I wanted to share with you some of the wild folk art that we saw in the little town of Conway, WA.  We visited with Phyllis and Steve Hammatt who are HCCA members in Mount Vernon the day before yesterday.   We met them at their house to look at some vintage clothing that the local HCCA club had stored with Phyllis and Steve.  I found several items that were perfect for my Hershey vintage clothing booth in October. After visiting with them, they took us out to lunch in Conway where we found these great pieces of folk art in addition to a couple of great antique shops.  If you are ever in that area of WA state, be sure to visit Conway.  Thanks to Steve and Phyllis.     

Wild owl made out of found objects including a base from on old stove, circular saw blades, bottle caps, a plow share, and pitch forks as feathers on the top.

Another huge work of art with a Model A wheel used as the brim of the hat.  More bottle caps used.  Such creativity.

Another of the figures.  I want all of them in my back field!

We followed Rt 2 south over Deception Pass Bridge to Whidby Island.  Deception Pass Bridge was impressive, but traffic was so busy that I wasn't able to get a picture of it.  I'm really sorry for that.  It curves over a huge body of water with tide surges of up to 15 feet so the bridge is really high.

I had always heard about Whidby Island and after hearing about it, half wanted to live there.  I have definitely changed my mind.  Northern Whidby Island is home to the Whidby Island Naval Air Station and there is an almost constant stream of naval jet flyers taking off and landing.  Really noisy.  I know the Navy needs that training facility, but I am very glad that I don't live nearby.  I found the lower part of Whidby
Island to be pretty unspectacular, (mostly scrubby vegetation) not at all what I had expected.  I was also F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!!  We had left our winter coats (mine had a fuzzy hood), blankets, and thermal underwear in Bellingham to be brought to Hershey by Steve Hammatt to save space in the car.  I had on a denim coat and Joe's denim duster and was about to die! My ears were frozen.  We finally reached the Keystone Ferry Landing and took the ferry from Whidby Island to Port Townsend, just a short ferry ride away.

Landing in Port Townsend was like landing in another country and another century. It is is a marvelous place - full of Victorian buildings, art galleries, boutiques, book shops, great restaurants - so different than Whidby Island.  

Just one of the many, many Victorian buildings in Port Townsend.

This old building had a magnificent Bull Durham Tobacco ad painted on the building.

After spending the night in Port Townsend, we traveled on to Sequim where we spent the night.  The area from Port Townsend to Sequim was beautiful - farmland and lavender farms, lots of recreational activities - hiking, boating, etc.  In Sequim, we called Dennis and Mary Hood, HCCA members, and went out to dinner.  They met us in their 1914 Cadillac.  It was beautiful - green and pristine.  They arrived at the restaurant in their dusters with the top down on their Cadillac.  Our car had already been put to sleep and covered at the hotel.  We met them this morning at their home just outside Sequim where they had everything ready for Joe to give our very dirty car a much needed bath.  Many thanks for the water, the soap, the brushes and the mitts.  Our car just sparkles now.  While Joe was busy doing the dirty work, I was visiting with Mary and enjoying a tour of their yard.  Not long after leaving their place, Joe spotted an upholstery shop and stopped in to borrow a tool to replace a snap on one of the side curtains.  Gary Smith was very accommodating and we appreciate his help.  

As we traveled down Rt 101, we stopped for a brief time in Port Angeles to visit with HCCA members Bob and Mary Osann.  We were very bad - we just drove up to their place without notice - something we try never to do.  They were very gracious and while Joe was giving Bob a ride in our car, Mary and I were looking at all the landscaping that they have been doing at their new home overlooking the Olympic Mountains and the harbor at Port Angeles.  Across the harbor you could see Vancouver Island in Canada and the ferry going over to Victoria.  Mary had a turn in the car while her husband and I got to get to know each other a little.  Many thanks for being so gracious on the spur of the moment!        

We are spending the night in the little town of Fork on the western coast of WA.  This was and still is a huge logging area.

Take a look at this H-U-G-E log with our E-M-F beside it.  When it was logged in 1978, the log weighed over 70,000 lbs (35 tons) and they had to build a special road to get it out of the woods.  The average number of growth rings per inch of wood is 20, so scientists have figured out that this tree was 1,250 years old when Columbus discovered America in 1492.  They figure that the tree began its life in about the year 258 A.D.!!!!!!   Amazing!!!

We expect to be in Moclips, WA tomorrow evening.