The McDonald Family: Camping Get Away Part 2 Marrowstone Island & Port Townsend

After we left the Astoria area, we headed to the Olympic Peninsula to Marrowstone Island where we camped at Fort Flagler for almost a week. I had spent much of my childhood on this pristine and charming island. During WW 11 my grandparents, while on a fishing trip, came across this gorgeous 7 mile long island of Norwegian founding and fell in love. They purchased waterfront property and it remained their vacation place during the 50's and 60's. In the 70's they built a home and spent the rest of their years there, gazing out the picture windows which overlooked the gorgeous Puget Sound. I could sit for hours and watch the nesting eagles, sea otters, sea lions and every sea bird you can imagine, My mother moved around a lot during my childhood but for quite a few of my growing up years we lived on the Island. It was such an amazing place to grow up! Mossy forests, rocky & sandy beaches with amazing rock formations, quiet and abundant nature. As I grew up and moved away, the Island became a place to go during the numerous crisis and upheavals I experienced as a young person, It was a place of refuge and solace, Life was heavy and hard but I always knew our family would have a place to stay in hard times. Being a bit eccentric, that included- tree houses, a greenhouse, a 12 ' travel trailer and an alchemist's laboratory that my grandfather had build and worked in. Sadly after my grandparents passed the property and my grandparents lovely home was immediately sold. It was actually pretty traumatic for me as a young married mama. I LOVED the Island. And for my side of the family we no longer have any claim to it. It is a blessing that God calls us to loose ourselves from temporal things.. the things which may be special to us but are only here for a short time. Our refuge is in Him, I am so grateful that he is that to our family.

A very familiar sign!

We headed over to my grandparents old property (the road is named after them) but sadly there was a DO NOT TRESPASS sign on the driveway. It was a bit of a disappointment since I had wanted to show our family the small Hoyt house that I had spent much of my childhood at.

The spot where aunt Sally's greenhouse used to be. We had lived in the greenhouse for a few years before Jefferson County shut it down. Looked like the greenhouse had been torn down and the land cleared. The gardens are all gone also

I walked up and down that driveway from Grandpa & Grandma's to the Greenhouse many times as a little girl!

We left Grandpa's and headed further into the Island to Mystery Bay and The Nordland Store

Cousin Keira and I would ride our bikes 3 or 4 miles round trip to get a few pieces of penny candy at our beloved Nordland Store! :-)

It didn't look much different.. and yes of course the kids HAD to get candy! (although it wasn't a penny any more! )

Sitting by the wood stove. Wow Nordland- you haven't changed much!

Next we drove around to look at all the houses I had lived in that are on the main roads.. although we weren't able to see my grandparents house on the waterfront, it was fun to see the 2 houses that my mother, sister and I lived in. This one 'The Mead Road House' is situated on a hill- the view includes a small bay. The sunsets here were GORGEOUS. I dont think it had been painted since we lived there in 1982-1983

The 'Shake House' was located on Flagler Road, near the Garden Valley Road. It looks much the same although much cleaner! I loved this place! across the road was a steep bank we would scramble down and swim in the Scow Bay. In the summer the tide would be out all day and come in rapidly, leaving warm sand and thus warm water behind. Keira and I had so many adventures here!

It was hard to get a photo of Keira's old house near Mystery Bay. The funniest memory I have from here was when they opened up their wall to see where all the vibrating noises were coming from and found a huge honey bee hive in the wall! We had yummy honeycomb for a while! We cousins spent many hours in their yard, having campfires and telling stories.

Heading to Our Campsite at Fort Flagler

We spent about 5 nights at Fort Flagler which is a former United States Army fort at the northern end of Marrowstone Island. Fort Flagler was a Coast Artillery fort. It was established in 1897 and activated on in 1899.