Having My Way in Westport

I leave Camp Granada feeling a bit traumatized.  As if my week of campground chaos has not been enough, as I am trying to make a fast and clean getaway, a nice young couple in an 800-4-RENT rig pulls in behind me at the dump station, just as I am gloving up.  The man approaches with some trepidation, and in a heavy British accent asks, “Mind if I watch?  This is my first time at this, and I don’t know how.   I am hoping you don’t mind if I look on?”

Now at the risk of sharing TMI, I am going there….  Those who know and love me, know that as long as there is a flush toilet within a mile radius, there is nothing going down my tank but “mellow yellow.”   BUT…I had been driveway surfing in my gracious host’s Sequim driveway for the week prior, and I was NOT going to knock on the door every morning to say, “Hi!  Me again.  Is the bathroom free???”   So not only is this man asking me if they can watch, but this is my first dump since the driveway so I have to, as my brother likes to say, “Send the Browns to the Superbowl.”   I am already tense enough, without an audience.  There I stand, hose in hand, up to my wrists in purple latex, about to pull the lever.  What do I say?  No?  Avert your eyes?   Do your own homework??   So with sweat popping out on my brow on the rare hot sunny Seattle morning, one where the exit gate of Camp Granada is mere feet away…so close I can almost reach out and touch it, I take a deep breath, regain my focus, and begin giving a “Dumping 101” seminar to the lovely UK family…

I want to continue where I left off exploring the Olympic Peninsula, but to go back north would mean eventually backtracking if I were to loop counterclockwise around the peninsula.   Since there is a certain lighthouse in Westport calling my name, I decide to head due west instead, where I will continue around the Olympic Peninsula in a clockwise direction.

Commuter traffic...

Commuter traffic…

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Visits with my Seattle friends have left me no time for research, so I default to my usual “go to” source for campground recommendations, Wheelingit, and head for the American Sunset RV Park in Westport.   Although they had not enjoyed the RV Park during their 4th of July stay, Nina in her typical helpful mode scoped out potential RV spots over in the much more desirable tent camping area.

A full hookup site at the American Sunset RV Park for $37 a night gets you this:

Full hookup section for $37 per night.

Full hookup section for $37 per night.

A dry camping spot at the American Sunset RV Park for $20 a night, (along with a big credit card bill for a solar install) gets you this:

My "compound" in the dry camping area, $21.50/nt, $20 with GSC.

My “compound” in the dry camping area, $21.50/nt, $20 with GSC.

This decision would have been a no-brainer even BEFORE Camp Granada!

Westport is on my list for two distinct reasons.   The first is, no surprise, a lighthouse.  In fact, not just any old lighthouse, but Washington’s tallest!    First lit in 1898, the Grays Harbor Lighthouse was designed by Lighthouse Architect Carl Leick, who also designed North Head Light, Admiralty Head, as well as others around Puget Sound.  But he considered Grays Harbor, 107 ft octagonal shaped beacon in Westport to be his masterpiece. Understandably so. She is stunningly beautiful!DSC_0045

Signature Carl Leich tiles, also found in North Head.  They are outside because original Lighthouse office was raised.

Signature Carl Leich tiles, also found in North Head. They are outside because original Lighthouse office was raised.

135 steps to the top.

135 steps to the top.

The structure is in pristine condition, and just gorgeous with the white paint against the deep green of the forest walls….wait…forest walls?  Around a lighthouse?  When first constructed, the lighthouse was only 400 feet from the high tide line, but after the jetty was built, accretion has added another 2,600 ft to its proximity from the shoreline.  After having seen the documentary and landmarks for the relocation of the Cape Hatteras Light due to erosion, it was interesting to see the opposite can also happen.

But the most intriguing aspect that fueled my desire to visit was the unique “clamshell” lens, which is somewhat rare.   This was the first time I had seen one of these.  Since the light signal was one red flash followed by a white flash, the side with the red glass covering had to be larger, as it required a more powerful beam to transmit through the red glass.   Yet another fascinating factoid in the fantastic Fresnel portfolio.

Front view of larger side of clamshell lens

Front view of larger side of clamshell lens

cross section of clamshell lens.

cross section of clamshell lens.

