon. Real camping!  

After our shifts, we headed to Port Orchard for our days off, mowing and laundry. There were a few neighborhood fireworks but not annoying.

Utility power trench stretching along the park parade grounds.

The power was restored two days later for a few minutes.  Apparently,
the surge caused another outage for half of the park.  Their
power came back on Friday.

Entrance to the Park where the power company was still trying to
restore power 3 days later.  The little bobcat filled in the trench
and then loaded up to leave.

Navy dock on Indian Island looking West toward the Olympics.  We think
this ship is one of the tenders we have seen docked at the Naval Shipyard in
Bremerton.

The Navy has a Magazine on Indian Island, next to Marrowstone Island.
We learned that ships with nuclear war heads cannot go into
Puget Sound so the war heads are off loaded here for storage.

Nordland is the closest town to Fort Flagler.  The General Store
is the hub of the town.

Shelves as in the old days.  Antiques line the top shelf.

The Tsunami evacuation T-shirt warning: "Grab Beer, Run Like Hell"

One stop shop

Sonny is standing by  the town meeting place around the wood stove and
looking at the 60s wall phone.