A Pirate's Life in Ocean Shores, Wa.

What an amazing weekend.

 Pirates, wenches & mermaids came from far & wide to join the fun in beautiful Ocean Shores, Wa.  This weekend was a fund raiser to support the Ocean Shores Food Bank & PAWS of Ocean Shores. There was 565 pounds of food collected over this weekend.  

Don & I arrived Friday afternoon, January 25th.  We had a third floor suite at the Best Western Lighthouse.

It was a beautiful room with a full ocean view and fireplace.  

The view from our balcony.

After unpacking, we drove down to our favorite Ocean Shores hangout, The Galway Bay Irish Pub.

 The menu includes traditional Irish food.  If you've never eaten there, by all means, give it a try. We love the place.  The pub's musical guests were a Irish Celtic band called Bowi.  I'd heard good things about them & was pleased to have the chance to see them live. They're very talented people.  It was a lot of fun.

Saturday was all about pirates....

 We were up bright and early Saturday morning for the Pirate Gear & Garb Swap Meet.  There was all kinds of pirate & wench goodies for sale including, weapons, clothing & jewelry.  It's always fun.

The highlight of the morning for me was the opportunity to have photos taken by Randy Foster.  I was so excited he was there.  I've admired his work for a long time, especially his photographs of pirates & mermaids.  He's truly amazing.  He and his wife, Sandy are such nice people.  The more I learn about them, the more I realize how truly special they are.  I feel lucky to have had the chance to get acquainted with them both.

(We didn't have our portraits when I wrote this blog.  Please visit HERE to see them.)

From noon to 2pm, the Rogue Mermaids took over the swimming pool.  They were fun to watch.  They're handmade mermaid tail are gorgeous.  There must have been fifteen mermaids in the water together.  Each tail was unique from the others. Beautiful.

At 2:30, we had our group photo.

What a fantastic group of people.

Next was the pub crawl.....Yay!!   We visited three local Ocean Shores Pub.  All three have a pirate feel to the atmosphere.  We stopped at The Pirate's Cove, The Porthole Pub & The Galway Bay Iriish Pub.
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We played a treasure hunting game at all three pubs.  I think most pirates won a prize or two.  I won a box of chocolate candy. Don won a rum cake.  The rum cake was quite yummy.

All these treasure maps were rolled by Pirates Dan & Carrie.  At last count I heard they rolled over 1800.  That's quite a lot of their time.  I hope they know how much everyone appreciates them.

Debbie, myself & Mark

We had dinner again at The Galway Bay Pub with our friends Mark, Debbie & Scott.  I love, love, love the freshly baked soda bread & Magner's Cider Beer at the Galway.  Good stuff.

The Pirate's Ball started a 8:00.  There was live music & lots to eat & drink. Everyone was dressed in their pirate best.  There was lots of dancing & laughing as everyone said hello to old friends and new.

Don & I at the Pirate's Ball on Saturday night.  We had a great time.

Beverly, Rachel & Monty

Singing Pirate Tugboat Bromberg

Pirates & wenches at the ball.

Beautiful mermaids Iona & Meghan in land attire.

Gunpowder Gerdie--She always looks amazing.

Todd & Melissa.  I love her skirt.

And.........Death.

Lots of people put hours of hard work into making this fabulous pirate event a success.  It's one of our very favorite annual events.  We would never miss this one.  I hope each and every person knows how much their work and time is appreciated.  The whole weekend was a huge success.  We can't wait for next year.

Thanks so much for stopping by. -- Jan ♥♥

Our Camping Cats

Don & I camp often.  Our travel trailer is our second home.  We would much rather vacation with our travel trailer than stay in motel rooms.  We like our own bedding, our space & to have our pets with us.

When we travel, we're joined by our two dogs & two camping cats.  Our dogs live to camp and our cats are as comfortable in our travel trailer as they are at home.

