San Juan Islands Lighthouses

We started looking at the San Juan lighthouses this evening. There are five:
-Burrows Island
-Cattle Point
-Lime Kiln
-Turn Point
-Patos Island

This poses a challenge.

Both Lime Kiln and Cattle Point are in state parks on San Juan Island. That's a simple day trip via ferry. But the other three have water only access...and not by ferry boat. So we are considering that we'll have to charter a boat to get our photos of those. I believe I've actually been to Patos when I was at summer camp as a kid on Orcas. I think I remember being on Matia or Sucia Island or was it Patos? Anyways, that could also be a day trip or we could make a long weekend with an overnight near Anacortes to visit all five at once.

Huh.

It's funny how when I started with just a list of names of all the Washington state lighthouses, I had no idea where any of them were located nor what it would actually take to see them all. This has been a wonderful family project so far!

Washington Coast Lighthouses

What's next?

I'm looking at the coast...there are two:
-Grays Harbor Westport
-Destruction Island

Anything with "island" after it means WATER! I have a private blog where I jot notes about our trip planning and I've done a little research this evening. We could make a nice little weekend trip to the Ocean Shores area for the Westport lighthouse and then take an afternoon drive up to Destruction Island which can be viewed from Ruby Beach which is on a portion of Highway 101 that runs for about 12 miles right along the water (thanks to LighthouseFriends.com for that info)! Hopefully it will be clear enough to see the lighthouse on the day we actually get there!

So why not up north to Neah Bay to see the Cape Flattery Lighthouse? We had a already trip planned for September, but Grampa passed away the week prior so we postponed it. The Cape Flattery Lighthouse is included in that trip.

A special thanks (as usual) to LighthouseFriends.com as I find it invaluable in planning our lighthouse visits! Thanks Kraig!

January Sunset

I'm starting to get the itch to go somewhere. We've been driving a tiny Toyota Corolla for the past 13 years. Just today we bought a new MINIVAN! I am so excited for our next excursion! We have so much room in this new vehicle, it is really exciting to consider our options! We could totally do our yurtcation down the Oregon Coast now that we have room to haul stuff for a week! Hmmmmm.

After seeing a photo of some friends on the beach at Ocean City state park, I'm inspired to plan our next trip! My sister has invited us to Suncadia in April which I am already looking forward to!  So I'm thinking Marchish for a trip to Ocean Shores and Grays Harbor lighthouse (and maybe Destruction Island lighthouse as well)...we could do yurt or hotel. Tough decision.

2011 Lighthouse Review

What a thrill! I've never visited lighthouses before and this has been SO FUN! I'm looking forward to building our blog as we visit even MORE!

Lighthouses visited in 2011:
Bush Point, Whidbey
Admiralty, Whidbey
North Head, Ilwaco
Cape Disappointment, Ilwaco
Dofflemeyer Point, Olympia

Missing Grampa-Lighthouse Trip Cancelled

John's dad, my wonderful father-in-law passed away this week and the memorial is on Sunday. We had planned a trip to Sequim to see a few more lighthouses, but that will have to wait for now. The plan is to stay in Sequim and travel along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to see Cape Flattery, Slip Point, Ediz Hook and New Dungeness lighthouses.

I wasn't ready for another weekend away, so I'm somewhat relieved. Of course, I never wanted this to be the reason to cancel the trip. Grampa passed away on the 18th and we miss him so much already.

Update: This photo was taken the day of the memorial 9/25/11 from Gramma's porch...the leaves form a heart but there are some bites out of it...a broken heart which is just what we all have now that Grampa is gone.

Dofflemeyer Point Lighthouse-Olympia, WA

Can you even SEE the lighthouse in the top photo?! Upper right corner. We had a wonderfully relaxing day exploring the area around the Dofflemeyer Point lighthouse in Olympia, Washington. Our first stop of the day was the lighthouse. Boston Harbor Marina is a delightful and charming area! Each house off 73rd was ready for House Beautiful! We explored the small marina for quite some time. The lighthouse itself was barely visible and seemed non-descript to us and we had great difficulty getting a good family pic in front of it since it is surrounded by private property.

The walk out onto the marina dock for a photo proved to be beneficial as we had several mini-adventures! After the lighthouse we went black-light mini golfing at Shankz Black Light Mini-Golf, then to Tumwater Falls Park and the Capitol building. This was only an overnight getaway but we did A LOT!

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse-Ilwaco, WA

After North Head, we made a few more stops...a scenic lookout and bridge over wetlands which were phenomenally beautiful. We spent quite some time at the excellent Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center (we read a great picture book "How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark" by Rosalyn Schanzer and "Streams to the River, River to the Sea" by Scott O'Dell in preparation for the visit to Long Beach, Washington.

Anyways, it was time to make about a mile trek to Cape Disappointment lighthouse. After some elevation gain, we all needed to rest our feet and ate more snacks at the top of the bluff. It is like being at the top of the world or the edge of eternity or something...simply awesome scenery over the mouth of the mighty Columbia and the "Graveyard of the Pacific". We met Coast Guardman Joe who invited us into his watchtower and let Daniel peer through his telescope! John had lots of naval type inquiries and we learned A LOT about the sea from this generous guy.

Wow, we've already done FOUR lighthouses and we've had an absolute ball!

TRAVEL TIP: We made this a weekend getaway but could have spent more time. One of our favorite destinations was Waikiki Beach at Cape Disappointment state park. Tons of driftwood, a fantastic bathroom facility with showers and a sweet little beach with super soft sand and a walk on the jetty is not to be missed!