Fort Townsend State Park
August 11-15, 2014

We packed up the trailer for the next part of our adventure and headed back towards home stopping in Port Townsend at Fort Townsend State Park.  Once again we were not sure what the park would be like because we booked it on line never having been there before.

On our way we saw this place called Fat Smitty's.  Not a name that would make me want to go in and eat there but it sure looked interesting. 

We were in a bit of shock when we arrived at the park.  It  was not the best accommodations we have ever stayed in but it would do.  Our sites were so small we couldn't really fit everything onto them the way we usually spread out!  But we made do. 

After being a tad bit miserable we decided to not try and find another park to camp in and go all set up as best as we could squeeze in.  After a while we could laugh about our predicament but not right away!

Our site on the left, Rob & Marnie right beside us and that red tent beside their site?  Yup, that's the next site.  We could get our awnings out and put up our first up but it had to be a third of the way under our awning.  Our first up was pretty much right up against Rob & Marnie's trailer.  We had enough room to park our truck behind our trailer but our trailer was right up to the road on the other side.  

This is kind of how we felt when we arrived at the park but after getting settled in and satisfied....little snots that we are....we had some pretty good fun.

I didn't get any pictures of the first night there but it's a funny story....

It was hot, super hot in fact, our sites were ridiculously small, we could hardly fit on.  We just wanted to get cool and clean up because the sites were not the cleanest either....so we left in search of some where to swim.  The beach at the park was not swimmable so off we went for a little drive into town to find a public pool.  The only pool we found was at the YMCA that had just closed. Jake and I asked if we could even just shower there, all 10 of us, but got some pretty weird looks so we decided to keep going and check out one of the little lakes that was recommended in our tourist reading pamphlets.  We drove for a while....longer than we had expected...it was getting dark but on a gravel back road we found the lake. There were signs posted that maybe it wouldn't be wise to swim in the lake because of some algae but Dave and the kids did anyway.  There were other people there that were swimming, we weren't sure if they were skinny dipping or not....Nicole said,"Well, I guess they aren't getting out until we leave then." And the laughs began to surface.  I would NOT get into that water, the bottom looked gushy and I do NOT like gushy shores so I would have to settle for a shower back at camp.  It was pretty much dark when we left.  When we arrived back at camp the kids got settled into a game and I left to go shower. What a joke that was!  The tokens would not go into the machine so I had to settle for a stinkin' ice cold shower.  I pretty much cried and maybe uttered a few not so nice words...but at least I wasn't hot and dirty anymore.  In the mean time Marnie was not doing so well on her site either....that red tent had a big huge dad and 2 little girls in it and when he went to sleep he proceeded to snore, really loudly, the WHOLE NIGHT LONG!  Well I guess I was glad I was deaf....I had a good night sleep! 

We woke up the next morning in much better moods.  The weather was decent....not the super hot sunny weather we had been having but nice enough so we headed out to check out the town.  Fort Worden State Park is right in town so that's where we went.

There is a neat light house there that we thought we would go check out. Too bad it's fenced off and we couldn't actually get there but it was nice to look at. 

We parked in the old Fort Worden, where there was free parking....it's good to talk to the locals because we found out we could park by the info building and walk a short 5 minute walk to the beach.  Marnie and I dropped the guys and the kids off at the beach and walked back from the parking lot....our exercise for the day! 

The beach was really nice.  It was nice and sandy, perfect for digging, but the water was cool. 

Matthew on his way to China...

Despite the cool water Jake, Nicole and Jordyn plunged in.

Some rather large seagulls.

Mom, mom, can you get us all in the air again?  Just like at Crescent Lake? 

Matthew's getting closer to China....

We were pretty much the only people on the beach...doesn't look like it from all the cars in the back ground but we were pretty much alone. 

Dylan wants to go to China too...

Sweet little Brooklyn....she was the odd man out this trip.  Nicole and Jordyn included her in many things but sometimes she was happy on her own! 

.....getting even closer to China....

Matthew....that look kind of means trouble I think....

 She's a joy.....

Jake was cold and hungry after swimming and just wanted to read his book....

I wanted to read too.....

Dave got a hold of my camera....

These are the pictures that others can see.....

.....she's a joy.....

....but kind of a nut case too....

....never a dull moment with Nicole around.

Jake wants to go to China too...

I guess we'll let them all get to China...

So, we are sitting on the beach and then Dave says, "Porpoise!"  Dave's a bit of a prankster so we didn't initially believe him but he wasn't joking!  He took some pictures to prove it.  Porpoises swimming around, close to the beach.  So cool to see! 

He's well on his way....

That's quite the hole you've got going there boys!

A sand castle.  Haven't made one of those in a long time.

Yes, with being so close to the open ocean we see signs like these.

I liked how this looked.

The buildings in the Fort were old and the history behind them all was quite interesting.  There were no tours through the buildings as they are being used for various reasons....probably to generate some income. 

The kids had fun on these big anchor looking kind of things.

Not to be messed around with....watch out.  She's not a push over....

They had so many poses for me to take pictures of.  "Oh, one more mom, one more!" 

Back at the campground....an Arbutus tree.

The bark on these trees is interesting.

Each day as we were getting ready to sit down for dinner our little friend would come out to visit.... 

The poor thing didn't know what to think.....

Dinner time.

Warm evenings sitting at the table colouring....

And....yes the soccer ball had to go to bed with Matthew!