My parents lived in the Pacific Northwest before I was born. They had a log cabin on the Suquamish reservation, north of Bainbridge Island and directly west of Seattle. My father commuted to the Coast Guard offices in Seattle riding the Bainbridge Island ferry on his motorcycle while my mother hiked with my sisters through the illustrious woods of the Suquamish area. When I was little, I believed Suquamish was a mythical place where my parents lived a 1980s version of “frontier life” and I was desperate to be included in the story. They moved east while my mom was pregnant with me, so the only knowledge I had of the area was in utero. When Mike and I decided to embark on this journey, I was determined to see Suquamish and understand the wonderment that lies in the Pacific.
For the summer, we set ourselves up in Long Beach, WA which possesses the longest drivable beach in the U.S. We were engaged to workcamp at an RV park in Long Beach for the summer, it was a beautiful destination. We got the chance to walk out to the beach nearly every day, and though we were unable to swim due to the harsh rip tides, sunsets over the ocean never got old. We came to understand why Washington state is sometimes called “the land of the midnight sun;” during the summer, the sun doesn’t go down until 9:30pm or 10pm. The peninsula holds various events to celebrate its long beach, like Sandsations, Kite Festivals, and Fireworks displays.
At one of the ends of the peninsula’s long beach is the state park, Cape Disappointment, so named in 1788 by British fur trade John Meares, who was “disappointed” at getting storm-blown to the north of the Cape and missed discovering the Columbia River. The state park is adjacent to a well-known Coast Guard station. Here at the USCG Motor Lifeboat School coxswains face tough conditions navigating the mouth of the Columbia River for search and rescue missions and keeping up a law enforcement presence. We explored the park’s two lighthouses, biked and walked along its trails, and admired the flora and fauna.
Another state park we discovered on the peninsula was the Willipa Bay Wildlife Refuge, located on the eastern side of the peninsula and contains 11,000 acres of sand dunes, beaches, mudflats, grasslands, saltwater and freshwater marshes, and forests. These woods are the kind of woods fairy stories are based on – richly green, moist earth, and thick vegetation. The refuge includes an artist walkway project along a footpath, ponds full of salamanders, and a rousing wooded hiking trail.
Along with exploring all parts of the Long Beach peninsula, we ventured across the tremendous Astoria Megler Bridge. One of times, while shopping in Warrenton, OR our chase car’s battery died, which isn’t great, but after getting a jumpstart from a very nice Fred Meyer employee we limped to a Napa Auto shop in Astoria. Although the store didn’t have a battery for us, Mike got to talking about sailing with the store clerk, who told him about the Astoria Yacht Club. After we got a replacement battery and did a little research on the group, we found out about bi-monthly “welcome rallies,” where the public is invited to join members on afternoon sails around the mouth of the Columbia River. It was a great opportunity to see a different view of Astoria and meet people from the area – best part after 90 minutes of sailing, members and guests were welcome to hot clam chowder in their meeting hall.
Our first sail was on an afternoon with perfect weather with Skipper Rich on his boat, Aja. With six people on board, the experience was more a pleasure cruise; we both got to steer the boat under Rich’s close watch, due to the shifting sand bars in the river. Although we got a new view of the bridge, our boat got sprayed by cormorants going under it. Our second sailing jaunt, we sailed with Darren on his boat Libra. This time it was only the three of us, so we had to work for it, which actually made it an immersive experience especially when combined with the “gentle” chop in the bay. Mike handled the sail lines, and I managed the tiller, when Darren let me. We were so thrilled to have the opportunity to sail on the Pacific and so glad this club let us hang out with them.
While we were staying in Washington state, we made a camping trip to the Olympic National Forest. We explored the surroundings of Lake Quinault – the waterfalls, Lodge house, and nature trails. Supplied with a tent, sleeping bags, and an air mattress, we set up camp by the Kool-Aid blue lake and built a small fire to enjoy smores and wine. Of course, in “the land of the midnight sun,” we enjoyed the gorgeous sunset over the water, which lasted for nearly 90 minutes from our camping spot. The next day, we meandered along the two-lane highway, minding speeding rogue logging trucks, up to the Hoh Rain Forest. We explored the trails, occasionally noticing their trademark fauna, the leopard slug, but lots of other woodland creatures bask in the beauty of the pacific rain forest. With only two days, we didn’t have enough time to appreciate all of it, but we did our best.
We visited Washington’s other National Parks – Mount St. Helens, which was cloudy at the summit so we couldn’t see the blown-out top from the 1980 volcanic eruption. We visited again a few weeks later and spied the top through the sweaty haze. Speaking of haze, we enjoyed the views at Mt. Rainier, which was spectacular, despite the haze from California wildfires. The various waterfalls in Mt. Rainier National Park were quite beautiful.
Before we left the Evergreen state, we toured Seattle, which unfortunately was hazy due to the wildfires in California. The city was charming, but wasn’t exactly part of the fantasy land of my parent’s life before me. Mike and I made a trip to visit Suquamish & Poulsbo. Starting in the quaint Viking town of Poulsbo, we ate at the Green Light Diner, enjoyed pastries from Sluy’s Bakery, and admired the various Scandinavian elements of the town, particularly the Viking statue in the park by the marina.
Next, we explored Suquamish, which is reservation land but a 50-year contract with the Suquamish tribe leased out properties to people outside of the tribe starting in 1968. My parents bought their log cabin home (on leased land) in 1981 when the area was mostly wooded and isolated. Now the area is populated with businesses run by the tribe, who took back the land when the leases ended in May 2018. Surprisingly, my parent’s old cabin is still there, though many homes in my parent’s old
neighborhood are abandoned since they will be demolished soon. Still, we got to visit the local Catholic church my parents attended, which contains the grave of Chief Seattle. After 30 years away, the area wasn’t exactly as my parents described it, but it was still magnificent.
The Hekawie made it to the Pacific after eight months on the road and it was worth the journey. The Pacific Northwest is a wonderful and glorious part of the country and definitely worth a visit once in your life.