The Matthews Reunion at Cape Disappointment State Park
Grandpa and Eli cruise down our street before our journey.
Sam is brought to our house by Alane to join his sister and brother. Chris has a masonry job and she will work at her bus driving job so neither parent will be able to come as planned.
Tom & Jean in control...sort of.
We stop on the way in Raymond, Washington at a nice park.
They also have this great old Library with a "Bremen Town Musician's"
sculpture at the corner.
Great weather on our arrival at Cape Disappointment - North Head Lighthouse in view.
Beyond this promitory, the beach continues for 26 miles.
On the way back from the beach, a short walk to our yurt.
Everyone starts arriving for dinner in Ilwaco, Nels Laura and Margaret with Rachel, Anne and Eli
Terry, Donna and Janae, Etta, Justin and Sam.
In the harbor a craft with three Suzuki 300 HP outboards - $120,000 worth of engines for a total of 900 horsepower.
Etta is walking well - but suspicious of Tom the photographer
First sunset on the beach.
Etta says Hi as she enjoys the sand
Rachel and Anne
Terry and Etta, Brandon next to them
Adah runs from the waves
Eli and his Batman kite
Beached lifeboat - we can make out the word Shanghai on the bow
Levi & Eli
Sam
Pelicans in flight
Terry & Eli
Sam's homemade Blackberry
Justin contemplates the perfect marshmellow
Etta and Jean with Uke
Evening concert...Denise, Hannah, Nathan (banjo uke) Ken, Marianne (uke), Justin & Geoff with Guitars
Sam, Adah & Eli ready to sleep in the yurt - peace at last!
We reserved six yurts for the family.
The next morning
Breakfast by Terry, Donna and Justin - Marianne ready to eat
Teen's out for a walk
Brandon and Sam
Etta on her way up
Some of us go to the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon across the Columbia River.
This is a retired Coast Guard motor lifeboat displayed as in action on the bar.
The bar of the Columbia is considered one of the most dangerious in the world.
Hello?
Captain Trevor in charge? Good luck!
A little too heavy for Sam
Adah - Anchors away! Columbia Lightship in background.
We visit the lightship
Eli on a seaman's bunk
Sam on Deck
On the way back to camp we make a quick visit to Fort Columbia, one of many old fortifications along the Pacific Coast.
Laura's clay activity that evening, black sand from the beach used for decoration.
It's a misty morning on the beach, Eli and Sam exploring driftwood structures
It's Education Time!
A little history of the Cape, at the Southwest corner of Washington State
Captain Clark surveyed the cape in 1805 before the Lewis & Clark expedition built Fort Clatsop across the Columbia on the Oregon side. Click on the maps to see a closer view.
His map on the left has dots showing where his party surveyed, they camped near McKinzie Head. I have added the location names. Construction of the Jetty later caused much filling in so 206 years later the landscape is much altered.
This circa 1898 photo shows a terrain similar to what Clark would have seen in 1805 before the jetty effect took place. Click to see the details. The party came down from Cape Disappointment to cross an Isthmus and reach the Pacific Ocean. They went up McKinzie Head to survey the area better. Picture our car facing the "You are here" arrow. Trees and other growth totally cover this area now including the beach in the foreground (would have been behind our car in the next photo).
There is our car, facing a trailhead marker with a quote from William Clark on the back.
An older marker showing Clark and his slave York on the left.
"Men appear much satisfied with their trip beholding with estonishment the high waves dashing against the rocks & this emence ocian." Clark not a spelling champion.
Modern display at the trailhead
From the trail a view of Cape Disappointment and Lake McKinzie, former ocean inlet.
The North Jetty is barely visible in the distance.
Here is a link to a good interactive map showing shipwrecks but also how the jetty changed the terrain after 1910.
http://mapbureau.com/launch/shipwrecks/
This view of Cape Disappointment and the lighthouse is from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center
Below the Interpretive Center is another gun emplacement fort
The Confluence Project
Intrepretive Artwork by Maya Lin
Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial in Washingon DC has designed these on site works along the Columbia River Basin. At Cape Disappointment there are three parts, this walkway leading to Waikiki Beach has the history of Lewis & Clark's travels engraved on the walk leading to the beach. My brother Terry reading.
Terry and I looked for the part where they reached the Columbia and Snake Rivers, near where Terry, Marianne and I grew up. Insert shows this engraving where my shoes point.
