Paulsbo

Having gotten behind in writing I will now work backward.  After a month in Canada, I crossed with Joyce on the Black Ball Ferry from Victoria, BC to Port Angeles, WA then on to Sequim (pronounced "Squim") Bay Campground, dropped HUMSFR off and then proceeded to Paulsbo, WA, where we rejoined Tim and Natalie at Natalie's parents, Malcolm and Sylvia, who live right on the water of the Hood Canal just downstream from Bangor Naval Base.  

On ferry to Port Angeles, WA.  So long Canada!  It was great!

Arriving about 3 PM we went clamming for our first time and were able to use a small hand gardening rake to rake a few small clams from about 2 inches in the sand.  The tide was a bit too high for ideal clamming grounds but we got the idea and later had a clam feast from clams harvested the day before and amazing fresh oysters on the half shell baked with bacon,  brie cheese, bread crumbs and garlic butter.  Yum!  Striking how well fed we can be from the fruits of the sea picked up right off the beach! 

Clams free from the sea!

Simple clamming tools

Baked Oysters on the half shell!

Clams by the bucket!

Clam and Oyster feast at Sylvia and Malcolm's!

Joyce also has a good friend from Tucson whose daughter lives in Paulsbo, a town famous for, among other things, a strong Norwegian community.  The next morning, Joyce and Natalie were able to visit Susan and see the sites of Paulsbo while Tim and I kayaked off Salisbury Point near the Hood Canal floating bridge.  There we saw Salmon 3 feet long jumping and fishermen trying their luck.  We saw one nice specimen landed by a boating fisherman.  We did not see any of the nuclear submarines that sometimes make their way down the canal past Malcolm and Sylvia's.

Kayaking with Hood Canal Floating Bridge in background.

Natalie and Joyce with friend Susan in Paulsbo

That afternoon the local summer community theater in Silverdale, 30 min, from Paulsbo, put on an outstanding production of Cats.  I was expecting an amateurish rendition.  I was taken aback and delighted by the music, acting (they take all applicants, all ages and have 2 companies for different nights) choreography, sound production, costumes, and musicality.  Natalie Joyce and I are dealing with aging parents and aging selves, and Tim lost a brother and both parents; the words and stories touched home.