That Ferry Would be NICE!

El Matador Used to Ferry People between Ocean Shores and Westport. Now it Ferrys Fishermen
Back in the day, there was a passenger ferry that went back and forth between Ocean Shores and Westport. It turns out that the boat was called the El Matador, shown above. Nowadays, the Ocean Shores Marina is too silted up for the boat to run safely and regularly, so the captain instead uses the boat for fishing charters. We used it for that purpose last year, not realizing it was the old ferryboat.

Looking below, you can see the appeal of the short ferry ride compared to the LOOOOONG route by personal motor vehicle, or the even LONGER trip by public transit. Who would not prefer to board the ferry and then stroll around the small town of Westport?

Short Boat Ride or a Long Drive!

Annual Car Ritual


 Each Summer, people around the Puget Sound/Portland/SW BC area gather to show off their Jaguars. This show was in Tacoma. Yup, the same Tacoma as in the "Toyota Tacoma" truck or in the "Aroma of Tacoma" song. 

 

  

One cute feature of this year's show was an abnormally calm and tame bird that hopped around and IN the cars. I hope the little guy doesn't get hurt. He DID poop on my coat which was next to the judge gazebo, but he WAS still around at the end of the day, hopping around and occasionally flying short distances.



The car show is adjacent to "America's Car Museum" which was founded by the LeMay family. Our garbage in Ocean Shores is picked up by LeMay. I guess this is another variant of turning garbage into gold. Either way, it is a wonderful museum with constantly changing displays. This August, BMW is featured.

  

One might wonder just how sane entering a concours really is. Does it really make sense to PAY to have people tell you just how bad your car is? Mostly, the entrants and the judges work together and I always try to tell entrants things they can do easily to improve their cars or how stuff that they're worried about is unlikely to actually get noticed by most judges.

















North of Here

Not too far north of Ocean Shores is Lake Quinalt and the Lake Quinault Lodge. It's a pretty sweet place, left over from another era.

View of Lake Quinault Lodge from the Road
Weathervane Atop the Lake Quinault Lodge
World's Largest Sitka Spruce, Close by the Lake Quinault Lodge
Rain Gage at Lake Quinault Lodge
View from the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge

First Fawn of Spring

Momma Deer Saunters Across an Ocean Shores Road
This morning, riding to get some coffee at one of the dueling Ocean Shores espresso stands, I saw my first fawn of the spring. Presumably in another week or so, they'll be ubiquitous