Day 73 – May 22 – Reconnecting with A Cousin

We got up and out of the Wal-Mart lot about 9, but before we left I took a couple of pictures of the view across the street from where we spent the night.

We drove to Hansville to see the lighthouse – we ended up on a road that turned to gravel.  There was a sign for the lighthouse with a path, so we parked the motorhome on the road and I started down the path.  Dorrie called while I was on the path and said she and Rick were walking down.  The path leads to a set of steps going down to the beach.  There were about 90 steps going down.

The beach provided a view of snow-covered mountains across the water. 

I walked down to the lighthouse and took some pictures and walked about towards where Dorrie and Rick would be arriving.

Point No Point Lighthouse

The lighthouse, Puget Sound, and the mountians

They were on the beach taking pictures of the mountains.  They walked down to the lighthouse while I sat on a log on the beach and watched the float planes fly over.

I took some pictures of the mountains and of Seattle in the distance.

Seattle from the beach at Point No Point Lighthouse 

I think this is Mount St. Helen, see how part of it is missing

Going back up the steps they must have multiplied because there must have been 200 more than there were coming down.  We made it back to the campers and continued on our trip toward Everett, Washington.

The route we were following had a toll charge and the GPSs are set to avoid toll roads so we were going to end up driving almost twice as many miles as we would by taking the toll bridge.  We decided to take the bridge, which took us through the town of Gig Harbor – home of my cousin Mickey and her husband Larry.  I called Rick on the CB and told him I was going to get off the road and see Mickey.

We drove down to the harbor and found a place to park.  I called and we made arrangements to meet.  They showed up and we talked a little and then they gave us a tour of the town.

Mount Rainier from one of the 17 parks in Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor Lighthouse

This was a tree in one of the parks in Gig Harbor, the work is amazing

We went back to their house and had a drink and more talking.  Later we went to the Tides Tavern restaurant and had some great fish and chips.  It was really wonderful to reunite with yet another cousin that I haven't seen in decades.  We had a great time.  Larry and Mickey were great hosts!

Mickey, Dorrie, me, and Larry

The waiter wanted in on the fun - he called me Dad since we have the same hair style

The cousins, me and Mickey

We hit the road for our campground after saying our goodbyes.

You may have noticed the extra hair on my face.  When we were in San Francisco I said I wasn't going to shave until we got to Alaska.  Now I am thinking I may not shave until after the mosquito season in Alaska.

Somehow we managed to get to Lakeside RV Park – I didn’t program in the address to the GPS so it was truly luck.  Rick and Dorrie were talking on the phone and he saw us coming and led us to our site.  We are here until Monday morning.