The bridge is spectacular. It starts out VERY high over the water. And fortunately for us, there was construction so we were stuck at the highest part for a few extra minutes. Normally construction delays aren't anyone's favorite thing, but I'm growing fond of them. The view from the top was spectacular. I could see for miles. It was something to savor, and it felt all too soon when the flagman switched his sign and it was our turn to move across the bridge.
I've grown to love construction on the 101. I love to get to sit and stare at the ocean and trees and watch birds. It's like bonus points as far as I'm concerned. I keep hoping I'll get to see a sea mammal spout while waiting my turn to go. So far, none during construction waits, but I'll keep hoping. A girls gotta daydream.
The Washington side of the Columbia is as spectacular as the Oregon side- except there seemed to me to be a lot more recent logging that hadn't grown any trees yet. So there were some ugly looking mountains. Logged areas look like a scar. The road wound through some very recent sites that were painful to look at.
It's hard to look at once you've spent time walking in the forest and appreciate what it means when you see a denuded hillside. I know it's a necessary evil, and there's no getting around it, but it still makes my heart hurt. I love the forests here. It's an incredible experience to walk through them and hear the trees creak in a breeze and see the flowers and berry bushes in their glory. There are animal tracks everywhere, and all kinds of animal signs. The forest vibrates with life. After it's been clear cut, it feels like a morgue.
The areas that haven't been cut though, are even more spectacular than our part of Oregon. The trees seem bigger and more diverse. It's one "zo my gawd that's a big beautiful tree" after another. Not as incredible as the redwoods, but still, amazing. I don't know, but I suspect we drove through some forests that are older than the one's we're used to. Either old growth or ones that weren't logged in more than a lifetime. I don't really know which. The forests that are the result of having been replanted totally lack diversity. They plant all one kind of tree, eliminating a lot of ecological niches. It's better than the old school, just leave it to erode and be barren for generations, but it's still less than ideal in my opinion. The trees we drove through today were a variety, not a specific fast growing ideal for quicker harvest single species.
We had a big weird noise happen while we were driving down the road today. Neither of us had a clue what it might have been. I stopped immediately and we couldn't find the source of the sound. Paul checked out everything and nothing seemed wrong. After a while he tried to use the bathroom and the toilet wouldn't flush. The pedal was stuck. So we figured it was some plastic heat fatigue and some plumbing had come undone. Later on, he found one of Gary's tennis balls stuck under the pedal. So that was that. We still have no idea what the really loud noise was. I imagine we'll figure it out at some point in time. It didn't sound like a noise we could identify and it wasn't familiar. I hope it's nothing too dreadful.
We ended up in Forks WA, of Twilight fame. It's very much like I pictured it while reading the books. Not particularly glamorous, but the scenery around it is spectacular. The RV park is divided down the middle by a strip of pavement. On one side there's a row of rather tragic looking single wide mobile homes. (yes mobile homes, none of these are new enough to have been made since they became "prefab" or "manufactured" homes) On the other side of the pavement is a row of very expensive RVs. We watched a group of about six kids playing with two bicycles for several hours while we set up the RV and rested after the drive.
When I took Sookie for her "constitutional", they approached me and asked if they could pet the dog. Since they sort of came charging up as fast as their little legs could follow the leader on one of the bicycles, Sookie was terrified. She's scared of bicycles (and strollers, vacuum cleaners, skateboards....) so I told them no, but I have a dog they can pet. I traded Sookie for the more intrepid Gary. The kids loved him up for 20 minutes. One of the kids wrapped his arms around Gary's neck and hugged him. Then another, smaller kid wrapped his arms around Gary and leaned into him so hard, Gary just went to the ground. It was like a slow motion tackle. Gary just took it all in.
The oldest of the kids, I'm guessing is maybe 8, the youngest was 2 and barely talking. There was no adult supervision at all. They were just playing like kids did when I was a kid, except my mom didn't turn us loose when we couldn't talk yet. I thought they were not quite old enough for that much freedom, with a steady stream of strangers parking their cars across the street everyday. In spite of that, they were all very polite and sweet. I didn't pick up on any anger or aggression that would make me think they were abused or neglected terribly much. The oldest child told me that one of the neighbors killed the dog she used to have because he hates dogs. She said she wanted another dog, in fact she wanted Gary because her mom doesn't know where the pound is. I told her she could pet Gary, but she couldn't have Gary because it would make me too sad because I love him so much.
After I finally tore us away from the herd o' children and came back inside so I could make dinner, we watched the kids climbing the tree across from us and riding their bikes and running. It seemed they were a really good group of kids, who care a lot about each other. They didn't fight and they took care of the littler ones. Eventually the older girls disappeared, I'm guessing they had to go inside, and the two year old boy and the other two boys played in a puddle. The two year old sat down with a stick and pounded the puddle with it. I think one of the other boys took the stick away from him so he just slapped it with his hands for a while, making big splashes that must have somehow worked with whatever game he was playing with the other two boys.
It all felt a bit like an alternate reality. Polite sweet kids, with not very many toys and a lot of imagination, and no adult supervision. I genuinely hope that somewhere in at least one of those trailers, there was a mom watching out the window.
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