Fall in the NW 2013

Fall came to the Northwest in a blaze of color. Derrille and I don’t remember the rich colors of the maple and alder trees during the years we called Kitsap Country home.  Were our lives too busy to notice the beauty of fall trees?   Or is this year’s display more a product of the intensely hot summer and the sudden drop in October’s night temperatures?     The Albertson’s Grocery Store in Kingston put out this great display of fall offerings.

 

Bins of pumpkins flanked the festive display with pots of asters in dazzling fall colors to catch your eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These trees at the Kingston Ferry terminal remind me of the coral trees in San Diego.  Our Chula Vista resort trees bloom like this.  Interestingly the coral trees only lose part of their leaves at a time. They will maintain green leaves all winter.  Since we are leaving soon, I’ll not have the opportunity to see if these Kingston trees do the same.

 

 

We took the ferry to Lynnwood for a family gathering.  Fall showed a colorful display along our route.

 

More color along the streets of Lynnwood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decorated the front window for the Harvest Season. 

 

Murphy got up on the dash for his afternoon nap.  He looked around with a sense of questioning…What is going on here????  Then he settled done for a snooze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashley just enjoys the softness of my stuffed pumpkin.

 

Both cats just rearrange my arrangements when it comes to naptime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving the highways of the peninsula offer some stunning shots on the days when the sun peeks through.  As we drive back to the RV the deciduous trees shout out their color from the evergreen forests.

 

 

 

 

Fall color showed around the Costco parking lot in Silverdale, WA and add color to another foggy day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More color around Silverdale.  Because NW forests grow mostly evergreen trees, our fall color can't compete with Upper State Michigan or Ontario or New England, but the color can make you stop and appreciate the wonders of nature.

 

 

Color around Poulsbo showed vividly on the bright days.  These bright red trees to the right stand outside the Poulsbo Athletic Club where DK exercises and I do my PT.

 

Fall also brings in the fog.  Some days the heavy fog lifts about noon and the sun peeks through.  Fog horns can be heard around harbor entrances.

 

 

Fog came and stayed longer than usual in October.  Its presence in Seattle caused Seattle International Airport to ground their flights. This in turn messed up air travel around the world.

Following the weeks of fog, came the gale force winds.  Our 33,000 pound RV rocked and rolled in the wind as did the small Airstream next door.  Gusts came in about 45 MPH we think.  When Derrille went to the club one morning the road was littered with limb debris.  When we went out again later, the heavy traffic on this road had cleared each lane, and moved the debris to the center line and shoulders.

 

Here in the park some tall skinny fir trees dropped this debris on one site and on the RV parked there.  One of the trees even bumped the rig.  That family has moved to a different site.  The trees will be taken down soon.

 

 

After the wind, the beautiful leaves have been blown from the trees, leaving more bare branches. The trees are moving into their winter dress code. It also makes this nearby bay more visible as we drive to and from town.

 

These photos taken by our door looking toward Highway 305 show the trees behind our rig and the nearness of the highway. Look carefully and you can see how close the highway cars pass.  A white vehicle is passing by in each photo.   Imagine big semi-truck and trailers rolling by with enough weight to vibrate our floors and bed. Road noise here is worse than when we sleep at the Flying J Truck Stop on the grapevine at Frazier Park, CA.

 

This views the area between the highway and the park. Notice the fence...the one that backs our site.

 

 On a trip to the island, we pass over the Agate Pass bridge.  Kitsap peninsula is on the left, and Bainbridge Island on the right. The bridge, part of Highway 305, spans this part of Puget Sound over an area called Agate Pass.

 

 

Ice on the grass at the athletic club one mid-day shows how cold it still was around noon. Thankfully the sun was out making everything look beautiful.

 

As fall moved through the weeks, storms blew in and out. The clouds caught my fascination one day on a trip to and from Bremerton.

 

 

 

 

A huge cloud seemed to fill the sky over Silverdale.

 

Unfortunately, I missed the clouds so loaded with rain it hung heavy over the freeway. But these clouds show a little of the rain laden clouds floating among the fluffy white ones. The winds were moving the clouds quickly across the sky.

 

While fall in the Northwest continues to morph into winter, we excitedly plan our departure on November 19^th in search of the sun. A sunny fall day in the Pacific NW remains a beautiful, exhilarating, brisk experience, but still a little too cool for those of us who have acclimated to the warmer temperatures of the southwest.