Since our last post, we spent 3 weeks at a LaConner Thousand Trails and 4 days at nearby Mt Vernon Thousand Trails in WA. Below are a few highlights from our time in the area.
Dan sighted two Eagles
sitting up high in the trees near the bay…all right!
On our way back, there were quite a few song
birds singing their favorite tunes. My favorite photo was of the baby birds
waiting for Mama Bird to return. I was hoping to get a couple of photos of her
feeding them. When she did return, she would not feed them with me standing
under the tree so I left.
Rainbow Bridge
Welcome Cats, Quilts, and Museums (La Conner, WA)
Out and About
La Conner,
WA Thousand Trails Preserve
As soon as we setup our site and ate lunch, we went for a
quick walk. Sandy wanted to look for the residential Bald Eagles and Dan wanted to
look at a couple of different sites since our first site was small and narrow (we did indeed move 2 days later to a much nicer spot).
This Bald Eagle had his wings out. I’m not sure if he was hot or drying
off his feathers…hmm either way it made for a good shot.
 |
| Do you see
Mama? |
 |
| Maaaaa! We're hungry! |
Several days later we saw our first juvenile
Bald Eagle! He was sitting in the tree on Lone Tree Beach. A popular spot for
Eagles hunting for fish. Except for his feathers and beak, he looks full
grown.
 |
| Caught plucking out his white
feathers. |
And like most typical
teenagers, he is in a hurry to grow up and be an adult. We watched him pluck
quite a few of his white feathers out.
 |
| Practicing his Regal pose |
And to prove he was an adult, he did several regal
poses just to impress his viewers.
 |
Lone Tree Beach
|
The
Maiden of Deception Pass (La Conner, WA)
One of our many
favorite stops in this area is Rosario Beach State Park. It is a small inlet
close to Deception Pass Bridge with deep waters allowing boaters to come and go.
Most of the time it is a quiet area, but once in a while a naval jet fighter
will fly over to remind us that we are not far from civilization.
 |
| view from the
pier |
This is a Samish story pole called The
Maiden of Deception Pass. There's an interesting story about her printed on
plaques surrounding her. People slowly circle the pole while they read her story. I also found a page on the carving with pictures of
the story pole here.
They say you can still
see the Maiden's hair floating in the Deception Pass waters....
We spent some time watching the Swallows zip
around us. I did not even try to take their pictures since I'm sure I would
either miss or get nothing but a blur of a black streak across the photo. Then
Dan noticed one sitting on a cross beam just below the pier. When we looked a
little closer, there were quite a few sitting on the the cross beams
resting.
 |
| peeking at you, peeking at
me |
 |
| fluffed up and cooling
off |
At the Car
Wash
This gorgeous Dahlia was growing outside the car
wash's office. I wonder how many people stop to take photos of it?
Over The Rainbow Bridge (La Conner, WA)
Sandy says: We visited La Conner on a sunny day - surprise! It is such an enchanting town and I have been under its spell since we visited here three years ago.
We walked the main street and as usual, I took way too many pictures. La Conner's quaint downtown area on the Swinomish Channel is filled with wonderful gift shops, galleries, and museums. Oh! Speaking of museums...there's a quilt museum here and I plan to visit them next week. The Quilt & Textile Museum is up the hill in an an old Victorian home. I have been there before and really had a great time looking at quilts and wandering through the beautiful old mansion.
 |
| Views from the
docks |
 |
| and this view at the opposite
end of the channel with the Rainbow Bridge |
La Conner
has so many shops to look through including a quilt shop called Fabric Déva (no website). I actually did not buy
a thing from the shop this time....only because I could not make up my mind, got
frustrated, and decided I'll just have to go back again.
 |
| The Ginger Grater on 1st
Street |
There are a lot of nice restaurants and pubs
along the waterfront with sitting areas on the dockside. I love the looks of
this one. It has a waterfall coming off the dock and into the channel. People
are sitting nearby eating while enjoying the sunshine and listening to the water
fall into the channel.
Even La Conner's bridge is enchanting.
This bridge has been a burnt orange since 1957. After getting the first coat
of primer, the town's people decided they liked the color and asked DOT not to
add the typical green coat of paint. It has been burnt orange ever since and is
known as the Rainbow Bridge.
Rainbow Bridge
Welcome Cats, Quilts, and Museums (La Conner, WA)
I visited La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum yesterday. The Tudor-style Victorian mansion was fabulous to see by itself, but the old quilts on display along with the Japanese quilt exhibit made the visit perfect!
The mansion almost did not make it after being gutted and turned into apartments for 30 years. One of the tenants caused a major fire that took out the roof and third floor.
There was talk of tearing down the old place, but one man saw a historic site that needed to be saved and started a restoration group.
They did a wonderful job restoring this mansion.
I just love the colors in this quilt!
They even restored the old fireplaces with Italian tile just as Mrs. Gaches would have liked it.
There are two exhibits at the museum from Japan right now. One is "Ainu Embroidery" and the other is "At Play - Asobi: Quilts from Japan". The Ainu Embroidery also included reverse appliqué. I spent a lot of time studying the artwork. I think I'm going to give reverse appliqué a try sometime soon. The embroidery consisted of "Cord" stitching or what I call couching. The coat in the photo below is all reverse appliqué and cord embroidery.
The quilts were extraordinary and made from silk, loose woven cotton, and hemp. One quilt had me and another woman with our noses only inches from its work. The quilt was filled with small scenes of the old life in Japan. Beautiful gardens, detailed robes, hair, and their faces were just amazing. I could have spent more time looking and studying all the quilts, but the museum was very busy that day.
No photos allowed, so here's some samples from a post card.
Back to the real world again.....across the street from the museum was a small butterfly garden for the public. A very serene spot to relax and smell the flowers.
We went to Mount Vernon Farmer's Market a couple of weekends ago.
displays of fruits....
and flowers.
Dogs making friends
A little Shakespeare for entertainment.
After buying some delicious 9-grain bread, fruit, and veggies, we walked a couple of blocks to the downtown area. Right on the first corner was a quilt shop called Calico Creations! No website, but they are on Facebook.
Here are some photos
from our drive on Chuckanut Drive.
 |
| Framed views from a pullover area |
 |
| Tree hugging a
rock |
Views of Larrabee State Park:
 |
| Larrabee State
Park |
And a few from the RV
park at the Oak Harbor NAS:
 |
| Great views of the
ocean |
 |
| See the RV up on the
hill? |
 |
| Driftwood sculptures are
scattered throughout the park |
 |
| There were a couple of JOY
driftwood signs |
It has been such a joy and I hope we
return soon.
Today, August 5th, we departed Mt Vernon, and are spending one night at Chehalis Thousand Trails. Next we will head down the Oregon coastline for a few weeks using our Thousand Trails parks membership. About halfway down the coast we will cut inland and then down the I5 corridor through CA, heading back towards our winter gig as hosts at a wildlife preserve in Patagonia AZ Nov-Feb.
