Fun on the Kitsap Peninsula

This past Monday I ventured over to the Kitsap Peninsula, thanks to a former coworker named Sandra who wanted to show me her parents' home there.  She wanted a sketch or two of the views thereabouts and was willing to pay for my artistic abilities.  I am perfectly willing to travel for art's sake!

Truman was invited, as their family has a long history of dachshund ownership (though there weren't any in residence at the moment).  He did very well on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry ride, despite breezy, occasionally bumpy conditions.

Dogs are not allowed in the inside compartment unless they are service dogs, but I just ignored that and took him inside (it was COLD outside) and no one said a thing.  Fine by me!

We arrived at Kingston and drove north towards Hansville and the Point No Point lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula.  Along the way we saw this rather interesting dwelling, which was a home:

Next we went to admire Point No Point -- this is the old lighthouse keeper's home, which is available for vacation rental:

And this is the lovely beach:

The lighthouse was quite typical of those around these parts -- very small and short:

Truman was not impressed.

I had hoped to sketch it while there but the sun made only a few feeble attempts to emerge from the clouds, and it was too cold and breezy to stick around.  So I took a photo to work from later at home.

I did spend a few minutes admiring the birds, such as this Horned Grebe:

There were a lot of Bonaparte's Gulls about -- all of the birds in this shot up near the shore were Bonaparte's Gulls:

Close-ups:

WAY off in the distance I spotted a Rhinoceros Auklet and managed to get a blurry pic:

Then Truman found something smelly to roll in, and I tried to clean him off but it was pretty rank.  So we tootled off to Sandra's parents' place, where her mother kindly ran a bath for him and we cleaned him up nicely.  Despite this, both her parents were totally smitten with Tru (well, he IS adorable) and smothered him with affection which annoyed him considerably.  Served him right.

After a delicious lunch, the sun came out a bit, and I was able to sit on their front deck, which has this view:

The Hood Canal bridge was in the background.  I did a quick study out there:

Her parents loved it, so it now belongs to them.  Later at home I did the lighthouse in comfort from my photo:

Sandra got that one, too, to give to her folks.  A very fun and profitable outing!