Olympic Peninsula Weekend
We left Seattle around 1:30pm and headed to Edmonds to catch a ferry. We found that one car just didn’t have enough room for four people and all our gear. So, David was driving Wanda’s car with his son, Jared, as a passenger and I was driving my car with Wanda as a passenger. We lucked out and got to Edmonds in time to catch a ferry with no waiting…and just barely made it on the boat. During our drive from Kingston to Sequim, it was drizzling a lot and I was sure our night would be miserable.
We arrived at camp around 4pm. On the short drive to our camp site, we saw a huge raccoon run across the road with something in it’s mouth (looked like a fish to me). We quickly set up the tent. We were lucky that the rain was very light and stopped by the time we were half way finished. After getting situated, we decided to have our dinner under the pavillion of the community kitchen which was right across from our site. The temperature outside was mild and the campground was beautiful. Rather than cook this first night, we had packed a roast chicken, potato salad, veggie sticks with dip, and rosemary bread. As a surprise for Wanda, I had also packed a bottle of wine for the two of us. Best of all, there were no mosquitoes!! A big improvement over my previous weekend.
After dinner, the state park we were at was having a presentation from a Mikah Indian. She shared with us stories about her tribe and passed around some beautiful pieces (tools, hat, headband, baskets, etc.) that were very old and very personal to her family. One thing I learned was why they wanted to hunt whales again, though it’s been very controversial in Washington. There is a 78% unemployment rate in the Mikah tribe because their reservation is so isolated. That means they are very poor. The meat from a whale is rich in vitamins and protein and is a lot like red meat since a whale is a mammal and not a fish. One whale will feed 5000 members for a year. Only the Chief’s sons are allowed to hunt, so this limits the number of whales killed. Also, one whale will feed 5000 members for a year, so it’s not necessary to hunt more than once a year.
Everyone was pretty tired and decided to go to bed. Wanda and I had cots…David and Jared shared an aerobed. I think we were all asleep by 9:30pm. Before I fell asleep, I chuckled to myself at the symphony of snores coming from Wanda and David.
