Friday, June 26, 2020
I can’t remember a camping trip when I truly wanted to head home at the end of it. This trip was no exception. At the end of each camping trip, it would have been just fine if I had moved to a new camping location, a different town, with more things to explore and learn … but heading home was never high on my list of things to do at the end of any camping trip. I love my home, but it’s surely not like being out in this gorgeous world.
This last morning here at Friends Landing near Montesano, WA, was no different. The view across the lake was stunning and tugged at my heart and soul. In fact, leaving this campsite was more difficult than leaving almost any other campground or campsite I’ve been to.
The view behind my trailer, directly out my back dinette window.
The view out my side dinette window.
If my travel trailer were a cabin, just a bit larger, with a few more amenities, I was pretty sure I would want to live right here … forever.
So, rather than hitch up and head out right away on this last morning of this trip, I decided to take a morning drive with just the truck and blatantly ignore the nonsensical notion that I needed to hitch up and head home with the trailer. I did need to be out by 1pm, but there was plenty of time before then.
There were two state park campgrounds nearby that I wanted to explore for future reference. Lake Sylvia was one. Here’s my favorite campsite there, it was beautiful!
The closest neighbor on the left was about 30 feet away; the closest neighbor on the right was about 20 feet away and there was a large wall of shrubbery on that side as well. After I got home, I checked this campsite online and found that it was reserved for the entire summer and into the fall. It was THE most popular campsite in that campground, no surprise to me. But I put this campsite on my list anyway, knowing I would have to reserve way in advance to get it.
Next I drove to Schafer State Park and found some good campsites there too. That campground has a wonderful stream running through it that I could hear as I drove through the camping area. So of course I found that stream and went for a short hike along it. Little Towhee came along too. She does not miss out on a chance to get outdoors.
She’s not a water bird. But she’s fascinated with water. I think one of the reasons that she likes being around water is that the water attracts all sorts of other birds that Little Towhee then gets to visit with.
At first Little Towhee was perfectly content to sit back from the water’s edge and simply chipper and chatter with the other birds.
But the more she looked at the stream, and then felt how calming it was, the more she began to think about getting closer.
“Ann, what do you think, is it safe? Can I get closer and be safe?”
I told her I thought it was safe and that I would stay right next to her. So she hopped forward carefully.
And then …
…with just a few more hops …
… (and a great number of cheeps and chirps!) …
… she was actually in the water!
Yes, ok, she was just on the very edge of the stream, but she was actually in the water.
She sat there for quite a while, watching everything, talking with the other birds. I didn’t mind. It was a perfect place to be quiet and watch and listen and wonder.
Do you see Little Towhee in the river?
By and by, Little Towhee’s feet got cold and she wanted to get out of the water. I picked her up and we headed back to the big white truck … and then we drove back to Friends Landing campground in order to hitch up and head home.
What a great week! I learned lots of things, lived for a week in one of the most beautiful campsites I’ve been in to date, and met lots of great people. I didn’t tell you about the people who stayed in the campsite right next to mine for three days. They had a small home-built wooden sailboat with them on a trailer. They used to own a larger 34-foot fiberglass sailboat and sailed all over Puget Sound. With my 30-year history of owning two different power boats and cruising all over Puget Sound, those folks and I had so many stories to share. We spent an hour or two every evening trading tales of our adventures. As well, the people in that feed store in Montesano were the nicest and friendliest of any I’ve met. It was a great trip.
And yet it was time to hitch up, head out on the highway, and head home.
Even the drive home was lovely.
Towhee the Trailer is now parked in the storage lot here at home, ready for the next adventure!
