My Oz: Washington State
60
My Little Corner of Paradise
I wanted to share with you a little of where I live. There are at least two other hubbers who live here, so to them, I hope I cover this correctly. To the rest of my hubbing family, I hope you enjoy the tour!
I live in Kingston, Washington. It is on a peninsula (land surrounded on 3 sides by water) between the larger area of Washington and the Olympic Peninsula. We can drive around to either place, or take a long floating bridge to the O.P. or a ferry to Seattle.
Ferry
Bald Eagle
Hood Canal Floating Bridge to the Olympic Peninsula
Kitsap Peninsula
Kingston is a small rural community of approximately 2000 people. Our main access to the "other side" (as we call the Seattle area) is by Ferry. The super ferries carry over 200 cars and leave every 40 minutes (give or take and depending on the weather) with a crossing time of 30 minutes. A great many that live in this are do so for the beauty, the slower paced life, less expensive land etc, but the jobs are on the other side, so we commute. This can be expensive and grueling. Summertime waits can be 3 hours on either side.. so you really gotta love your job!!
You can't trade the peace of mind over here, though. Being a peninsula means lots of beaches, boats, and birds. It's not unusual to see Bald Eagles flying overhead. I was just outside for a minute, and heard a sound, turned around and a young deer and I scared each other. She jumped into the street and ran up the hill! Ah, living with wild life!!
We have beaches!! Fishing off of the beaches is great fun, especially when the salmon are running. Clamming - all types, oysters, geoducks (prounounced gooeyducks) are big activities when the seasons arrive. A truck load of my friends left this morning for geoducking. You have to love digging and those buckets can get heavy so bring some young people to help you schlep them back to the truck... offer to buy them pizza and they'll do anything you ask!
Kingston is very small as I said. It is broken into two sections: the ferry section, consists of small shops for browsing while waiting for the next boat. It's about 1 1/2 blocks long. Four restaurants, 3 coffee shops, 1 quilt store and a few offices. The upper section has 1 gas station, post office, grocery store, 2 coffee shops and 2 restaurants. We do have our priorities: coffee and dining out!
Geoducks - a bucket full
How to prepare a geoduck
It's the Trees, man!!
This is a picture of my "neighborhood."
For 10 years we lived "in the trees" we were completely surround by the big ones known as 2nd growth - appoximately 1-2 feet in diameter. We were in a double-wide mobile home and in a big wind storm (60+ mph). My father, bless his heart, was begging me and my son to come to Seattle to wait it out. I can't get over there! The ferry ride alone would scared us to death, plus I have animals! "Then sleep north/south just in case".. "just in case"... I not going to get any sleep in this storm, we've already lost power!!
The power was out for 4 days that storm! It was colder in the house than outside. I had a fire going in my wood stove to heat the little family room. When I saw the spotlights descend on our little lane like an alien ship landing, (Yeah the power company finally found us!!) I wrapped up in a blanket and went out to watch them. It was 2am and they were running chain saws and power winches to get the trees off the lines. When it was finally quiet I yelled "I LOVE YOU!!" The men laughed!! Men from 3 surrounding states had been brought in to help restore this region's electricity. I would have made them coffee, but my little tea kettle wasn't big enough for this crew.
We have Three main types of evergreens with species of each. They are:
Douglas fir
Hemlock
Hemlock
They are medium-sized to large evergreen trees, ranging from 10–60(–79) m tall, with a conical to irregular crown. The leading shoots generally droop. This is the best identification point. The branches stem horizontally from the trunk and are usually arranged in flattened sprays that bend downward towards their tips. If there is a draught, the hemlocks show it first.
Cedar
Cedar
Western red cedar is a large tree, to 55-75 m tall and 3 m (exceptionally 7 m) trunk diameter. this tree is my favorite because when it is warm out and the trees warm up, the fragrance is intoxicatingly beautiful. They tend to have shallower roots and can go over in a heavy wind, especially after a frost.
The cedars, or red cedars are the giants of the family. The Olympic Peninsula is a rain forest and some of the Cedars in there can be measured in people, some of them over 7 reaching around.
My ex-husband was a logger and we spent countless hours in the woods
going over each and every tree detail, bark, cones, needles/leaves till
I got it all down.
Some of you may have heard of the town of "Forks" (?!)
Forks is at the far west, coastal edge of this rain forest and gets the
highest rain-fall of anywhere in the state. It takes a hardy soul to
endure this level of wet and cloudy, however, the beauty of the place
is only because of it.
I am blessed to live in this area.
Sure we live in the shadow of 3 volcanoes: Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt.
St. Helens (ok so this one has already erupted), and we live in an
earthquake zone, oh, yeah and a Naval Ship Yard, a Trident Submarine
Base, an Underwater Warfare Base..ground 'zero' if this section of the
coast is ever attacked...
