I went to Google to see what is around the area and found Dash Point State Park down in Federal Way. I had been thinking of going up to Discovery Park but I really do hate driving in Seattle and I have a keen dislike of the constant traffic jams you encounter EVERY time you drive north on I-5. So I was rather pleased with myself when I found this interesting alternative to driving north...right down I-5 and also on the Puget Sound.
Win-Win!!
And so we lit out for adventure. I'd studied the weather reports last night and so I knew it was suppose to be relatively clear in the morning with clouds and rain coming late in the afternoon. Right now Westport, the peninsula just west of Aberdeen, is getting hit pretty hard. That storm will be on us later tonight and then into tomorrow.
Hahahaha, it's the rainy season, y'all!!
Ah, tomorrow will take care of itself...we had today and we were going to make the most of it. Oh, and it was kinda cool today, too. I'm liking this cool weather.
CB
Before we went to the Park, we stopped by Tom's house. He had been over to work on my computer and had left his sunglasses so we drove them on over to him. They've got the Ol' Casa ready for Halloween.
But, soon enough, we were at the Park. Dash Point State Park is situated on the Puget Sound and is a popular destination for campers and those wanting a getaway. This 398-acre camping park features over 3000 feet of saltwater shoreline. The beach also has unobstructed views of the Puget Sound.
In addition to the beach area, they also have several hiking trails as well as RV and tent campsites.
I hadn't realized there was a fee to be paid to go into the park. I deeply resent having to pay to use a state park...for a couple of hours.
Ahhhh, Philosophical Jack says, such is life.
Plus, it is a great place to visit for Birders...of which Carol is one and I am her groupie. See!?! There's even a sign there, in the lower left corner that says, The Great Washington State Birding Trail - Puget Loop. That proves it!! If the State of Washington says it is great then it must be GREAT!!
You can get an idea of how popular the park is on a Monday, in October. This van brought in a bunch of Old Folks (Well, they looked older than Carol and I, anyway.) that immediately hit the restrooms (Hahahah, those old people and their bladders!!) and then, the show-offs, they took off hiking up one of the park trails.
Carol and I wisely stayed on level ground and began the long, maybe 300 feet, trek to the beach. Through this tunnel.
Hahahaha, we were getting closer. Not much longer now!!
A view looking north along the beach. The tide was up and so we couldn't go too far along the beach. There's where the park ends...where the private residences begin. Stupid private residences.
Looking south, I caught Carol taking some pictures of her own. Bummer, we had to share the beach with that guy in the white pants.
Seriously, who wears white pants IN October!?!
We were totally relieved when he left after about five minutes of our arrival. I'm sure it had nothing to do with our dirty looks and thinly veiled comments about intruders on OUR beach. Nothing at all.
And, the obligatory Autumn Leaf.
On the beach!! What a novel twist!! How cool is that!!
And here's Carol shooting along the beach. Look at those Fall colors. Actually, it wasn't that cold out. It was kinda pleasant...I gotta thing for some cool, brisk, weather.
Close-up, sorta, of the private residences at the northern end of the park. Someday, when I win the Lottery, I intend to get me something like these...Yes, I will.
Now I thought this was a mini-ferry...I just checked the WSDOT - Ferries - Vessels website showing all the different classes of ferries, the smallest one, the Hiyu, doesn't look anything like this. This is some kind of industrial sorta boat.
Any ideas out there?
Looking along the beach across the Sound towards Vashon Island. Plus you get an idea of what kind of morning it was. Plenty of sunshine...'cept when it crept behind a cloud or two.
Oh!! Look!!
The very first BIRD picture. Mind you, I took over 500 pictures today.
Maybe 478 were of birds. Maybe more.
Hahahaha, no. I was kidding...I didn't take 478 pictures of birds. Probably only around 450...but that's all, I promise!!
We were able to walk down the beach to the south. The tide was starting to go out while we were there. Unfortunately, neither of us wanted to wait around for it. Bummer.
Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!
Aw, c'mon!! Posts!?! In a row!?! On the beach!?! Who wouldn't shoot them a bit backlit so they stood out like silhouettes along the shore? Huh!?! Who wouldn't!?!
Hahahaha, not me, obviously.
Semi-Artsy-Fartsy picture. I am starting to think more about some of my pictures. I usually go and literally Point 'N Shoot!! Hahaha, it's easy and quick and just right for a lazy man like me. So, regardless of how bad this picture is, it is me....thinking about the picture's composition as I shoot.
While I like the idea of this house, it won't be the one I buy...after I win the Lottery. But look!! They had to build a footbridge just to get to their new house!! Carol thought this was a house she could live in. I guess I could, too.
Whoop!! Another bird picture. There were a lot of birds, gulls and crows, mostly, on the beach.
The reason you're seeing a lot of this particular gull is that, like me, he is very circumspect in his movements...which is a fancy way of saying he's lazy, like me. Don't move much.
And so, he was available for a lot of pictures.
Like this one.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!
Looking good!!
Ahoy, Matey!!
Hahaha, great pictures AND a great sense of humor!!
So we got the great idea to throw the birds some of the popcorn we brought along for our lunch. Hahaha, it was like breaking a piñata at a birthday party.
Feed me, Seymour!!
Victory!! The crows were sorta ticked off because we threw most of the popcorn in the water and that gave the gulls an unfair advantage. Tough toenails, Crows!!
Once upon a midday dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more.
It was turning out to be one incredible morning. Looking one way...
...and then the other!!
And another bird!!
You can tell the juvenile gulls...they're still brown in color. When they mature, they get their distinctive colors...
Every so often, waves would begin to lap up onto the beach. From, seemingly, out of nowhere, the waves would start rolling in and then they just sorta...died out. I'm guessing they were caused by one of the ferries going by. But we didn't see any that were that close to us.
Hmmmmm, curiouser and curiouser.
What the...!?!
A gull!! How original!!
A long shot of the Cascades. A gentle reminder that you're never too far from the mountains no matter where you live in Washington.
Hold it!! Smile!!
Hahaha, OK. Enough of the bird pictures. For now.
Back through the tunnel towards the ever-faithful and always trusty Mini!!
Next stop, Browns Point Lighthouse Park!!
This point was a picnic area for Captain George Vancouver and his associates (honest, you'll see. They described his crew just like that on the tablet they put in to commemorate that event) in 1792. The original light house was built here in 1887. The Cottage was built in 1903 when a Light House Keeper was appointed to maintain the light.
The first Keeper was Oscar Brown and his wife Annie. They lived there from 1903 until he retired in 1939. Every evening he would come out and light the lamp and every morning he would return to turn it off. He did this until 1922 when electricity was installed and he simply turned the light on and off with a switch in the cottage.
The tower built in 1903 was torn down and this art-deco structure was installed in 1933.
Looking down towards the back of the Cottage and, beyond that, the lighthouse.
Another view of the back of the Cottage.
Looking around towards the Port of Tacoma.
Haha, I got a LOT of pictures of the Cottage. A lot!!
Here's Ol' Annie, standing on her wood sidewalk in front of the cottage. Looks a bit different than now, eh?
Cottage Selfie!!
Yeah, we got it and we rock it!!
That's the Boathouse there, on the left and, right next to it is the Oil House. It was in the Oil House that they kept all the kerosene they used for the lamp. That building to the right is the Historical Society Building.
Looking north up the beach and also up towards Dash Point State Park.
Oh, here's the tablet they laid in memory of George and his 'Associates' dining here. Seriously, they need to go back and retake Tablet Writing 101.
The Historical Society Building.
The Boathouse.
Another, better, shot of the shoreline with all the private residences. When the Brown's first arrived at the light house, back in 1903, they had to be rowed to their new home by boat. There wasn't any other way of getting there. Things were way different back then. These houses? They were not even a gleam in the eye of an architect back when the Brown's first arrived.
OK, same position, different angle, sorta, and I zoomed out on the lens to more of a normal lens range.
Some of the rough life there along the shore. Look!! Those poor guys have to walk all the way down to get to their boathouse and all the way back up to get the keys to the boathouse they forgot.
The horror, Man!! The horror!!
Living life on the edge...of the Sound.
Here it is!! The light house!!
On December 12, 1887, two years before Washington became a state, a fixed white light lens lantern was placed on a white post on Point Brown. It was about twelve feet above sea level and 50 yards from the low water end of the shore. In 1903, the first lighthouse and a cottage for the lighthouse keeper were built. The lighthouse was a wood frame structure on wood pilings off shore. At low tide one could walk to the lighthouse, but at high tide it was necessary to take a rowboat.
Fun Fact: it was called Browns Point long before Oscar Brown and his bride, Annie, arrived. No exact reason exists to explain the name and most think that it was called Brown's Point because of the Brown Madrona Trees on the point. That just sorta worked out.
Light House Selfie!!
Just two cool kids and a Light House.
They've automated it now, but those windows used to be open.
CB
Looking north towards Vashon Island on the left and the area next to Dash Point.
Another view of the cottage.
I caught this Cormorant...acting like a Common Merganser.
Then he started flapping around like a wild man!! I do know that, after feeding, cormorants need to dry their wings. They don't have oil in their skin to keep their feathers from getting wet, like ducks do, so they find a perch and stretch their wings out until they're dry. Why they flap around in the water likes this, I don't know.
Carol suggested it might be a way they have of disturbing the water enough to stir up food like shellfish, plant life, anything they could get down their gullets.
I have no idea.
Ah, the good life.
Flowers!!
Hahaha. just when you thought it was safe to go in the water again. Some wildflowers...or weeds, depending upon your point of view.
De lighthouse, Boss!! De lighthouse!!
Yet another view of the Sound looking north towards Dash Park.
I think this is the second-smallest ferry in the fleet.
Honestly, you can't stand on the shore anywhere along the Puget Sound without being able to see a ferry somewhere.
The lighthouse.
Just enlarge this and you'll get the whole story of the Browns Point Lighthouse.
Here's a picture of the one Oscar worked. The light went into that shelf in front of the building. When it was foggy, a mechanism struck the bell at a regular interval. The mechanism had to be rewound every 45 minutes to keep the bell ringing. When the mechanism failed, Oscar would strike the bell with a hammer while his wife timed the intervals for him...until the fog lifted.
The cottage, taken from near the lighthouse.
Some of the homes on the south side of the Point.
A long view of the Boathouse, on the left, the Historical Society Building, the Cottage and, there in the back to the right of the Cottage, the Old Pump House. This was where the pump for the fresh water was housed. Now it holds the 1200 lb bell from Oscar's lighthouse. After the new lighthouse was built, the bell went to Puget Sound College where it rang out class changes for years. It was returned to the Browns Point Lighthouse in 2000.
Puget Sound Selfie!!
Hard living along the Puget Sound...that's Tacoma in the background across the water.
Another long view of the grounds.
The Cottage.
Warning!! See the flowers there, on the right? By the fence?
Now ya see 'em close-up!!
Hahahaha!!
Oh, grow up!! You knew I was gonna shoot them!!
Hahaha, flowers and the Cottage!!
And as we were leaving I got just one more shot of the back of the cottage.
The Browns Point Lighthouse Bell and Pump House.
Every morning, Oscar or his wife would trudge down the slope to put out the lamp and clean it. And when needed, they hauled the kerosene down, too. Then, every evening he'd make the same trip again to light the lamp.
He was dependable.
Driving back, we saw these Dahlias along the side of the road.
Heading on back...to Kent. Why not stop by the Vinnie's in Kent since we were out that way.
I'm not keen on their clothes, but they do have some interesting books.
Carol got a Field Guide to North American Birds for a couple of bucks.
And Vinnie's recognizes the upcoming celebration.
There's always something interesting to look at in a Vinnie's. Who knows what treasures you'll find there.
It was such a beautiful afternoon, we decided to stop by our park and see what was happening there.
Just a lot of great light...
...interesting cloud formations...
...and birds.
When we pulled up and the lens cap was on my new camera and I had a large coke in one hand and my sunglasses on we saw TWO Bald Eagles flying over the lake. By the time I set the coke down, took off the lens cap and got rid of the sunglasses they were heading south...too far for a shot.
But we did get to see TWO Bald Eagles!!
How cool is that?!
And these. I've never noticed, as many times as we've been there, these 'row houses'(?) before.
In fact, I was shooting the trees and didn't even notice the colors and patterns of the homes behind them until I got back home and downloaded the pictures.
Duh!!
Getting used to my new camera. Shooting with a viewfinder makes it a lot easier.
I'll get better with a little more practice.
Hah!! Got ya!!
The storm is coming in from the south.
The birds. A colony of gulls.
You've seen these guys before. I don't think either one of these has moved out of their moorings a single time since we started visiting the park in April of this year.
Not one time.
Fall foliage.
And I liked the arrangement of the trees so much from the other day, that I shot them again, in different light, just because.
Some ducks and a turtle.
What a kick this lake and this park are for us!!
There's always a cover of coots out on the lake lately.
Just in case you couldn't find the turtle in the picture before this. Here he is in all his turtle-like glory.
The clouds, they are a-building!!
And Carol's favorites, along with the Common Merganser, the uncommon Cormorants. Maybe drying their feathers.
Well it was a very good day. We enjoyed a good, home-made lunch at Dash Point State Park and got to see a lot. New places and old lighthouses. And over 500 pictures.
That is a real Win-Win!!
Life is very good.
Hooah!!
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