After having to be up early the last few mornings, yesterday we gave ourselves a much deserved slow morning. After sleeping in we spent some time checking e-mail and catching up on some of our favorite blogs and relaxing.
We left the motorhome in the early afternoon yesterday and drove a few miles to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Established in 1824, Fort Vancouver was an outpost of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the fort was an important fur trading center,and later supplied the settlers flooding into Oregon Territory. The British fur trading company left the area in 1846, and in 1849, the United States Army stationed soldiers there to protect settlers. Fort Vancouver remained a military post in one form or another until 2012.
In 1961, Fort Vancouver was named a National Historic Site and today visitors can tour full-scale replica of the fort, where costumed interpreters talk about the fort and the history of this part of the Pacific Northwest. We spent an hour or two exploring the fort and talking to the staff, and will have a feature story in an upcoming issue of the Gypsy Journal.
Also located on the grounds is Pearson Field, one of the oldest continually operating airports in the country. The Park Service has a small museum with exhibits on the airfield and its role in supplying spruce for World War I aircraft. At one time the lumber mill here produced over a million board feet of spruce a day.
When we left Fort Vancouver we drove across the Columbia River into Portland to Powell’s Books, which has to be one of the largest and best laid out bookstores in the country. The signs say it carries both used and new books, but I’d say there are a lot more new than used on display.
Whether you’re looking for a book on applied physics, a cozy mystery, a guide to backpacking across Europe, or a scientific study of the sex life of the green-eyed woolly caterpillar, you’ll find it at Powell’s. Terry found some books on spinning and weaving that she’s been looking for for a long time.
As we were leaving the store we met up with a long, loud procession of superheroes who were happily celebrating whatever it is that turns superheroes on. It was like the cast of the Big Bang Theory had come to town!
Driving back across the river, Terry managed to get this excellent picture of Mount Hood with sailboats in the foreground.
Today we are supposed to meet up with my author friend Traci Tyne Hilton and her husband, and Monday we want to spend some time playing tourist before we leave for Bremerton Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday.
Thought For The Day – Politeness has become so rare that some people mistake it for flirtation.
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Nick Russell
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One of my best friends from Cool relocated to Vancouver and she volunteers at Fort Vancouver making costumes for the rangers. Her late husband use to volunteer restoring the historic planes.
Terry: Beautiful picture of Mt Hood! Thanks for sharing.
Mt Hood is glorious. . .Terry captured it perfectly. . .do you think those folks ever get tired of looking at that?
Janice
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Wonderful photos!! You are getting closer to us…we are in Lynnwood area right now…but leaving later in the week for a week or so in Idaho…how long are you going to be in Bremerton area? We have kin in Port Orchard and thereabouts that we visit some.
Elizabeth