The River Hoh and Lake Quinault

Continuing the journey to Westport for the square dancer camp out, and

Kayaker with packs paddling down the Hoh.

Thanks to Friends of Wayne, who are probably scattered all over the U.S. and maybe even in foreign countries, we found a welcome at the home of Mary and Dave Christensen in Lake Quinault.

But first we stopped along the Hoh River for a lunch with an awesome view and two kayakers making their way downstream. It was already heading toward the triple digit temperatures the National Weather Service had been warning us about, so we didn’t linger.

Home away from home

Back on the road, the purple foxglove, white daisies, fireweed and other roadside flowers and weeds made a colorful quilt of colors muted by the haze from the British Columbia fires. 

Dave and Wayne were forestry buddies in the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) during the 80s when Wayne moved to Lake Quinault. When we arrived at their lovely home (which I shall sweetly refer to as ‘Mary’s Meadows’ because the smell of the budding grasses in the motor home as the dew was evaporating), there were two donkeys to greet us along with the largest Chocolate Labrador, Ollie, I’ve ever seen.

A drive around the lake was the afternoon excursion, which included stopping to see an old friend, Marilyn Wiesse, who used to cook for different restaurants and was a neighbor.

Wayne and Marilyn laughing about old times.

Wayne learned she will be heading to Yuma with her husband in the fall, so there was some chatter about meeting up again later as we waved goodbye.

Back at the Christensen’s, it was finally cooling down and the couple cooked us up some  incredible hors d'oevres of elk meat (their game) with home-made pickles (her canning) and salmon (his catch) spread over great crackers and sweet iced tea. Dinner was called a ‘gut-bomb’ of ground venison, fresh fried potatoes, vegetables and a home grown garden salad. SOOO delicious!!

View for breakfast at "Mary's Meadows"

"The Relatives"

We sat around a fire pit without the fire (it was still over 80 degrees) and talked for awhile and then it was off to the RV for the logger to saw some “ZZZZZs” while I read a few pages on my Kindle. 

The windows were open so I could enjoy the quiet sounds of a farm settling down for the night… bugs buzzing, donkeys chomping the grass, birds calling to others to nest, chickens clucking and blackberries growing. Bliss.