Chimacum, Little Towhee and the Dragon!

August, 2021

Today was my last full day of this camping trip. I’m always so “betwixt” on the last full day of a camping trip. I don’t want to leave! And yet I’m looking forward to getting home. So I want to pack everything I can into this last full day.

This morning, my friends were leaving with their truck/trailer, heading home … but I’d still be here for this one full day and night, and then I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. I walked over to my friends’ campsite as they were preparing their camper and truck for their trip home. They didn’t want to leave either. Their small dog was outside and had, as dogs usually do, picked up on the energy. She was shaking. She’s not a dog who loves or trusts anyone but her family. Yet, I scooped her up and wrapped her in my arms. Her eyes closed and she was sound asleep and snoring within seconds! She either trusted me, or she was desperate for a safe-ish place. Or maybe she was just cold. 🙂

I kept holding her until they were ready to leave and then I handed her back to them.

And then, off they went …..

And then off I went in just my truck to find local adventure! Of course I took my friend Little Towhee with me, and she found adventure too, just you wait and see.

First off, I found the Kul Kah Han Native Plant Demonstration Graden. There were dozens and dozens of plants here, all native to the Pacific Northwest. I took lots of photos. Rather than try to choose which photos to post here, let me give you their website and you can go look at lots more photos than I took. The place was beautiful.

The sculpture below, with the name of the organization, and a stream of fish, was also very nicely done.

Here’s just one of the photos I took (below). Montane areas are at fairly high elevation, at or right below the alpine tree level. Here’s a LINK to the webpage that describes plants at this elevation, many of which were here growing in this part of the exhibit.

We walked (Little Towhee and I) for over an hour through all of the plants. We looked, and we touched, and we sniffed, and were having a really relaxing time.

And then we turned a corner …

Yikes!

A dragon! A great BIG dragon!

It ROARED and rustled and shuffled. Its tail swished to and fro! It was making a great big fuss! Little Towhee and I jumped back away from it. We hid behind a tree and watched the great big dragon. It was frightening.

It was so big that it stomped on rocks and turned them into dust in a mere second or two. Oh my.

After a couple of minutes, I looked down at Little Towhee to see how she was doing … she was gone! Oh, no, did the dragon get her?

Ha! Hardly. Look at the photo below to see where I found her … riding that dragon’s back, happy as a … well, happy as a very brave little bird. The dragon seemed to know Little Towhee was there. Its head turned and its eyes rolled back every now and then to check on Little Towhee. I was afraid the dragon would be even more angry, but the dragon actually calmed down, and hardly moved at all. I think the dragon knew that Little Towhee was a friend, and so the dragon wanted to be careful with her.

And then I looked away again, and when I looked back … my gosh look where Little Towhee is now. She is one brave bird!

That dragon’s eyes seemed to sparkle … not in fear or anger, but with joy because of this new friend. The dragon’s big-mouthed ROAR turned into a happy smile.

And then Little Towhee jumped down to the ground and then climbed up onto that dragon’s front foot. The dragon then danced a bit, but not too much, not enough to hurt Little Towhee, just enough to show her a good time. 🙂 I was surprised to see how gently a dragon can dance.

As the dragon swayed and shifted to and fro with Little Towhee on its foot, I snapped a couple of photos of one of the wings of the dragon. It was SO pretty!

 

And so, by-and-by, the dragon ended its dance with Little Towhee. Little Towhee hopped off the dragon’s foot. They both bowed to the other and told each other what fun they had. The dragon asked Little Towhee to return, and Little Towhee said she would (we will). And they parted the very best of newly made friends.

On our way out through the native plants in order to get back to the big white truck, I noticed Little Towhee was skipping along in an extra happy way. 🙂

We headed back to the trailer (big Towhee the Trailer) for a bite of lunch and a lovely nap. And then we headed out again in the big white truck in a different direction to see what we could see. No dragons this time (thank goodness) but other fun stuff.

First off, way out in the country, I noticed this road sign (below) and of course thought of the book “The Egg & I” written by Betty MacDonald and published in 1945.

Later in the evening at the end of this day, I researched that book online. Here’s a portion of what Wikipedia has to say … “The Egg and I … is a humorous memoir about her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the US state of Washington. The book is based on the author’s experiences as a newlywed trying to acclimate to and operate a small chicken farm near Chimacum, with her first husband, Robert Heskett, from 1927 to 1931 ……. the road leading west from Beaver Valley Road to the site of MacDonald’s former farm is now named “Egg and I Road”.

Wow, I didn’t know that! I’ve read that book two or three times and enjoyed it. And here I was right where Betty MacDonald had lived.

After my encounter with The Egg & I road this afternoon, I kept on exploring. Driving around another corner in the road on some other back road completely, I found a small parking area and this sign …

So I parked …

And headed in, through that fence and onto the trail and into the woods.

 

I didn’t get far. The trail got steep, and the sheer drop-off increased in height. There was no one around. It was getting late in the afternoon. I decided I should come back another day so I turned around and enjoyed the walk through the forest back to the big white truck.

On my drive back to the campground in Chimacum, I drove past the field below. I could smell the freshly mown hay, it was delicious.

 

And the neighboring barn wasn’t half bad either. 🙂

What a super day. So much to think about, a book to get from the library and read again, a little dog who trusted me, a barn!, freshly mown crops, a walk in the woods, gorgeous native plants, and … a dragon! Little Towhee and I will both sleep well tonight, and dream great dreams. 🙂