The captain done good when he picked the La Conner shipyard to work on Troob. The shipyard folks are very accommodating with answers and equipment. That really makes a difference in this whole project. Downtown La Conner is a jewel with lots of touristy shops and some very good fish and chips, Mexican food, and free wifi and the library. There's even a marina park just around the corner. Miss Lily and I are regulars.
The Skagit River valley is known for it's tulip displays in the spring. We had learned before they are just growing bulbs. After the blooms, the bulbs are all dug up and prepared for shipment to individuals. But does this fantastic fertile farmland go fallow after that. No way! We've watched corn, cabbage, and potatoes start from seeds or seedlings and are now being harvested. Berry season isn't over yet. We were here for strawberries and raspberries and now blueberries. Since we are usually on the water or away from farmland during the summer it's been fun to watch how fast corn grows: 1 week 6", next week 3', and by the 4th week ready for harvest. We learned that this valley produces the most small potatoes in the US and that the white blossoms on the potato plants show the white potatoes – the pink blossoms are on the red potato plants. The farmers are very kind to put out signs that tell us what is planted in each field and some fields even are identified as "talking fields" – just tune your radio to their channel.
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| White potato blooms |
Each home along our route have gardens. Whether vegetable or flower they are all kept neat and weed free. How do they do that? The soil is a lot easier to work than our Rocky Point dirt, that's for sure. And aren't I lucky that a few of the gardeners have way too many blooms and put them and a donation box at the end of their driveway and share with me!
We've stayed in our Thousand Trails membership camp a couple times. We've deemed it the "black hole" as there is no cell service, internet signal, and only one channel on TV. Huge campground with 324 very wooded campsites. Lots of nice walking around and beautiful views from the long beach. Our membership limits us to 2 weeks in camp and then we must stay out of the campground for a week. So then we go to the Indian casino where they have cable TV, marvelous wifi, reasonably priced meals, AND loose slots! The view of the bay and the mountains from the campground are marvelous. And we've also stayed in the shipyard where we can park the RV next to the boat. A drawback though is that it is so convenient for the captain that he never quits working. Also the shipyard locks up at 7pm so curfew comes early. So no dinners out even IF we could drag Dean away from the boat project.
Though we started out with a normal Washington summer with cool temps and drizzle, by the time we had Troob hauled out, the rain quit and we've had 37 days with no measurable rain. Pretty fantastic for the Pacific Northwest and that helped make the working conditions pretty much perfect for Dean's arthroscopic transomectomy project. This project is now in the rebuilding phase and the shipyard's expert at fiberglassing is at work.
Still have more exploring to do here. Need to check out the tribe's park at the end of the road with the coastal Indian cedar hat picnic table shelters. And, we'll never forgive ourselves if we don't partake of the "Immodest Cones" at one farm stand.
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Will have to get the captain to take another day off soon!
