We finally got on the road by eleven. After a stop to pick up some Icicle Brewing beer for our chicken caretakers, we took some scenic roads toward Des Moines, WA and Saltwater State Park, just south of SeaTac airport. We arrived to find a car parked in one of the camp sites we’d reserved, and a tent without any people or car in the other. While calling the reservation system through “the yellow phone” at the campground to try to straighten things out, the parked car left, fixing the problem for one site. A park ranger showed up after a few minutes and let us take an un-used camp host site to solve the other problem.
To add to the stress, our chicken caretakers contacted us to let us know Deli was very sick and nearly unresponsive. We had a conversation and agreed that euthanization was the correct choice, but I was sad they had to deal with that, and sad to lose one of our girls. A stressful afternoon, but everything ended up being taken care of and we settled in to our new camp site.
Julie made squash risotto for dinner and we ate all of it, having only had road snacks for lunch.
We knew this while making the reservations, but it is amazing how frequently planes land at SeaTac, and we are right under them.
We also saw and heard a couple of large owls, probably barn owls, but couldn’t get very good photos of them.
We cut up the last of the polish sausage left from dinner a few nights ago and fried it up to grease the griddle for pancakes. I had some problems starting out with the grill too cool, then heating it too much, but the pancakes were still edible.
It had rained or misted several times overnight, and the morning started with more mist, but it stopped after breakfast. We didn’t have any real destination or plan for the day, so we just walked around Saltwater State Park.
There is a loop trail that is over a mile long, and it meanders through mature forests along the top of each side of the canyon that the park is centered around. There is also a short interpretive loop trail with plant identifications and notes about how native people used each plant.
There is a little Snack Shack near the small beach. It was open at one thirty when we arrived at the beach, so we bought hotdogs and ate them looking out at the Puget Sound. I was trying to decide whether I could still eat some ice cream after the hotdog, given that a chilly breeze had cooled us a bit, but the Shack had closed by the time we finished eating, so no ice cream was eaten.
After our walk we caught up on email and other stuff with the mobile phone service we had been away from for several days, then Julie made red enchilada soup and crumpets for dinner. It was nice to feel a little cool again.
A few clips from this portion of the trip: