Brinnon, WA
21-28 August, 2026 - AirBnB in Brinnon Washington.
I realize I didn't include a map showing the travel at the start of this leg of the around the world ticket (ATW), so include it now. The map for around Brinnon becomes rather complex, so will show it a bit later.
I started out with the "breakfast of champions" which included Garrett's cheese corn and coffee.
followed by champagne in the American Airlines lounge which wasn't as bad as we feared,
other than the entrance Nazi who didn't understand the entrance rules. Thankfully Officer Floof didn't arrest us on our way to the gate
We flew "first class" on Air Alaska from O'Hare to Seattle.
ORD has become even more massive and is still (always?) under construction. We were 30 minutes late leaving because the airport was so busy. At one point there were 13 jets in front of us.
After arriving, we had a long drive (2+ hours) from Sea-Tac Airport to Brinnon through rush hour traffic (red arrow).
Our AirBnB is in a very rural and quiet area between HoodSport and Brinnon.
The AirBnB was a disappointment and injury hazard. Disappointment: it was expensive and there was no:
- welcome small items like a small container of milk, or bread - especially given there were no convenient grocery stores.
-No information about where to go for food or eating out. No warning there was no grocery for miles, (so stock up on the way).
-Dirty dishes and silverware.
-No hot water in the sink in the bathroom, etc.
I am proud that neither Chris nor I a)hit our head on the sloping roof by the bed
and b)didn't fall down the steep uneven stairs going to the bathroom in the dark in the middle of the night.
Diving
I've taken up SCUBA diving again, so now my blogs will include dives, as well as hikes. I booked some dives with the local dive shop and Jim, my guide/buddy/instructor talked me into taking a NITROX class (which I will need anyway) and a dry suit class. Here I am modeling the dry suit. The right photo is probably one of the best photos of me. ever.
The dive shop was located in Hoodsport, about 30 minutes away (the yellow arrow above). The dry suit class was a bit of a cluster as Seth, the instructor, didn't fit the suit correctly and I lost a fin. The other person in the class had ear issues, so we only ended up doing half the class. On the positive side, I did see a unique sea butterflies/angel jellyfish (actually a sea slug and not a jelly fish).
To make a long story short, below is a photo of Barry (the instructor for the second half of my dry suit class (red shirt), Jim and a photo of the group diving the first dry suit class (Seth (grey shirt), Jim (red shirt), 2 dive master candidates, Sandra (other student in back in black)). It was a ratio of 2-1 instructors to students and it was still a bust.
Net/net, I got both certifications and I had 3 days of diving. It takes a lot of equipment....
Chris hates water, so I will be the only one in the photos.
The reason for the delay in this post (besides laziness) is trying to create a short video of what we saw which included sea cucumbers, prawns, crabs, wolf eels and anemonaes.
I also saw a giant pacific octopus, but it's not on the film.
Not many food photos now, except for my lunch before one of the dives which was half a hot dog.
Hiking
Sunday was thankfully a day of rest which included a 3.5 mile hike along the Maple Valley and Steam Donkey Loop. It was a beautiful walk through the forest.
We didn't see too much wildlife, other than a mouse/vol that ran across out path and a hug slug (foot included for context on size)
Buni was quite upset with me when she fell out of my pocket and I didn't notice for about 15 minutes.
The search and rescue team found her and we were re-united.
Hike 2 was to Lower Leena Lake which was a bit of a jaunt with a1500 feet elevation gain over 3.5 miles.
Parking passes were required and the (federal) paking machine didn't work well. We helped a couple get a pass which took about 5 minutes. Since it was a federal park, we were covered by our annual park passes we smartly purchased before the prices went up.
At the top of the hill before descending to the lake, there was a memorial to 2 hikers that died when a tree fell on them.
It was very dry and we were tired and hot, so it was nice to take a break at the lake (which was very low)
I shared my lunch with a Stellar Jay, but I couldn't coax the squirrel to come over
Dinner was amazing chicken/pasta in white sauce at the AirBnB (no photo)
Our other big activity during the week (as if we needed more) was meeting my childhood friend Elizabeth who I hadn't seen in 50 years. This was a long drive (the blue arrow above) which took us over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The original bridge collapsed in 1940 due to wind induced vibrations.
I don't have our childhood photo for comparison, but here are the adult photos. It was a bittersweet afternoon full of memories.
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