TRAVELING THURSDAY ~ Sulkum & Huff-and-Puff

My furry nemesis is back, so yesterday I slapped some big bucks down to have it trapped (hopefully – there is no guarantee). I will keep the trap for a month before it will be removed from my lot.

But, it is here. It is baited. And this morning I “set” it before I left to have my coffee hour with friends in Naselle.

Morning w-friends & Salkum Timberland Library Daytrip.

The trap will be sprung tonight; and hand tripped in the morning if it is empty.

Naselle from Heron Pointe - 59 mins.

Leaving Naselle for Salkum.

Daytrip adventures are flexible.

Chehalis from Naselle - 1 hr.46 mins.

I followed a log truck at a snail's pace coming into Pe Ell – a Jerry Debriae log truck … it was a long way from home base; and shockingly, this cowboy driver was following the rules of the road. Debrae himself – nor his drivers ever behave.

This is why I prefer backroads; it engages the senses far more than freeway travel does.

Nearing Adna via the Pe Ell loop route, I saw a sign that advertised a County Park … so, I turned right and checked the locale out.

When I am on a Daytrip drive, I tend to dink around enroute 😉

This Park is supposed to be “excellent” picnicking, hiking, playground, volleyball, exercise trail, horseshoe pits; ect.

NO WAY!

From what I could see past the rusted metal gate blocking entrance, was a lot of neglect and overgrown areas. It was obvious it has not been used for years – possibly decades. It looked pitiful.

Rose Park - up close and personal - does not match the glowing reports on it.

Adna mountain view & Napavine pit stop.

Caught sight of this upcoming Bazaar Sign pulling out of the gas terminal at Napavine. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll be back here on the 1^st …

The google mapping showed a generalized idea of where Sulkum was located; I didn’t ever recall Bob & I going through (or past) a town named Sulkum. I knew where Mary’s Corner was, but I was not familiar with the stretch of highway google maps and the car’s GPS was prompting me to drive.

About 5 minutes into the unfamiliar territory, I passed the Tucker Road spur off Jackson Highway: and was into familiar territory again – but I was still mystified about Salkum.

Mary's Corner from Chehalis via Jackson Highway - 20 mins.

Salkum via Highway 6 at Mary's Corner.

Mt. Rainier.

Salkum Timberland Library from Mary's Corner - 10 mins.

I don't know how we missed this sign for years ... Sulkum is an eye-blink town.

Cool rustic Arbor. The woman in the vid is the Librarian; we talked for about half an hour.

After she went back into the Library, I strolled around the pocket gardens – I was there … and so were they; and my legs needed to be stretched.

Raised garden beds.

Pretty little flowering plant.

Pretty pale lilac tulip with a white base w-blue splotches, black stamens & bright yellow pistil.

This plant was pretty all over.

A strawberry plant with pink blossoms; unusual - and pretty, too.

(https://www.monrovia.com/toscana-strawberry.html)

Walking through the cozy pocket gardens area, I liked the rustic garden supports – I like rustic 😊

Rustic garden support.

Rustic garden support.

Rustic Ladder Trellis.

Done walking the pocket gardens, and knowing the library would not be open to walk through until June 1^st, I decided to hop across the highway and check out “downtown Salkum”: population 216.

The Librarian had clued me in. 

But I wanted {to see} for myself.

'Downtown Salkum' consists of 3 buildings; grocery store, P.O., and tavern.

Salkum Post Office.

Salkum's Brown Shack Tavern.

I don’t know how I have missed the Library as often as Bob & I drove this highway: the Library Sign is big enough. In my defense, I will say that we always had kids with us for 44 years … and they snagged my attention 90% of the time we were out and about; so maybe I was busy with one of them as we passed Salkum: it’s an eye-blink town with nothing to grab your attention as you sail right past it.

So far, I am not a fan of the ‘Traveler’s Companion’ handbook; I believe people who submit road travel info for booklets like this one, should be honest and prepare people of what to expect when visiting the destinations, they highlight.

I like small towns, and would be perfectly happy living in a ghost town – but, a ghost town should be advertised as a ghost town, not built up to be something else.

Just sayin’.

However, I do like the drive along this roadway: and that was a redeeming factor as I blinked my eyes and left Salkum.

Hungering for a Huff and Puff hamburger.