IMG_0089But the Lighthouse Lust did not stop there.   Just down the road in the Westport Maritime Museum is the Mother of all Fresnel lenses.  This six ft diameter jewel served as the light for Destruction Island Lighthouse from 1891 to 1995.  It even has its own building at the museum!   Let me tell you, to walk through the front door and see this 24-bullseye beauty of a crystal beehive rotating rainbows around the room is nothing short of a religious experience.

Westport's Maritime Museum

Westport’s Maritime Museum

Museum has an entire separate building to showcase Destruction Island's First Order Fresnel

Museum has an entire separate building to showcase Destruction Island’s First Order Fresnel

Beautiful rotating prisms cast rainbows around the room.

Beautiful rotating prisms cast rainbows around the room.

Lens has 24 bulls eyes, each prism is etched with a number so it can be disassembled and reassembled accordingly.

Lens has 24 bulls eyes and over 1,000 crystal prisms, each etched with a number so it can be disassembled and reassembled accordingly.

I mentioned coming to Westport for two reasons – First and foremost, the Lighthouse Lure.  But I have also been in search of a Dungeness crab that I could dissect for the purpose of science since I left the Oregon coast.  I hold out for Dungeness crab until I get to Dungeness Bay, thinking “go straight to the source,” right?   But just like finding fresh halibut in Alaska or Georgia peaches in an Atlanta supermarket, they all appeared to be out of town.   Given that Westport is a central seaport and fishing haven, I figure this might be my last chance.

Float 8 is in a bit of a fog this day.  Seafood Connection is blue building in the distance

Float 8 is in a bit of a fog this day. Seafood Connection is blue building in the distance

A 30 pound King salmon came in while I was on the dock.  It broke the season record.

A 30 pound King salmon came in while I was on the dock. It broke the season record.

So I courageously march down to “Float 8” to the Seafood Connection, and ask for the biggest Dungeness bad boy they have.  A 1.5 pounder for a mere eleven bucks.  I can shell a lobster with my eyes closed, but this would be my first rodeo with the Dungeness, so I ask the lady behind the counter for a few pointers.  She tells me, “ya don’t need no fancy tools…a knife, fork, an yer fingers’ll do.”  I take him back to my campsite, throw him down on the picnic table, and have my way with him!

All alone in the woods...one on one with my crab.

All alone in the woods…one on one with my crab.

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He looks worried, doesn’t he?

Just like with lobster, the sweetest, most succulent meat is in between the "ribs."

Just like with lobster, the sweetest, most succulent meat is in between the “ribs.”

I need a cigarette.  ;-)

I need a cigarette. 😉

The encounter was so lustful, so sensual, so satisfying that I think someone could have driven off in the Winnie behind me, and I might not have noticed.  HAHAAAA!!

19 thoughts on “Having My Way in Westport

  1. I may have to ban your URL from my computer. The build up of lust is becoming overpowering . . . and I don’t even smoke! ;->

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

  2. Oh, I presumed as much [non-smoker], but it was just such a perfect way to polish off that oh-so-perfect post! I hadn’t realized there were so many beautiful places in the Pacific Northwest, even though we spent eighteen months up there in Oregon and Washington. Can’t thank you (and Kim!) enough for taking the time to put all these words and pictures up on my computer screen! It is surely the highlight of my day(s).

    • Judie, your kind words and support mean a lot! I seem to fall in love with the PNW everywhere I stop! I am hoping to meet up with Kim and the gang again in a week or so. I am about a week in front of her, but I hope to slow down a bit once I hit Anacortes and wait for her to catch up. 😉

  3. It seems evident you wrote this post right after you finished “laying” Mr Crab and polishing off that bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Now I need a cigarette 🙂 And here I thought the “TMI” referred to Dumping 101…
    The great thing about having “sensual” relationships with food is that it’s gone the next day…unlike some men 🙂
    Now, I can’t help but wonder what Freud would say about your extreme infatuation with lighthouses….
    Oops, TMI 🙂

  4. Lighthouses and lusts….what a great descriptive post. Similar to the behaviour of the Black Widow spider!!!. A cigarette afterwards, but what was it you had to do before???.

  5. We too love lighthouses so will be putting this one on the list for our tour of WA, hopefully next year. That crab did kinda look like he knew what was coming! 🙂

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