Blueberries, Ft. Nisqually & Leavenworth

Larry's been working two weeks and I've only worked one, but we got our first week-end off together.  There's so much to see in this area we plan to make the most of our every-other week-end off.

 We started out the day picking blueberries.  The city of Tacoma owns what used to be a privately owned blueberry farm.  They manage the farm with volunteer help and let the public and wildlife pick for free.  They use no fertilizers nor pesticides.  We spent about an hour on Saturday morning picking somewhere around 6 cups worth.  The temperature was very comfortable and spending time scouting among the bushes was very enjoyable and the blueberries are among the best I've ever tasted!  Nothing beats fresh picked organic berries.


From there we headed to another city park called Pt. Defiance which is a 760 acre park on a point on Puget Sound in Tacoma.  There's a living history museum called Fort Nisqually.  We went because they were having an event called "Sheep to Shawl" and thought it would be fun to watch the old craft of making a piece of clothing starting from shearing the sheep.  Unfortunately, the sheep didn't show up.  There were a couple ladies there using their spinning wheels and we sat and talked with them a while and learned alot about different kinds of wool, how they spin it and what they make from it. We also toured the rest of the fort, which was built for commerce, not protection.  I especially liked the plant tags which described how the different plants (that I'm mostly familiar) with were used for food, medicine, dye, needles, and more.  This is stuff our culture has completely forgotten about.

Life must have been very difficult then, without our modern amenities but there is a part of me that yearns for the basic, down-to-earth existence, at least the way it exists in my mind.  I suppose if I actually had to live it I would yearn for running water, flushing toilets, and warm showers.  Just guessing, but Larry might say he would miss music on demand, phones and blue tooth.

It's interesting to see our roots of modern living in the early tools and buildings.  Looking at the construction of this house, it's easy to see where our modern construction elements come from.  Vinyl siding is made to look like the slats on this house.  The gutter is inventive, don't you think?  I wonder how often it had to be rebuilt?

We talked at length with the blacksmith and store keeper, both of whom explained life in the fort in the early days.  It's fascinating stuff.

By then, our feet were hurting (both of us seem to have "old-people" issues with foot pain) so we headed  for the beach... also in Pt. Defiance.  The only thing is... as it seems with so many "beaches" here, the sand is rather chunky.  It's horrible to walk on barefoot - especially for a tenderfoot.  We pretty much wear our sandals until we get to the water's edge and then stand in one place with our feet in the water.  Believe it or not, it does help our feet feel better.  It's probably a combination of cold water and making contact with the wet earth that helps.  We both seem to be able to walk easier after spending 20 or so minutes soaking.




From there we took a long car ride to check out a couple touristy towns. Gig Harbor, just a little ways North, is supposed to have a nice little shopping district.  "Little" was a good term for it.  We didn't bother subjecting our feet to window-shopping.  We drove on to Poulsbo, WA, a good hour or so further.  It's a town with a Scandinavian district.  Unless there was more that we missed, this two about "little"... about two blocks long.   We did get out and walk there but decided it wasn't worth coming back to a second time.

Dinner at Skipper's with clam chowder and Fish 'N Chips wrapped up Saturday.



On Sunday we headed 2 1/2 hours NE for another Scandinavian town (Norwegian, I believe) called Leavenworth.  We climbed in elevation quite a bit and in the Winter this is snow country.  Winter pictures of Leavenworth are gorgeous.

This town had much more to offer than Poulsbo and we spent a few hours walking around, mostly looking for something "authentic" (Norwegian) to eat.  The few restaurants we could find seemed more German than Norwegian to us but what do I know?  I guess I thought Norwegians might be fisherman and have a different culture from Germany.  The thought occurs to me that maybe this is not an authentic Norwegian town.  What do you think?  :-)

At the far end of the street we found a great little place selling a good assortment of sausages (fancy hot dogs) with all kinds of toppings to add, including some yummy sauerkraut.  There was an open courtyard with picnic tables crammed in where people shared tables with people they didn't know.  Each table had a firepit in the middle which I'm sure is extremely popular in the Winter.

All in all it was a very enjoyable two day "vacation".  Now it's back to work for 12 days straight before our next one.

By the way, we'd love to know who is reading the blog and invite you to leave a comment.  That makes sharing more fun for us.  Thanks!