We have been back in the area for over four years now. We have a regular walk at a beach park nearby. It’s so close, just a 5 minute drive from our house down a steep hill and along the shore until we arrive outside the park in the neighborhood of houses overlooking the Puget Sound. There’s a small parking area in the neighborhood that most people don’t know about and a side entrance to the park that only the handicapped with their vehicles can enter with a special code. We just park down the road and hike into the side entrance. The main entrance and parking lot are a way up the hill. You park there and hike a mile down to the beach. Then a mile back to your car. That entrance is much farther from our house but we sometimes hike up to that parking lot and then treat ourselves with the beach at the end. Depending on how much time we have. There is a lovely family that live in the park in a tiny little two-story cabin. They have lived there for a long time. They are the Ranger family. Just up the road beyond the side entrance are large expensive homes, but theirs is the best. They only have to walk through the meadow onto a path under the train tracks to the beach. It’s a wonderful beach ever-changing with the tides. Eagles and Herons are common sights. Sometimes we see seals. Just heard a pod of orca whales were across the way. You never know what you are going to see so the best thing to do is keep your eyes open and pay attention. Today, we were especially noticing again the huge stumps of old growth forest. I can’t get enough of them. No longer living but giving life to the trees that have rooted on top of them. We were curious and wondered if there were any living old growth trees in the Park hidden away somewhere. So we asked the Ranger when we saw him. He said no, but told us where we could find some not too far away. Now we are going to hunt for those trees. There is something about standing near one of those giants that have been living on the earth for hundreds of years. It kind of puts things into perspective. He also told us the Chum are running up the creek. We did not see any today but will keep our eyes open for the next time. The creek is lined with red alders, some firs, the old growth cedar stumps and I don’t know what else. The Ranger was describing how he enjoys smoking the salmon he buys or catches. We laughed together at what we heard about the Lewis and Clark expedition. When they got to the Northwest they got so tired of Salmon that they traded with the Tribes from the area for dogs so they could have red meat. I can’t imagine ever getting tired of Salmon and I have never knowingly eaten dog! As we were leaving the park he told us to wait a minute while he went into his house. He came back with a pack of smoked salmon for us! What a treat. We came home and had it for lunch with a salad and cheese and crackers. We feel like the luckiest people sometimes. So many amazing people and places. The world is a treasure.
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