<![CDATA[The Gardens Gazette

<![CDATA[The Gardens Gazette - Trip]]>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:39:34 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Fort Nisqually Candlelight Tour]]>Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:50:20 GMThttps://www.thegardensgazette.org/trip/fort-nisqually-candlelight-tourTrip date: October 8, 2016
Receive Date: October 19, 2016
Publish date: November 4, 2016

This is the first of what I plan to send to The Garden Gazette after many of our Arrowhead Gardens adventures. I hope they encourage you to join us. We usually have a grand time. And, on the few occasions when we don’t, we still have fun. And that, Dear Reader, is the point after all.
--Laura Ramsey.

Fort Nisqually Candlelight Tour

October 8, 2016 (10:37pm) Well, I’m home, I’m damp, and I forgot to take a plastic bag to cover the controls on my electric wheelchair. But, what a great experience!

First, though, I want to thank my fellow travelers who stumbled over the uneven grass and walkways, particularly those with walkers and a cane. And a special thank you to Margaret who I assured would be fine using her walker and not her scooter, and who graciously managed nonetheless. When I questioned the tour representative in arranging for the 8:45pm guided tour tickets (thank you, Dave!), I understood that there would be minimal walking between buildings. As a result, we did not anticipate the difficulty of navigating in the dark, mostly looking into the buildings. (Lesson Learned: Ask Better Questions Next
Time.)

In spite of that, it was an amazing tour. I kept wishing it had been held in daylight so we could see the fort itself. However, it wouldn’t be a “candlelight tour” if the sun was out. I plan to explore what other “living history” events are scheduled for Fort Nisqually.

The following quote from the web site does a good job of describing what we encountered:

“Guests may eavesdrop as more than a hundred reenactors bring to life the men and women of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The people from the past won’t be aware of their 21 st century visitors. (They weren’t). This year, guest will arrive during October of 1859. The Fort’s residents will be talking about the impending departure of the Fort’s manager, Dr. Tolmie, and discussing the confrontation of American and British forces at the San Juan Islands during the “Pig War.

“Throughout the Fort, visitors will encounter gentlemen managers and their wives, American settler families, experienced trappers, Scottish and French-Canadian laborers and their families, young people at a dance blacksmiths working at the forge, clerks in the sale shop, and cooks in the kitchen.

“Located in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Part, Fort Nisqually Living History Museum is a restoration of the Hudson’s Bay Company outpost on Puget Sound. Guests experience life in Washington Territory during the 1850s. Nine buildings are open to the public including the Granary and the Factors House, both National Historic Landmarks, and a Visitor Center with Museum Store.

Source: Metro Parks Tacoma

We moved as a group from one location to another. Essentially, depending on where you were standing, you heard snippets of conversations, much of it with accents. The pathways were lit with candles encased in glass stands. Many of the locations were clustered around a fire, many with a pot of food suspended over it.

The diversity of the period dress was really interesting. All I could think about was what it must have taken to wash and dry some of the men’s attire. The locations ranged from trappers drinking coffee (?) around an open fire in front of a rough open tent to uniformed officers at a formal dining table with fine china.

The final stop was in a tent with a docent who answered questions. She said that one of the buildings (I couldn’t hear which) was the oldest still-standing structure in Washington State.

The tour volunteers did a wonderful job of lighting our paths around the fort with bright, but directional flashlights. And we all made it back to the bus in one piece. The only part we missed was the coffee and donut food truck at the beginning of the tour. Darn it.

]]><![CDATA[CrabFest 2016, Port Angeles]]>Wed, 26 Oct 2016 04:11:47 GMThttps://www.thegardensgazette.org/trip/crabfest-2016-port-angelesTrip date: October 9, 2016
Receive date: October 19, 2016
Publish date: November 4, 2016

CrabFest 2016, Port Angeles
Trip Report by Laura Ramsey

October 9, 7:23pm: Well, I missed the second presidential debate although we had it on the radio in the bus. I couldn’t hear well, so missed most of it. However, the airwaves and print media will be screaming all about it tomorrow. Don’t think I really missed anything.

In talking with Dave Saturday night about today’s trip during our latest “lights out” adventure, he assured me that if five hardy folks showed up before 9:00am in the morning, the trip was a “go.” They did, and it was. The concern, of course, was the strong possibility of rain and whether people who planned to go would do so after the late night.

The power came back on a little after midnight. With lots of help (special thanks to Joan, Jackie, and Rita) we got the carts of “debris” from the Oktober Fest’s delightfully successful party and subsequent lights-out evening stashed in my apartment. By 1:30am, I had all my “stuff” organized for a possible getaway in the morning.

Sure enough, when I got to the B building, Bill and Honey Bear were waiting with Barry. Karen, Pattie, Bill and JoAn soon joined us and Margaret, wisely riding her scooter, joined us and we were off, on time with nary a rain drop in sight. I suspect most of us dozed off sometime during the trip. I did.

Including our usual McDonald’s stop, we made it to Port Angeles around noon and set a return time of 3:30pm. Still no rain, just cloudy, but I was glad I wore my wool cape. (It remained cloudy, no rain, and a little bit of sun—all-in-all a pleasant West Coast Fall day.)

The entire harbor area was awash with vendor tents. There were a lot of vendors I hadn’t seen in previous street fairs this summer. A major player was a vendor with the most outrageous “crab” hats; one of which was adjusted to be worn on a dog’s collar.

And, of my goodness, I have never seen so many four-legged furry friends at a similar event. Dogs were everywhere, but extremely well-behaved, even the little yappy ones that wanted to let the big ones know that they (the little ones) were small only in size! I tagged along with Bill and Honey Bear and watched the show of her greeting her fellow creatures—lots of tail wags and “let’s play” poses. While Bill was chatting with someone, three young Asian tourists, each with a “My Name Is” tour nametag, posed for a camera-phone picture with Honey Bear.

Lots of unique crab-related activities. I never got close enough to figure out was “Catch-A- Crab” was exactly about. You could buy a cooked and cleaned crab for $20 and one of the local colleges had a “Clean Your Crab” concession asking for a $1 donation. The usual big-tent dinner (crab, corn on the cob, coleslaw) had a long line. We got a crab sandwich that was adequate, but would have been better with a white cheese (instead of cheddar) and on a bread roll, rather than the rather sad croissant. But the crab was generous and it came with endless French fries (which we skipped) for $15.

Several people had clam chowder as part of Graham Kerr “Chowder Cook-off.” It was $10 for your choice of five samples of clam chowder (from about eight or nine entrants) and then you voted for your favorite. Graham Kerr had lots of his cookbooks for sale and chatted with people as he autographed their purchase.

We headed back at 3:30pm and took the Bremerton Ferry which only had a one-ferry wait, as opposed to a 2 hour or more wait at Winslow. When we got off the ferry in downtown Seattle, it was pouring rain—of course!

]]><![CDATA[I’m in a Cargo Plane Again]]>Fri, 02 Sep 2016 00:11:33 GMThttps://www.thegardensgazette.org/trip/im-in-a-cargo-plane-againArticle inspired by Arrowhead Trip to Joint Base Lewis--McChord
By Joan Gilbert

Trip date: 3-30-2016
Received date: 8-22-2016
Post date: 9-5-2016
Images added; 9-7-2016

Joan Gilbert stands beside a C-17 at Joint Base Lewis McChord, that reminds her of a trip she took at age 13.

On March 30th of this year some fortunate Arrowhead residents were able to visit Joint Base Lewis McChord. We were privileged to be allowed to go on a cargo plane, a C-17, even sitting in the seats of the pilot and co-pilot. As I sat in the holding area and looked out the rear cargo door a vision from my youth materialized.

I was thirteen-years-old and wearing the uniform of a WAF (Women’s Air Force) when we took off from Selfridge Field north of Detroit, Michigan. No parental supervision. Just a dozen or so young ladies off on an adventure.

And what an adventure it was! The cargo plane we rode in was a smaller plane than the C-17 plane we lucky Arrowhead residents got to tour. Of course there were no comfortable seats in the plane in the early sixties; instead, we used folded-up parachutes as pillows on the hard floor. Creative, we used lipstick to make suspicious dots on those of the group who fell asleep first.

Just as the plane was landing in St Louis for the lunch stop, a WAF appeared from the cockpit, the rear cargo door lowered. The WAF, in dress blues, walked to the end of the ramp and jumped out. We looked at each other in amazement, amazed because the plane hadn’t come to a complete stop.

After that, not one young lady misbehaved.

We flew on to Amarillo, Texas. It was summer. It was hot. And we marched on the tarmac. Your left…your right… Even having taken the salt tablets some of us ended up in Sick Bay.

But we didn’t care! We lived in a barracks and learned how to make military corners on a bed. We scrubbed bathroom floors with a tooth brush. We stood at attention for inspection and didn’t crack a smile no matter how cute the drill sergeant was.

At the end of the week we went to a military ball with male cadets from Texas CAP squadrons who had been billeted elsewhere on the base.

We came home with marching songs in our heads, sunburns, and the assurance we were tough enough for the Air Force.

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