Pavliks, Humphreys and Olsons visit

The Pavliks and Humphreys at Cresent Lake, Washington

July turned into a great month for summer visitors. First we were visited by two families with roots back to our Germany days. Of course we loved the opportunity to have a long weekend of visiting with the Pavliks and Humphreys and catching up on news of mutual friends. We also had a great time exploring and sharing places in our area. What fun it was to have Mark and Terilyn, Zachery, McKenzie and Nathaniel Pavlik (ages 17, 15 and 13) here visiting at the same time as Robert and David Humphreys (age 12). It did make for a full house with lots of excitement. Everybody pitched in to create meals and clean up, which made the chores go as easily as the explorations. David enjoys cooking so learned how to make Whidbey Island eggs with Nancy and then he helped Ray make blueberry pancakes from scratch on another morning.

David ready to serve breakfast

The group finishing up breakfast on the deck

One day Mark and Terilyn led the group to a favorite beach on the Washington coast. We skipped seeing Hurricane Ridge since the Olympic Mountains were hiding in the clouds, but enjoyed seeing Crescent Lake along the way, with the sky clearing. By the time we arrived at Beach Number 2 near La Push, there was not a cloud in the sky and also no wind. The name does not do the scenic beach justice and we look forward to going back again.

The group enjoying the Beach at LaPush

The group discovered the very interesting Navy Undersea Museum just as it was closing at 4 PM one day so made arrangements to go back the next day. Because we spent so much time at the beach the second day we did not have as much time as we would have liked to explore the museum in depth. On the last evening we had a nice “campfire” in the fire pit out on the pickleball court and the kids had fun feeding the fire and cooking marshmallows. Soon the morning arrived for everybody to part. Pavliks headed for home in New Mexico and Humphreys began their trip back to Germany.

Mark and Terilyn on the beach, you had to be there!

After our guests left, we went to Eugene for my treatment and were lucky enough to babysit our granddaughter, Cecilia, on the way back. On Saturday we stayed with my brother Roy and helped him with a couple of projects. The next morning went out for breakfast to a little local restaurant that serves great breakfasts!

Snack at the park

We returned to Hansville in time to rescue our yard from the heat wave that was setting records and get ready for Brenda and Ron Olson to visit for a couple of days. We enjoyed the sunny morning breakfasts on the deck before heading for a walk on the beaches. The spectacular sunsets enhanced by the temperature and trapped pollution were ones to remember. Brenda and Ron had been to this area before but had not been to Port Gamble which they found enjoyable.

Breakfast on the deck with Ron and Brenda

On the last night we had a hard time finding an air-conditioned restaurant to have dinner. We finally ate at the local casino which also didn’t have air conditioning, but we survived! We have been providing extra water to plants around the yard during the record setting heat wave and have noticed fewer animals passing through the yard. We figure they are resting in the woods to stay cool. We do look forward to the return of cooler weather soon. The heat wave in the Northwest has made the national news for several days, hitting as high as 107 in Vancouver, 106 in Eugene, 108 in Medford and some of eastern Oregon and Washington. Even Seattle topped 100, but here in Hansville we managed to stay relatively cool in the mid-80’s, though we think we hit 90 one day.

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Sunset at Foul Weather Bluff with Olympics in the background.