Close by is the trail to the sacred grove - left of the ampitheater seating.
The trail has the text of a Chinook song of praise imbeded in a path of crushed oyster shells. The inset shows a phrase repeated after each verse on the way to the grove.
In the grove is a cedar stump much older than the time of Lewis & Clark.
This web link explains the project and is very interesting and informative:
http://www.confluenceproject.org/
Scene near the park boat landing.
Near where this photo was taken is the fish cleaning station made out of a solid block of basalt, with a Chinook creation story engraved on it.
Congratulations! You have reached the end of education section.
We go out to the North Jetty - find Trevor below - Oregon in view to the south.
Sam, Adah and Eli enjoyed their walk out and on to the jetty with Brandon, Margaret and Trevor
Terry, Etta and Janae
Tom and Jean take a break driving out to Long Beach, a very touristy town. Next to the old frying pan was an antique store where Tom bought his first antique 3D viewer in the '50s.
We join the cranberry picking bunch... a crop in the coastal areas of Washington
Back to camp, Geoff and Lynette of Brooklyn in the distance - came the farthest distance.
Marianne, mother of Geoff and Scott visits with Etta and Sam
Marshmallow roasting for s'mores - add chocolate bar and graham cracker for a sandwitch.
Custom carved sticks by Tom
Carefull with that stick, Eli!
Janae does a balancing act
Hannah and her mom Denise as Sam does more roasting
Ken talks to son Geoff, Lynette exits stage right
Cousin's galore! Marianne, Donna and Nels in the background
We had several guitar and uke concerts, Lynette, Geoff singing, Nels, Laura, Jean, Janae, Etta, Hannah...
...Denise, Trevor, Scott, Terry & Ken
Morning hike up to McKenzie Head again, this time with Laura, Jean Sam and the twins.
Do we dare enter the old bunker where shells were stored?
Yes but it's very dark - but we had some flashlights.
Back down the hill and ready to head back to Kirkland
We stop at Raymond again, and discover a fair going, here is the bubble man!
Nice break and some free rides on the inflatables.
Adah and Eli head home, their mother drives over to pick them up.
Sam stays with us for three days and Levi joins us a day later.
Sam takes apart the old mechanical carpet sweeper, and we put it back together again.
Sam tests the sweeper while Levi studies the action.
Sam and Levi taking basketball shots at our neighborhood park
We deliver Sam to his mother and siblings who meet us at Vantage on the Columbia - a long way from Cape Disappointment and entirely different vegetation.
Looking for small fish at the boat launch
After dropping Levi off in Richland, we visit the Park next to the river. Jean's classmates will have a reunion next year and plan to use the park and a nearby hotel.
Typical summer view on the Columbia, the Lewis and Clark expedition went up the river some but without this kind of transportation.
On the way back at Snoqualmie Pass, construction to straighten the freeway continues
Soon Jean and Tom will be back on the other side of the Cascade mountains and a little peace and quiet!
LATER...
Also with a ton of fruit!
Drive and Ferry trip to Whidby Island
to Visit Janae & Kelly's place
August 29th
Views from the ferry - Purse-seining boats are out in force - Everett downtown in the background
Diagram of how the net is drawn together to form a "purse" which is lifted onto the boat
The net is being winched onto the boat. The net is hundreds of feet long.
Two ferries cross the short distance from Mukitleo on the mainland to Clinton on Whidbey Island
We get a tour of some of the acreage Kelly and Janae now own.
Click on this to see it larger.
The red building on the left is a small barn, the house to the right.
They are restoring/remodeling the small house, built in the 1920's. Their daughter Etta supervises, Janae in the background grouting tile in the bathroo.
Etta points out some details of her new home.
Sharing a joke with Great Aunt Jean and Grandma Donna.
Grandpa Terry is at work also, view from the living room towards the kitchen.
The house has been remodeled more than once over the years.
Etta taking a walk from the house.
One of the rustic buildings created by the last owner of the property.
Donna, Etta and Jean watching an airplane.
Time for the trip back to the mainland.
More purse-seiners at work, the smaller boat is pulling the hanging net into a large circle.
Another boat with it's net being pulled into a very large circle.
Everett in the background, but now the sun is out
Jean and her father who joined us on our trip are sitting in the car.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse, looking south at the Salish Sea (Puget Sound).