Our two camping cats were from a litter we rescued in April, 2010.  They were five weeks old.  We had a camping trip four days later.  All five kittens made their first camping trip to Seaquest State Park, near Mt. St. Helens,  in April, 2010.   Abigail & Muggle have been camping ever since.

Abigail & Muggle

Our cats are house cats.  They NEVER go outside.  This works well because they are perfectly content to spend their time in the travel trailer.  They have no desire to venture outside and are perfectly happy to see the outside from within.

Muggle & Abigail are hardcore bird enthusiasts. Here they are bird watching in Spokane, Wa.

 

Lupine 1/2"  H-Style Pet Harness  

They both wear break-away collars with I.D. tags at all times, at home or on the road.  When we travel, they wear Lupine cat harnesses with I.D tags & matching leashes.  I've tried other harnesses.  I definitely like these the best. I feel secure with the double clip style.  Harness design is important.  Some figure eight type harnesses tighten around the neck if any part of the harness is pulled on or tangled.  That's very dangerous for the cat.

Petmate Ultra Vari Kennel, Pets up to 15 Pounds,

Each cat travels in their own kennel in the back seat of our Toyota Tundra.  They have comfy bedding in their crates, but no cat box.  If need be, we can move them to the travel trailer for potty breaks.  They do very well with this.  We have never had a potty accident in the truck.  Ever.

Once we arrive at our destination, they're turned loose in the travel trailer.

Abigail

We always travel with a variety of cat toys.  During the day, our bed doubles for the kitty toy land.

Muggle

All our cats are micro-chipped for added protection.

BestPet Black 30" Three-Door Suitcase Style Metal Dog Crate - 30"(l) x 21"(w) x 24"(h)

A permanent part of our travel equipment are two BestPet 30" folding metal crates.  These crates are wonderful & economical. They're under $40.00, after shipping. The 30 inch crate is large enough for a cat box and a kitty bed.    We have water bowls that clip to the sides. We don't use the crates too often. In fact, Abigail never uses hers, but they're great to have if we need them.

It does take some extra effort to travel with cats. Our cats are a huge part of our vacation trips.  It's definitely worth the effort for us. I can't imagine going without them.  Half the fun of going is being able to take them with us.  They're our babies.

BUT....Please....be careful.

We only encourage traveling with your cats if you're well prepared with the proper equipment.  It would be awful to be on vacation and loose your cat far from home. It's worth spending a little extra money to be safe.  

We also don't encourage traveling with cats that will be stressed by the trip.  We have two other cats, Cache & Willie, that stay home with a family member when we travel .  They have never traveled and car rides are stressful for them.  In a case like this, it's better to leave them home. You'll have a better time, and so will they.

Best wishes to all out cat loving friends.

If you have stories about camping with your cats, please share them with us.  We love to hear from others that camp with their cats.

Thanks for stopping by. --Jan♥♥

The Portland Pirate Festival, 2012

Our Labor Day Weekend was full of camping, pirates, geocaching & Captain Morgan.  It was a great weekend.

Early Friday morning, we were on the road heading for Seaquest State Campground in Castle Rock, Wa.  This campground was our home for Labor Day Weekend.  We shared our travel trailer with our dog, Laya, and our two camping cats, Abigail & Muggle. 

The infamous Black Flag

Saturday morning we got dressed for a fun filled day of pirate activities at The Portland Pirate Festival in St, Helens, Or. It was such a fun day.  There was a huge welcome from the local community for all the pirates.  The town is full of quaint little shops.  All up and down the street businesses flew black pirate flags. Many had signs in front reading, 'Welcome Pirates.'  Everyone seemed to participate in the fun.  While we wandered in and out of the shops, we were asked repeatedly to pose for pictures.  The store keepers loved having the pirates visit their shops.

One of the many talented bands that entertained us during the festival.