I knew the Tulip Bulb farm was along this route, too; so, I decided to nip in there and see what they had to offer. The place is wildly expensive, so I was going to be very selective if I walked out with a purchase 😉

I stopped at the DeGoede Bulb Farm along the way.

(http://www.degoedebulb.com/retail.htm)

Last time I was here with Bob was in 2017; we had Aza with us.

I bought a strawberry jar for the garden area at home, and fertilizer stakes for inside houseplants. I’ll start transplanting strawberry plants, mid-May.

My garden is my “peaceful place”.

Huff and Puff was still half an hour away ...

Delicious hamburgers here; worth the long drive.

I got an Elk burger; low in fat, high in protein. A Healthy 'burger.

The drive home was smooth and easy – I know it by heart.

Toledo from Salkum Timberland Library via Tucker Road & Jackson Highway - 20 mins.

Mt. St. Helens seen coming into Toledo off Jackson Highway.

GEE CEE'S Truck Stop, from Jackson Highway Airstrip - 13 mins: I stopped and got gas here, and washed bug guts off the windshield again; the kamikaze bugs are thick this time of year.

Paradise Cove from Gee Cee's via Imboden Rd & Barnes Drive - 11 mins.

Delameter Road from Paradise Cove via Old Pacific Highway - 15 mins.

Heron Pointe from Delameter Road. 16 mins.

Bob and I drove that highway for decades, and I drove it several times solo lobo, throughout 2019 and 2020.

Only the location of Salkum threw me … and that short stretch of highway at Mary’s Corner.

But that’s okay: I know now.

And these Daytrips are as much about learning the highways and byways, as they are about just enjoying a relaxing and adventurous road experience 😉

IRIS

This morning, I was out of bed; dressed, on the road, and hiking the Pacific Way Trail before 8 AM.

Pacific Way Trail

I walk when I am sorting thoughts.

The early morning sun trying to come through the cloud cover.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxNvFVI2G38)

Overland scavengers were on the prowl.

Turkey Buzzards.

These are big birds.

With scarlet red bald heads to the neckline.

Underground scavengers were on the prowl.

Mole hills tearing up this pasture; this pasture had been a lake through the Winter months. Spring scene.

Same landscape; Winter lake scene.

I had a lot of thoughts tumbling through my mind.

And it shows in some of today’s videos: there were times my thoughts tripped over themselves before they exited my mouth 😉

Introspective thinking; thankful for Iris in my life, brief as it was.

I don't question Elohim's timing - He knows best.

23andME DNA Test linked Iris & Carla up; which led to me and Iris.

6 months of Wednesday phone calls; I loved every one of them.

Hearing Iris’s voice coming to my ears over the airwaves (and seeing her face on her FB Page after we became ‘Friends’) was a 50 years prayer being answered.

Bob would have liked her – and he would have liked Rick, my BIL, too.

I told Bob about Iris straight off; there were no secrets between us. Ever.

Bob & I were good about how we dealt with the baggage we both brought to our union.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O02-yWH9I0)

When we started dating, Bob and I had a lot of trust issues; mine were family related – Bob’s were from a disastrous first marriage.

Bob rarely saw me cry during our 44 years together; when emotions did overwhelm me and I ended up in tears … Bob knew I was dealing with major issues. The first time Bob saw me cry he was startled – he was startled because I’m not a girlie-girl; I don’t burst into tears at the drop of a hat. With the tears came anger: anger stemmed from embarrassment. Anger because my childhood memories had been tripped and was trespassing into my beautiful life with Bob; a life far away from that other weedy life.

Bob understood that. 

I never had to explain.

And Bob never asked for information beyond what I was willing to share with him.

I shared with him the nitty-gritty things that he needed to know … no more, no less; I never kept secrets from him, but I didn’t feel the need to go into vivid detail either.

And Bob never felt the need to plumb the depth of those vivid details. He always felt that the fact that I had been reduced to tears was all he needed to know – he felt I was going through enough; there was no reason for verbalization.

I was thankful.

And Bob was quick to comfort me in any, and every way, he could.

Bob loved me: unconditionally.

I was thankful.

And, I did likewise when his past with gloria would rise its ugly head, and refuse to be ignored.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdx6lLvvRyg)

We had mountains to climb and insecurities to conquer; and we did that together.

