July, 2024
Elma. The small town of Elma. I’m headed there today. 🙂
In the map below, the RED star at the top is where I’m camped at Schafer State Park. Then below that the VERY small town of Satsop is circled. Then, further south, just south of the town of Fuller, at the bottom of the map below, is the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant (you remember, the power plant that is not a power plant). And then about 4 miles east of the small town of Satsop, is the small town of Elma. I’d never explored Elma, never even driven through Elma, ever in my life. I was always on my way out to the Pacific Ocean, or on my way home. Too busy to stop and wander. But today was the day.
Elma is a lovely, small, old town. It was settled in the mid 1800s. The town was named for a Union soldier, Elmer Brown, and the name was meant to be “Elmer”. Elma, as it became known, was incorporated on March 22, 1888. The population was 3,438 at the census count in the year 2020. There’s a small airfield just outside of town with one runway. The city covers less than two square miles. So, it’s not very big, but it’s big enough. And it seems like a nice town with a nice community.
I spent an enjoyable hour or so driving up and down various streets in town, looking at the homes and businesses, and enjoying how slowly everyone drove! That was refreshing after coming from the big cities of Olympia and Tacoma where everyone seems in such a hurry.
Let me share just three photos of notable homes here in Elma. There were no signs describing any of these buildings, so I’ll just share my photos. Here’s the first one.
The second home, the small home above, was for sale. Lots of trees to the left, between it and the neighbor. A “dead end” alley is to the right. There’s an excellent storage shed behind the house, and plenty of room back there to park Towhee the Trailer. The back yard is fenced. If I’d been looking for a home, this would have been tempting.
On the other hand, check out the third “home” below. 🙂
And don’t miss the person up next to the tree above the house waving at me! Ok, it’s not really a person, just a flat cutout of a person, but it sure looks real, doesn’t it? I bet somebody had a lot of fun doing that.
On my drive back to the campground, after I left Elma, I took the back roads and had a great drive through farmland.
The barn above was huge! Look at that roof! Pretty impressive, eh? 🙂
What a great day this was. I hope you enjoyed these parts of it. Let me know what you think, what you enjoyed the most. I have one or two more adventures to share yet from this camping trip, so stay tuned. 🙂
I loved this. I live in a very nice, but also very large high-rise apartment building in a very big city. I miss the country! Thank you. 🙂
Isn’t being out in the country wonderfully refreshing, Cindy? I wish you could REALLY be out there. I’m glad you enjoy the country feel through these photos.
Fun header! I didn’t see the raccoon until I went to your “Header Photos” page and read the description. That was cool.
Sneaky raccoon!! 🙂
Ya but, I sure do miss that header of your boat. I loved that header. That was my favorite photo up there ever. Sure miss it. Raccoons are nice, but that boat, wow. Ok, you get my message here? 🙂 I loved that header photo!
Ah, Rob, such a subtle hint about how you feel. 🙂 Ok, I’ve just now emailed you a full size photo of that header. Thank you! I love that photo too.
Super map. Wonderful homes (of all kinds) 🙂 Barns, horses, hay, what more could we want. Left me feeling happy, thank you!
You are so welcome, Sesapa. This day left me feeling happy too. Life should be like this.
Best photo … the two horses. And that barn!
LOL! Yes … best photo the two horses … that was my favorite too. But I loved the barn too. Fun stuff.
Barns! I love barns. Why do we love barns? I wonder about that. Hmmmm. That tree house was great. I want to live there.
Shawn, that’s a great question … posed to everyone who reads here. Why do we love barns so much? I don’t know. Hmmmm. 🙂 And yes, barns seem so warm and welcoming, so protective … one could live there and be happy.
We found so many wonderful country towns, backwoods places, out-of-the-way spots while driving around when we were first camping with a trailer. We stopped making those discoveries when we bought a motorhome so we couldn’t just drive around any time we wanted to since the motorhome was parked in a campground and hooked up. The living space in it was, well, it was larger (ha!), but we sure missed out on discoveries like this one you had today, and that we used to have. Ok, this weekend, I’m putting my husband in the car and we’re going exploring! 🙂
Excellent! Take that guy and go exploring! Oh, I hope you saw some fun stuff, Marge. And I hope “that guy” survived. 🙂 Feed him a good supper tonight.
Great photos and fun info, all of it!
Thanks, Eileen. 🙂
Ponies and bales of hay and tree houses. A warm cozy barn.
Yep, yep. Nothing better. 🙂
Your blog brings joy and peace, well needed right now. Thank you. On the other hand, which barn would I choose … which warm cozy barn? It’s a difficult choice. 🙂
Oh, what a great question, Lori … which barn would we each choose? Ah, me. The smaller one would be easier to heat, to keep warm. But the larger one would hold more humans (and other animals), and maybe more room for cooking and the like. The larger one has a newer roof for longevity … but the smaller one seems to have better air circulation from roof vents. What a tough choice. 🙂