The fishermen

The Pirate Festival was non-stop entertainment.  There were two stages where bands, musicians, a juggler  and many other entertainers appeared one after the other all weekend long.  There were many vendors with all kinds of garb and other wares for sale. There was lots of clothing, jewelry, feathers, weapons & tons of leather.  I bought a beautiful black chemise from my friend Dee Dee at The Golden Fleece.  It'll go great with a red corset I'm buying. Don bought a burgundy pirate shirt.  We can't wait to wear them. There were so many choices for food, it was hard to decide on just one.  We ended up choosing oriental.

A great looking crew.

There were cannon shows & sword fight off & on all day long.

He had everyone's attention.

They had all kinds of things for kids to do, including puppet shows that were adorable, story time, The Let's Pretend Theater, games, and tons more.  There was a huge amount of effort put into making sure the kids had fun things to do.

This was so cute,

We spent some time in the beer garden.  There was more entertainment there.  We drank beer and met new friends.  We also ran into some old friends.  We had a blast.

My handsome Captain Don.

Me, in pirate garb.

There was a huge amount of work that went into this fantastic pirate festival.   Every person involved  deserves many, many thanks.  I wish I could thank each one personally. They gave us a wonderful weekend. It was a wonderful weekend.  We can't wait to do it again.

To every person who help bring us The Portland Pirate Festival......a great big

THANK YOU!!!!

The Pirates High Seas Adventure

This pirate flag was the event log book.

The Pirates High Seas Adventure, GC395WZ, was the greatest geocaching event ever.  It combined two of our favorite pastimes, pirates & geocaching. It took place on August 25th., 2012, when two historic tall ships, The Lady Washington and The Hawaiian Chieftain, visited the Bremerton waterfront.

The Lady Washington

The Hawaiian Chieftain

First, there was a free geocaching meet & greet, on the boardwalk in Bremerton, right beside where the beautiful ships were docked. 

Docked in Bremerton, Wa.

The event was organized by our friends & fellow geocachers, Goblindust, Shop99er & TTUMS.  There were several games with many prizes offered to keep the attending geocachers busy with fun activities. There were activities for children & adults alike that included: scratch tickets, a kid's Flat Stanley Treasure Hunt, an adult treasure hunting, caching challenges, an adult bar crawl, food, coffee & vendors.

Our treasure chests.

Each person with a tall ship ticket received a key to try in our locked treasure chest.  If the key opened the chest, the person won a nice prize.  Prizes included geocoins, geocaching equipment & gift certificates from local businesses.

Don from Geocaching Team, 'The Porters in Wa'

My husband, Don, was the pirate in charge of the treasure chest. He made sure each winner received their proper prize.

Jan from team, 'The Porters in Wa'

I handed out the scratch tickets and offered the prizes to the winners.  We tried really hard to make sure everyone was a winner.  I don't think there were many who were disappointed with our scratch tickets. I loved working the scratch ticket table because everyone visited this table to pick up their scratch ticket, I had the opportunity to say hello to everyone and see their costumes.  I don't think I missed seeing anyone.

Boarding the Hawaiian Chieftain

After the shore event, we joined our pirate friends for a fun three hour sail on the beautiful Hawaiian Chieftain.  We had a blast.  The ships crew was terrific.  They were super friendly and patiently answered all our questions about their lives and the spectacular ships.

Captain Shiney

Our ship's captain was Captain Shiney.  He was full of great stories and lots of fun.  We all enjoyed him

The Wheel

The old rustic cannon.

Ready to fire.

This hard working crew member is cleaning the barrel of the cannon after it was fired.  

The Gorgeous Lady Washington

Many of our friends were aboard the majestic Lady Washington, so we fired our cannons at them.  Just for fun. We also fired at any Washington State ferries we happened upon.  Their captains were good sports and blew their whistles back at us.

Looking up at the sails.

A crew member working on the sails.

This was such a fun day.  We spent the day with some of our favorite friends.  The events was lots of fun and the ships were amazing.  We can't wait until next summer when we can do it again.  I can't wait to see these beautiful ships again.

Best wishes & thanks for stopping by.