On the Road with Fred and Barb - Newsletter #26

Sept. 8-16 La Conner, WA

We have spent a wonderful week at a beautiful Thousand Trails Campground in La Conner. It is right on the bay and Fred was able to launch his porta-boat and go fishing. The pinks (they call them humpys here) were running. He also met a local who took him to a spot on the river where the King salmon were coming in. Did the combat fishing thing again and shared in the catch of a couple nice kings.

This is a very active campground with lots of activities available. In between fishing, Fred has been taking watercolor classes every morning. There's a challenging miniature golf course (so far we're tied in our competition). Sat. night there was a Reno night where we won $34 billion paper dollars! (The dealers all made sure everyone had a good time!). Then there was an auction where we used our winnings to bid on prizes. Fun night.

Besides the activities in the campground, there's lots to see in the surrounding area. We had stopped here last year but didn't come close to seeing everything. La Conner is a cute town with interesting museums and shops. We bought a passport to the three primary museums and I dragged Fred to see them. We were both surprised how interesting they all were. The Museum of Northwest Art was exhibiting 6 female artists from the Northwest. One sculpts female figures out of marble, one does interesting vessels from glass, another does metal figures. Really fascinating displays. The big surprise was the Quilt Museum. It is housed in an old Victorian mansion. Fred initially said he'd wait outside while I toured it but then decided to come in. It turned out to be his favorite of the three museums. The quilts were absolutely gorgeous and very different. One exhibit featured Korean designs that were like paintings. The third museum was the county history museum. There was a great display remembering WWII; another depicting early pioneer life including antique dolls.

We are also close to Anacortes which is a major seaport. You can catch a ferry from here to Port Townsend and to the San Juan Islands. We had thought about going over to the islands but the ferry schedule didn't work out for us. Instead we took a driving tour of the area as outlined by the visitor center. It took us to some beautiful viewpoints overlooking the bay and the islands. Anacortes is also home to some wonderful murals that have been painted on buildings throughout the city. These are not ordinary murals. Instead, they are three dimensional cutouts depicting the history of the area.

There are also some great hiking trails in the area. Our favorite was the shoreline trail along the Padilla Estuary. Great views looking across the bay.

Sat. morning there was a farmer's market in town where I picked up some fresh corn on the cob and some yummy raspberries. We have also been picking blackberries that are on bushes everywhere in the campground. They are great on Fred's famous waffles!

We finally have our satellite system working. Motosat sent us a new positioner box and that fixed the problem. We were really impressed with their customer service. They sent out the new box the day we called and we had it three days later. They even paid the UPS cost to send it and to return our old one. Just in time for the start of the new Survivor!