Bob & I were a Team – from start to finish; we knew we could trust each other to ‘be there’ for US: through thick, or thin. I feel sorry for people who never had/felt that depth of genuine love.

And after a while, those memories dissipated and our life found healthy balance.

Love was the soothing, healing balm.

Bob & I were very open with each other - we shared our lives. ALL of it.

The bitter cruelty dished my way from Rose, Ralph, and the kids wasn't surprising. They are miserable people, judging others by their own short-comings.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1duMnvd_7Q)

I was going through so much hateful crap from hate-filled people, in the first year of widowhood.

All ridiculous.

All unnecessary.

Elohim witnessed it all … and decided that then would be the perfect time to answer my 50-year prayer.

There were medical questions Iris asked that I could not answer. What little I knew wasn’t helpful to her in her situation (whatever that situation was).

Our time of connecting only lasted 6 months.

But those 6 months meant everything.

If Bob is aware that I finally got to know Iris, he'd be happy for me. He'd like her.

I will always be grateful for Bob’s love … and for his talking me into building a life together; Bob scaled my walls and broke through, to lavished me with love, passion, & honesty.

I am thankful Iris was part of my life – personally – brief, though that time was.

If either of us had known how close we lived to each other, we would have met sooner.

Sedro-Woolley from Cathlamet - 3 hr.46 mins.

Whidbey Island from Cathlamet - 4 hr.23 mins.

I have no concept of travel time … according to these maps, the timelines would have been considerably longer than I anticipated: but Bob would have agreed to the visits anyway 😉

I'm glad Rick is telling me about his wife - my sister.

Walking along the dike, I chuckled when I caught sight of a strutting courting display.

A Red-winger Blackbird putting on a courting show, displaying his brilliant scarlet-and-yellow striped highlighted shoulders.

And a little further along, I laughed out loud.

The yellow Iris reminded me of Iris. 

I could hear her voice on the breeze. 

She always had a sunny disposition.

A wild iris flower. I smiled thinking how fitting it was for the day’s thought pattern.(http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=137&wildflower=Iris,%20Yellow)

Crossing the street, I noticed 2 foraging geese on the upper grass of the golf course.

I would have liked not to disturb them, but I wanted to keep moving to outpace flying golf balls.

Geese on the Golf Course.

The geese were leisurely foraging, and I couldn't wait all day: I gently moved the geese along.

Kitty-corner to the slow-mo geese was a Mallard pair sunning themselves in the warming sunrays that had finally parted the clouds.

As I got closer, Mr. Duck quickly stood to shelter his mate, and was so quickly pushing Mrs. Duck into the tall grass, I could imagine him telling her, “Move it, move it, move it!” – she even gave him a backward glance eyeroll during her slow waddle (truly), that indicated, ‘I’m going as fast as I can. Relax!’

Kitty-corner to the geese, was a Mallard pair sunning themselves.

And I saw that the waterlilies are blooming.

I’ll have to walk the Lake sometime soon, to see those waterlilies in bloom 😉

Yellow Water Lilies.

Crossing the last street along the hiking trail route, I was delighted to see the wildlife has risen and started greeting the day (they had all been absent earlier).

And I shed my fleece pullover. 

The sun was chasing the chill away.

A sunny place of refuge.

Mallard pair & a turtle enjoying the sunshine.

The red on lower shell identifies this turtle as a Painted Turtle.

This Black Swedish Duck caught my eye; it blended in well - but I saw it. It seemed preoccupied with something in the grass.

She had DUCKLINGS at her webbed feet ... there are at least 3 of them.

I had an enjoyable walk - and I look forward to an enjoyable Thursday afternoon.

4.5 miles this morning; before 10 AM.

Back home by 10 AM, I took my geranium pots out from under the carport sheltering, and set them out in the sunshine for a few hours while I washed my hair, changed into fresher clothing, and tidied the house.

And added some clarification about how I post what I post.

Though I am glad to be of help to other’s who are going through thorny issues similar to mine … I do not feel obligated to divulge my entire life’s story to anyone.

I share enough – and that is enough for me; and for anyone else.

My videos are sometimes hard to follow because I leave deliberate gaps.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2gKzAZH5UQ)

I don't discuss my background with anyone; only Bob & Yeshua. Period.

I share present day stuff. 

My background is off limits.