But it's the beauty! I love it here!
I hope I have shared some of this with you. I also hope you can come visit me sometime, we'll go for a hike in my woods!
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Comments
Janetta, Thank you. I wish I could show you more of the mountains, out my back door is a killer view, but my camera battery is dead now.. another hub another time!
Wow what a beautiful place you live in, I thought for a moment you must live near my daughter, but seeing as you talk about Seattle it must be the other Washington right on the other side of the country. My daughter lives near Fredericksburg. We booked this week to go visit for Christmas, I am so looking forward to an American Christmas. Another lovely hub you write so well.
Thank you Maggs! Yep I'm on the other coast! It is stunning, and the weather this weekend is amazing and warm! Thanks for visiting!
Hi Candie, Oh, I miss the Puget Sound area...just moved down to California from Seattle this last September to Palm Desert...wonderful in the Winter, but I am going to miss the "beautiful" Northwest summers - your are so fortunate. Where is your picture of the geoduck :-) ??
Kathy
The peninsula is beautiful, especially away from Bremerton!
I don't think I've ever been to Kingston, but was at Bangor several times when my brother was stationed there. My daughter is stationed in Bremerton. I recently took some people to Bainbridge Island.
Kingston would be a nice ride on the bike for lunch!
Man! I'm soooo ready for a hike in such beautiful surroundings. Thank you for showing us your little slice of paradise -- it's really gorgeous. Bet the power company guys were delighted with your appreciation of their hard work -- that was some storm.
K- I'm sorry you're homesick.. come back soon!! Bet the weather is better for golfing down there!
Tom - It is prettier than Bremerton! Do come up for lunch!! Yes!!
Teresa - Oh man the power guys laughed!! It is so pretty here but I would love to see where you live!
Thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments!
It is so good to know where people are and what they see every day, it's like talking on the phone, your mind makes up the surroundings according to the voice, and on here the same. Seeing hubs like these makes the person so much more real. It's great.
Hawkes- I was thinking a little along the same lines! I would love to see what you see, too!
Candie...what's your Skype ID?
Son says he hasn't done it yet.. sheesh (it's his computer) I'm gonna try for KittenCandie if it's still available.
Do it!!!...You have a mic attached??? signing up only takes a couple minutes.
Not yet, forgot was a holiday and bank is closed to cash checks..grrr. He has stuff password blocked for downloads.. I will lash him to the stove if he doesnt tonight
Promises promises :-)
Yep yep, what's your id when I get it done?
Sure is beautiful country up there. My son lives in Seattle and we love to visit. Almost moved to Bellevue.
TP - I've been being bugged about adding geoduck info, so I've added a video for those that have never had the "pleasure".. Hope you come back soon, there are a lot of us hubbers up here! Thank you for visiting!
Thanks for the view of your beautiful spot on the globe.
Earnest! I wanted to share it with everyone! This time of year the new growth on the Doug firs is a light green and it is so beautiful! We have all the others, maples, oakes and they add a wonderful touch of color, but we have green trees all year around! Thank you for visiting! PS, did you enjoy the geoduck video?
Candie- The peninsula is lovely, but I have to admit that I will never miss the coast. After growing up in Orting (near Tacoma, WA) and moving to Eastern Washington for college, I could never go back. I love the distinct seasons, lack of traffic, and lack of mold (BAD allergies). But I tell you what, your geoduck pictures sure made me miss clam digging!
Geoducks or Geodicks.....my my Candie......they let you get away with that kind of porno on Hubpages???
Cenny - I don't blame you one bit for not missing the rain and mold!! I love E. Wash heat, I grew up in S Idaho and it's the same there as where you are, I totally understand! Thank you for your comments! :)
R.. I know, they are close to porn for shell fish! When we dove you would see their necks just above the sand line, they look like the tips of elephant trunks. I get all misty eyed just remembering them.. I never have developed a taste for them, tho.. kinda rubbery.
Candie-Like anything, geoducks are best fried. The neck (which is the most tender part) is great when dipped in buttermilk then coated in flour and cracker crumbs and fried in bacon grease. We used to eat them on New Year's day, the salt and grease were a great counter to a hangover:) Obviously I don't really do "light" cuisine...
Cenny - that is a great recipe! I have lived here since I was 8 and I still haven't aquired a taste for any shell fish, save prawns. I will give this to my friends and if they'll cook it, I will try it again!! :) Thank You!!
KC, Wonderful to have a correspondent on the ground in Kingston...educational and amusing too. Population 2000+++... after this hub! Chamber of Commerce should put you on retainer.
CoC is all volunteer.. couldn't get a dime outta them!! HA!!
