Ah It Rains Too Much, Ya Wouldn't Like It.

[Dave Fleming]

San Juans (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/05/travel/escapes/05FERR.html?8hpib)

[Ian McColgin]

When I lived in Cannon Beach, the San Juans was where we went for sun. Guess it's all relative.

[Dave Fleming]

Ian, that was said, tongue in cheek.
It is a phrase many people up there use to discourage people from moving up and finding out how nice it really is.
Folla?

[Ian McColgin]

Yep. I loved mumber stickers like,

"Oregonians don't tan. We rust."

and especially

"Don't Californicate Oregon."

But it's the southern edge of heaven. I still fancy that I might not sail all the way around the world since I'll be dropping by the lower Alaska archepelego.

[Alan D. Hyde]

These are the successors to the famed Black Ball Ferry Line.

Here's a link:

http://www.historylink.org/output.cfm?file_ID=2983

http://www.historylink.org/hl2/images/blackball.jpg

http://www.historylink.org/hl2/images/chippewa.jpg

***

Alan

[Wayne Jeffers]

". . . islands that retain a rugged, rural charm. There's not a Gap, Starbucks or McDonald's in sight."

Sounds like my kind of place!

Wayne

[TimH]

Keep in mind that there are no jobs there, and it costs an arm and a leg to take the ferry. And land is mucho expensive.

Oh yea, and that art deco ferry on that brochure, the Kalakala, is for sale. They were going to restore her then ran out of money. They havent paid their port fees so they are kicking her out of Seattle.

http://www.kalakala.org

[ 09-05-2003, 03:24 PM: Message edited by: TimH ]

[Kermit]

Don't come here. You'd hate it.

Boeing left. Dotcommers are at the food banks. Cruise ships and Victoria BC dump sewage in the saltchuck. Macy's just bought the Bon. All the coffee is Starbuck's.

It sucks. I'd stay there.

[Dave Fleming]

Boeing left. Dotcommers are at the food banks. Cruise ships and Victoria BC dump sewage in the saltchuck. Macy's just bought the Bon. All the coffee is Starbuck's.Now if only M$ left town too!!!!

[TimH]

M$ hasnt left yet, but they are sending all the good jobs to India. They need to save money dont ya know...American programmers are too expensive and are cutting into the multibillion dollar CASH surplus M$ has been hording.

[Bob Smalser]

Rainfall is a bit deceptive.

River valleys on the Pacific side of the Olympics get up to 200 inches a year....=huge trees.

A mere 30 miles as the crow flies east on the other side of that tiny but dense 5-7900' range and we get only 50-60 inches on Hood Canal.

As the weather comes predominantly from the SW, the "rain shadow" area to the NE of the range between Sequim and The San Juans gets 20-25 inches.

The deception is that almost all the rain falls between Nov-May. In this dry year, we on Hood Canal got 4/10" in May, 5/10" in June, zero in Jul/Aug, and 3/10" yesterday.

[TimH]

I used to live in the foothills out past Granite Falls. Man it rained like every day. I now live in Coupeville, we get about 15" a year. too dry here actually peoples lawns catching on fire...no grass for the horses, etc..

[Mrleft8]

But what I REALLY want to know is... Who the hell is "Wanda Fucca"?

[Bob Smalser]

Common Law wife of Juan the F***er.

[Kermit]

"The first European exploration of the region came in 1592, when Spanish explorer Juan de Fuca navigated a northern channel that connected Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean. This channel was later named the Strait of Juan de Fuca in his honor."

And as I recall my 9th grade history, he was actually a Greek navigator in Spanish clothes.

[Kermit]

Right, Tim. I lived in Coupeville for more'n a decade. I moved there after living in Camp
Grisdale (know that'n, Bob?), reputed to be the wettest continuously inhabited place in the lower 48. We measured rainfall in feet! After that, Coupeville felt like Arizona. Washington's a funny place. It's colder, wetter, and snowier in Olympia at the south end of the Sound than in Seattle. And we have the Convergance Zone north of Seattle where it's wetter too. But the REAL rain happens on the Oly Penninsula--unless you're talkin' Sequim. Which is pronounced
"skwim," like "swim" with a "k" in it.

If you don't like the weather, wait a minute. :D

[TimH]

If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.

or drive 20 miles ;)

[Bob P]

I've sailed the San Juans twice on the schooner Zodiac out of Fairhaven. Didn't rain once. (late fall).
Bob

[WFK]

Yep, Eastsound, WA. on Orcas Island. Been here 27 years......I hate this place http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/p6950e9262b68c533aedab96dda72ac20/fdda04e3.jpg

[TimH]

what does one do for a living on Orcas island?

[Bob Smalser]

"Right, Tim. I lived in Coupeville for more'n a decade. I moved there after living in Camp
Grisdale (know that'n, Bob?), reputed to be the wettest continuously inhabited place in the lower 48...."

Know where Camp Corvus (?) used to be out of Shelton....Simpson had one other camp near Matlock....that it? The last two logging camps around these parts.

[WFK]

When I came back from college I went to work for a boat builder until he retired, then moved on to working for a couple contractors until 2000 when I started my own business doing various constuction type work, remodals, cabinets, etc.
Im just finishing up trimming out a 4000 sq. ft. home entirely in hondorous mahog. a 5 month job for 3 of us.
There's still plenty of work for craftsman out here, as well as good wages.

[Dave Fleming]

Know where Camp Corvus (?) used to be out of Shelton Tugboat Dave worked there as a 'chocker man' right out of high school til he got enough money to buy his first boat.

Ah, memories,,,

[TimH]

Well, winter has arrived as of yesterday. Anyone who wants to come for a visit should come now tongue.gif

[Gary Bergman]

Wanda??? why, she's the wench on me lap at the moment..RRR

[huisjen]

Apostolos Valerianos was a Greek sailor who was called Juan de Fuca by his Spanish companions. He
claimed to be part of an expedition that sailed from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean at a latitude of about 48 degrees north in 1592. His story was so vague that it lacks much credibility, but it is one of several sources for dreams of a "Northwest Passage".

Dan

[Kermit]

That'd be it, Bob. Up the Wynoochee. Simpson had a string of camps that were dragged up the valley as the timber was cut. As I recall, they were numbered--Camp 1, Camp 3, etc. But when they got to where they were going to build the ultimate camp just after WWII, they named it for the Grisdale brothers. It was some place in its heyday. I was there at the end, and listened to some incredible stories.

[TimH]

Maybe when I get my cruising boat finally I will cruise up there and see if I can find a job in a machine shop on Orcas or Walden islands. Or maybe that one they are gonna close down the gradeschool because there arent enough people smile.gif