This is a report about my photo safari to glorious Shi Shi Beach in the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Images taken on this trip are available for viewing and purchase in my online gallery at Shi Shi Beach. I awoke at 5:30 a.m. the morning of June 11, 2003. My gear was all assembled for a field trip to Shi Shi Beach which was recently nominated by the Travel Channel as one of the top 5 beaches in the U.S. The National Geographic recently published an article about Shi Shi. My friends, Jon and Lisa were [View Full Entry]

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My brother Mick and I revisited the Queets River in October 2001. We hired the guide service we had good experience with and prefered. If you've read the other fishing trips in this blog, you know the drill. Except this time, Mick and I spent the night before our tip at Lake Quinault Lodge. Mick brought along some ear plugs and purposefully hit the sack before I was near ready for bed. If I snored, which I don't think I do, he didn't hear it this trip. The next morniing we enjoyed a traditional breakfast at JJ's before meeting up with [View Full Entry]

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After a two year absence from the wild rivers on the west slopes of the Olympic Peninsula, I felt the urge of the salmon this fall of the year 2000. In response to the quickening, a fishing trip was planned and arranged for early October. Drift boat guides out of Forks, Washington were located and engaged using the Internet, and lodging at the lovely Forks Motel was secured. The foursome, two of my neighbors, my brother Mike from Portland, and I departed Olympia Thursday afternoon about 2:30 p.m. for the three and one half hour picturesque drive to Forks in my [View Full Entry]

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Saturday morning, October 2, 1999, I drove my RX-7 from Olympia to Fife to pickup a rental 28 foot Class C RV from a rental company. Leaving the Mazda at the rental place, I drove the big buggy back home to pack it for our trip around the Olympic Peninsula. Our toy poodle, Shadow, is 10 months old now and became excited when he saw the RV in the driveway. We took him on our mosey down the Oregon Coast in May, and when he saw the buggy, he knew that it was a special time. As soon as we opened [View Full Entry]

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Nancy and I officially started our vacation when she arrived home from work on Friday, September 5, 1998. Labor Day weekend was an easy going, relaxing weekend around the house. Nan enjoys gardening, even including the weeding part, and she tried to catch up on some of the gardening chores which for her is a form of relaxation. On Sunday I smoked a pork loin on my super duper Black Diamond smoker from New Braunfels, Texas. It was a six hour slow smoke using a blend of mesquite and hickory water soaked woods. The last couple of hours I tossed in [View Full Entry]

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Sunday afternoon I called fishing guide Jack, the guide who was leading our salmon fishing expedition scheduled for Tuesday, down one of the wild rivers on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. Jack said that we would fish the Queets on Tuesday, and that we would meet at Jake’s Restaurant at 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. I know Jake’s. My next door neighbor Jim Dreher and I have reconnoitered there on previous fishing trips led by Jack and his team of river guides. Jake’s has a sign that reads, “Spotted Owl tastes better than fried chicken.” I called my br [View Full Entry]

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Sailing Vacation - 1997 When Nancy arrived home from work Friday, August 29, we packed her car with gear, clothes, food, etc. for our voyage to the Canadian Gulf Islands. We dropped my car off at our West Bay marina in Olympia and drove two hours north to Port Townsend, a port city which is the gateway to the Strait of Juan de Fuca at north Puget Sound. My friend Pete Janni and I took our sailboat Le Sauris, a 28 foot Newport, from Olympia to Port Townsend Marina the previous weekend. We had a nice dinner in old downtown Port [View Full Entry]

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Brother Mike, from Portland Oregon, and I had a fun fly fishing weekend August 16 - 17, 1997. He arrived in Olympia, Washington a little after noon on Friday. We went out for lunch at a local Mexican food cafe and commenced to talk FF (fly fishing talk). He had tuned up at his fly casting pond in Portland before driving to Olympia. He was primed. After lunch, we bought our licenses at Big 5 Sports, and became legal. It had been awhile since I dipped a fly in water. I didn’t buy a license in 1996 in an effort to [View Full Entry]

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“Hello, this is Paddy Mackin of North West Exposures. We are out of the office until Sept. 26. Please leave a detailed message and we will get back to you. Thank you for calling." I recorded that message early Friday afternoon, September 16, 1994, and within five minutes we were on our way to our San Juan 21 at West Bay Marina located at the south end of Budd Inlet of Puget Sound. Nancy's T'Bird was loaded with gear for a nine day sailing excursion on Puget Sound. Our next door neighbor Jim and I purchased the yellow bellied sailboat earlier [View Full Entry]

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Salmon Fishing on the Queets - 1993 My neighbor Jim and I made our second annual salmon fishing trip in late October, 1993. We hired guides to float us down the Queets River on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Two of Jim's doc buddies went with us. We left from Jim's office at 3:00 a.m. and after a two hour drive to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula we arrived at JJ's restaurant for our second annual pre-fish breakfast. They still have deep fried spotted owl on the menu ("tastes just like chicken"). Our guides [View Full Entry]

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