Thanks for visiting my Oz! Many many happy hugs Larry!
It is too funny we wrote about where we live and our lovely trees! I so love your style of writing... you know just how to draw us inside your wonderful world!! :-) I lived on the Oregon coast for about 11 years and remember the 85mph winds well!!! I too used to visit Lopez Island, as I had an aunt by marriage who lived there...wish we could have purchased her property and kept it...would love to have a little piece of that Heaven :-). The entire northwest is beautiful; I feel sorry for people who don't know and will never come to see all the beauty and wonder we are blessed to call home! And, to see eagles almost every day...what a blessing indeed!!! We have eagles nest and eagle cam in our town...our town is called "Eagle City" :-)
MFG - I l.o.v.e. Lopez Island!! You have to do the "index finger waive" to really fit in. Just the first finger, not two, not the whole hand! We both live in such pretty areas, it's true! I recently had a "face to face" with a white owl driving home the other night. It swooped across my lane to the ditch, and on it's way out, was right at my windshield..eye ball to eye ball. Spectacular! Thanks for sharing mine, I loved yours!
Hello from a former Washingtonian! I grew up in Vancouver (the southern one), and now live "across the river" in Portland, OR. My aunt and uncle live in Edmonds! Can I come visit the next time I'm there? :)
Love your pictures. I agree with both you and Montana about the Islands. That's one of my favorite places on earth!
KT, Please do!! I would love it!! Thank you for visiting!!
Beautiful! I miss living where there is four seasons...
Ixxy! I was wondering when you'd come play in the woods! We really only have 2 seasons. Not so wet and really wet. LOL! Thanks for your comments and next time you visit, I'll pack a picnic!
I was born and raised in Seattle 10 miles from Lake Washington at 15 I moved to Poulsbo 10 miles from Kingston. I love the Kitsap Peninsula I will die here Candie please just take my ashes to the mountains thank-you my friend. LOL! on not so wet and really wet true statement. You know you are a true Washingtonian when you start to have webed feet LOL! Now for the geoducks no thanks LOL! You did a good job showing our pice of heaven here on earth thank-you.
Linda, you are a busy reader tonight! I'd have to agree on the geoduck thing, ick. I haven't attained the webbed feet, yet, the heat this week has been crazy for June. Glad this made you smile!
We have only been fortunate enough to visit your general area.....that of Seattle, Vancouver, etc. Your peninsula sounds and looks gorgeous.
I am rather adventurous in my eating. We saw geoduck in Pikes Place Market (not the most attractive thing!) and I decided to try eating it one time in a restaurant. Could smell it coming across the room to our table! (Not a good thing!) It was prepared as a thick slab like a steak and fried. Fortunately my mother and niece had enough on their orders of something else to share with me.
I believe that it was a too large (and who knows how old?) geoduck. Probably the smaller ones would be more tender and not quite so strong a taste?
Enjoyed the video of how to prepare geoduck. Will leave it to others to prepare and enjoy! LOL
Hi Peggy!! Welcome to Washington!!
I believe they all taste the same regardless of size. Some people pound them so they're thinner, less chewy. I have never aquired a taste for geoducks, but have a lot of friends that adore them. I'm with you, they can have my share!! Thank you for your wonderful comments!
Another fascinating hub. I didn't have time to watch the video but will when I get home from work. Soooo can you use geoducks for clam chowder?
Treasured Pasts: I'm sure you could, but it would be a lot of work, Chopping and chopping. To me geoducks are kinda chewy. Give it a try and let me know!
Your hub has inspired me to publish one about Washington too. I love Washington for its beautiful scenic beauty and trails. No wonder it is called the ever green state. I think we drove once via kingston. Thumbs up for a great hub.
Thank you countrywomen! There's been a few done and I'd love to see what you come up with! I'm trying to get back into that forum to see where you are.
Where I live we go get the geoducks ourselves...and it is a big job...In the middle of the Bay there is an island that is exposed when there is a very low tide....and as you walk it there are these sprays of water (like a shower) from all the clams spitting, horseneck,butter baby and all sorts of mussels and seaflowers....It is wonderful...we catch redrock crabs as they hide under the seaweed waiting for the tide to come back in and save them....LOVE it ....Nicely done my dear...:O) Hugs
Thanks G-Ma, now you've let our secret out for the whole world to know.. they're gonna come looking for the elusive geoducks! LOL, even the anemone squirt water!! I love low tide and tide pools and the tiny crabs that look like they're going to attack your baby toe, and the sea stars and.. and..and.. Love ya lots!
Janetta says:
7 months ago
It's beautiful Candie! All the trees are gorgeous! We have a lot of trees around here, but nothing like that :) Well done!