Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

Yakima Valley

I'm ere at the Yakama Nation RV park for the duration of the holiday because everything else will be filled up, It is one of my favorite places. Picking hops and apples has just begun, with mint ready to go. Corn and tomatoes are in huge abundance. I saw folk harvesting tobacco, something that's new to me in the valley. It smells good around here. Weather is warm and sunny, but today was kinda windy and stormy at times, which feels quite...

On to Yakima

I'll sit out the holiday weekend in the Yakima Valley, enjoying the bounty of peaches, pears, corn, tomatoes, melons, and an infinite supply of other good just-picked foods. Not to mention wines and beers. It's a dramatic change of scenery, too, something I can use. From there my destination is the Reno Air Races. Now, I know nothing about the races, but it's been on my list of things to do for a long, long time. I do know that the culture of...

Whidbey Island Tour

Steve and Sandy inherited a beach-side home on Whidbey Island, so they invited us over for a tour of the island today. They did a walk-on the ferry a while back and we hung out in the Port Townsend area. So, we did the walk-on the other direction. Being from Seattle, I'm quite familiar with Whidbey as access is good from there (relatively speaking), but since I've had my RV I haven't had the chance to see it much. So it was great to have a...

Family visit

The family returned to Port Townsend, this time moteling rather than camping. I guess they like this area. And it's a lot of fun seeing them, especially the little ones. Maizie (age 5) is pretty good at taking care of herself, though quite imaginative being picky about food. The boys, both age 1, are either crawling or running in all directions with no regard to where they are going. Tough to keep up with them, and they are going all the...

I Seem to Have a New Hobby

120 Tons 1.2 billion dollars 365,000 customers Those are the numbers that seem to be the most basic of Washington State's analysis of the legal cannabis market. I've been interested in this business since encountering it in Northern California, and Initiative 502 in Washington set in motion a real analysis of this currently black market. Have you ever heard ever a news story that 500 pounds of marijuana has been captured by border patrol, worth...

I Bought Beer Today

I won a gift certificate for Port Townsend Brewery at the park's annual celebration, so I put it to case of 12 22's, their basic IPA which is most popular around here. I'll grab another case of the amber before I leave. To my friends in Nebraska: beer comes in varieties and flavors that astound the palate. Bud Light and Coors Light is not beer, though it does contain water and alcohol. Washington state government got out of the wine industry a...

Cannabis De-Prohibition in Washington

Subsequent to passage of Initiative 502, the State Liquor Control Board is developing rules, regulations, and fees for the distribution of marijuana products. The idea is that de-prohibiting growing, selling, and using will eliminate the black market. Users will benefit with transparency, quality control, and public safety. In exchange, users will pay more in taxes to the state for legal weed than the illicit stuff. That's the idea. Washington...

Some History

Juan de Fuca was a Greek-born sailing pilot living in Venice but sailing out of Mexico for Spain who claimed all of the western North American continent as theirs. In those days you laid claim to whatever land you heard about, and then raced off to be the first to document what you claimed. Around 1586, an English pirate raided the ship Juan de Fuca was on, taking everything in it. de Fuca eventually ended up back in Venice to tell the story of...

Back in Chimacum

Smitty's is a great alternative to the Escapee Park for if nothing else the change in scenery. So I'm back for about 9 days before heading to Yakima. I'm looking forward to moving again, the trees everywhere getting a little boring. Not to Burning Man this year, I've got another plan.

Marrowstone Island

Smitty's RV Park is a nice change from the Escapee park and just a tad outside the gate of Ft Flagler State Park. It's a nice place and I'll likely stay here again just for the change of scenery. The "kids" and my three grands were camping a couple of nights at the state park so it was real convenient to hang out with them. That was fun. Maizie is five and she does well taking care of herself, the two one-year-olds require a lot of attention....

Life on the Peninsula

All is well here amongst trees, mountains, and the sea. Here at the Escapee park I've moved a few feet to the "weekly" parking area, the leaseholders are having their annual meeting, but then the crowds will leave. Dave and Kathy moved over to Marrowstone Island, and I'll do the same next week when my kids show up for tenting at the nearby state park. Last night Kathy made dinner for their neighbors, soon to be mine, and we had a great time. Tom...

It’s Seafair in Seattle

Seafair is the moniker applied to a bunch of festivals and happenings in Seattle during the most likely good weather weeks of summer. Besides the parades and such, it's capped by a hydroplane race on Lake Washington, being run this weekend. Crowds on the shore have been estimated at 500,000 in some years; the hotter the temperatures the greater the beer consumption, sometimes leading to problems. Sun, water, beer, and loud motors are always a...