Last weekend the flamingos had the distinct pleasure of heading to Sequim, Washington to enjoy the weekend with friends and spend a day fishing and shrimping out near the straight of Juan de Fuca. It was a fabulous weekend with nice weather, a fun day out on the water and Saturday was capped off by an excellent dinner at an out of the way find called the Alder Wood Bistro. Before the flamingos were even aware, it was time to get back into their flamingo box and travel back home.
The Flamingos checking out the view of Sequim, Washington
We headed out of Dodge as soon as we could get the trailer packed, and jumped right into the Friday afternoon commute. Not the ideal travel time but what do you do? We wanted to get to Sequim before sundown so we could find our way to the RV park and get set up. The traffic at I-90 and Highway 18 heading toward Tiger Mountain was stop and go. Once the merging was all sorted out then traffic lined out pretty good until we went up the hill in Federal Way and merged onto I-5 southbound. Screeched to a halt and crept along for the next 20 minutes or so while we pondered if we would ever get out of town.
Finally, traffic thinned enough to get close to a normal rate of speed as we got onto Highway 16 and headed for the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Finally we made it across the bridge and drove a beautiful route along Bremerton, Silverdale, and eventually made it up to Sequim with some day light to spare.
Saturday we were up early (6:00am I believe) and got the coffee going first thing. We had to be at the marina by 8:00 am to head out to sea. We headed out of the John Wayne Marina around 8 as planned and followed the GPS on the boat to waypoints set the day before for three shrimp pots set out to capture a bunch of tasty critters. The sea was quite rough with some big rollers and a lot of chop that made the 6 mile trip out to the shrimp pots quite bumpy. But once we got out and the boat captain and his first mate pulled up the bounty, it was all worth it.
A view of the Dungeness Spit Light House from the bay
The shrimp were big and fat! We had four people on board so we could limit out 4 times on shrimp. We had 3 limits after the first haul out, so the captain and his crew reloaded the pots with bait and dropped them back in to the sea, checking the waypoints on the gps to make sure we could find them again. Next we fished for halibut for several hours. The photo of the Dungeness Spit Light House was taken from our halibut fishing spot. We came up empty with no fish but enjoyed being out on the water and taking in the gorgeous views.
After the captain had a short nap (union rules I guess) we got back under way and went back to check the shrimp pots. We only needed 79 more shrimp to add to the morning’s catch to limit out. Two of the pots were pulled up and we had reach our limits. Those two pots were reset and dropped back in for the next day. Then we all headed back in to shore after a fun and productive day out on the water.
A lone seagull hangs out behind the fishing boat waiting for free food
We went back to the fifth wheel to grab a quick shower and change clothes, then we re-joined our friends and went into Sequim to check out the down town tourist shops. After shopping and walking about for an hour or so we realized we were all famished and wanted to find a place to eat. Kaye asked the proprietor of a local Gallery if she knew of a good place to eat and one of the places she mentioned was the Alder Wood Café. We found the restaurant and approached the front door to find that we had to wait a couple of minutes as people were arriving with reservations. Reservations? We hadn’t even considered that and I was getting worried as the restaurant was quite small and I didn’t see many empty tables. Fortunately they had an outside eating area, with a table open and we asked if we could dine there. It was available and I think we were all relieved in the knowledge that we didn’t have to go searching elsewhere for a place to resolve our hunger.
We had wood fired pizza, a fresh apple, bacon, and bleu cheese salad, fresh made bread, and some apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was excellent food, with pleasant, kind of goofy, service. (Our server giggled a lot but it worked – she was entertaining and did a great job).
After the delicious meal we went back to the marina and helped to rinse, split, and devein the shrimp. We said our good-byes to our friends and headed back to our site for a good night’s sleep. The next day was nice and started with coffee and a relaxing morning. But eventually it was time to tuck everything away, get the trailer ready for moving again, and heading home. We had an uneventful drive back. We only had to stop once at the Narrows Toll Booth to pay our toll – the cashier was friendly! – then on to home. The weekend ended way too quickly but it was very enjoyable and we can’t wait to head out on our next trip. Where will the flamingos go next? Stay tuned…
